And so it begins! Our first part of our first list of the Listmas season! What follows is 12 songs that edged their way into the top of my list of my favorite 52 tracks of the year. If you’ve got Spotify and want to see a good majority of the songs that were up for contention, check out my 2011 Tracks of the Year Longlist playlist. All of the nearly-120 songs on that list are excellent in my mind, but it’s the ones that follow that really stood out to me. I had to make some tough cuts to get it down to 52 and even making an honorable mentions list would take more time than I’m willing to give. So, be assured that this is, in my mind, the absolute cream of the crop. And be sure to check back in three days for 40-31!
52) Woodkid – Iron
Woodkid’s debut single, “Iron” burst on the scene with one of the most compelling slow-motion, black and white videos of the year. It’s the bombastic production that really makes the track, the blaring trumpets and thick percussion would fit perfectly in a grand cinematic war scene. Woodkid’s voice has a foreign flavor to it, with his slight accent showing through, and it fits well within the grandiosity of the track. It’s a track that’s simply spectacular in the truest sense of the word.
Watch the excellent video for “Iron” {here}.
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51) The Black Keys – Little Black Submarines
They just had to release an album in December, didn’t they? And they had to do it after I’d figured out this whole list. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that this one’s at 51 only because I heard it for the first time on the day of this writing. It’s a track that’s surprising, drawing more on Led Zeppelin’s light-dark, acoustic-rock dynamics than the Delta blues rootsiness of their past. The riff that drives the second half is worthy of Jimmy Page and it’s one of the few rock tracks this year I’ve had to stop myself from head-banging to. Of course, there’s something to be said for the acoustic starting point of the album–the Black Keys have never gone full-on singer-songwriter before and, though they only commit to it for half a track, it really shows the band’s newfound versatility.
Listen to Little Black Submarines {here}.
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50) Lykke Li – Love Out of Lust
This track, like Woodkid’s, shows off some great production. But where “Iron” was cinematic and grandiose, “Love Out of Lust” is filled to the brim with drama. Lykke Li’s voice here is particularly strong, swelling at the surprisingly catchy chorus and slinking along the verses. It helps, too, that song is pretty beautiful. Lykke’s words are uplifting in a way that forgoes all irony or apathy, instead “We will live longer than I will / We will be stronger than I was.” It’s romantic in a way that few songs are, even if its a tidbit fatalist, too. But then, doesn’t every great romance have some flavor of death?
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49) Starfucker – Julius
How do I know “Julius” is a great song? Because I listened to it the first time almost a full year ago and I am still happy to hear it’s electro-pop opening anytime it comes on shuffle. That is, of course, if I’m not listening to it intentionally. It’s a great track because it’s fun. It’s overloaded with hooks that stick in your head long after the song’s done. Similarly to “Love Out of Lust,” it’s pretty fatalistic lyrically, but instead of lamenting the wait “for death to come” it shifts itself into the past. Sure, obsession with an old lover’s not exactly healthy, but when it sounds this good, why get caught up in all the trappings?
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48) Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise
If the first ten seconds of “Make Some Noise” are any indication, this one’s a fall back into the old-school in the coolest possible fashion. When I was in High School, the kid I’d ride home with always had a habit of blasting “Intergalactic.” It never got old and was, really, just a ton of fun. “Make Some Noise” fits right next to that, with its infectious beat and all-inclusive chorus. It’s brimming with fun like “Julius,” but without that song’s depressing lyrics. Instead, Beastie Boys are back and damnit, they just want you to have as much fun as they are.
Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise
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47) Amon Tobin – Journeyman
I’ve known about Tobin for several years now and was really happy to hear about his 2011 release ISAM. Unsurprisingly, it’s easily the most sonically interesting album I’ve listened to all year with its sheer weirdness of sound. But it’s only “Journeyman” that could be called catchy. Yeah, it’s full of those weird sounds, too, but it’s also got a clear focal point that punches through the track’s first half. It might not be as resoundingly fun as the poppier picks on this list and it might not have the inclusiveness of “Make Some Noise,” but it’s got some bombast. And the fact that it has a sustainable melody section is, if anything, Tobin inviting you in to his weird but compelling world.
