We whetted your appetite yesterday with part one of our year-end tracks countdown, and now we’re really getting into the thick of things as we move towards the middle of our chart.

If you missed yesterday’s rundown of numbers 40 to 31, click HERE to see who and what landed where and why. All the results are based on a combination of public votes – we asked you to provide your tracks of the year in October, with submissions accepted until the end of November – and editorial opinion.

As we already observed in part one, the final 40 makes for interesting reading, offering something of a snapshot of the year’s many musical highs, commercial and critical.

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30: Bon Iver – ‘The Wolves (Act I & II)’

Americana got cool in 2008, with Band Of Horses, Fleet Foxes and My Morning Jacket all playing their parts in the commercial rise of the genre, especially amongst newcomers. But the standout voice in the crowd was that of Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver (pictured), whose debut album ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ was a heartbreaking collection of ballads most tender, decorated with sublime instrumentation full of as much ache as the man’s own superlative tones. Picking a favourite from the many highs of ‘For Emma…’ is no easy task, but your votes pointed to this effort – and we can’t disagree that it’s a supremely affecting number, rich in emotive force.
(Read our recent interview with Bon Iver HERE)

Bon Iver – ‘The Wolves (Act I & II)’

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29: Deerhunter – ‘Nothing Ever Happened’

Deerhunter lynchpin Bradford Cox is among the most productive musicians in the contemporary indie scene, his Atlas Sound side project also delivering an album in 2008 (and reportedly finishing, and accidentally leaking, another). It’s as part of Deerhunter, though, that his songs are at their most focused, their most direct. ‘Nothing Ever Happened’ is the straightest-to-helmet offering on the Atlanta group’s third album proper, ‘Microcastle’, a record sure to feature in many an end-of-year long-player countdown (check the next issue of Clash for ours); it eschews the ethereal elements that like to make themselves heard in much of the band’s material for a blistering, almost classic rock vibe. It’s a mainstay on any self-respecting indie DJ’s playlist, and is most welcome in our Top 40 of 2008.

Deerhunter – ‘Nothing Ever Happened’ (live)

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28: Friendly Fires – ‘Paris’

While the hyped St Albans trio’s self-titled album wasn’t the most consistent of records you’ll have heard in 2008, it did contain a handful of truly cracking tracks, and ‘Paris’ emerged as your favourite (narrowly edging out the also-thoroughly-decent ‘Jump In The Pool’). How much cowbell is too much cowbell? Friendly Fires haven’t discovered yet, but ‘Paris’ must take them close to the permissible limit on said percussive device. Tiny criticism aside, though, this is a pop-savvy slice of otherworldly euphoria which deserves to be recognised as one of the very best indie anthems of 2008 – it’s filled dancefloors the country over, and next year we’re sure Friendly Fires will translate this success to an international stage.

Friendly Fires – ‘Paris’

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27: Foals – ‘Cassius’

From one indie anthem to another, equally breathlessly brilliant floor-filler from another superbly talented British band who’ve taken 2008 by the scruff of its neck and shaken ‘til they just can’t be ignored. Hard-touring throughout the year, Oxford outfit Foals have excellently capitalised on the buzz the built around them at the turn of the year, delivering a hugely celebrated debut album in the shape of ‘Antidotes’ and preceding its release with this single. Dare we suggest the lyrics make next to no sense? We dare… because they leave us faintly puzzled. Not that such a ‘problem’ distracts us from our enjoyment of what is a thumbs-up thriller of a track, one that was something of an introduction for many to one of the nation’s most inventive and ambitious indie acts.

Foals – ‘Cassius’

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26: No Age – ‘Teen Creeps’

In terms of beginning with nothing and ending with something, Los Angeles duo No Age have had a remarkable 2008. Their collection of last year, ‘Weirdo Rippers’, was an underground hit, but this year’s ‘Nouns’ album, released via the legendary Sub Pop label, saw the pair – the fantastically named Dean Spunt and Randy Randall – skyrocket to mainstream markets, selling out big shows and touring Europe a number of times. ‘Teen Creeps’ is one of many a highlight from ‘Nouns’, and a live favourite too – expect to see the pair’s lo-fi punk-rock cacophonies continue to attract admirers long into 2009, and for their success to be followed by more LA acts of a similar tone, such as Mika Miko and Abe Vigoda.
(Read our recent interview with No Age HERE)

