A Year In Summary - 2012, Part 1: My favourite songs

With 2012 rapidly drawing to a close, The Professor casts his mind back and picks out some of the highlights of the year. Songs, albums, artists ... it's all here. A big THANK YOU to anybody / everybody who has read my blog this year and I hope to make 2013 an even brighter better place for us die-hard music fans. Watch this space! Salud!

2012 was the year that Spin Media (in their infinite wisdom) declared the album to be a dead format. They really should have told that to the thousands of artists planning to release a record in 2013 because, you know, apparently nobody wants them to. Underneath that very trite statement there is a small nugget of truth: not all great songs come from uniformly great albums. Sometimes an album (or even a band) will only be remembered for one particularly outstanding track. Here I have compiled five stand out tracks from this year's crop of offerings that continue to tickle my fancy.

#5: Muse – 'Survival' (from the album The 2^nd Law)

I find it hard to put a finger on exactly why Muse's latest album just clicked with me when The Resistance left me feeling so underwhelmed. Whatever they did I just can't get enough of their wacky 21^st century nonsense. When picking a “best song” from The 2^nd Law my gut feeling was the outrageously funky 'Panic Station' but my mind said 'Survival'. After all it was featured in the freaking Olympics, how much more epic could you want? The campy piano intro gives way to Bellamy's sky-shattering falsetto, furious guitar solos, and the ever living spirit of Queen guiding it to an epic climax.

#4: The Dø – 'Tightrope'

In 2010, Janelle Monae, Queen of the future-pop revolution, delighted with her debut full-length The Archandroid. It ran the gamut from R&B, to rockabilly, to score, to soul, and more. Enter French/Finnish indie rock duo The Dø. They took the (relatively) normal 'Tightrope', stripped it of its futuristic P-Funk agenda and warped it into a brain-bending prog rock anthem for the ages. From sweet and sultry beginnings to the chaotic free jazz breakdown in the middle, 'Tightrope' is well enough to give you goosebumps.

#3: Diablo Swing Orchestra – 'Honey Trap Aftermath' (from the album Pandora's Piñata)

I can still scarcely believe that I didn't know about the latest album from Diablo Swing Orchestra until it landed in my lap. A few years back I fell instantly and madly in love with these Swedish carnival metallers on their Sing-Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious album. Pandora's Piñata contains just the right blend of groovy hard rock, ripping solos, swing beats, and operatic vocals but the real treasure on the album is 'Honey Trap Aftermath'. Against all odds it is an unironic pop song from a fairly ironic bunch. Are they “selling out”? Goodness no – just proving that they can out-write any piece of top 40 flim-flam you care to name AND rock the fuck out.

#2: The Black Keys & RZA – 'The Baddest Man Alive' (from The Man With The Iron Fists Soundtrack)

How far The Black Keys have come from playing dive bars in Akron, Ohio and forever being compared to The White Stripes (because of the names, you see). Now they are selling out arenas across the world and making some formidable friendships in the world of hip-hop. 'The Baddest Man Alive' is the natural extension of these two polarizing personalities. The Keys hold down a groovy base and a loping hook while Wu-Tang legend RZA does his thing with flair. Every line is a violent or hilarious boast to paint himself as the titular baddest man alive. My personal favourite? “I date rape Beauty right in front of the Beast”. Yep, he went there.

#1: Gorillaz – 'Do Ya Thing'

It was a sad day for the professor when in February this year Gorillaz packed up their toys and called it a day. The magical pop outfit were (and had been) one of modern music's hottest properties for over a decade and their ever evolving pastiche pop never ceased to delight. We can be comforted by Damon Albarn's “never say never” attitude towards their future but for now the chips are down. Think of 'Do Ya Thing', their most recent / potentially last ever single, as a kiss off to the faithful and what a spectacle it is. Albarn is joined on vocals by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and the irrepressible Andre 3000 all in the name of promoting Converse shoes. Of the two guest vocalists, it is Andre 3000 who knocks this song out of the park with his deliciously loose verses and wall-to-wall charisma. Want even more Andre for your buck? Then try the absolutely mental 13 minute version where he proclaims to be “the shit” in various ways for minutes on end. Do ya damn thang do ya thang ya thang, indeed