46) Loch Lomond – Elephants & Little Girls
There’s something wonderfully pastoral about “Elephants & Little Girls.” Maybe it’s the plucking strings and clarinets that open the song. Maybe it’s the cooing voice of Ritchie Young. Or maybe it’s the lyrics that call up a newness and novelty that reinvents the world, “Now we’re having fun / Now we’re living life.” Whatever it is, this is a track that’s welcoming and wonderful, with production that conjures up the curious but lovable images of elephants and little girls. It’s the only track that transports me into an anachronistic, sepia-toned 19th-century world. And I love that I can’t for the life of me explain why.
Loch Lomond – Elephants & Little Girls
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45) Robin Pecknold – Losing Myself (Ft. Ed Droste)
My first folk pick of the list is this surprising collaboration between Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold and Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste. Of course, the song is an acoustic track with some gorgeous harmonies and simple but effective lyrics. A while back, I was talking to our lost writer Zohair, who posited that if Pecknold went solo for an album, he could write a true folk classic. I argued against it at the time, but after listening again to “Losing Myself” I think he may have a strong position. Pecknold doesn’t really need all the backing of Fleet Foxes, wonderful though they may be. All he really needs to make a great, touching song is an acoustic guitar and a friend or two.
Robin Pecknold – Losing Myself (Ft. Ed Droste)
44) Shabazz Palaces – Are You… Can You… Were You… (Felt)
Shabazz Palaces really broke out this year with Black Up, an anomalistic album full of weird production and meta lyrics that could easily catch you off guard if you weren’t paying attention. “Are You… Can You… Were You… (Felt)” features some of the most accessible production on the album, but what really drew me into it was the lyrics offered up by the group’s secretive members. It’s lyrics are complex enough to warrant an academic paper and I’ll admit, I don’t want to start trying to delve into them because of their density. But that’s the great thing about Black Up, it’s thick with meaning in a way that few hip hop albums are.
43) Eurkea Birds – That Mountain is a Volcano
“That Mountain is a Volcano” is, in itself, one of my favorite song titles of the year. There’s a latent threat to the statement and, listening to the track itself, a threat that’s deceptively lovely. It’s filled with some pretty harmonies and breathy vocals. It’s catchy and nice to hear, but there’s a distorted guitar underlying the whole thing, drawing up on the threat as the song wanders along. It’s a playful little song with an edge, where everything’s pretty but it’s all a second away from blowing up. After all, “Maybe the ocean gets tired of being contained in walls,” — a lyric that draws up pictures of the Tsunami and Katrina disasters. And in our blissful ignorance, “Maybe we’ll never see it coming” like the Pompeians who didn’t see the volcano under the mountain.
Eureka Birds – That Mountain is a Volcano
42) Battles – Ice Cream (feat. Matias Aguayo)
For a long time, I wasn’t sold on the new Battles album. It didn’t have quite the driving edge that their first album had. It wasn’t until I finally listened to “Ice Cream” without the memory of “Atlas” that I finally got it. Sure, this is a band that could be called ‘math rock, and sure their first was heavy, but now these guys are just out to have some fun. One could venture to call “Ice Cream” with its off-kilter catchiness a sort of pop song–something backed up by its surprising appearance in a commercial this year. Hell, you could even dance to it and not break your legs trying to keep with the rhythm. I’m not sure what kind of party I would be at where they played “Ice Cream” but damned if that doesn’t sound like it’d be one of the best parties of the year.
Battles – Ice Cream (Feat. Matias Aguayo)
41) Gillian Welch – Scarlet Town
Gillian Welch is a pretty well-known musician, but I don’t think I’d heard any of her work outside of O Brother Where Are Thou? before I listened to “Scarlet Town.” It’s a track that immediately struck me enough to pick up the album that it was on. I wasn’t as impressed with the album because it lacked the old-folk flavor that “Scarlet Town” had. It’s a flavor that made Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown one of my favorite albums of last year. Welch’s great, soulful voice tells the story of a spurned lover. Lyrically the song, like the best folk tracks, is compelling without being contrived or overly complex. When Welch gets to the last verse and reveals just what she did after being spurned, it’s a great little sleight that makes the song new all over again.