The Top 20 Songs of 2014

Presenting the top 20 songs of 2014. After weeks of work, having all that work erased by Blogger, then rewriting it in an hour, I give the list to you. Any song released in 2014 (to date) was considered.

20. Bear In Heaven
"Autumn"

Bear In Heaven is one of my all-time favorite bands. It's unfortunate that their newest album, Time Is Over One Day Old, couldn't hold up to the quality of "Autumn," the album's opener. But while the album itself is full of flaws, "Autumn" is near-perfect, a silly sounding song with deep themes hidden among swirling synths and reverberating guitars.
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19. Iggy Azalea
"Fancy"

I would say "Fancy" is a token pop inclusion, but that's just not the case. This song is awesome and everyone knows it. The hook is ultra-simplistic, and so catchy that everyone recognizes it in four notes. This song brings the party and brings the bass. What more can you ask for?
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18. Vince Staples
"Blue Suede"

Normally, I don't go for west-coast rap. The over-the-top machismo is beneath the intelligence of many rappers spouting it, and many of the rhymes are too steeped in gang lexicon. "Blue Suede" makes up for all of that with an amazing beat and a sample hook that matches the best in hip-hop.
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17. Parquet Courts
"Sunbathing Animal"

Parquet Courts know how to bring the punk when they need to. And in the middle of a plodding second effort, "Sunbathing Animal" comes in to break-up the boredom at exactly the right time. With bitingly sarcastic lyrics and a guitar break-down that even Neil Young would call "uninspired," the group hits every trope without getting repetitive.
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16. Cloud Nothings
"I'm Not a Part of Me"

While much of Cloud Nothings Here and Nowhere Else was just a rehash of their last album, "I'm Not a Part of Me" shows just why that's not such a bad thing. The guitars are crashing and the beat is working while lead singer Dylan Baldi exclaims his independence in the most emo way possible. This band has a lot to offer, and "I'm Not a Part of Me" is a great place to start digging in.
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15. Ex Hex
"Don't Wanna Lose"

If you were looking for the Runaways, I found them...well, their reincarnates anyway. Ex Hex are pure, classic rock-and-roll. A Joan Jett-esque lead singer and post-punk guitar straight from a Soiuxshie and the Banshees catalog. This is a song you can play at a summer pool party or driving home from your first high school break-up.
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14. Run the Jewels
"Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)"

Run the Jewels may be the most talented duo in hip-hop. El-P can make a sample out of nearly anything and Killer Mike can find a way to rhyme over it. With a guest spot from the always-on-fire Zack de la Rocha, spitting his political rap with all the gusto we've grown accustomed to, "Close Your Eyes..." may be the most hardcore rap song of the year.
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13. TV On the Radio
"Happy Idiot"

If Tunde Adebimpe can't tell you something awful while making you feel good about it, no one can. "Happy Idiot" is the first single off TV On the Radio's triumphant Seeds. It calls back the memory of 2008's brilliant "Dancing Choose," only faster, much faster. If the Yeah Yeah Yeahs made a dance album it would sound like this.
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12. St. Vincent
"Regret"

St. Vincent has morphed her sound a great deal since those early days of jangling guitars and multi-layered vocals. "Regret" is as close as you'll find to Marry Me-era Annie Clark, but it's still nothing like you remember. There are haunting organs and poppy solos, making this properly-named song one of her all-time best. After a performance like this, St. Vincent should regret nothing.
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11. Protomartyr
"Pagans"

Short and sweet. That's how punk was intended. But instead of "sweet," put in "punching you in the face." THAT's how punk was intended. The song is so short that I can't write this entire review without putting it on repeat. That said, the composition is so remarkable that the guitar textures will stay with you well after it's 1:11 run time ends, and Joe Casey's strangely soothing monotone will lull you into full rage.
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10. EMA
"When She Comes"

Two-thirds through EMA's brilliant The Future's Void, you need a break. There has been naught but intense, brooding industrial rock decrying the end of civilization as we know it. Then, on comes a song, so simple, so light-hearted, it is exactly what the album needs at exactly the right time. "When She Comes" is a pleasant little ditty, that might be just as dark as the rest of EMA's material, but it seems uplifting enough. This should get you through the apocalypse just fine.
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9. A Sunny Day in Glasgow
"Byebye, Big Ocean (The End)"

