Surfer Blood – Swim

On whom can you depend?/ Swim to reach the end.

I can’t pinpoint what I love most about this song: the heavy reverb, the melody, the glockenspiel when they sing “Oh, oh oh,” or shouting along with this band of tiny children. You know on Top Chef when Tom and Padma telling the chefs that really simple, familiar things have to be perfectly executed to stand out? That’s this song.

Florence & the Machine – Dog Days Are Over

Leave all your love and your longing behind/ you can’t carry it with you if you want to survive.

Florence Welch may be a victim of KT Tunstall-style overhyping. Her debut album, Lungs, is pretty good but kind of endless and I don’t like anything as much as I like “Dog Days Are Over”. Just saying. Nonetheless, this song is fucking furious. DO NOT watch the actual music video. It makes me want to die. This live performance is much better.

Miniature Tigers – Bullfighter Jacket

I’m terrified to lose you/ but more afraid to change

What a frenzy! Why do I love to sing this one while riding my bike?

Blair – Wake Up, Shake Up

We’re all stars and we’re gonna go out/ One day you will make a flower/ bloom in the soil and/ that’ll be the greatest thing you’ll ever do.

The bonds of family, the pain of abandonment, hope in creation… Blair hits all of these in a song that has not been posted ANYWHERE on the internet. Ugh.

The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt

I left my heart to the wild hunt a-comin/ I live until the call/ And I plan to be forgotten when I’m gone/ Yes I’ll be leavin’ in the fall

Kristian Mattson’s voice makes me want to give up. I read Thoreau in high school (and hated it and titled my essay “Thoreau Whines” because that is all he does) but if there’s anything that makes me want to go sit in the woods and contemplate nature, it’s this song. Whatever that’s worth.

Cee-Lo Green – Fuck You

I said I’m sorry I can’t afford a Ferarri/ but that don’t mean I can’t get you there./ I guess he’s an X-box, and I’m more an Atari/ but the way you play your game ain’t fair.

This is certainly the song most likely to overstay its welcome this year, but until it sounds dated and cheesy (circa March 2011), let’s all acknowledge how much we’ve always wanted to get away with winning an argument by shouting “Fuck you, and fuck her too!” It’s also not the only throwback to old soul music on this list! (Foreshadowing!!!)

Freelance Whales – Generator (First Floor)

We get up early just to start cranking the generator/ our limbs have been asleep, we need to get the blood back in them.

The transcendent five-part harmonies and dream-like aura really make this song.

April Smith & the Great Picture Show – Terrible Things

I keep things carefully covered/ so no one will discover/ that I could be the culprit/ I’m sorry, I can’t help it.

What a spitfire! What a voice! What a deliciously morbid song!

Y La Bamba – Juniper

I am the cause that is dangerous/ This is our loss.

And it’s your loss if this song doesn’t shake you from your cynical East Coast stupor and remind you that there are beautiful things in the world.

Jenny & Johnny – My Pet Snakes

If you don’t believe in destiny/ then take what you’re given/ You and I got caught between/ magic and business.

Nothing before or since this song will ever sound so goddamn delightful while being so eviscerating. For sure, Jenny hasn’t needed Blake since Rabbit Fur Coat, but I mean, I still like Rilo Kiley! Still, the song ends I could lie, say we’re even/ All the best of luck with your career. I’m not holding my breath for a new album.

Jukebox the Ghost – The Stars

What if we were created to gaze at the stars up above?

Jukebox the Ghost couldn’t completely escape the apocalyptic overtones of their first album on this year’s Everything Under the Sun. Thank goodness! The dance-beat energy they assayed on earlier tracks peaks in this song about tidal waves. The crashing cymbals and quick, rhythmic guitar riffs sound like rushing water and… hold on a second, was that a cello?? HOLY SHIT THERE IS A CELLO PLAYING ON THIS TRACK.

Janelle Monae – Tightrope

When you get elevated/ they love it or they hate it/ you dance up on them haters/ keep gettin’ funky on the scene.

I blurbed this one for the other site, and it took me a long time to write, so I’d like to just quote myself a little bit. You’ll notice that I write like I know what I’m talking about for them!

“‘Tightrope’ is a finely tuned machine of a funk song. It’s efficient; every word or sound strikes precisely when it needs to – never before or after. No one gummed up the gears with synthesizers or heavy effects. Stuttering drums, stammering vocals and horn breaks capture a sort of industrial energy in the song that seems in danger of spilling into the streets of Metropolis itself. Such classic song craft distinguishes Monae’s ‘Tightrope’ from releases by her pitch-corrected, ’80s revivalist contemporaries. She’s doing something different, and she’s doing it damn well.

Monae establishes herself as a powerful vocalist and star pupil of great teachers like James Brown and Michael Jackson. Her lyrics exude cautious optimism without being saccharine. There will be uncertainty, fear or jealousy. There will be haters. But regardless of the highs and lows, you’re meant to follow your own passions. To ‘tip on the tightrope’ at once evokes being true to yourself, taking risks, and finding balance, three things Monae embodies herself and as the heroine of The ArchAndroid.”

Janelle Monae – Cold War

I’m trying to find my peace/ I was made to believe there’s something wrong with me/ and it hurts my heart/ Lord have mercy, ain’t it plain to see/ that this is a cold war/ You better know what you’re fighting for.

Did anyone see this understated of a video coming from this powerhouse of a song, especially after the last two elaborate videos Monae released? Especially when her closest pop counterpart, Lady Gaga, releases ridiculous video after ridiculous video? Monae has said that the androids of her album represent the Other, and everyone who has ever felt like an outsider; this song, then, is a call to arms for the outsiders, for the ambivalent, for all of us who have ever felt like there is something bigger working against some people. And it’s a really fucking great song to boot.

