The Top 25 Songs of 2010

As the title indicates, these are my top twenty-five songs of 2010.  This list had just two major rules: no artist can be on it twice, and no crossover between it and the top fifteen albums list I’ll be writing later in the month (update: now posted).  That is, any song on an album from that list was disqualified from this list.  Otherwise it would become cluttered, and I’d wind up writing way too much about Robyn and Janelle Monáe while completely ignoring bands like School of Seven Bells or Cults.  Doing it this way lets me spread the accolades around.  As for this list specifically, I decided from the outset that I wasn’t going to write something for all of these songs, just the ones where I felt like I had something to say (can anyone say something new about “Fuck You” at this point?), which is why a small number of these are left blank.  At the end of the list is a ten-song Honorable Mention, listed in alphabetical order.

And here’s the obvious disclaimer that this list is more or less arbitrary.  Other than my number one choice, which I’m pretty settled on, not a single one of these songs is in the same spot it was when I first threw together a rough list, and items were moved around as recently as Saturday.  That is to say, I will smack the shit out of anyone who argues with me about how “Go Outside” is better than “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” because they clearly put more value in the rankings of this list than I do.  So, without further ado…

1. Arcade Fire, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”

“Sprawl II” is an affirmation of what an impressive, at times astonishing, band The Arcade Fire has been since they released their monster debut in 2004.  It’s the sound of them taking a risk with a song wildly different from the rest of the work, and still having it feel in complete alignment.  And then, of course, having it be better than anything anyone else wrote in the same year.

As much dance music as rock music, “Sprawl II,” from 2010’s The Suburbs, chooses all the right places to pull back, swell, and explode.  The track stars Régine Chassagne with a vocal performance made of equal parts fragility and swagger.  She carries the song in a way that Win Butler can’t quite manage to elsewhere on the album.  This song is about the relationship the protagonist has to the city lights in the distance, longing for them at times and loathing them at others.  She wants the freedom of creativity the city promises, but can’t help but see the endless sprawl of buildings as oppressive.  The lyrics brilliantly capture her suburban experience, one moment overcome by a sense of purposelessness, the next running away from police cars with her friends for no real reason.  There is no better moment on record this year than when the music rises just before Chassagne delivers the final verse, and then she belts it out from the bottom of her chest.  It catapults the song to that extra level to become something simultaneously moving, joyous, and exhilarating.

–See also: “Rococo”

2. Panda Bear, “Alsatian Darn”

Okay, let’s get this out of the way – Tomboy is probably not going to be the best album of 2011.  Person Pitch was the best album of 2007, and one of the best albums of the last decade.  It’s second only to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Animal Collective’s extended discography.  And even though he wrote “My Girls,” the best song on MPP and maybe the best song of last year, it’s a tad unreasonable to expect any artist to match those standards so consistently.  So while I’ve enjoyed every song Panda has released this fall to some extent, I’d be surprised if they add up to an album as astonishing as Person Pitch.  (There is hope – Animal Collective members Avey Tare and Deakin will be making the final mixes of the songs for the album, which could be a very good thing.)  But although I don’t think it necessarily stands up to most of Person Pitch, there are very few songs I’ve loved more this year than “Alsatian Darn,” the b-side to his second 2010 single, “You Can Count on Me.”

It starts simply enough, with spare percussion that sounds like frantic footsteps, but in no time a guitar loop and his signature spiraling melodies take over.  His warm vocals are as soothing as they’ve ever been.  The song builds gracefully, steadily gaining power and impact.  Then he shifts directions, and his vocals begin to spin around each other before settling in with an emotional question that Panda proceeds to ask over and over again – “Can I make a bad mistake?”  It speaks to the theme that seems to perennially drive his music: the need to take care of one’s family and the insecurities of not always being able to.  There’s always a complexity driving his at-first-glance facile lyrics, and that applies to his music, too.  Plenty is going on in this song, and if you can find a way to take it all in at once, Panda Bear’s true human decency and musical genius will become overwhelming.

–See also: “Slow Motion,” from the “Tomboy” single

3. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, “Round and Round”

I’d never listened to Ariel Pink prior to their new record, Before Today, and I don’t know that I’m particularly compelled to.  He is certainly an interesting artist, but maybe not the type that I would really find personally rewarding to explore further.  In fact, I’m not completely in love with Before Today.  At its best, it’s like great lost pop songs from the ’60s filtered through a post-modern lens.  But at times it drifts aimlessly, not sure how to surround a song’s prettier moments to make it work as a whole.  This song has a little of that (break down, break-break, break down), sure, but for the most part it’s just a lush pop song adorned with rough edges and an endearing playfulness.  And its chorus, in which Ariel Pink sings about wanting to “dazzle them all,” is gorgeous, and somehow seems to grow even more so each time it’s repeated.

