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90. Wye Oak - Glory
Civilian, the 2011 album that first put Jenn Wasner and Wye Oak on my radar, is a bit of an understated classic in my music library. It's a mix of deftly crafted songs that band together to form this collection of tunes that sound like they're all being played under the same cloud. The band's music just has that little edge, that bit of darkness that lends a bit of quiet ferocity to their music. That carryover into this track from this year's
Shriek is what makes it a standout for me. The abandonment of guitar feels a little less noticeable on this track than on others - this was by design from the band for the album, to completely eliminate guitar play outside of bass - thanks in no small part to a strong drum pattern and assertive bass lick. Wasner's vocals are always captivating, but she has plenty of help here, too.
89. Tennis - Never Work For Free
At the start, your immediate feeling is one of summer, riding along a coastline with the top down. It almost feels like a cover of a song originally written by mid-era Strokes, turned into something nearing an electropop toe-tapper instead of something resembling more of a rock ballad. That's not to say this feels forced or derivative; there's enough of a unique touch in the vocal styling and layering to make this track recognizable, even from within your next summer playlist.
88. Ages and Ages - Light Goes Out
I'd never heard of Ages and Ages prior to their appearance supporting Lake Street Dive in Philadelphia this past April. Their musicianship and strong live sound caught my attention from the drop, and this was the first song they played that night. A nice bit of group vocal play in the intro melds call-and-response with harmony, and the sudden tempo shift into a completely different song would be off-putting if the two styles of song didn't somehow seem to mesh well. The second act is softly sung to start, but slowly builds and adds parts until it transforms into something of a choral celebration. It just sounds like fun.
87. Jeremy Messersmith - It's Only Dancing
Bar none one of the most lyrically sweet and endearing songs you'll hear this year, Jeremy Messersmith's tale of love undercover is a real hit, a song I might end up regretting ranking this far back come next year. It's important that it's so clearly sung, because the lyrics are the backbone of this song and vital to its proper reception. They're not opaque and won't require any kind of footnotes a la a Decemberists yarn, but that doesn't detract. The instrumental interludes with what sounds like timpani and piano and strings and bells are also highlights.
86. Radiator Hospital - Cut Your Bangs
I'm always impressed by bands that release albums in consecutive years these days, as the average feels like it's somewhere in the three-plus-year range. I'm aging, here, I need your music ASAP, folks. Maybe it's easier when your songs come in bite size form ("Cut Your Bangs" is 2:07 and seven other songs on
Torch Song are shorter), as these sorts of tracks feel easy to digest and never overstay their welcome. There's a more relaxed and accessible sound here than on 2013's track pick "Our Song," but I think that's just versatility in action.
85. Lily & Madeleine - Rabbit
Speaking of bands releasing albums in consecutive years, here we have a track from sisterly duo Lily & Madeleine's second of three planned annual releases. Something of an answer to First Aid Kit, L&M lean heavily on the interplay of their voices, always looking for new ways to harmonize their excellently matched voices. This track is one of their more uptempo efforts, and it suits them well. You turn to this group for the harmonies, and this song delivers them.
84. Calvin Harris - Pray to God (f. Haim)
I like to think I listen to a lot of music, and I've tried to expand my library to different genres as I've gone on, but EDM is still a relative frontier to me. I don't have a great feel for the grand scheme of the genre and what could be more widely considered "good" from within that subset. So, I'm just rolling with this one because, well, I think it's good! Truthfully, I doubt I'd have given a listen if Haim weren't involved, but wouldn't you know it: their voices sound good over dancefloor bass pounds and get-you-on-your-feet synths, too. I don't even know how to talk about EDM, in case you hadn't noticed, but that this song appeals to me despite my neophyte nature should probably make it worth a listen for you, if we share a boat.
83. Weezer - III. Return to Ithaka
It's probably unfair to Weezer that their best album in an age will only have one track represented by me on this list, and that it's an instrumental. Objectively, the arguments for actual lyrical songs like "Go Away and "Foolish Father" and maybe even "Back to the Shack" in preference hold plenty of water. They're actually pretty good (and not in that "I'm compensating for the last decade of Weezer" way)! But this two minutes or so of pure guitar solo that wraps up a three-song suite and concludes the album is my favorite. I like it both for its energy and its anonymity: "wait, that's
Weezer?! That...actually kinda rocks!"
82. Royal Tongues - The Balance
An absolute, no-questions-asked summer feel-good song that gets released at the end of September is just an anachronism. Release this in June and you've got yourself a one-song summer soundtrack. Timing aside, a heretofore unknown group has released a track that absolutely nails the good time vibe, with a chorus that can hold its own with just about any other on this list. It's the main attraction, and it delivers hard enough to make this track you probably stick on repeat for a few listens.
81. Jessie Ware - Kind of...Sometimes...Maybe
There's a basic musical postulate that states that anything Miguel touches immediately becomes one of the sexiest things going. Here, he does little more than mumble almost unintelligbly in the breaks between Jessie Ware's phrases, so it's not a duet, but his complement is just the spice needed to elevate a song like this from "good" to "noticeably good." It's a song about mind games, stubbornness, relenting to an idea and feeling; truth be told, Jessie Ware often gets this intonement down pat about as well as anyone else in the game right now. Like most of the rest of the tracks on this year's
Tough Love, Ware is vocally assertive, even as her lyrics detail emotional uncertainty. It's a great listen, if only for that self-foil. Luckily, there's plenty more in store to enjoy than just that.
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