This list is hard to make every year, usually because there's only so much space. This year...not so much. I had a hard time finding enough good music to fill it. Fortunately a few last-minute listens and many spins around YouTube got me a couple more that rounded out the whole twenty.
Most of these songs won't be found on Top 100 radio (one of them is), but they are all great songs. So here it is, the end of 2011, and the best songs from it.
20. Gang Gang Dance
"Adult Goth"
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Gang Gang Dance clearly has a sort-of hero worship of Bjork. That's not to say "Adult Goth" isn't original, it's just really obvious they listened to
Homogenic while they recorded it. A cross between Mannheim Steamroller and The Big Pink with a female vocalist, "Adult Goth" is definitely one of the more interesting songs of the year.
19. PJ Harvey
"The Words That Maketh Murder"
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I don't particularly care for PJ Harvey all that much, but when I heard her refrain, "What if I take my problem to the United Nations?" over and over, I couldn't resist. It helps that it's a great song, but the biting sarcasm in the lyrics moved it from "alright" territory into "best of the year" status. It's simple, it's smart, it's "The Words that Maketh Murder."
18. Fleet Foxes
"Grown Ocean"
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Fleet Foxes is one of those bands that, I guess, I just don't get. Don't get me wrong, I hear the beauty of the arrangement, I hear the brilliance of the writing, I just don't enjoy listening to their albums. They're too much work. However, "Grown Ocean" is a song that anyone looking for a decent folk song can get into. Here, the guitars are cleaner and the message is lighter. "Grown Ocean" is a Fleet Foxes song that even I like.
17. Kurt Vile
"Jesus Fever"
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This year, Kurt Vile did something nearly impossible...he made an acoustic album that I liked. I normally tend towards hard rock or even metal, but
Smoke Ring for My Halo changed my mind about how slow and often boring acoustic music is. The highlight of the album was "Jesus Fever," cleverly written and very catchy, it could easily be the opening credit music for one of those indie-teen-coming-of-age-movies. You know the ones I mean.
16. Peter Murphy
"Seesaw Sway"
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Is there anything that can stop Peter Murphy (except vampire-David Bowie, of course)? While his solo album was nothing special, this song was a standout. It's no "Endless Summer of the Damned," but it comes close.
15. Atlas Sound
"Te Amo"
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Until a few days ago, I had no idea that Bradford Cox had made a new solo album. I heard this song as "Untitled" in a backstage practice video he shot for Pitchfork at some random festival last year. I thought it sounded amazing then, it is even more amazing now. The echo/pitch-shifting notes that open the song get stuck in my head for days whenever I hear them, and Cox's Bono-imitation vocal delivery a'int half-bad either.
14. Anna Calvi
"Blackout"
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To tell the truth, this is the only Anna Calvi song I know, but it's well worth knowing. A dark, alto voice sings of how she loses and chooses her loves during, well, blackouts. The drum pattern makes the song, but the creepy howling that precedes each chorus makes her seem less the drunken skank and more the black widow. Really great stuff.
13. Neon Indian
"Blindside Kiss"
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Neon Indian's new album presented slightly darker, much more put-together material, and the best of that set was tough to choose. The slight edge in what could be a three-way-tie went to "Blindside Kiss" because of its similarity to so many awesome Jesus and Mary Chain songs. This track showcases why Alan Palomo will be around for a while.
12. Adele
"Rolling in the Deep"
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You've heard this, but if you really have to, Listen)
Here it is, your obligatory pop hit song. The thing is, it's actually a really good song. Adele's voice is never in doubt, crooning like the divas of old. But, it's really the backing vocals and drum line that make this song, twisting the usual formula just enough to make the song sound unlike any other pop hit you've heard.
11. Little Dragon
"Nightlight"
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One of the better dance-able songs to come out this year, Little Dragon took the lyrical structure of a Hercules & Love Affair song and mixed it with a Crystal Castles outtake. This song is moody, repetitive, and completely addicting. God knows how many times I listened to this and I'm still not sick of it. Look for this group to go places.
10. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
"Oraculum"
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Within the three-hour opus that is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo soundtrack, are a few gems. The song you hear most often in trailers is "An Itch," which is almost as good, or Trent and Karen O's cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," which is so obviously NIN that it almost sounds like they wrote the original. Since I don't include covers as new music, that didn't make the list, but "Oraculum" did. Why? Because it's the best instrumental song that Reznor's been involved with since 1999's "The Mark Has Been Made." The opening drum pattern alone makes you want to see the movie, even if you don't know what it's about. Now that's what I call advertising.
