Spotify
Previously:
100-91,
90-81,
80-71
70. Destroyer - Dream Lover
I'm an admitted latecomer to Destroyer, with 2011'
Kaputt being my first exposure to Dan Bejar's solo work after listening to him for years as a member of The New Pornographers. It is not a sweeping statement I make, then, when I say that this is the most immediately arresting Destroyer song I'd heard. A brass burst starts things off, followed immediately by drums that crash in and don't stop thrashing around and breaking plates and knocking things off your mantle. Bejar does his signature oaken crooning thing, sounding as if he's on morphine compared to the instruments behind him. It's a song that howls and wails and feels like unrestricted fun to listen to, setting itself apart from the more cerebral contributions in Destroyer's catalog.
69. Lianne La Havas - What You Don't Do
I'm admittedly taken with La Havas's voice, heard here in great clarity atop an instrumental sample that starts out filtered to sound as if it's coming from a Victrola. The song's lyrics and message are simple enough, emphasizing subtlety in affection as opposed to PDA. "The closer we get / The less we need to show" she reassures, shortly before a small-choir harmony falls in line behind her. It's a celebration song, one of pride and happiness in a shared preference; an understanding. Hey, after all, aren't we all just looking for someone who gets us?
68. Purity Ring - Begin Again
There's something about hearing Megan James's voice clearly that always makes me cock my head to an angle. After PR's debut album, where James sang ominously about all sorts of tasteful body horror (listen to "Fineshrine" to hear what I mean), things get a bit more straightforward. The electronics are still pretty ominous, a lurking keyboard part hovering behind bass with just enough fuzz to make you feel like you need to look over your shoulder. It's probably the closest thing to "original" Purity Ring on
Another Eternity, but still with enough experimentation to make it feel like an outgrowth from the songs that preceded it years ago.
67. Punch Brothers - Familiarity
Starting an album with a 10-and-a-half-minute song is...ambitious. The first song is there to draw people in, to set them up for the grader gestures later on in the track list. Typically, at least. Punch Brothers flip that idea on its head here by exploring lots of different ideas in this track. It's plenty dramatic, sure, and its movements - though plenty - are distinct yet tethered: you can identify the different ideas, but it rarely feels like they're part of a different track altogether. Cohesion is tough to attain for such a long time (making things like The Decemberists' The
Tain or the Sufjan Stevens track "Impossible Soul" or any early Mars Volta song that much more impressive), but patience is rewarded here, especially in the build-up from about the 4:30 mark. The argument could be made that the track is too long after that movement ends, and that maybe the denouement of sorts that follows isn't the most necessary thing in the world, but whatever. It's a sweet, slow drop back to reality after the swell of that mid-track build.
66. Telekinesis - Sylvia
Bearing no resemblance to The Antlers' track of the same name - and, presumably, not talking about Sylvia Plath here, either - this song is bouncy dance-rock, complete with beat drop and angels-we-have-heard-on-high synths. There's something slightly pained about Michael Benjamin Lerner's lyrics despite the fun happening around him, and that keeps the mood toned down just a bit overall, but there's just a little too much goodness to completely suppress.
65. Pale Honey - Bandolier
A press release in advance of Pale Honey's self-titled debut LP described the Swedish duo's sound as one that would "routinely flirt with the polite, before exploding into fits of distortion." Maybe "explosion" is too violent a word for this track, but the idea in that phrase is still apt: the verses are hushed, guitars sounding like they're being played across the room while Tuva Lodmark looks you in the eyes from five feet away. Chorus distortion brings everything to the front briefly before receding; it's one of those rare songs where the verses hold more appeal than the chorus, the second verse especially as an additional guitar part is layered in to add to the stakes.
64. Beach House - One Thing
I would have no issue describing this song as one of the least sophisticated in the entire list, in spite of a sound and production that easily fill your headphones. The guitar is terrifically simple, the drum part never wanders and Victoria Legrand sticks to two vocal hooks.for the whole track, no bridge. The build-up is so delicate and subtle, you'll probably barely notice it's happening until the finishing guitar solo is upon you for the final 45 seconds of the five-and-a-half-minute track. Oddly, for all its simplicity, it's one of my favorite solo parts of the year; something about the sound of it carries this as-yet indescribable feeling to me. Really, the whole song sounds like it's being performed under some canopy while a rainstorm happens all around, shrouded in a mist. It's a little spooky, but in a Casper sort of way.
63. White Reaper - Alone Tonight
Trading in a little bit of that Japandroids pastiche for some early White Stripes tributing, parts of this song are some of the best individual pieces of music on all of
White Reaper Does It Again. The way the drums emerge at the start, the dialed-down, somewhat emotional singing of Tony Esposito, the flourishing guitar solo over the final 40 seconds; they all combine to make a nice punk song, stern but not forceful.
62. Kurt Vile - Pretty Pimpin
I can't say for sure what this song is supposed to be about, exactly, but it sounds like there's some out-of-body stuff going on here, either as a commentary on the exhaustion you're left with at the end of the week or some deep allegory for something else. It feels somewhat personal, maybe even autobiographical, in a way. It certainly feels like the narrator here, be it Vile or some character of his creation, is stuck in a fit of self-loathing. I guess, stuck in that mindset, nothing feels quite right or natural and time can get a little displaced. Enough time goes by in that frame of mind, and hope can be a little harder to come by. The guitar's groove on this track doesn't feel despairing or despondent, keeping the track buoyant despite the sometimes downtrodden lyrics.
61. Sufjan Stevens - Death With Dignity
There are quite a few Sufjan tracks on this list this year, and many of my words on them will echo the same sentiment: death and loss fucking suck. This, the opener to the masterpiece that is
Carrie & Lowell, is no less heartbreaking than any of the tracks that will come out ahead of it here. In keeping with the theme of these early batches of tracks, the song is super simple: guitar, piano, vocals. It sounds like it was recorded in a bedroom (it essentially was) and has all of the intimacy that comes with the feeling of going fetal on your bed with the door closed. It's beautiful and moving and tear-jerking, and it only sets the stage for more of those things over the rest of the album.
