foo fighters

Top 100 Songs of 2011 (25-11)

25. Lady Gaga – Hair/The Edge of Glory

I’m as free as my hair. That’s why I’m growing it out. Because of Gaga. That and my newfound pledge of getting haircuts for free. Still haven’t found a way to do that yet though, so I’ve got to bask in “Hair” for the time being. I don’t mind, it’s bloody fantastic. Gaga has an intuitive connection to pop music that the world hasn’t seen since MJ, I swear. “The Edge of Glory” is equally awesome; a sex-/sax-laden romp. Try and count the hooks in both songs. You can’t. No one can count that high. The essence of pop music.

24. Adele – Someone Like You

Someone eviscerated a part of Adele. She used that energy/pain and burst out with “Someone Like You”, castigating some unlucky chap who’s become a footnote in the best ballad of the year. What followed? Only the entire free world flocking to listen to the ever-personal experience Adele revealed, heartbreaking line by heartbreaking line. As cathartic a break-up song as there can be. Although Adele is extremely talented, this is the best song she will ever sing. By miles.

23. Imiginary Cities – Marry The Sea/Hummingbird

“Marry The Sea” mollifies with its cheery musical disposition (great job Rusty) and Marti Sarbit’s affecting, voluptuous vocals. A simple concept and impeccable delivery. “Hummingbird”, the band’s lead single, is victorious in its attempt to cause pause and ask, ‘where are these sweet sounds coming from?’ They’re coming from Imaginary Cities. Get used to the name.

22. Cage The Elephant – Shake Me Down

Lead singer and Kurt Cobain look-a-like Matthew Shultz looks like a blackguard. He kind of sings like one too. His mid-summer performances wearing nothing but a sundress would suggest his motives are nefarious to at least some degree. “Shake Me Down” is a fabulous pop-rock song, and it particularly soars at 2:23, as Shultz repeats, “even on a cloudy day…I keep my eyes fixed on the sun” as the music buzzes with vitality. He sounds so enthused you begin to think staring at the sun might be a good idea. Let’s give it a shot.

21. Bon Iver – Calgary/Holocene

“Calgary”, a broken, mourning lament of a song, its beauty laying in its ability to connect. “Holocene”, a subdued jaunt down remembrance alley. Justin Vernon continues his mastery over the art of song. Both songs are positively wonderful. The sound of blood on a record. A mended heart that continues to beat is a heart all the same.

20. Rihanna f. Calvin Harris – We Found Love

Her second best song ever — yes ever — after “Umbrella”. Calvin Harris supplies a preposterous pop beat, yet it couldn’t be brought to life by just anyone. Rihanna has this je ne sais quoi; she doesn’t have fantastic vocal dexterity, range, or power, but she pulls her songs off with a winking aplomb that no other pop star in her arena can touch. This song is so big I’m pretty sure it’s reached the outer limits of the Milky Way by now. Its course henceforth is unknown. It could never be pinned down.

19. Future Islands – The Great Fire

The Great Fire came to a man in the most fortuitous of circumstances. Running from a gigantic predator, the man tripped on the ground and tumbled into a cave. Darkness ruled the night, except for a light near the end of the cave. The man was intrigued. He walked closer to the light and noticed it was moving. It was bright, it was hot, and it had no fixed form. He was mesmerized by the treasure before him. It had an energy, a force, a story. It was The Great Fire. Feeling like the luckiest being on earth, he had delusions of grandeur and took The Great Fire from its home. Little did he know the huge creature he’d just escaped from had been been watching as he took the element. When he exited the cave, the creature pounced, took hold of the man, and demanded the fire. The man refused, but was physically overmatched. He was dragooned by the dragon to give up the fire. With no other option before him, he relented. The dragon was mystified once it possessed the fire. Its eyes glimmered, its insides lit up. It cackled as it dropped the man onto the ground. The man watched as the dragon flew away, breathing the newfound element through its nose, illuminating the night sky with a streaking, red-orange hue. The man had a taste of power and vowed on his life to get it back. The Great Fire.

18. The Black Keys – Lonely Boy

Simple raconteurs, The Black Keys are. Poseurs, they are not. Provacateurs, maybe. Catchy alt-rock is what they do best. “Lonely Boy” happens to be the coup de gras of this formula, and the best song they’ve yet written. This song is a monster, and not one of those cheesy monsters you’ll see making up the GOP. I’m talking a Godzilla-, Mothra-type motherfunker. The chorus is so grating on the psyche it’s considered a halucenogen in 13 states (North Carolina’s on the fence–as usual). P.S. Black Keys + Derrick Tuggle = visual gold.

17. Grouplove – Colours

Gamboling without a care in the world, Grouplove see colours as variant perceptions of light and sound. Black, black, green and brown, brown, brown, brown and blue, yellow violets red. Sounds like we’ve got the spectrum there lady and gents. Fun incarnate. (Also, props must go to an American band spelling ‘colours’ the British way.)

