The Clash Top 40 of 2008: numbers 40-31 : Best Of Clash Feature

Back in October ClashMusic.com invited readers to send in their suggestions for track of the year. Said song could be a single, an album-only track, an exclusive download, a video… even a ringtone, within reason. Though, mercifully, not one entry in our top 40 falls into the latter category.

Yep, our top 40. All of the votes and suggestions were counted, assessed and assembled into some sort of rough order, and then the Clash team got stuck in. Of course, our many writers were the most vocal when it came to what should and should not be included… No doubt some of them will be surprised by the outcome.

Because, truth be told, this is one interesting list: one that seems to summarise 2008’s successes – commercial and critical – alongside serving as a guide to some of the great new bands you’ll be hearing a lot more of in 2009.

So, here we begin our top 40 – to be counted down across the course of this week. We begin with numbers 40 to 31. Enjoy, explore and feel free to comment on our ultimate verdicts by signing up with ClashMusic.com HERE.

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40: Mogwai – ‘BatCat’

The sixth studio album from Scottish post-rockers Mogwai (pictured), ‘The Hawk Is Howling’, saw the Glasgow-based group return to their roots, stripping their sound down to the raw instrumentals that made their ‘Young Team’ debut such an astonishing listen in 1997. While they’ve spawned a raft of imitators, nobody does Mogwai like the men themselves, and ‘The Hawk Is Howling’ contained a track of such epic menace alongside its more euphoric efforts that it just had to be included here. So, ‘BatCat’ makes its presence felt at 40. If you’re listening alone, best keep the light on. Watch the video below and get the shivers.

Mogwai – ‘BatCat’

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39: Cats In Paris – ‘Foxes’

A band that’s enjoyed a gradual elevation of profile throughout 2008, Manchester’s Cats In Paris are revealing themselves to be one of our domestic music scene’s best-kept secrets… Well, sort of – we’re telling you about them now, here, and putting them on at our Clash Saturday Social on December 13. How best to describe their unique take on pop…? Words, they do fail us. Best, instead, to discover them yourself and form your own string of adjectives – begin by downloading their ‘The Curse Of Brian Jonah’ from our Track of the Day section, and then watching the video to ‘Foxes’, a stand-out blast of synth belches and vocal histrionics from their ‘Courtcase 2000’ debut album, below.

Cats In Paris – ‘Foxes’

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38: Lovvers – ‘No Romantics’

We ran the video to this track, taken from Lovvers’ superb seven-track mini-album ‘THINK’, as a ClashMusic.com exclusive in November – click HERE to watch it (or view below). And we’re pleased as punch to have done so, since this awesome slice of ragged punk-rock, with super pop sensibilities, has been making us bop since we first heard the four-piece play it live many moons ago (it’s that guitar motif – just so addictive). Compared to The Wipers and The Replacements, Lovvers are rapidly becoming one of the UK’s most-riveting live acts – be sure to catch them on your local stage before long.

Lovvers – ‘No Romantics’

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37: Fake Blood – ‘Mars’

Fake Blood is Theo Keating, aka Touché, formerly one half of semi-popular sorts The Wiseguys and now in The Black Ghosts. Outside of said commercial concern, domestic DJ Keating’s long-pursued explorations of a house nature, and ‘Mars’ is perhaps his most successful track yet in this capacity. It’s simply one of the most-played efforts of its kind on the nation’s dancefloors this year – a certified stomper and no mistake – only landing here because of the amazing quality of the very best dance tracks of the year, yet to come on our chart.

Fake Blood – ‘Mars’ (audio only – not official video)

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36: High Places – ‘From Stardust To Sentience’

Brooklyn duo High Places rather stole our hearts in 2008 with this number from their Thrill Jockey-released self-titled album. It closes the long-player with such otherworldly magnificence that pressing the repeat button is simply unavoidable. Descriptions of the pair’s work have included underwater tropicalia, and frankly that sounds pretty wonderful to us. All skittering beats and swooning sweeps, with suitably ethereal vocals, ‘From Stardust To Sentience’ is a pure delight – woozy, romantic, and just a little weird. We’re expecting them to become a lot better known in 2009, so get ahead of the crowd by reading our interview with the band HERE.

