1 Wire - 'One Of Us' (from Let's Sexy Fighting) With the release of their 1977 debut Pink Flag, Wire showed themselves to be post-punk before punk had even arrived itself. Then they were four furious young men full of spit and fire. Today ... well ... there's still four of them. New album Object 47 is out in July.
2 Urinals - 'Hologram' (from Said the Gramophone) What we hoped 'One of Us' would sound like - a poor recording, simultaneously amateurish and compelling. The Urinals (like Wire, a two-chord seventies post-punk band who've reformed recently) knew how to make scruffy sound sexy.
3 Natalie Portman's Shaved Head - 'Iceage Babeland' (from Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits) Stupid name, stupid lyrics ("Keep it strictly on the dancefloor, otherwise what's your booty for?"), clever CSS-meets-Kraftwerk groove.
4 Dizzee Rascal ft. Calvin Harris and Chrome - 'Dance Wiv Me' (from First up!) Less street, more weak. Less grit, more ... well let's not get rude. Let's just say this soggy disco mess should never have happened.
N.B. It's not the full track and, to be honest, that's something of a blessing. Though you may disagree...
5 The Kooks - No Longer (from I Guess I'm Floating) The only thing scarier then the words "Kooks B-side" is the realisation that said B-side is actually quite good. At the end they do the same multiple vocals thing as they did on their big hit Naïve. It's a simple trick and it's still working.
