2012: the songs (20-11)

We're almost there. Even though this group isn't quite the creamiest of the crop, it still represents part of the upper echelon of songs in a deep musical year, which is always worth plenty. This group, like the others before it, covers your typical span of genres, so hopefully there's still plenty for all to enjoy.

Previously: 50-41, 40-31, 30-21
Spotify Playlist Link

20. Chairlift - I Belong In Your Arms

There's no dying that campy feel to this song. It sounds like something out of an '80s movie. That jagged synth, those floaty Caroline Polachek vocals, that lofty chorus; it's something meant for end credits or something. But, like Bon Iver's "Beth/Rest" last year, it's a delicately campy song style that's done so well that you can't help but recognize it as a (very) good tune on its own merits.






19. Frank Ocean - Forrest Gump

I can't find a version of this song - on Youtube or otherwise - that hasn't had its pitch shifted to avoid crawler bots. So I'm not going to link to anything, and instead I'll just suggest you check this song out on your own. This song is about a past fling/relationship/somethin'-somethin' that loosely takes the form of Ocean singing about his other as the infamous Mr. Gump. The song is complete with samples from the movie that somehow avoid being the cheesiest thing you can imagine, and instead add to this heartfelt lyrical poem Ocean has penned for someone special. Even with the great hooks, my favorite part of the song is still absolutely the whistle outro. It's near-perfect.


18. Japandroids - Adrenaline Nightshift

A chorus of "There's no high like this / Adrenaline nightshift" may seem to scream "straight-edge anthem" but with the lyrics to opener "The Nights of Wine and Roses" likely still in the back of your mind while listening to this album - this track is number five - you'll realize that's not quite the message. They sing about a "riot dose of paradise" and a "blitzkrieg love" and a "roman candle kiss" and all you can think about is "yeah, this music fits those words pretty nicely, I think." It's as bombastic as any other song on the album, and you can't help but wonder, at this point, if these guys are having too much fun playing it.



17. Father John Misty - Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings

The most immediately arresting thing about this song is, obviously, it's drums. They kick the song off and are mixed to such a high volume that, even as the guitar and J. Tillman's vocals come in, they feel like they're still the main focus. They don't change much - a tambourine chimes in here and there - but that seems to be part of the song's appeal. Amid these static, plodding, accosting drums, J. Tillman builds a gradually expansive song with bits of harmony and guitar and harmonized "ooh-ing." The haunting "someone's gotta help me dig" lyric that ends off the first and final verses caps a song laced with the taste of death, but somehow still manages to be one of the catchiest songs on the record in which it presides. That's funny to me, I don't know.

16. Cloud Nothings - Stay Useless

A musical shrug of the shoulders, this Ohio punk outfit's best song on a solid record is also probably its most accessible. Downcast lyrics tell the tale of a position we've all been in, including myself. I remember one night in February, I was unemployed and bored. I was playing Minesweeper. And this song came on and never had it felt more true. That was kind of a down period, but even though it's not the most eminently relatable song in my library anymore, it still manages to pull with in with plenty of attitude, grit and just plain good hooks. It's a punk song, but it's a punk song for the masses...at least, the willing masses.

15. Dum Dum Girls - Season In Hell

Nothing feels better than emerging from a dark time in your life, just as nothing is tougher than the last stretch of said dark times when the tunnel's exit is in sight but not quite at-hand. So it goes with "Season In Hell," the closer to the Dum Dum Girls' excellent "End of Daze" EP. Nothing about this song rings truer than the lyrics of its chorus: "Doesn't dawn look divine?" The feeling of making it through whatever gauntlet tested your mettle and leaving it in your rearview is a feeling rarely equaled.


14. Beach House - Wishes

More than one song on Beach House's "Bloom" begins with a sweeping fade-in, but none seems to parlay it into song better than "Wishes." Given the quality of this record, that's saying something. "Wishes on a wheel / Is it even real?" goes the chorus, and I find myself asking the same at points throughout the record. The album I consider to be powerpop perfection is the New Pornographers' "Twin Cinema." It's a masterclass in energetic, fun hooks and total sonic pleasure. What we have here on "Bloom," as exemplified with "Wishes," is some of the best dreampop ever collected on a single record.

13. Japandroids - The Nights of Wine and Roses

Oh, whoa, two appearances by one band in a single set of 10? You betcha. The just-referenced opener from this year's "Celebration Rock" is a majestic kick-off to a joyride of an album. It starts with fireworks (a bit of foreshadowing, if you've heard the record) and pours on the musical fireworks throughout. It kicks straight-edge themes to the curb. It demands you live your life to the fullest. It's more content with and supportive of the mercenary style than just about any song I've heard this (or any other) year. It sets the tone rather perfectly for the equally ebullient tunes to follow.


12. Sharon Van Etten - Serpents

"Everyone changes in time / I hope he changes this time," Sharon Van Etten sings out from some running-on-fumes reserve of faith. Van Etten has made a name writing heartbreaking ballads, but on "Serpents," she asserts herself more strongly than ever, leaving the door cracked ever so slightly for a changing of the ways, but confident enough to know she doesn't need to wait around. With contributions both on-mic and behind-mixer from the likes of Aaron & Bryce Dessner from the National, Jenn Wasner from (most notably) Wye Oak and Matt Barrick of the Walkmen, Van Etten has crafted a powerhouse track that commands your attention and assumes control of your heart.


11. Grizzly Bear - Half Gate

If there's one thing (there are more) that Grizzly Bear are exceptionally good at, it's building a song up. Helping that trait along are two excellent, distinguished vocalists in Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen, each instantly recognizable among those who have treated their ears to a Grizzly Bear track or three in the past few years. On "Half Gate," a five-and-a-half-minute prelude to closer "Sun In Your Eyes," each has his moment to shine. Droste takes the verses, Rossen the "chorus," and each makes his mark. Chris Bear once more proves to be the underrated star of the band with his drumming, giving the song an unsteady tic above its solid cymbal tap-tap-tapping before Rossen chorus goes full-bore. It's a song that swoops and sweeps and dives, and in "Veckatimest" style it does sound a bit labored over, each section tweaked and fine-tuned to sound just right. Droste's vocal hook is probably the most perfected of the bunch, but no particular section is the runt of this litter.