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Tune-Yards “Heart Attack”

Merrill Garbus’ catalog follows a trajectory of her access to equipment and collaborators, with each record more polished and professional than the last. And, also, maybe a little less compelling? Her debut was essentially built out of lo-fi digital recordings pieced together in Audacity – perhaps the most ambitious piece of art anyone’s ever used that program to make – and is startling in its textural contrasts and intimate feeling. The follow up, w h o k i l l, added fluid, slinky bass and horns, and while it was recorded more traditionally, it still felt wild and untamed. One of the exciting things to me about these records is that Garbus’s performances and arrangements were raw and unorthodox, but definitely not naive. When I wrote about the second album at Pitchfork, I described her vocal as being like a feral Mariah Carey. I stand by that! Her best work is always in this thrilling space between unhinged feeling and total control.

Fast forward to her fourth album, I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life, and things are a bit different. The band has stabilized enough so that she’s no longer the only permanent member, and she no longer seems to be limited by instrumental choices or the need to arrange songs so they can be easily performed live by two or three people on stage. You can sense her thrill about this in a lot of the music. “Heart Attack” in particular piles on textural elements rather playfully, but she’s careful not to clutter the beat. I love her vocal on this track – it’s like she’s living out a fantasy of being a house diva, even if the music never fully enters that realm.

That hesitation to fully embrace genre conventions is part of what makes this kind of a strange album to process. It all sounds so transitional, and it’s hard for me to listen to it without feeling like I’m listening to her work. Every moment sounds like a decision, and nothing feels instinctive. Obviously a lot of records, good and bad, are the product of endless editing and overthinking. It’s just that Garbus is someone who has always thrived on impulse and intuition. It’s noticeable when it’s missing.

Buy it from Amazon.

Electrelane “Enter Laughing”

The main guitar part in “Enter Laughing” moves in circular pattern at a relaxed pace, but the mood is more pensive than chill. Despite the clear patterns, there’s never a feeling of resolution, so the music seems to drift along. It’s a bit like convincing yourself that you’re wandering aimlessly while actually pacing in circles. The lyrics follow the form, with Verity Susman singing about wanting to break out of patterns and feeling for not committing to someone or be able to be emotionally available to them. Susman’s voice has an ambiguous quality – she conveys regret and tenderness in some moments, but also an odd neutrality and distance. It’s hard to place this song on an emotional timeline. Is she in the moment, and the opportunity to follow through on this relationship still there? Or is she looking back on something that’s too far back in time to recover? It’s such a wonderfully ambiguous piece of music.

Buy it from Amazon.

Ty Segall “The Main Pretender”

The saxophone is central to this song, driving the main melodic hook and contrasting starkly with a bass part that I’m guessing is being played on a synthesizer on a “robot belching” setting. The sax part is strong, but it’s made even better by an extremely dry recording that seems nearly devoid of reverb and is very loud in the mix. It has an uncanny effect – accurate, but unnatural and vaguely alien. It’s perfectly suited to the tone and aesthetic Ty Segall is going for here – heavy and soulful, but slightly off. There’s a grandiosity to it that is relatively new to his body of work, but it’s undercut by the clever and perverse choices in the arrangement and recording.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Zizi Raimondi “Folly Dolly”

Zizi Raimondi is a bit tricky to figure out. The music on her Bandcamp is all over the place – sleepy indie rock, synth kitsch, extreme lo-fi weirdness, Casio replicas of classical music, and faithful, beautifully sung renditions of jazz standards. And all of this, from the most primitive work to the most accomplished performances and compositions, has been released between late August and last week. This could be years of work being put on the internet in a random order, or maybe it’s the chaotic and eccentric workflow of a very busy and restless talent. I have no clue. But it’s fascinating, and “Folly Dolly,” the A-side of her most recent single, is one of the best and most interesting rock ballads I’ve heard in a while.

“Folly Dolly” is a very Lou Reed sort of song with a gentle groove and lyrics that sketch out a romantic entanglement that hasn’t quite started to tangle just yet. The narrative of the song is ambiguous, with the lyrics shifting between first, second, and third person perspective. Who is this woman she is describing? Who is this person she’s addressing? Raimondi’s breathy, yearning vocal and the shift to first person in the end suggests a frustrated, unrequited love triangle.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Holy “Premonition / ◯ / It Shines Through”

Every sound in this track is bright and vivid, and neatly placed in the pocket of the drums, which are crisp and prominent in the mix. Every sound, that is, except for Hannes Ferm’s voice, which conveys a lovely melody but is otherwise entirely incomprehensible. This isn’t your standard mumble or the usual bury-the-voice-in-the-mix shoegaze thing. Ferm’s vocal is loud and clear, but smeared and slurred almost as though he’s deliberately trying to make it funny. It amuses me, anyway. It’s like a falsetto pushed into abstraction, or like a plaintive psychedelic ballad sung by the Swedish Chef.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Riton & Kah-Lo “Fake I.D.”

