music of 2012

it's that time of year again: list time! i won't bother expounding on year-end listomania yet again, as i have said it before and others have said it better (nick cave had an excellent and still entirely relevant take on the idea of "best" back in 1996, and it is short and absolutely necessary reading as the grammys approach). but my clever loophole is that this isn't a list of the best songs of the year, but rather of my favorite songs of the year. and in this way, i owe them nothing. the songs are just the ones i enjoyed the most this year. they made me dance, or made me happy. they made me sad, or made me sleepy. whatever the mood or emotion or vibe, they made me feel something, which for me is the hallmark of worthwhile music. so read on below. you can stream each song from youtube by clicking on the link, or listen to the entire thing on a spotify playlist right here. songs are in no particular order.

chairlift :: i belong in your arms
a "timeless" pop song in the way some of blondie's best singles were. 100% dated by the instrumentation, but the melody and sentiment are as affecting now as they will be two decades from now. just a shame songs like this are denied airplay in favor of, oh say, this.

tennis :: origins
a breezy am radio-style pop song from the denver duo that wouldn't have sounded out of place next to the temptations in the early 60s.

santigold :: disparate youth
santi's first album was full of hits, but i didn't hear as many on her followup. but "disparate youth" ended up being as strong as anything else she's done thus far.

lumineers :: ho hey
have you had enough of this song yet? i think i have. but every time i hear it, i still can't help but tap my foot and bob my head for all two minutes and forty-three seconds. and while i don't think these guys are able to sustain themselves for an entire album, they're worth keeping around if they can pop out a few more gems like this.

gotye :: somebody that i used to know
the exact same sentiment that applies to "ho hey" applies here.

horse feathers :: fit against the country (click link to download)
neither of the band's recent albums have managed to capture the magic of house with no home, but this song comes close.

arctic monkeys :: r u mine?
good ol' fashion rock song. just all balls.

sam sparro :: happiness
this shows you what pop music can be. there's nothing outside of the box going on here. high produciton value, lots of bells and whistles. but it's got heart. which is why people can (and do) forget every song "co-written" by dr. luke by the time the next song "co-written" by dr. luke comes out. none of 'em have any heart. it's the reason beyonce's "countdown" is better than "single ladies". the latter was catchy as hell, but the former had heart. "happiness" is all heart.

sigur ros :: ekki mukk
an ethereal gob of glacially paced ambient melody.

jack white :: sixteen saltines
you can take jack white out of the white stripes, but you can't take the white stripes out of jack white.

the walkmen :: we can't be beat
this is the track that hamilton leithauser, he of the unshreddable vocal chords, showed that he could croon with the best of them. complete with doo-wop style harmonies.

japandroids :: the house that heaven built
grabs you by the guts from the first second and doesn't let go or loosen up for the next 289.

grizzly bear :: sun in your eyes
dave longstreth of the dirty projectors tweeted to grizzly bear that this was the song everyone was waiting for them to write, and i understand why. it feels like the culmination and combination of every excellent track the band has written thus far, executed to perfection. big and small, warm and icy, melodic and ominous all at the same time.

tame impala :: feels like we only go backwards / mind mischief
sounds like the beatles. melting.

titus andronicus :: in a big city
like the replacements covering bruce springsteen. tough to find rock songs as unassumingly anthemic as this one nowadays.

miguel :: adorn
somewhere after marvin gaye's "sexual healing" and before christina aguilera's "dirrty", sensual music about love became sexual music about fucking. and i think we're mostly worse off for it. but miguel and his insistently sludgy bass are doing their best to bring it back.

rhye :: the fall
ditto for semi-mysterious duo rhye. making love can be dirty, but doesn't have to always be dirty.

night beds :: even if we try
best new voice of the year, i think. channeling jeff buckley without trying to be jeff buckley. a fine line to walk, but this guy does it expertly. plus that outro (which is fuzzed out in the video) is breathtaking. and the video is heartbreaking in a way i can't quite understand.

mumford and sons :: babel
i found the surprise breakout band's second album overall to be extremely underwhelming. less than a handful of the great singles they're capable of, the album seemed bloated with slow, hookless filler. but "babel" (the song) was able to hit those same rafter reaching heights the standout singles from their first album did.

passion pit :: cry like a ghost
as sugary sweet as all of the band's greatest songs, but a little darker with knowledge of passion pit main man michael angelakos' mental health issues.

cloud nothings :: stay useless
a punk anthem for anyone that's ever felt overwhelmed by the never-stop-moving monotony of adult life.

fiona apple :: every single night / werewolf
two great (seemingly complimentary) tracks, instrumentally sparse enough to let apple's vulnerable and powerful voice do all the heavy lifting.

kindness :: house
lyrically, one of my favorite tracks of the year.

band of horses :: everything's gonna be undone
one of the more disappointing albums of the year, but this is just a beautiful CSNY-style song.

local natives :: breakers
so good. don't call it a comeback.

twin shadow :: five seconds
the best 80s song written in 2012.

alunageorge :: your drums, your love / watching over you
the future of radio-pop. or at least it should be. one of the smoothest tracks of the year, plus maybe one of the best videos of the year. a strong argument for MTV to return to its roots. plus "watching over you" just to prove that "your drums"'s excellence is not a one off.

sharon van etten :: in line
a slow, meandering lament of a song by one of the most emotionally powerful female vocalists around.

blood diamonds ft. grimes :: phone sex
cotton candy dance floor jam.

ke$ha :: die young
after beyonce, just about the only pop star i'm interested in.

lord huron :: i will be back one day
a dusty, folky gem for wide open spaces and starry nights.

lana del rey :: ride
it sounds a bit like lana del rey covering the killers covering bruce springsteen, but it works. and the way she sings "i'm tired of feeling like i'm fucking crazy" in that ascending falsetto at 3:40 gets me every time.

thee satisfaction :: queens
opening lyric "leave your face at the door, check your swag." was enough to sell me on this one. but the dark roller rink funk vibe keeps me coming back.

the xx :: angels
this lead single from the band's second album made me think that they were going to manage the seemingly impossible task of topping their debut. they didn't quite manage it, but this was still a great song that only the xx could have written.

frank ocean :: forrest gump
2012's wunderkind was undoubtedly ocean. and this was my favorite track off his undeniably good debut.

the orwells :: in my bed
these chicago punks were the closest i could get to filling the void that smith westerns left this year.

hot chip :: motion sickness
after the band's last album, i kind of thought they had lost their mojo. but when they opened this year's excellent in our heads with this absolute monster of a jam, i was more than happy to eat crow.

carly rae jepson :: call me maybe
over 370 million youtube views later, this one probably doesn't need any explanation.

father john misty :: only son of the ladiesman
fleet foxes drummer shows big harmonies and acoustic anthems don't have to be so damn serious/precious all the time. 

grimes :: oblivion
probably the most addictive song this year for me. and the video is capital "K" Kewt. 

grimes :: genesis
probably the second most addictive song this year for me. and the video is as weird and mesmerizing as the music.

beach house :: irene
an argument that these guys could command an arena one day.

dirty projectors :: unto caesar
one of the first songs where the band sounds like they're having fun. 

alt-j :: breezeblocks
endlessly instrumentally and compositionally interesting.

how to dress well :: & it was u
best nearly acapella jam of the year.