2012 Songs: 41-60

Halfway home...

60. "Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It" by Stars (from The North)

"Take the weakest thing in you / and then beat the bastards with it"

This song marks one the of the rare occasions that our favorite new track from a male/female singing duo (Stars, Submarines, Mates of State, The Weepies, Matt & Kim, etc.) is one sung primarily by the dude.

59. "Love Interruption" by Jack White (from Blunderbuss)
"I won't let love disrupt, corrupt or interrupt me"

Jack White's first solo album cracks the list. In 2010 his now ex-wife Karen Elson made the list. Never on the list: The White Stripes.  Weird.  

58. "National Anthem (Demo Version)" by Lana del Rey (unreleased)
"Red / white / blue is in the sky / summer's in the air and baby's heaven's in your eyes"

The Lana del Rey hype-fest of late 2011 seems pretty deep in the rear view mirror at this point.  The full album never lived up to the promise of "Video Games" and her SNL performance in January was ... not good. But an unreleased demo version "National Anthem" highlights what could have been a stronger debut (note, the Grooveshark version is modestly different from the one that drove this ranking).

57. "The End of That" by Plants and Animals (from The End of That)
"I tried cocaine / just to know what it could do / I had to try it again / just to give it a second chance / but it tore out my soul"

Sounds a lot like a lost Velvet Underground track, except for the whole "drugs are bad" part.

56. "Charmer" by Aimee Mann (from Charmer)
"They don't know that secretly charmers / feel like they're frauds"

Always nice to hear new music from Portland's favorite cleaning lady.

55. "No Hope" by The Vaccines (from Come of Age)
"And I don't really care about anybody else / when I haven't got my own life figured out"

The disaffection here feels more forced than for the Clash in the 70's, Billy Bragg in the 80's or other unimpressed youth of the UK.  It is understandably harder these days with a likable new set of royals, Olympic successes, watching the  Euro mess from the sidelines, a great Bond, even a chance to win Wimbledon. At least they'll always have World Cup disappointment to fall back on.

54. "The Ego" by Nicolas Jaar and Theatre Roosevelt (single)
"let Detroit go bankrupt"

If you ever wanted to hear a chillwave takedown of Mitt Romney by Jabba the Hut, today is your lucky day.

53. "Worship You" by Colleen Green (from Milo Goes to Compton)
"..."

This song is so lo-fi, with the fuzz overshadowing the vocals to such a degree, that we can't make out any lyrics for a pull-quote. Nor can the rest of the Internet, apparently.

52. "Genesis" by Grimes (from Visions)
"I am the one who falls"

Claire Boucher, who records under the moniker Grimes, records music that sounds like absolutely no one else ... with the exception of sounding a lot like equally feted label-mate and countrywoman Purity Ring (see #99).

51. "Is it Honest" by Woods (from Bend Beyond)

"As nice as this is / is it honest to you?"

Like clockwork: another year, another Woods album, another appearance on the list (now 4 straight).

50. "It's Only Life" by The Shins (from her Port of Morrow)

"But did you really think I'd shut an open door?"

The Shins: the mid-upper middle class man's Band of Horses.

49. "Unless You Speak From the Heart" by Porcelain Raft(from Strange Weekend)

"We are not enemies / but we don't have to get along"

The opening riff here always brings to mind the intro to "Two Weeks", despite Porcelain Raft and Grizzly Bear having little else in common muiscally.

48. "Parted Ways" by Heartless Bastards (from Arrow)

"In order to live in this great big town / takes a lot / takes a lot / takes a lot"

Outside of the Black Keys, Alabama Shakes and a few moderately successful bands like Heartless Bastards, Southern classic rock revival seems like a woefully underserved genre.

47. "The Mother We Share" by Chvrches (single)

"The way is long / but you can make it easy on me"

Electronic-driven pseudo-80's revival, on the other hand, is not even remotely underserved. Thank god.

46. "Lost" by Frank Ocean (from channel ORANGE)

"Too weird to live / too rare to die"

Let's make our biases clear: Slow Jam R&B is a top contender for worst possible music genre. It is Soul Ballad's creepy cousin, with a pencil moustache and a windowless van. And roughly 80% of channel ORANGE is Slow Jam R&B. All the critical love or the fact that Frank Ocean once deeply loved a man doesn't change that.  "Lost" is a winner though, in part because of the way the accelerated (by comparison) beat and delivery shake off the lethargy of the rest of the album. 