Kah-Lo’s vocal on this track is immediately charismatic and interesting – mischievous and fun, but also a bit cold and aloof. The lyrics lay out the plan for a night out, and while fun is factored into it, she’s mostly sketching out a strategy for getting the most out of the men in the room. It’s all very transactional but the way she puts it, it’s all a fun game for her, and plus, there’s dancing. Riton’s track bangs from the start, but it’s constantly shifting and moving and thumping with varying degrees of intensity. He doesn’t really give you the option of resisting the groove. You get yanked into it, and it eventually spits you out. Kinda like the protagonist of the lyrics, eh?

Buy it from Amazon.

Y-Bayani and His Band of Enlightenment, Reason and Love feat. Baby Naa “Rehwe Mie Enyim”

I’ve heard a good amount of roots reggae over the past several years, mainly Studio One stuff, but I’m nothing close to an expert. I just have a reasonable frame of reference. And I say that to say this: I have never heard a roots song that sounds quite like this. The melody, chords, and rhythm are all very familiar, but the tone of the keyboards and recording is fresh. There’s a disorienting quality to the keyboard tone straight away, and it pushes the chill feeling of a slow reggae rhythm into something more loopy and dazed. It’s not a radical departure from tradition – this is in many ways retro enough that it could pass as much older, but it’s just off enough so the particular zonked-out vibe feels novel to me.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Mildlife “The Magnificent Moon”

“The Magnificent Moon” starts off feeling a lot like the more expansive Hot Chip songs – groovy but chill, in the sweet spot between relaxed and precise. But as the song moves along, Mildlife start throwing some curveballs at you – it seems to expand in scope, the bass groove gets more sophisticated, it starts drifting into a groggy solo section. Then around five minutes in, you get the ~real~ shift as the the synths recede and the jazzy guitar chords come in, like something out of Dots and Loops-era Stereolab. I love the particular guitar tone here – so immaculate and understated, this elegant and sexy sound contrasted with synth tones that signals futuristic kitsch. The whole track is built like a journey, and that odd collision of vibes is the highlight of the expedition.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Amber Navran “Lastaya Love”

Amber Navran’s performance on “Lastaya Love” – not just her vocals, but apparently on every instrument in the arrangement – conveys a gentle, confident serenity that brings to mind Erykah Badu at her most graceful. It’s neo-soul, but with a touch of cosmic jazz to bring out unexpected textures and harmonies. Navran is singing about holding on to dignity and knowing when to walk away from a dead relationship, and her vocal gets across that sort of resolute clarity, but also the raw vulnerable emotion beneath it. When her saxophone solo comes in at the end, it’s a signal of freedom and relief.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Veruca Salt “Shutterbug”

It took me about 20 years to realize that this song is probably called “Shutterbug” because it’s a series of snapshots of people in small, pivotal moments. The chorus changes perspective with each iteration – “it’s her thrill” when it’s about a girl on tv who’s “a fool for the last living rock king;” it’s about “your thrill” when she’s addressing her power over a lover; it’s “my thrill” when she flips it to focus on the power they have over her. I love the way the verses build a tension that switches to euphoria at the start of the chorus, but then reverts back to a grinding tension: She can’t change. You can’t change. I can’t change. CHANGE! CHANGE! That last repetition sounds different depending on my mood – sometimes it’s like begging for change, sometimes it’s like cheering it on. Today it just sounds like slamming into a wall, over and over, and hoping each impact breaks through it somehow.

Buy the vinyl reissue of Eight Arms to Hold You from Amazon.

Lemuria “Christine Perfect”

Christine Perfect is the maiden name of Christine McVie from Fleetwood Mac, who is invoked in the first verse of this song in a… not entirely flattering way: “I’m not a Stevie, I’m a Christie McVie / I feel the weight of the world, I find comfort in being second best.” I like this as an assessment of self-esteem – I’m not the cool girl, I’m not the one who gets attention, but I’m still pretty great. Just a more subtle type of great.

This is actually a love song, and it’s pretty direct. She’s singing about her insecurities and issues, but points out that this person she’s in love with makes her better. Just being around them makes her ecstatic. And the song backs that up with the unapologetic catchiness of an old school tv theme song and the restless energy of the most cheerful end of punk rock. The chorus could signal desperation and neediness, but Lemuria plays it more as simple warmth and gratitude, which is very refreshing.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Dream Wife “Let’s Make Out”

The most immediately noticeable thing about “Let’s Make Out” is the way Rakel Mjöll screams the title phrase like an unhinged maniac. It’s a sexy, seductive line that’s delivered with an intensity and aggression on par with Courtney Love on “Violet,” and it’s all the more compelling in that the song opens with her screaming the chorus at this throat-splitting volume. It’s 0 to a million. She shifts into a more flirty vocal on the verses, but the song never really dials down from “sex-crazed frenzy” mode. It all sounds like it’s designed to incite a very horny riot.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Judee Sill “Jesus Was A Cross Maker”

“Jesus Was A Cross Maker” is an incredibly elegant bit of songwriting, with a gorgeous melody that rolls out gently over an arrangement that borrows from folk, gospel, and classical music without neatly fitting into any of those categories. The song has been covered many times over, and it’s funny to me how the most notable versions I’ve heard have trouble capturing the simple grace of Judee Sill’s original – Cass Elliot, The Hollies, and Warren Zevon all mess with the structure and lightly mangle the melody to highlight their particular vocal styles, while Frida Hyvönen‘s is faithful to the melody but pushes into a softer, sentimental tone that sacrifices the sober, clear-eyed quality that makes the Sill recordings so compelling.

