Singles: December 2011

Words: Saam Das

December is always characterised by the battle for Christmas #1, although the dominance of the Military Wives Choir put paid to any real interest in the 2011 "battle" against whatever the 'X-Factor' song was. It'd be nice to actually have a Christmas #1 that somewhow relates to Christmas at some point though. Anyway, here are the top ten singles of December 2011.

Singles: November 2011

Words: Saam Das

There's still a month to go but I must have listened to at least 500 singles this year. Conversely, I've listened to about 15 albums. People have told me I'm doing it the wrong way round - yet I love the single as an artform. Three minutes of perfection is much more likely than an hour of perfection. Although November hasn't been quite as stellar, here's ten of the best singles out now.

Singles: October 2011

Words: Saam Das

I've listened to at least 100 tracks to compile this list of my top ten singles of October. I could have saved myself the bother and simply declared Lana Del Rey the winner for her widely acclaimed 'Video Games' single. Except we were emailed about her last May and didn't think she was particularly amazing. And still don't. Yet. So instead check out ten other artists who we think are more worthy of your time below.

Singles: September 2011

Words: Saam Das

We've been busybusy over September, as you can see from our numerous reviews over the past month, but I've (eventually) found the time to collect my top ten singles of the month. If you know who the duo below are then you win a prize for guessing single of the month. Otherwise, read on for more singles that you can shake a stick at. Whatever that means.

Singles: August 2011

Words: Saam Das

It's September. Already. Another month goes by and another singles column is complete. As ever, ten of the best singles of the month and no dating advice to be seen anywhere. Or at least not here. Because that would be terrible. Anyway, the photo above hints at the winner of the August single of the month. To listen to that track and more, keep reading.

Singles: July 2011

Words: Saam Das

I can't think of a particularly interesting introduction so this will have to be a bit of a Ronseal ("does what it says on the tin") paragraph. Much like how the search of Lawd Sugar's business partner is over, so is the wait to find out ten of my favourite singles from July 2011 - the photo above hints at the winner of the Single Of The Month. Check them all out below.

Singles: June 2011

Words: Saam Das

June, you have disappointed me with your relative lack of brilliant singles. Anything, however, is better than Cher Lloyd's upcoming single, 'Swagger Jagger'. I weep for humanity. Check out ten MUCH BETTER singles from last month below, and the photo above is a hint to our single of the month winner.

Singles: May 2011

Words: Saam Das

Now that I'm in substantial employment, I have a reasonable excuse for the delayed collating of May's finest singles but I apologise nonetheless. The battle for Single Of The Month came down to Clock Opera and Charli XCX. To find who won and plenty of other brilliant singles, simply read on.

Singles: April 2011

Words: Saam Das

April's been a bit of a ridiculous month for the singles round up with Record Store Day dominating proceedings. Several special, limited edition singles came out on April 16th this year and well, it'd be a nightmare going through all of those on top of my bursting lists of regular singles. So I might have missed the odd amazing single but here's a selection of very good ones anyway.

Singles: March 2011

Words: Saam Das

At the end of March, I checked the "March singles" folder in my inbox. 66 messages. Oh boy. A new record. It means that (for this month at least) I'm including an extra list of singles that I think are worth checking out. Before that come ten of my favourite/the "best" singles from March, which I heartily recommend. Listen to them all below.

Singles: February 2011

Words: Saam Das

I think in the year or so I've been doing this monthly singles round up, February 2011 has been the most good-single-intensive month thus far. It's also the month that bore witness to Charlie Sheen going somewhat insane yet coming up with some of the best quotes ever. He's continued his strong form into this month too.

Anyway, enough about attention seeking celebrities. I raved about the new single from The Chapman Family in January already so that won't be getting any more love here but there are plenty of singles of the jump that deserve a listen. I've also embedded a YouTube playlist featuring the official videos of the singles at the end of the post.

Singles: January 2011

Words: Saam Das

An overwhelming amount of good (or at least interesting) singles came out during the first month of 2011. A great start to the year. Not for Razorlight and their hilariously bad press photo though.

But anyway, back to the singles. Here's some stuff I'm not going to cover. 'Surfacing' by Chapel Club and 'Austere' by The Joy Formidable are both brilliant songs but are re-releases so they get no love from me here. As for some higher profile releases, Avril Lavigne's new vid has some painfully obvious product placement. I still quite like the song though...err, anyway, here's the January singles round up.

2010: Festive Fifty (Part 2 of 2)

Words: Saam Das

Here's all fifty singles/free downloads that comprise the Festive Fifty. To listen to all of them, you're going to have to check out the first part and then go through the ones here. If you too lazy for that and willing to skip out a couple of tracks (which aren't available), then I have constructed this Spotify playlist for you. Enjoy.

