2012: The Top 100 Best Songs: Part II (#61--#80)

Part two...


61. Losing You (Solange Knowles):

penned by the genius Devonte Hynes, “Losing You” is at once playful yet modern in the way Solange phrases it. It reminds one instantly of Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy”…just much better.




62. Sidewalk Safari (Chairlift):

a brilliant pop gem, peppered with lovely reverb on chorus. The duo uses many studio tricks here, including a looping spoken-word section that all works wondrously.




63. Unless You Speak from Your Heart (Porcelain Raft):

a brilliant chillwave track that juxtaposes its flourishes with a captivating chorus.




64. The Neighborhood (Female Robbery):

the strains of trip-hop can be heard within the mix of paranoia and fear. The backing vocals mix in at just the right level.





65. Vowels=Space & Time (Grimes):

when she brings fierceness to vocals to match her beats then that’s when she can trip out into a whole other galaxy…taking us on the ride of a lifetime in her own interpretation of R&B.





66. Weekend In The Dust (David Byrne & St. Vincent):

two critical faves getting together to rock the house isn’t new but the mixture here is remarkable fresh and inviting.






67. Thinking ‘bout You (Frank Ocean):

when he croons, ‘do you think about me still/ or do you not think so far ahead?, it achieves a tender affect. Like The Weeknd, Ocean is leading the new wave R&B school of young men who are looking past R. Kelly-esque frankness to connect to something far more significant: love.






68. Heartbeat (Childish Gambino):

crunching on Kanye West-like synths and reflections on a relationship and its cultural significance, Bambino proves that he’s slowly growing up.





69. Apple of My Eye (Big Boi):

a somewhat subdued affair but beneath its silkiness lies real skill.






70. I Ain’t The Same (Alabama Shakes):

Brittany Howard could wrench soul from an empty bottle or even one she’s just drained to drown her sorrows in. Simply, she’s untouchable.





71. Manic (Azari & III):

a retro yet totally slamming camp classic, both guys know how to hold the groovy notes at just the right intervals to snap their fierceness into it.





72. Mutual Core (Bjork):

crunching happily away with her apps and voila; a masterpiece!





73. Come to the City (The War on Drugs):

seamless work of art.






74. Liquorice (Azealia Banks):

the vanity track from her EP, it’ll be the track that will give the likes of Missy Elliott nightmares because now they’ll have to dig deeper.





75. Call Me (Kimbra):

a jazzy texture sprinkles throughout Kimbra’s delivery of a standard pop tune. The genius move was to fizzle out the lyrics as well and the result is utterly beautiful.





76. Green (Paul Weller):

surprisingly funky and soulful at the same time, Weller dyes the grays behind his ears and gets to shaking up his middle-aged booty and invites us to as well.





77. Destiny (John Talabot feat. Pional):

Spanish dance producer Talabot clearly believes in the laws of delayed gratification because he presents this track with a slow build into one big great climax.






78. Bodies (Pale Seas):

the heavy guitars flood the senses amid nostalgia…bringing one back to a more innocent time but it’s a modern complexity present.





79. Untitled (Killer Mike feat. Scar):

from the first beat hits, you know a treat awaits you as Killer Mike sets up a lush vanity fair project which Scar adds some lovely soul touches. .





80. Port of Morrow (The Shins):

a quiet, guitar-crunching return from the band. Employing a haze-induced vocal makes wonders occur as well as the dreamy soundscapes.

2012: The Top 100 Best Songs: Part I (#81--#100)

It's been an interesting year for singles but even more so for non-singles. This list is for all album tracks because as we all know, sometimes the best songs aren't the singles--thank you Frank Ocean.

Here the countdown begins with the first 20 songs:






81. Hot Knife (Fiona Apple):

‘he excites me’ yells Apple over a piano-laced riff and you get excited because it, especially when her sister Maude joins her on the sublime vocal workout that is the chorus.




82. Survival Tactics (Joey Badass feat. Capt. Steez):

the kid is only 17 but yet cutting teeth hard on mean riffs and the project life. Imagine the next ten years.




83. Authentic Pyrrhic Remission (Of Montreal):

through his constant questioning of identity though, Barnes never fails to connect to this weird, cool space.



