elly jackson

Top 20 Songs of June 2014

The month that popped. As much as I love pop music, I seemed to listen to an inordinate amount of it June. This is only because some awesome pop tunes were released or came to my ears in June. This is a good thing. Here’s the list of my Top 20 Songs of June.

20. jj – All White Everything

All white indeed. Glad to hear them back with new material. They have a way with breezy electronica unlike any other act.

 

19. Kylie Minogue – Crystallize

Best Kylie song in years.

 

18. Kyla La Grange – Fly/Get It

I’ve heard a lot from Kyla La Grange this year, being exposed to her for the first time with the immaculate smashes “Cut Your Teeth” and “The Knife”. She just dropped a new album, and there a bunch of super-catchy electro-pop ditties on it. Her lilting falsetto works well with the dark-meets-light synth tracks. This is evidenced best on “Get It” and “Fly”.

Get It:

Fly:

 

17. Omar Souleyman – Wenu Wenu

Love this track, and was very fortunate to have seen Omar perform at NXNE’s Vice Island (with Le1f and Future Islands). Not the most demonstrative character, but this song is gitchy galore.

 

16. Lil Jon – Turn Down For What

Waaaay late to this party. Still, a massive pop/hop/club banger that I couldn’t turn down, no matter what.

 

BONUS VIDEO: Hilarious video of Star Trek set to “Turn Down For What”.

 

15. Charli XCX – Boom Clap

One of the best poppers around. Charli’s new single is a winner.

 

14. Le1f – Boom

“Boom” is hella catchy, and Le1f is really good live. An engaging showman.

 

13. Royksopp & Robyn – Monument

I think I may have been too quick to anoint “Every Little Thing” the far-and-away best track Royksopp and Robyn’s recently released EP. “Monument” definitely gives ELT a run for its money. Both are dynamic, slithering, pulsating electro-pop gems. “Monument” is even more of a slow-burn, an ode to shooting for the moon, a thriller of a pillar, a huge hoarder of brick and mortar. Royksopp and Robyn are a lethal combination.

 

12. Sia – Chandelier

I do believe Sia is the best pop songwriter of the past several years. Her touch has lifted so many huge pop singles to glory. She’s kept a massive hook for herself here, and “Chandelier” borders on the outermost limits of the atmosphere.

 

11. Tove Styrke – Even If I’m Loud If Doesn’t Mean I’m Talking To You

What’s with amazing pop stars from Sweden named Tove?! Tove Styrke has been away for a few minutes, but she’s burst back onto the scene with a hulking and dizzying dancer of a tune.

 

10. Foster The People – Best Friend

At present, I don’t love Foster The People’s second record. I quite like two songs from it, “Coming of Age” and the follow-up single, “Best Friend”. This is the song that most harkens back to the wonderfully catchy gaiety of their indomitable debut album.

 

9. The Griswolds – Red Tuxedo

Short, pretty, and unusually sweet, “Red Tuxedo” is a warm, sunny ballad that possesses just the right amount of nostalgia-laced ache.

 

8. Wye Oak – Glory

Best song I’ve ever heard from Wye Oak. “Glory” is wickedly catchy.

 

7. The Alternate Routes – Nothing More

What a fantastic melody. Thanks to TC for the heads up on this band!

 

6. La Roux – Let Me Down Gently (Sailors Remix)

One of my favourite remixes of the year. Sailors have done an exceptional job retaining the hooks and upping the playfulness quotient, contrasting the brooding original with this reflective yet skip-to-my-louing banger.

 

5. Ed Sheeran – Sing

It took me a little while to come around on “Sing”. A couple months actually. I was so in love with several of the songs from Ed’s debut record + (“The A Team”, “Drunk”, “Small Bump”, and “Lego House”) that I think I held whatever he released next to an unreasonable standard. And it’s not that “Sing” is necessarily an inferior song to those other tracks. It’s just different, a cocksure pop song designed for radio domination. Perhaps I just like it best when Ed Sheeran lets his voice, guitar, and preternatural way with melody shine through. “Sing” is not that simple, with its knife-sharp sheen and flawless Pharrell production, that it took a while for me to fall for its charms. Fallen I have. It’s just a song mate, and it’s a bloody catchy one at that.