There’s a lot of emotion in the song, but it’s presented in hindsight, with Sill reflecting on depression and an abusive relationship. The key feeling here is regret, but it’s more about a larger self-destructive tendency than anything in particular – she seems to be putting less blame on this guy, and more on herself for being so easily seduced. The “Jesus was a cross maker” line is brilliant, particularly in how she draws a comparison from this irony to her complicity in her own misery. Was Christ aware that he was building the very thing that would be used to execute him? Did it ever cross his mind that he could end up on one of these things as he made them? Sill has said that she wrote this song while entertaining thoughts of suicide, and died of a drug overdose eight years later. She seemed very aware of the cross she was making for herself.

Buy it from Amazon.

Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra “Somebody Else’s World”

“Somebody Else’s World” is a message of hope and defiance written and recorded in 1969, a time as chaotic and scary as the one we’re living in right now. The lyrics, penned by Sun Ra and sung by June Tyson, are a refusal to believe in either a pessimistic outlook on the future or a vision of reality created by oppressive forces.

“Somebody else’s idea of somebody else’s world is not my idea of things as they are / somebody else’s idea of things to come need not be the only way to vision the future”

This song has been on my mind for over a year now, since after the election. The message of the song is incredibly resonant for me, and I believe this idea is important to hold on to when so many people on either side of the political divide seem incredibly invested in a bleak narrative that assumes the worst of the future. And of course, it’s easier to believe that the future’s been canceled, and we’re all powerless. It’s easier to buy into a story of doom when you have no imagination to see the potential for something else. It takes courage to tell other people that their vision of the future is not a fait accompli, and that we have better things in mind.

The music of “Somebody Else’s World” feels shaky and unstable, as though it could collapse at any moment. But despite that, June Tyson sings the words with great focus and conviction. She doesn’t sound angry. It’s more like someone standing their ground and stating a truth. It’s a correction, and a challenge. It’s a song of strength and dignity, and something I think we all need today.

Buy it from Amazon.

I’ve been making year-end survey mixes since the beginning of this decade, and this is the first intended to be a document of what happened in music in the year as opposed to being about my subjective experience. This came out of two things – most obviously, the fact that I’ve spent the past year trying to do the 90s surveys as a sort of historical document, and the realization that the only way to make sense of music in 2017 is to zoom waaaay out.

Music culture has been atomizing for years, but that is rather extreme now. Algorithms and varying platforms have created a strange new world in which there are many large cultural bubbles that barely interact. Things can be massively popular and yet unknown to most people. Entire ecosystems of new artists are all but restricted to specific platforms – Soundcloud, Bandcamp, YouTube. What remains of music media is increasingly squeezed into focusing on news items and covering well-known artists who drive some pittance of traffic, and year-end coverage is mostly a way of asserting brand identity. So this mix, which clocks in at over 27 hours of music, is an attempt to represent what has been going on across all major genres and provide some sort of map for anyone who understandably feels overwhelmed and lost. I don’t think this approach has ever been more necessary, and I hope you find a lot of new things to enjoy that you might not have come across otherwise.

The survey is available as a set of downloads below, and as playlists on Apple Music and Spotify. Both playlists are missing a handful of songs not available in streaming.

DOWNLOAD PART 1

Casey Dienel “High Times” / Poppy “My Style” / Selena Gomez “Bad Liar” / FKJ “Joy” / Fever Ray “To the Moon and Back” / Lil Uzi Vert “XO Tour Llif3” / Kendrick Lamar “Love” / Drake “Passionfruit” / Future feat. Kendrick Lamar “Mask Off (Remix)” / 2 Chainz feat. Ty Dolla $ign, Trey Songz & Jhené Aiko “It’s A Vibe” / Gorillaz feat. De La Soul “Momentz” / Red Velvet “빨간 맛 (Red Flavor)” / St. Vincent “Masseduction” / The New Pornographers “Darling Shade” / Rainer Maria “Lower Worlds” / Wolf Alice “Yuk Foo” / Spoon “Do I Have To Talk You Into It?” / Lorde “Green Light” / Seventeen “Change Up” / Jessie Ware “Midnight” / King Krule “Czech One” / Taylor Swift “New Year’s Day” / Stella Donnelly “Mean to Me” / Hercules and Love Affair feat. Sharon Van Etten “Omnion” / Jay-Z “The Story of OJ” / Yo Gotti feat. Nicki Minaj “Rake It Up” / SZA “Drew Barrymore” / Kelela “Waitin'” / Kodak Black “Tunnel Vision” / Lana Del Rey “Love” / Harry Styles “Sign of the Times” / Father John Misty “Pure Comedy” / Matthew Dear “Modafinil Blues” / Jay Som “1 Billion Dogs” / No Joy “Hellhole” / The Heliocentrics “The Silverback” / 21 Savage “Bank Account” / Cardi B “Bodak Yellow” / Rae Sremmurd “Perplexing Pegasus” / Shawn Wasabi feat. Hollis “Otter Pop” / Salami Rose Joe Louis “Cyanotype of Blue” / Karriem Riggins “Bahia Dreamin'” / Matt Martians “Alotta Women/Useless” / Everything Is Recorded feat. Sampha “Close But Not Quite” / Frank Ocean “Chanel” / Maggie Rogers “On + Off” / Mount Kimbie feat. King Krule “Blue Train Lines”

