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Top 20 Songs of April 2014

For those that haven’t read one of my “Best Of” lists before, the reason why I do a tally of the songs I listen to most is because I can’t stop looking for new music, can’t stop attempting to feel the textures, shapes, and movements contained within (new) songs. Beyond that, I really enjoy sharing the music I discover and listen to most because I think these are fantastic songs that I wish to be heard by as many ears as possible. I know not everyone pursues (new) music with the same vigour that I do, so this is my attempt at being a curator, connector, reflector. Music is everywhere, but it’s sometimes in places you wouldn’t expect. To hear it, both in obvious and unfamiliar places, is to breathe sound.

20. Great Good Fine Ok – You’re The One For Me

This sounds like the beginning of summer. This is a good thing.

 

19. Kyla La Grange – The Knife

So obvious, the sonic and titular ode to Sweden’s finest brother and sister duo, but still, so good.

 

18. Gypsy & The Cat – Sorry

Fantastic group name. Delectable tune.

 

17. GRL – Ugly Heart

Super-catchy pop.

 

16. Movement – Like Lust

Music like this inspires movement. Movement comprised of shifting and swaying. At once cooing and decaying. Like taking a photograph of intimacy with a camera clouded by smoke. There’s something about the movement. Something like lust.

 

15. Beck – Blue Moon

I hadn’t liked a Beck tune since “Lost Cause”. “Blue Moon” changed that.

 

14. Blondfire – Kites

Pretty straightforward pop, but there’s something about it that draws me in.

 

13. Massari – What About The Love

His head kind of reminds me of shaved coconut doused with vaseline for ergonomic purposes, but I have to give the man credit, his last couple releases have been pop bangers.

 

12. Lady Gaga – Artpop

When I first heard her Artpop album, I focused on several other tunes and missed giving this one its due. Mistake rectified. This is another hit from the Haus of Gaga.

 

11. Tensnake f. Fiora – No Relief

Really, really, really like this tune. There’s something about the reserved but pleading vocal that meshes so well with the uncomplicated beat.

 

10. Bleachers – I Wanna Get Better

Sounds like a sun-bleached Vaccines song, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s fantastic.

 

9. The Horrors – So Now You Know

Extremely impressive effort from the English lads, from which I hadn’t heard anything since (the still great) “Still Life”.

 

8. Duck Sauce – NRG

Duck Sauce is a duo consisting of electro heavyweights Armin Van Helden and A-Track. Dance/Pop/House doesn’t get much more fun than this.

 

7. Dum Dum Girls – Too True To Be Good

Dee Dee Penny is a goddess. This is a wicked song from a teflon strong album.

 

6. Rita Ora – I Will Never Let You Down

Rita Ora’s new tune is a massive juggernaut. One of the best pop songs of the year thus far.

 

5. Future Islands – Like The Moon/Doves

Like The Moon:

Future Islands are so consistently brilliant that it was tough to give all 10 songs equal attention at first. I quite enjoyed “Like The Moon” from the first listen, I just gave more spins to other tracks. This is by no means representative of this song’s quality, as “Like The Moon” is astoundingly good. It’s sleek and sexy and groovy, and oh yeah, the jaw-droppingly good fan-made video culls together scenes from a 1981 Russian Sci-fi movie. Of course it’s perfect. It couldn’t have been anything else.

Doves:

My god, the gusto with which Sam T. Herring attacks this performance is incredible. “Doves” is yet another standout track from what I consider to be the album of the year thus far, Future Islands’ Singles.

 

4. The War On Drugs – Under The Pressure

There is something so endearing and nostalgic about “Under The Pressure”. It sounds like riding a Chevy pickup across the late 1980’s American Midwest. This song is a long-lost cousin of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer”. That’s a family BBQ I’d love to crash.

 

3. Sam Smith – Stay With Me/Stay With Me (Rainer & Grimm Remix)

Stay With Me:

I had heard the song before, but I first truly heard “Stay With Me” when Sam Smith performed it on the Louis CK-helmed episode of Saturday Night Live earlier this year. I was immediately floored. Sam Smith is going to be a massive star and “Stay With Me” will be a big reason why.