Apparently, halfway through the year, music bloggers make lists of their favorite songs so far. Judge me for following trends if you must, but at least this isn’t a shitty trend like mixed prints, right LADIEEEES?

I know I’m missing a lot. I hardly listened to Broken Bells, never bought Band of Horses, and can’t begin to list artists whose names start with the other 25 letters of the alphabet and whom I’ve been meaning to listen to. Didn’t Rufus Wainwright have a new album this spring?? See? I’m even behind on singers I love! Anyway, I leave it up to my devoted commentariat (aka Liz and Ange) to tell me what’s worth checking out.

Please note that I also excluded songs from as-yet-unreleased albums, no matter how excited I am for new stuff from Jenny Lewis or Jukebox the Ghost! (But if anyone knows the chords to the bridge of “Half Crazy” and wants to pass them along… I spent a lot of time before I moved figuring out most of the rest! Let’s tradesies!) It also basically broke my heart to leave Josh Ritter off this list, but there’s not a lot of jamzzz in poetic folk-pop. I highly, highly, highly recommend So Runs the World Away if you’re into lyrics, but the rest of this list is… a little fluffier.

Freelance Whales – Kilojoules

I know you were expecting “Generator (First Floor)” but that isn’t really a jam. It’s a wonderful song, but how do I dance to it? I’m dancing to this one.

April Smith and the Great Picture Show – Terrible Things

April Smith’s to-do list for 2010 must be pretty much finished already. After winning a real-life popularity contest on A Prairie Home Companion and releasing her album, Songs for a Sinking Ship, with the money raised in a successful Kickstarter.com campaign, she embarked on a national tour and had this song featured in Californication and  Weeds promos. As long as she keeps belting out big-band-style love songs, I’ll look forward to whatever’s next in her plan to take over the world.

Vampire Weekend – Holiday

This album was a strong factor in my decision to go West, which tells you that I am easily influenced and place too much stock in the opinions of indie musicians as expressed through their songs. Nonetheless, the cheerful exuberance of songs like “Holiday” made the Pacific sound too good to pass up! In fact, in the days before I left, I spent a lot of time thinking, “To go away on a summer’s day never seemed so clear.” Not because I’m unoriginal, but because I’ve had crippling writer’s block since moving back to DC in 2008. All that said, this looks like a video to a Monkees song, and that just makes me love it more.

Blair – Hello, Halo

Kittens, rainboooooows. I would have gone with “Wake Up, Shake Up” because it’s also the title of a place I’ve been half-assedly tumblring (tumbling??) about Oregon. But there’s no video, and for that blog (unlike this one, oh wait, just like this one), I’ve been completely lazy; I haven’t even talked about how I’m going to see Art Alexakis cut a ribbon next weekend. What I want to know, Oregon, is WHEN AM I GOING TO RUN INTO BRIT DANIEL?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zSMHyMzyu0

Spoon -Got Nuffin’

Speak of the devil! “Got Nuffin’” is the poppiest song off of Transference and, if not technically the “best” (and really, how could I choose the best anyway), it is certainly among the most fun!

MGMT – Congratulations

Bold art is polarizing, and few recent albums have been more polarizing than MGMT’s sophomore effort. The band experiments with sounds and song structure, but no song is an obvious hit the way “Kids” or “Time to Pretend” were. Whether you think its pretentious and aurally offensive or a brilliant refutation of mainstream success in favor of artistic integrity, you have to admit that the title track is a beautiful reflection on success, friendship, and a need for validation. These ideas fully merge in the final verse:

But damn my luck and damn these friends
That keep on combing back; their smiles
I save my grace with half-assed guilt
And lay down the quilt upon the lawn
Spread my arms and soak up congratulations

Janelle Monae – Cold War

The ArchAndroid, you guys. Fuck. That’s a fucking album. And this song! My God! Just listen to it right now.

I’ve been blog-soul-searching a little bit lately, and also so busy at work that the mere thought of coming home and looking at my computer screen any more makes me want to put my eyes out with pins and cut off my fingers (not sure what order would be most effective for those actions).

Anyway, I talked to a friend who is a full-time writer these days, and whose editor is apparently awesome and insane, and she relayed some good perspective that he provided. I’m feeling a little more… rededicated now, to a lot of things. I can’t guarantee I’ll go back and review every show I failed to review this month, but I’m definitely going to get better at this stuff.

Anyhoo, I picked up Blair’s album this week, because, as we know, I love that song “Hello, Halo.” I’ll write a review of “Die Young” when I spend a little more time with it, but for now, please accept “Candy in the Kitchen.” It’s a catchy, hopeful dance song that combines Blair’s 20-something resignation with the youthful hope someone our age can’t quite shake. Though Blair encourages you to dance, there is nothing about moving your hips “like yeah,” and I’m pretty confident that Blair has actually heard a Whitney Houston song. What I’m saying is, if that Miley Cyrus song made any lyrical sense, it would be “Candy in the Kitchen.”

For now, listen to it (and some others! BONUS!) on Muzzle of Bees. When I get home, I’ll post our MP3.

Mikey promised to post a new song on Friday. I blame him for our failure to adhere to our extremely strict posting calendar. Anyhoo, I found Blair on Paste’s list of awesome first-name-only female artists who aren’t Ke$ha. It’s a good thing I did, otherwise I would have posted more Freelance Whales, and we’d have to change our name to Music for Freelance Whales Fans and that’s far too specific for my liking.

Blair. A little 90s alternative, a little 70s folk, a lot of vocal texture. Also, awesome sunglasses. Her album comes out at the end of the month, and I’ll probably (totally) buy it.

UPDATE Blair is going to be at SXSW! So I’m tagging this SXS WHO?? And then I’ll not feel so bad about being terrible at keeping up with that.