A Sunny Day in Glasgow is trying it's best to wash you out with guitar noise and a wall of sound. "Byebye..." sounds like a surprise wave, the kind that hits you just after you surface from the last swell. Appropriate, considering the name of the song...and the album it comes from. With the best noise-rock you'll hear since My Bloody Valentine stopped trying, "Byebye..." is gleefully loud, and happy to be so.
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8. Swans
"Oxygen"

Swans are insane. This song is insane. The album it comes from is even more insane. To listen to "Oxygen" is to follow frontman Michael Gira down a Carollian rabbit hole where up is down, left is right, and geometry in non-Euclidean. To sing along to "Oxygen" is to call forth the high priest Cthulhu. To be hypnotized by the masterful guitar work, throbbing bass line, and brilliant use of horns is to pierce the space of the Old Ones. You have entered the court of the Yellow King. Time is a flat circle.
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7. Fear of Men
"Alta/Waterfall"

Technically, "Alta" and "Waterfall" are two different songs, but they are so sonically linked that they cannot be considered separate. And you wouldn't want to anyway, the beautiful flow from one to the next is so mesmerizing, breaking them apart would be like destroying a Faberge egg. The gorgeous lyrics and sumptuous production suck you into a whirlpool of sound and harmony from which there is no escape. Where other bands fear to tread, Fear of Men take the plunge.
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6. Run the Jewels
"Oh My Darling Don't Cry"

The experience of seeing a milky, white guy rap like a west side gangster is jarring, to say the least. But looks aside, El-P knows what he's doing on the mic, and his production and composition credentials are already well-vetted from over a decade in the hip-hop scene. And when it comes to pure skill, does anything need to be said about Killer Mike? I've never heard anyone rap this hard in my life and we are all the better for it. If this duo stick together, they will be a powerhouse the music world has never seen. I cannot wait for their next release.
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5. Protomartyr
"Ain't So Simple"

"Ain't So Simple" is surprisingly uplifting for a post-punk, Joy Division cover band, but don't let that distract you from the spectacular music. Fuzzed out guitars try to outdo Joe Casey's emotional pleas. A song that, like everything on Under Color of Official Right, is too short to enjoy without listening over and over. Don't worry though, you won't be able to stop yourself.
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4. TV On the Radio
"Careful You"

If there's one thing TV On the Radio has been great at, it's taking an emotional ballad and making you want to dance to it. "Careful You" was our first glimpse of what Seeds would be, and my god, is it gorgeous. Tunde Adebimpe delivers a stunning (as always) rendition of this group's best love/break-up/make-up song, and gets you to believe in the invisible couple as well as if you were watching a rom-com. All this over the most tecno beats TVOtR has ever produced--a wedding in a nightclub.
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3. St. Vincent
"Digital Witness"

Annie Clark clearly spent a lot of time with David Byrne--all those horns. But something else has come from her study as well: taking a depressing topic, like the death of culture at the hands of an always-online society, and make it dance-able. St. Vincent has abandoned all traces of her time with Sufjan Stevens, and has left only the "cult leader" visage from the album art. If what Clark has said in interviews is true, that THIS is what "herself" sounds like, her most introverted music is by a wide margin the most catchy she's ever created.
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2. Future Islands
"Seasons (Waiting On You)"

I would be remiss if I didn't include at least one hometown song on my list every year. However, there is no year where a Baltimore-based act has produced a song this very, very good. Unlike hometown anti-heroes Animal Collective, Future Islands' sound is mainstream. Unlike hipster favorites Beach House, their sound is far more upbeat. But just because Future Islands isn't hitting the indie-rock notes, doesn't mean their brash guitars, glinting synths, and Samuel T. Herring's gravely vocals don't combine for some of the finest music Mobtown has ever produced. This is truly a band I'm proud to say comes from my hometown, and "Seasons" is a song, I'm proud to say, with the ability to bring me tears of joy.
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1. EMA
"So Blonde"

