2013 Songs: 61-80

 

80. "Seven Days, Seven Nights" by The Fratellis (from We Need Medicine) 

"I see all of my dreams ragged and torn"

After "Flathead" and "Chelsea Dagger" appeared in half the commercials of 2007, Fratellis returned with an unloved sophomore album and then disappeared for a while. We Need Medicine shows that their own ragged and torn approach is still in fine form.  

79. "Somebody to Love" by Valerie June (from Pushin' Against a Stone)
"Did they tell you / there are plenty of fish in the sea / but you're drowning and cold / and you're feelin' empty"

The Black Keys didn't release any new music this year, but Dan Auerbach kept busy producing a handful of solid albums, including Tuareg guitarist Bombino, Hanni el Khatib (whose "Penny" just missed the list) and Valerie June's pseudo debut, a strong collection of rootsy blues songs. "The Hour" could have easily taken this spot as well.

78. "Backyard Skulls" by Frightened Rabbit (from Pedestrian Verse)
"Not deep enough to never be found"

This band from the fatherland remains one of the more consistent acts out there.

77. "Disappoint Your Teacher" by The Derevolutions (from Living in the Pop World)
"We don't care about the cold war"

So that happened. (youtube link)

76. "25 Bucks" by Danny Brown (from Old)
"Now I'm trapped in the trap  / and the devil ain't forgettin'"

With a little help from Purity Ring (more on her shortly), the heir to ODB's throne as rap's court jester seems secure, even if other tracks from Old like "Lonely" hint that there is more there there.

75. "I Won't Be Long" by Beck (single)
"We're covered in a secret"

Presumably an advance single off of the upcoming "companion piece" to career highlight Sea Change. The track also bears some similarities to 2012's awesome "Cities", which appeared only in the video game SoundShapes, causing us to miss it the first time around (it would have been top 3o).  

74. "Grammy" by Purity Ring (single)
<Soulja Boy cover>

Purity Ring put out a well-received album last year and hit number 99 on our list. She mostly took this year off and shows up twice, and her vocals on Jon Hopkins' "Breather This Air" didn't miss by much. (youtube link)

73. "For Once" by Ra Ra Riot (from Beta Love)
"And if I want to have it /  I could have gone and had it"

Catchy, but not a lot there from a band that once crafted a gem of a pop song about death. 

72. "Warm in Winter" by Glass Candy (from After Dark 2)
"I'm crazy like a monkey / happy like a new year"

Initially released in 2011 on a Glass Candy EP, the song received more attention when a revised mix appeared on the Italians Do It Better After Dark compilation. Great on a late night drive home (to relieve the babysitter).

71. "Cold Blooded" by Kid Cudi (from Indicud)

"Standing in a monsoon of cool / karma is my armor / was only scared of my father / beyond that I'm / cold"

After the rock mess that was WZRD, Cudi is back on more comfortable ground, even if his mixtape work with borrowed beats("All Talk", "Cudderisback", "All Summer", etc.) has generally been stronger than his album work.  

70. "Tiger Kit" by Sleigh Bells (from Bitter Rivals)

"Oh how sorry life is / like a Hollywood sequel"

You know what you get with Sleigh Bells, and it is all there on the cover of Bitter Rivals (maybe add a little blood on the shoes from the last album).

69. "Dream the Dare" by Pure Bathing Culture (from Moon Tides)

"Speak the words that read in your mind"

PBC's full-length debut delivered on the dreamy promise of last year's EP.  

68. "When a Fire Starts to Burn" by Disclosure (from Settle)

"Right?"

Our suggestion to use Disclosure's (consistently used) facial outline style on the 2013 family holiday card ... not viewed as constructive.

67. "Won't You Come Over" by Devendra Banhart (from Mala)

"Words unforgotten ‘til we sing again / start at the bottom, and then we descend"

This was our favorite Devendra Banhart song of the year, but "Hatchet Wound" had the far better chorus ("yeah, hatchet wound is driving me crazy / and a hatchet wound is truly amazing"). 

66. "Feel the Chill" by Blitzen Trapper (from VII)

"My lover lies down the hill/ she won't get up and she won't say nothing / but baby I fell the chill"

Blitzen Trapper: exactly the right amount of shit-kickery.

65. "To You" by Young Wonder (from Show Your Teeth EP)

"See you / see you in the next life"

As their SoundCloud page points out, these UK natives sound more like Scandinavian electropop than anything else, though with more bagpipes.

64. "#Beautiful" by Mariah Carey w/ Miguel (single)

"And I can't pretend that that doesn't mean a thing to me"

First, the hashtag in the title is incredibly lame and, thankfully, didn't seem to catch on as a thing. Next, we are as surprised as anyone to see Mariah Carey on this list. But the music is the music, and retro soul is a soft spot.