16. The Airborne Toxic Event – The Graveyard Near The House/Half of Something Else

What pop instincts TATE have. They are a tour de force of pop mastery. “The Graveyard Near The House” has an inscription on its heart that doesn’t kill it and somehow emboldens it. It’s a warm, melodic, emollient love song. A fragile beauty. Mikel says it best, “it’s better to love, whether you win or lose or die…it’s better to love and I will love you ’til I die”. “Half of Something Else” is the aforementioned song’s kindred soul. Another crushing love song, featuring straightforward lyrics and a cascading musical track. The idea of being but ‘half of something else’ is one of the most compelling ways to put the idea of commitment I’ve ever heard. Breathtakingly august.

15. Lady Gaga – Bloody Mary

Madonna’s “Just Like a Prayer” + Taco’s “Puttin’ On The Ritz” + robots + humans + sex + bassline + choral (occultish) chanting + dancing (with hands) + a sprinkle of Jesus = “Bloody Mary”. My favourite song on Gaga’s indefatigable monster, Born This Way, and plainly, one of the best songs in her increasingly spectacular cache of pop masterstrokes.

14. Britney Spears – Trip to Your Heart

Impugn if you must, but I think this may very well be the best song Brit has ever been a part of. Femme Fatale is her best album, and it’s filled with some standout electro-pop smashes, but frankly, this song leaves them all in the dust — it pretty well leaves every song she’s ever done there. This tune is a one-off coast on a cloud to the epicentre of euphoria’s (electro) beating heart. Reminiscent of Nalin & Kane’s “Beachball” and classic early aughts DJ Sammy, but still different, and…better. Contains wave after wave of cascading, careening synths and hooks.

It’s by far the best headphone song she’s ever done. The most sensual.  The classiest (I know, not normally an adjective used to describe anything related to Ms. Spears [except when she eats Cheetos] — but it’s true). The dreamiest (“Unusual You” is a close second). Titillating yet low-key, with her most understated vocal turn. That beat. What a fantasy. The production is impeccable; it’s an engineer’s wet dream. The capstone song in Brit’s repertoire. Absurd yet delicious that it wasn’t a single. A treasure.

13. Foo Fighters – Walk

Inconfutably, “Walk” is one of the Foo’s most energetic efforts, a song to stand proudly along “Best of You”, “My Hero”, “The Pretender”, and “Everlong”. Dave Grohl, ever the rabble-rouser, lets buck have filthy, unprotected sex with wild on this track. How he continues to scream with such unadulterated chutzpah is a revelation to me and voice specialists everywhere. A wall of sound (welcome back Pat Smear). A frothing intensity. A hellacious journey. Grohl’s on his knees, praying that he never dies. I think we’ve long since known that’ll never happen Dave. Carry on as your were.

12. Incubus – If Not Now, When?

I dig “If Not Now, When?” so much because of one reason: Bredan Boyd’s vocal. Sure, the guitar work is simmering in heat, the melody is fantastic, the lyrics are poignant and relevant to the masses, but that voice, my god, that voice. Technically, it’s the best male vocal I’ve heard in eons. Passionately, it’s just as wondrous. Specifically, it’s the way Boyd raises an octave at 2:12 as he reflects that “something’s missing here”. I’m here to correct you on that assertion BB. Nothing’s missing. Absolutely nothing.

11. Young Galaxy – We Have Everything/Peripheral Visionaries

Both songs are unencumbered in their beauty. Young Galaxy have crossed the rubicon. Not a household name, I exhort anyone coming across this list to investigate Young Galaxy’s Shapeshifting LP. It could very well be the best Canadian LP (among many deserving candidates) of the year. I came across this record early in the year and I was instantly flabbergasted. “We Have Everything” and “Peripheral Visionaries” are monolithic wonders, belying their state by moving with the ease and grace of an eagle. Young Galaxy were a solid band before Shapeshifting, but with a bit of a lineup change, they’ve become unrecognizable (in the best way possible). There is no analog for these songs. They inhabit their own space. They are unique. They are leviathans. They are Young Galaxy.

Top 100 Songs of 2011 (75-51)

75. Noah & The Whale – L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

Life goes on, and so do Noah & The Whale, continuing to make pleasant, melodic, and carefully-crafted pop ditties.

74. Little Dragon – Ritual Union

A fairly simple tune, but a cracking one at that. A slithering electro r’n’b croon. Fresh to death.

73. The Go! Team – T.O.R.N.A.D.O./Apollo Throwdown

Energy. Piled on top of energy. After eating 10 king-sized Snickers’ bars. And drinking Forty Four Loko’s. With an injection of liquid enthusiasm. And blissed-out happiness. Sounds about right.

72. Mates of State – Sway/Total Serendipity

“Sway” is classic, gratifying Mates of State. “Total Serendipity” is too, but adds a healthy dose of doo-wop/50’s pop construction. There’s nothing they wouldn’t excel at.

71. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Brendan’s Death Song

Divagating from all other offerings on I’m With You, and much of their back catalogue in general, “Brendan’s Death Song” is a fitting eulogy, one that hopefully doesn’t reflect the demise of this all-time great rock band. This song is so good it almost exonerates them from making this average album. Almost.

70. Araabmuzik – Streetz Tonight

Turning Kaskade’s “4 am” on its ear, “Streetz Tonight” bends, prods and pokes the aforementioned song until it becomes a stunning, warped, pace-changing chameleon. And makes it better than the original. Smooth.

