Favorite songs of the year
Here are my favorite 25 songs of the year. Free download links where available, iTunes or label pages otherwise.
1 and 2. Elliott Smith - A Fond Farewell (iTunes) and Twilight (Anti-, free download).
3. Animal Collective - Who Could Win a Rabbit (links to batshit insane music video halfway down the page). The doodadoodledoos around 1:33 are the most joyful music released this year.
4 and 5. Oh man I love the Jewelled Antler Collective! Winged Leaves is just one of the great songs on the Ivytree's heartbreaking Winged Leaves. It's hard to pick just one song off of the Skygreen Leopards' One Thousand Bird Ceremony, but The Heron is a good place to start. (Both links go to free downloads. There is no good reason for you to have not listened to these songs.)
6. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out. Who cares if they're selling cars now?
7 and 8. Iron and Wine - Each Coming Night. This one goes without saying, but I also love the Iron and Wine cover of the Postal Service's Such Great Heights. It's a maudlin song and it was played over a particularly maudlin scene in Garden State, but Mr. Beam makes it work.
9. Ted Leo - Me and Mia. Could this be the best free download of the year? I think so. Yes.
10. P. G. Six - Old Man on the Mountain. A great acoustic song about whiskey. From Well of Memory, which you should buy if you like the (psych) folk music.
11. Decemberists - The Tain (link is to the Decemberists' online store). I wrote about this before, but after further listens I'm convinced this is the Decemberists' best. Twenty minutes of Celtic myth set to ironic prog rock! How can you go wrong.
12. Guster - The Sun Shines Down on Me (Daniel Johnston cover) - Clunky, sloppy, awesome. This song (second to last on Daniel Johnston - Discovered Covered) shows what Guster might do once liberated from slick producers and pop expectations. Ryan Miller's voice cracks in the second chorus - and there's no Steve Lillywhite to record it over again!
13. Björk - Mouth's Cradle. An amazing, baffling album. "Mouth's Cradle" is the song with the best chorus. I'm a sucker for a good Björk chorus.
14. Fennesz - Circassian. The chord progression wanders for thirty seconds, then resolves powerfully around 0:38. You think you've got the trick figured out, but when it does it again thirty seconds later, it's just as powerful. Five minutes of goosebumps.
15. Greg Davis - Shoes and Socks. It took a few listens to get into Curling Pond Woods, but I am now entranced. This particular track is representative of the album as a whole - shuffling beats, acoustic guitar loops, scraps of melody. Like the Books, except in the woods.
16. Hall of Fame - My Sweet Miasma. Brooklyn-based psychedelia. This is definitely the best song, but the album (Paradise Now) is chock full of inscrutable, chiming, noisy pop. Recommended, if you're into that kind of thing.
17. Loretta Lynn - Portland Oregon (with Jack White). I have no idea what the rest of the album is like, but for a stretch of a week this was the only song I listened to. It comes from outer space and ends up drunk in the gutter!
18. Philip Jeck - Wipe. I couldn't really get into this album (7) as a whole, but "Wipe" is remarkable. The choir from Neptune, remixed, in a subway tunnel.
19, 20, and 21. Rogue Wave - Kicking the Heart Out. At one point, when this song was a free iTunes download, it was possible to acquire one forth of the album (Out of the Shadow) as free downloads. But just 'cause the label is really pushing this album doesn't mean it sucks. It's actually pretty good. (Download two other songs for free from Subpop).
22. Juana Molina - Sálvase Quién Pueda. This is the best song on Tres Cosas and the highlight of her performance at the Domino CMJ showcase. The performance was otherwise lackluster - she was alone on stage, playing synthesizers and singing into a delay/loop pedal. I saw Howie Day do that same schtick opening for Tori Amos three years ago.
23. Sigur Rós - Ba Ba. This is the best track from the three-track EP, but you really just need to get the whole damn thing. It's a bit more abstract than your usual SR, but their impeccable sense of melody holds it all together. (Okay, so I'm a Sigur Rós fanboy. Sorry.)
24. Rilo Kiley - A Man/Me/Then Jim. I don't think I liked this album as much as thedexter wanted me to, but I love this song. Perfect country-twinged pop. (Not as good as With Arms Outstretched, though.)
25. Hotel Alexis - It's Obvious Now (you can stream part of this song from the link). This was an Aquarius Records record of the week. Kind of like Wilco in slow motion.
