Top 10 Songs of 2013: #3 Vampire Weekend - Unbelievers

Vampire Weekend - “Unbelievers”

In a year where both Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire put out albums that took their sound in new directions, in my mind, it’s Vampire Weekend’s expansion of their sound that wins out over Arcade Fire’s messy (but often very good) attempt to try damn near every genre [1].

Every song on Modern Vampires of the City is unmistakably a Vampire Weekend song, but is also so much more mature and grand than anything off of Contra. As they’ve moved past the pure afro-pop sound, Vampire Weekend has figured out how to keep the textures and beats of that genre, but meld them into their own sound. It’s no longer a band doing their best to approximate a modern day Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It’s Vampire Weekend, with all of their influences brought together into a beautiful and buoyant, yet often melancholy, album.

“Unbelievers” is my favorite, because it feels so un-Vampire Weekend-like (how’s that for hyphenation?) yet is so very Vampire Weekend. Lyrically, it’s clearly a Vampire Weekend album. It’s got their trademark hook; incredibly catchy, yet still smart. It’s a song about the gap between the religious and non, and it echoes that religious with its church organ, hand claps, and drums that push the song along like you’re at a revival. “Unbelievers” is, maybe, one of the most straightforward songs Vampire Weekend’s ever made musically. But that’s all it needs to be.

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1. More on that Arcade Fire album at some point. I’m still not sure how I feel about it.

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Top 10 Songs of 2013: #4 Haim - Falling

Haim - “Falling”

At this point, pretty much everybody and their mothers (<christrager>literally</christrager>) has heard of Haim. They’re the sister act that sounds like a cross between a 70s rock band and a mid–90s pop/R&B (usually Fleetwood Mac by way of Wilson Phillips). They’ve been on Saturday Night Live making the infamous bass face. They’re a minor cultural phenomenon …

who just happened to have put out one of the best albums of 2013. An old-school album where half of the songs have been, will be, or should be hit singles. All written and performed by the band themselves.

“Falling” is a perfect example of a Haim song, maybe the perfect example. The quiet open that highlights the vocals before opening up into a full on 90s synth pop song. As the song builds, so do the harmonies, and the really powerful low end—the bass and drums pack a punch while not ever overpowering the song. (Though, I'll admit: one morning, I drove into work with the volume a little louder than normal and, damn, that bass line and low end drums seriously shook the car. Just listen to the first 30 seconds in a good pair of headphones.) And then you hop in the Haim time machine again, as you get a very out of the 80s guitar solo.

It’s just a really great radio single. A really smart music blog said that if this were released by Beyonce, it would have been the top song of the year. I think that's spot on, though I think maybe Gaga would have been a more appropriate proxy artist.

Top 10 Songs of 2013: #5 Telekinesis - Empathetic People

Telekinesis - “Empathetic People”

What do you know? A two-and-a-half-minute driving pop song[1]. Who would have guessed?

This one is all about the rhythm section. The bass and drums completely propel this song forward. I think what makes it such a winner for me is that once you’ve seen Telekinesis live is you can’t forget that those propulsive drums are being played by lead singer Michael Benjamin Lerner.

See?

You score points for difficulty on my list.

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1. This is the last two and a half minute pop song on the list. We’ve got more pop, but it’s 3 minutes plus. And we’ve got one sub–3 minute song left, but it is definitely, definitely not a pop song.

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Top 10 Songs of 2013: #6 Surfer Blood - Say Yes to Me

Surfer Blood - “Say Yes to Me”

2 and a half minutes of pure pop rock. Clearly, I’ve been beating the pop sound into the ground for the first half of the list (and I think there’s still one more …), but this might be as pure as it gets. This is a straight up pop rock song that could have come out at any point in the last four decades, musically and lyrically.

Setting aside what happened with Surfer Blood (which has not been easy for some folks, leading to this album’s lower profile), this is the sort of song Surfer Blood seem tailored to make. Shiny guitars, a nick kicking rhythm section, building a really well constructed pop song.

It certainly never hurts to bring in some harmonies, either.

Top 10 Songs of 2013: #7 Brass Beds - I'll Be There With Bells On

Brass Beds - “I’ll Be There With Bells On”

I’d never heard of Brass Beds before. This is another of the “popped up on some podcast and stuck in my brain” until it wore down my defenses. 2 minutes and 30 seconds of power poppy-ness. There are points where this sounds a bit like a lost Shins b-side from Oh, Inverted World, but with more fuzz.

And, come on, who doesn’t love a little falsetto?

Top 10 Songs of 2013: #8 Ra Ra Riot - Dance With Me

Ra Ra Riot - “Dance With Me”

You know, I didn’t like the new Ra Ra Riot album at first. I loved the string-infused pop sound from their first couple of albums, and I loved their live shows.

This album is so synth. The strings are down in the mix on most of the songs. It wasn’t what I expected.

And then, unexpectedly, it started catching on. It’s still super poppy, hooky music (and by now, you’ve probably noticed that trend in my picks). Like “Crazy”, this song is damn near all hook. It’s a ton of fun. You can almost hear the fun coming through your speakers. When you see the song live, it’s probably the bounciest thing you’ll ever see.

I think that why I ended up putting it on my list. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve heard it, it never feels tired. Every time it builds up to the chorus and you hear the little “ahhhhhh” in the background, it makes me smile. That gets you on the list.