No Age – ‘Teen Creeps’ (audio only – not official video)

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25: Fuck Buttons – ‘Bright Tomorrow’

Sweet euphoria of a wholly different variety now from British duo Fuck Buttons, who’ve played across the globe in 2008 in support of their ATP-released album ‘Street Horrrsing’. To say they’ve earned a break come Christmas is a massive understatement. ‘Bright Tomorrow’ was released as a single just prior to the album’s release, and immediately clicked with fans of a blossoming noise scene, taking cues as it does from the likes of Black Dice, Yellow Swans and Growing and mixing volatile vocals with serene sonic sweeps that cup the listener up and carry them off to some magical faraway land, where discernable lyrics come second to the conveyance of atmosphere and the laying down of massive slabs of skin-tingling white noise.

Fuck Buttons – ‘Bright Tomorrow’

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24: Dananananaykroyd – ‘Pink Sabbath’

The best live band in the UK during 2008, straight-up fact. No domestic act came close, not in terms of both bringing the party and finishing it in the most wonderful, come-together fashion. The Scottish sextet are set to release their debut album in 2009, entitled ‘Hey Everyone!’; it follows a highly rated EP of this year, ‘Sissy Hits’, which picked up some 10/10 scores on key online music sites. What we’re saying, basically, is that the band is gearing up for world domination, and with South By Southwest appearances pencilled in, who are we to suggest they won’t take their unique brand of fun-loving fight-pop to all corners of the globe? Slip on your dancing shoes and get down to the best show you’ll see in... ooooh… ages. We know people who consider this to be THE track of the year, since you asked…

Dananananaykroyd – ‘Pink Sabbath’

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23: Late Of The Pier – ‘Heartbeat’

Responsible for a gloriously all-over-the-place debut album in the form of ‘Fantasy Black Channel’ – an album that doesn’t know if it wants to be Pink Floyd or Black Flag, or Soft Cell or Hardfloor – Castle Donington four-piece Late Of The Pier have courted the mainstream as brilliantly as they’ve captured the most swinging of hips amongst the underground sceptics. In short, their haywire approach to song structures has earned the group approval across the critical board, and ‘Fantasy Black Channel’ has got to be up there in many a year-end album list. ‘Heartbeat’ sits at the centre of the LP, an instant-fix indie-popper that’s not entirely representative of an eclectic parent album, but a cracking standalone track.

Late Of The Pier – ‘Heartbeat’

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22: Chairlift – ‘Brusies’

You know the one – a little Telepathe, a little Casiotone, and it’s flogging iPods. Or it has been, anyway; much like The Ting Tings and Feist before them, expect exposure via Apple’s hypnotising ads to propel Brooklyn trio Chairlift into the ears of the mainstream. The band’s last album, ‘Does You Inspire You’, crept out fairly quietly in 2008 via US indie Kanine, but we at Clash are predicting a firm push for it in 2009, led by the inevitable re-release of this sweet and lo-fi single (previously peaking at 50 in our UK singles chart). It’s one of those pretty little songs that seems to do very little, but does it very well, and has vocal hooks aplenty – if we could count how many times “I tried to do handstands for you” was Googled, we’d no doubt be mightily impressed.
(Read our recent interview with Chairlift HERE)

Chairlift – ‘Bruises’ (audio only – not official video)

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21: Benga & Coki – ‘Night’

Breaking into the UK top 100 singles at 98, the modest success of ‘Night’ in 2008 might not seem like much to many, but given dubstep’s outsider status until the recent attention paid to Burial’s ‘Untrue’ (a Mercury Prize nominee) this effort from renowned Croydon producer Benga, with a little assistance from Digital Mystikz man Coki, represented something of a crossover. Benga’s 2008 album release ‘Diary Of An Afro Warrior’ was one of the year’s biggest in its field (if not THE biggest), and ‘Night’ served as a great ear-opener to its low-end decadence. Its ostensibly simple structure belies nuances that soon embed themselves, and to followers of the dubstep scene this is a classic release.

Benga & Coki – ‘Night’

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Numbers 20-11 counted down tomorrow, here on ClashMusic.com.

Read part one - 40-31 - HERE.

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