45. "Time to Run" by Lord Huron (from Lonesome Dreams)

"No time to rest / I'm gonna find me a life livin' way out west"

A more melodic, but wussified "Before They Make Me Run".  We prefer the Stones, but no shame in falling short of that standard.

44. "There He Go" by Schoolboy Q (from Habits & Contradictions)

"Chiefin' like a muthafuckin' Seminole"

Simple rule: sample classic Menomena (here "Wet & Rusting"), make the list.

43. "Lenslife" by Fanfarlo (from Rooms Filled With Light)

"We have a better chance on paper so we catalogue our lives"

Reservoir, Fanfarlo's previous release and our #11 album of the prior decade, sounded like a thrilling combination of Beirut, Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands -- three of our favorite bands.  The new album, not surprisingly, skews much more much in the Arcade Fire direction, putting it dangerously close to Of Monsters and Men territory (fine, but forgettable).

42. "Tomorrow" by Niki & The Dove (from Instinct)

"Oh, if tomorrow comes / I want to waste my love / on you"

So many Swedes. Always so many Swedes.

41. "Adorn" by Miguel (from Confess)

"These fists will always protect ya, lady"

As close to "Sexual Healing" as possible without being a cover.  This is fine because 1) that is an awesome song and 2) apeing Marvin Gaye (our #4 Soul singer of all time) assures Miguel doesn't find himself on the wrong side of a fine line and in dreaded Slow Jam R&B territory.

2012 Songs: 61-80

The next 20...

 

80. "In Decay" by Phèdre (from Phèdre)

"Wasted bodies / lying oh so still / so many lovers / in need of organs"

Plays out like a love child between The Magnetic Fields and Of Montreal, which would seem romantically (if not biologically) possible.  Also, at least someone out there is recording good music that sounds like Of Montreal, because Of Montreal sure as hell isn't.

79. "We OK" by The Very Best (from MTMTMK)
"Someone show him how we move"

Just another Swedish-produced band from Malawi featuring a Somali-Canadian guest rapper.

78. "By Lamplight" by Woodpigeon (from For Paolo EP)
"If all the lights in Paris went out / you'd still manage to find me"

After releasing sprawling double albums in 2009 and 2010, Woodpigeon took it easy by releasing this gorgeous little EP in 2012. New full-length due in February.

77. "In the Same Room" by Julia Holter (from Ekstasis)
"I can't recall this face / but I want to"

A nice song elevated by a wonderfully quiet closing minute.

76. "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" by Tame Impala (from Lonerism)
"I know that you think you sound silly when you call my name"

A favorite of the critics, it ultimately took listening to the Memory Tapes remix for us to fully recognize the strengths of the original version.

75. "Prettyboy" by Dan Deacon (from America)
<instrumental>

Plays a bit like an instrumental-only version of "Snookered" (our #15 song of 2009) on downers. Or, perhaps more accurately, "Snookered" plays like "Prettyboy" on hallucinogenics.

74. "Inhaler" by Foals (from Holy Fire)
"I'm pale and coy / a mama's boy / I make believe"

As the advance single to their upcoming third album, "Inhaler" showcases a darker sound from Foals   A major improvement on their prior efforts, as far as we are concerned.

73. "Silver Springs" by Lykke Li and "Think About Me" by The New Pornographers (from Just Tell Me That You Want Me)
<Fleetwood Mac covers>

A bit of a cheat, but including two songs offsets the fact that these are covers, and relatively straightforward ones at that.  In this case, our appreciation of the new versions undoubtedly  benefits from a relative lack of familiarity with the source material.

72. "Class Clown Spots a UFO" by Guided by Voices (from Class Clown Spots A UFO)
"Up / up we go now"

After making this list last year with his Boston Spaceships project and just missing with his solo work, Robert Pollard returns in 2012 with 3 (3!) Guided by Voices albums and another solo album for good measure. Quantity alone merits limited admiration, but quantity at this quality is insane.

71. "Capsule" by Menomena (from Moms)

"While I'm evolving from a child / to an aging child"

There was little doubt that Menomena would suffer from the departure of Brent Knopf, turning the songwriting/singing/producing trio into a duo for Moms.  While the new album still has its moments, Knopf's own efforts this year landed materially higher on the list.

