2012 Favorite Songs: Numbers 20-1

And finally, here are my 20 Favorite Songs of 2012:

20. Santigold - "Disparate Youth"



Dubby track from Santigold which is her doing what she does best; laconic delivery over martial snares, machine gun blasts of guitars, and swooning synths.

19. Brandy - "So Sick"



Among all the amazing tracks on her latest record, "So Sick" is by far the standout. Over a slowly simmering groove, Brandy's slightly gruff voice provides stark emotion to a track about staying with someone even though you know it's the wrong thing.

18. Knife Party - "Internet Friends"



Probably one of the most ubiquitous tracks on the electronic music circuit this year. And even though it was played to death, it still has that ability to grab you each time. Sick drops.

17. Burial - "Kindred"



Over it's haunting 11 minute runtime, "Kindred" shows a muscularness here that has been heretofore unseen, instead of feeling like a passive listener, traveling silently through urban streets, you feel like your feet are on the pavement, the danger around you, the clipped vocal samples are either the passers-by around you or the voices in your head. Again, Burial is a master at letting pauses and silences speak volumes. The final movement of the track breaks through the grime and darkness, a lighter synth pattern emerges alongside a more ethereal vocal sample. Pure brilliance.

16. Bear In Heaven - "Sinful Nature"



One of the densest synthpop tracks of the year. The droning and swirling synths are hypnotic and captivating. The last minute of the track is an aural bong hit.

15. Miike Snow - "Pretender"



The characters in Miike Snow's album Happy For You all reach their own epiphanies, the man in "Pretender" realizing he is going through the motions of his life when he notes ""I didn’t wanna wake up/But then I felt your touch/Now I notice that I drink too much." The music gets more and more out of control as his mind tries to figure out how he got there. It is a captivating experience.

14. Two Door Cinema Club - "Sleep Alone"



Ostensibly a track about the drudgery of life on the road, "Sleep Alone" has a lot of alternate interpretations. For me, this song came out at a very emotional time for me, and it became all about wanting to finally be myself and not be something for others. His haunting declaration at the end "I don't know if in the morning I will be here/And if so/Let it be known/That I was worthy, I was worthy, I was worthy" never fails to bring me to tears.

13. The Presets - "Ghosts"



Who knew synthing up a sea shanty could result in one of the most breathtaking tracks of the year?

12. The Big Pink - "77"



Haunting, piano led ballad from the usually loud guitar based band. For me, the song is about addictions and losing all those around you. The lyric "I wish I had/77 ways to say no" becomes more and more hopeless and despondent as the track progresses.

11. Niki & The Dove - "DJ Ease My Mind"



A lot of my favorite tracks this year had to do with the power of music over the listener. In Niki & The Dove's "DJ Ease My Mind" the narrator uses music to make her forget the pain of a breakup; losing herself in the lights and sounds of a club.

10. Saint Etienne - "Tonight"



Unlike Niki & The Dove, Saint Etienne focus on music as elation. If you don't understand the excitement and buzz that comes from going to see one of your favorite bands live, you will never understand the beauty of this track.

09. Jessie Ware - "Wildest Moments"



"Maybe in our wildest moments/ we can be the greatest/maybe in our wildest moments/ we can be the worst of all." Simple lyrics, but perfectly captures a relationship that shouldn't work but somehow does.

08. Beach House - "Myth"



What I love about a lot of Beach House songs is that their impressionistic nature allows them to provide a basis for your own interpretation of the lyrics. "Myth" is one of those songs that can be about death, a breakup, a relationship; it is malleable enough to assign whatever you like to it. For me, the song is about life and death, how we get so caught up in relationships and the minutia of it all, never really seeing how fleeting everything is. The simple lyric "What comes after this/
Momentary bliss?" speaks volumes.

07. The xx - "Unfold"



Pure xx here: skeletal guitar work, lots of echo, space, and silence, and the careful interplay of vocals between Oliver and Romy. This track stuck with me for the longest time; the tale of unrequited love getting more and more poignant with each listen.

06. The Weeknd - "Initiation"



The dark, sinister centerpiece to Echoes of Silence, its brooding nihilism is both repellent and oddly enveloping.

05. Halls - "White Chalk"



Coming across like the bastard love child of Talk Talk and James Blake, Sam Howard, better known as Halls, combines his love of organic instrumentation with the experimental nature of UK bass music to create this other-worldly track that perfectly integrates the two together. When the sound drops out and angelic chorus kicks in, your stomach will leap.

04. Purity Ring - "Saltkin"



There are an embarrassment of riches on Purity Ring's debut album Shrines, and I am not quite sure why this one song kept bringing me back to it. I love the merging of Megan Jones' childlike, simple vocals and the dense swirl of synthesizers and chaotic Dirty South beats. In theory it should not work, but somehow under their brilliant hands it becomes something sublime.

03. Icona Pop - "I Love It"



Best pop song of the year, hands down. Try to escape its catchy clutches.

02. Usher - "Climax"



Usher has never been one for minimalism, and neither has producer Diplo. Who knew that the two together would produce an amazingly restrained track that is all build up with no release. Just when you think the track is going to explode, it folds within itself, the perfect framework for a track that is all about resignation and defeat.

01. Sun Airway - "Laketop Swimmers"



"Laketop Swimmers" is all about mood and atmosphere. Backwards sounding synth strings and a dreamy pace create an indelible feeling of time lost and an almost unbearable sense of melancholy. Looking back at halcyon days never to return, summer memories getting packed up in the rush of life/school/work, the ache in Jon Barthmus' voice is palpable. When the last crashing wave of synths fades out you feel your heart slowly breaking. I have played this track over 300 times this year, and it never ceases to be wondrous.