(And, the fun poppy songs at this end of the list will offset some of the darker stuff you’re going to hear shortly …)

Top 10 Songs of 2013: #9 Au Revoir Simone - Crazy

Au Revoir Simone - “Crazy”

This is a grower. The first time I heard it, I think it was on a podcast (maybe KEXP?). It starts off so simple, with that little riff and drum beat. And then the song is just all hook. Seriously, it’s just all gorgeous hook. It’s a hook that you hear for the first time, and you’re singing along before the songs over. You hear it the first time, it hangs out in your brain. You go listen to it again, you think “hmm, this is pretty fun.” The tenth time? You realize you’ve lost and Au Revoir Simone have won.

I think that’s the power of pop music. “Crazy” is literally all hook. I didn’t count, but if there’s more than 10 lines of the song that aren’t the chorus, I’d be shocked. There’s something magical about being able to create a song like that. Everyone gets it, everyone’s welcome. You don’t need to decode the lyrics. It’s all sitting right there for you, making you feel like part of the cool kids.

(Especially when this ends up backing a commercial for Girls on HBO and you’re rocking out the lyrics and impressing all your friends.)

Top 10 Songs of 2013 #10: Sean Nelson - Kicking Me Out of the Band

Sean Nelson - “Kicking Me Out of the Band”

Singer, actor, writer, tweeter, frontman of (the currently on hiatus) Harvey Danger, Sean Nelson is a lot of things. He’s a supremely talented songwriter, bringing in rhyming and phrasing that you don’t typically hear on pop songs. He also brings to the table a tremendous gift of storytelling, and “Kicking Me Out of the Band” is a wonderful example, telling a sly story of a wasted youth in England, starting a band with his pal, getting bigger, getting into drugs, having the press proclaim you “the next big thing”, and eventually get kicked out of the band.

It’s very simple song, with a pretty, quiet intro, that flows into sort of a New Wavey-synth beat, with Nelson’s vocals sitting on top telling the story. And it’s such a smart, cutting story.

The NME said we were “quintessential
power pop meets rock meets folk
meets punk meets alt-country,
but with a healthy sense of metal”

Top 10 Favorite Songs of 2013 - Honorable Mention

Alright, I’m a couple of days late. I’ll catch up before the end of the year. I’m a day ahead of when I started last year, so I’ve got that going for me.

This is the seventh year of this list. If you care to take a look at the previous entries, you can here:

2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007

The rules are very simple:

• The song came out on an album in 2013
• I can only pick one song per artist

I occasionally, but rarely, break those rules.

This was an odd year for me, musically. With Spotify and iTunes Radio and satellite radio and whatever else-radio, I heard a lot of music. So much, in fact, that I did a really poor job of carving out what I liked. Unless something really caught my ear, or was from an artist I already liked, it usually ended up on a random playlist or starred on Spotify, hoping to see the light of day.

In putting together the list, I also seemingly fell into a couple of trends this year—as often seems to be the case—with many songs on this list falling into one or two categories.

Right out of the gates, you’ll note the first trend: female vocalists. The first female vocalist is featured in a group who’ve made my top 10 before, with their debut album.

Cults - “I Can Hardly Make You Mine”

This song is very Cults, but after a whole bunch of caffeine. Still sounding a bit lo-fi, “I Can Hardly Make You Mine” is a super shiny 60s pop song that does what a good song does: makes you want to listen to it again. Ask me again in a week, and this may have hit the top 10.

Sylvan Esso - “Hey Mami”

Until a few hours ago, this was in my top 10. It only slipped out because I realized how mesmerized I had been by hearing and seeing it live. Opening for Minor Alps, I had never heard of Sylvan Esso. Then two folks walk out, a woman with a mic and a guy behind a couple of Moogs. And then she starts singing, laying down the backing vocals, then breaking out into the chorus while slowly dancing. As the beat starts to pick up, she dances a bit more actively. In any other situation, this might come off forced or fake. It wasn’t. It was so genuine as to be incredibly infectious and quickly won the crowd over.

The woman is Amelia Meath, who has a tremendous voice, and it just doesn’t need much instrumentation behind it at all. But, I think the instrumentation might be just a bit too sparse to be a complete earworm. (Check out the beat on “Play It Right” which I think works better.)

Night Beds - “Ramona”

Here’s a very straight forward alt-country(ish) song lifted into the stratosphere by Winston Yellen’s phenomenal voice. In the hands (or voice … ) of almost any other band, this is just a catchy, but not overly noteworthy song. But in the last verse, when he breaks into his falsetto, the song just sort of takes on a new life.

Phoenix - “Entertainment”

This is such an incredibly great, poppy song. It easily slides into Phoenix’s pantheon of amazing pop songs (like “1901”, “Lisztomania”, and “Long Distance Call”). But it’s not a genre-shaking pop song. That’s a really high bar to set, but Phoenix set it for themselves. Seriously, both “1901” and “Lisztomania” were songs that completely redefined power/indie pop (and the album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is the album that launched a million remixes).

It’s a great song, in a band with a long history of great songs. And I think that’s why it doesn’t stand out as much.

"The Failed Techno-Libertarian Agenda" →

"The push toward Bitcoin comes largely from the libertarian portion of the technology community who believe that regulation stands in the way of both progress and profit. Unfortunately, this alarmingly magical thinking has little basis in economic reality. The gradual dismantling of much of the US and international financial regulatory safety net is now regarded as a major catalyst for the Great Recession. The ‘financial or political constraints’ many of the underbanked find themselves in are the result of unchecked predatory capitalism, not a symptom of a terminal lack of software."

(Via Alex Payne.)

While he does have a stake in the game, this entire post is a great takedown of the fundamentally flawed thinking that Bitcoin (or similarly “unfettered” currencies) will somehow solve the world’s financial and wealth inequity problems.

Instead, Bitcoin is simply another opportunity for the able to squeeze out more money for themselves, while the unable (due to resources, options, station in life) are left behind. Payne says it better than I can. Go read it.

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