DOWNLOAD PART 2

Japandroids “Arc of Bar” / Goldfrapp “Systemagic” / LCD Soundsystem “Tonite” / Actress “X22RME” / Run the Jewels “Call Ticketron” / Zack Villere “Cool” / Tyler, the Creator “Foreword” / Vince Staples feat. Kendrick Lamar “Yeah Right” / Destroyer “In the Morning” / Sudan Archives “Come Meh Way” / Charli XCX “Boys” / DJ Khaled feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, and Lil Wayne “I’m the One” / Tay-K “The Race” / Playboi Carti “Magnolia” / Demi Lovato “Daddy Issues” / Calvin Harris feat. Frank Ocean and Migos “Slide” / Nosaj Thing “U G” / Fleet Foxes “Mearcstapa” / Real Estate “After the Moon” / Faye Webster “She Won’t Go Away” / Anna Wise “Coconuts” / Cassandra Jenkins “Candy Crane” / Soccer Mommy “Benadryl Dreams” / Omni “Equestrian” / Magic Potion “Rest Yr Skull” / Miss World “Click and Yr Mine” / Quelle Chris “Buddies” / Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire feat. Meyhem Lauren “Bebop and Rocksteady” / A$AP Mob feat. Joey Bada$$, Kirk Knight, Nyck Caution, Meechy Darko & Zombie Juice “What Happens” / Blackpink “As If It’s Your Last” / EXO “Ko Ko Bop” / Werewolf Diskdrive “Hamburgers & Hot Dogs” / Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber “Despacito” / Little Big Town “Better Man” / The Weather Station “Thirty” / Jason Isbell “If We Were Vampires” / Portugal. The Man “Feel It Still” / Beck “I’m So Free” / Migos feat. Nicki Minaj and Cardi B “Motor Sport” / Creek Boyz “With My Team” / Keshi “Goes to Waste” / Uffe “Love Is Everywhere” / Vijay Iyer Sextet “Nope” / Sophie “It’s Okay to Cry” / Julien Baker “Turn Out the Lights” / Ratboys “Cry About the Planets” / Hamilton Leithauser & Angel Olsen “Heartstruck (Wild Hunger)”

DOWNLOAD PART 3

Four Tet “Planet” / Lady Gaga “The Cure” / Twice “Likey” / Paramore “Hard Times” / Cosmo Pyke “Chronic Sunshine” / Charlie Puth “Attention” / Ed Sheeran “Shape of You” / Camila Cabello feat. Young Thug “Havana” / J. Balvin feat. Willy William “Mi Gente” / Jlin “Enigma” / Yaeji “Raingurl” / Nolanberollin feat. Warhol.Ss “Crystal” / SahBabii “Only Knew 1 Way” / Lil Peep “Better Off (Dying)” / Logic feat. Alessia Cara and Khalid “1-800-273-8255” / Godspeed You Black Emperor “Bosses Hang, Pt. II” / Code Orange “Bleeding in the Blur” / Thomas Rhett feat. Maren Morris “Craving You” / Lanco “Greatest Love Story” / The Clientele “The Neighbor” / Boy Pablo “Everytime” / Mac DeMarco “On the Level” / Future Islands “Ran” / Amber Mark “Lose My Cool” / JMSN “Drinkin'” / Chicano Batman “Friendship (Is A Small Boat In A Storm)” / Jonathan Bree feat. Clara Viñals “Say You Love Me Too” / Ibeyi feat. Kamasi Washington “Deathless” / Brockhampton “Junky” / Kehlani “Undercover” / Chief Keef “Ticket” / Cupcakke “Cartoons” / Fifth Harmony “He Like That” / Pink feat. Eminem “Revenge” / GOT7 “Never Ever” / Smokepurpp “To the Moon” / Sampha “Timmy’s Prayer” / Syd “Shake Em Off” / Cigarettes After Sex “Apocalypse” / The xx “Say Something Loving” / The Steoples “From the Other Side” / Nick Hakim “Bet She Looks Like You” / Patience “White Of An Eye” / Phoenix “J-Boy” / Why Don’t We “These Girls” / BTS “Not Today” / Post Malone feat. 21 Savage “Rockstar” / Sleigh Bells “And Saints” / IU feat. G-Dragon “팔레트 Palette”

