This is my last Songs of the Month list for 2014, so I’m making it a super-sized one. November definitely deserves it. A lot of new releases hit the airwaves, and a bunch of them happened to be fantastic. Here are 30 really, really good tunes that had my aural attention in the month of November.
30. Meg Myers – Desire
29. Avid Dancer – I Want To See You Dance
28. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – In The Heat Of The Moment
27. Tove Styrke – Borderline
26. Jessie Ware – Keep On Lying
25. Shabazz Palaces – Forerunner Foray
24. Glass Animals -Gooey
23. Walk The Moon – Shut Up And Dance
22. Imagine Dragons – I Bet My Life
21. Schoolboy Q – Man Of The Year
20. Foo Fighters – I Am A River
19. Robert De Long – Long Way Down
18. Gerard Way – No Shows
17. Joywave – Tongues
16. Ryn Weaver – Octahate
15. Royal Blood – Figure It Out
14. Stromae f. Lorde, Q-Tip, Pusha T, Haim – Meltdown
13. Interpol – All The Rage Back Home
12. Vance Joy – Mess Is Mine
11. Marina and The Diamonds – Froot
10. Kendrick Lamar – I
9. Grace Mitchell – Runaway
8. Cold War Kids – First
7. Night Terrors of 1927 f. Tegan and Sara – When You Were Mine
Here are my most played, favourite songs of February 2014:
20. ASTR – We Fall Down
19. Dum Dum Girls – Rimbaud Eyes
18. Elephant – Elusive Youth
17. Neon Trees – Sleeping With A Friend
16. Broods – Coattails
15. Serebro – Mi Mi Mi
Unrivalled preposterousness. Catchy as all hell.
14. Tokyo Police Club – Hot Tonight
13. Balance & Composure – Enemy
12. Lover Lover – The Fire
11. Lord Huron – Time To Run
10. Bombay Bicycle Club – Luna
Not surprised this was the second single. Rae Morris and Jack Steadman sound fantastic sharing the vocals.
9. Cage The Elephant – Spiderhead/Cigarette Daydreams/Telescope
The more I listen to Cage’s latest album, Melophobia, the more I enjoy it. Their sloppy accessibility is alluring. These three tracks are my current favourites.
Spiderhead:
Cigarette Daydreams:
Telescope:
8. Vance Joy – Riptide
Wonderful, sunny, joyous, summery pop music.
7. Darlia – Queen of Hearts
Embroidered with grunge and pop fabrics. The result is one catchy tune.
6. Katy B – Everything
On her latest album, Katy B’s eschewed the synthpop sound that so many of her contemporaries have clung to of late. In its stead, she’s gone (almost) Full House, a considerable achievement as DJ Tanner is nowhere to be found. “Everything” is a stud.
5. Against Me! – Fuckmylife666
One of the many fantastic songs on Against Me!’s latest LP. Though I couldn’t stop singing the line, “Don’t wanna live without teeth, don’t wanna die without bite,” the lyric that hits hardest is, “is your mother proud of your eyelashes?” Slaying gender ideals one burn at a time, Against Me! are back and at their fiery best.
4. Magic! – Rude
So, so, so, so catchy. I don’t think I’ll be sick of this song for a long time — if ever.
3. Bombay Bicycle Club – Feel
The opening eastern rhythm is out-of-this-world sensational. The guitar riff that joins the fray at 2:38 ups the ante even further, making “Feel” one of the best songs they’ve ever done. Bombay Bicycle Club can, quite simply, do whatever they want with songs, sounds, and music, such is their talent. What makes it so thrilling is that it all sounds so effortless. BBC are a one of a kind beauty.
2. Maximo Park – Drinking Martinis/Midnight On The Hill/Where We’re Going
Maximo Park are a treasure I hold very dearly in my heart. I wish they were a massive band the world over — it’s what they deserve. I wish they had a big enough fan base in Toronto to tour here so I don’t have to trek to the U.S. to see them. I can’t be greedy with so many wishes though, as they’re the embodiment of what I want my music to be: catchy for days and weeks and years. And that’s exactly what Maximo Park have been, for years: hard-working, staunch melodists, indefatigably likeable. Every album they’ve released is charming and fresh, and their latest, Too Much Information, is no different. Per usual, a handful of unbelievably good tunes comprise the record, with “Leave This Island” and the three tunes below the big winners. One thing that separates Maximo Park from the rest is that there’s something special, something indefinable about their songs that prevents them from getting tired. “Books From Boxes”, “Postcard of a Painting”, “By The Monument”, and “Questing, Not Coasting”, among many others, have not reached a point where I haven’t enjoyed listening to them. I believe these new set of songs will have a likewise affect on me. This is what many people call magic.
Drinking Martinis
Midnight On The Hill
Where We’re Going
1. Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues/Black Me Out/Paralytic States
From the first moment I heard these tunes to now, I’ve been in awe. From a song and melody perspective, these collection of songs are on par with the indomitable “Trash Unreal”, “Borne On The FM Waves Of The Heart”, and “The Ocean” from their seminal New Wave LP. From a personal, lyrical, and culture-commenting perspective, the songs are even better. Lead singer Laura Jane Grace (formerly Tom Gabel) has undoubtedly gone through a lot. But she sounds so invigorated, energetic, chomping at the bit to tell a (her?) story that I’m so bloody thankful Against Me! are still around and adorned with their trademark ferocity. Transgender Dysphoria Blues will assuredly end up being one of the records of the year when 2014 is said and done, and these three tracks, along with lead single “True Trans Soul Rebel”, are the big reasons why. Culturally, it’s an important record, and musically, it’s a beast that bellows loudly and froths with intensity. It already sounds like a classic.
The Pun Is Sure 