The Top 20 Songs of 2013

20. Glass Candy

"Warm in the Winter"

Glass Candy, one of the many projects of Johnny Jewel, is exactly what it's name suggests: a sweet, glossy pop that's both tantalizing and deadly. And while the duo has been around for years, "Warm in the Winter" is quite possibly their best effort.
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19. Wavves

"Nine Is God"

Wavves has moved from bizarre experimental, to surfer, to just straight up rock in the span of four albums, but this offering, written specifically for Grand Theft Auto V's soundtrack, is their most hard core yet. Rock out!
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18. Ceo

"Whorehouse"

Ceo has always been the red-headed stepchild of chill-wave, but this track, released to promote his forthcoming new album, is dance-able, complex, and catchy as all hell.
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17. Yeasayer

"Don't Come Close"

The second on this list of many from the Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack. Whoever produced that thing is a genius above and beyond any musical talent I have heard before. That said, Yeasayer make dumping your girlfriend (or, the inability to do so) sound like the most fun thing ever.
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16. Drake

"Hold On, We're Going Home"

Was there some sort of question about this being on a year-end list? This is the most mournful "we should totally bone" song in existence. How long has it been, Drake?
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15. Arcade Fire

"Afterlife"

Arcade Fire have a way with words: "Afterlife, Oh my God, what an awful word." Doesn't really give you much hope for the future does it? But if anyone can make nihilism sound stylish, it's this group.
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14. Nine Inch Nails

"Came Back Haunted"

The single from Trent Reznor's "return" to music (did he ever leave?) is NIN's best attempt at being Daft Punk. Fortunately for everyone, everywhere, unlike Daft Punk, it's not overrated and boring. Besides, how could anyone not like a song that is clearly about "The Call of Cthulhu"?
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13. Queens of the Stone Age

"I Appear Missing"

For what must be QOTSA's most personal song, Josh Homme sings about the feeling of drowning while being clinically dead, and the hope that you keep, in the back of your shutting-down-forever mind, that your friends and family don't pull the plug too soon. So much for Queens being a party band.
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12. David Bowie

"The Next Day"

Who knew 67-year-old guys could still rock out? This songs has all the punch of Bowie's best, with just enough of his trademark weirdness to keep it interesting and fresh. The best surprise of the year.
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11. Fuck Buttons

"Brainfreeze"

I don't think there's an electronica act out there louder than Fuck Buttons. "Brainfreeze" is the duo at the top of their game: awesome beat, crazy hook, gnarly distortion.
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10. Haim

"The Wire"

Haim are a glorious throwback of a band, recalling the best of Heart and Pat Benatar, while adding a little funk and sophistication of their own. If this song doesn't hook you on first listen...there's something wrong with your ears.
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09. Favored Nations

"The Set Up"

I had never heard of Favored Nations before GTA V, and a quick Wikipedia search will yield you precisely zilch. However, "The Setup," with it's glitchy, ultra-repetitive lyrics and in-your-face guitar hook, is one of the most fun songs to listen to.
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08. Janelle Monae

"Prime Time"

One of my favorite musical discoveries of all time is Janelle Monae, and "Prime Time" is the perfect example why. While she's known for her fun and funky rhythms, here she croons with the best of them to create the most soulful and melodramatic love song of this decade.
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07. Parquet Courts

"Stoned and Starving"

Parquet Courts exploded out of the Brooklyn scene with a fresh take on punk: make it fun. And while that sentiment may make "Stoned and Starving" feel like a guilty pleasure, it's actually a fantastic long-form ode to the joys and frustrations of being utterly, totally bored.
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06. Nine Inch Nails

"All Time Low"

If you thought Trent Reznor would let himself slip into the realm of nostalgia, you were horribly wrong. If there's one thing the man who fronts NIN has proven again and again, it's that he's not afraid of reinventing his sound. "All Time Low" is a fantastically addictive funk song, spliced with the classic Nails texturing and glitch. The best song he's written since the Fragile days.
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05. Arcade Fire

"Reflektor"

Speaking of funky songs, Arcade Fire's first single and title track from their new album is begging to form a conga line. Despite the heavy topic (and heavy-handedness of the topic), "Reflektor" makes for amazing fun, with a drum-and-bass sound that will have you shaking in your seat.
Watch the insane video!

04. Deafheaven

"Dream House"

Before Deafheaven's "Dream House," never had screaming been so bafflingly listenable or startlingly beautiful. I'm usually not a fan of the high-pitched wail, but there's something about how this band presents it--the wall of sound and guitar distortion mixed far in the front--that makes you unable to turn it off. I never felt like crying while listening to metal before, but this could make me start.
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03. Queens of the Stone Age

"If I Had a Tail"

Queens of the Stone Age are masters at making the creepiest topics sound ass-kicking awesome. While Homme has written one song about becoming a vampire, and another about worshiping the sun...on the same album, the latter can't shine a light (YEEEAAAHH!) on the former. "If I Had a Tail" starts with the drone of the a thousand years of nighttime living and ends with the most bone-chilling outro in music history.
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02. Kanye West

"Black Skinhead"

Much has already been said about West creating a song saying he's not for sale (as seen above), then immediately selling said song to Motorola for an untold sum ("vast" is what I've heard). No matter, the drum beat alone is worth millions, the breathlessness sample used as a backing hook is priceless. This is Kanye at his very best: loud, brash, earworming, unforgettable, and exceptional. "Black Skinhead" will go down as one of his very best.
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01. Age of Consent

"Colours"

Minimalism is underrated in the world of dance. Here, Age of Consent do their best New Order impersonation and create a party anthem that is better than "Blue Monday." As the singer drones on about going out all night, he also, quite sarcastically, states the qualities he expects of his fellow clubbers, all over the simplest beat and a seizure-inducing synth chop. The song ends with a declaration of permanence: "I will never fade away;" such a statement, with its inferred pleading, is second only to that of Ozymandias in both its scale and its desperation.
Listen! Dance!