DOWNLOAD PART 4

DJDS feat. Amber Mark and Marco McKinnis “Trees On Fire” / Car Seat Headrest “War Is Coming (If You Want It)” / Living “Glory” / The Shins “Name for You” / Delicate Steve “Nightlife” / Vixx “Shangri-La” / XXXTENTACION feat. Trippie Redd “Fuck Love” / Halsey “Bad At Love” / Khalid feat. Rae Sremmurd and Lil Yachty “Young Dumb & Broke (Remix)” / J.I.D feat. Mereba “All Bad” / Lil Yachty feat. Evander Griim “X Men” / Big Sean & Metro Boomin feat. 21 Savage “Pull Up N Wreck” / Julia Michaels “Issues” / Alvvays “Dreams Tonite” / Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble “Love Captive” / The National “Turtleneck” / Marika Hackman “Boyfriend” / Kesha “Let ‘Em Talk” / Niall Horan “Slow Hands” / Keith Urban “Blue Ain’t Your Color” / Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso feat. Florida Georgia Line and Watt “Let Me Go” / Kygo feat. Selena Gomez “It Ain’t Me” / Odesza feat. Wynne and Mansionair “Line of Sight” / Oxbow “Cold and Well-Lit Place” / The Mynabirds “Golden Age” / Roger Waters “Deja-Vu” / Sam Smith “Too Good at Goodbyes” / Lake Ruth “Empty Morning” / Steve Lacy “Dark Red” / Moses Sumney “Doomed” / GoldLink feat. Brent Faiyaz and Shy Glizzy “Crew” / Octo Octa “No More Pain (Promises To A Younger Self)” / Band Practice “I Want You” / Sales “Talk A Lot” / The Orielles “I Only Bought It For the Bottle” / This Is the Kit “Moonshine Freeze” / Zedd feat. Alessia Cara “Stay” / Wiki “Pretty Bull” / Bbymutha “Rules” / Wanna One “에너제틱 (Energetic)” / Thundercat feat. Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins “Show You the Way” / Kamasi Washington “Integrity” / TOKiMONSTA feat. Selah Sue “I Wish I Could” / Yves Tumor “Limerence” / Circle “Sick Child” / Royal Thunder “April Showers” / Converge “I Can Tell You About Pain” / Boat Show “Cis White Boy” / Liars “Cred Woes” / Nine Inch Nails “The Background World”

DOWNLOAD PART 5

Ted Leo “Moon Out of Phase” / Melkbelly “Kid Kreative” / Oh Sees “Jettison” / Nilüfer Yanya “Baby Luv” / Big Thief “Haley” / William Patrick Corgan “Processional” / Laura Marling “Nothing Not Nearly” / Bedouine “One of These Days” / Julie Byrne “Natural Blue” / Knife in the Water “Sex Change” / Margo Price “Paper Cowboy” / Chris Young feat. Vince Gill “Sober Saturday Night” / Dustin Lynch “Small Town Boy” / Haim “Little of Your Love” / Annie Hart “Hard to Be Still” / Hanni El Khatib “Gonna Die Alone” / Francis and the Lights feat. Chance the Rapper “May I Have This Dance (Remix)” / Monsta X “Dramarama” / Kamaiyah “Build You Up” / Gus Dapperton “I’m Just Snacking” / Childish Gambino “Redbone” / Bruno Mars “That’s What I Like” Sam Hunt “Body Like A Back Road” / Buddy & Kaytranada “Find Me” / Smino feat. T-Pain “Anita” / Young Thug & Carnage “Liger” / The Black Madonna “He Is the Voice I Hear” / Rhye “Please” / Monster Rally & Rumtum “Raindrops” / Chloe feat. Ben Shemie “Recall” / The Chainsmokers feat. Coldplay “Something Just Like This” / Marshmello feat. Khalid “Silence” / Becky G feat. Bad Bunny “Mayores” / Rico Nasty “Block List” / Girls Generation “All Night” / Carly Rae Jepsen “Cut to the Feeling” / Lil Pump “Gucci Gang” / A$AP Ferg “Plain Jane” / Cornelius “If You’re Here” / Fog Lake “Medicine Road” / Chavez “Blank in the Blaze” / Priests “JJ” / Chastity Belt “Caught In A Lie” / Filthy Friends “Invitation” / Perfume Genius “Just Like Love” / The Magnetic Fields “’66: Wonder Where I’m From” / Thanks for Coming “Zoning Out” / Sam Gendel “Less But Better” / Arca “Desafio” / Jorja Smith & Preditah “On My Mind” / Molly Brazy “Trust None” / A Boogie wit da Hoodie feat. Kodak Black “Drowning”

