live or tell

Playing Favorites: 2011 Songs of the Year

britticisms:

Every year, this list feels like it gets longer. I can’t say for certain if that is the truth, but it feels like I place greater emphasis on strong singles. Only a handful of albums felt like complete, purposeful statements, but the number of singles that were on point were constant. The variety of tracks kept me surprised, with my interests earlier in the year more rock-focused and the end of the year, more experimentally electronic focused. I don’t know what’s changed between then and now, if my tastes in music have shifted, or the talents of more singular performers and artists are more profound.

(Click on titles to listen to each song.)

TOPS!

“The Wilhelm Scream” by James Blake

Still one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard, and I don’t say that lightly. This dropped at an important time and it’s lyrics resonated throughout the year, capturing the vulnerability and questioning of this age.

“212” by Azealia Banks

A perfect song from two forces: a powerful beat and Ms. Azealia Banks. Banks encompasses something sorely lacking in contemporary music: a genuine, aggressive attitude that works just as well on the dance floor as it does the street.

“Something Goes Right” by SBTRKT featuring Sampha

The most underrated, heartbreaking song of the year. This one hit me immediately, and even now, I listen (and dance) to it a couple of times a week. It’s just that lovely.

“Pharaohs” by SBTRKT featuring Roses Gabor

I love this song so much. So very, very much. It means so much to me and I can’t pinpoint why. The vocals are nice. The beat is good. But nothing in particular stands out. But during the first time I listened to the song, it certainly felt like a little revelation. Perhaps this is it: It is a perfect pop song, from start to end.

“How Deep is Your Love?” by The Rapture

If I am being honest, I will say that The Rapture’s “comeback” album fell short. But this single, for all of the old fans of the band, was an important statement, and I will be forever grateful that they came back just so we could dance to this pseudo-religious jam throughout the summer.

“Bizness” by tUnE-yArDs

I remember reading somewhere that w h o k i l l would be an important album not just at the end of the year, but to a dedicated number of music listeners. Remembering the first time I heard this track, the vocals, the percussion, how it formed this perfect package, and I can’t help but smile.

“Far Nearer” by Jamie xx

In many ways, this was the year of the producer, and none surprised me as much as Jamie xx and this single, that broke away from the glitchy, multi-layered aesthetics of the post-dubstep movement and created something light and lovely.

“Surgeon” by St. Vincent

I love how Annie Clark continues to surprise, how she refuses to keep things simple and clean and perfect, even when the end results seem complete only in a way that a genius could produce. Like many of her past singles, Clark guts the listener, confronting them head-on and I love her for it.

“Midnight City” by M83

Such a surprising, maximalist jam from M83. We never expected a new album, and then for it to be a double album, and then for this to be the first single, a thoroughly enjoyable Summer jam.

“Ungirthed” by Purity Ring 

This one is still weird, as is most anything Purity Ring has released. The lyrics are confusing, the vocals are so particular, but you eventually find yourself singing along to the lyrics, hitting repeat, feeling overwhelmed by it’s uniqueness that shines on each play.

“Painted Eyes” by Hercules and Love Affair

So powerful. Listening to an early stream of the underrated (so underrated, so devastatingly underrated. I maybe hate you all for not loving it as much as I loved it.) Blue Songs, I began crying while listening to this opening song. The lyrics, the intonation…something about it reminds me of Sylvester, of my favorite lonesome disco.

The Most Perfect Naomi Campbell Walk

“Love in Motion” by SebastiAn featuring Mayer Hawthorne

Goodness

“Katy On A Mission” by Katy B

“Falling Out” by Body Language

“Lady Luck” by Jamie Woon

“Corinne” by Metronomy

“Nuclear Seasons” by Charli XCX

“Night Air” by Jamie Woon

Beat Happening

“My Country” by tUnE-yArDs

“To Care (Like You)” by James Blake

“Don’t Move” by Phantogram

“She Wants” by Metronomy

“Unluck” by James Blake

“Now U Know Tha Deal 4 Real” by Machinedrum

“Love Underlined” by Metronomy

“Stumble” by Bonjay

“Lucky Woman” by Phanes

“Rolling in the Deep” by Adele (Jamie xx Shuffle)

“Running” by Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx

“I’m His Girl” by Friends

House Jams

“I’ll Take Care of You” by Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX

“My House” by Hercules and Love Affair

“Come 1” by Machinedrum

“Had it” by Swindle featuring Natalie May

“You’s A Nasty” by Sam Sparro

“Out of My Mind” by Tyson

“Fantasy” by Breakbot

“Leonora” by Hercules and Love Affair

“Blink and You’ll Miss a Revolution” by Cut Copy

“Two Different Ways” by Factory Floor

“Cheap” by Dogtanion featuring Kerry Leatham

“Fire Dream” by Patten

“Manic” by Azari & III

“Control” by Spoek Mathambos (Joy Division cover)

The Haunting

“Lofticries” by Purity Ring

“Crystalline” by Bjork

“Skull Eyes” by True Widow

“Fear of Drowning” by Mirrors (Lapalux remix)

“Belispeak” by Purity Ring

“Out Getting Ribs” by Zoo Kid

“I Follow Rivers” by Lykke Li

“Bludevotion” by Genuflex

“California” by EMA

“Untrue Love II” by The Whendays

“Nightshift” by Talk in Colour (Microburst Remix)

“Mingus” by Seekae

Future&b

“Leila’s Tale” by Szjerdene

“Houstatlantavegas” by Sonnymoon (Drake cover)

“Janet” by New Look (Janet Jackson edit and cover)

“Wildfire” by SBTRKT

“Spirits” by Jamie Woon

“Without You” by Stacy Barthe featuring Frank Ocean

“Marvin’s Room” by Drake

“You Can” by Body Language

“Ritual Union” by Little Dragon

“White Sails” by Marques Toliver

“Back 2 You” by Jason Burns

“Deep in My Heart” by Marques Toliver

“Motivation” by Kelly Rowland

“I Can’t Stay” by Jesse Boykins III

“Shuffle A Dream” by Little Dragon

“Romance Layers” by Gang Gang Dance

“Not Long Now” by James Blake

“What You Need” by The Weeknd

Annie Clark Category

“Year of the Tiger” by St. Vincent

“Cruel” by St. Vincent

“Northern Lights” by St. Vincent

With Beauty

“It’s Real” by Real Estate

“Valentine” by Jessie Ware and Sampha

“Everything” by Micachu and the Shapes with the London Sinfonietta

“Doorway” by Planningtorock

“Sweetheart” by Autre Ne Veut

“Winter Beats” by I Break Horses

“2 Hearts” by Digitalism