Monday 9 December 2013

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2013 - 5-2

We're very nearly at The Metaphorical Boat's favourite song of 2013, but before that here's the songs that just fell short of the top spot:


5. John Grant - Black Belt

There hasn't been a better, funkier, F U song in 2013 than "Black Belt" by John Grant. Over a minimalist electronic beat, the song's antagonist is told that "what you got is a black belt in B.S," among other insults. Ouch. Irresistible, sharp tongued, and bloody brilliant. 


4. Swim Deep - King City

This is how pop music should be done. Birmingham band Swim Deep released a re-recorded version of "King City" back in June, and periods of great joy were ushered in. They've taken a very familiar chord progression, added youthful lyrics about a crush on Warpaint's bassist and topped it all off with the most earworm-inducing pop hook of the year. Why it didn't become a massive hit, especially after the buzz surrounding the band earlier in the year, is incredibly puzzling, but at least it's one over quite a few people regardless.


3. Suede - It Starts and Ends With You

When you're releasing your first official single as a band in 10 years, you'd better make sure that it's just as good as it was then. Thankfully, Suede, the greatest band of all time, were never going to let us down, giving us "It Starts And Ends With You", a song that harks back to the best moments of their career whilst still sounding like it belongs in 2013. It's got quite a strange structure, given that depending on what way you look at it, in consists of only choruses, or only verses. It's a song that has slotted very nicely into their live sets, and definitely proved the naysayers who said that they had no place in the current musical landscape very wrong indeed.



2. We Were Evergreen - Leeway

"Leeway" by French trio We Were Evergreen one of the quirkier twee-pop songs to be released in 2013, and by far the best. The song takes doo-wop vocal samples, toybox keyboard sounds, xylophones and cute vocal harmonies to create something as sweet and delicious as a Battenberg topped with Caramacs. 

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