–See also: “Menopause Man”

4. Joker, “Tron”

Dubstep superstar Joker was responsible for one of the most exciting songs of the year with this single.  I wish I had anything to say about it really, but all I can do is point to just about every second and gush about how awesome it sounds.  (SERIOUSLY, DO YOU HEAR HOW CRAZY IT GETS HERE?  AND OH MY GOD, HERE IT COMES – WAIT – OH SHIT – HOLY SHIT YESSSSS!  THIS SONG IS AMAZING!!!!)  That wouldn’t be very constructive, so I’ll just let the song do the talking.  (Seriously, go hear it now.)

5. Julian Lynch, “Just Enough”

6. Big Boi, “Daddy Fat Sax”

7. Jónsi, “Go Do”

I’m strangely tempted to write that there isn’t much I can say that hasn’t already been said, but I’m not sure much has really been said, all things considered.  Perhaps I mean that there’s nothing I can say that hasn’t been felt, simply by listening to this song.  If your circle of friends is anything like mine, then you probably heard “Go Do” played an excessive amount of times over the past eight months without the expected burnout.  But few songs would have made me happier to hear so often, because few were as stomping, infectious, and memorable as this highlight from Go, Jónsi’s strong solo debut.

–See also: “Boy Lilikoi”

8. Tallest Man on Earth, “King of Spain”

9. Keepaway, “Yellow Wings”

Brooklyn-based band Keepaway so far hasn’t managed to live up to this, its debut song.  They came close on “Family of the Sun,” and other brilliant moments have been strewn across their two 2010 EPs, but nothing they’ve produced since has had the impact of “Yellow Wings.”  Opening with a distinctive drum+vocal loop, the busy and engaging production builds before giving way to what is really just a great song.  The lyrics are vague but deeply intriguing.  “I think I finally know what I want/I want to be two places at once/I want to stretch until I split/Fall back graciously into the wind.”  Oddly, it makes a perfect metaphor for Keepaway themselves.  They have struggled to find their voice, stretched evenly between the infectious but experimental and the experimental but tiresome.  If they can learn to consistently write songs as direct and ambitious – yet exuberant – as this one, they could be huge next year.

–See also: “Family of the Son

10. Joanna Newsom, “Baby Birch”

11. Sufjan Stevens, “Impossible Soul”

Sufjan’s long-awaited new album, Age of Adz, had some issues.  The songwriting, as always, was fantastic.  But by experimenting with electronic arrangements, Stevens finally found something he just couldn’t really do.  Great songs on Adz are frequently cluttered by lifeless, clunky electronic beats that seem to swallow their charm.  But “Impossible Soul” is where all the unseemly experimentation of the first two-thirds of the album comes together to create something breathtaking, a twenty-five minute suite that’s as stunning a song as Stevens has ever composed.  At that length, it’s a lot harder for the electronic production to swallow the song, and in fact, it strengthens it.  Songs this long are allowed to go batshit at times – how else are they going to take up so much time without becoming tiresome?  And because the arrangement constantly shifts styles, even within the different sections of the song, it never wears out its welcome (including his use of Auto-Tune).  Parts of “Impossible Soul” are ambient, and parts are downright propulsive and thrilling.  Later portions even feature gorgeous sing-along chanting reminiscent of Stevens’ glorious “Chicago.”  And against all odds, it adds up to something astonishing.  Even though he’s lately been compelled to experiment in styles ill befitting to his music, this song cements the fact that he still has as much inherent talent as ever.

–See also: “Futile Devices”

12. Tanlines, “Real Life”

Synth/pop/dance/whatever duo the Tanlines released a pretty strong debut EP earlier this year, the Settings EP (from which all six tracks were recently incorporated into a compilation album Volume On).  It’s quite good in general, but the second song, “Real Life,” is the one that stands out.  It layers synths and keyboards over an African rhythm and boasts a deep but universal lyrical sentiment about regret over past actions, giving it the emotional edge to make the music really connect.