63. "At the Cashier's Station" by Jumbling Towers (from Jungle's Going to Be On My Mind)

"And would have had you pleading for / the renter's insurance that you shoved in Dustin's face"

A very serious-sounding song about walking all the way to the store but forgetting your wallet, featuring an even more random (and fairly lengthy) interlude about kicking Dustin out of the apartment because he doesn't like the countertops. Because why not?

62. "Like a Dream" by Francis and Lights (from Like a Dream EP)

"'Cause I'm ready for the big time / is it ready for me"

It is hard to hear the song without thinking of the sunlight drenched video also used for the album cover. If one has to Riverdance, we suppose doing perpetually at sunset through crops is a solid choice.

61. "I Need My Girl" by The National (from Trouble Will Find Me)

"I was a 45 percenter then"

It's hard to see The National this low on the list (Boxer was our #5 album of the last decade) but it says something when our favorite song by them this decade ("Exile Vilify") is from a video game.

2013 Songs: 81-100

Let's kick off the countdown of our favorite songs of the year. It was a good year for music, as is every year that isn't 1976. As before, the list is limited to one appearance per artist to maximize diversity. 

We've moved the playlist from Grooveshark to Spotify. The latter requires a Facebook or Spotify login (signing up is easy) but its access to tracks is far more stable and, you know, legal.

Song order in the playlist is descending, consistent with the below. Where songs are not available as of today (including two of 81-100), we've included a link to a safe location to stream. Enjoy.

 

100. "Idle in Kangaroo Court" by The Clash (from Sound System) 

"You've sold your time / but I still got mine"

From a musical standpoint, it is hard to claim that this outtake from the Combat Rock sessions is superior to many of the tracks that just missed this list. But for a Clash fan, hearing Strummer riff over steel drums is a perfect way to -- as the original title of the song suggests -- Kill Time. (youtube link).
 
99. "Gravity" by Surfer Blood (from Pythons)
"Half a world to cut and paste away"

In what will be a recurring theme of 90's influences on this year's list, "Gravity" is one of several tracks off of Surfer Bloods sophomore effort that is very Weezer-esque.

98. "No. 1 Party Anthem" by Arctic Monkeys (from AM)
"It's not like I'm falling in love / I just want you to do me no good / And you look like you could"

The booziest track from a strong album of throwback singles. Hard to believe Turner and Co. and five albums in already.

97. "We Are Explorers" by Cut Copy (from Free Your Mind)
"Just tell me you're fine"

A big step down in album art from Zonoscope.

96. "Team" by Lorde (from Pure Heroine)
"I'm kinda over being told to put my hands up in the air / So there"

Not that the Billboard charts mean much these days, but it is still an odd fact that Lorde (with "Royals") became the first female solo act to crack the top 10 of the Alternative list since 1999 (Fiona Apple).

95. "Marble Streets" by Hudson (from Undertow EP)
"So take my hand / and lose your feet"

While the track is a bit saccharine at the outset, the crispness of the back half is Pinback-level smooth. Also, this slot may be atonement for having 2011's superb "Against the Grain" WAY to low at #86.

94. "New You" by My Bloody Valentine (from m b v)
<MBV is best when lyrics are indecipherable>

When it takes 22 years to follow-up one of the most acclaimed Indie rock albums of all time, the output is likely to be overpraised or overpanned.  The former seems the case with m b v, but the album still had a couple tracks that reminded listeners why the loved Loveless. 
(youtube link)

93. "Maria de las Nieves" by Destroyer (from Five Spanish Songs EP)
"Sí, la fiesta terminó /¿o ni siquiera comenzó?"

El gran payaso de Los Nuevos Pornografos regresa con un disco de canciones en espanol y, como siempre, crea musica que vence sobre su propia voz. 

92. "As If It Would Have a Universal and Memorable Ending" by Shane Carruth (from Upstream Color)
<instrumental>

In a year where Eluvium released a double album, our favorite ambient track goes to filmmaker Shane Carruth who wrote, directed, edited, scored and starred in Upstream Color. It is one of our favorite films of the year, despite being yet another story of a couple that falls in love via a shared psychic connection with pigs after being hypnotized by an exotic flower toxin.

91. "Introspection" by MGMT (from MGMT)

<Faine Jaide cover>

MGMT continues to show little interested in recreating the pop excellence of Oracular Spectacular, but there are still gems among the weirdness.

90. "Brother Bryan" by Waxaharchee (from Cerulean Salt)

"We are only / 30% dead"

Katie Crutchfield leads off "Brother Bryan" admitting that she is "not well", and her confessional style throughout Cerulean Salt is reminiscent of favorites Cat Power and Neko Case.