70. "Hot Knife" by Fiona Apple (from her new album with the really long title)

"I get feisty / whenever I'm with him"

Never really a fan, but this song works like its titular metaphor.

69. "Silent Way" by Milo Greene (from Milo Greene)

"When we're older / will you still come over"

In discussing track #98 on this year's list ("Analog or Digital"), we referenced that all of the other tracks save one could probably take its lunch money.  This is the lone track that couldn't.  Pretty milquetoast, but the sentiment works.

68. "The House That Heaven Built" by Japandroids (from Celebration Rock)

"When they love you / and they will / tell them all they'll love in my shadow"

 Now this is the genuine article.

67. "Home Again" by Michael Kiwanuka (from Home Again)

"Many times I've been told / all this talk will make you old"

The Bill Withers comparisons seem obvious listening to the not quite Soul, not quite not Soul debut from this Londoner. 

66. "X-Mas Spirit Catcher" by Sufjan Stevens (from Songs Silver and Gold)

"And Gabriel / in spite of it / went for wandering in the desert"

Current count: Christmas-themed albums 10, state project albums 2.  Don't like the ratio, but happy for any new Sufjan.

65. "10" by jj (from High Summer)

"23 years of this / I just hope you miss me a little when I'm gone"

jj is on an odd path of late.  After releasing a straightforward album of hushed Swedish pop in 2009 (which featured our #10 song that year), they followed with dour album in 2010 and a string of mixtapes with quasi-rap lyrics paired with lush production and female vocals.  High Summer is a half return to form, switching to more of a quasi-rap beat but with softer lyrics dropping both some Tommy James & the Shondells and verses in Swedish.

64. "Spender" by Smiler (from All I Know mixtape)

"I plug money in Harrods / I'm bugs bunny with carats"

Exposure-wise, Smiler benefited from having asked a pre-Born to Die Lana del Rey to sing the hook here, even if the reasons to like the track is are due more to his driving verses than the by-the-numbers chorus.

63. "A Little Biblical" by Band of Horses (from Mirage Rock)

"I'm old enough to know / I'm holding on for something"

It is pretty clear by now that the band that released Everything All The Time is not coming back.  As a Carrissa's Wierd partisan, I'd blame the departure of Mat Brooke for his Grand Archives project. Still, each BoH album is good for a couple solid pop nuggets like this track.

62. "The Baddest Man Alive" by The RZA and The Black Keys (from The Man With the Iron Fists)

"I grab a crocodile by the tail / handcuff the judge and put the cops in jail"

Black Keys plus Wu Tang is a can't miss combination, though Bobby Digital wouldn't have been my first choice as the Wu M.C. to best pull it off (better than The KRZA, though).

61. "Five Seconds" by Twin Shadow (from Confess)

"I'm not trying / to make you cry"

If TV on the Radio decided to make a bid for pop stardom, it might sound like this. As much as we enjoy Twin Shadow, let's hope they don't.

2012 Songs: 81-100

After a year with nearly no activity on the site (what a difference an extra human child makes), we return with the first installment of our top 100 songs of 2012

As before, the list is limited to one appearance per artist to maximize diversity.  Also as in the past, immediately below is a Grooveshark widget with available songs. Song order in the playlist mirrors the below (descending order). Where songs are not available on Grooveshark as of today, I've included a link to a safe location to stream. Enjoy.
 



100. "Call Me on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox & Carly Rae Jepsen

<Rostam mashup>

Vampire Weekend's Rostam (who was responsible from my #15 song last year) makes the Song of the Summer more palatable by overdubbing its generic production with some sweet post-Eurythmics Annie Lennox. Not on Grooveshark, listen with Soundcloud here.

99. "Fineshrine" by Purity Ring (from Shrines)
"Cut open my sternum and pull / my little ribs around you"

A pretty song with unsettling imagery off of Purity Ring's debut.

98. "Analog or Digital" by Wildlife Control (from Wildlife Control)
"Because the records I play are my only education / I turn it up"

Sporting punk sentiment but a glossy pop production, there is a good chance this track would get beaten up by 98 of the other songs on the list.

97. "All the Rowboats" by Regina Spektor (from What We Saw From the Cheap Seats)
"Masterpieces serving maximum sentences / it's their own fault / for being timeless"

Only Spektor's second album since her breakthrough in 2006, Cheap Seats is a less quirky affair highlighted by this tale of woe for lonely works of art.

