Music

Best London gigs of 2007 | Top ten albums of 2007 | Top ten jazz, folk and world albums of 2007

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Top ten tracks of 2007
The cuts that made the cut

Scroobius Pip and Dan Le Sac © Nick Ballon

1 Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip
‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ (Lex)
Unconventionally funky spoken-word masterpiece from the most charming live duo of the year – and former Time Out On The Up stars – sets the moral agenda for 2008.
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2 The White Stripes
‘Icky Thump’ (XL)
One of the strangest, yet best, things the Stripes have ever recorded, with a guitar as big as all outdoors and – ahem – a computerised bagpipe. Over to you, Led Zeppelin.
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3 Plastic Little
‘Crambodia’ (Virgin)
Booty-centric hip hop brilliance from this Philadelphia crew – protégés of Spank Rock and Virgin’s most promising new signing in ages.

Battles © Timothy Saccenti

4 Battles
‘Atlas’ (Warp)
Math-rock juggernaut which dragged the punks screaming onto the dancefloor and gave us a glimpse of what glam rock will sound like in 3010. Not bad, as it happens.

5 Estelle
‘Wait A Minute (Just A Touch)’ (Warner)
Rayon-slick production and understated delivery from the returning star of ‘1980’ made old-fashioned chastity seem almost appealing. Almost.

6 MIA
‘Paper Planes’ (XL)
Easily MIA’s most radio-friendly tune so far – well, apart from all of those scary gunshot samples and lyrics about robbing people.

7 Dizzee Rascal
‘Flex’ (XL)
A club banger from the UK’s premier, yet seemingly chart-unfriendly MC-producer empowers the sisters by dropping a hyper-speed paean to the power of ass.

8 Arctic Monkeys
‘Brianstorm’ (Domino)
The omnipresence of the Monkeys’ radio monster belied its dark, quite-challenging-actually quirkiness. We can’t excuse the awful title, though.

9 Rihanna
‘Umbrella’ (Mercury)
Inescapable, unforgettable power-anthem from the beluga-headed R&B megastar. It was also the perfect soundtrack to a summer that never was. We hope she’s back next year with ‘Suntan’.

10 Paula Rae Gibson
‘We Blow It Every Time’ (33 Jazz)
The Nico of understated electric piano jazz laments the failure of… well, everything, in a downbeat song that’s up there with PJ Harvey’s recent collection for melancholy.