With the Australian summer now upon us, bringing it with it the music festival season and a spate of end-of-year celebrations, another annual music tradition draws closer.
The chance to have your say on the best songs of the last 12 months, in the world’s largest music democracy, is nigh with voting for the Triple J Hottest 100 opening on Friday 20th December.
If you’re finding it difficult to choose the best tracks of 2013 – or simply struggling to recall a whole 12 months of music – you could always let the artists behind some of the year’s biggest songs be your guide.
The likes of New Zealand sensation Lorde, Sydney’s The Preatures, decorated singer-songwriter Vance Joy, rock rousers Pond, and dance-rock duo Jagwar Ma are just a sample of high-profile musicians who have offered up their Top 10 songs of the year to Triple J.
In anticipation of the Hottest 100 digital polling booths officially opening, the national youth broadcaster has hit up a selection of artists for their favourite songs of the year; including Cloud Control, Thundamentals, RUFUS, The Jungle Giants, Peking Duk, Thelma Plum, Flight Facilities, Karnivool/Birds Of Tokyo frontman Ian Kenny, and fellow prog powerhouse Dead Letter Circus.
So what exactly do the musos themselves think make the cut? Well, the lists are obviously pretty varied, but there’s a lot of consistencies. Such as an overriding love for Daft Punk. Especially from Lorde, who’s own career-making single ‘Royals’ has a very good chance of taking out the coveted #1 position on the annual music poll. If you’re finding it difficult to choose the best tracks of 2013… you could always let the artists behind some of the year’s biggest songs be your guide.
The 17-year-old songwriter names both ‘Get Lucky’ and the Panda Bear-featuring ‘Doin’ It Right’ in her 10 votes, alongside BBC Sound of 2014 act Jungle, the Mercury Prize-winning James Blake, and Kanye West.
Mr. Yeezus is also a favourite of Jay Watson and Nick Allbrook of Pond, who select ‘Black Skinhead’ as among their favourites (maybe the Tame Impala-linked members heart the awesome ‘Elephant’ mashup?), along with Hottest 100 picks for fellow rock iconoclast Kirin J Callinan, former (and upcoming) tour mates MGMT, and Flying Lotus – under his Captain Murphy rapping alias.
Pond are also namechecked by The Jungle Giants guitarist Cesira Aitken in her Top 10, just one of many lists that pay respects to their fellow Aussie artists, such as The Preatures giving the nod to Jagwar Ma (beside Haim and Justin Timberlake), Flight Facilities picking ‘Is This How You Feel?’ by The Preatures, and Vance Joy showing major love for Cloud Control with two picks.
There’s also source for Hottest 100 voting inspiration from international acts The Wombats, MSMR, Bring Me The Horizon, Olympic BMX rider Caroline Buchanan(?!), and Triple J presenters Alex Dyson, Tom Ballard, Veronica Milsom, Hau Latukefu, and Lewis McKirdy. (View the full Top 10 lists here.)
Voting for this year’s Triple J Hottest 100 opens in 15 days, with the polls closing on 20th January ahead of the traditional broadcast on Australia Day (that’s 26th January 2014 for you non-patriots) unveiling the results for the annual poll’s 21st birthday.
Earlier this year, the Triple J Hottest 100 celebrated 20 years with a special mid-year countdown of the best songs of the last two decades with Oasis coming out on top.
While a record-breaking number of votes saw 1997 crowned as the best year in music, the results of the anniversary poll were contentiously lacking in females, enough for Triple J bosses to address the gender divide publicly.
Its seems that public scrutiny and the Hottest 100 go hand in hand, with last year’s winners, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and their ubiquitous thrift-hop hit, ruffling more than a few feathers. And then there was the Warmest 100 leak, a list of scarily accurate predictions put together by a pair of Brisbane IT experts who managed to crack a traceable code of votes submitted through social media.
You can hit the official Hottest 100 website to vote and check out a selection of the artist Top 10s below, with the full list available here.
Lorde
Jungle – Drops
Lo-fang – #88
Deptford Goth – Feel Real
Kanye West – Hold My Liquor {Ft. Chief Keef/Justin Vernon}
Major Lazer – You’re No Good {Ft. Santigold/Vybz Kartel/Danielle Haim/Yasmin}
Majical Cloudz – I Do Sing For You
Drake – Hold On, We’re Going Home
Daft Punk – Doin’ It Right {ft. Panda Bear}
Daft Punk – Get Lucky
James Blake – Overgrown
Pond – Jay Watson & Nick Allbrook
Kirin J Callinan – Halo
Connan Mockasin – I’m The Man, That Will Find You
Kanye West – Black Skinhead
MGMT – A Good Sadness
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – So Good At Being In Trouble
Le1f – Plush
King Krule – Neptune Estate
Julia Holter – Maxim’s I
Mei Saraswati – Ether Imaginings
Captain Murphy – Between Villains {Ft. Viktor Vaughn, Earl Sweatshirt & Thundercat}
The Preatures
Parquet Courts – Master Of My Craft
Kirin J Callinan – Embracism
Beck – Gimme
Jagwar Ma – Let Her Go
John Newman – Love Me Again
Arcade Fire – Reflektor
Haim – If I Could Change Your Mind
Justin Timberlake – Mirrors
Atoms For Peace – Ingenue
Cloud Control – Dream Cave
Ian Kenny – Karnivool/Birds Of Tokyo
Chvrches – Recover
Arctic Monkeys – Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
Wolf & Cub – I Need More
Daft Punk – Instant Crush {ft. Julian Casablancas}
St. Lucia – Elevate
The Occupants – I’ve Been Thinking
Kanye West – Black Skinhead
Born Lion – D For Danger
Sigur Rós – Brennisteinn
Queens Of The Stone Age – Keep Your Eyes Peeled
Jagwar Ma
Touch Sensitive – Pizza Guy
Daft Punk – Doin’ It Right {Ft. Panda Bear}
Blood Orange – You’re Not Good Enough {Ft.Samantha Urbani}
Angel Haze – Echelon (It’s My Way)
Arctic Monkeys – Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
Jon Hopkins – Open Eye Signal
Disclosure – When a Fire Starts To Burn
Emiliana Torrini – Speed Of Dark {Andrew Weatherall Remix}
Justin Timberlake – Suit & Tie {Four Tet Remix}
Lorde – Royals
Cloud Control – Alistair Wright
Seekae – Another
Palms – This Last Year
The Jezabels – The End
Kirin J Callinan – Embracism
Big Deal – Dream Machines
Shining Bird – Distant Dreaming
Action Bronson – Strictly 4 My Jeeps
My Bloody Valentine – Who Sees You
Flume – Insane {Fishing Remix}
Astral Pattern – Sitting In The Sun
Vance Joy
Big Scary – Invest
Holy Holy – Impossible Like You
Cloud Control – Dojo Rising
Cloud Control – Scar
Fraser A Gorman & Big Harvest – Dark Eyes
Bernard Fanning – Departures (Blue Toowong Skies)
Arcade Fire – Reflektor
The National – I Should Live In Salt
Grizzly Jim Lawrie – Midnight Run
Emma Louise – Stainache
Thelma Plum
Vance Joy – Riptide
The National – Fireproof
James Vincent McMorrow – Cavalier
The Preatures – Is This How You Feel?
The Trouble With Templeton – You Are New
Kingswood – Ohio
Big Scary – Luck Now
Lana Del Rey – Young & Beautiful
Emma Louise – Pontoon
London Grammar – Hey Now