96. "The Only Place" by Best Coast (from The Only Place)
"Why would you live anywhere else?"

Sure we are biased, but seriously, why would you live anywhere else? (proximity to family, tax rates, inordinate cost of living and pathetic fiscal condition notwithstanding)

95. "Trap Door" by Strand of Oaks (from Dark Shores)
"And when you give it all away again / give a little bit back to me"

An earworm of a song that benefits from it simple structure: just one verse followed by a variation on the above repeated a dozen times.

94. "Love That's Gone" by La Sera (from Sees the Light)
"And I'll be gone just as soon"

Second album from Vivian Girls' bassist Katy Goodman is just damned pleasant, as typified by this lilting little ballad with some nostalgic guitar work.

93. "Soul Killing" by The Ting Tings (from Sounds from Nowheresville)
"If you never hold us down / they can never hold us down"

After some positive buzz for their early singles, it has been pretty acceptable to hate on the Ting Tings (e.g., Pitchfork's reviewing Sounds at 1.8, a level I thought reserved only for latter day Liz Phair).  We can agree that the music is a bit soulless, but it's also pretty catchy and just enough fun.

92. "Bright Whites" by Kishi Bashi (from 151a)
"And if you're to say to me / what is mine is yours to keep"

A touring member of Of Montreal, K(aura) Ishibashi presents an amiably eclectic mix of songs on his full-length debut (released, appropriately, by the Joyful Noise label). "Bright Whites" leads off sounding like African music sung in Japanese before settling into a very Beattles-esque pop tune.

91. "Bigger than Love" by Ben Gibbard (from Former Lives)

"So our house got crowded / I never felt so all alone"

Featuring Aimee Mann, this track from Death Cab for Cutie's frontman doesn't expand on anything either artist has done before, but represents a comfortable combination of familiar voices.

 

90. "Losing You" by Solange (from True)

"I'm not the one that you should be making your enemy"

Hard to categorize into a specific genre, the lead single off Solange Knowles debut alternates between a throwback and something distinctly modern.

89. "What Makes a Good Man" by The Heavy (from The Glorious Dead)

"Indelible is what I need to spread the word"

There is no such difficulty identifying The Heavy's 70's influenced blues-rock.  While the music is so bombastic it risks becoming kitch, there is enough going on here to elevate the track beyond merely fodder for future KIA commercials with Muno and sock monkeys.

88. "Fingers Never Bleed" by Yeasayer (from Fragrant World)

"I know you think you could do this without me / but I know I could do without you"

 The highlight from Yeasayer's disappointing third LP, "Fingers Never Bleed" showcases many of the bands strengths, but is ultimately a less cohesive song than their best work.  Yeasayer has appeared on this list 3 times previously, including the #8 song in 2009 ("Ambling Alp").

87. "Dance Ghost" by Helado Negro (single)

"There's no one home / just a ghost who dances alone"

If the vocals were dropped and this track was released only as an instrumental, the name would still fit.

86. "Happy Pills" by Norah Jones (from Little Broken Hearts)

"Never said we'd be friends"

I like Danger Mouse quite a bit and own a dozen or so of the albums he has produced. And yet, the result is never as strong as the idea. Danger Mouse producing Beck? Awesome! Modern Guilt? Ehhh, it was fine. Danger Mouse producing a Albarn/Simonon supergroup? Sign me up! The Good, the Bad and the Queen? It was pretty OK. So it goes with Norah Jones and Little Broken Hearts. There is enough in the production to make it different from her prior albums, but not enough to really make it better.

85. "Three White Horses" by Andrew Bird (from Hands of Glory EP)

"You will need somebody when you come to die"

Not only is my selected Andrew Bird track off the EP he released in the fall and not the full-length released in the spring, I probably enjoyed his take on "Auld Lang Syne" from the Holiday's Rule compilation more than anything off of either.

84. "I Love It" by Icona Pop (from Iconic EP)

"I crashed my car into a bridge / I don't care"

This song primarily consists of being yelled at for 3 minutes by some crazy, pissed off Swedish ladies.  So, you know, maybe you want to be in the right mood.

83. "Lazarus" by David Byrne & St. Vincent (from Bright Love This Giant)

"Gold in your river/ there forever"

Falling short of our expectations, Love This Giant is better than Byrne's recent collaboration with Fatboy Slim and worse than his prior collaboration with Eno.  He is at risk of becoming the Danger Mouse of iconic art-rock heroes.

