1. California Wildfire – The Henry Clay Band – Alyson was raving about this song a coupla of weeks but I was less convinced. I don't much like his voice, for one thing. If you wanna be a Cali Springsteen, you really shouldn't whinge quite so much. But, it has the best Boss lift since Stickle's "born to die" in "we weren't born to run, we were born to stay here for the rest of our lives". Both lines are as true as "born to run".
2.Time Spent In Los Angeles – Dawes – Impressive stuff. They name check Conor Oberst but this is the new wave of Los Angeles soft rock.
3. Donald Trump – Mac Miller – I got this one wrong as well. The "ain't that some shit" hook creeped up on me.
4. Three Wishes – The Pierces – Aptly named weirdness from a chick band who sound like every chick Sarah McLachlan band you've ever hated having a nightmare and they can't wake up out of it.
5. 1+1 – Beyonce – So it was The-Dream who wrote it. If you listen to the demo here http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhdl2OIdEDbUqrfY2z it is obvious what Beyonce brought was a vocal she borrowed from Etta James and a cleaner, more angular production. It is still the song of the year and the moral is The-Dream should stop dicking around trying to be a rock star and write for other people nonstop.
6. Bang Bang Bang – Selena Gomez And The Scene
7. Pause – Pitbull – Great dance concoction -better than the one at the top of the charts right now.
8. If I Wanted Someone – Dawes – Harder hitting, piano based, blues lick but really pretty good.
9. Axel Rose – Art Brut – devolves into the Fall
10. I Go To Rio – Peter Allen