#50 Chew Lips - 'When You Wake Up' // #49 Wilder - 'Girls vs Boys'
#48 Operator Logic - 'Logic' // #47 Weekend - 'End Times'
#46 Tokyo Police Club - 'Breakneck Speed' // #45 Willow Smith - 'Whip My Hair'
#44 Errors - 'A Rumour In Africa' // #43 Sunday Girl - 'Four Floors'
#42 The Unwinding Hours - 'Knut' // #41 Hot Horizons - 'October'
#40 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 'Skeletons' // #39 Victoria & Jacob - 'With No Certainty'
#38 Disappearers - 'Everything Straight Lies' // #37 Broken Records - 'A Darkness Rises Up'
#36 The Good Natured - 'For The Widows In My Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti'
#35 Spark - 'Revolving' // #34 The National - 'Terrible Love (Alternate Version)'
#33 Mystery Jets - 'Show Me The Light' // #32 OK Go - 'White Knuckles'
#31 Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - 'Love Turns To Hate'
#30 Jukebox The Ghost - 'Good Day' // #29 Stairs To Korea - 'All Of Your Friends'
#28 Foals - 'This Orient' // #27 Seerauber Jenny - 'Push It Away'
#26 Clock Opera - 'Once And For All'

#25-#1, after the jump. Hope it satisfies the masses.

2010: Festive Fifty (Part 1 of 2)

Words: Saam Das

So here it is. My favourite fifty singles and free downloads of 2010, which I guess you can call the "best tracks of the year" if you really want. But that'll only lead to a torrent of abuse when you discover I've left out stuff like 'Fuck You' by Cee-Lo Green. Be a pal Cee-Lo and stop using the n-word. Cheers.

Also, this is only my list and if I'd let the other FG writers join in (as they have done on our "albums of the year" list which will appear soon) then the list would have been somewhat different. Check out the 2008 and 2009 lists too - plenty of hidden gems to discover. As has always been the case, there are no re-releases (hopefully, anyway) and artists/bands can only appear once.

And in a supreme bit of planning, I've just changed my mind at the last minute to chop the list into two. I'm afraid that the amount of embedded stuff might kill any old computers and "death by flash" isn't ideal. The full list will be unleashed tomorrow. Here's #50-#26 though.

Singles: December 2010

Words: Saam Das
Photo: Butterfly-Boy

December's a bit weak for singles apart from the Christmas #1 campaigns. X Factor reigned supreme once again so the lasting impact of Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing In The Name' is simply a devaluation of its original message. But enough of that.

You'll also have my ("Festive") fifty favourite singles/official free downloads of 2010 on its way in the next couple of days. In the meantime, check out some of the best singles December had to offer. Perhaps you can guess the single of the month from the photo above?

Singles: November 2010

Words: Saam Das

November saw a preponderance of album of the year lists. I can only assume that this was because music journalists can't count up to twelve. No wonder people are rioting in the streets about the future of British education. Rioters are a bit thick too, of course. Peaceful protestors are okay though. And anyone who heroically saved their best of year list till the final month of the year.

Enough about other people annoying me (we'll be here all week if I go on much further) and onto the best singles from November. We've had another bountiful month, although I have already talked about many of the great singles that have been out - check out some nice words about Rapids and their new single 'Fuses', as well as 'Microlite' by Trophy Wife. Check out the others, after the jump.

Singles: October 2010

Words: Saam Das

Another storming month for singles this October. Although one in which I need to address a significant bugbear of mine. October saw the release of Cee-Lo Green's 'Fuck You' or to anyone below the age of, let's say....12, 'Forget You'. Now people have been touting this as a single of the year, let alone single of the month.

For the most part, it is an utterly brilliant song. The swearing kind of washes over yet I seem to have problems with the use of the n-word (in whatever spelled form) and although I guess the argument is that it's empowering for certain people to use the word, it just reminds me of all the horrifying hardships that so many people were put through mere decades ago. Am I being an idiot? I probably am. Feel free to tell me. But read about my favourite singles of October first...

Singles: September 2010

Words: Saam Das

I guess the defining moment in UK music during September was the announcement of the winner of the 2010 Mercury Music Prize winner, The xx. I mentioned them on the blog (more precisely, on one of my fabled podcasts) and was the one of the first bloggers to talk them up. Fast forward a couple of years or so and they are now critical darlings and have even managed to sell a fair few records. With any luck, some of the other artists or bands in this September singles column can do alright as well.

Singles: August 2010

Words: Saam Das

Contrasting the previous couple of months, August was a splendid month singles-wise. Conversely, real life wasn't as splendid with my inevitably slow march toward completion of my postgraduate dissertation. [insert antonym of fun here]. 15,000 words later, that chapter of my life is now over and I apologise for the hideously unpunctual production of this round up. Especially as this has maybe been the best month for singles this year.

The singles bounty was so plentiful that I'm leaving out such stellar singles as Best Coast's 'Boyfriend' and 'Echoes' by Klaxons. I'm sure they won't mind. I should also mention the Entrepeneurs release that Jehan of the recently deceased Shattered Satellite blog has put out and old favourites of this blog Pull In Emergency's new single. But enough of that, ONWARDS. Oh, actually, one last note for Hipster Hitler, which I don't think quite hit the big time. Well, I didn't see anyone up in arms about it. Singles reviews after the jump.

Singles: July 2010

Words: Saam Das

July was a bit of a disappointing month for singles. Few, if any, amazing releases and some of the best ones were re-releases ('Stillness Is The Move' and 'Fire Escape'), which I don't like talking about because it might suggest I endorse such blatant cash grabs. Maybe I'm being overly harsh.

In other respects though, I'm being far too lenient giving Adam Lambert (of 'American Idol' fame) a free pass - I have enjoyed watching all his fans comment on the (typically scathing) reviews of his single, which I shit you not, is called 'Whataya Want From Me'. Adam, I would like better spelling and grammar please. Anyway, I'm being a massive hypocrite because Jedward's new single is featured below. Amazing picture this month though, right?