Dan Williams (Drummer, Art Vs Science)
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Thought Ballune
This song, and most of the songs on their debut record, have these meandering and intertwining vocal and guitar melodies that always resolve themselves in the most glorious ways. Underneath all that are these delicious old hip hop / soul beats, that sound like they’ve been sampled from old records, but may be an actual drummer.. Either way, listen to this track on headphones for maximum relation.
Tom Rawle (Papa Vs Pretty)
Black Keys – ‘Lonely Boy’
This song is amazing. The Black Keys always have such good melody and feel. I love the warped guitar too, it’s so traditional in what it’s playing, like some old style rock and roll vibe, but it has this bizzare pitch bend, which sounds like a tape machine being stopped suddenly or something, it sounds superhuman! Thankyou Dangermouse! Also: the drums are great, and the guitar sounds muddy and watery in a nice way, like muddy water… Muddy Waters! Eh! Perhaps that’s where the bluesy vibes are coming from. I am not sure but I love them. I am going to get one of their shirts. Long live Black Keys.
Hugo G (Flight Facilties)
Gotye – ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’
There’s no denying that this song is pretty special. To gain that kind of recognition against all the odds of what mainstream radio pushes is amazing. He’s opened the door for a more ‘musical’ direction in music and I can only hope that people take his lead in not feeling pressure to make terrible aggressive electronic dance music. I also think Jagwar Ma’s ‘Come and Save Me’ is unreal. It’s going to creep it’s way into everyone’s brains. A late arrival to the 2011 contest but straight to the top with that one. Give it time. Everyone will know it.
[And on a side note - The Metronomy album is the best thing I've heard in a long time. There have only been several albums that have blown me away in the last few years; Sebastien Tellier - Sexuality, Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours and now The English Riviera. I can't recommend enough that people listen to it start to finish.]
Amali Ward (Solo artist)
Nicki Minaj – ‘Super Bass’
Ughhhhh so hard. So I’ll say ‘Super Bass’ by Nicki Minaj, simply based on the amount of times I have been singing along emphatically to this in the car, looked in the rear view mirror and seen someone else doing the exact same thing. Now that’s a good song.
Fraser Harvey (Cameras)
Amanaemonesia – Chairlift
This song made me take time to listen to Chairlift. I love Caroline Polachek’s voice; she almost out-Kate-Bush’s Kate Bush, without being Kate Bush. And the bridge has a sound that reminds me of a cartoon about skeletons I used to watch, so there’s clearly a lot to like about this straight away. But with clever lyrics and a speech impediment proof title, this track garnered the most spins.
Jordan Millar (Singer-songwriter)
Radiohead – Giving Up The Ghost
The stunning simplicity in melody and chord changes throughout just get me messy in my soul. It’s perfect. It’s genius being genius. Enough said.
Andy Bull (Australia’s favourite piano man, One A Day guest contributor)
Metronomy- ‘The Look’
This comes from one of my top album picks of of the year, The English Riviera, and progresses perfectly from it’s more lo-fi predecessor ‘Nights Out’. Everything about this track, “The Look”, rings my bell, and it reminds me how wonderful British r’n'b can be. Restrained, ironic and and as much melancholic as bucolic, this track, album, and band weave a kind of understated English magic that draws the listener into the past and beckons them into the future all at once.
Ray Mann (Singer-songwriter, guest contributor)
Beyoncé – ‘Countdown’
I’m not ashamed to admit it was the music video that got me. Ah, Beyoncé – how do you exist? You look like that, sing like that, move like that, and write like that. I’m in all the kinds of heady love with you that “Countdown” whips through in three minutes: from devotion worthy of a fanfare to lust best conveyed through booty-bounce, all wrapped up in cheeky Caribbean and Doo-Wop flavours. It’s almost as impressive as that video: so many ideas crammed in there, and any one of them could have been an entire video on its own, all featuring your “just-about-to-announce-I’m-preggers” amazingness. The most varied and plentiful eye- and ear-candy this side of Christmas.
Alison Wonderland (EMI Recording Artist, DJ, Producer)
SBTRKT – ‘Wildfire’
I love the whole SBTRKT record, but ‘Wildfire’ stood out most for me. The production is super sparse and Little Dragon’s vocals top it off nicely. When I first heard this track, my face was like this [:O] as it restored my faith in good music done tastefully.