84. The Full Retard (El-P):

the stand-out on his new album swerves unpredictable from a gorgeous groove into some astute lyricism and a weird spoken word section and a sample from late friend Camu Tao.




85. Bang (Rye Rye feat. M.I.A):

her style grates but Rye Rye hits the mark here even with the curious phrase “come catch up”. M.I.A wisely puts in a subtle supporting role.




86. Do The Trick (Dr. Dog):

breaching Vampire Weekend territory, the band pummels out this romper so easily that it makes one wonder how come they hadn’t strayed down this path before.




87. King of the World (First Aid Kit):

a vivid, lush folk masterpiece replete with flute and stunning lines that highlight loss and wanton emptiness that afflicts so many singers.




88.

Rosie Oh (Animal Collective): our favourite indie band returns with a trippy, water-logged dash of brilliance that reminds of their fantastic previous project.



89. Smear the Queen (Xiu Xiu):

Jaime Stewart sings about ‘the horror, the horror’, in a tale of gay bashing yet, keeping in mind his twisted sense of pain, he also retells the discovery of finding his hands in someone else’s stretch-pants. It’s kinky but that’s what he does best




90. Petition (Tennis):

the bounciness of the tune shows much variety from Tennis and the celebrated style continues right up to the end with flourish. Good stuff.




91. Do Ya Thing (Gorillaz feat. James Murphy & Andre 3000):

that this trio actually recording a track was the stuff of dreams already but here the reality is even better than any fan could have hoped for.




92. You Know You Like It (AlunaGeorge):

while The Weeknd has been busy reinventing 90s R&B, George becomes his female counterpart with this heavy Mary J. Blige-ish effort that grooves for days.




93. The Hours (Beach House):

with the band ones know what to expect as well as what you’ll get and The Hours is no different: a lovely, psychedelic reel of greatness.




94. Towers (Bon Iver):

continuing his pastoral glee, Vernon turns his fiddling passion into a smooth flow juxtaposed to that trademark falsetto and peppers crashing horns everywhere.




95. I’m Not Talking (A.C. Wonder):

the heavy sentiment wrapped into pop perfection and infectious beats remains his trademark and yet again we have a winner.




96. U & Me & Everyone We Know (Jean Grae):

an unusual turn for the rapper but she pulls it off with the weariness and sheer poetry of her lyrics. From the school of hard-knocks yet she rises.



97. Born To Lose (Sleigh Bells):

the distorted, loud guitar riffs are back and this time Sleigh Bells have taken a delicious turn with Born to Lose, incorporating a host of motor sounds to the mix. Alexis Krauss seamlessly works her vocals into the frame instead of dividing attention.



98. I Am What I Am (Spiritualzed):

a swirling mess of thunderous guitars and lyrical bravado that’s lacking for the rest of the album all turn up here for one big, grand statement.



99. Ave Maria (Imani Coppola):

laid back but the crunchy guitars absolutely sell the song, no matter the simplicity involved of this black chick wondering if her lover is gay or European.



100. Time (Nomad Carlos):

one of the new local hip/hop artists emerging into the mainstream, Carlos goes retro and still finds at interesting combination of grooves and lyrical content.

2012: The Best New Artists...

I’m still buzzing how my break-out artist last year, Grimes has blown up exactly how I predicted. As year-end lists pile on with her and Frank Ocean (he, too was on my list), it’s time to look forward to the next batch of promising new musicians. As with last year, these artists aren’t all new but this was the year that made you not forget about their impact on the years to come:




First, my pick as the top new artist of the year (drum roll..)

Azealia Banks:

exactly one year ago, the first set of views on Youtube for a song called 212 started to spread word of a new American female hip/hop artist called Azealia Banks. It wasn’t expected to do anything other than merely introduce the world to her but here we are—two releases later and she’s still the most talked-about female artist out there yet to put out a debut-proper. That’s not hype, that’s talent being waited to be consumed by the masses. February 2013 is the new release date for Bank’s debut and it’ll be interesting to see how much she’s learned from an incredible year and move on from there.



and the rest (in no particular order)...




