03/01/2012
The Top 10 Songs of 2011
10. Coldplay - Up in Flames
Alright, Coldplay! I will love this band until I die and you can’t stop me. This groovy beat and kind of happy piano are blended with some sad ass lyrics. Its a funny choice. It moves so nicely and is so classic Coldplay: Chris singing in falsetto over simple piano chords. Throw a nice drumbeat and a sexy electric guitar at the end and you have yourself a song I’ll never stop singing.
- Lindsey
9. YACHT - Shangri-La
“Shangri-La” could be a song from any era. It’s simple. It’s fun. On first listen, I felt like I had been singing it my whole life and was excited to be singing it for the rest of time.
- Matt
8. Florence & the Machine - What the Water Gave Me
If literal, this song is about the most complex relationship with water ever recorded. Metaphorically, it is a powerful song and Florence + The Machine manage to capture the surging waterfall of emotion that makes the sensation of drowning start in your earbuds and wash over your whole body—in a good way.
- Matt
7. TV on the Radio - You
The lyrics become the music becomes the lyrics. I fell in love with the idea that breaking up isn’t always dramatic emotions. It is melancholy and forlorn. It is pensive and sensitive. Raw in instrumentation and in lyrics, I fell in love with the vulnerability of ‘You’.
- Ian
6. Jamie xx - Far Nearer
” I feel better when I have you near me.”
That sentence hits pretty hard when you’ve felt that before. Man oh man. My life is pretty great. Everything is pretty wonderful. But, shit, I feel better when I have you near me.
I do. I do. I do.
- Brady
5. Feist - Caught a Long Wind
One time, I cried to this song because I thought it was so beautifully done. Ok, I’ve been going through a tough time, and I think that has some influence on my ability to just shoot out tears at any given moment. But still, this song is perfection because it marries the meaning of her melody with piano and other string instruments. It grooves like a bird flying through the air, climbing and soaring and falling and turning. She’s talking about finding herself, finding her voice, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
“Got to know the sky/But it didn’t know me.”
- Lindsey
4. The Strokes - Machu Picchu
The first song on The Strokes first album in five years welcomes you back with such ferocious energy that you feel like the vinyl is about to fly off the turntable (we all bought “Angles” on vinyl, yeah?). It opens with a crescendoed whirl and momentum builds steadily throughout. The guitars tear at the boundaries of the chords. As I listen, I feel like I’m in a car careening down a hill filled with rocks and potholes. We’re swerving and accelerating and I can’t see what’s ahead, but I couldn’t be more excited to find out.
- Ian
3. Radiohead - Lotus Flower
This aptly titled track plants itself in your brain and blossoms into a highly listenable, highly enjoyable Radiohead tune; as good as any other. Add that with the meme-worthy, Thom Yorke dance video and you have a moment of note in an otherwise forgettable Radiohead venture.
- Matt
2. Bon Iver - Holocene
It would probably be a crime not to have this guy on my list. At this point in time, I associate his music with a rough time (WE GET IT LINDSEY, YOU’RE SAD), but I can’t let that stop me from putting this song on a list where it rightly belongs.
I’m a sucker for lines like “And at once I knew I was not magnificent.” That line stands out from all of the rest both musically and lyrically. We all get it. We are tiny humans, one of billions, one little life lived in a flash compared to all of time. I feel like its one of those songs that has the potential to change someone’s perspective on her own life. A song that can make a change like that belongs at number two on a top songs of the year list.
- Lindsey
1. M83 - Midnight City
This is my favorite song of the year. This should probably not surprise anyone. Everyone who knows anything about the music I’ve listened to in the past few years has knowns that I’ve been in a love affair with Anthony Gonzalez since Dead Cities, Red Seas, & Lost Ghosts. My most anticipated album of the year (do you remember that trailer?!?!?) did not disappoint. And, Mr. Gonzalez has, with time, grown exceptional at producing a single.
This is moresongs’s favorite song of the year. This should probably not surprise anyone. ”Midnight City” absolutely took over in 2011. We all saw the Fallon performance, but, please, revisit it. Did you SEE THAT SAX SOLO?!? Everyone knew the followup to Saturdays = Youth was going to be big news. What better way to kick down the door than with the bitchinest single we’ve heard from M83…ever?
Yes, ever.
This is the best M83 single ever. This should probably not surprise anyone.
- Brady
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