Monday, December 19, 2011

Top 100 Songs of 2011

I spent a lot of time fine tuning the song list this year, to ultimately get to the same conclusion. The Top 20-30 are likely most representative of what my ears respnded best to over the last 12 months. After that, it's a  lot of cool songs that could be sequenced lots of different ways. This always seems more like an exercise in curation than critique, but it continues to be fun nonethlesss. One song per artist. Also, I did not purposely choose a 9 minute dance track by a Canadian elctro pop duo from the Hammer, but it's sort of cool how that worked out.  Here goes.


Title Artist
100 Cave Song Wu Lyf
99 Phantoms Young Galaxy
98 New Lands Justice
97 Then It's White The Field
96 Don't Stop (Color On The Walls) Foster The People
95 Get Together The Human League
94 Into The Trees Still Corners
93 My House Hercules & Love Affair
92 First Light My Morning Jacket
91 Badaboom Tapes N Tapes
90 Night is Young Southern Shores
89 When I Start (To Break It All Down) Erasure
88 Got It All (This Can'r Be Living Now) Portugal. The Man
87 Rider Okkervil River
86 You Was Me Jonny
85 Every Tear Is A Waterfall Coldplay
84 I Walked Alone Yacht
83 She Walks In So Many Ways The Jayhawks
82 Fragments Thievery Corporation
81 Magic The Sound of Arrows
80 Over You Cat's Eyes
79 One Time The Roots
78 Bigger Than Us White Lies
77 Towers Bon Iver
76 Woods The Rosebuds
75 Katzenjammer Big Talk
74 Bizness tUnE-yArDs
73 Caffeinated Consciousness TV On The Radio
72 Funny Word Deer Tick
71 Heart Attack Raphael Saadiq
70 Keep You Class Actress
69 Under Cover of Darkness The Strokes
68 In The Grace Of Your Love The Rapture
67 End of The Night Smith Westerns
66 Solid Ground PNAU
65 Where Are You J Mascis
64 L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. Noah and the Whale
63 San Pedro Mogwai
62 Baby Missiles The War On Drugs
61 If You Wanna The Vaccines
60 The Look Metronomy
59 Beat & The Pulse Austra
58 Gutter Rainbows Talib Kweli
57 Annihilation Eyes Maritime
56 Turn Off This Song and Go Outside The Lonely Forest
55 Wilderness The Horror The Horror
54 Palomino Mates of State
53 Shine Like Stars Glasvegas
52 Forever In Armitron BOAT
51 Omega Dog The Dears
50 Austere The Joy Formidable
49 Alex Girls
48 Memories of The Future Handsome Furs
47 Living Is So Easy British Sea Power
46 Positive Dog Day
45 Ice Cream Battles
44 Shuffle Bombay Bicycle Club
43 It Rich Aucoin
42 Able Gavin Friday
41 Blue Cassette Friendly Fires
40 Abducted Cults
39 Open Arms Elbow
38 Itchin' On A Photograph Grouplove
37 Blue Jeans Lana Del Rey
36 Queen Of Hearts Fucked Up
35 Black Hand Style Pharoahe Monche
34 Unkind Sloan
33 Last Night At The Jetty Panda Bear
32 Everything Works Miracle Fortress
31 Electric Band Wild Flag
30 Bed of Nails Wild Beasts
29 I Might Wilco
28 Ungrateful Frankie & The Heartstrings
27 Days The Drums
26 Amor Fati Washed Out
25 Do It Again Holy Ghost!
24 Young Glass Hey Rosetta!
23 Bedroom Eyes Dum Dum Girls
22 Underneath The Sycamore Death Cab For Cutie
21 The Last Living Rose PJ Harvey
20 Punching In A Dream The Naked & Famous
19 How'd You Like That The Kooks
18 Baby Don't Dance Mother Mother
17 Get Some Lykke Li
16 Please Ask For Help Telekinesis
15 Pacing Around The Church Cold Cave
14 Re-Wired Kasabian
13 Somebody That I Used to Know Gotye
12 The Long Goodbye Army Navy
11 New Beat Toro Y Moi
10 Get Away Yuck
9 Second Chance Peter Bjorn & John
8 Future Starts Slow The Kills
7 Heaven's Gonna Happen Now The Pains of Being Pure Heart
6 Take Me Over Cut Copy
5 It's Real Real Estate
4 Lotus Flower Radiohead
3 Midnight City M83
2 Still Life The Horrors
1 Banana Ripple Junior Boys

6 comments:

  1. Coldplay has no place on a list this well conceived. They are the middlebrow Nickelback. And no Fleet Foxes?

    Lots of good stuff here - I will check out some of the bands I dont know.

    Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Oh man. Rattled By The Rush is largely modeled after Fox News with our "fair and balanced" approach. The Coldplay concern is duly noted, but our thought was bottom rung placement would speak to a level of implied indifference.

    As for Fleet Foxes, they continue to be a bit of a blind spot for me, but it's probably time to give them another shot.

    Thanks for your note Allan.

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  3. Great list... pretty excited to listen through lots of new stuff here.

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  4. See I think the inclusion of Coldplay and Foster the People gives it additional legitimacy given FtP is also on the "It's not that you're bad, you're just not very good" list, and Coldplay is pretty much implied. Holding an artist in contempt for a general state of suck yet still being able to identify when they have a rare moment of decent is a rare skill.

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  5. Not sure fair and balanced obnoxious music nerd is something I can easily work onto my resume, but I appreciate the acknowledgement.

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  6. Awesome looking list. Can't wait to indulge over the holidays.

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