 

4. 5 Seconds Of Summer – She Looks So Perfect

Completely chock-full of hooks in every fathomable nook and cranny. This is a perfect pop/alt song.

 

3. Tove Lo – Over

On repeat throughout June, “Over” is a marvellous pop song. Tove Lo’s impassioned vocal dips and soars and prods and pleas in this gem of a tune. Sweden strikes again. (When isn’t that apt? Never.)

 

2. La Roux – Tropical Chancer

So many layers of pop genius here. This marks the third song that La Roux has released from her brand-new album, and it’s the third monumental track. “Tropical Chancer” sounds like a juggernaut now, and I believe it will hold up as one just like so many of the songs on La Roux’s debut have five years later. What an ear for absolutely perfect melodies and layers Elly Jackson has. The track earns bonus points with me for the subtle but amazing flute (flutish?) flourishes at 2:48. I’ve not an iota of doubt that “Tropical Chancer”, both the song and the album, will be among the best of the year in both categories.

 

1. Jessie Ware – Tough Love

For the longest time, I had La Roux’s “Tropical Chancer” as my favourite song of June. I listened to it a tonne, and found so many great layers to bask in. It’s a commanding, multi-layered pop masterstroke.

But I felt something different for “Tough Love”. I felt, after only a couple listens, like I was experiencing one of the songs of the year — a new school soul-electro-pop smash supported by shimmering, pristine, jaw-droppingly gorgeous production. I felt like I could see a part of Jessie Ware’s essence floating in, around, below, and above “Tough Love”. I felt like I could hear her spirit — decimated but unfathomably resilient in the hea(r)t of a tumultuous fire — crawling all over this sultry, sizzling, sexy track. Maybe more importantly than that, I think the power of this song tattooed something on me: a reflection, a foil, a consideration, a commiseration.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, and I’m not sure when or if I’ll be able to. That’s called “Tough Love”.

 

Top 20 Songs of May 2014

May was absolutely absurd. The top 8 (!) songs listed were all worthy of being number 1. The rest of the top 15 could easily be top 3 songs in another month. In short, I heard and loved a bunch of stunning songs in May, and it might go down as the best music month of the year.

20. Bear Hands – Giants

Sweet chilli heat, the groove, the beat.

 

19. John Legend – All Of Me (De Hofnar Bootleg)/All Of Me (Tiesto Remix)

I’m not sure which remix I prefer more. I think it’s the De Hofnar one, but I can’t be sure. Tiesto came to play here.

De Hofnar Bootleg:

Tiesto Remix:

 

18. Eagulls – Possessed

Static electricity caught by a lint-remover.

 

17. The Subs f. Colonel Adams – Trapped

A bone-rattling house bang-show.

 

16. Lykke Li – No Rest For The Wicked/No Rest For The Wicked (Klangkarussel Remix)

The more I hear from Lykke, the more I listen. She’s got it.

 

15. X Priest X – Enemy Mind

I adore the bass-y house undertones in this pop marvel. Keep your friends close, keep Enemy Mind closer.

 

14. Manic Street Preachers – Walk Me To The Bridge

A forceful re-emergence for possibly the most underrated band around.

 

13. La Roux – Let Me Down Gently

I had fears La Roux missed the boat. This teaser release assuaged those fears at once. Don’t call it a comeback, even if it’s been five years.

 

12. Bear’s Den – Sahara Pt. 2

In a bear’s den,

you must watch your yen.

For if not, you will lose,

Something hairier than your shoes.

 

11. Manchester Orchestra – The Mansion/Cope

If this is Manchester Orchestra’s mansion, it’s replete with standards of fear and bushels of beards.

If this is how Manchester Orchestra cope, they’ve steel reinforced what it is to hope.

This is rock music.

This is bloody fantastic music.

 

10. Ask Embla – Legion

I asked Embla, and she said she must pop. (And lock in hits, like this song.)

