Song of the Day - Back and Forth

Operator Please - Back and Forth

Album: Gloves (2010)

Are Operator Please the most overlooked band of the year? Did they even get any nominations for this year's ARIA Awards? Their second album, Gloves, is one of the finest pieces of indie/pop you could hear this year... and you should! 'Like Magic,' 'Logic,' 'Volcanic' and today's Song of the Day, 'Back and Forth,' are all favourites and worth tracking down.

Top 20 - 3 October, 2010

1. The Heavy - How You Like Me Now?

2. Mark Ronson & The Business Intl - Somebody To Love Me
3. The Good Natured - Your Body Is A Machine
4. The Verses - Want Everything
5. Kanye West ft. Pusha T - Runaway
6. Eddie Vedder - Better Days
7. Sara Bareilles - Breathe Again (NEW)

8. Belle & Sebastian ft. Norah Jones - Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
9. Selebrities - Time
10. Blaqstarr ft. M.I.A - Lemme Hump You
11. Pete Yorn - Velcro Shoes
12. Matt Walters ft. Washington - I Would Die For You
13. Ting Tings - Hands
14. Grinderman - Heathen Child
15. Ou Est Le Swimming Pool - Dance The Way I Feel
16. Robyn - Indestructable
17. Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love
18. Brooke Fraser - Something In The Water (NEW)

19. Kimbra - Plain Gold Ring (NEW)

20. Egyptian Hip Hop - Rad Pitt

Song of the Day - The Story

Brandi Carlile - The Story

I love Brandi Carlile's voice. The way that she can use it to display pratically every emotion in less than four minutes is beyond impressive. She can also use it to slip into whatever genre she wants. 'The Story' comes off as some alt-rock/country/grunge/pop hybrid of awesomeness. Wait until her voice cracks around 2:54, it's one of the coolest things you're likely to hear.... ever. Enjoy!

Song of the Day - Rich Kids

Innovative and talented female artists, thy home is Australia. Over the past five years we've seen Missy Higgins, Sarah Blasko, Sia, Lisa Mitchell, Kate Miller-Heidke and now (Megan) Washington rise to the top with some amazing music. Washington could very well pull off an upset at the ARIA Awards later this month, where she's nominated for 6 awards, including Album and Song of the Year and Best Female Artist.

'Rich Kids' was the first single released from Washington's incredible debut album, I Believe You Liar, which comes highly recommended from the good people here at It's My Kind of Scene aka me. If you haven't had a chance to see Megan live, she's currently on a massive national tour which includes the Parklife festival (on now), Falls Festival and Sunset Sounds Festival next year. Don't be surprised if Washington ends up on the Big Day Out line up as well.

New Music - Battle of the RnB Babes

No, I'm not Nicki Minaj. I'm Ciara.

Ciara ft. The Dream - Speechless

Upon her debut, Ciara seemed destined for greatness. She went straight to #1 with 'Goodies' and had us all doing the '1, 2 Step' on her follow up. Subsequent releases have differed in quality, but she's dropped a couple of fun singles ('Get Up' and 'Work) that somehow failed to match the success of her first two songs. On October 5 Ciara will be releasing her fourth studio album, Basic Instinct, and is starting to gain some buzz with the music video to new song 'Speechless.' Unfortunately she's not showing off her incredible flexibility (see 'Love, Sex, Magic) but she still looks amazing. What about the song? It's pretty standard RnB and nothing special. Hopefully there's some glimmers of what made her a huge star in the first place on the new album. By that, I mean that I want some sick crunking beats that make you want to dance crazy. Not that I dance crazy.

Rating: 2/5

Jennifer Lopez ft. The Dream & Rick Ross - We Run The World

Honestly, I still thought I was listening to 'Speechless.' Did The Dream produce this one too? Maybe that's the problem. Where's Jenny from the Block at? Sadly, not here and again, it's just standard RnB fare that a lot of the ladies are releasing today. Luckily, Lopez doesn't even need to release music now that's she's pocketing a cool $12 million to judge Idol this year.

Rating: 1.5/5

Nicki Minaj - Right Thru Me

What was with everyone hailing Minaj as the second coming of Missy Elliott? Sure, she tore up 'Monster' alongside Kanye and Jay-Z. I'd go so far as to say she stole the show. But there's no sign of a rising rap star here. She's a capable hip-hop/RnB/rap star and has a ton of potential, but when she's releasing songs like this it's hard to differentiate her from the dozens of other young RnB stars.

Rating: 2/5

Brandy - Lifeguard

'Lifeguard' is far and away the best song in this bunch. It's also likely to be the least likely to gain any attention. Even though she's one of the biggest RnB stars of all-time (30 million albums sold worldwide), Brandy's struggled to achieve the success she had in the 90s. She might get some chart loving in the US since she's on Dancing With the Stars, and if she wins it she might even get a sales boost. Here's hoping.

Rating: 3/5

It's been a slow week for new music, ok.

Song of the Day - Goodbye Mickey Finn

Something With Numbers - Goodbye Mickey Finn

Album: Perfect Distraction (2006)

I often wonder why 'Goodbye Mickie Finn' was so overlooked when it was released in 2007. You'd think a song like this would send an emerging band to fame and major chart success. Alas, this wasn't the case for Aussie rockers Something With Numbers. Sometimes good music just gets brushed aside in favour of Hinder's 'Lips of an Angel' (#5, 2007 ARIA end of year chart) or Good Charlotte's 'Keep Your Hands Off My Girl' (#37, 2007 ARIA end of year chart). 2007 sucked hard for pop music. Definitely one of my favourite songs of the past decade, I hope you enjoy 'Goodbye Mickey Finn' as much as I do.