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 my penultimate list of the best songs and movies of 2013. Before I issue those favourites, here is a lightning quick rundown of my Top 40 Albums of 2013:
1) Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires Of The City; 2) Chvrches – The Bones Of What You Believe; 3) Paramore – Paramore; 4) Sky Ferreira – Night Time, My Time; 5) Biffy Clyro – Opposites; 6) Cold War Kids – Dear Miss Lonelyhearts; 7) Daft Punk – Random Access Memories; 8) Shad – Flying Colours; 9) Queens Of The Stone Age – …Like Clockwork; 10) Arcade Fire – Reflektor; 11) Neko Case – The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You; 12) Surfer Blood – Pythons; 13) Phosphorescent – Muchacho; 14) Foals – Holy Fire; 15) The 1975 – The 1975; 16) Lady Gaga – Artpop; 17) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Mosquito; 18) Lorde – Pure Heroine; 19) Arctic Monkeys – AM; 20) Charli XCX – True Romance; 21) Bastille – Bad Blood; 22) Tegan & Sara – Heartthrob; 23) One Republic – Native; 24) Kanye West – Yeezus; 25) Placebo – Loud Like Love; 26) The Neighbourhood – I Love You; 27) The Joy Formidable – Wolf’s Law; 28) The Knife – Shaking The Habitual; 29) Blue October – Sway; 30) Britney Spears – Britney Jean; 31) Miley Cyrus – Bangerz; 32) Major Lazer – Free The Universe; 33) Panic! At The Disco – Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!; 34) City and Colour – The Hurry And The Harm; 35) Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse; 36) Valleys – Are You Going To Stand There And Talk Weird All Night?; 37) Stereophonics – Graffiti On The Train; 38) Goldfrapp – Tales Of Us; 39) Jon Hopkins – Immunity; 40) Jimmy Eat World – Damage.
Before I issue my top 5 songs and films, here are a few random awards I’d like to dole out to 2013 films:
Best Performance In An Otherwise Lacklustre Film – Jim Carrey, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Best Cameo – Will Ferrell, The Internship
Scariest Use Of Product Placement – Google, The Internship
Reddest Beard On A Dude You Wouldn’t Expect To Have One – Michael Fassbender, 12 Years A Slave
Worst Oral Hygiene – Leonardo Di Caprio, Django Unchained
Best Pimp Walk/Example Of An Actor Who Won’t Change How He Carries Himself Under Any Circumstance – Charlie Hunnam, Pacific Rim
Best Use Of Sequins: Michael Douglas, Behind The Candelabra
Best Hair/Best Jewellery: Matt Damon, Behind The Candelabra
Best Use Of Song: James Franco, singing Britney Spears’ “Everytime”, Spring Breakers
(NB: I finally saw Fruitvale Station, and Michael B. Jordan’s performance was a master-class in acting. If I’d have seen it in 2013, it would be in my top 5 films of the year. It’s a must-see movie.)
5. Phosphorescent – Song For Zula (WAR value: 9.5)
“Song For Zula” is the most heart-wrenching tune of 2013. It’s a masterpiece. It’s the best track Matthew Houck’s ever done. “Song For Zula” is a restrained wonder. A steady, sad, imprisoned song. The strings are sooooo bloody good. With no chorus, the song never loses sight of its soul. Its cell is small, but its attempt to free itself is massive. The song ebbs in and out of light, flowing through darkness on its melancholic, melodic journey. The song is rife with lyrical lynchpins of love and its like: “See the cage it called. I said come on in. I will not open myself up this way… again,” and “But my heart is wild, and my bones are steel. And I could kill you with my bare hands if I was free.” A deep irony pervades: “Song For Zula” is trapped, scarred, burned by love, but the honest, gorgeous expression of these horrors is a catharsis, revelation, freedom. By the time it’s over, it’s no longer just Zula’s song, it’s everyone’s.
Prisoners (WAR value: 8.0)
Prisoners was absolutely riveting, a “what would you do to save your family” thriller of the highest order. Hugh Jackman was incredibly good as a father who pushed his moral compass to the limit. It’s the best I’d ever seen him. Paul Dano is a fantastic actor, and was eerie to the Nth degree here. The Canadian director, Denis Villenueve, did a fantastic job dousing this film various shades of greys, with the cinematography and the tone, in its sadness and in its message. I was held captive from beginning to end by Prisoners.
Link between “Song For Zula” and Prisoners:
The sadness. The greys. The feeling of helplessness. The doing everything within reason, and more importantly, outside of it, to get back what is a fundamental right, the reason for the fight: freedom.
4. The Vaccines – Everybody’s Gonna Let You Down (WAR value: 9.9)
Eminently enjoyable. Luxuriously listenable. Earth-shattering earworm. “Everybody’s Gonna Let You Down” is all of these things. That guitar riff is my favourite of the entire year. It forms a sensational series of hooks. This is the best song the extremely underrated London quartet has ever done. Lead singer Justin Hayward-Young sounds restrained but seething. This might be the smoothest song of the year. I couldn’t stop listening to it. “Everybody’s gonna let you down,” but this song hasn’t, and I don’t believe it ever will.
Gravity (WAR value: 9.0)
There had never been a movie that looked liked Gravity before. It may be some time before one looks like it again. It’s hard to judge the story — after some consideration, I think it was a good, probably not great plot — when the visuals look so real, so captivating, so awesome. Alfonso Cuaron is a brilliant director. His filmography, particularly Pan’s Labyrinth, Children of Men, and Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban prove this, but this may be his finest work in terms of sheer imaginative gall. I’d heard Cuaron tell of wanting to do a “space” movie for many years; I’m glad he waited until special effects caught up to his imagination. There is a cold, peaceful beauty about the “space” that Cuaron created here. Gravity’s pull is unrelenting.