EMA's graphically intense The Future's Void opens with a somewhat uplifting sound. But it quickly turns sour. Her ode to the death of privacy, the rise of the Age of the Machine, the insanity caused by the loss of identity in a culture where sharing absolutely everything is the norm, starts off with a theme rock listeners might find more familiar: the downside of being famous. "So Blonde" isn't the anti-tech anthem that marks the rest of the album it comes from, as much as it is a story about drugs, phony-hangers-on, and the loss of family and friends to addiction and time. What makes the song so remarkable is EMA's ability to make you think everything is going to be alright through it all. The upbeat acoustic guitar, the major-chord vocals, even the scream-backed chorus, all add to the idea that maybe, just maybe, we're all okay. The future may be void, but that just means there is so much to look forward to.
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ADDENDUM

Unfortunately, not every song can be heard in time for publication of these amazing awesome lists. Bearing that in mind, I just heard "Queen" by Perfume Genius and, my god is it amazing. So, unnumbered, it shall be added here. Thanks for understanding...

#. Perfume Genius
"Queen"

Perfume Genius is a musical name I've heard thrown around for a while. I never realized just how brilliant that person is, or how the simplest sound can be turned into a beautiful chorus the likes of which I have never heard before. "Queen" is one of the few perfect songs in existence, with Mike Hadreas' gorgeous voice soaring gently over an expertly produced, nihilistic tech-riff straight from a Cliff Martinez film score. Listen to this immediately.
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See this year's other lists... Top 10 Albums of 2014   Top 10 Movies of the Decade (So Far)   Top 25 Albums of the Decade (So Far)

Coming Soon...

It's that time of year again. The lists are being compiled as we speak. This is your one-stop shop for all the best year-end lists. We have countdowns going on the various social networks if you want to guess ahead of time.

December 15, 2014 OUT NOW!

The Top 20 Songs of 2014

December 29, 2014 OUT NOW!

The Top 10 Albums of 2014

January 12, 2015 OUT NOW!

The Top 10 Movies of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)

January 26, 2015 OUT NOW!

The Top 25 Albums of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)

Album of the Week (11/19/2014): "Seeds"

TV On The Radio
Seeds
Harvest

I'm going to start off with a bombshell. This is TV On The Radio's best work. Of course, there is the indelible mythos of Return to Cookie Mountain, and the utter perfection that is Dear Science, but Seeds has absolutely no low points.

Cookie Mountain was chock-full of amazing songs, but the track listing was a mess; nothing flowed (except for the career-making three-song suite of "Playhouses"-into-"Wolf Like Me"-into-"A Method"). And while Dear Science was, by a wide margin, the best album of 2008, there were a couple songs that seemed like Cookie Mountain leftovers that got shoved in there for the sake of "we can't transition from our old sound completely or fans will hate us." I'm not even going to bring up Nine Types of Light (except to say that "Caffeinated Consciousness" was beyond the best song of 2011).

Here, TVOTR not only eschew the old ways (wall-of-sound jangle guitars, wind chimes, and doo-wop a cappella phrasing), but they also build on the sounds that made Dear Science so amazing (prog-rock bass lines, turntablism, and Sondheim-esque layered vocals). Seeds is a band at it's absolute peak, shaped by years of crafting, loss, and an abhorrence for the "middle way."

This album is so good it has also changed it's predecessor. While I may never listen to Nine Types of Light again (except "Caffeinated Consciousness," I think we've established that), Seeds has shown that album to be an important stepping stone in TOVTR's catalog. One that allowed them to plod through all the different experiments necessary to achieve greatness beyond imagining.

The Best Albums of 2014 (So Far)

And so, another six months has passed, and more awesome music has been released. I have discovered quite a few new artists in that time, and several of them are on this list. Perhaps you will give them a listen, and hear for yourself why these are the best new albums of 2014...so far.

5. A Sunny Day In Glasgow
Sea When Absent

Are you looking for a band to fill your shoegaze needs for the next 23 years while My Bloody Valentine goes on another hiatus? Boy, have I got the band for you. A Sunny Day In Glasgow take big risks and get big rewards with unconventional structure and a cacophony of synths and guitars. The vocal deliveries of Annie Fredrickson and Jen Goma make for a beautiful juxtaposition, cooing against the wall of noise--Christ-figures calming the tempest.