–See also: “Three Trees”

13. Here We Go Magic, “Collector”

Although I quite liked “Flangela,” for the most part Here We Go Magic didn’t completely click for me on record.  I enjoyed their debut album, but it wasn’t something that really made me want to dig in.  It wasn’t until I saw them live for the first time that I became convinced there was something to this band, and hearing this track, off their new album Pigeons, confirmed it.  Oh sure, it’s nice at first.  They clearly have a good sense of what makes for a catchy tune, and they put that on fine display here.  But as is the case for all their songs in concert, what truly makes “Collector” memorable is the way it keeps going and going.  It doesn’t really build in the conventional sense, in that what makes it work isn’t the addition of new parts.  What makes it effective is that it pushes, hard, and it doesn’t stop when it would probably make sense to stop.   Because of this, even though I’ve listened to it twenty-three times, I’m still never prepared for when it actually ends.  And while that could potentially be annoying, it’s not.  In fact, it’s what makes it so special.

–See also: “Casual”

14. Four Tet, “Angel Echoes”

15. Vampire Weekend, “White Sky”

I like Vampire Weekend a lot, although I wouldn’t call myself one of their biggest defenders.  I didn’t get as much out of Contra as their self-titled debut, but “White Sky” has been one of my deepest pleasures of 2010.  The verses are bouncy but relaxed, and the sublime “oohs” of the chorus are intoxicating.

–See also: “Giving Up the Gun”

16. Major Lazer feat. Collie Buddz & Lindi Ortegi, “Good Enuf (Cash Flow Dub)”

17. Best Coast, “Our Deal”

I was a pretty big Best Coast fan earlier in the year, tracking down just about all of their pre-debut album EPs and singles.  But even though I listened to them quite a bit, I honestly only really liked six of those sixteen songs (trust me, replaying them all so much gave me a lot of time to think about it).  It just became what I would put on whenever I wanted to listen to music but didn’t feel like thinking about what I wanted to listen to – basically, it was kind of propelled by laziness.  Which is fitting because as I’ve come to take a more critical approach to Best Coast, I’ve found the thing that kind of rubs me the wrong way about them is, if not exactly laziness, that it just doesn’t feel like there was a ton of effort put into the songs.

Instrumentally they sound completely amateurish, clearly composed by people who aren’t terribly good musicians. But Best Coast’s melodies are sweet, if not always memorable, and Bethany Cosentino’s voice, although not particularly great on its own, fits them snugly.  Lyrically, Cosentino has been widely criticized for just singing straightforwardly about men, namely how she feels like shit without them around.  Personally, on the one hand, yeah, it’s a little discomforting to hear a prominent female indie artist sing so unapologetically about being helpless without men.  But I’ve always been moved by sincerity of expression, and simple lyrics that convey simple yet emotionally sincere thoughts have a tendency to win me over.

But I recognize that there’s a glut of these kinds of lyrics on Crazy for You, and Cosentino seems pretty incapable of writing ones that are genuinely clever or intelligent, at least right now.  While every song is more or less listenable, and I do enjoy the album, only occasionally do the elements at play in Best Coast really come together to produce something great.  Their finest moment remains the one that first put them in the spotlight, last year’s “Sun Was High (So Was I),” but “Our Deal” now places a close second.  It puts all the focus on Cosentino’s voice, which is reverbed at just the right amount.  It lends the song a sort of distant quality that makes its emotional core seem wistful rather than whiny.  (Every Best Coast song has heavy reverb, but only a few of them use it this well.)  The lyrics are stronger than usual, with Cosentino coming off as less dependent on men than she often does, or at least less blunt about it.  It’s unclear if the man in this song is leaving her or just leaving to go on tour, which is a good thing.  And I kind of just prefer a song that ends with her repeating something vague like “That’s not our deal” as opposed to “Maybe I’m just crazy for you.”

–See also: “When I’m with You”

18. Cee Lo Green, “Fuck You”

19. Girls, “The Oh So Protective One”

20. The National, “Bloodbuzz Ohio”

High Violet was my first National album, and as often happens when I get into a highly esteemed indie artist late in the game, I didn’t really bother to familiarize myself with the rest of their discography.  I’m sure The National has made plenty of music on par with this album (the last to be cut from my top albums list), but which I’ll likely never hear.  It helps that High Violet isn’t the kind of thing I usually go for, although I deeply enjoy it anyway.  And you don’t need to hear it repeated again what a strong single “Bloodbuzz Ohio” is, but what really blows me away is how the song itself sounds like it could be from almost any period of music from the ’40s to the present.  “I still owe money to the money to the money I owe” even sounds like the kind of short, brilliant lyric Robert Hunter used to write.  But rather than merely adopting old styles, “Bloodbuzz Ohio” inhabits them in a way that feels completely natural.

