So here we are, coming up to the end of another year. Now is the time that various best of the year lists turn up. I’m never one to disappoint anybody so here is my list of the best songs I listened to in 2010. It’s not necessarily like the lists you would get on normal websites, this is a list of my 10 favourite songs that I heard for the first time this year. It doesn’t matter the year they were released, just that I heard it this year.

I’m so selfish….

Before we start though, here is a link a Youtube playlist with all the songs on it for your convenience. Why only Youtube? Unfortunately, some of the songs are not available on Spotify. To make it up to you though, I’ve put a bonus song at the end of this playlist.

Crookers – Cooler Couleur (feat. Yelle)

There is something about Yelle, she just oozes cool and her classy vocals really add something to this song. A fairly standard dance number but every time I listen I can’t help but shake my hips to the beat. Maybe it’s because Yelle’s accent does funky things to me.

Citrus – Blue Mercedes – Simply Eternal Reality

Last year I said I rated Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana as album of the decade and some time ago I wondered: Does anyone agree with me? In the few websites I found that covered Japanese music, my pick did indeed feature highly in most of them but so did a 6 song EP from a band I’d never heard before.

That band was Citrus, they never made a full album but this 6 song 10 minute piece of glorious sunshine really is a great piece of work.

The songs on the EP work better as a unit but I have chosen the 1st song on the album because despite the unintelligible lyrics, number 1 is always a great place to start.

Tokyo Jihen – Denpa Tuushin

My love for Shiina Ringo and her band Tokyo Jihen continues unabated. Although I feel the quality of her product isn’t nearly as good as what she was producing almost 10 years ago, it remains wonderful.
From an album called Sports, in which almost every song feels like the video should be of some sort of relay race, this song is the fastest paced of them all (actually that is debatable). It will not be looked at 50 years down the line as one of her most thought provoking and beautiful but it is a lot of fun.

Spiritualized – Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

This was the album that lead to my worrying Yoko Kanno itch finally boiling over. Ironically though, this song as plagiarism issues of it’s own. On original release the sample of Elvis’ Can’t Help Falling In Love had to be removed. Reinstated for this version, I can’t imagine how it would sound without it. This song gives a good indication of the direction the album goes in and it is one of the best albums I have ever heard. Not since Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana has an album have the power to completely envelop me in the music.

A Camp – Bear On The Beach

I’ve always loved the sound of Nina Persson’s voice. When I listen to this song it travels straight into my brain and creates the most interesting visual images in there. I’d love to be able to draw a giant watercolour painting of them but I doubt I could do it justice. It is great to listen to just before bed and does a great job of putting me at ease. Lovely.

Marina & the Diamonds – Numb

If I was a music critic working for one of those glossy music magazines, I would have reviewed the album this song was from by writing ‘A TRIUMPH *****’ in size 50 font across a double page spread. The album was great, it’s very rare I find an album where I love every song on it and Numb is my highlight. There is something about it that incites me to visualise colours, shapes and other imagery. Maybe by listening to this song I can get an idea what synesthesia is like. Maybe not, but I can think of an ace music video for it.

Nujabes – Reflection Eternal

In February this year Jun Seba passed away. Previous to this I had only listened to the soundtrack to Samurai Champloo, which he contributed to. After his death I was inspired to check some of his albums and I found out that his instrumental stuff is some of the coolest, most chilled out music I’ve ever heard. It is so calming, perfect stuff for mellowing out with after a busy day. It’s a shame he is no longer around to create more.

Midori – Sayonara Perfect World (Live)

I’m so glad there is a band like Midori in this world, they are quite unlike anything you have ever heard. I was going to compare them to the Pixies more shouty moments but that is just lazy. The Pixies never had a keyboard or double bass in the mix. Sometimes Midori’s songs can be a bit much, this one however nails their formula perfectly and this live performance is just brilliant. Please give it a listen, it will be a new expirience for you if you do. I even uploaded the video to youtube myself, the sound has randomly come out a bit tinny so it lacks the ‘oomph’ of the original but it’s still ace so give the link a click.

Shakira – Waka Waka (Esto Es Africa) [K-Mix]

Ah! Shakira, 12 years ago you were an intelligent singer/songwriter with songs about anger, lust, longing and politics. Now you are just a pop singer who can shake her hips. Shakira seems quite happy with this state of affairs though and as long as she keeps on pumping out fun, catchy songs I guess I have to be too. This song was the official World Cup song and unusually for such a thing it was very good. Every time I hear it I just want to get up and dance, surely that makes the song a success. This version, apparently mixed by the bloke from The Killers, is the best I reckon.

The Divine Comedy – Perfect Lovesong

I’ve always loved The Divine Comedy but for some reason the Regeneration album just didn’t appeal to me. I listened to it long ago, was sorely disappointed and forgot all about it. Recently on Twitter someone mentioned that she would be singing this song at a wedding and that it was beautiful. Intrigued I dug out the old album and was amazed. It was indeed beautiful and I felt ashamed that I had ignored it for so long. I then tried to listen to the whole album again but was left nonplussed. This song though is like a diamond shining in the rough.

So there you go, a nice list of songs. I kind of feel a bit of regret that I choose to limit this list to 10 songs, there were plenty of other things I loved this year such as Janelle Monaé, The National and Laugh & Peace. The Divine Comedy’s new album was great too and listening to the live version of Tokyo Jihen’s Kimaru was a great expirience, I had never seen a hall full of people in awe before that moment. Anyway, please take the time to give these songs a listen. It would be heartbreaking if all this was just ignored.