Stay With Me (Rainer & Grimm Remix):

Amazingly, this remix is as good as the original. I have no doubt it’ll end up one of my top remixes of the year when 2014 is done.

 

2. Kyla La Grange – Cut Your Teeth

One of the best pop songs of the year, and I firmly believe it’ll stay that way. The come-in of the base-like synthesizer at 1:04 is devastating. The backing vocal that supports the hushed primary vocals is superb. There are hooks galore. The video is super cool too. This is a banger in need of no mashed. Kyla La Grange has a strong collection of tunes in her catalogue, but she deserves to break big on the back of this pop behemoth.

 

1. Future Islands – Spirit

My Top 20 Songs of March list contained several Future Islands songs. I could’ve made that entire list from everything on FI’s latest album, Singles. But I showed some level of restraint, the kind that a person whose name rhymes with Toranje knows not of, but the kind that a person whose name rhymes with Hay-Z knows all too well. Restraint is good. It allows one to shine a light on other wonderful pieces of music. And to avoid getting arrested for things that rhyme with Bromestic Chiolence.

Everything in its time. And April was the time I played Future Islands’ “Spirit” over and over, combing the track to the over. The song is absurdly catchy, and I love the low register Sam T. sings at in the opening couple verses. This could be a huge hit if given the right push, but then again, so could any song on Singles. I adore the lyric, “don’t cast away, don’t cast away, don’t let them cast a role for you…” In any font, on every front, Future Islands won, so sung the conch.

Top 20 Songs of March 2014

Here’s my list of the songs I played and enjoyed most in March. It was a sensational month for new music.

20. Trust – Capitol

 

19. Babymetal – Gimme Chocolate

Thanks for the heads up on this one Marc. It was only a matter of time until someone culled together (K)-Pop and Metal.

 

18. Isle of Rhodes – Oceans

 

17. Lily Allen – Air Balloon

Immeasurably better than “Sheezus”.

 

16. Lykke Li – Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone

I love this tune, her voice, that she may be the Swedish Lady Gaga, or actually Lady Gaga (google it; the resemblance is uncanny).

 

15. Foals – Providence

Yes, “Providence” has been out for quite some time, and yes, it wasn’t an early favourite — nothing grabbed me quite like “My Number” and “Inhaler” did at first. But the more I listened to this tune, the more I loved it. There’s a chance it’s the best song from their Holy Fire album. The build-up is absolutely stunning.

 

14. Beyonce – XO

Another tune that’s been out for a little while. I listened to “XO” quite a bit in March, and it never got old. On the short list of best songs B has ever done.

 

13. Chvrches – Do I Wanna Know?

This is a thrilling cover. It’s wildly different that Arctic Monkeys’ original, which puts it in a different class from most covers that play things safe. It’s the best of the plethora of covers Chvrches have released in the past year or so, and I think it’ll go down as one of my favourite covers of 2014. Chvrches show no signs of letting their dominant pop grip go.

 

12. Maximo Park – Brain Cells

I gave several other songs on Maximo Park’s latest album more time than “Brain Cells”. It was a mistake to overlook it. It’s so, so slick, and I really dig it.

 

11. Allie X – Prime

Pop music in the mainstream is hit or miss these days, as you’re just as likely to find a banger as you are a boring, rote tune. Residing on the periphery of the mainstream, though, are a bunch of exciting artists and songs that are yearning to break through and collect more ears. “Prime” is one such tune.

 

10. For BDK – What I Must Find

“What I Must Find” is another such tune. Dark, thoughtful pop done extremely well.

 

9. Hedley – Crazy For You

Simply, I think this is the best song Hedley have ever done. It’s super slick and eminently catchy. It’s Hedley gone Chromeo, and the vibe works wonders for the band.

 

8. Lorde – Team

“Team” beat me down with repeated listens. I thought “400 Lux” should’ve been Lorde’s follow-up single to her massive “Royals”, but after being bludgeoned over the head with “Team”, I can see why it was chosen as a single. It’s a bit more radio friendly, sunnier, safer than the darker “400 Lux”. ‘Tis a business after all.

