NUMBERS 50 – 41: HERE.
NUMBERS 40 – 31: HERE.

Because I’ve definitely missed out on a lot of blogging opportunities due to life getting in the way in 2009, I missed out on sharing the wonder of the Fagget Fairys with you. Introduced to me by my darling friend and editor Clare Dickins earlier this year, the brilliant thing about this alarmingly named, Copenhagen-based female two-piece is that their song lyrics are sung in a mixture of English and Ex-Yugoslavian. Think Peaches for the Eastern Block. Album highlights are “Roll The Dice” and the stunning “Oci”, which, when translated, comes to light as being quite the L-Word-Romper.

And this is how you make a pop star on reality television ladies and gentlemen! On this, The X-Factor 2008’s winners debut album, Burke manages to do in three minutes what, perhaps, Jessica Mauboy’s been trying to do for the last 12 months. Lead single (featuring Flo Rida in the years best rent-a-rapper moment) “Bad Boys” could be a big hit here in Australia if it was pushed, whilst next single “Broken Heels” (where, I  swear to God, it sounds like she says “ladies take the biggest cock” in one of the verses) and the incredibly sultry “All Night Long” prove to be Overcome’s highpoints. Other moments of interest include the hilarious “Dumb”, and the Stevens-esque “Nothing But The Girl.” Even the ballads (Hallelujah not withstanding) are easy to digest!

Everyone fizzed from the slit this year over that David Guetta album, but the real crossover Superstar DJ album of the year goes, hands down, to Tiesto who, on Kaleidoscope, finally found the crossover happy medium between dance music that sounds like pop music, and pop music that sounds like dance music. If you’re a dance purist that thinks he’s sold out, take a listen to the album first and then decide. You simply cannot overlook the haunting drama of his Tegan & Sara collaboration, “Feel It In My Bones”, the Nelly Furtado jam “Who Wants To Be Alone”, or that spikey Sneaky Sound System one; “I Will Be Here.”

The infamous Queen of Smut, Peaches teams up with Digitalism, Soulwax, Simian Mobile Disco and Drums of Death on a production level for this, her fifth studio album. Abrasive electroclash beats melded together with elements of hip-hop, this is easily her best album since 2000’s debut, The Teaches Of Peaches. The incredible “Lose You” is by far the greatest (and sweetest) moment in her discography.

Natasha Khan’s sophomore long player cements her place within pop cultures history books quite firmly. From start to finish, Two Suns is a record of properly epic proportions. The album, described by Khan as being a collection of songs which explore “dualities on a number of levels – two lovers, two planets, two sides of a personality,” spawned two of the years most beautiful songs; “Daniel” and “Pearl’s Dream.”

Lily’s long awaited follow up to her debut, Alright, Still is a nicely polished, intelligently put together pop record from one of the genre’s biggest hopes. On this, her sophomore album, Allen discusses everything from drugs, to George Bush, broken friendships and premature ejaculation. A truly remarkable selection of tracks from start to finish that fought it out with five other albums this year to make the Top 20.

After the success of their 2007 debut, Attack Decay Sustain Release, it’s nice to see SMD have upped the ante on this, their much sought after follow up. There’s definitely a lot more pop on this record than their previous, but it’s all danceable. ‘Cream Dream’ sounds like it’s been ripped straight out of the Cliff Richard 80’s Songbook and remixed for the disco (ie: Amazing), and first single ‘Audacity Of Huge’ is a cheeky palate of brilliance, one which name drops Tammy Faye Baker (!!!!!!!!) of all people. Everything really takes off though with the Beth Ditto vocal ‘Cruel Intentions’, which is one of the greatest tracks to come from The Disco over the years. Other clever vocal-cum-dancefloor moments through the record include the smashing ‘Off The Map’, and the funky-and-very-Hot-Chip ‘Bad Blood’ (featuring he of the Hot Chip himself; Alexis Taylor). However, ‘Turn Up The Dial’ gives Temporary Pleasure its first (and only) dud moment; Skip, skip, skip. Floorfillers without a vocal punch also take up a bit of space on the record, with ‘Ambulance’ and bonus track ‘Are You In The Picture’ doing exactly for Temporary Pleasure what ‘Wooden’ and ‘Sleep Deprivation’ did for their first record; this is an exceptional follow-up by a force who – if they play their cards right – could be around for many years to come.

Did you know that the artwork for this album, when looked at directly in full size, actually moves?! It’s like one of those old school 3D Magic books or something! Anyway, this record = quite good. “My Girls” and “Summertime Clothes” being the Collective’s best moments to date on this, their most enjoyable album thus far.

What the hell happened here?! Frankmusik’s debut album should have propelled him to the heights he oh-so-deserves but, instead, he seems to be hanging around the Dumper of late. Perhaps the closest thing we’ll get to being this years ‘Come & Get It’ (not just music wise, it would seem, but commercially so as well) Complete Me came, er, complete, with top-notch pop and dance floor ditties like “In Step”, “Better Off As 2″, “Gotta Boyfriend?”, “When You’re Around”, “Time Will Tell”, and my favourite; the stunning “Vacant Heart.”

Although My Guilty Pleasure wasn’t as powerful as Shapiro’s 2007 debut Disco Romance, it’s still one of the most interesting and creative records of the year. Combining a mixture of Italo-disco, eurodance and Swedish pop, My Guilty Pleasure proved to be anything but very quickly – “Love In July” is subtly explosive, “Save Your Love” is an absolute joygasm of pop, and album favourite “My Fantasy” does its best fusing sounds from her debut album and incorporating it into the new. Nothing guilty about this pleasure.

NUMBERS 50 – 41: HERE.
NUMBERS 40 – 31: HERE.