and we resume...
41. Gold Past Life (Fruit Bats):
it's as if the band is channeling their inner Bee Gees.
42. Love Feasts (Liz Brasher):
and they say contemporary rock is dead.
43. Martyr (Sevdaliza):
here, rock drums, Spanish guitar, and sneering violin cozy up against glitchy beats and Sevdaliza’s fierce vibrato, juxtaposing the artificial and the natural. (MEDIUM.COM)
44. Heathen (Adia Victoria):
shows that no matter what a stunning simple song that is well crafted will always win out.
45. Spark (Kilo Kish):
this new electronic turn is interesting.
46. Let’s Go On The Run (Chance the Rapper):
amid the underwhelming tracks on his long-awaited album, Chance shines here.
47. Cheap Queen (King Princess):
presents an artist in full control of her aesthetic, able to bend it in various directions without losing her sense of self. For that song, she wades past her music’s electronic fringe into full-on synth-pop. (STEREOGUM)
48. Like A Girl (Lizzo):
everyone's doing girl empowerment tracks but the many elements Lizzo pulls together here are dizzying yet funky.
49. Song 31 (Noname feat. Phoelix):
running under the tap of her silky delivery is the fire.
50. Binz (Solange):
like a little magic trick, the drums never break on “Binz,” they just lay in the pocket, a circuitous tapping on the hi-hat, the warm-up to a soul explosion that never arrives. Instead, the beat simmers on low, a glorious, too-brief slice of song easy to overlook in the big stew. (PITCHFORK)
51. Comme Si (Christine and the Queens):
"a carnal call for sensuality and a call to dissolve as a way to exist and mend. It’s also a love song to the pop song format that changed my life, because with music I got to be who I wanted to be." (PITCHFORK)
52. History Repeats(Brittany Howard):
Howard steps up to deliver some subdued yet blistering jazz funk.
53. Exits (Foals):
doesn’t simply rehash the old britrock ethos, but charges it with something evolved. The song starts with this crisp snare countdown that lands confidently on a swaggering beat. Drums and bass set the tone, an off-beat throbbing that sounds like an all black, leather jacket stride down a Brooklyn alley. Guitar punctuates at the end of each bar, the brash side eye at gawkers. (ATWOOD MAGAZINE)
54. 4AM (Spielbergs):
doesn’t qualify as interest-piquing nomenclature, but the song compensates with Spielbergs’ usual hopeful rush of guitars, drums, and vocals competing to crowd each other out in the mix. “It’s 4AM, and I feel like giving up!” goes the gargantuan chorus. The implied message in the music: He’s not giving up! Feedback slices through the mix, the rhythm section churns, and the whole big thing happens. (STEREGUM)
55. Bad Guy (Billie Eilish):
uses murky vocals and a stylistic off-pop fusion with minimalist backing instrumentals to weave a hypnotic track. In a feminist twist, the lyrics subvert the idea of a “bad guy” in the relationship, instead stating that she, herself, is tougher. Eilish’s vocals are the showstopper—the hushed yet dark whispering is novel without being gimmicky. Bad Guy is a song of serious power and empowerment. (TREBLE)
56. Uncertainly Deranged (Bayonne):
sounds like what Animal Collective should still sound like.
57. Way Out (Big Joanie):
a loving ode to their city and emotional growth.
58. Unshaken (D’angelo):
his spin on western soul is refreshing and leaves one wanting more.
59. Can’t Believe The Way We Flow (James Blake):
his return to form manifest.
60. Off My Feet/ Westside Rider Anthem (Matt Martians):
smoothly cruising down the street.
