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Falling Away From Bond Street - RIAA
Some giddy fun here. Burt Bacharach’s saucy horns under Jonathan Davis’s bizarro nu-metal-scat makes for one of the oddest, catchiest songs you’ll hear this year.
Bathroom Gurgle - Late Of The Pier
Seldom does one song deliver so much in structure alone. Bathroom Gurgle is a multi-part pop epic (can you tell I miss the 8-part songs of the Unicorns?) that jumps between a threatening swagger to a Meatloaf-y rock chorus and back likes it’s no big deal. Late Of The Pier finishes this song as only it could be finished: with prolonged falsetto howling.
Atlas - Battles
In interviews, Battles almost refers to Atlas as their evangelist, drawing the young kids to the shows where they can learn the true beauty of Battles: math-inspired rhythms, spidery guitars, and all. But truth be told, Atlas is the show-stopper on Mirrored, a 7-minute house-shaking tribal dance honoring some unseen Smurf God.
Phantom Pt. II - Justice
The two-part Phantom is Justice’s manifesto for their trademarked sound. Impossibly crisp synths dive and shake behind Michael Jackson string stings, forming a perfectly hip dance track. What’s odd is that even with all the effects and sonic glory, the track sounds great on terms of melody alone.
Tenderoni [Mstrkrft Remix] - Chromeo
Maybe I just like hearing synth with distortion on it, but I thought the rockier interpretation of Tenderoni was fantastic. Stripping out all of the 80s cheese (I’ll miss you, 80s cheese), the remixers turned this into a solid, powerful dance track that urges listeners to play the air-drums on their desk/dashboard.
All The Thugs I Know - The Carps
The Carps brought a unique sound this year: The nu-metal crunch, stuttering indie basslines, and heartfelt R&B vocals fit together into perfectly puzzling songs that still manage to rock rock rock.
Me & U (Siik Remix) - Cassie
Me & U was a great 2006 track, Crips was a great 2005 track by Disengage favorites Ratatat. Put them together, and you get something more than the sum of both parts.
Mother Knows Best - Crystal Castles
Mother Knows Best is one of those rare tracks that transcends its sound and scene (the rising 8-bit music community) and really becomes something scary and vital. Part of it might be Alice’s uncannily earnest vocals, part of it might be the intentional suppression of the “retro” vibe that infects the genre…either way, Mother Knows Best is a solid rock song made from, essentially, Nintendo parts and a girl yelling about herpes.
I Believe - Simian Mobile Disco
Almost as if in Justice’s shadow, SMD has put out remixes for years, and followed up the buzz this year with a full dance album. What’s surprising is their continued devotion to “old-school” electronic music; Simian Mobile Disco still eschews thick synth and guitars to deliver Orbital- and other 90s-style electronic hits. I Believe is a great example of a few pure sounds, a great intro, and a great melody coming together to make an instant classic.
Stars - Ulrich Schnauss
Structureless and drifting, Stars hardly has a place in a club or even workout mix, but it has a lure just the same. The dizzying ethereal quality behind the echoing vocals and wailing synths makes for a six-minute punch of wonder and nostalgia. At least, for me.
The Crystal Cat - Dan Deacon
Dan Deacon has quite a range on Spiderman Of The Rings - from the nearly-acoustic Pink Batman to the show-stopping chorus on Wham City - but the one that sticks with me is always Crystal Cat. Once that drum starts to accelerate, there’s always a huge rush of adrenaline: Oh boy! Here comes the rest of Crystal Cat!
Black Wave / Bad Vibrations - Arcade Fire
Something about the center of this song always knocks me down. “Nothing lasts forever, that’s the way it’s gotta be, there’s a big black wave in the middle of the sea.” What’s more final, more devastating and freeing than that?
Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem
It’s been a long road for James Murphy: from producing for math/metal band Six Finger Satellite to running a fanatically-followed dance label with the band’s lead singer…Someone Great has trademark Murphy aspects like a crisp, repeating sample that grows on you and too-smart-to-dance-to lyrics, but finally, the song moves past “cool” and actually sounds sincerely hurt and alone.
Beggin’ (Pilooski Edit) - Frankie Valli
It says something about the fantastic state of pop music when Pilooski can moderately edit a song from 40 years ago and release it to rock clubs all over Europe. The re-edit of Beggin’ builds tension wonderfully, and adds just the right amount of aggression to the backing music, resulting in a fantastic, weird relic.
Phantom Limb - The Shins
The new Shins album had four great songs and a bunch of stinkers, all marked by sub-par production choices (when compared to previous albums, at least). It was hard to choose, but I guess Phantom Limb was the one that I played the most this year.
Archangel - Burial
Just heard about this one recently, but I knew it was going on the list when I woke up at 5am humming it to myself. With a bare minimum of elements, anonymous artist Burial has done something amazing with Archangel, and I expect it’ll go on to match Massive Attack’s Angel as the “amazing terrifying sexy British song” in TV ads and movie previews.
Song 4 Mutya (Kissy Sell Out Remix) - Groove Armada
Okay, structurally, this is a mess. Still, Kiss Sell Out has a way with the keys that is beyond mere mortals, and the sparkling synth falling out of this track is like diamonds, DIAMONDS I SAY.
Paper Planes (Remix ft Bun B & Rich Boy) - MIA
Paper Planes is hands-down the best song made this year, and I think most people knew it the second they got to the chorus. Oddly, Bun B and Rich Boy actually improve on the track, adding some masterful and relevant rapping to the latter half of the track. Rich Boy actually pulls off my favorite rap moment of the year, setting up his entire cameo for one big payoff.
Killing In The Name Of SebastiAn - SebastiAn
French electronic artist’s re-edit of RATM’s Killing In The Name Of. This is little more than replacing some guitars with keys and adding in some computer voices, but good God, I can’t stop listening to it.
Heartbroken - T2 featuring Jodie Aysha
I always begin this track in a “maybe I’ll skip it” malaise, but that 14-second mark hits and then I have to listen all the way through. A nice example of how a single instrument can make or break a whole song.
Truck - The Octopus Project
Come on, this track is pure joy. DOOT DOOT DOO-DOOT, DOOT DOOT DOO-DOOT!
Can You Let Me Know - Lupe Fiasco
Whoever composed the backing track of this song, with it’s lurching piano and snare drums, is a goddam genius.
The Class Of 73 Bells - Prefuse 73
So what if Prefuse didn’t deliver on a full album this year? The single Class Of 73 Bells had the weirdest and most enthralling opening of any other track, easily.
Reckoner - Radiohead
The only In Rainbows track that gets immediate repeats, Reckoner is really quite unique in sound and melody. And. I just love it.
St. Vincent - Now. Now.
It is too late and I am too tired to accurately describe this wonderful, entirely surreal song. What initially sounds like a twee oddity evolves into a progressively smarter and sharper song, culminating in a riotous guitar solo and complete awesomeness.
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