You have got to admire a character design like Lum’s. The fact she is usually only wearing a tiger striped bikini is bound to draw attention for a start. Couple that with the green hair, horns and knee high boots and you have rather an iconic character.

She is one of the main characters in a manga and anime which started in the 1970s called Urusei Yatsura. The plot mainly revolves around Lum (an alien) and Ataru (a letch) who she fell in love with after he foiled her father’s attempt to take over the world. He did this by beating her in a game of tag. Lum is basically sweet and innocent but also has a very hot temper and being an alien can shoot electricity out of her hand. This comes in handy to keep poor old Ataru in check because being a pervert at heart he is generally trying to get with every lady that moves.

As you can probably tell by now the plot is pretty barmy but it is a fun series which interestingly has often been described as a Japanese version of The Simpsons. Not, I think, because they are particularly similar in tone or set up but because of the enduring popularity they have even years and years down the line and also because they are both chock full of cultural references.

American culture is pretty well known abroad so The Simpsons is not a problem for British audiences, Urusei Yatsura on the other hand can become almost impenetrable to foreigners. So much so that the company that localised Urusei Yatsura for the USA had to provide extensive liner notes for the series explaining references and why they chose to translate the many puns in the show the way they did.

For its run as a TV show Urusei Yatsura generally stayed at the level of ‘fun and charming hijinks’ for the majority of the time. However there were also a series of movies made back in the eighties and the second of which was directed by a certain Mamoru Oshii. If the name doesn’t ring a bell he is the man who directed the Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor films and also live action stuff like Stray Dog. If you haven’t seen these films I can tell you that they definitely cannot be described as ‘fun and charming hijinks’.

So for a brief moment Urusei Yatsura became a philosophy driven art house film about the nature of dreams and reality, the difference between a sweet dream and a nightmare and whether our dreams will make us truly happy. It is a great film, the kind that has to be watched a few times to work out and just about as far from the original show as you can get. I implore you to check it out, it’s called Beautiful Dreamer. If only The Simpsons Movie had dared to do a similar thing. Apparently the original author of the manga did not like Oshii’s interpretation of her creation and he never got the chance to create another film with these characters, which is a shame.

Earlier I noted that this anime is a hard one to translate, this is true to the extent that Animeigo, the US distributor, did not even attempt to make an English dubbed version. Over in the UK though, the BBC did give it a go. You probably never heard of it because it was given the title Lum the Invader Girl and shown as part of a ‘Japan week’ on the now defunct channel BBC Choice. The voices were provided by Anna Friel and Matt Lucas, two fairly famous actors in the UK and I think Lucas did a good job, really capturing the spirit of the original Ataru.

The BBC dub wasn’t a great success though, they only dubbed the first 3 episodes and their definition of ‘translation’ was very very loose. In the great British tradition of dubbing foreign shows such as The Magic Roundabout and Monkey, the script was largely thrown out the window and they seemed to more or less make it up as they went along. They added in references to stuff like Pokemon, Millwall Football Club and The Archers, what they produced was actually quite amusing despite hardly being true to the source.

Judge for yourself:

This wasn’t the show’s only flirtation with British popular culture though. A lo-fi band, once described as the most indie band in the world by NME chose to call themselves Urusei Yatsura. They happen to be one of my favourites and I feel were criminally ignored with only one UK top 40 single to show for their efforts.

Click on this picture for the song they did a Peel session for and which is perhaps their greatest (also note the UY references in there):

Out of the ashes of that band 3 of the members have recently formed a new band, Projekt A-ko. Please give them a listen too.

Who would have thought a girl in a tiger striped bikini could have such a big effect on people?

The other day I was sitting on the couch watching random YouTube videos of old footballers (again). This time the old footballer in question was Gary Lineker.

While watching extracts from an interview he did with Diego Maradona, I was thinking about what a lovely guy Lineker seems to be and that surely it is impossible to dislike him. My house mate chose this moment to come up to me and say,

“Is that Gary Lineker? He’s a dick.”

I was kind of shocked at this declaration and when I pressed him on his dislike for Mr Lineker he refused to elaborate. I can only guess that he is allergic to crisps or something.

I would like to use this opportunity to go on record and say that I think Gary Lineker is lovely and I have nothing against him.

That said, I have noticed something strange.

Gary Lineker, England’s highest scorer at the World Cup finals, respected sports broadcaster and seller of crisps, only has one joke in the world. Over the course of about 15 years I have noticed him endlessly repeat this joke on just about every TV or radio show he has ever appeared on. Whether it’s a sport themed panel game, football highlights, being an interviewer or an interviewee, he just can get enough of it.

The joke refers to his time playing in Japan for Grampus Eight of the J-League (this is a Japan related blog after all). It goes a little bit like this:

When I was playing in Japan for Grampus Eight of the J-League, it was the only time I would come back for opposition corners. ‘Bring back the big man’ they used to say.

Gary Lineker is 5 ft 9 (1.77 m).

He was also a notorious goal hanger during his playing career.

I’m not saying that the joke isn’t mildly amusing but it is certainly not worth peddling ad infinitum for 15 odd years.

Gary Lineker please, get some new material!