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Previously:
100-91,
90-81,
80-71,
70-61,
60-51,
50-41
40. Tycho - Spectre
Tycho - stage name of Californian Scott Hansen - has the ability to make engaging music that keeps the listener invested without a single lyric. Almost always headlined by an echoing, liquid guitar with a signature sound, Tycho's music consistently finds new ways to be inventive without having to use any wordplay. Instead, like on the track linked here, he's musically inventive, creating atmospheres from song to song that are recognizable even without a lyrical hook or chorus. "Spectre" has a tumble weed feel to it, drifting along, powered by a stiff breeze across a plain.
39. Merchandise - Little Killer
Merchandise do their best to reboot The Cure on this track, channeling that relatively easygoing guitar pop-rock sound into a song about the atom bomb. It's the catchiest, most accessible song on the band's surprisingly enjoyable
After the End, easy to replay and enjoy for multiple listens. As an aside, it's been a bit of a revelation for me to find out how much I've been enjoying songs that sounds like they were written in the '70s or '80s this year. This is a track that sounds like it was straight out of 1985, and here I am with it in my top 40. Not to mention the similar songs that also helped populate this list. Just thinking aloud here.
38. St. Vincent - Birth In Reverse
The third straight block of 10 with a St. Vincent song finds this disjointed guitar curiosity at a spot with about as much margin of error as I accounted for with Colony House's "Silhouettes" back in the first block. I have absolutely no idea how well this song will age for me. It's always a bit of a toss-up, and there's usually no way for me to predict what I'll still be listening to 6 months (or years) from now. For the moment, though, something about this strange track, with verses that sound more sneered than sung. Maybe its success in your ears will depend on your mood, a classification I reserve for bands in the Animal Collective ilk. More so than almost any other track to this point, I imagine it either being met with a "yeah, I definitely get it" or a shrug of the shoulders. For me, it's obviously the former.
37. Luluc - Tangled Heart
A song in two acts: the first four minutes, a slowly building and rousing slice of sentimentality, and the last two make for a powerful conclusion. Zoe Randell's voice is rich even as it meanders in the first act, complemented nicely on occasion by co-member Steve Hassett in gentle, unforced harmony. The second act of the song is the real star, though. The reset of pace around the four-minute mark, transitioning into a swell of brass, is about as intense as the duo get on the entirety of
Passerby. For territory they don't visit much over the course of the album, Luluc certainly make this trip count.
36. The New Pornographers - Born With a Sound
With as many capable members for vocals as The New Pornographers have at full strength, it seems a little gratuitous to dip into the well and yank a guest vocalist into the fray. Not only does she guest alongside Dan Bejar, Amber Webber plays a prominent role throughout. She's heard throughout almost the entire song, lending a timbre that differs just enough from Neko Case and Kathryn Calder to make her sound distinguished. She's brought in for her solo verse with a strong introduction but apparently isn't allowed to do much with it but sing the tag again. No matter; it's new age New Pornographers with a bit of that vintage hookiness mixed in throughout, and that's more than enough.
35. Mac Demarco - Blue Boy
Mac Demarco's signature guitar tone is beginning to approach trademark territory at this point. It fits his style perfectly: strangely upbeat. It's not something you'd immediately associate with anthemic rock like, say, U2's Edge; instead, the slightly tinny, gently reverbed strings call up freak folk ideas to be paired with slightly nasal, super-laid-back vocal stylings. Naturally. At the very least, if you listen to more than one Demarco track, that pattern and association should start to emerge in your mind.
34. Keys N Krates - All the Time (Tove Lo Flip)
Taking a line from Tove Lo's popular "Habits (Stay High)" and scrambling and chopping it to create an immediately engaging trap music flip, Keys N Krates engineer a track that, to me, renders the original obsolete. It might depend on which you hear first, but after listening to this track for a few months, it almost seems disappointing to have to go back to the source material. The track hits a bit of a lull when it slows down to incorporate more of the song, but the highs (so to speak) of the chorus keep everything afloat.
(Note: Not on Spotify)
33. Real Estate - Talking Backwards
Distance is difficult. Every improvement we've made in one-to-one communication has managed to ease the sting of having to go without real contact, bridging the gap as best we can. Sometimes, though, that's just not enough. Those methods and mediums can provide as many complications as they do salves, and that's the feeling Real Estate aimed for on the lead single for
Atlas. Anyone who has been or is currently going through either a long-distance relationship or separation from old friends can relate to the sentiment, as the band once again gracefully cover a topic more serious than those previously found on their records.
32. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Warning
"I am some kind of handful," Joseph D'Agostino admits without the slightest hint of resignation or shame on the second track of the opening trio suite from Cymbals Eat Guitars'
Lose, a fast-paced and aggressive indie punk joint that checks off all the boxes: rought-at-the-edges vocals and lyrics, big guitars, crashing drums and a high-quality outro shred.
31. Ariel Pink - Put Your Number In My Phone
Where Mac Demarco has always made "weird" oddly charming and accessible, Ariel Pink has just been weird and not really cared about at-large perception. That's not to say he hasn't stumbled into writing songs that can still appeal to a broad range of people (hello, most of
Before Today). On this track, though, the weird is mostly left out. Sure, there's still Pink's voice, which sounds oddly disaffected atop such a jangly tune. He's almost bored while running his game, playing a narrator who may not be completely earnest but (hopefully) isn't some sort of PUA. Just going through the motions vocally might seem like a detraction on paper, but it actually plays to the song's strengths. How, exactly, I can't really be sure. It might just be the theme of 2014, as other songs with seemingly snooze-y vocals get some high marks from me on this list. Nonetheless, Pink's single is a genuinely enjoyable, airy piece of what can loosely be described as pop.
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60-51,
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