Dane D. Lion's Music Den ##############

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January 1, 2012

2011 Lists: My 25 Favorite Songs of the Year!

I’m not going to pontificate about the year in music, 2011, before listing my favorite 25 songs. I’ll just say that I really enjoyed a lot of music this year - more so than 2010’s yield. The 25 songs in my list are “pop” in structure, with vocals and melodies, no matter their genre. I have chosen not to write new commentary for songs included in my 2011.5 list. After the list, I run down my favorite electronic tracks and a couple other notes for posterity. Lastly, the art above is by Oliver Laric and it’s part of a series entitled Missile Variations.

25. “Messes” - David Bazan

24. “Believer” - John Maus: Read/watch this guy’s interviews and have your mind blown. Or, just listen to his music.

23. “Rigamortus” - Kendrick Lamar: I can’t think of a more technically impressive rap performance this year.

22. “County Line” - Cass McCombs

21. “You With Air” - Young Magic: Timbaland would be proud. I’m surprised this song didn’t get huge this year.

20. “The Party” - The Weeknd / “Nature Feels” - Frank Ocean: Two sides of the coin. Both of these guys can effectively flip an indie track. I don’t want to like The Weeknd because of the project’s lyrical bent, but the production is just too good to stop listening. Ocean’s original beats are quite lacking in comparison, but his soulfulness does not rely on his singing about his lack of a soul.

19. “Regent’s Court” - The Get Up Kids

18. “Long Boat Pass” - Tennis: A prolific band this year. I wonder what they’re going to do on their sophomore album next year. Filled the Vampire Weekend void for me.

17. “Sadness is a Blessing” - Lykke Li

16. “Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me)” - Ford & Lopatin

15. “The World (is Going Up in Flames)” - Charles Bradley

14. “The Wilhelm Scream” - James Blake: I just found out that this is a cover of a song Blake’s dad wrote. Blake has CHOPS (writing, playing, and producing) for days, but this song is probably one of the subtler moments on his eponymous album. Here’s a video I made for this song to display how Blake’s aesthetic deconstructs the meaning of the repetitious lyrics over the course of the song:

13. ”How Deep is Your Love?” - The Rapture: Another reason 2011 was the Year of the Sax Solo. Also, VERY tricky to use in a DJ set because it skips the last 16th of a measure here and there. Jerks.

12. “Calgary” - Bon Iver

11. “Otis (feat. Otis Redding)” - Kanye West & Jay-Z: So audacious!!! Who raps over such a beat? Seriously - have you noticed how ridiculous the beat is? It’s built from vocal vamp. I mean, Ghostface has rapped over R&B vocals (like in the last 2 bars of each turn, here) before, but not a beat made out of unchopped scat.

10. “Wildfire (Drake Remix)” - SBTRKT feat. Little Dragon: As much as I try to hate Drake, I’m a sucker for his flow if the track is right - and this track is righteous. Yukimi Nagano should receive 2011’s 6th Man award with all of the awesome session work she did on tracks this year.

9. “Polish Girl” - Neon Indian: 2011: Chillwave With a Vengeance. It had been a couple years since the summer of ‘09, when NI, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, and other bedroom synth pop romantics first reverberated their nostalgic sounds. This year saw the return of most of these artists, and Alan Palomo seemed to care the least about switching it up. And, he, of the three aforementioned artists, made the most tuneful and immediate album.

8. “Swerve…” - Shabazz Palaces

7. “Last Night at the Jetty” - Panda Bear: These days, nobody writes a better harmony than Panda Bear.

6. “Honey Bunny” - Girls: See my post from earlier this year.

5. “Recollections of the Wraith” - Shabazz Palaces: Similar to this year’s Bon Iver album, Black Up took awhile for me to process. I think it’s because it doesn’t rely on familiar musical and lyrical tropes - there were very few short cuts into the unpacking of what was happening on the album. My breakthrough with this song was listening to it in the car at night. The song says, “Clear some space out, so we can space out.” This is a message to the listener - not some rhetorical, ironic play. Follow the directions and reap the deep inspiration.

4. “Down the Lane” - Royal Headache: 2011 led me down few musical paths that featured guitars. Fortunately, this song came along and kept my air guitar chops keen. Perfect rock’n’roll.

3. “I Never Learnt to Share” - James Blake

2. “Holocene” - Bon Iver: Bon Iver, the album, continues to grow on me. Each time I listen, I go deeper into the songs; however, my first few times through the album I could only hear the beautiful & varied production. This track, in particular, has a genius that keeps unfolding exponentially. Justin Vernon blows me away in that he can write a great tune, arrange it, and record it - with acuity. It’s no wonder that Kanye searched him out (see: his Rick Astley turn on the bridge in “That’s My Bitch” from Watch the Throne).

1. “Midnight City” - M83: “Hey guys. I’m going to make a song that uses an approximation of that yippie dog down the street as the hook. And Victoria’s Secret will use it in an ad.” Also features the greatest sing-along line of the year: “The city is my chuuuuu-urch!”

Artists to Honorably Mention: Toro Y Moi, Little Dragon, Holy Ghost!, Oddisee, Youth Lagoon, Purity Ring, and St. Vincent.

Favorite Electronic Songs of 2011