80. M. Ward-For Beginners: The opener on Hold Time finds Ward doing what he does best-crooning with that amazing voice of his. Who cares what he’s saying, it just sounds so good. That said, hard to argue with: “They say the original sinners / never felt a drop of pain / until that second in the garden / then they felt it each and every day / so draw back your bows you hunters / who have never felt that flame / but the absolute beginners / they are safe in the shade today.” It ends up being a tribute to both innocence and the loss thereof, embracing the dignities and excitement of each.
79. The Antlers-Sylvia: Same deal as the other Antlers song at #85. That said, this is probably the saddest song on an album full of sad songs. I mean the thing is called Hospice for chrissakes, it’s not really built for uplifting singles. The chorus here really does soar though, even if you’re tearing up before it starts. Not that you’ll be any less forlorn as you sing along to a chorus of “Sylvia / get your head out of the oven / let me take your temperature / you can throw the thermometer right back at me / if that’s what you want to do / ok?” Yeesh.
78. Passion Pit-Sleepyhead: Sounds different than the rest of the album, has a nice sampling going on, jumps around a ton. Tempo changes really work here.
77. Andrew Bird-Effigy: I wrote a post earlier this year about the backlash to Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast. This song is a good example of both why that backlash came about, and also why it was undeserved. Effigy takes time to develop, and there’s no “climax” here per se, but what is there is a soliloquy about the person everyone has met in small town America, and the person none of us wants to be: “it could be you / it could be me / working the door / drinking for free / carrying on with your conspiracies / filling the room with a sense of unease / fake conversations on a nonexistent telephone / like the word of a man who’s spent a little too much / time alone.” Not only a worry about becoming that person, but the lost time involved therein. This is a soft, quiet song, which is fitting here, and represents a really great moment on the album.
76. Micachu-Golden Phone: I can’t describe this. It’s beautiful pop obscured and amplified by strange sounds that aren’t found anywhere else in pop music.
75. Dirty Projectors-Useful Chamber: Same shit as Remade Horizon except the beginning isn’t as cool but the chorus is fucking awesome. The kind of song that probably needs to be heard live. Need to do that. Also, it speaks to how strong the song is that I can last through six and a half minutes of it and not get bored.
74. Kurt Vile-Blackberry Song: A simple love song, great use of metaphor. I feel like I keep harping on this, but sometimes bands forget that you don’t need a ton of elements for a great song.
73. YACHT-Ring the Bell: The opener for See Mystery Lights does what all great openers do—sets the tone for the album, provides the mission statement (“Will we go to heaven / or will we go to hell / it’s my understanding / that neither are real”), and sounds really fucking good without giving the rest of the album away.
72. Neko Case-I’m an Animal: I’m a sucker for organ, which opens this song. This is a louder Neko song, but still hurting, with her trying to explain the limits of love prognostication— “yes there are things that I’m still quite sure of / I love you this hour / this hour this day” but then— “I’m an animal / you’re an animal too.”
71. The Dutchess and the Duke-Out of Time: I can’t get enough of the guitar sound they have here, it has a classic feel less like Jack White’s and a whole lot like the early Rolling Stones (I know I mentioned it earlier but it must be heard to be believed). They state a truism that applied back then and certainly applies now to those in their 20’s—“well ain’t you sick of hearing things are gonna’ work out / ain’t you sick of hearing things are gonna’ be alright / well somebody lied.”
70. Beirut-The Shrew: My mom likes this song, but it’s not her favorite of the year.
69. Harlem Shakes-TFO: I have no idea what he says in the beginning, but damn…this is a rousing chorus: “reel in / your feelings / we got time / we got time to waste some time now,” complete with soaring ooooooooh wah oooooooooooooohs as well. It’s a summer song, played at the beginning of the evening with the sun still setting, when anything is possible and everything that will happen will happen tonight.
68. Deer Tick-Straight into a Storm: Hi, my name is John Joseph McCauley III, and despite the fact I slowed this album down a little bit, here’s one where I’m gonna wail on guitar just to show you that I can. Also, it’s going to sound pretty fucking great. That is all.
67. Dan Auerbach-Trouble Weighs a Ton: I always liked the slower, more soulful Black Keys tracks, so no surprise here I love this opener featuring Auerbach, and acoustic guitar, and not much else.
66. A.C. Newman-The Changeling (Get Guilty): I may have slept on this album a bit, I think it got better over more listens. Anyhow, I liked this song from the beginning. Starts a little slow on the piano (like the rest of the album), but there’s more passion and dissonance coming through once the chorus breaks.
65. Monsters of Folk-Say Please: M. Ward may sing this one, but it has Jim James’ fingerprints all over it. An old fashioned southern rocker replete with a guitar solo that would fit right at home on any My Morning Jacket release.
64. Telekinesis-Coast of Carolina: Starts off like it’s recorded through an Iron & Wine-esque 4-track, then suddenly bursts into Technicolor 30 seconds in, and never stops. Twice as catchy as most guitar pop out there.
63. Phoenix-Armistice: Took me a while to get to this song, the last track on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, but when I did, I kept coming back. Like most of the tracks on the album it’s near perfect. I think mostly I like this song because they worked the line “this is your signed armistice” into a chorus of a catchy track. Unreal. Only the French.
62. Megafun-Kaufman’s Ballad: Sounds like it belongs on the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. Instead is some of the more harmonic singing since Crosby Stills and Nash were around.
61. Micachu-Vulture: Contains one of my favorite lines of the year (“Half of my leg is still in my coffee”), great lead track. Sounds cacophonous but comes together anyway over a distorted guitar and thunderous percussion. Great, high energy pop-rock.
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