101-RYAN ADAMS
Wildest Dreams
(Pax Americana)
As it is tradition, we begin the annual recap of our favourite 100 songs with the mythical 101 position, reserved for the rarity or guilty pleasure which didn’t make our list but it’s still worth mentioning. In 2014 Taylor Swift occupied this slot with the singles from her latest smash ‘1989″. one year later is Ryan Adams covering that same album in full. The legendary songwriter hit the headlines with this ordeal, claiming he would recreate the songs in the style of The Smiths. It all ended up rather sounding like Bruce Springsteen circa ‘Tunnel of Love’, which was not a bad thing either. The process brought us back the star at his most inspired for a decade. His cover of ‘Wildest Dreams’ was our standout.
Also tradition is to divide our 100 tracks of the year selection in four manageable parts. The first of which features nu grunge; British electronica revelations; a heir of French pop royalty; aussie showgazers; the return of Britpop greats; the Brazilian star from Wes Anderson films; an ex-Pipette; an R&B starlet flirting with Portishead and an African band remixed by two of Today’s biggest rap stars.
And our favourite songs of 2015 are: