BRINGING SEXY BACK

Ah, autumn in BA, a great season (my favorite) to be single and in love with great singles. There's nothing like a solid, cohesive long player (coming some day: a mega-post on my all-time favorite albums), but as a child of the 1980s, that decade of great one-hit wonders, I've always had a soft spot for singles, both throwaway and timeless. Three months in, 2009 has already produced a number of standouts. Here are my favorites so far.

"Love Etc." Pet Shop Boys Just when I wasn't sure if I even care anymore, PSB reel me back in with an anthemic electro ode to life, liberty and the pursuit of carnal pleasures.

"Zero" Yeah Yeah Yeahs "So get your leather leather leather on on on on on," Karen O demands over a gurgling chainsaw synth groove. For you, Miss O, anything.

"Diva" Beyoncé Totally un-diva-like. After years of not trying, Beyoncé finally strays from her comfort zone with an utterly successful bid for street cred.

"Not Fair" Lily Allen It takes guts to record a country-tinged stomper about a guy who sucks in the sack (pun intended) and even more to release it as a single. Goddess bless Lily Allen!

"Shining Light" Annie Lennox After years of hand-me-the-Prozac-please chamber pop, it's nice to have Annie creating uplifting commercial music again.

"Last Of The English Roses" Pete Doherty Quite unlike anything else in regular rotation on my personal playlist right now, my new hero Pete (shirtless, above) performs with a vaguely melancholy swagger, like he may have recorded the song mid-bender. Pass the pint and check out the video below. (Is that Pete kissing a guy at the end? One word: Wow!)