DOWNLOAD PART 6

Game Theory “An Overview of Item Response Theory” / Rostam “Bike Dream” / Yumi Zouma “December” / Men I Trust “Tailwhip” / Dua Lipa “New Rules” / CNCO “Reggaeton Lento (Bailemos)” / NCT 127 “無限的我 (무한적아; Limitless)” / Bad Bunny “Soy Peor” / Amber Coffman “No Coffee” / Curtis Harding “On & On” / Belle & Sebastian “Sweet Dew Lee” / Grizzly Bear “Neighbors” / Joey Bada$$ “Land of the Free” / Eminem feat. Beyoncé “Walk On Water” / Bobo Swae feat. Rae Sremmurd “Rowdy” / French Montana feat. Swae Lee “Unforgettable” / Fall Out Boy “Young and Menace” / Weezer “Happy Hour” / Honey Dijon feat. Shaun J. Wright and Alinka “808 State of Mind” / Lapalux “Data Demon” / Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah feat. Sarah Elizabeth Charles “Phases” / Zayn feat. Sia “Dusk Till Dawn” / Liam Gallagher “Wall of Glass” / Noel Gallagher “She Taught Me How to Fly” / U2 “American Soul” / Imagine Dragons “Thunder” / Bryson Tiller “Run Me Dry” / Winner “Really Really” / Sylvan Esso “Die Young” / Suzi Wu “Teenage Witch” / Downtown Boys “A Wall” / Brand New “Can’t Get It Out” / Mastodon “Show Yourself” / Electric Six “Sex with Somebody” / Alexander F “Soft Coffins” / Spiral Stairs “Emoshuns” / The Academic “Bear Claw” / Jitwam “Alone” / Maliibu Miitch “4AM” / Tricky feat. Martina Topley-Bird “When We Die” / Gucci Mane feat. Migos “I Get the Bag” / Lil Wop feat. Gucci Mane “Paid In Full” / Vic Mensa feat. Pusha-T “OMG” / Oneohtrix Point Never feat. Iggy Pop “The Pure and the Damned” / Mount Eerie “Real Death” / Babaganouj “Hoping That It’s You” / PWR BTTM “Now Now” / Morrissey “I Wish You Lonely” / Slowdive “Sugar for the Pill”

DOWNLOAD PART 7

Björk “Arisen My Senses” / Youngboy Never Broke Again “No Smoke” / Warhol.SS “Same Shit” / Asian Doll “Real Bitch Anthem” / J Hus “Did You See” / Freddie Gibbs “Crushed Glass” / Young Nudy feat. Lil Yachty “No Clue” / Jaden Smith feat. A$AP Rocky “Breakfast” / Bebe Rexha feat. Florida Georgia Line “Meant to Be” / Brett Young “In Case You Didn’t Know” / Blake Shelton “I’ll Name the Dogs” / Hiss Golden Messenger “Domino (Time Will Tell)” / Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile “Let It Go” / Jon Pardi “Dirt on My Boots” / Kane Brown “What Ifs” / The War On Drugs “Holding On” / Squeeze “Rough Ride” / Sabrina Claudio “Runnin’ Through Lovers” / Liam Payne feat. Quavo “Strip That Down” / DeJ Loaf “Changes” / G Herbo “Red Snow” / Ayo & Two “Rolex” / Bhad Bhabie “Hi Bich” / Big Shaq “Man’s Not Hot” / Bonnie McKee “Thorns” / A.G. Cook “Money On A Gold Plate” / Escape-Ism “Lonely At the Top” / Guided by Voices “The Birthday Democrats” / Stephen Malkmus “Midnight Cruisers” / Girlpool “It Gets More Blue” / Fazerdaze “Lucky Girl” / Arcade Fire “Everything Now” / Ariel Pink “Another Weekend” / Feist “I Wish I Didn’t Miss You” / Joan of Arc “This Must Be the Placenta” / Showtime Goma “Chug” / 21 Savage, Offset, and Metro Boomin “Still Serving” / Swet Shop Boys “Birding” / Raekwon “Nothing” / Remy Ma “Shether” / Mike “Pigeonfeet” / Hurray for the Riff Raff “Pa’lante” / Miley Cyrus “Thinkin'” / Luke Combs “When It Rains It Pours” / Shania Twain “Life’s About to Get Good” / Luxury Death “Diluted” / Queens of the Stone Age “The Evil Has Landed” / Pallbearer “Thorns”

DOWNLOAD PART 8

Aimee Mann “Goose Snow Cone” / The Mountain Goats “Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back to Leeds” / A Giant Dog “Fake Plastic Trees” / Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings “Matter of Time” / Washed Out “Hard to Say Goodbye” / Clean Bandit feat. Sean Paul and Anne-Marie “Rockabye” / Tove Lo “Disco Tits” / Municipality “Miles Away” / Annie Hardy “Want” / Visible Cloaks “Wheel” / Kelly Lee Owens feat. Jenny Hval “Anxi” / Laurel Halo “Sun to Solar” / Forest Swords “Arms Out” / Eric Church “Round Here Buzz” / Theory of a Deadman “Rx” / Broken Social Scene “Hug of Thunder” / Alice Merton “No Roots” / Shawn Mendes “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” / (Sandy) Alex G “Proud” / Wolf Parade “You’re Dreaming” / Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith “An Intention” / Brian Eno with Kevin Shields “Only Once Away My Son” / Daphni “Carry On” / Baba Stiltz “Can’t Help It” / DRAM feat. Trippie Redd “Ill Nana” / Dirty Projectors “Up In Hudson” / Kimbra “Top of the World” / Open Mike Eagle (How Could Anybody) Feel At Home” / Liyv “Weeknight” / Lil B feat. Ilovemakonnen “Global” / Maroon 5 feat. Future “Cold” / Kyle feat. Lil Yachty “I Spy” / Florida Georgia Line feat. Backstreet Boys “God, Your Mama, and Me” / Foo Fighters “The Line” / Elder “Sanctuary” / Marilyn Manson “Kill4Me” / Stormzy “Big For Your Boots” / Ryuichi Sakamoto “Zure” / Your Old Droog “You Can Do It! (Give Up)” / Taylor Bennett feat. Chance the Rapper and Jeremih “Grown Up Fairy Tales” / Vagabon “The Embers” / El Ten Eleven feat. Emile Mosseri “I’m Right Here”

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Holiday Ghosts “Walk for Hours” / Sorority Noise “A Portrait Of” / Cloud Nothings “Modern Act” / Japanese Breakfast “Body Is A Blade” / Jessica Lea Mayfield “Sorry Is Gone” / Phoebe Bridgers “Motion Sickness” / Jen Cloher “Regional Echo” / Jason Aldean “Any Ol’ Barstool” / James Arthur “Say You Won’t Let Go” / Bob Dylan “Once Upon A Time” / Charlotte Gainsbourg “Rest” / Fascinations Grand Chorus “When You’re Mine” / Superorganism “It’s All Good” / Charly Bliss “Percolator” / AWOLNATION “Passion” / CCFX “The One to Wait” / 30 Seconds to Mars “Walk On Water” / Waxahatchee “Never Been Wrong” / Grouplove “Good Morning” / Justin Bieber & BLoodPop “Friends” / Katy Perry feat. Nicki Minaj “Swish Swish” / Little Mix “Touch” / Kelly Clarkson “Love So Soft” / Luke Bryan “Light It Up” / Dave East feat. Wiz Khalifa “Phone Jumpin'” / Shabazz Palaces feat. Thaddilac “Shine A Light” / G-Eazy feat. A$AP Rocky and Cardi B “No Limit” / Joseph Shabason “Aytche” / Lee Ranaldo “Moroccan Mountains” / Grouper “Children” / Little Simz feat. Bibi Bourelly “Customz” / Meek Mill feat. Young Thug “We Ball” / Kodie Shane feat. Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty “Hold Up (Dough Up)” / Princess Nokia “G.O.A.T.” / Miguel “Pineapple Skies” / Mhysa “BB” / Mura Masa feat. Desiigner “All Around the World” / Ozuna “Se Preparo” / Rick Ross “Santorini Greece” / Mavis Staples “If All I Was Was Black” / Art Feynman “Monday Give Me Monday” / Nai Palm “Crossfire/So Into You” / Sheer Mag “Pure Desire” / Snail Mail “Thinning” / Pinegrove “Intrepid” / Roscoe Mitchell “Cascade” / Saba “There You Go” / Trippie Redd “Love Scars” / Allday feat. Japanese Wallpaper “In Motion” / Vance Joy “Lay It On Me” / Louis Tomlinson “Miss You” / SquidNice “Trap By My Lonely” / Young Dolph “100 Shots” / Zola Jesus “Siphon” / Obituary “It Lives” / Linkin Park “One More Light”

Belle & Sebastian “Sweet Dew Lee”

It’s kinda remarkable how well Belle & Sebastian have integrated late ’70s disco moves into their repertoire through perseverance and dedication over the past 20 years. It’s there from the beginning of their career on “Electronic Renaissance,” but they cracked the code on “Your Cover’s Blown” back in the early ’00s. “Sweet Dew Lee” is like a sequel of sorts to that song – it’s drawing on the same analog synth aesthetics and has a similarly rambling and unusual structure. But whereas “Your Cover’s Blown” shifted between moody disco and agitated punk sections, “Sweet Dew Lee” stays in a sunny, groovy “everybody-wearing-liesure-suits-and-really-committing-to-the-vibe” lane. I prefer the tension of the earlier song, but greatly appreciate the generous cheesiness of this new tune, and the way the song contrasts a sweet, starry-eyed Stevie Jackson with a more bitter and pessimistic vocal by Stuart Murdoch.

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Everything Is Recorded featuring Sampha “Close But Not Quite”

Richard Russell has explained that the origin of this song came from hearing Sampha’s record and hearing some of Curtis Mayfield in his voice, and I suppose, wanting to put both men on the same track as a sort of posthumous duet. The contrast is subtle – they have similar timbres and both sing with a great deal of vulnerability – but Sampha’s voice has a fragility and touch of insecurity that accentuates Mayfield’s serene confidence. The shift into the sample of Mayfield’s “The Makings of You” is a beautiful moment in the track, with the delicate uncertainty of Russell’s arrangement and Sampha’s vocal giving way to a kind of gentle strength and emotional focus. Mayfield is the one singing about not having the words to express some powerful feeling, but on this track, nearly 50 years after he recorded “The Makings of You,” someone else has found their words through him.

