This has been a great year for music. And while I’m gonna give it another few weeks before I finalize my annual Top Albums of the Year list, I think it’s a good time to share my favorite individual tracks with you. I’ll post links to audio/video wherever possible, so you can listen along. These are numbered, but in no particular order of quality, except maybe for the last few. ENJOY:
Siriusmo graces us with a melodic house track that demonstrates his keen sense of melody and humor. Daft Punk meets Modeselektor meets space disco.
This 13 minute monster is perhaps the culmination of Rwake’s apocalyptic-environmental metal sensibility. The brutal first half, most notable for its absolutely unhinged, animalistic backing screams, gives way to a triumphant, eschatological climax- “The trees are energy, set up by God so we can breathe,” go the lyrics, but it’s difficult to catch a breath while this song is playing.
#13 And So I Watch You From Afar- “Search:Party:Animal”
OH MY GOD THE RIFFS IN THIS SONG. IT’S A RIFF PARTY AND EVERYONE IS INVITED AT GUNPOINT. It’s wonderfully refreshing to hear a post-rock band that isn’t afraid to actually rock out. That last main riff would make the boys in Meshuggah proud.
Balam Acab’s filtering of R&B through a dubstep lens is perfectly encapsulated in this beautiful, drifting track. A high point in an album full of similarly lovely melancholy.
Sounding like more muscular Pantha Du Prince, Morris Cowan forgoes the aforementioned’s wind-chime aesthetic in favor of syncopated bass and percussion and blooming, tremulous synth pads.
It seems to me that Apparat and Thom Yorke are rapidly converging on a similar, singular sound, and I genuinely hope they’ll eventually collaborate on something truly transcendental. In the meantime, this is the next best thing.
#9 Modeselektor- “Blue Clouds”
Modeselektor are always a bit of a grab-bag. Tweaked-out hip hop cuts, to their straightlaced club bangers, to twitchy dubstep-inflected tracks, they do all this and more. “Blue Clouds” fits into the same melodic house mold as Siriusmo’s work, but substitutes a truly heavy hip hop beat for the standard 4/4 thump.
#8 Animals As Leaders- “Odessa”
Do you listen to AAL for the songs, for the sheer technical wizardry, or both? This track fulfills both desires. Tosin Abasi & co are at their pummeling, djenty best, but never forget to keep things varied and interesting.
#7 Martyn- “We Are You In The Future”
From the moment that synth melody kicks in, you know you’re in for a ride. Martyn has taken dubstep’s caffeinated syncopation and slowed it down to house tempo, and it sounds glorious. Nothing since Ellen Allien’s “Berlinette” has sounded so much like speeding down the Autobahn in a tricked-out BMW to me.
#6 Paul Kalkbrenner- “Boexig Leise”
That. Fucking. Keyboard. Melody. It’s maybe the most insidious earworm I’ve ever heard. And it’s amazing.
The entire genre of post-rock owes a debt to Ravel’s “Bolero,” and this Mogwai track may be the most apt tribute yet recorded. A simple, cyclical melody, repeated and layered to a climax and then back down. It’s Instrumental Music 101, but when you’ve got a series of notes that works this well, you’ve gotta let it play itself out.
While Alan Sparhawk is a great singer in his own right, when his bandmate Mimi takes the spotlight, the results are frequently breathtaking. Low have never sounded more accomplished than on their most recent album, and this track is a highlight in an album full of highlights.
My favorite part of what I’m certain will be the Album of the Year for 90% of the music critics out there (I’m looking at you, Pitchfork). We all knew melancholy could make for beautiful music, but not many songs succeed to this extent. I especially dig the metal-drummer breakdowns. No idea how they manage to be appropriate to the song, but they work. Amazing stuff.
#2 Mungolian Jetset- “Bella Lanay”
Humor, pastiche, and dance-pop hooks have always been Mungolian Jetset’s tools in trade, but never before have they come together to produce such a singularly wonderful track. Steely Dan meets Broken Social Scene meets 70s era Elton John. Absolute must-listen.
I have a hard time describing why I love this song so much. Part of it is Rustie’s gift at taking passé sounds (rave leads, synthesizer slap-bass, ridiculous trance buildups, chipmunk vocals) and crafting amazing songs out of them. Part of it is that ridiculously fat bass. Part of it is the chopped vocals in that stupendous chorus breakdown. But really, it’s the sum of all those things. In an alternate universe, this is Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” In ours, I’ll just be content to rock the fuck out whenever that chorus kicks in.
