30- Of Montreal- “Enemy Gene”
Of Montreal songs are always so densely packed it can be hard to make sense of them, but its worth a shot. “Enemy Gene” is bizarre and unique, with an at times startling mix of whimsical and disturbing elements. Kevin Barnes initially begins with a soft whispering voice, throwing out ridiculous non sequeters like “Zombies are licking your windows/looking for black body radiation”. It seems secluded and seductive, accompanied by innocent sounding flutes and bells. He breaks out of his restrained demeanor and becomes more melodic as things progress. The chorus performed in tandem with Solonge Knowles is majestic in tone. Their manner of singing is so instrumental and melodic, the words seem like music itself. However, with no warning, the song briefly segues into an urgent and frightening zip line. Characterized by a light brass and violent sleigh bells Barnes laments “How can we ever evolve, when are gods are so primitive?” It's very cool stuff. Just as quickly as it begins, the song defaults back to its initial make up leaving you to wonder what just happened.
29- Wild Nothing- “Live in Dreams”
While we may have to wait a little while longer for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's next LP, Wild Nothing proved to be a capable substitute earlier in the year. “Live in Dreams” instantly exemplifies its name by not just fading out like any song, but fading in as well with that utterly charming and serene flute. Much like a dream, the song deftly avoids easily definable boundaries and contextualization. Jack Tatum mixes in obvious literal references (“Sitting on the cigarette butt front porch”), loaded and clear metaphors (“We've got eyes in the back of our heads”), and statements that vaguely fall somewhere in between (“Do you remember the lightening storm?”), using all of these tools interchangeably. Again, lyrically the song is pieced together like a dream- a collage of intellect, memory, and imagination, with a torrent of positive and regretful emotions scattered across it all. The guitar and percussion roll along somewhat submissively in the background leaving Tatum to provide the head bopping harmony. His voice is always subdued and soft but still manages to achieve vocal and emotional differentiations between the doldrums of his thoughts and impactful wails. Then just as it starts, it ends.
28- Belle & Sebastian- “I Didn't See it Coming”
“I Didn't See it Coming” is initially striking for a Belle & Sebastian song as it packs in a quite a bit of percussion right from the get go, giving it a little more girth and weight than one might expect from the duo. As Sarah Martin's voice kicks in, it seems to settle in to more familiar territory for the group. Unassuming pop beats are made from serene and mellow noises and instruments. Her voice is timid and frail, insecurely spouting “We didn't see it coming/ make me dance I want to surrender.” It's all reassuringly pleasant. But part way through, the song drastically transforms in bizarre and dazzling ways. The song descends into a bluesy jazz beat, for just a few seconds, exuding confidence and even arrogance. It seems hazardous and urgent, even if it is entirely fleeting. Then the beat ascends to greater heights through a psychedelic glossy synth hook. The song finally reconstitutes itself into its original attributes, but something is changed. Stuart Murdoch sings the same words as Martin, “Make me dance I want to surrender”; but now it seems so much more imperative. He is demanding it- commanding it even. Its a quirky little path the two follow throughout this song, but its pretty terrific.
27- The New Pornographers- “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”
This was my jam when I was in Eastern Europe. “On streets where things that don't match, meet”- seems emblematic of the entire region. Because of that it has a normative but not exactly qualitative connotation for me. If that last sentence seemed excessively nerdy, I'm sorry. Anyways, this is still a really great song. It has this sort of inquisitive piano beat complimented by vague and mysterious lyrics- I don't really know how to reference or contextualize it. Rather than being obtuse or obscuring because of this, the song still manages to maintain a playful and refreshingly inviting tone. The guitar is lean and strenuous, implying just a hint of stress behind the delightful character of the rest of the song. Its like trying to make sense of a wonderful accident, but an accident nevertheless. I love the ending as it transitions to the bellowing, heavy, and bloated string line- like the cheerful fat uncle of musical arrangements. The whole song has a familial quality that makes it very comforting. Seems appropriate considering its coming from one of Canada's parental super groups.
26- Dead Weather- “Die by the Drop”
Sometimes you don't tell a story to serenade the masses with a message or moral; sometimes sounding cool is enough. Jack White and Allison Mosshart realize this all to well and with “Die by the Drop”, proving it with a ferocious tenacity. The lyrics are down right intimidating “Some people die just a little/ some people die by the drop/ some people die in the middle/ I live just fine on the top”. A hierarchy is established, and they reside at its peak; those who challenge this arrangement will meet the kind of apocalypse that only someone like White can articulate. The entire song is breed from the tension of mixing romanticism and fatalism together- “let's dig a hole in the sand brother/ a little grave we can fill together”. Mosshart seems calm and collected, as White's voice grows feverishly rattled, teetering along the boundaries of sanity. The Piano and guitar try to intermingle but seem diametrically opposed, each instrument jockeying for prominence. This conflict erupts into a feral burst of jungle like screeches and bravado, just as White moans and wails his way over the proverbial edge. It's not the most substantive of songs, but it oozes and overflows with riotous confidence and classic recklessness.