–See also: “Runaway”

21. Cults, “Go Outside”

22. Sunglasses, “Whiplash”

This brilliant psych-pop single by up-and-comers Sunglasses boasts some of the catchiest songwriting I heard in 2010.  The poppy but demented production is great as well.  This song positions Sunglasses as a band to watch out for in 2011.

–See also: “Referee”

23. Weezer, “Time Flies”

I’ve come to believe that a new Weezer album these days guarantees at least one highlight.  On Raditude, it was the embarrassingly underrated lead single “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You to) I Want You To,” as stomping and catchy a song as latter-day Weezer has made, and with vastly more intelligent lyrics than found elsewhere on the mostly terrible album.  Before that, The Red Album had “Pork and Beans” and “The Greatest Man that Ever Lived,” and Make Believe had “Perfect Situation,” which, come on, is a pretty awesome song.  But Hurley’s lead single, “Memories,” was a disappointment.  It had a strong chorus, and I can’t completely hate any song that gives Rivers the rare opportunity to scream, but the verses and production are so obnoxious that they significantly damage it.  I was worried when “Memories” was first released, because the singles from their last two albums were both strong.  Would this be the first Weezer album…ever to not have at least one damn good track?

Well, fortunately there is one song that qualifies for the position on Hurley, “Time Flies,” the final track (and Weezer’s first great album closer in nine years).  There’s a few reasons “Time Flies” is so superior to the rest of the album.  First, I really can’t praise the production enough.  Elsewhere on Hurley, and, fuck, the last six albums Weezer recorded, the production has been so polished and clean that it distracts from the songs.  Sometimes it’s less unbearable than others, like on The Green Album and “I Want You To,” but it’s still a distressing trend.  Raditude for the most part was a gigantic leap in the wrong direction, and while Hurley represents an improvement, it still favors robotic sheen, clean guitars, and punchy, stilted drums.  But “Time Flies” is cut from a different cloth.  It’s driven by an elegant drum beat surrounded by acoustic guitars and distorted to just the right degree to really make it sound interesting.  The melody is the strongest found on the record.  But it’s the lyrics that truly drive this song home.

The chorus begins, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” a well-worn platitude that doesn’t really make for much of a profound thought on its own.  But Rivers means it to be a positive statement as much as a sad one.  “Time Flies” is about Cuomo realizing he’s getting older, and all the feelings that arise from it.  Between noticing lines around his eyes and feeling so miserable on his birthday that he drinks too much, he can’t deny that his best days are likely behind him.  But he observes, “The harder I go the more I realize time flies.”  The fact that his best days are behind him is a product of how fully he has lived his life, and he knows that the worst thing he can do is regret it.  Even though his life was such a ride that it seems to have moved by too quickly, this result is infinitely preferable to the alternative.

In the end he decides that his life won’t end in death, because “even when I’m gone this stupid damn song will be in your head.”  And though it might ring truer if he hadn’t buried it at the end of a mediocre album, this sentiment is personal, honest, and best of all, wise.

–See also: The second-best song from Hurley, “Where’s My Sex?” “Unspoken”

24. School of Seven Bells, “Heart Is Strange”

School of Seven Bells are pros at employing enchanting synths and alluring vocals in a way that’s enough to lull the listener into a dream, except it will probably be a dream about dancing.  With “Heart Is Strange,” from their 2010 album Disconnect from Desire, SVIIB has a new finest moment.  I was already a fan of this group, but I still felt blown away when I first heard this.  The songwriting is as catchy as “Half Asleep,” the highlight of their debut Alpinisms, but somehow more intelligent.  Better yet, it may be the most downright pretty dance track of the year.  SVIIB grows more promising by the album, and if this is any indication, there’s a lot to look forward to.

–See also: “I L U”

25. Pains of Being Pure at Heart, “Heart in Your Heartbreak”

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were one of 2009’s best discoveries.  Their debut album’s mix of sincere songwriting with reverbed-but-clear production made it one of the most satisfying albums of the year.  Their new single “Heart in Your Heartbreak” is as catchy, sweet, and earnest as anything on their debut.  If it’s any indication, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart will again be one of the most satisfying bands of the year in 2011.

Honorable Mention

• Active Child, “She Was a Vision”
• Fang Island, “Daisy”
• Free Energy, “All I Know”
• Magic Man, “Monster”
• Katy Perry, “Teenage Dream”
• She & Him, “Thieves”
• Spoon, “Written in Reverse”
• TV Girl, “If You Want It”
• Twin Sister, “All Around and Away We Go”
• The Walkmen, “While I Shovel the Snow”