st. lucia

My favourite songs from a jam-packed month of quality music.

25. Gryffin – Heading Home

24. Modern Space – It’s Only A Dream

No link to the song above. I dig the following too.

23. Wet – All The Ways

22. Mother Mother – Monkey Tree (UK Mix)

21. Matthew Good – Kid Down The Well

20. Gwen Stefani – Used To Love You (MAIZE Remix)

19. Shearwater – Quiet Americans

18. Lucius – Madness

17. Marianas Trench – Who Do You Love/End of An Era

16. Pusha T & The-Dream – M.F.T.R.

15. Wintersleep – Amerika

14. Mates of State – Sides of Boxes

13. School of Seven Bells – Open Your Eyes

12. Troye Sivan – Heaven (f. Betty Who)/Talk Me Down/Youth

11. Skizzy Mars – Comb

10. Cage The Elephant – Too Late To Say Goodbye/Cold Cold Cold

9. Walk The Moon – Work This Body

8. The 1975 – The Sound

7. St. Lucia – Physical

6. DNCE – Cake By The Ocean

5. Marianas Trench – One Love

4. Mates of State – Staring Contest

3. The 1975 – Love Me

The INXS vibe is palpable here. As is the feeling that this band is destined for great things.

2. Panic! At The Disco – LA Devotee

Unbearably catchy. Maybe the best song they’ve ever done — strong words as their catalogue is teflon strong.

1. Yeasayer – I Am Chemistry

Number one couldn’t be anything else. I shed tears at the first listen of this masterpiece. This is art. In every way imaginable.

I think 2013 was a brilliant year for new music; it was just as good as 2012 (which I thought at the time was the best year for songs in many moons) or better. There’s no way I could make a strict Top 100 Songs of the Year list and feel good about myself, though I don’t want to go as overboard as I did last year, where many numbers on that list had a part A) and a B). I’m going to hold off on playing that card, as want to fall in line with my prediction that in 2014, we’ll see “restraint” adopted more and more as a thoughtful, progressive lifestyle choice — bahahaha, sorry I can’t continue that sentence any longer. The complete opposite will prove true. Shit be cray; restraint seems like a relic of a long lost world, like the crystals of the Mayan civilization, Tesla’s time machine, and when you could count on your breakfast cereal containing all the GMO’s your (growing) body could handle http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/original-cheerios-to-go-gmo-free-1.2482761.

There will be no A)’s and B)’s on this list, but I’ve still got to find a way to massage the proceedings to ensure maximum comfort, so I’ve chosen to include two or more songs by a particular band/artist in some spots. I’ve found that on many occasions, it’s difficult to discern which song of a given band/artist is the “best,” so I’m going to forego that agony altogether. For instance, I really like Lorde’s “Tennis Court” and “400 Lux”. I wouldn’t say one song is better than the other, nor can I decide which one I like more, so I’ve listed them together. This happens several times over the course of this list. (I’ve also decided to include an audio link to each song when this happens — why should one track get daps over another!?)

Lastly, some might think that songs placed at the low end of this or any list aren’t worth sharing/remembering/exploring. This could not be further from the truth. So much good music was released in 2013, that to be listed anywhere in the top 100 should be a huge source of pride for these songs (if songs knew about this list, and if songs could feel pride. I love anthropomorphism!). Music continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. All it takes is a little time and effort to seek out the best of the best.

Here are my Top 100 Songs of 2013:

100. Mereki – Blue Lake