Adrian Masters

The fourth guest Top Ten comes from arch-blogger and political activist Marcus Warner. In his day-job he’s caseworker for Plaid Cymru’s MEP, Jill Evans. But he’s as passionate about his music as his politics. You can read his blog here.

Kanye West - Monster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ona42jz8w0k&feature=player_embedded

No doubt the album will get into people’s top tens - but not my own. While the album was elongated to appear to be an opus (rather than just bloated with filler), Monster is everything and more. Aggressive, Sexy, weird with a noddable beat. But ultimately what makes the song is the star turns - Rick Ross smooth robochant, Kanye’s at his swagger-thon best, Jay-z sounding waspish and angry and Nicki Minaj delivering one of the most bonkers and best verses of the year.

These New Puritans - We want war

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIfKqgWPVvk
‘We want war’ is an epic march of other worldly swagger. It has a pulse that is hard to shake from your immediate memory and unfolds in front of you. The brass driven middle eight refocuses your listening experience - it also borrows heavily from the structure that dance songs normally take. It takes skill for indie rock bands to pull this off, These New Puritans have bags of it.

Crystal Castles - Baptism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rJOfQy8Fkg&feature=fvst

CC doing songs you can actually dance to with feeling and soul? Yes Please

Deftones - Diamond Eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qksTlo_1Tpw
Heavy, sexy, menacing and beautiful. A great band who wrote a song that throws everything about them into four minutes. Bear in mind this is a band who have been going nigh on two decades.

Flux Pavilion and Foreign Beggars - Lines in wax
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5hVIc6qC8k
Like a one song melting pot of everything exciting and new in dance music at the moment - dubstep, Mcs and electro.

Giggs - Look what the cat dragged in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIUL10qOeR8
Giggs is everything broken if you believe in ‘Broken Britain’. A former jailbird making gangster rap; probably the first UK gangster rapper to truly get mainstream success without dilution (or white people softening the image). The UK just found an original and dangerous voice just as it lost one (Dizzee Rascal) to pop music.

Mudmowth and Metabeats - Maad tight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JsLrmVZKEA
Swaggering hip hop made in Cardiff. The cartoonish underpinning to this song makes it a great party song.

Nedry - Apples and Pears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elnOS72Crr8
Proof that Portishead’s Dummy both inspires and curses UK trip hop, Nedry came out with an album that buried that burden. Dubstep influenced, distant female vocals and a lovely build and structure - Nedry might becoming to an advert near you.

Sage Francis - Little Houdini
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPifsXaLTYk
Think hip hop is all guns and bitches? Then you should be strapped down and made to listening to this. Story telling at it’s absolute best from one of hip hop’s most original artists.

Willo Wispa - Lollipop Lady’s Favourite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDXfiXNXEqE
Again produced by Cardiff Metabeats, songs like this should be in the charts. Fun, funky and a bit daft - but then most great pop songs are. Also the first song my oldest son recognises and sings back to.