london grammar

Top 50 Remixes of 2015 (25-1)

Here lies Banger City a.k.a. My Top 25 Remixes of 2015:

25. Of Monsters And Men – Dirty Paws (Kygo Remix)

 

24. Glass Animals – Gooey (Gilligan Moss Remix)

 

23. Zedd f. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now (Grey Remix)

 

22. Borns – Electric Love (Oliver Remix)

 

21. Tinashe f. Dej Loaf, Neily Hype – All Hands On Deck (Remix)

 

20. Carly Rae Jepsen – Run Away With Me (Cyril Hahn Remix)

 

19. Echosmith – Bright (Lost Kings Remix)

 

18. Adele – Hello (Paul Damixie Remix)

 

17. M83 – Wait (Kygo Remix)

 

16. Snakehips f. Tinashe & Chance The Rapper – All My Friends (99 Souls Remix)

 

15. Charlie Puth f. Meaghan Trainor – Marvin Gaye (Styx Tropical House Remix)

 

14. Alessia Cara – Here (Lucian Remix)

 

13. Axwell & Ingrosso – Something New (Amtrac Remix)

 

12. Justin Bieber – Love Yourself (Brynny x Teddy Cream Bootleg)

 

11. Banks – Beggin’ For Thread (Gryffin & Hotel Garuda Remix)

 

10. Grizfolk – Hymnals (RAC Remix)

On repeat for much of the later half of 2015. So fresh, so clean.

 

9. Susanne Sundfor – Delerious (Richard X Remix)

Richard X was and remains a bad, bad man. This is a force majeure.

 

8. London Grammar – Strong (High Contrast Remix)

Another remix that isn’t strictly from 2015. But that’s when I discovered it, fell in love with it, and deemed it a necessity of life.

 

7. A-Ha – Take On Me (Kygo Remix)

Trop House knows no bounds! It’s attacking the 80’s! Run for your liiiiiiiiiiivvvvessss!

 

6. Notorious B.I.G. f. Ja Rule & Ralph Tresvant – Old Thing Back (Matoma Remix)

This remix might be a bit older than 2015, but 2015 is when I discovered it. Matter of fact, I’ll never forget how I discovered this song. A friend played it on my birthday on the way to the beach. A soundtrack to happiness is hard to forget. Oh yeah, and this a gigantic banger to boot.

 

5. Rihanna – Bitch Better Have My Money (Handbag House vs. Kat Krazy Bootleg Mix)

So, so, so much fun. A little nuts, but an enormous earworm all the same.

 

4. Ed Sheeran – Photograph (Felix Jaehn Remix)

Felix Jaehn wrapped up the remixer-of-the-year award with this one. I don’t think there is such an award, but if there is, it’s his. Ed Sheeran’s voice let’s a DJ shine if he/she knows what they’re doing. Jaehn knows. This is bliss.

 

3. Miguel – Leaves (Adam Foster’s Sweet California Remix)

Speaking of bliss. This remix evokes sadness, nostalgia, euphoria. It’s a deep breath on a sunny day in an Indian Summer. Life moves quickly. Thankfully music like this helps us live in the moment.

 

2. Glass Animals – Pools (Roosevelt Remix)

Roosevelt absolutely smashes this one out of the park. This is the most playful remix of the year. You can hear the original metamorphosing into a different state. “Pools” is itself, one of the songs of the year. It’s adventurous, animalistic, and ambidextrous. This remix is all of that, but it smothers peanut butter vibes over the melody and lets the track slither around unabated. If all the animals in the world had a giant pool party where humans were not invited, this would be on a delicious, fruity loop.

 

1. OMI – Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)

Duh. It was never going to be anything else. Bigger than massive. And for good reason. Distilled hookery.