89. "History Erasor" by Courtney Barnett (from A Sea of Split Peas)

"We laced the dairy river with the cream of sweet vermouth"

A stream-of-consciousness daydream a la early Dylan, sung by a lo-fi Aussie.  

88. "Tap Out" by The Strokes (from Comedown Machine)

"Don't ask question / 'cause I don't know why"

Comedown Machine is probably a stronger overall album than Angles, but the latter featured our #4 song of  2011 ("Under Cover of Darkness"), whereas the new album is perfectly pleasant but fails almost entirely to sound like The Strokes.

87. "The Walk on By" by Velociraptor (from Velociraptor EP)

"I would do it / I would do it / If that's want you want"

Straight ahead pop-punk from a 12-person Australian outfit. No idea how this stumbled onto our radar.

86. "Lekka Freakout" by Beaty Heart (single)

"He doesn't sing too well / because he has no lungs"

Our favorite batshit crazy circus music track of the year.

85. "Late Night" by Foals (from Holy Fire)

"Empty veins and my plastic broken crown"

Holy Fire's advance release "Inhaler" appeared on the 2012 list in a similar spot, which is a good indication of the album's consistent tracklist of old fashioned rock.

84. "Tall Tall Shadow" by Basia Bulat (from Tall Tall Shadow)

"You're running away / but the shadow is yours"

In the 2011 list, we mentioned not being able to keep Basia Bulat and Lykke Li straight and the confusion continues.  While Basia's voice and delivery here reminds us of Stevie Nicks, it was Lykke that crushed "Silver Springs" on last year's Fleetwood Mac tribute album.

83. "Bourgeois" by Phoenix (from Bankrupt!)

"You lost your mind on a cruise ship / bartending crucial lies"

Phoenix's follow-up to the excellent Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was one of the more disappointing albums of the year, relative to elevated expectations. 

82. "Hard Out Here" by Lilly Allen (single)

"Forget your balls / and grow a pair of tits"

Welcome back Lilly, to you and your ... you know.

81. "City Rising From the Ashes" by Deltron 3030 (from The Event II)

"For so long the environment said 'fuck y'all'"

The similarities in this track to Gorillaz' best go beyond the funky homosapien on the mic .

2013 Songs: Honorable Mentions

As a test of the move to Spotify playlists, here -- without comment and in no particular order -- are the last 50 cuts from the top 100 songs list.

2012 Songs: The Top Twenty

20. "Fitzpleasure" by Alt+J (from An Awesome Wave)

"Wrap them around the necks / of all the feckless men that queue to be the next"

An Awesome Wave, which won the Mercury Prize, may well be our favorite album of the year. This spot could have just as easily been held by "Breezeblocks", "Something Good" or "Matilda", with "Dissolve Me" and "Intro" not far behind.  We'll give the nod to "Fitzpleasure" because it was the first track we heard, but we implore you not to research the lyrics, which are Last Exit to Brooklyn-inspired and seriously messed up. 

19. "Proceed to Memory" by Pinback (from Information Retrieved)
"And then you don't even have that memory"

The new Pinback album, their first since 2007, is like welcoming back an old friend, one that hasn't changed at all in the intervening years. Which makes for an easy reminder how you became friends in the first place. 

18. "Wildest Moments" by Jessie Ware (from Devotion)
"Everyone must be wondering why we try / why do we try?"

Pretty standard stuff on paper, elevated by a perfect execution of production, melody and vocals. 

17. "Song for Zula" by Phosphorescent (from Muchacho)
"Oh but I know love / as a fading thing / just as fickle as a feather in a stream"

The only song in the top 20 added after mid-October, this is the pre-release single off of Phosphorescent's upcoming album and is unlike anything we have heard from him before. With a hat tip to Johnny Cash. 

16. "It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy" by Passion Pit (from Gossamer)
"I know that is always something / I'm just working with what I've been given / It's not my fault I'm happy"

Two albums in, Passion Pit has now made the list twice despite not  really being a personal favorite. This track, however, is fantastic and plays like a mix between Jonsi and MGMT.

15. "Hood" by Perfume Genius (from Put Your Back N 2 It)
"Underneath this hood you kiss / I tick like a bomb"

Also two albums in, it is now pretty obvious that Mike Hadreas needs a hug. But don't give it to him!  It's hard to know what direction his moody, piano-driven music would take if he wasn't so troubled.

14. "Sqworm" by Ramona Falls (from Prophet)
"It doesn't come natural"

Another candidate for top album of 2012 as well on the short list for favorite current artist/band.  Other excellent tracks include "Achimedes Plutonium", "Helium", "Proof" and "Fingerhold", the last of which has a Primer-esque video that was  both our favorite video of the year and the only one we watched. While Menomena misses Brent Knopf, the rest of us benefit from more of his time spent both recording as Ramona Falls and producing bands like Lost Lander (see below).   