25- Dac Racist- “All Tan Everything”
“Beatlejuice, Beatlejuice, Beatlejuice/ Ooops! Zoinks! Needlezooks!” Yes, much of the lyrical-let's call it poetry- doesn't make the most conventional kind of sense. More appropriately nonsense. But there in lies the genius of Das Racist, and especially “All Tan Everything”. They take many seemingly disparate words and conflates them with each other in an arbitrary manner. In doing so they show themselves to be distinctly post structuralist, or at least post modern, lyricists. “All tan man stands tangent to Tanzania” Doesn't really mean anything. They are revealing the arbitrariness of words and language itself. Words are just sounds that we attribute meaning to, and too often we politicize words like, say, racist. Through this they cleverly show just how foolish and inane racism is. With it's deep brooding bass line sprinkled with a slightly disingenuous and goofy pop beat, Das Racist mix together earnest activism with delinquency to once again show that anything and everything is only what we make of it.
24- Vampire Weekend- “Run”
Much like The Strokes, I'll never understand how the unwavering pleasantries of Vampire Weekend could be so divisive and spur such an ardent group of followers and venomous cadre of critics. But that's a topic for another day. Contra had a number of unique and quality tracks, “Run” being the most jubilant and entertaining of the bunch. It's melody is very much other worldly. Where as some songs on this list with an alien sound tend to be very ominous and intimidating, filled with unnerving sounds designed to stress and antagonize the senses, “Run” aims for the opposite. Instead it creates a soundscape, that while drastically foreign, is enticing and inviting. Constructed from troughs of rolling, hollow but upbeat rhythms, and by peaks of sprightly brass hooks. It has a sort of jovial marching order to it, like some sort of synthesis between insistent militancy, and chaotic freedom. Koeing lyrically replicates this aesthetic, characterizing the most mundane attributes of life, and compelling us to run from them. He comes off as somewhat pleading in an innocent and sweet sort of way as if he needs just a bit of help, “Lead my feet astray, cause all they do is stay”. The real pay of is at the end, as the percussion kicks up a bit, and those bubbly oddities of synthesizer beats start to double up and extend creating a slightly non linear and randomized rhythm but one that is utterly engrossing.
23- Gorrilaz- “Sweepstakes” (feat Mos Def)
“Sweepstakes” seems like such an oddity when contrasted with most hip hop today. Melodically instead of harsh overtones and obnoxious bass meant to be more painful than audible, this song seems more playful and soothing; innocent even. Initially it's a strange series of clunky hollow percussion notes that hastily move in a linear fashion. Part way through a more up beat synth and keyboard- sounding like a really high pitched bull frog- tune kick in. It seems almost free form and improvised, it works really well. As the song progresses it segues subtly and wonderfully into a full blown brass section, mimicking the notes and rhythm that prefaced it. It takes on such a jovial quality moving forward. Mos Def is so tenacious throughout, growing more and more robust as the music does. He transitions back and forth between short and sharp spikes of lyrics, and more elongated, drawn out phrases. It adds a great deal of variety to the whole thing and creates a song with specific points you look forward to, depending on the shape of your preferences. It's weird tune, by hip hop standards; no doubt why it works.
22- Best Coast- “When I'm With You”
No, not “Boyfriend”. Admittedly that was the song of the summer, however repeated listenings to their self titled LP has me convinced the bonus epilogue track is the superior offering. If Best Coast's album is to be praised its because they so precisely articulate the simplistic and intellectually unconstrained joys of the summer and companionship. Meaning seems to be amplified and maybe even exaggerated when contextualized through a sunny day at the beach. After all these are just high school crushes Bethany Cosentino is singing about. If this album is flawed its because the problem is every song on the goddamn album is exactly about this. That grievance aside, no song does it better than “When I'm With You” Starting off as what seems as a sleepy and content way to sound off, it instead springs forward, full of life. It's full of sappy sweet guitar hooks and starry eyed lyrics with no consideration of history or future. She only briefly and cryptically recalls, “Ever since I was a little girl/ my mamma always told me there'd be boys like you”, but doesn't seem to attribute any significance to the warning at first; she is having fun. Only at the end of the song does she reveal how sorrowfully hypothetical she is. She may have fun when she is with you, but she's really not with you- she just achingly wishes she was. In reality she is sleeping alone and she hates it. As she repeatedly pleads her case at the end, her voice grows slightly distanced and hazy, as if there is no coming back from this; “I hate sleeping alone” will be the last thing she is able to say. Its a saddening yet sublime synthesis of optimistic romanticism and the crushing weight of reality.
21- Hot Chip- “One Life Stand”
Hot Chip has an irresistible penchant for taking just about any type of music and making it danceable. Rarely however have they taken so many seemingly disparate elements, modified them and thrown them together in such an imaginative fashion. It rolls in with a stiff percussion masking an almost muted grimy and sleazy base. Two garish and even sarcastically retro synth lines jump in and start bouncing off each other. Out of left field a ridiculous and bizarre bohemian, tropical set of bells and synth scatter across the beat, flying in the face of its focused linearity. All of these elements are pulled together and focused by Joe Goddard's complete dead pan seriousness. He lyrically makes the whole affair seem so sordid and seedy, asking interrogative questions focusing on degenerative and taboo desires, “Tell me where you've been to/ nowhere that you shouldn't do”. The chorus is brilliant, as this shimmering noise kicks in and this slightly stale approximation of an stuttering horn section interrupts. His voice all the sudden fills with integrity and sincerity, and the content of his lyrics shifts into something more wholesome and genuine, “I only wanna be your one life stand/ tell me you'll stand by your man” Its a great play on words mixing superficial hedonism with substance and a grander sense of being. No wonder Hot Chip is on the DFA.
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