As is tradition with the finishing stretch of another 12 months, the general public will go apeshit for industrial size boxes of chocolates, offensively garish knitwear, drinking before noon because "it's Christmas" and the seminal Christmas motion picture, Jingle All The Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Magazine writers, bloggers and musos however, use this time to collate their 'End of Year Awards', and The Soul Kitchen is no different. Categories and nominees have been compiled into neat little lists and will be rolled out for your reading pleasure over the next couple of weeks. The winners will be festively revealed during the week commencing Boxing Day. Although none will be revealed on Boxing Day itself, as it's historically the day where we pay tribute to George Best and Oliver Reed and paste our livers into oblivion.
The categories are as follows: Album of The Year, Song of The Year, Video of The Year, Compilation of The Year, Newcomer of The Year, Film of The Year, Hero of The Year and of course, the prestigious Bell end of The Year Award.
So without further adieu, here are the nominees for Song of The Year;
Miles Kane - Come Closer
There must be something in the water in the River Mersey. Put a guitar and a good haircut on a Scouser and they'll give you magic in return. From Beatlemania through Echo and The Bunnymen, onwards to The La's and The Coral, we've been spoiled rotten with hit single after hit single. Now it's the turn of strutting Mod peacock Miles Kane. 'Come Closer' oozes cool from the addictively crunching riff through to the immense call and response "Whoa oah oah/Ah ah ah" chorus. So while young Miles may yet have to hone his craft as a lyricist and rely less on his friends on his future albums, there's no denying that 'Come Closer' is a bona fide pop gem.
Magazine writers, bloggers and musos however, use this time to collate their 'End of Year Awards', and The Soul Kitchen is no different. Categories and nominees have been compiled into neat little lists and will be rolled out for your reading pleasure over the next couple of weeks. The winners will be festively revealed during the week commencing Boxing Day. Although none will be revealed on Boxing Day itself, as it's historically the day where we pay tribute to George Best and Oliver Reed and paste our livers into oblivion.
The categories are as follows: Album of The Year, Song of The Year, Video of The Year, Compilation of The Year, Newcomer of The Year, Film of The Year, Hero of The Year and of course, the prestigious Bell end of The Year Award.
So without further adieu, here are the nominees for Song of The Year;
The Strokes - Machu Picchu
A decade ago Mr. Casablancas and co gifted us one of the finest indie albums ever made with Is This It, but since then, have largely swung and missed. Room on Fire was a disappointingly safe sophomore effort while First Impressions of Earth promised much with the pulsating 'Heart In a Cage' and the immensely fun 'Juicebox' but again, ultimately fell short. So while Angles may not be the long awaited majestic return to form that we were all hoping for, it still features this, the New Yorkers' best single in 10 years. More reggae than indie and with a riff lifted from Michael Jackson's 'Wanna Be Starting Something' of all places, 'Machu Picchu' proves that when they want to, The Strokes can knock out classic singles like this in their effortlessly cool sleep.
Miles Kane - Come Closer
There must be something in the water in the River Mersey. Put a guitar and a good haircut on a Scouser and they'll give you magic in return. From Beatlemania through Echo and The Bunnymen, onwards to The La's and The Coral, we've been spoiled rotten with hit single after hit single. Now it's the turn of strutting Mod peacock Miles Kane. 'Come Closer' oozes cool from the addictively crunching riff through to the immense call and response "Whoa oah oah/Ah ah ah" chorus. So while young Miles may yet have to hone his craft as a lyricist and rely less on his friends on his future albums, there's no denying that 'Come Closer' is a bona fide pop gem.
Lana Del Ray - Video Games
The sigh of relief that breathed through The Soul Kitchen upon hearing this beauty was palpable. You hear the words 'female American pop song' nowadays and it's enough to make you pour cement in your ears. With the recent monopolisation of the charts by talentless behemouths Gaga, Perry, Rihanna and (throws up in mouth) Ke$ha, 'Video Games' is comparable to hearing 'Dancing In The Street' for the first time. It's a beautiful slice of soulful Americana pop that's already seen Kasabian and Bombay Bicycle Club give it the cover treatment and has the masses clamouring for the release of debut LP Born To Die. The most refreshing pop song in years.
Aloe Blacc - I Need a Dollar
With soul music in desperately short supply in the mainstream, we should be thankful for Aloe Blacc's decision to turn his back on rapping and focus more on tunes like this. Ok, so it's not quite a dancefloor filler from Hitsville USA, but 'I Need a Dollar', like many great soul tunes, provides a relatable social commentary, in much the same vein as Marvin Gaye did with What's Going on in 1971. Also provided a much needed highlight to a Bono and Chris Martin dominated Glastonbury this Summer.
Noel Gallagher - AKA . . . What A Life
By plundering the house music section of his record collection rather than the section composed by Lennon and McCartney, Gallagher senior has put those cynics expecting 'Wonderwall' rehashes firmly in their place. '. . . What A Life' evokes memories of the Hacienda through the influence of Rhythim is Rhythim's 'Strings of Life'. Thankfully it steers just clear of being the disco track that Gallagher initially 'felt dirty' about making and instead steers slap bang into psych dance euphoria, in much the same way he did with The Chemical Brothers on the colossal 'Let Forever Be' in '99.
Next time, we'll be profiling the best videos of the year.
Until then,
Keep on Keepin' on,
Baia
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