 

9. Naughty Boy f. Sam Smith – La La La

Heard it. Then was Ricked it. Then listened some more. Then got on page with all else who’ve heard. This track is absurd.

 

8. Betty Who – Lovin’ Start

I had a lovin’ start with this Betty Who track, which then progressed into a lovin’ middle. The end is out of sight, but I’m positive it’s lovin’ too.

 

7. Robyn & Royksopp – Every Little Thing

“Every Little Thing” is, for my money, the best song on the EP from Robyn & Royksopp. There’s groove, there’s pulse, there’s a move, a protruding pulse. The singles from the EP, “Do It Again” and “Sayit”, don’t hit nearly as hard as this track. This song is blood and beats and mud from cleats.

 

6. Paloma Faith – Only Love Can Hurt Like This

Only a piece of pop dynamite as explosive as this could place this high in a month so strong. The music is irresistible and Paloma Faith lays down a mammoth vocal.

 

5. Beth Jeans Houghton & Samuel T. Herring – Pelican Canyon

This? From a random road trip?! I’d hate to see what these two could come up if they had endless time together. (Huge lie. I’d love to see, hear, and feel more from them.) Beth Jeans Houghton lulls like a luscious lullaby, while Sam T. Herring is the base to which the melody abides. I believe this is what the best kind of collaboration looks/sounds/feels like.

 

4. Marc Anthony – Vivir Mi Vida/Khaled – C’est La Vie

Is this Marc Anthony’s best ever song? It’s a legit question, and I think it might be. I really dug “You Sang To Me”, but the passion in “Vivir” exudes a freedom that I haven’t heard in any of his previous tracks. The song’s sun is so strong it leaves a full-body tan even if fully clothed, which this song makes sound completely ludicrous. This is the type of heat that never brings sorrow, only the excitement of tomorrow.

As good as Marc Anthony’s version of the melody/song/idea is, (Cheb) Khaled’s is equal to the task. This is exactly what euphoria sounds like. It’s what frolicking looks like. It’s what the the World Cup feels like. Is it too late to change this year’s official song?

 

3. Allie X – Bitch

“Prime” and “Catch” were the first two releases from this new artist, but I think “Bitch” is the best of the bunch. The distorted chorus is just tremendous.

“Bitch” is neither male nor female. “Bitch” is no dog. “Bitch” is of a moment, a moment where pop is transfused by electronics, enthused by histrionics.

 

2. La Roux – Uptight Downtown

I’d thought for quite some time that La Roux really dropped the ball by waiting so long to release a follow-up album, after all, 2009 (when they debuted) was eons ago. The duo built up so much momentum, with majestic stompers “Bulletproof”, “In For The Kill”, “Quicksand” (a.k.a. the hits) combining with “As If By Magic”, “I’m Not Your Toy”, “Cover My Eyes” (and more) to form what I felt like (and still feel now) was one of the best pop records of the decade. I thought it was a huge mistake to let that buzz dissipate — music fans can be fickle, and five years between albums is an eternity in this day and age.

Oh ye of little faith.

La Roux (now apparently just singer Elly Jackson) rendered all of that concern a waste. I can’t prove that La Roux travelled via wormhole, but it can’t be dismissed. When your comeback single is as sensational as “Uptight Downtown”, a song so current, yet so of another time, it’s hard to think about why it took so long between efforts.

“Uptight Downtown” sounds like a wave, and the wave is warm and unrelenting. Some may find this track repetitive. Some might not see its utter, complete, eargasmic dominance. Some may be in tune. Some may be before the zoom. Some might be after it. Whatever to some, here’s the sum: this track is one that sounds like it’ll battle the test of time with conviction.

La Roux knows the streets are lined with people, people who want to move, move, move.

The people always want to dance, even if they’ve changed their shoes, shoes, shoes.

 

1. Manchester Orchestra – Trees

Rock. Song. Of. The. Year.

That riff. That fucking wall and plaster and stone and foundation shattering riff. That attention to melody and rock out to the point of felony. Those insurmountable mountains of hooks. Those shadow stealing nooks.

This is why I love music.