Listen:
"In Love With Useless (The Timeless Geometry In The Tradition of Passing)"
"MTLOV (Minor Keys)"

4. Protomartyr
Under Color of Official Right

Protomartyr are trying their very hardest to just be Joy Division...and they succeed gloriously. From Joe Casey's baritone, sombre vocals, to the strangely high-pitched basslines, to the staccato, hard-strung guitar chords that sound like they aren't vibrating enough, this band is perfecting the "depression punk" that Ian Curtis et. al. invented all those years ago. They even count Iggy Pop as one of their biggest influences (though, who doesn't these days?). The music is sensational, the album structure is tight. There is no room for error here, and Protomartyr make none.

Listen:
"Ain't So Simple"
"Pagans"

3. Swans
To Be Kind

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn, ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn, ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn, ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn, ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. But seriously, this album is insane. You have to listen to truly understand the call of the Yellow King.

Listen:
"A Little God In My Hands"
"Oxygen"

2. St. Vincent
St. Vincent

"The hardest thing to do is be yourself." Annie Clark a.k.a. St. Vincent has apparently been telling herself this for years, and she was finally allowed to do so on her fourth album. Given, though, how amazing her previous work has been to this point when she was putting on the masks of others, we could not imagine the wonder and beauty contained in what St Vincent's true self would be. Her emotion is more heartfelt, the strangeness of the sounds more ominous, and every song is crucially and brutally brought forth in fantastic aural color. Annie has earned the right to call herself: St. Vincent.

Listen:
"Birth In Reverse"
"Digital Witness"

1. EMA
The Future's Void

When listening to EMA's sophomore album, you find yourself immersed in an overwhelming sense of dread. Though this is not the point of the album, it can't help but constantly tell you just how little we are compared to our creations. The internet is bigger than us, the government is bigger than us, Apple is bigger than us. Let us join together in the celebration of AI, by drowning in a wash of noise and beautiful violence. The album title, from a grammatical standpoint, is infuriatingly vague: is the future void, or does the future posses a void? How can the latter be possible; how can an abstraction of time own a vacuum of space? Perhaps there is hope; the future is void, but waiting to be filled with our lives and inventions--a way of saying "the future is open." However EMA meant for the title to be interpreted, it is obvious the foreboding mood and oppressive sound says, "here is the end, here is nothing." The future is indeed void, and the void stares back.

Listen:
"Satellites"
"So Blonde"
"Smoulder"
"When She Comes"

Album of the Week (6/04/2014)

Parquet Courts
Sunbathing Animal
Mom & Pop

Parquet Courts, the Brookly-based punk outfit that blew up the independent scene, have done exactly what they needed to for their second album: write what they wanted. Sunbathing Animal is not Light Up Gold; sure, the sounds are still there, but the music is different. There's less pop, but more substance. Where Courts may have abandoned summertime bounce, they substituted texture and depth. Animal is less accessible, but much more mature than it's predecessor, showing a band that knows when to cut ties with their influences and become more than what they listened to as kids. Don't get me wrong, you could still confuse them for the Stooges, or maybe Joy Division in their "Warsaw" days, but these guys have gone from misplaced tribute band to full-on sludge-punk rockers in their own right.

Listen:
Sunbathing Animal
Black and White
Instant Disassembly

Album of the Week (Year?) 5/13/2014

Swans
To Be Kind
Young God Records

Normally, I'm not one for experimental rock, but Swans know what they're doing. The 80's psychedelic troupe have put out two albums in as many years, but judging by the quality of the work--some 4 hours of music--their comeback is not a fluke. To Be Kind is as vast as 2012's The Seer (fortunately with less ambient bagpipes this time) and constantly emphasizes the band's power and proclivity for loudness. Of course, the experimentalism is still there; it wouldn't be a Swans album without longs stretches of abstract noise, but here they up their game by providing catchy backing hooks. Darkly majestic, inspiringly uncompromising, To Be Kind is an album to pour over, and one that is near perfection.

