Spotify
Previously:
100-91,
90-81,
80-71,
70-61,
60-51,
50-41,
40-31
30. Jamie xx - Obvs
Like with Ratatat previously, I often find the best instrumental songs are ones that provide the strongest sense of feeling or personality in their music. To do this without lyrics is, as said, a challenge, but no track of that kind did that for me quite like this one this year. It feels like a trip through a spectrum of sensation from relaxing to curious to itching to turn into a dance track, anchored by a steel percussion lead that isn't completely unlike the sorts of things we've heard from Jamie Smith in his work with The xx. But in conjunction with slightly-distorted, monk-like wails and an almost jarringly bright, simple guitar part, there really does feel like there's some strange, euphoric beach island party happening just a stone's throw away, and you're invited.
29. Summer Fiction - Dirty Blonde
It could take an entire track being completely cohesive to really sway my opinion of it in a positive direction, or it could take something like this piano chord progression, which immediately took me in with its unexpected turn and kept me hanging around. It completely transforms the mood of the second half of every verse for me, and seeing as it's something so simple, I imagine it could just as easily do absolutely nothing for some people. Its floor is a very solid single, no matter the amplification of the piano for your ears.
28. Belle and Sebastian - Enter Sylvia Plath
Alright, so, artists are usually expected and even encouraged to branch out as they progress from album to album. That being said, even after
The Life Pursuit, I'm not entirely sure anyone saw a track like this coming from Belle & Sebastian, who crafted their calling card on paper stock from trees of sobriety and hushed tones. This? There's nothing demure about this. It launches forward from the start and stays ambitious, even
triumphant, across nearly seven minutes. It moves through a couple different breakdowns, eventually vamping out gradually - very gradually - as a super gentle comedown from the energy that preceded it.
27. Empress Of - Standard
Flex 'em if you've got 'em. Lorely Rodriguez has the pipes, and man is it a good thing when she flexes 'em. Crafted entirely by Rodriguez, this song also lets her flex more than just her voice, and even though her vocal track alone would crack this list, it's the total package that brings it to this point. It induces chills at its high points and confidently impresses in the interim between those moments; it's sleek, but not over-produced into sterility, preserving a vital bit of rawness in Rodriguez's voice.
26. The Fratellis - Baby Don't You Lie to Me!
Back in the
Costello Music era, it seemed like The Fratellis could write songs that liven up even the dullest office party with supreme ease. That time seems so long ago - and, really, it kind of already is - but they've hearkened back to that era here. It's an instant contender for one of their three best songs ever, a stampede of post-breakup don't-give-a-shit sternness. I could call this a pleasant surprise, but they've done this before; it's just pleasant, and refreshing to hear a return to the best days of the band.
25. Deerhunter - Breaker
My favorite Deerhunter songs, nearly without exception, have Lockett Pundt's vocals featured prominently at some point during the track. I don't consider it a knock on Brad Cox, it's just that Pundt's voice atop the often ethereal studio recordings of Deerhunter music do something more for me. Here, Pundt takes the choruses while Cox handles the verses, and their tandem approach here puts this track near the level of
Halcyon Digest's "Desire Lines" or "Fountain Stairs," where Pundt had previously starred.
24. City and Colour - Lover Come Back
At a couple points during
If I Should Go Before You, Dallas Green exhibited some country-influenced tendencies, and this particular song as a whole is probably the closest he comes to creating something that's country through and through. It's a song about pining, longing, loving, a touch of regret and an ultimate display of resolve. Thematically and lyrically, it's nicely written, coming across as the earnest "baby, I'm sorry" it was probably intended to be.
23. Chvrches - Bury It
You don't often see bangers like this buried so deep in an album's track list. The 10th of 11 on
Every Open Eye, "Bury It" is a penultimate lead-up (to an ultimately disappointing finale, but that's an aside) that feels empowering and marked with the trademark puffed-chest confidence that Lauren Mayberry's become known to produce. Emboldened by extra clarity in production and a stronger vocal performance than what was heard on lots of
The Bones of What You Believe, Mayberry again makes a track hum; we'd be remiss to overlook Martin Doherty and Iain Cook's beat, too, which feels appropriately tight.
22. Alabama Shakes - Don't Wanna Fight
This is the sound of "enough." This is the sound of "I'm tired of this shit." This is the sound of "I don't have to put up with this, and I won't." You won't find anyone who'll try and refute the sheer force of Brittany Howard's voice and, boy, when she wants you to zip it and pay attention, you'd damn better. Here, she's demanding an ex-lovers' truce, an armistice for an unproductive conflict. It's tough to single out one single Shakes song as a tour de force when it feels like that every time Howard belts out a note, but she's in top form here for sure.
21. Julien Baker - Rejoice
An absolute wolf in sheep's clothing, track seven of
Sprained Ankle starts out hushed, like most of the album's other tracks. It's just Baker and her guitar, filtered to resemble something closer to an acoustic, quietly strummed beneath soft vocals before an abrupt ramp-up shortly after the two-minute mark. It's then that Baker proceeds to devastate everything in her path, a vocal tornado with pain so raw it's almost unbelievable. From twinges of vocal fry and quaver to the confessional nature of its lyrics, "Rejoice" is an outpouring, an invitation into some inner sanctum where, for a moment, we can hear and
feel the hurt that inspired a song like this. For some, that could be uncomfortable at first, but as the song eventually works its way into your arms, you might find it just as easy to hug as any other.
