"Charity" - Courtney Barnett
An easy one for me. Straight ahead rock and roll with the guitar riff of the year. I saw her over summer in Prospect Park and her live set rocked even harder than the record. She plays left handed, and the parallels to Kurt Cobain didn't escape me. That said, this song leans more towards power pop than grunge -- at least on the studio version. But don't be fooled: This Aussie can flat out rock.
"Talking Straight" - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
We'll stay down under for this one. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have a name far more cumbersome than their sound, which again is guitar-forward rock and roll. Granted, they have three different lead vocalists depending on the song or the arrangement. Play this for a classic rock fan and I'll bet they'll like it, too. And they're hardly a one-off: There's a few other tracks off their album Hope Downs that could have easily made this list.
"Marble Skies" - Django Django
Kinetic synth-pop set to a Krautrock beat from this London via Edinburgh quartet. The frenzy of the verses and bridge give way to a triumphant chorus punctuated by an infectious keyboard riff. Fun fact: Django Django's drummer David Maclean is the younger brother of Beta Band keyboardist John Maclean. But that's where the comparisons end: Django Django sound like the more mellow Beta Band on hyperdrive.
"Semicircle Song" - The Go! Team
What do you get when you cross a drumline with Bollywood horns, handclaps and a double dutch chant? Pure joy. Sure, that combination sounds awful, but here, it works. This song from Brighton, England's The Go! Team makes me happy -- and I dare you not to share in my happiness! I first heard it aboard British Airways flying home from Paris and it added a huge injection of fun into what was otherwise the sad end to a wonderful trip. Thanks, Go! Team.
"Les Mirabelles" - MC Solaar
Speaking of Paris, here's the one-song soundtrack to my trip there aboard Air France. This moody and atmospheric affair by the master of French rap put me in the right mood for a week in Paris. MC Solaar's been at this game for three decades. He's a big star in France, and I've always thought the French language lent itself well to rap for some reason. This song works right up until the metal sounding guitar solo at the end.
"Tranz" - Gorillaz
I get that Gorillaz released a few other songs before this one, but this is the standout track on their latest LP The Now Now. It has the proper dose of moody menace that made Damon Albarn's post-Blur project so potent over the years.
"Middle America" - Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
Have you ever heard such a catchy tune about middle age? Malkmus croons that he "won't be one of the watchers, I won't disappear." And on this track -- so far removed from his Pavement days -- he doesn't. He stamps his slacker mark all over us aging Generation Xers. A perfect song for the times.
"Sprorgnsm" - Superorganism
The London based collective Superorganism features Orono Noguchi -- a teenager from Maine -- on vocals. Strange. For me this song combines the best of Beck's slacker groove with the sound sampling The Avalanches.
"Loading Zones" - Kurt Vile
Philly's own Kurt Vile released his eighth studio album late this year and this self-assured track was the first single. It features the virtuosic guitar work Vile is known for, but it's a beautiful piece of song craft with quirky lyrics and a great video of Vile driving a Chrysler LeBaron convertible and a 70s Pontiac Grand Prix through the streets of Philadelphia.
"IDGAF" - Sam Evian
New York singer songwriter Sam Evian released his second LP on Omaha's Saddle Creek Records, and it's obvious why Saddle Creek founder Conor Oberst would endorse Evian's dreamy music.
"Comeback Kid" - Sharon Van Etten
Sharon Van Etten has a lot on her plate these days. She's got an acting career in LA, a toddler at home in Brooklyn, and she's returned to college to pursue a degree in psychology. Despite that -- or perhaps because of it -- she's managed to complete her forthcoming album, the aptly named Remind Me Tomorrow. On this track - the LP's first single - she trades in her singer songwriter vibe for synths and an uptempo beat to find the energy she no doubt needs to keep the pace in her busy life.
"On the Level" - Mac Demarco
Vancouver's Mac Demarco created the perfect lazy summer song. So easy, so atmospheric. And a keyboard riff that's nearly impossible to get out of your head.
"Darkness" - Pinegrove
Pinegrove is one of two indie bands from Montclair, NJ, who broke big this year (the other was Forth Wanderers). This introspective song was a staple of Sirius XMU, despite the band's self-imposed hiatus at the end of 2017 after lead singer Evan Stephens Hall was accused of sexual coercion by an unnamed woman.
"Mr Tillman" - Father John Misty
We'll keep the folk vibe going here with the latest from Father John Misty, who's real name really is Mr Tillman. Joshua Michael Tillman to be exact. The verses and chorus are repetitive, but the chord changes in each are beautiful and complex. Lovely.
"Lemon Glow" - Beach House
Baltimore's Beach House released their seventh studio LP -- appropriately named 7. The duo has mastered dreamy psychedelic pop -- trip-wave if you will -- and "Lemon Glow" was the #1 song on Sirius XMU for 2018. I can't disagree with the pick.
"Mourning Sound" - Grizzly Bear
A motorik beat grounds the latest from Brooklyn's Grizzly Bear. The verses build slowly, eventually lifting the veil on a gorgeous chorus that makes you feel like you're flying through clouds. Too bad it's from 2017. So why did it get so much airplay this year?
"Northern Lights" - Death Cab for Cutie
Seattle's Death Cab for Cutie have been responsible for a ton of great music over the years, but this newest single ranks among the best of it. The music is so good that I can forgive Ben Gibbard's oft-tortured lyrics: "I remember your silhouette/on Dyes Inlet". (He's the same guy who gave us the awkward analogy of a "goalie minding the net in the third quarter of a tight-game rivalry". Ugh!) That said, there was a lot of beautiful music made in 2018 -- almost as an antidote to the otherwise ugly times we're living in.
"Letting Go" - Wild Nothing
And to that last point, here's more gorgeousness from Blacksburg, Virginia's Jack Tatum, who records under the name Wild Nothing. Tatum released Indigo, his fourth Wild Nothing album, in 2018, and this synthy beauty was the album's first single.
"Messenger" - Pylon Reenactment Society
What can I say? After nearly three decades, there's new music from Pylon, or at least this Vanessa Briscoe Hay-fronted iteration of the iconic Athens, Georgia band. And it has the unmistakeable post-punk bite mixed with the groove that made the band famous the first time around It's not hard to hear Pylon's classics like "Stop It" when 63-year-old Briscoe Hay starts yelping and growling at the end of the song.
"Your Dog" - Soccer Mommy
Nashville's Sophie Allison, who records under the name Soccer Mommy, opens this song with the unforgettable line "I don't want to be your fucking dog/that you drag around", but it's the twisty sounding guitars that pull me into this song.
I hope you found music you loved this past year -- and I hope it continues in 2019!
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