After yesterday's countdown from 25 to 11, John is back with his ten favourite songs from 2013. Let's do this!
#10 - 'Cavalier' by James Vincent McMorrow, from Post Tropical
A stunning introduction to McMorrow's upcoming second album Post Tropical. One of the best Irish songs of 2013.
#9 - 'Big Thinks Do Remarkable' by And So I Watch You From Afar, from All Hail Bright Futures
Strike a match in a fireworks factory and you get this song. Fierce, unrelenting and beautiful.
#8 - 'Default' by Atoms For Peace, from Amok
Technically this song came out last year but Amok was released this year, so we're getting away on a technicality. 'Default' is the the best song thus far from the heralded Thom Yorke, Flea and Nigel Godrich collaboration.
#7 - 'Pursuit' by Gesaffelstein, from Aleph
The bigger, tougher brother of the Chemical Brothers' 'Block Rockin' Beats', this song should be played in every chase sequence from every movie, ever.
#6 - 'Smooth Sailing' by Queens of the Stone Age, from ...Like Clockwork
Much was made of Josh Homme and Trent Reznor teaming up and comparing ideas for QOTSA's ...Like Clockwork. This was the fruits of their labour. You can really hear Reznor's influence take hold in the last third.
#5 - 'Lucy Is Here' by Le Galaxie
A fantastic music video of a fantastic song from a fantastic band.
#4 - 'Nothing Arrived' by Villagers, from {Awayland}
The best song (in my opinion) from Villagers' second release {Awayland}. Everything works in this song; Conor O'Brien's delicate vocals, Danny Snow's winding bass and, particularly, Cormac Curran's keys. My choice for the best Irish song of the year.
#3 - 'Retrograde' by James Blake, from Retrograde
A sort-of companion piece to Sam Cooke's 'Trouble Blues', the title track from Blake's Mercury Prize winning album is the work of an artist at the absolute top of his game.
#2 - 'Master Hunter' by Laura Marling, from Once I Was An Eagle
The sometimes fragile voice of Laura Marling has never sounded as fierce and confrontational as it does here. Harnessing a brute force rhythm section, Marling is allowed scope to explore outside of her usual sonic scope - and it's arguably the best song she's ever written.
#1 - 'Do I Wanna Know?' by Arctic Monkeys from AM
The third song from Arctic Monkeys in the Top 25 is also my pick for the best song of 2013. Alex Turner has thoroughly graduated from the precocious cheeky chappy we first met in 2005 to one of the world's finest songwriters and never has his band sounded better than now.
