Saturday, December 28, 2013

Let Me Get 2013


       I hate compiling lists almost as much as I hate reading them. Usually a blend of trying to accurately capture the year's zeitgeist in a handful of songs, trying to balance indie cred with acknowledgment of mainstream success, or frustrating (accidentally or purposefully) the myriad of readers who are furious that their favorite single didn't make the list, Top so-and-so of 2013 lists seem to be endeavors whose end results are never truly worth the effort.
       Having said that, I have found that these lists are actually rather fun, and they give us a sort of artificial closure, a pause to look back, recollect, reevaluate. So what I've tried to do here is free myself of trying to define the year, or even pretend that this "Best Of" list is definitive. Instead, it's more of a favorites list, with an order that more or less works (mostly less). Some records I didn't get enough time to fully enjoy; some songs probably deserve higher spots but were made rather annoying by incessant playtime ("Royals," "Get Lucky"); some came out as singles last year ("Counting," "Latch," "Don't Save Me," "Wings," "3 Days," "Your Drums, Your Love," etc.); some songs are probably just meaningful to me because of where and how I was when I first heard them. I've only written about the top ten, but there are links for the rest.
       Hope you enjoy. It's been a fun year doing Let Me Get; here's to 2014!

100. Modern Jesus - Portugal. The Man




99. Kidnap Me - Cruiser



98. Miracle - Sir Sly



97. A Stillness - The Naked and Famous



96. Airglow Fires - Lone



95. CollardGreens (feat. Kendrick Lamar) - ScHoolboy Q



94. Diane Young - Vampire Weekend



93. Bloodflows - S O H N



92. Don't Wait - Mapei



91. Pumpin Blood (Taken by Trees x Belief Remix) - NONONO



90. Grand Union - Arthur Beatrice



89. Like a Dream - Francis and The Lights



88. Lost it to Trying - Son Lux



87. riff raff is the devil - MR•CARM/\\CK



86. Porno - Arcade Fire



85. Sunset (feat. Yuna Zaraai) - The Internet



84. Jadallah (Goodbye $ummer) - ESTA.



83. El rito - Destroyer



82. Phaedra - Baths



81. Gray Eyed Bird - Slow Machete



80. Snap Out of It - Arctic Monkeys



79. You're Not Good Enough - Blood Orange



78. Red Eyes - The War on Drugs



77. Never Wanna Know - MØ



76. Paper Trails - Darkside



75. Free Your Mind - Cut Copy



74. Tea Leaf Dancers (feat. Andreya Triana) - Flying Lotus



73. I Have No Fear - Tourist.



72. Body Music - AlunaGeorge



71. Fall For You - Young Galaxy



70. Inner Gold - Dead Times



69. Sunday (feat. Frank Ocean) - Earl Sweatshirt



68. All I Know - Washed Out



67. Oostende - Keep Shelly in Athens



66. Million Miles - TV on the Radio



65. Step - Vampire Weekend



64. Demons - The National



63. Bad Idea - AlunaGeorge



62. We Sink - CHVRCHES


61. Walk Us Uptown - Elvis Costello & The Roots


60. Gonna Die - Autre Ne Veut


59. Help Me Lose My Mind (feat. London Grammar) - Disclosure


58. Ronnie Drake (feat. SZA) - Isaiah Rashad


57. Retrograde - James Blake


56. Black Out Days - Phantogram


55. The Heat - Jungle


54. Okay - Holy Ghost!


53. Abdomen - Born Gold


52. The Woodpile - Frightened Rabbit


51. End Boss - Man Man


50. Out of My League - Fitz and the Tantrums


49. Next Year (RAC Remix) - Two Door Cinema Club


48. Solace - f y f e


47. Savage - Ben Khan


46. Breathe This Air (feat. Purity Ring) - Jon Hopkins


45. Fire - Bipolar Sunshine


44. Silver - The Neighbourhood