Listen, go mad:
A Little God in My Hands
Oxygen

Album of the Week (5/06/2014)

Fennesz
Becs
Editions Mego

There is beauty in dissonance, and never before has someone been so adept at showing us. Between ethereal guitar static and otherworldly field recordings, Christian Fennesz makes music that acts as both soundtrack to- and active participant in your meditation on alien worlds. Whether he meant to leave a message or not doesn't matter, as long as you transcend time and space. There is a signal in the noise, all you have to do is listen.

Listen:
Static Kings
Liminality
Becs

Album of the Week (4/29/2014)

Fear of Men
Loom
Kanine

I don't know if there was ever a need to replicate the Cranberries with such exactness, but it must have existed, and it was most certainly met. Fear of Men provide a lush sound to the best pop has to offer, and despite the dark lyrics, almost all of which reference water, you can't help but feel a little lighter. The hooks on Loom are positively addictive, even transformational. Effortlessly the band creates songs that are both smart and enjoyable, merging depression and elation into a single sound. If there's one thing we can take from Fear of Men's Loom, it's that meticulous composition and flawless execution combine to make an affirmation of life so uncertain it's invigorating.

Listen:
Waterfall
America
Descent
Luna

Album of the Week (4/22/2014)

Protomartyr
Under Color of Official Right
Hardly Art

At long last, the true reincarnation of Joy Division has arrived. With 14 tight-knit, post-punk songs that both rage and lament, Protomartyr show us what satirical bluntness sounds like. Under Color of Official Right is the kind of album you listen to partying, driving, dancing, crying, or working out. It's lyrics are viscerally unpleasant, it's music is darkly romantic. Though it only runs 34 minutes, you can lose yourself in its dense aural jungles for hours. Here, Protomartyr set the bar so high it may never be reached by their contemporaries; but despite the complexity of the journey, it is nonetheless an essential one.

Listen:
Ain't So Simple
Pagans
Scum, Rise!
Come & See

Album of the Week (4.15.2014)

Happy tax day everyone! As you sit around waiting to get audited, take a listen to this. It might help with your mid-career angst.

EMA
The Future's Void
Matador

Erika M. Anderson is the only combination of Bat for Lashes and PJ Harvey I've found that is actually worth listening to. Granted, I don't think there are any other variations of that combination in existence, but nonetheless the bluesy, lonely vocals over washed out industrial noise and string arrangements make for evocative listening. The term "masterpiece" is thrown around a lot, and while I'm not ready to give it that designation just yet, EMA's sophomore effort is a dazzling look into how digitalism is affecting everyday society, especially the creation of music. But where St. Vincent's near-perfect, self-titled album from earlier this year was about the rejection of the ever-expanding inclusion of all things internet, The Future's Void is about acceptance: that the age of the World Wide Web is here to stay, that the age of privacy is dead. The future is indeed void, and the void stares back.

Listen:
Satellites
So Blonde
Neuromancer
Solace

Also, there's a song called "Cthulu." What more could you possibly want?

Album of the Week (4/08/2014)

Sisyphus
Sisyphus
Asthmatic Kitty

If you thought Sufjan Stevens' The Age of Adz was a departure from his previous work, get ready for his Einstein-Rosen bridge. Sisyphus is an industrial-rap trio consisting of Stevens, rapper Serengeti, and trip-hop musician Son Lux. Most of what is offered is fairly non-offensive rap that most people would feel comfortable having their kids listen to (note: this is not actually recommended), but the combination of Serengeti's smooth cadence over Lux' alternating ethereal drone and dirt-crunching beats is something to behold. Add into the mix Stevens' as-always beautiful vocal performance as the group's "straight man" (he does not rap, sorry to disappoint you) and obvious musical damper (he keeps their aspirations from getting a little too lofty), and you have a sound that is both gorgeous and ear-worming. As rap, it's overly complex and far from ordinary. As pop, you won't be able to stop listening to it.

Listen:
Alcohol
Lion's Share
Rhythm of Devotion

Album of the Week (4/01/2014)

While I'm not really into the hijinks often accompanying today's random calendar placement, it must be acknowledged that today is April Fool's Day, as seen by Google's nearly-constant, ongoing "prank" of not letting me connect to Drive.