 

7. Rudimental f. Emeli Sande – Free

Emeli Sande carries this slow-burning, electro-pop-soul song to the heavens. It gets better and better and better with each listen.

 

6. Jon Hopkins – We Disappear

This song is several months old, and one that I enjoyed last year. Only recently, however, have I truly experienced the depth, beauty, and soul-rattling feeling of “We Disappear”. It’s a rare occurrence for electronic music, especially a song with no vocals, to be doused with such emotion, colour, and humanity. That “We Disappear” so starkly accomplishes these things is testament to its wonder, to Jon Hopkins’ skill.

 

5. Coldplay – Magic

“Magic” is my favourite Coldplay song in many moons. Frankly, I didn’t think they had this type of tune in them. I’m wondering if this sets up a new era for the band; “Magic” has left me very intrigued with how their forthcoming album will sound. I love absolutely everything about “Magic”. The minimalist production (for the first three quarters of the song), the subtle aural tricks , and most of all, Chris Martin’s vocal — his best effort in eons — are all fabulous. Everything is so compelling here, I don’t even care how or why they chose this trick. Seeing is believing, but sometimes, listening makes sight a moot point.

 

4. Future Islands – Fall From Grace/A Dream of You And Me

I could write a kajillion words on how much I love Future Islands, how I think their new album, Singles, is absolutely brilliant, about what they make me think and feel, about Sam T. Herring, about how they’ve ensnared a whole legion of new fans, but for now, I offer, simply, the music…

Fall From Grace:

I dare you to not be mesmerized by this performance. Friendly advice: stick around after “Fall From Grace” to hear one of the best songs they’ve ever released, “Inch Of Dust” (another live powerhouse).

A Dream Of You And Me:

 

3. Tove Lo – Habits

“Habits” was number 20 song in my Top Songs of January list. I’ve played it ad nauseam since then, and I’m completely and utterly smitten. “Habits” is a massive, gargantuan hit. It’ll go down as one of the best (pop) songs of 2014. Sweden strikes, yet again.

 

2. Sam Smith – Nirvana

“Nirvana” is a song from the latter half of 2013 that I found a couple months ago and threw in a playlist, not remotely knowing what I hand in my hands, what the song had in store for me. I think “Nirvana” is just perfect. The melody, musically and vocally, is beyond top-flight. The lyrics are simple and extremely powerful. And then there’s the real bread winner, Sam Smith’s haunting, immense, voice. It took a few listens, but once I’d really, actually, listened to “Nirvana”, I knew that the world had been gifted its next superstar singer. I’m not sure I’ll ever love another Sam Smith song like I love this one, but the wonderful thing is, I’m not pulling anything off the table with this guy. He has the talent to concoct an album-of-the-decade type of release. My interest has been piqued by the voice of this freak.

 

1. Future Islands – A Song For Our Grandfathers/Sun In The Morning/Back In The Tall Grass

A Song For Our Grandfathers:

What can I say? How about this… Amidst the stunning, jaw-dropping, bunch of tunes Future Islands have released over their four albums, “A Song For Our Grandfathers” could be their most important. It’s a slow-jam rife with emotion, an ode to family, to the yin yang of reflection and action. The ideas within are always and fundamental, of and for life. This is a pantheon track, not just for Future Islands, but for 21st Century music. This is not post-wave, dad-rock, synth-pop, or Indie. This is art. The best of it.

Sun In The Morning:

This tune is absolutely gorgeous. I don’t want to be reductive about it, but it’s great enough to be a wedding song. I think it may be bigger than that. It’s about love. It’s elemental.

Back In The Tall Grass:

I think “Back In The Tall Grass” is the most immediate, singlely (new word alert) song on album that’s called, and filled with, Singles. I heard it live a few months back for the first time, and it had me weak-kneed from the jump. There is no type of sound or style that Future Islands can’t do, no type of banger they can’t create with aplomb or a plum. Seriously, at this point, I’m not sure how they do it. But then again, when you’re the best band in the world, you should retain some sense of mystery about how you conjure your spells. It’s not my job to question, it’s my job to get down and dance.