 

Top 20 Songs of May 2015

Here are my top 20 songs of May, 2015:

20. Garbage f. Brian Aubert – The Chemicals

 

19. Carly Rae Jepsen – I Really Like You

 

18. San Cisco – Run

 

17. Grimes – REALiTi

 

16. James Bay – Hold Back The River

 

15. Belle and Sebastian – The Party Line

 

14. Flagship – Life Underwater

 

13. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Can’t Keep Checking My Phone/Multi-Love

 

12. Scott Helman – Bungalow

 

Bonus: Metric – Clone/Lost Kitten

Revisited Metric’s last LP in May, and played these two tunes a bunch. Synthetica is a fantastic record.

 

11. Twenty One Pilots – Tear In My Heart

Rare to find this much cheek and fun in a song by an American band. Refreshing.

 

10. Florence And The Machine – Ship To Wreck

 

9. Mumford and Sons – Believe

Took me quite to get into this track, and though I don’t love it like I do “Babel” or “”Little Lion Man” or “The Cave”, it’s still a cool tune.

 

Bonus: London Grammar – Strong (High Contrast remix)

The original is brilliant, so even a passable remix (this is more than that) would sound great.

 

8. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Dying Of The Light

Legend.

 

7. Elliphant – Love Me Badder

Shame this probably won’t break in North America. Super catchy pop song.

 

Bonus – Jann Arden – Good Mother

Forever and always special to me. The melody, the lyrics, and Jann’s comforting, pleading, heart-piercing vocal.

 

6. Death Cab For Cutie – The Ghosts of Beverly Drive/You’ve Haunted Me All My Life/Little Wanderer

From what I’ve gathered so far, DC4C’s last record with Chris Walla is pretty dope. The first two singles and this trio of songs are really, really good.

 

5. Future Islands – The Chase

A new song by Sam T. and co. is always welcome. And, per usual, it’s a banger.

 

4. Brandon Flowers – Lonely Town

I don’t think any song on Flowers’ quite good new solo record can touch lead single “Can’t Deny My Love”, which is a monumental pop smash. If anything else can come close though, it’s “Lonely Town”, particularly the bridge (2:03-2:30), which I played on repeat. The bridge is a massive hook in an already stellar earworm.

 

3. Day Wave – Drag

A song to get lost in. Sun meets shade and fun finds fade. I have a feeling this song will linger with me for quite some time.

 

Bonus: Imagine Dragons – Shots

This tune was #18 in my top 20 from February, but I’ve come to listen to and dig it vastly more than that ranking signifies. “Shots” is a beast, plain and simple. My favourite song from Imagine Dragons’ latest album.

 

2. The Vaccines – Handsome/Dream Lover

These two tracks couldn’t be more different, and that speaks to how talented The Vaccines are and how varied their songs can be. “Handsome” is frenetic, full of English cheek, with an irresistible melody that on several occasions made me smile from ear to ear. “Dream Lover” plays at a much slower pace but is just as catchy. It’s a haze of distorted guitars and harmonies. I love lead singer Justin Young’s vocal on that song.

 

1. Metric – The Shade (I Want It All)

I’ve always loved Metric. They were early adopters of a synth-pop sound that blew up in the early 2000’s. Way more substance than style (though they’ve had that in spades since the jump), Metric always came to the party armed with a bevy of hits. Something happened though when they released their fourth studio album, Fantasies. They dropped what I think is a perfect pop song: “Gimme Sympathy”. It’s a song so good most bands would kill to have written something half as good. I was so happy for Metric. I’d felt like they’d become one of the best bands in the world, with an unrivalled ear for dashing pop songs. I thought they’d never come close to the greatness of “Gimme Sympathy”, but that was okay, because they crafted something otherworldly, and they have a shit tonne of other super songs to keep it company.

I may have been a bit early in thinking they couldn’t touch “Gimme Sympathy”.

When I first heard “The Shade”, I thought it was a huge risk to have that video game-ish sound effect feature so prominently in a song — a lead single to boot. By about the third listen or so though, the effect seemed to retreat a bit into the background, and the true beauty of “The Shade” stepped out of its shadow. It’s incredible. The verses, the chorus, the vocal, the music. Everything is wonderful.

Moral of the story: Metric are preternaturally gifted at songwriting, and I’ll never doubt their ability to achieve perfection again. Stars.