13. "Your Name is a Fire" by Lost Lander (from Drrt)
"Hurry up / put me out"

"Cold Feet", the advance single to Drrt snuck in at #79 last year. The full album, which has producer Brent Knopf's fingerprints all over the damned thing, delivered on that promise and then some.

12. "The Diaz Brothers" by The Mountain Goats (from Transcendental Youth)
"Foretell worse things than such frightful nights as these"

Perhaps the poppiest, most immediate track Darnielle has ever recorded, the titular brothers are a reference the heads of the Colombian cartel in Scarface (that never appear on screen).  Unfortunately, if we were to update our ranking of Mountain Goats albums for Transcendental Youth, it would be somewhere in the middle of the back half.

11. "See Me Through" by Josh Ritter (from Bringing In The Darlings EP)

"And I have faith in your darling / even when I question our chances"

Wins this year's Vetiver award for the perfect lazy summer day barbecue song.  

10. "Yesterday's Fire" by Moonface (from with Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery)

"but I know you disagree / because you know that you're pretty when you lie"

Spencer Krug hooks up with some Finns (take that otherwise musically dominant Swedes) for his newest album under the Moonface moniker. This makes 10 top ten appearance for Krug in 8 years (as a member of Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake and Moonface).

9. "Default" by Django Django (from Django Django)

"We threw it in the fire / it's better than it not be made"

Math Rock meets Surf Rock and it works.

8. "So Long You Pretty Thing" by Spiritualized (from Sweet Heart Sweet Light)

"The music you played so hard ain't on your radio"

Great song that builds and builds, but we want to the talk about the album art. What the hell is going on here? And is that the point? Get out our head Spiritualized! This intereview about it sure didn't help, as his quotes read like they were translated through 5 languages before returning to English. 

7. "Nothing to Remember" by Neko Case (from The Hunger Games Soundtrack)

"And I'm ashamed that I don't have a heart you can break"

Yeah ... so... we didn't really think through the visual component of this ranking.  Nothing bolsters credibility like Young Adult film adaptations.  

6. "Gone Tomorrow" by Lambchop (from Mr. M)

"The wine tasted like sunshine in the basement"

A seven minute song where the final four minutes, while lovely, are completely unnecessary. And yet, those first three minutes...

5. "Victorinian" by Fang Island (from Major)

"What if I don't get my chance to hug the flame / or even know the spark"

"Victorinian" is the second of a pair of piano-driven tracks that bookend Major and represent a departure from their usual musical aesthetic of "everyone is high fiving everyone" (best exemplified on Major by "Sisterly").  While we were fascinated by this song from day one, it took a while to determine if it was one of the best songs of the year or one of the more ambitious failures. You have your answer. 

4. "Television" by You Won't (from Skeptic Goodbye)

"And when I'm finally old enough / to learn to play the game / oh, the dinosaurs will roam the earth / and resume their bloody reign"

The highlight from a highly underrated album of simple but winning folk tunes. 

3. "Ruin" by Cat Power (from Sun)

"All the way back home / to my town"

There is no single highlight in this song as it tumbles from one great element to the next: from the salsa piano loop, to Chan Marshall's seductive voice, to the rapid fire global name-checking, to "bitching ... complaining", to the funky and goofy guitar over the chorus.  And then an encore of it all. 

2. "Hallways" by Islands (from A Sleep & A Forgetting)

"She turns to you to say / always"

Completely at odds musically with the rest of the pensive and low key album, "Hallways" shuffles right out of gate and hits it doo-wop fueled-climax just past the two minute mark. Music at its most joyous. 

1. "The Fountain" by Future Islands (from Tomorrow single)

"He's wasting time / you gotta take it slow / may never get a chance like this / and she knows he's wasting time / and she loves the way he tries / even though she knows the lines / She's taking time / you gotta let things grow / may never get a chance like this / and he knows she takes her time / and he keeps along her side / all hopes to keep along her side"

The third and final stop of our island tour (Fang Island, Islands, Future Islands).  This is a track that started to grow on us well before we began to decipher the lyrics, and made a massive additional leap once we did. Not a song for a cynical mood, it is unabashedly romantic in its retelling of a first encounter and benefits from the shifting, but always very similar, perspectives of the two protagonists. As a B-side, it apparently wasn't even the band's favorite track on a 2-song single, and yet it improbably winds up as our #1 song of 2012. 

And after crushing it with 97 of the first 99 songs, Grooveshark craps the bed at the end. Instead stream via YouTube below: