Well it’s come around to that time again to try to select my top 10 songs for the past year. This is always a challenging task and this year is no exception. Unlike previous years, I’ve set some new rules for me this year, the first is to only choose one song from any one artist or album. This goes against previous years when I’ve selected two songs from Thundamentals and Baker Boy last year, L-Fresh the Lion who had 3 songs and Horrorshow with 2 songs in 2016 and Hermitude and Seth Sentry who each got 2 songs in 2015.

This hasn’t made the selection process any harder as I could easily choose 10 songs from several albums released this year, namely I Love Songs by Thundamentals, Village Idiot by Rapaport and Nature by Paul Kelly, but it does recognise that there has been a heap of fantastic songs released by some of my favourite artists this year and I want to spread the love so to speak.

So, without further ado, my first selection for the Hottest 100 comes from Paul Kelly’s 24th studio album, Nature. I heard Paul Kelly referred to as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) recently by one of the announcers on Triple J, and I totally agree, although I could mount a strong argument for Nick Cave to have the same moniker. Paul Kelly has been a prolific songwriter for almost 40 years now and just keeps getting better and better. I could have picked any of the 12 songs on this album in my top 10, they are all brilliant, but I’ve settled on ‘A Bastard Like Me’. It is a song based on the life and times of Charles Perkins who wrote a book called A Bastard Like Me which Paul thought would be a great title for a song. It is another quintessential Aussie ballad by Paul Kelly and it’s a great song to commence my top 10.

Call me a stray or a dog every day
Call me a mongrel half breed
Mongrels are strong, so if you take me on
Watch out for a bastard like me …

… Everyday in the lucky country
Ive taken my licks, Ive kicked against the pricks
Oh try and stop a bastard like me.

From ‘A Bastard Like Me’ by Paul Kelly

The second song for my Top 10 comes from The John Butler Trio who released their 7th studio album in 2018 called ‘Home’. I have been a big fan of JBT for almost 20 years now and I was privileged to see them play live with Midnight Oil last year and look forward to seeing them play at WOMAD in March next year. I was close to selecting ‘Tahitian Blue’ or ‘Just Call’ or ‘Tell me Why’ but I have selected ‘Home’, the title track from the album. The sound of this song is a bit different from what we may expect from John Butler but the meaning and emotion in the song is testament to the John Butler music which I love and I love the following verse …

Regret the choices I’ve made
But I’m too selfish to change
Filling this bottomless hole
And it’s corroding my soul
Deeper and deeper
I dig into madness
This hole in the bucket
It only brings sadness
And running from demons
While chasing the angels
And every web I weave gets tangled
I wanna go

From ‘Home’ by John Butler Trio

Whilst my first two songs have come from artists Ive loved for many years, the next song to make my Top 10 is from an artist I first saw perform a couple of years ago touring with Urthboy. I was spellbound by her performance and been looking forward to hearing what she produces. She is one the newest artists on the Elefant Traks label and she released her debut EP this year called ‘The Wave’. My next song for my Top 10 is 20/20 by Okenyo. This is a great song about regrets for past choices but also the joy of memory of what was shared. The music video for this song is pretty cool too.

I was also privileged to hear Okenyo talk at the Elefant in the Room show in Melbourne in November, her talk gave me further insight into her personality and what drives her as an artist. Okenyo is an amazing talent and I look forward to finding out what she has in store for us in the future.

My next song for the Top 10 is also from a new artist on the Elefants Traks label, B Wise. B released his first full album in 2018 called Area Famous and I have selected the song ‘The Key’ from it. This is the second B Wise song to make my top 10 for the Hottest 100, the first was Smile from his EP called Semi Pro in 2016. He also featured along with Omar Musa on the Horrorshow track ‘Right Here’ which also made my Top 10 in 2017. Whilst I love the song ‘Feel Something’ I have selected ‘The Key’ which has a bit of an RnB jazzy groove and some great lines, such as …

The world is like a dog and best believe that we the cat
If you feelin’ isolated, a loner even, try
A little bit of love will be the key and that’s a fact

From ‘The Key’ by B Wise

Joyride has featured on many of my favourite songs by other artists and I have been keen to hear him release his own music for some time. He finally released his debut album, Sunrise Chaser this year and it was well and truly worth the wait. Joyride did release some tracks from the album in 2017, one of which ‘Aunty Tracey’s Cookies’ made my Top 10 last year. The album is full of great songs and has been on high rotation since its release however two songs battled it out for my Top 10, ‘6am’ and ‘Blue Batmans’. I eventually landed on 6am, it’s a fun song that reminds me of being out all night which is something I haven’t done for many years.

Joyride is another great talent with an amazing voice and stage presence and he was hilarious when he did his talk at the Elefant in the Room show. I’m looking forward to seeing him play live again in March next year.

One of my favourite albums this year was Village Idiot by Rapaport. Rapaport is also one of the co-founders of Big Village Records and he is also the creator and director of the improvised hip hop and art theatre show, Sketch the Rhyme. I saw Sketch the Rhyme at the Adelaide Fringe Festival several years ago and it was brilliant. Village Idiot is Rapaport’s second solo album following Laughing on the Inside which was released in 2009.

Selecting my favourite song from this album for inclusion in my Top 10 was a real challenge as every song is a banger. The album also reveals Rapaports vulnerabilities, tenderness and lessons learnt while trying to be an emcee as well as the Managing Director of Big Village Records.

I have decided to select ‘Microphone Check’, the opening track for the album for my Top 10. Whilst other songs have more meaning and emotion I just love this song for its energy, it excites me and is a great welcome to the album.

The last song from an album released in 2018 for my Top 10 comes from the ‘I Love Songs’ album by Thundamentals, this is their 5th studio album and is an absolute cracker. I love the concept of the album, Tuka, one of the members of Thudamentals explained it like this; “Everyone knows how f**ked we are politically, and Thundamentals have been banging on about it for ten years. We just wanted to write love songs instead, ones that would actually make people feel calm and connect with people around them.”

Every song on this album is a banger and I have considered selecting many of them but I have decided to land on ‘I Miss You’. This song is about the isolating nature of social media despite social media making us apparently more connected. We all portray ourselves differently online and have a friend list full of people we don’t really know but have crossed paths somewhere in our lives and yet we form our opinions on these people based on what they post online. Social media has its place and is neither good nor bad, but real connection and relationships can only occur face to face. ‘I Miss You’ is a song I think we can all relate too.

My next song is by Omar Musa, ‘Since Ali Died’. It is the title track from his album of the same name that only just made the cut for the 2018 Hottest 100 as it was released on 1 December 2017. Omar is one of my favourite artists, author and poet. Since Ali Died is a very personal song depicting the influence Mohammed Ali has had on him as a role model during his life. It’s a very moving song and ends with the following verse …

You know that Mohammed Ali made the shortest poem in the English language
It simply reads; Me We.
And that’s where the alchemy is
That briefly allows us to see the truth
That’s what art is
A filament in the darkness connecting me to you
Me We.

From ‘Since Ali Died’ by Omar Musa

The next two songs in my top ten were not on any albums. The first song is The Herd’s Triple J Like a Version of ‘Bodies’, a song originally by Wafia. This is a powerful track about Wafia’s family’s struggles as refugees. The Herd played this song in November with the help of some of the ET family, especially Okenyo, along with their seminal track 77% which unfortunately is just as relevant today as it was when it was released in 2003. This particular week in November was one of my highlights of the year as I was in Melbourne celebrating the 20th Birthday of Elefant Traks and attended several gigs during the week. Having The Herd doing the Like a Version was a great start to the Friday which culminating is seeing many of the ET family on stage at the Corner Hotel. The Herd are my favourite band and I couldn’t not includethem in my top ten.

The last song for my Top Ten, and my Number 1 for the year is Bakers Boy’s ‘Mr La Di Da Di’. It’s a great fun song with an important message that there is more to life than money. I also love hearing Baker Boy rap in his Yolŋu Matha language. I first saw Baker Boy live at the Yothu Yindi Treaty Project gig (along with The Herd) at the Enmore Theatre in January this year and was lucky enough to see him again at Womad in March this year. I believe he is one of the most important up and coming artists in Australia and I hope he releases an album soon. He has yet to release an album however he already has three songs that have made my top ten in 2017 and 2018 combined with Marryuna making it to number 17 in the Hottest 100 last year and Cloud 9 made number 76. I’d love to see ‘Mr La Di Da Di’ make it this year as well his track ‘Black Magic’ which is also eligible this year.

2018 Hottest 100 Top Ten

  1. Paul Kelly – A Bastard Like Me
  2. John Butler Trio – Home
  3. Okenyo – 20/20
  4. B-Wise – The Key
  5. Joyride – 6am
  6. Rapaport – Microphone Check
  7. Thundamentals – I Miss You
  8. Omar Musa – Since Ali Died
  9. The Herd – Bodies
  10. Baker Boy – Mr La Di Da Di

 2017 Hottest 100 Top Ten

  1. Thundamentals – Ignorance Is Bliss
  2. Thundamentals – Everyone We Know
  3. Seth Sentry – Play it Safe
  4. L-Fresh the Lion – Our World
  5. Horrorshow – Eat the Cake
  6. Joyride – Aunty Traceys Cookies
  7. Baker Boy – Cloud 9
  8. Baker Boy – Marryuna
  9. Bliss n Eso – Moments
  10. Jimblah – My Island Home

 2016 Hottest 100 Top Ten

  1. AB Original – January 26
  2. B-Wise – Smile
  3. L-Fresh the Lion – 1 in 100,000
  4. L-Fresh the Lion – Takeover
  5. L-Fresh the Lion – Get Mine
  6. Horrorshow – Right Here
  7. Horrorshow – Push
  8. Omar Musa – Lak$a
  9. Omar Musa – Razors Edge
  10. Mirrah – So Right

 2015 Hottest 100 Top Ten

  1. Jimblah – Treaty 2015
  2. Tuka – My Star
  3. Hermitude – Through the Roof
  4. Hermitude – The Buzz
  5. Horrorshow – Any Other Name
  6. Seth Sentry – Dumb
  7. Seth Sentry – Run
  8. Briggs – The Children Came Back
  9. Chance Waters – Break of Dawn
  10. L-Fresh the Lion – Get Mine