High Places – ‘From Stardust To Sentience’ (audio only – not official video)

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35: Black Lips – ‘Bad Kids’

On paper it’s easy to get the names Black Kids and Black Lips confused, but on record the difference couldn’t be more pronounced, one conjuring glossy Cure-pop parcels of indie-kid wet-dreams, the others delivering swaggering and scratchy garage-punk numbers like this… And it’s this sort of shtick we most definitely prefer. ‘Bad Kids’ is one of a handful of cracking singles from the Atlanta-based four-piece’s ‘Good Bad Not Evil’ album of 2007, and earns its place here partially because of its sing-along video (which is surely just as ‘controversial’ as the staged thuggery of Justice’s ‘Stress’, non?)… That, and because live Black Lips have provided us with some of the best nights out of the year, where we’re all bad kids, at least for an hour or so.

Black Lips – ‘Bad Kids’

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34: Coldplay – ‘Viva La Vida’

Number one though it was on both sides of the Atlantic, this track from Coldplay’s fourth studio album ‘Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends’ didn’t avoid controversy, with US act Creaky Boards implying that the British titans robbed aspects of their ‘The Songs I Didn’t Write’ number. Of course, the allegations were nonsense, but for one second it seemed golden boy Chris Martin had put a foot wrong. But, no – the smug git still has every reason to be a smug git. The song itself? Suitably grand, suitably universal of appeal… It’ll be sung back at the four-piece for years to come.
(Listen to our Coldplay podcast HERE)

Coldplay – ‘Viva La Vida’

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33: Roots Manuva – ‘Buff Nuff’

The return of Rodney Smith, aka Roots Manuva, in 2008 with his ‘Slime & Reason’ album saw critics getting themselves into a right old lather, no doubt prompted by this brilliant lead single, complete with its almost Benny-Hill-goes-hop-hop video. Great wig, Roots. Still leading the domestic game, Roots Manuva’s efforts in 2008 cemented his position at the top of an ever-rising tree – no longer is British hip-hop the weaker sibling when compared to its US counterparts, at least when measured in column inches and rave reviews rather than record sales. We can’t all have a Lil Wayne… And would we want to?

Roots Manuva – ‘Buff Nuff’

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32: My Morning Jacket – ‘Highly Suspicious’

The Kentucky rockers promised something different on their fifth album, ‘Evil Urges’, and there can be no doubt the ‘out-there’ box was ticked with this odd little number. ‘Highly Suspicious’ plays out like Prince fronting a choir comprised entirely of Muppets, like Pharrell Williams ditching the Snoop connection to get salty with Slash. While we’re not sure Jim James will repeat his vocal performance here in the future, given the mixed reception ‘Highly Suspicious’ continues to receive from fans, we’re pleased he took to thinking outside the box for at least a few minutes, as this sublime piece of bonkers-rock flicks our switches with ease.

My Morning Jacket – ‘Highly Suspicious’ (audio only – not official video)

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31: Johnny Foreigner – ‘Salt, Peppa & Spinderella’

What a year it’s been for Birmingham trio Johnny Foreigner – barely mentioned in the turn-of-the-year tips, the band have nevertheless seen their profile rocket in 2008 with debut album ‘Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light’ winning awards, the band touring the world over and plans for 2009 domination already underway, with album two due to be recorded in the new year. This single is the least conventional of the band’s far-from-standard indie-rock numbers, essentially two half-songs forming a whole that’s a true fan favourite – watch the reaction it gets live (now they’ve learned how to play it live!) – and also a track that attracted the attention of Ofcom, who deemed its video unsuitable for domestic broadcast due to the possibility it could trigger epileptic seizure. With that in mind, watch the video at your own risk…
(Download the Bloc Party remix at our Track of the Day section)