69. Digitalism – Circles

I’d always had a soft spot for rectangles, but “Circles” made me see the err of my ways. Probably the most fun on Digitalism’s “I Love You, Dude” LP.

68. Washed Out – Amor Fati

The sound of waves cascading upon neverending waves. The sound of bliss at the beach. The sound of a nostalgia-propelled love. The sound of caribbean-blue waters. Washed out indeed.

67. Rebecca Black – Friday

Not even being ironic. Ok, well, slightly. Actually, not even. Sure, many might consider “Friday” a throw-away piece of superficial pop, while many more might consider it something much worse than that, I choose to subscribe to the idea that it’s a fantastically simple and ear-wormy pop song. Irrevocably part of the pop-culture Zeitgeist of 2011, “Friday” was always meant to soar. Produced by a Nigerian and a Sri Lankan, the Swedes are killing themselves for not having a hand in this.

66. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Stamp

Those frenzied drums. That galvanizing vocal. A wonderfully turgid affair. I stomp to “Stamp” anytime I hear it.

65. Skrillex – Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites/All I Ask of You f. Penny

Skrillex the Illest, The Nimblist Turntablist, The Rumpelstiltskin of Tuneage. Oh My God!

64. Siriusmo – Einmal In Der Woche Schreien

The sound of the kitchen sink being fixed as you’re doing dishes. This song offers a lot, not least of which is a mantra we could all benefit from living by: whatever comes to you, wherever you go, make sure, under any and all circumstances, to scream once a week.

63. Eisley – I Wish/Please

“I Wish” and “Please” are such soft, lilting, delicate beauties. Awash with gorgeous harmonies. Eisley are a treasure.

62. The Vaccines – Post Break-Up Sex

The sound of lover’s excoriating one another. The Vaccines are having post break-up sex, and a lot of it. If subway is a porno for Interpol, well, for The Vaccines, their porno is way less public but no less impassioned. This song is awesome.

61. Beirut – Santa Fe/The Rip Tide

“Santa Fe” is a salient, sun-drenched and sonorous piece of Beirut lore. “The Rip Tide” is calmer, more brooding, more pastoral, and just as good. Zach Condon is limitless.

60. Foo Fighters – Rope/White Limo

“White Limo” is a firecracker wrapped inside a molotov cocktail thrown into a gas leak. “Rope” is the scallywag who threw it. They’re too smart to be caught, so luckily, we can expect more from these seminal rogues.

59. Young The Giant – Cough Syrup

“Cough Syrup” that, unlike Buckley’s, tastes great and also works. Goes down easier than Kim Kardashian on a famous athlete. An impressive debut offering from these California lads.

58. The Ropes – Love Is a Chain Store

A little messy, carrying a heft of ominous and a whole lot of formidable, “Love Is a Chain Store” is essentially a Ladytron song with a focus on guitars and bass. I’m setting up shop.

57. Smith Westerns – All Die Young

A pinch of The Beatles and a smidgeon of MGMT makes a bona fide hit for these young Chicago lads.

56. The Wombats – Jump Into The Fog

It’ll be tough for them to ever reach the dizzying heights of “Moving to New York”, but they put in a yeoman’s effort on “Jump Into The Fog”. A rousing track.

55. Kasabian – I Hear Voices/Goodbye Kiss

Kasabian have come a long way. Their maturation is a pleasure to hear. “I Hear Voices” and “Goodbye Kiss” are melodious, straightforward samplings of their newfangled direction. The music is impeccably constructed on both tracks. Sounds like the beginning of a thrilling chapter in the book of Kasabian.

54. Young Galaxy – Cover Your Tracks/B.S.E.

My favourite part of the Knife-like “Cover Your Tracks” is how Catherine McCandless omnisciently coos, “throw away your letters and numbers and make sure to cover your tracks…” “B.S.E.” is a colourful chimera. The first part of the song is a cozy, catchy, fun little ditty. The second is a serious, stellar-bound statement of intent.

53. Britney Spears – Till The World Ends/How I Roll

Femme Fatale is a slithering shuffle of a sexy record. It’s the best and tightest album she’s ever recorded and these are two of the three best songs on the LP. “Till The World Ends” is a sex maniac, a lewd cavorter, part of a party-hopping hegemony. Good ol’ hedonism. “How I Roll” is fresh, crisp, and Brit is clearly enjoying herself on the track. Kudos to Bloodshy & Avant (a.k.a two-thirds of Miike Snow) for the pristine production.

52. Ricky Martin – Mas

On the list because a) it’s his best song in ten years, and b) he combines the words “boricua”, “Manhattan”, “subway”, “beatbox”, and “electric guitar” — all in the opening line. Mas por favor.

51. Billy Joel – The Downeaster Alexa

Sure I’m over twenty years late discovering this ode-to-the-troublingly-low-reserve-of-fish-in-New-England-waters-for-the-hard-working-fisherman-to-fish banger, but thanks to the Hangover 2, I’ve been enlightened. “The Downeaster Alexa” is simply scintillating.