That said, awesome stuff is happening in the music world. So let it begin...

Cloud Nothings
Here and Nowhere Else
Mom & Pop

Dylan Baldi's vision for Cloud Nothings was to take it from a semi-pop band to a nihilistic punk-Nirvana. He succeeded in achieving the first part of that goal with the band's previous effort, Attack on Memory, but Here and Nowhere Else achieves the second. Being an emo-Kurt Cobain is as hard a job as any redundancy, but being more emo than Kurt Cobain while simultaneously sounding awesome and being a better lyricist is something close to astonishing.

The music here is raw to the point of touching nerves, and plays as fast as possible while trudging through a bleak winterscape. Here, Cloud Nothings perform with reckless abandon and hope they don't leave too many of us behind. They want us to go on this journey with them, but they want us to despise them for it.

Album of the Week (3/25/2014)

Hello, and welcome to the first review of 2014! While many of you already know that St. Vincent released a new album (St. Vincent, which was exceptional, by the way), this review is focused entirely on nepotism.

And by nepotism, I of course mean that it's about a band from Baltimore, because of course it is.

Future Islands
Singles
4AD

Future Islands have been here a while, you just didn't notice them. That's okay, neither did I, until a ridiculous Letterman performance made them internet-viral-video gold. Turns out, they're pretty damn good, cut from the same cloth as Beach House (Baltimore! Represent!) except without the crippling depression or hipster cult-following. The precision and execution on songs like "Seasons (Waiting On You)" is fantastic, with just the right amount of guitar flare, New Order bass, and the mushiest lyrics you've ever heard. This is what pop should sound like.

The Top 10 Albums of 2013

10.  Haim
Days Are Gone

Days Are Gone is the sumptuous throwback debut that was unexpected in every way. These girls are talented beyond belief, and their 80s-fem-rock acumen is beyond compare. Their songwriting, lyrical structure, and musicianship are above reproach, and they have crafted an album that is part goodtimes fun, part regretful past, and all heartfelt arena rock.

09. Nine Inch Nails
Hesitation Marks

For his first album in five years, Trent Reznor employed an unheard of technique in the NIN catalog...letting other people help. Doing so has resulted in Reznor's finest effort since 1999's The Fragile; eschewing the bombastic rock anthems that seem to make his previous efforts feel like tired nostalgia, and exchanging them to dance beats and minimalist glitch. The closest thing to a classic NIN song was the single "Came Back Haunted," which was nowhere near the best on the album. Reznor's lyrics, as always are introspective, but this time with a twist: how he sees his younger self during the Downward Spiral years. And let me tell you, the view is not pretty, but goddamn is it mesmerizing.

08. Fuck Buttons
Slow Focus

If you don't think Fuck Buttons is the loudest dance act around, it's because they long ago shattered your eardrums, and you just didn't know it. The duo with the unspeakable (in polite company) name somehow found a way to improve on their sophomore effort, Tarot Sport--make bigger beats. Essentially, FB was an experimental metal outfit that only used synths and programmers, but now that they found Crystal Castles' drum machine, nothing will stop them. Sure, you can talk about your Daft Punks, Basement Jaxxs (Jaxxi?), and Tiestos, but these guys will start a rave and then fight everyone inside of it.

07. Arcade Fire
Reflektor

Arcade Fire's senior effort is dense, complex, and long. You won't get it, and I'm not a hipster saying that self-importantly; I don't get it either. It's hard to listen to, but when you finish Reflektor, you have completed a great work, like sculpting David out of granite with a prison shank. You are tired from the effort, but fulfilled by the accomplishment. This album didn't win many awards: it's too confusing. It won't sell as many copies as The Suburbs: it's too inaccessible. What it will do is--like Funeral did so many years ago--transform how independent, low-budget bands write and record their music. Like so many art museums, Reflektor isn't fun, but it is beautiful, and full of wonder.

