2011 Songs of the Year: 80-61

My list of 2011 Songs of the Year continues today with Numbers 80-61:



80. Vondelpark - "Jetlag Blue Version"

Mysteriously shy UK producer Vondelpark, he has no MySpace or Bandcamp page and rarely discloses anything personal about himself, dabbles in a sort of hybrid chillwave/garage/2-Step genre. For me, this track sums up his aesthetic fairly well: chunky beats, dreamy, shoegaze guitars, and disembodied vocals. 5 minutes of bliss.

Flats by Dark Party

79. Dark Party - "Flats"

Few bands released as unapologetic a party record as Light Years. There are such an embarrassment of riches on that album it is difficult to even pick just one track. I settled on "Flats" for its driving beat, blurping synths, and chopped up diva samples. Once the track gets going it just gets your ass shaking.



78. CANT - "Too Late Too Far"

Doing a complete 180 turn from his work with Grizzly Bear, bassist/vocalist Chris Taylor adopts a wobbly synth pop persona for his CANT project. While the album Dreams Come True was merely a good record in my opinion, lead off track "Too Late Too Far" was practically perfect. Over a vaguely Asian beat, the track comes off in a fever heat, lots of decayed synths and Asian percussion/woodwinds and an off-kilter, woozy bassline. Intoxicating.



77. Kito & Reija Lee - "Broken Hearts" (Dillon Francis Remix)

The original mix is a frothy slab of electropop by the Ke$ha like duo of Kito & Reija Lee that is ok, but not stellar. Up and coming dubstep/electronica producer Dillon Francis recasts the song as a Moombahton track, giving it a nice swagger that elevates the song to a new level.



76. Future Islands - "Balance"

Synth-pop trio Future Islands are not usually known for their subtlety. Live, lead singer Samuel T. Herring can sometimes barely contain his flair for the melodramatic, but their new album On The Water found them being relatively restrained. "Balance" sort of walks the fine line between the two, and has a unique tension that carries over onto its driving beats.



75. Kelly Clarkson - "Honestly"

I have a soft spot for Kelly Clarkson, I will admit. Her new album plays it way too safe, but this track simply showcases her lovely voice and has her delivering another million dollar chorus.



74. Radiohead - "Lotus Flower"

The King of Limbs is a difficult album to love. It neither works as individual singles nor as a collective whole, but somehow keeps pulling you back in. "Lotus Flower" is probably the easiest track to latch onto, the most overtly "pop" track, which is still one of the weirdest singles you will hear all year. The drum track is off putting and alienating. The surrounding instrumentation is skeletal and haunting, sneaking in and out of the mix. Yorke's gorgeous falsetto holding everything together.



73. Pallers - "Wicked"

Swedish duo Pallers generally deal in icy, synth heavy tracks that easily correspond to bleak Scandinavian landscapes, but on "Wicked" they sounds almost joyous, letting singer Elise Zalbo let loose her husky voice over a funky rush of synths and beats.



72. PJ Harvey - "All And Everyone"

Too many amazing tracks from an amazing album. "All And Everyone" just spoke to me, recounting the taste, sense, and stench of death in one of the bloodiest battles in WWI. Just a haunting evocation of the terror and futility of war.



71. Zoo Kid - "Out Getting Ribs"

17 year old Archy Marshall, who now goes by King Krule, released this stunning single at the beginning of the year, evoking a world weary persona that belies his young age. "Out Getting Ribs" is all tension and little release; emotionally heart-breaking.



70. Nicolas Jaar - "I Got A Woman"

Chilean producer Nicolas Jaar knows about silence and noise, and knows when and where to use both. His debut album is a brilliant mix of sonic experimentation, which, for me, is best exemplified by "I Got A Woman" which sounds like a track from a Godard sci-fi treatise. Languid, thick beats, jazzy piano riffs, a blues vocal sample, and snippets of French dialogue evoke an atmosphere of existential dread.



69. Craft Spells - "After The Moment"

Channeling acts like Joy Division, New Order, The Cure, and Depeche Mode, and fractured through their own pop prism, Craft Spells never failed to captivate, especially on this beautiful track.



68. Holy Ghost! - "Hold My Breath"

One of the catchiest, New Order-esque tracks of the year.

Blue (My Dry Wet Mess Remix) by Waifbear

67. Salva - "Blue" (My Dry Wet Mess Remix)

Salva's debut album Complex Housing basically hit on every style of bass music in current rotation, and thankfully that was not a bad thing. Although this is a remix of the track "Blue" from the album, it resonated more with me than the original. The original mix is all stuttering, whiplash percussion and funky 80's style funk synths. My Dry Wet Mess' remix doesn't sound remotely like the same track, ratcheting up the synths in a spacey way, smoothing out the beats, and mixing a shitload of different keyboard lines into the track, somehow keeping them all straight.



66. jj - "Still"

Laying Elin Kastlander's ethereal vocals over a sample of Dr. Dre's "Still Dre" is pure genius.



65. Kate Bush - "Snowflake"

Reassuringly weird, Kate Bush returned with 50 Words For Snow, whose languorous 9 nine tracks unfold slowly, in no hurry to reach their destination. "Snowflake," the first track, consists of mournful pianos, muted percussion, and Kate Bush's son's wondrous falsetto, that evokes and captures Kate's own marvelous instrument. Kate's voice intermittently enters the mix, to recount the impressionistic journey of a snowflake reaching the earth. Welcome back Kate, you were sorely missed.



64. Kuedo - "Whisper Fate"

Marrying Vangelis-like Blade Runner synths over crisp hip-hop beats, Kuedo creates a world of his own, and it was surprising that no one else had thought to do it before. "Whisper Fate" is the perfect example of where it all comes together perfectly.



63. Mogwai - "Rano Pano"

Mogwai certainly didn't reinvent themselves on their latest album, they just made one of their tightest, most cohesive records in years by remaining true to their sound. "Rano Pano" is 5 minutes of pure noise pop bliss.



62. St. Vincent - "Strange Mercy"

Most of the talk surrounding St. Vincent's latest album is how much she is shredding the guitar. While I appreciate her guitar chops, my favorite St. Vincent tracks are always the more quiet ones. Title track "Strange Mercy" is a hauntingly demure track, built more on odd electronics than guitar, but always focusing on her tightly coiled vocals, springing out like a snake towards the end in surprise attack.



61. Rustie - "City Star"

Speaker-rattling bass track from Scotland's Rustie that is almost impossible to sit down for.