3. Vampire Weekend – Ya Hey/Hannah Hunt (WAR value: 10.0)
Ya Hey
“Ya Hey” holds a special place in my heart. I adore Ezra Koenig’s lyric, his delivery, Rostam Batmanglij’s music. I’m so impressed with how Vampire Weekend began their story (on their impressive eponymous debut) and how they’ve continued to tell it (on what I consider the best album of 2013, Modern Vampires of the City). Musically, I think they could very well be the most inventive, creative band on the planet. They’re strange and likeable, qualities embodied by the thrilling, wondrous gem that is “Ya Hey”. For a while, I couldn’t listen to this song without getting goosebumps from the line, “Through the fire and through the flames, you won’t even say your name, only I am, that I am.” “Ya Hey” is an exposition of faith, a dialogue with the mystic, a hymn to heaven. All of this, but it joyously avoids preaching. Such is the beauty of Ezra’s tone and lyric, and their familial connection to Rostam’s music.
Hannah Hunt
It would be easy to assume that no song could match the power of the talismanic “Ya Hey”. Normally, this would be true, of other bands, of other albums. But this is Vampire Weekend, and they are different. So is “Hannah Hunt”. It doesn’t seek the light like “Ya Hey”. It’s content to take turns, basking in a small piece of the sun one moment, serenading the coolness of shade the next. I think the music and lyric are wonderful, but what makes the song for me, what makes the hairs on my neck stand, is when Koenig sounds like I’d never heard him before, singing as if nothing else in the world could matter more (at 2:59): “If I can’t trust you then dammit Hannah, there’s no future, there’s no answer. Though we live on the U.S. dollar, you and me, we got our own sense of time.” Ezra and Hannah may have their own sense of time, but I can’t help but get lost in it. Over and over and over again.
12 Years A Slave (WAR value: 9.5)
12 Years A Slave was not an easy movie to watch. But it was spectacularly acted, particularly by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o, and Alfre Woodard, and beautifully shot by Steve McQueen. The horrifying reality depicted in the plot is juxtaposed with a creepy, almost calm sense of dread, of malice that lingers in the sun-strewn fields and pretty white houses. This contrast made the film an unsettling triumph. Seemingly everyone and everything in this movie told a story: a whisper in the wind, a tear-drowned eye, a blood-soaked back, a bead of sweat. This is a story of endurance, telling, I think, of how it will be viewed in the future. This film will linger in the hearts and minds of many for a long while. It deserves to.
2. Chvrches – The Mother We Share (WAR value: 10.5)
The plainest way I can put it is that “The Mother We Share” is the best pop song I’ve heard in ages. I heard it very early on in 2013, and it stayed a gargantuan powerhouse right through the end of the year, even as it began to be heavy rotated on all manner of radio stations. Atypical of most songs, it didn’t lose any lustre when played and played again. In fact, I think it gained something. The music is perplexingly perfect, so pristinely produced, so preened and polished. And that chorus. My God, that chorus. I can’t be 100% sure — the music too big to be measured by human tools — but my best guess is that the chorus contains 1.7 trillion hps (hooks per second). Let it be known that this is a conservative estimate. Lauren Mayberry’s vocal is downright tremendous. Her soft, pure, sirenesque voice mixes magically with the music. The lyric, especially for a pop song, is smart and contemplative. Who’s mother do we share? I think the point is to wonder. The combination of music, voice, and lyric is a shrine to nostalgia, a throw-down to everything else in music right now, and a vision of the future.
I was flabbergasted by the quality of Chvrches’ debut album. It’s clear these musicians are preternaturally gifted, and even still, they hit the jackpot with the collection of songs that comprised their first LP. And even though their talents are bulging at the seams, and even though they’ve just begun what’s hopefully a long career in music, I feel like they’ll never top “The Mother We Share”. And you know what? That’s okay. Sometimes a band releases the best they’ll ever do the first time around. It happens more than we realize. The band has already gifted the world with what I think will go down as one of the songs of the decade. This is pop music at its absolute peak. The air here is rarified, clean, and fresh. The sound here is immaculate, supportive, and free. Life here is great.
The Place Beyond The Pines (WAR value: 9.9)
I revere this film. Director Derek Cianfrance is a relatively new filmmaker, but he’s already one of my favourites, and one with an incomparable style. I say this having seen only two of his movies, the heart-breaking Blue Valentine and this, the torrential, towering triptych, The Place Beyond The Pines. His style, ability to say something even in silence, wizardry with tone and eye for cinematography make him a very special artist. Cianfrance also handles his cast beautifully, and directed some fantastic performances here. The supporting cast were brilliant, particularly the chillingly cold Ray Liotta, the devastating Ben Mendelsohn, and the anchor-leg runner, Dane DeHaan. All that, and the leads were all great too. Bradley Cooper was on fire (as he has been for the past couple years), and the performances by Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling were sterling. (I like Gosling in pretty much everything — such is his charm — and right now, I’d rank his top 3 performances: 1) Blue Valentine; 2) The Place Beyond The Pines; 3) Drive. Semi-tangent: I can’t even begin to qualify how much better a love story Blue Valentine is than the rote blandness that is The Notebook.)
There’s something magical about The Place Beyond The Pines that doesn’t happen often in movies. There are feelings I have about this film that I can explain, and there are some that I can’t. I love that this film does that to me; I believe the best art elicits that type of duality.
The Pun Is Sure 