25. Smoke Fairies - Hotel Room
Smoke Fairies make music like Joni Mitchell, but doubled up, dangled upside down and drenched in folk music's most important epochs.
The sussex girl-girl duo first caught our eye back in 2009 when they released 'Gastown/Riversong', featuring Jack White on drums, and released on his 'Third Man' label.
Since then they have released debut full-length 'Through Low Light and Trees', and its lead single, 'Hotel Room', a tender folk song of sublimity and beauty, whose retrospective accompanying video reflects these qualities.
24. The Hundred in the Hands - Commotion
New York's latest purveyors of IDM are duo The Hundred in the Hands. They fuse psychedelia with pop hooks, overlayed with frontwoman Eleanor Everdell's enchanting vocals.
On some tunes, they showcase Kid A-esque beats with creeps and crawls; on others, rampaging riffs and thumping bass; on the rest, robust, neatly-produced, miasmic rays of pop delight. This is one of those. Be prepared for one thunderous guitar riff, some delicate, alluring vox and one infectious chorus.
23. John Grant - Chicken Bones
John Grant has been plagued with problems all his life. At high school, he was beaten up for being the sole homosexual. Then he fronted perhaps the most criminally underrated band of our generation, The Czars, had an affair with a drug dealer, got hooked on cocaine and contemplated suicide. His personal trauma has always overshadowed his music and his unique baritone vocals and sardonic lyrical content have passed most of us by.
But this year saw the modest, tortured protagonist finally receive the recognition he has long deserved. He released his debut solo effort, 'Queen of Denmark', to a host of extraordinary reviews (In fact, he just topped Mojo's album of the year list).
On the record, he was backed by the delicate sounds of Texan folkies Midlake, their trademark Jethro Tull-esque flute emanating nostalgia. It was beautiful, dark and atmospheric. Lyrically, it still accentuated his funny, frank and evocative traits; the highlights coming in the comically-titled 'Sigourney Weaver', 'Jesus Hates Faggots' and this, 'Chicken Bones'.
22. Mount Kimbie - Would Know
This is Mount Kimbie's second track on the list, and there is no need to further explain why they are on it, apart from what I said earlier, about their unique fusion of 'sublime intricacy, seemingly effortless musicality and use of indistinguishable yelps from anonymous singers they've sampled.'
21. Sarah Jaffe - Clementine
Hailing from Denton, Texas, birthplace of the aforementioned Midlake, newcomer Sarah Jaffe is the greatest singer-songwriter of the year. When asked in a recent interview as to how she went about writing the 13 melodious tunes on debut record 'Suburban Nature', she said confidently: 'I pretty much do it on impulse'.
She was a delight when I saw her perform on her first tour of the UK back in January. The best track she played was 'Clementine', which, now professionally mixed, and backed with a string section, has been brought to life, sounding even more emotional.