43. My Friends Never Die - ODESZA


42. Chocolate - The 1975


41. Ada - JMSN


40. We Were in Love - Ta-ku


39. The Breach - Dustin Tebbutt


38. The Power - Fryars


37. Time Will Tell - Blood Orange


36. Comrade - Volcano Choir


35. À tout à l'heure - Bibio


34. Hemiplegia - HAERTS


33. Riptide - Vance Joy


32. Doin' it Right (feat. Panda Bear) - Daft Punk


31. Dance a Little Closer - Holy Ghost!


30. Cotton Candy - PAPA


29. When a Fire Starts to Burn - Disclosure


28. If I Could Change Your Mind - Haim


27. Bound 2 - Kanye West


26. Last Dance - Rhye


25. Murakami - MADE IN HEIGHTS


24. Old Love / New Love - Twin Shadow


23. You're the Best - Wet


22. Farrah Fawcett Hair (feat. André 3000) - Capital Cities


21. Diver - AlunaGeorge


20. Humiliation - The National


19. Song for Zula - Phosphorescent


18. Alive - Autre Ne Veut & Fennesz


17. Dying to Start Again - Lovelife


16. Elevate - St. Lucia


15. Always - Panama


14. Track 2 (Str8 Outta Mumbai) - Jai Paul


13. You & Me (feat. Eliza Doolittle) - Disclosure


12. Under the Tide - CHVRCHES


11. Afterlife - Arcade Fire






10. Hiders - Burial



"There's a kid somewhere..."
This is one of those songs that give me goosebumps, perhaps in part because I now know it was intended to be a sort of "angel's spell." Far different than most of Burial's other work, "Hiders" reaches new heights, its broken vocals climbing higher out of characteristic sounds of crumpling and dripping. Usually, Burial's music is beautiful yet grimy, constantly pulled back into the ambient sounds of some dystopian back alley. But this time, it's transcendance, ascension to some otherworldly chorus. Heartbreaking, breathtaking. An angel's spell indeed.






9. Unbelievers - Vampire Weekend
Modern Vampires of the City was fabulous and full of tracks worthy of praise; "Hannah Hunt," "Ya Hey," "Step," and "Diane Young" top Best Of lists on plenty of music sites and blogs. In my opinion, "Unbelievers," the bright atheistic shuffle, the snarky little prayer for some salvation for the hell-bound, is the best track from Modern Vampires. It's brilliant both musically and lyrically––and ridiculously catchy. It keeps its frantic beat all the way to the soaring pipes at the end that turns the unreligious rag into something sweeping and almost majestic––but not before coming back down to earth, letting Ezra Koenig's near-unaccompanied voice finish it out.






8. If You're My Girl, Then I'm Your Man - PAPA



As the Bio on PAPA's website notes, "one review witnessed, 'they hit every note as though they were playing for lunch money,' There are no backing tracks, no auto tune, and no self harmonizing pedals." This sort of rawness is part of what makes PAPA's debut album, Tender Madness, so fabulous. In "If You're My Girl," the warbling vocals, the urgent, soari
ng ooooh make it a perfect driving-with-the-windows-down track that even Haim can't touch. It's powerful, authentic, and refreshing.






7. Coming Through (feat. Cat Power) - Willis Earl Beal



The song is simple and soulful, but the lyrics are more than that: after a brief intro about the impossibility of truth and the imperceptibility of the future, Willis Earl Beal belts out an ambivalent yet relaxing number, wailing at all of us "don't pick a side, just ride the tide." Abandoning morality and virtue (they "could easily hurt you") might seem frightening, but occasionally it's nice to sit back, be neutral, let the world––and Beal's fabulous voice––wash over us in benevolent apathy.






