The Best Songs of 2012

I’ve been working for a while on this year-end song list. I did it mostly by combing lists of the best songs of the year, and found fifteen I really liked. Presented in ascending order so that you don’t just scroll to the bottom to see the top song.

1. Grimes, “Oblivion”. What’s left to say about Oblivion? On an album (and a career) full of electronic arcana, Grimes layers low, dark hooks with her high-pitched, mousy voice. It’s a dance floor hit, a work of odd creativity, and the summoning of some otherworldy spirit, all wrapped into one.

2. Alabama Shakes, “Hold On”. Alabama Shakes put together a truly wonderful soul song for the modern era. Singer Brittany Howard shows the combination of vocal energy and restraint that makes for great R&B vocals, a skill that many singers today lack. The band’s music sounds thoroughly old-school, but the lo-fi bluesy sound wasn’t a gimmick, as it is for many retro stars.

3. Frank Ocean, “Thinkin Bout You”. Displaying the inverse talent of the above song, which conveyed energy through restraint, Ocean stole the stage with a low-key jam. His tale of first love is captivated the ears of mainstream and indie listeners alike as nothing else this year.

4. Dirty Projectors, “Gun Has No Trigger”. As often happens with the Dirty Projectors, the lyrics aren’t exactly clear (a political skewering? a drug anthem? free-form surrealism?), but the effect of this mysterious song isn’t lost on us. The group strips away its usual arcane rhythms and noises for a simple but effective Bond-theme-esque hit, rising the tension to a boiling point with incredibly controlled voices.

5. Of Monsters and Men, “Little Talks”. It takes a special kind of indie pop song to chart as high as Of Monsters and Men did this year, and “Little Talks” was just that hit. Their cheery love song harnesses careful guitar strums, bouncy horns, and the tale of two star-crossed lovers riding a boat to safety.

6. Usher, “Climax”. The brainchild of producer Diplo (“Paper Planes”) harnessing Usher’s surprisingly good voice, no pop hit caught the ear of critics this year like “Climax”, an addictively sweet breakup song.

7. Lianne la Havas, “Is Your Love Big Enough?” Other critics have called it “the best pop song this year that no one heard,” and rightly so. Havas’ genre of not-quite-pop-but-not-yet-soul wasn’t made for Top 40. But the single, youthful yet wise, sweet yet substantial, is surely the sound of  a star in the making.

8. Psy, “Gangnam Style”. No, it’s not ironic appreciation. While some critics have compared Gangnam Style to the drab pop hits of LMFAO, the devil’s in the details. Where most pop bands put laziness, hedonism, and nihilism, K-pop star Psy brough real energy to the table to make this year’s catchiest song.

9. Plan B, “Ill Manors”. British rapper Plan B dissects the class tensions of modern-day London in this overseas hit. At turns sardonic and violent, “Ill Manors” is the near-official theme song of the 2011 London riots.

10. Japandroids, “The House that Heaven Built”. Though I’ve heard punk songs with more complicated chord progressions- I’m not certain there’s even a third chord- Japandroids’ shouty energy can fill an arena like no other song this year, and still feel a bit constrained.

11. Kendrick Lamar, “Swimming Pools (Drank)”. As part of Lamar’s favored theme of peer pressure and group dynamics, “Swimming Pools (Drank)” dissects tales of alcoholism with a sociologists’ skill. He blends current trendy production and techniques with his early-nineties-style low-key, free-form rapping style. It all fits together perfectly.

12. Jessie Ware, “110%”. British pop star Ware sings with such subtlety she’s almost muttering, and the washing instrumentation is similarly low-key. But the end product is as comfortable and warm as a blanket. It’s just a shame Ware didn’t make it properly overseas.

13. Beach House, “Myth”. It’s not the dream-pop perfection they reached with their 2010 hit “Zebra”, but the Baltimore duo is just as much a master of the genre as they were then.

14. Chromatics, “Kill for Love”. Chromatics captured the essence of the new-but-retro synthpop sound making the rounds in the music world with “Kill for Love”. It’s the kind of song you’d hear in a movie like Drive, all substance but no gimmicks, the instruments of 80’s pop grown out of awkward maximalism into an impeccably sleek sound.

15. First Aid Kit, “Emmylou”. I’m not certain what it is that sets this slow country ballad a cut above the rest. Is it the band’s inclination towards hooks? The singers’ soft voices? The wall-of-sound atmosphere?  But there’s no uncertainty that this rising country duo, at only 19 and 22, have made their mark on this year’s music.