1 and 2. Elliott Smith - A Fond Farewell (iTunes) and Twilight (Anti-, free download).
3. Animal Collective - Who Could Win a Rabbit (links to batshit insane music video halfway down the page). The doodadoodledoos around 1:33 are the most joyful music released this year.
4 and 5. Oh man I love the Jewelled Antler Collective! Winged Leaves is just one of the great songs on the Ivytree's heartbreaking Winged Leaves. It's hard to pick just one song off of the Skygreen Leopards' One Thousand Bird Ceremony, but The Heron is a good place to start. (Both links go to free downloads. There is no good reason for you to have not listened to these songs.)
6. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out. Who cares if they're selling cars now?
7 and 8. Iron and Wine - Each Coming Night. This one goes without saying, but I also love the Iron and Wine cover of the Postal Service's Such Great Heights. It's a maudlin song and it was played over a particularly maudlin scene in Garden State, but Mr. Beam makes it work.
9. Ted Leo - Me and Mia. Could this be the best free download of the year? I think so. Yes.
10. P. G. Six - Old Man on the Mountain. A great acoustic song about whiskey. From Well of Memory, which you should buy if you like the (psych) folk music.
11. Decemberists - The Tain (link is to the Decemberists' online store). I wrote about this before, but after further listens I'm convinced this is the Decemberists' best. Twenty minutes of Celtic myth set to ironic prog rock! How can you go wrong.
12. Guster - The Sun Shines Down on Me (Daniel Johnston cover) - Clunky, sloppy, awesome. This song (second to last on Daniel Johnston - Discovered Covered) shows what Guster might do once liberated from slick producers and pop expectations. Ryan Miller's voice cracks in the second chorus - and there's no Steve Lillywhite to record it over again!
13. Björk - Mouth's Cradle. An amazing, baffling album. "Mouth's Cradle" is the song with the best chorus. I'm a sucker for a good Björk chorus.
14. Fennesz - Circassian. The chord progression wanders for thirty seconds, then resolves powerfully around 0:38. You think you've got the trick figured out, but when it does it again thirty seconds later, it's just as powerful. Five minutes of goosebumps.
15. Greg Davis - Shoes and Socks. It took a few listens to get into Curling Pond Woods, but I am now entranced. This particular track is representative of the album as a whole - shuffling beats, acoustic guitar loops, scraps of melody. Like the Books, except in the woods.
16. Hall of Fame - My Sweet Miasma. Brooklyn-based psychedelia. This is definitely the best song, but the album (Paradise Now) is chock full of inscrutable, chiming, noisy pop. Recommended, if you're into that kind of thing.
17. Loretta Lynn - Portland Oregon (with Jack White). I have no idea what the rest of the album is like, but for a stretch of a week this was the only song I listened to. It comes from outer space and ends up drunk in the gutter!
18. Philip Jeck - Wipe. I couldn't really get into this album (7) as a whole, but "Wipe" is remarkable. The choir from Neptune, remixed, in a subway tunnel.
19, 20, and 21. Rogue Wave - Kicking the Heart Out. At one point, when this song was a free iTunes download, it was possible to acquire one forth of the album (Out of the Shadow) as free downloads. But just 'cause the label is really pushing this album doesn't mean it sucks. It's actually pretty good. (Download two other songs for free from Subpop).
22. Juana Molina - Sálvase Quién Pueda. This is the best song on Tres Cosas and the highlight of her performance at the Domino CMJ showcase. The performance was otherwise lackluster - she was alone on stage, playing synthesizers and singing into a delay/loop pedal. I saw Howie Day do that same schtick opening for Tori Amos three years ago.
23. Sigur Rós - Ba Ba. This is the best track from the three-track EP, but you really just need to get the whole damn thing. It's a bit more abstract than your usual SR, but their impeccable sense of melody holds it all together. (Okay, so I'm a Sigur Rós fanboy. Sorry.)
24. Rilo Kiley - A Man/Me/Then Jim. I don't think I liked this album as much as thedexter wanted me to, but I love this song. Perfect country-twinged pop. (Not as good as With Arms Outstretched, though.)
25. Hotel Alexis - It's Obvious Now (you can stream part of this song from the link). This was an Aquarius Records record of the week. Kind of like Wilco in slow motion.