6. Love is Lost (James Murphy's Hello Steve Reich Mix) - David Bowie



It's the remix that only James Murphy could have gotten away with: a ten-minute-long, Steve-Reich-inspired remix of a new David Bowie song. Born out of the scattered clapping of an audience, the track wades through minutes of glitchy synths, stark piano chords, and hypnotic hand-claps before hitting full swing halfway in. Bowie's lyrics are dark and despairing, "love is lost, lost is love," but Murphy's remix goes further, making the original loss feel like a disintegration, a drawn-out performance of loss, its spare percussiveness and electronic blipping seeming like some sort of ritual ceremony being played out on outdated electronics. Combining the haunting vocals of Bowie, the minimalism of Murphy, and the circling rhythms of Reich, this remix is ten and a half minutes of sheer magnificence.






5. 400 Lux - Lorde




A 17 year old kiwi who dresses like a sorceress, tours with her mom, and is obsessed with olives doesn't exactly fit the mold of artists whose singles incessantly play on Top 40 radio shows. But Lorde, the self-proclaimed feminist who can call out Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, and Lana Del Rey and get away with it, is a child star who puts out good music instead of stirring up controversy. Her droning minimalism and shockingly mature voice are intriguing and mystifying; she's quirky, authentic, and a great lyricist—the last of which can sometimes seem to be in short supply. 
400 lux is the measurement of light at a sunrise or sunset on a clear day. Indeed, this track feels like a simultaneous rising up and slipping away, a cycle of languid car rides sung to a cyclical question: "We're never done with killing time / Can I kill it with you?” “Royals” is definitely one of the most important songs of 2013, but for me, "400 Lux" is more intimate, more lyrically interesting, and superbly captures a feeling of intimate melancholy, regardless of the time of day.



4. Chain Smoker - Chance The Rapper



"This is my last shit." There's truly something final about the track, aside from the fact that it's situated close to the end of Chance's phenomenal Acid Rap. A broken brain, uninterrupted drug use, Frank Ocean on repeat, but still a desire that we love all his shit. It seems somehow fitting to close out the year; piano licks and organ sounds and background wailing make it anthemic, definitive, and confident even if it's subtly self-effacing.





3. The Beauty Surrounds - Houses



This song manages to sound exactly like its title, immersing the listener in a haze of slowness and beauty. The simplicity of the clicking beat, the atmospheric droning, the the five-note sprinkling of synths, and the absolutely fantastic lyrics all make the lyrical "wasting away" something tender, slow, delicate, immersive. Breathtaking simplicity.







2. Born Gold - Hunger



The hammering beat, the bright synths, and the sweeping chorus create an off-putting contrast with the lyrical references to illness, dried blood, peeling wallpaper, rising hunger, and bending bones. "Hunger" is tagged only as "Terror" on SoundCloud, and there certainly is a creeping terror to it. But it's too catchy, too light to be anything too frightening, and this contradiction between melody and lyricism, brightness and sickness, airy pop and brooding hunger, only makes it more fabulous.







1. Graceless - The National





The National doesn't specialize in uplifting songs. At least not in the sort of anthemic sunshine-pop that one might associate with infectiously contrived tracks designed to get you going in the morning. In fact, when I saw the band on tour earlier this year, Matt Berninger screeched the lyrics to "Squalor Victoria" and made jokes about opening his wrist with a SOLO cup, all the while putting back his signature bottle of wine. 
But with The National, there's always sort of wryness to all the melancholy, an imminent sense of catharsis to all the Sorrow. Perhaps "Graceless" is so good because it manages to walk the line between uplifting and despairing: the driving drums and energetic ending counterbalance the cryptic lyrics that talk of anti-depressants, withered roses, death and weightless invisibility. The music video even features the band members getting wasted in a backyard pool, a far cry from the somber images one might expect. 

At the show, after Berninger had finished his bottle of wine, he climbed down into the crowd to do his characteristic crowd surfing, singing that he wouldn't fuck us over, everyone trying to touch him as if he were some sort of wasted Jesus. "Graceless" is the shock, the sorrow, but the need to rise above it; it's the weary abandonment of faith ("God loves everybody, don't remind me") but the need for some other sort of absolution. And maybe, in the climactic finish––"grace!"––the discovery of it.






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