Anyway, these are my 21 most dearly favorite songs from the solid year of music that was 2011. Are they the best? I don't know. They're the ones I like most, and they're in ranked order this time (unlike my mid-year quickie). You'll find a couple of those songs have dropped off of this list, but we'll still consider them honorable mentions. Ok. Enough rambling. Let's do the tunes. Video/picture precedes the song and description.
21. balam acab - apart
Hey, guys! Alvin and the Chipmunks grew into their mid-20s, listened to some James Blake and decided to go all semi-dubsteb and ambient! Some people might just write off this eight-song atmospheric trip as unlistenable because of the way the vocals are stylized. Honestly, I wish they were a little different, too. The album as a whole suffers a bit because of it. But in this particular case, everything seems to work. Good song to chill to.
20. the war on drugs - black water falls
Maybe it's just that I give extra points to album closers that aren't simply continuations of the downward slope that nearly every album seems to take in the second half after the songs that were released as singles. Considering this album didn't have any mainstream singles, that was a problem I wasn't going to run into here. Being a Philly band does get these guys some extra love, but this song is just a nice capstone to a solid mix of hypnotic rock songs on Slave Ambient.
19. lykke li - get some
Come on. You thought I was going to leave off a song with a line like "I'm your prostitute / you're gonna get some?" Are you insane?
18. real estate - easy
I imagine these guys as being the chill side of the Strokes, distilled and separated from the rest.
17. i break horses - winter beats
I've cooled on this song considerably, but I still love its mood. The video, while formless, does seem to serve as a nice complement, too.
16. radiohead - separator
Polarizing? Yup. Simultaneously overrated and underrated? Possibly. Disappointing as a follow-up to In Rainbows? Almost certainly. I didn't care a whole bunch for The King of Limbs one way or another, but this track (another closer) rekindled memories of Rainbows, and that was enough for me to plop it in the top 20. I was duped by the "If you think this is over / then you're wrong" line into thinking a second half was coming to the eight-song LP, but of course there was none. Instead, we're left with this, and I choose to remember it for the high note it ends on.
15. the weeknd - the party & the after party
The first of three Weeknd songs on this list, and just one of the many strong tracks on the most darkly sexy record I think I've ever heard, House of Balloons. If we were just judging this on the "Party" half of this song, it'd be far higher. I think it loses too much steam in the latter half, but not nearly enough to exclude it altogether.
14. lana del rey - video games
Some people will focus on her lips, and I think they are stupid people. Me, I can't get over the voice, and I'm certainly in no rush to do so.
13. the horrors - you said
I still don't really know how to classify these guys. Whatever their genre, they're pretty nearly masters of it.
12. the weeknd - the birds part 1
Way more in-your-face than the first Weeknd track above, this one comes off Thursday, the second of an anticipated three quick-fire mixtape releases. Where most of the House songs were slow burns, this one only lets up when the song is 30 seconds from ending. The processional drum lends a big hand.
11. smith westerns - weekend
I was hooked from the first 15 seconds. This song is a great opener to a lively album that swirls some soaring harmonies with that indefatigable synthy-guitar hook and just makes you feel good.
10. lana del rey - blue jeans
Again, that voice. She (Lizzy Grant/Lana Del Rey) has described it as "gangster Nancy Sinatra," and that works fine for me. Croon away.
9. the antlers - i don't want love
It's really, really tough to successfully follow up an album as emotionally moving and draining as 2009's Hospice, but Burst Apart is a very admirable effort, highlighted by this opening track. Peter Silberman, for all of his light-hearted tweeting, can be a rather melancholy songwriter. Hey, it sure works, at least.
8. real estate - it's real
Tremendous song. The mostly wordless chorus is the highlight, and the bridge is fantastic. I think I'll look back one day and think I've ranked this one too low, but against current competition, this is where it'll have to stay.
7. m83 - reunion
Dance break.
6. the weeknd - the knowing
I get some of the most devastating chills listening to this song. Again, you want darkly sexy? Right here. All of it; right here.
5. the horrors - dive in
A threatening chorus, made that much more leering by that style they craft so well: "Away, away / away you go / before they pull you under / Away, away / away you go / before they pull you in."
4. cults - abducted
The happiest kidnapping song ever. Really, though, I'd award this before "Pumped Up Kicks" for Happiest-Sounding Song About a Scary Thing. Song starts around 0:38, video sort of sets up its story before then.
3. purity ring - lofticries
All music should be listened to with good headphones, but none on this list moreso than this song. Too many layers of sound get washed over or missed in regular earbuds. There is so much going on behind the vocals in this song. I don't want to discourage a listen if all you have handy are earbuds, and I think you'll get the gist of it listening through them, but without a way to tap into those intracacies, this song's place at No. 3 may confuse you.
2. bon iver - michicant
Its lyrics make little sense to me, but I don't care. Sonically, this track pushes every button at just the right time. Adding subtle complexities as it goes, making those harmonies Vernon and Co. are becoming known for, anchoring a powerful album that will rank among the year's best in many publications and on many web-only sites. Another polarizing record that lots of people will either love, hate or just plain not understand where all the hype is coming from. Hey, that's fine. It's certainly not as accessible a record as the group's full-length debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, and I'm fine with that. If it clicks for you like it did for me, you'll understand why this is No. 2.
1. fleet foxes - lorelai
Everything about this song is right. The pacing, the intricate harmony, the immediately relatable lyrics and tone of lead singer Robin Pecknold's pining. We've all been there. We've all felt like old hat and desperately wanted to be the one pined for again after losing that. What Fleet Foxes do so well, though, is find the happy medium between mainstream pop lyrics and Colin Meloy, where nothing feels cheesy, but nothing feels forced, either. Every bit of emotion that comes from these sounds just feels effortless, ergo genuine and everyman in presentation. It's too pretty to stop listening to.