82. "Ivory Coast" by Pure Bathing Culture (from Pure Bathing Culture EP)

"I know that you will love me until my eyes do close"

I wonder if those Francophiles in West Africa are pissed off about this song. Please learn to use proper nouns when naming your country if you are so damned sensitive!

81. "Laura" by Bat for Lashes (from The Haunted Man)

"They told me at the end / don't justify the dreams"

This song was downloaded and deleted more once before its charms finally took hold.  Great vocal work by Ms. for Lashes.

Rewind: Top Songs of 1972

 

 

Last year, while ticking through the songs from years ending in "1" and "6", the 1971 list was the strongest batch (followed by the 1991 list).  Not surprisingly, the 1972 list presents a similar mix of classic rock and latter-day soul, plus The King and Jimmy Cliff.

Picking one song from Exile is not an easy task. While it is the Stones' best album (and, to my mind, the greatest rock album of all time) it is not an album full of "singles". Ultimately, I chose "Rocks" because its rawness (both lyrically and musically) is the most emblematic of the album as a whole, though it is tough to make an argument against "Tumbling Dice", "Happy", "Sweet Virginia", "Let it Loose" or personal favorite "All Down the Line"

While Bowie is not directly on this list, his fingerprints are all over it (see #5 and #6)

Fat, cheesy Elvis was worth it for the joy of "Burning Love"

In all honesty, "Lean on Me" or "I Can See Clearly Now" are probably better choices for #10 below, but I just love the ridiculousness of "Jim" too much too leave off the list.


Top 10 Songs of 1972

1. "Rocks Off" / The Rolling Stones / Exile on Main St.
   "the sunshine bores the daylights out of me"
2. "Thirteen" / Big Star / #1 Record"I won't make you" 
3. "Superstition" / Stevie Wonder / Talking Book
   "when you believe in things / that you don't understand / then you suffer"
4. "Stuck in the Middle With You" / Stealers Wheel / Stealers Wheel
   "clowns to left of me / jokers to the right"
5. "All the Young Dudes" / Mott the Hoople / All the Young Dudes"and my brother's back at home with his Beatles and his Stones"
6. "Walk on the Wild Side" / Lou Reed / Transformer
   "and the colored girls say / doo doo do do do doo doo"
7. "I'll Take You There" / The Staples Singers / Be Altitude: Respect Yourself
   "I know a place"
8. "Burning Love" / Elvis Presley / single
   "'and you light my morning sky"
9. "The Harder They Come" / Jimmy Cliff / The Harder They Come
   "I'm going to get my share now / what's mine"
10. "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" / Jim Croce / single
    "and when the bad folks all get together at night / you know they all call big Jim boss"

Rewind: Top Songs of 1967

The plan, in advance of a December post on the top 100 of 2012, was to publish the top 10 songs of every five year increment from 1962 to the present . That implies ten lists. Since it is currently late August, I should be posting about Radiohead and Dr Dre. by now with seven posts behind me. Instead I've got 1962 behind me and that's it.

So let's get on with it...

Top 10 Songs of 1967

1. "I'm Waiting For My Man" / Velvet Underground / Velvet Underground and Nico
   "Hey white boy / what you doing uptown?"
2. "Underdog" / Sly & the Family Stone / A Whole New Thing "...and you've got to be twice as good" 
3. "Daydream Believer" / The Monkees / The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees
   "The shaving razor's cold / and it stings"
4. "I Second That Emotion" / Smokey Robinson / single
   "And a taste of honey's worse than none at all"
5. "Respect" / Aretha Franklin / I've Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You "Give me my propers / when you get home"
6. "Sweet Soul Music" / Arthur Conley / Sweet Soul Music
   "He's the king of them all, yeah"
7. "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" / Jackie Wilson / Higher and Higher
   "But then you / came and he soon departed / and he never showed his face again"
8. "Ooh Carla, Ooh Otis" / Otis Redding & Carla Thomas / King & Queen
   "Just your touch / sets my soul on fire"
9. "For What It's Worth" / Buffalo Springfield / Buffalo Springfield
   "Nobody's right / if everybody's wrong"
10. "Ruby Tuesday" / The Rolling Stones / Between the Buttons
    "Still I'm going to miss you"