9. Panda Bear
"Last Night at the Jetty"
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Panda Bear's
Tomboy may be the album I looked forward to most this year. It's strange because of how experimental and progressive his music is; it's too much work for a lot of people, but the intriguing arrangements and Noah Benjamin's lyrical delivery--a seemingly infinite number of vocal layers--make any Panda Bear (or Animal Collective for that matter) song all the more interesting. Benjamin's repetition of "I know, I know, I know..." starting at 1:46 is one of the most beautifully harmonized deliveries I've ever heard, and more than enough to make this normally-average song one of the best of the year.
8. Feist
"A Commotion"
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Before Adele, before Amy LaVere, even before Amy Winehouse, there was Feist. The mold of the independent, crooning, heart-broken, rebellious diva was cast when Feist started singing "Mushaboom" all those years ago.
Metals may only be her third album, but what other semi-folk singer do you know who's brave enough to put her own career on hold to tour with Peaches? Here, Feist shows what made her famous: big sound, beautiful singing, and a snap-you-awake chorus. As Carly Simon once said, nobody does it better. Hey, speaking of Amy LaVere...
7. Amy LaVere
"Stranger Me"
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What Amy LaVere has done by making
Stranger Me, and its titular single, is create perhaps one of the most beautiful and breathtaking break-up albums ever, even rivaling Beck's
Sea Change. Americana isn't a genre most people identify with, but they should. "Stranger Me" has something everyone can love, a little country, a little emo, a little folk-rock, a little blues, a little rock-and-roll. Beware, however, as this may be the saddest of this year's best songs, but uplifting as well. I've never done a listening double-take like I did when I heard "Stranger Me" the first time.
6. John Maus
"Believer"
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"Jackie Chan choppin' all across the world," is definitely one of the more...interesting (read: confusing) lines I've heard in a song this year. I can understand why a lot of people don't get John Maus. He's eccentric, he only seems to use one extremely high-pitched setting on his synthesizer, and his vocals are so distorted he sounds like he's calling to demand ransom, more likely to be confused with Al Jourgensen than Michael Buble. But that's part of what makes "Believer" so awesome. Why do they call him the believer? No one knows for sure, but this song is so catchy even the most doubting will believe that crazy can indeed be cool.
5. Iceage
"White Rune"
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By far the heaviest and fastest song on the list, "White Rune" proves that a punk-revival band from Denmark really can make Joy Division proud. Combining the structure and lyrics of Brit-punk with the sheer volume of shoegaze, Iceage have revitalized small-club, mosh-pit rock. I really can't say enough about this band. Their album is a step back into a time when Iggy Pop and Joe Strummer were fighting with their audiences...you know, the golden years of punk...and "White Rune" makes you want to jump in and start punching. Rock on, brothers!
4. St. Vincent
"Cruel"
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I said earlier that there was only one song on this list that was played on radio. That's unfortunate, because if there's one song that really should be played on radio, it's "Cruel." While the dark, sardonic lyrics of St. Vincent's most recent single are juxtaposed by the playful guitar lilts and upbeat melody, it's actually the video for this song that really makes it just that much better. A woman kidnapped by a family to be forced into the "mom" position, is then killed while showcasing the most ennui that is humanly possible. It's a perfect song to reflect the times we live in, and it's just damned good songwriting.
3. M83
"Midnight City"
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While I liked M83's
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, I can easily say that I can't handle two discs worth of electro-pop at a time. That said, I love "Midnight City." It very much reminds me of last years #1 best song, Robyn's "Dancing On My Own." The high-pitched hook and distorted lyrics could put it in the
Drive soundtrack without any problems, especially with the chorus about "waiting in the car." This is another one that just begs to be played over and over again. It's beat isn't particularly original, but M83 certainly has a way of making sound like it is. Club-friendly, long-city-drive-friendly...dancing-on-your-own-friendly.
2. The Joy Formidable
"Whirring"
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There's nothing I like more than a good noise-rock band. And when they actually write radio-friendly, bouncing songs like "Whirring," all the better. This song has something for every rock-radio listener: the fast, upbeat song at the opening; the length of the average Pink Floyd song; and the crashing, destructive, totally awesome ending. The drummer has to be given credit here for being able to keep up with the pace, and the noise, the glorious noise. The Joy Formidable will make your ears bleed, and you will love them for it.
1. TV on the Radio
"Caffeinated Consciousness"
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What can be said about TV on the Radio that hasn't already been said? They're brilliant, and their music is innovative, mesmerizing, and just plain cool. Their newest album,
Nine Types of Light was hit-or-miss with critics, but songs like "Caffeinated Consciousness" highlight just how truly great this band is. It starts with a groovy bass, then get ready to rock as Tunde Adebimpe begins yelling his message out over a skipping horn and guitar section that is unlike any other they've done in the past. With "Caffeinated Consciousness," TV on the Radio has truly outdone even themselves, and blown all the competition away.
