inthemix | Music News | Various Artists - Triple J's Hottest 100 vol. 15

Writing a favourable review for a Hottest 100 compilation is a given. It’s a 15 year tradition that has provided an excellent cross-section of musical tastes for those who like their music a little left of centre. With the rise of the indie-electronic cross-genre band (think Bloc Party, Klaxons and The Presets who all feature), we have seen an increasing presence of electronic selections in Triple J’s yearly package.

Number 1 spot goes to Muse for their hit Knights of Cydonia which was followed very closely by home-grown favourites Silverchair with the well-received come back single White Lines. The inclusion of the slightly obscure I’ll Kill Her by France’s SoKo shows the impact of Triple J on the Australian populous. This is a song which has largely only charted in any form in Denmark, yet it reached #7 thanks only to Triple J’s play lists.

Faker’s success in Australia is due to the radio thrashings of their original track working in tandem with the slew of solid remixes in the club scene, but all of them based around the catchy and head-bobbing single This Heart Attack. While Faker’s style leans more toward their hugely successful countrymen Kaiser Chiefs, whose Ruby single makes a well-deserved appearance on the disc, new kids on the block The Fratellis echo the raw rock energy of Arctic Monkeys with Chelsea Dagger.

Triple J’s strong ideology regarding the promotion of Australian music comes through on this double disc. Festival favourites Cut Copy come in with Hearts on Fire, the first single off their new album and one that has seen them successfully position themselves as a tour de force on the world-wide scene. Avant-garde darlings Architecture in Helsinki put ragga, pop and a conga line into a mixing pot and blend it all together to come up with Heart It Races, which has received significant commercial success despite its non-commercial base. The Midnight Juggernauts’ and Muscles big singles of 2007, Into The Galaxy and Ice Cream respectively, are expected inclusions and foreshadow huge tours ahead of these Aussie success stories.

Pogo and D.A.N.C.E. were arguably the two biggest club hits last year in Australia, or in Sydney at least, and have seen Digitalism and Justice been lauded as dance music saviors and Daft Punk imitators in equal measure. Speaking of which, Daft Punk’s return to the scene due largely to the release of a song from a hip-hop artist, is personified in their own remix of their 1999 song Harder Faster Better Stronger, and has no doubt seen the cash-cow mooing all the way to the bank. Hip-hop is represented by local artists and Triple J favourites The Hilltop Hoods as well as the saviour of commercially accessible hip-hop Lupe Fiasco with the oh-so-smooth Superstar.

This double-disc is so jammed with goodies, I could write an essay on each track. It has the beauty of including tracks you know from genres that you usually stick with, coupled with gems that you might not find so familiar but upon listening you realise that it is all, quite simple, good music. Kudos to Triple J for continually educating Australia about artists from its own shore and from around the globe.

Check out the tracklisting…

1. Muse – Knights Of Cydonia
2. Daft Punk – Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive 2007 Radio Version)
3. The John Butler Trio – Better Than
4. Kings Of Leon – On Call
5. Soko – I’ll Kill Her
6. Faker – This Heart Attack
7. Bluejuice – Vitriol
8. Bloc Party – Hunting For Witches
9. Gyroscope – Snakeskin
10. Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby
11. Architecture In Helsinki – Heart It Races
12. The Chemical Brothers – The Salmon
13. Modest Mouse – Dashboard
14. The Beautiful Girls – I Thought About You
15. Midnight Juggernauts – Into The Galaxy
16. M.I.A. – Paper Planes
17. Angus & Julia Stone – Wasted
18. Cold War Kids – Hang Me Up To Dry
19. The Fratellis – Chelsea Dagger
20. Digitalism – Pogo
21. Foo Fighters – The Pretender

Disk 2
1. Silverchair – Straight Lines
2. The Presets – My People
3. Urthboy – We Get Around
4. The Wombats – Let’s Dance To Joy Division
5. Operator Please – Just A Song About Ping Pong
6. The Panics – Don’t Fight It
7. Arcade Fire – No Cars Go
8. Klaxons – Golden Skans
9. British India – Tie Up My Hands
10. Tegan And Sara – Back In Your Head
11. Muscles – Ice Cream
12. The Cat Empire – So Many Nights
13. Kisschasy – Opinions Won’t Keep You Warm At Night
14. Justice – D.A.N.C.E.
15. Lupe Fiasco – Superstar (Featuring Matthew Santos)
16. Radiohead – Jigsaw Falling Into Place
17. Missy Higgins – Peachy
18. Josh Pyke – Lines On Palms
19. Cut Copy – Hearts On Fire
20. Hilltop Hoods – Recapturing The Vibe Restrung
21. Cog – What If
22. Pnau – Wild Strawberries