June was a great month for new music. Here are the songs I listened to most in June:
20. Django Django – Shake And Tremble
19. My Morning Jacket – Big Decisions
18. A Silent Film – Strong Enough/Message In The Sand
17. Walk The Moon – Different Colors
16. Mumford and Sons – The Wolf
15. Waitress – Hop Along
14. Brandon Flowers – Diggin’ Up The Heart
13. Ratatat – Cream on Chrome
These Brooklyn cats are such bad asses.
12. Muse – Dead Inside
Will and Kathryn from SYTYCD!
11. Death From Above 1979 – White Is Red
Probably my favourite tune this Canuck duo have ever done.
10. Jamie XX – Loud Places/I Know There’s Gonna Be Good Times
9. Awolnation – Woman Woman
One of the many catchy tunes on Awolnation’s latest LP.
8. A Silent Film – Paralysed
I’m miffed and sorry that this song and the EP from whence it comes have not not received more attention/YouTube views.
7. The Chainsmokers f. Great Good Fine OK – Let You Go
Massive dance anthem deservedly getting a tonne of play.
6. Tame Impala – Cause I’m A Man
So unique, so fresh, so good.
5. Best Coast – Feeling Ok
Took me maybe 4 or 5 listens before I was hooked.
4. Beirut – No No No
Welcome baaaaaack Mr. Condon! So happy new Beirut music has arrived.
3. Awolnation – I Am
What a great album from Aaron Bruno and company. Even this sort-of ballad sounds raw and rife with energy. Love the vocal harmonies on this track.
2. Ed Sheeran – Photograph/Photograph (Felix Jaehn Remix)
I guess I was out to lunch, as I didn’t know about “Photograph” until recently. I’m not surprised it’s become a worldwide smash; Ed Sheeran is damn near incomparable at writing simple yet affecting melodies and lyrics. The original is great, but I might even dig the remix more. Felix Jaehn is on fire right now.
1. Miguel – Coffee
It’s his voice. It’s that melody. It’s that this ‘clean’ version is more hard-hitting than the explicit one. It’s that, “word play, turns into gun play, gun play, turns into pillow talk, pillow talk, turns into sweet dreams, sweet dreams, turn into coffee in the morning.” It’ll go down as one of my favourite lyrics of the year. One of my favourite songs too.
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.
The Pun Is Sure 