06. David Bowie
The Next Day

Is there anything to write here that hasn't already been written about David Bowie? He isn't exactly releasing music for street cred anymore; nor is he doing it for the money (there is no tour to accompany The Next Day). It's obvious that Bowie is just a straight-up musician who can't help but write some of the most intriguing, bizarre, catchy, rocking songs out there. The Next Day is full of surprises, given Bowie's most recent previous efforts: the title track is straight out of his Berlin period, "Valentine's Day" is a post-industrial blues song commenting on the rise of mass shootings, and "Boss of Me" is oddest love song written since "Heart's Filthy Lesson."

05. Queens of the Stone Age
...Like Clockwork

After a six-year hiatus, Josh Homme and crew have returned to deliver one of the best hard rock albums in over a decade (probably since their own Songs for the Deaf in 2002). ...Like Clockwork is tightly written and executed, despite a list of guest stars that reads like a fanboy's wet dream: Trent Reznor, Dave Grohl, Alex Turner, Jake Shears, and the self-described "actual queen from the stone age" Elton John. The songs here are dark, heavy, and better than anything the band has done since Songs. I would say this is the best thing Queens has ever done, but only because it's a completely different sound from the one pioneered on Rated R and Songs so long ago. It's like two different bands competing through time: one has the best alt-rock album of the millennium, one has the best stoner rock album of the millennium.

04. Janelle Monae
The Electric Lady

It would seem that Janelle Monae can only improve. After releasing an essentially flawless album in 2010's The ArchAndroid, Monae has kicked it up a notch with funkier, fresher beats and sucker-punch lyrics that will make you dance right out of your shoes. "Prime Time" is obviously the showstopper here, a melodramatic love song so heartbreakingly well delivered you could cry yourself to sleep, but singles "Q.U.E.E.N." and "Dance Apocalyptic" provide the guest-star power and popping rhythm for which Monae is rightly and justly famous.

03. Kanye West
Yeezus

While many critics and other reviewers describe West's lyrics as evidence of his persecution complex and seemingly anti-white political views, I read into them differently. While Twisted Fantasy made many references to Kanye's own faults, the lyrics on Yeezus see him move from self-deprecation to full-on misanthropy. West has an issue with humanity, it's failings and hard truths the subject of nearly every line. But if Kanye's lyrics are something to marvel at, then the music over which he rhymes is beyond comparison to anything else in Hip-Hop. Here he makes good on his statement from years before where he named Trent Reznor and Thom Yorke as inspirational figures. The instruments and samples are loud and angry, distorted by overblown fuzz and walls of static.The production is stellar, the effects are mind-blowing.

02. Parquet Courts
Light Up Gold

This Brooklyn outfit decided to break all the rules of punk (isn't that what it's about anyway?) and make it surfer-y, and trance-inducing. Great for rocking out or driving long distances, Light Up Gold is full of political alt-rock that is both scathing and funny, as well as fun party songs and "let's kick their asses" anthems. Their over-the-top energy and speed make the perfect combination for a sound that's far better than any of Parquet Courts' contemporaries. Brainy, arty, hazy, and punchy, these songs will make you feel compelled to bounce out of your chair until they leave you wanting more. For a first album, you can't really ask for much more than that.

01. Deafheaven
Sunbather

A story: when I listen to albums to "review" them, I do so in the car on my way to and from work. My car speakers, though standard, are better than any set of headphones I've ever used, and I can't just sit and listen to music by itself, so the car is the perfect place. That said, on my way home one day in mid-June, I put on Sunbather, Deafheaven's second album, and having not turned down the volume from my NIN playlist, "Dream House" opened with an ear-shattering loudness. I quickly adjusted the knob to a more manageable (and bystander friendly) setting, but as I drove up I-95 I began to realize something: it wasn't loud enough anymore. So I turned it up. A minute later, it wasn't loud enough again. This pattern continued until the volume in my car was above the original "ear-shattering" level, and it was just getting good. No, it wasn't road noise, or crappy production that made the music continually softer, it's just that Sunbather begs to be played at the loudest possible setting--Spinal Tap's mythical "11". So, an hour later, with my car windows shattered and blood coming out of my ears, I came to a realization: with its wall of sonic noise and indiscernible screaming, this is what metal is supposed to sound like.

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!