Kendrick Lamar:

not technically a new artist but the flawless Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was his first LP for a major label. Given all the plaudits it’s gotten this year I need not say anymore…after all I’m sure you’ve heard it by now.




THEESatisfaction:

after apparently wowing the SXSW festival this year, many then believed the duo, Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White to be the real deal. I already knew it after listening to their great debut this year and, lest one forget, they played a huge part in last year’s Shabazz Palaces LP. Pretty high praise indeed.




Five Steez & Nomad Carlos:



the Jamaican hip/hop scene has been rumbling of late with new sounds and artists no longer content to be merely underground. And we’re all just catching on. It’s a cadre of dedicated artists and Five Steez & Nomad Carlos are spearheading this revolution but there’s an entire community helping out with producing their craft. It’ll be an exciting 2013 to see how much more these guys have stored up with their conscious lyrics and lush production flow.





Angel Haze:

while it’s hard to initially look beyond her striking styling to Aaliyah, that’s where the similarities end. Haze is more in line with Azealia Banks who, not surprisingly, she’s working on a collaboration LP. I for one can’t wait to hear that foul-mouthed delight.





Mac Demarco:

imagine a combination of Beck and Jack White and that’s basically what type of brilliance Demarco unfurled on his stunning pair of debuts this year. And he’s punkish-looking, irrepressibly horny and wants to write Bradford Cox-like songs afterwards. This kid is all the excitement of youthful energy. He doesn’t look like much but take a listen to Freaking Out The Neighbourhood and get converted.





Brittany Howard (of Alabama Shakes):

without doubt, the strongest vocals to capture critics this year was Brittany Howard, the lead singer for blues/soul band Alabama Shakes. Howard has been touring incessantly with her band the past year and everyone has been stunned by that commanding voice that beats all the current soul singers by a huge margin while being called the black Janis Joplin.





Ava Luna:

an exciting 6-member group that twists and chews out pop/rock/electronic tracks like the rent is overdue. Carlos Hernandez is the lead vocal but he is backed admirably by Ethan Bassford, Julian Fader, Felicia Douglass, Nathan Thompkins and Becca Kauffman. It’s a wide assortment, a little United Nation of musical ideas that works well.





Alt-J:

with this year’s Mercury Prize theirs, this British band is now firmly on its way but what’s so pleasantly surprising is the cool, steady hand that is their debut. Formed in 2007, Alt-J is Joe Newman, Thom Green, Gus Unger-Hamilton & Gwil Sainsbury and one can tell these guys overdosed on Radiohead’s Kid A when it came out.





Django Django:

the exciting new music coming out of England of late isn’t only with solo artists as this group (Dave Maclean, Vincent Neff, Tommy Grace, Jimmy Dixon) have put out a terrific debut album while distinguishing themselves from everyone else. They’ve been in the spotlight since 2009 but it was only this year that everything came together. This is the type of intelligent yet smart pop/rock music that, quite frankly, most American bands are struggling to produce.





Chet Faker:

the soulful Aussie hasn’t become a household name in North America yet but Down Under he’s made an incredible start by winning two prizes at that country’s Independent Music Awards. Faker, real name Nick Murphy, rose to prominence by covering Blackstreet’s hit No Diggety but his debut EP proved that it was no mere fluke. The ease in which he vocally navigates these beats makes for an exciting listen and I can’t wait to hear what soul goodies he’s planning next.





Lana del Rey:

love her or hate her but Lana del Rey’s stunning EP earlier this year found a niche that is only now imploring upon listeners globally. She’s seriously flawed as a concept artist but that’s the fun in watching her assemble the damaged parts and drown them in deep analysis.




Beth Jean Houghton:

the British lass with the quirky hairdos but, more importantly, the deep, mature folk voice. Mark my words: she’ll go solo and wow us with her next opus.





Kimbra:

imagine my surprise to learn that the star of a song the world has latched onto—Somebody That I Used To Know—was a male singer called Gotye and not the obvious star Kimbra. Though her debut Vows was released in her native New Zealand in 2011, it only reached North America this year. With her jazzy textures and sensual voice, this lass is the real deal.