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Bob Dylan “Soon After Midnight”

I saw Bob Dylan live for the first time on the night before Thanksgiving. It was just one of those things where I knew I had to see him at least once, and the opportunity came up. I’m glad I did, it was as good as a show can be while also not quite being the thing I’d ideally want it to be. I did my research and knew exactly what I was getting into, so I couldn’t be disappointed that he no longer plays guitar, his voice is shot, and while he’ll play “Tangled Up In Blue,” it won’t really sound like “Tangled Up In Blue.” I don’t mean to damn with faint praise here: It’s a show that finds its own unique path to being good and fulfilling that doesn’t have a lot to do with familiarity.

I got to know the newer songs in Dylan’s set in advance of the show, and in doing that, fell in love with “Soon After Midnight” from his 2012 record Tempest. It’s a gentle ballad with touches of doo-wop and country music, and sounds like a scene lit with Hollywood moonlight. It starts off rather romantic – “I’m searching for phrases to sing your praises / I need to tell someone” – but as the song moves along, his words become increasingly sinister. I didn’t notice this at first. It’s so easy to get caught up in the enchanting effect of this song that even a phrase like “they’re lying there dying in their blood” seems lovely in context. The irony is intentional, of course: Dylan’s selling the earnest sentimentality and soft side of a brutal man. So even if it’s preceded by a cruel and dismissive line, the concluding phrase “it’s soon after midnight and I don’t want nobody but you” still comes off as a moment of genuine tenderness.

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Ratboys “Crying About the Planets” (AudioTree Session)

I’d meant to write about a song from the new Ratboys record months ago – the album came out in late June – but it fell off my radar for a while. But it makes sense to come back around to “Crying About the Planets” now, since it’s such a winter song. The first four minutes of the song are slow and quiet, evoking the near stillness of a landscape just after snowfall. There’s a cautiousness to its swaying rhythm, and the guitar tone is slight and brittle. Julia Steiner’s lyrics sketch out a story of a man falling beneath the ice of a frozen lake, and admit to that inspiring a suicidal fantasy. The key bit, though, is that she immediately clarifies that she does not actually want to die. But even with her insisting that she “can’t quit this,” the tone of the song is incredibly bleak. She sounds trapped and alone, and though the heavy climax of the song is a bit cathartic, it hardly sounds like a resolution to the feeling.

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U2 “American Soul”

The biggest problem with U2 records in the previous decade is that Bono seemed only partly engaged in half the material, a result of the band becoming a secondary concern to him while he was more invested in his philanthropic and political work. This was particularly evident on No Line on the Horizon, their worst album, and the band has admitted that the process of that record amounted to The Edge and the rhythm section building up tracks that Bono would add vocals and lyrics to when he had the opportunity to swing by the studio. They are competent enough to pull it together in the end, but the lack of total commitment is glaringly apparent in the music of a band whose best material connects because they’re so intensely passionate and earnest.

Songs of Experience is interesting to me in that it has flipped this dynamic. Bono sounds incredibly fired up on this record, and has a lot on his mind. They’ve been saying he’s had a recent “brush with mortality,” and that shows in his lyrics here – half the songs are written as though he’s trying to make sure certain sentiments get on record before it’s too late, and other half is essentially him begging people around the world not to give in to right wing extremism and fear-mongering. His messaging can get a bit wobbly, but the urgency and sincerity is both welcome and compelling.

The Edge, on the other hand, seems a bit lost. He’s become very fixated on making sure U2’s new material is “part of a current conversation that’s going in music culture,” which is essentially code for “we want to still get played on rock radio alongside Imagine Dragons and Portugal the Man and whatever other random major label rock band has squeezed into way into playlists.” And look, I get it! I totally understand where they’re coming from with this on a few levels. But the result of this anxiety is that The Edge has backed away from so much of what makes him a brilliant and unique musician that a lot of the songs on this new record only really sound like U2 because Bono is singing. And for what? Contrary to what he’s thinking, no amount of blunt power chord riffing is going to make anyone mistake U2 for a fresh young act. The musical comb-over is not going to work. Reducing the weird bits and pushing towards blandness is not going to score them a big hit single in 2017. U2, by virtue of the magnitude of their fame and popularity, will always command a certain amount of attention when they release a new record, and get some airplay out of respect and obligation. So why not embrace this, and try to stand out rather than blend in? If you want to be part of the conversation, then lead it for a change. Where is the dignity in showing up just to say “me too” when you’re a legit living legend?

“American Soul” is the most exciting song on Experience. The verses will be familiar to anyone who has heard Kendrick Lamar’s “XXX” – it’s the same refrain thing Bono sings in that song, but now it’s paired with an Edge riff that has a hyper-compressed tone similar to what he was doing on “Discotheque” two decades ago. On a lyrical level, “American Soul” is the culmination of about 30 years of Bono’s thinking about the idea of the United States, the roots of rock music, and the hard work of social progress. If you know Bono, you are very familiar with these themes – he’s in love with the concept of America and is heavily invested in the notion of the “melting pot,” and acknowledges rock and soul as American inventions. The core of this song is a reaction to Trumpism, and a rejection of that vision of America. But the admirable thing here, and on other tracks on the record, is that Bono isn’t dwelling on the past. He’s got his eye on the future, and thinking about how to move on from a dark time to something better. “There’s a promise in the heart of every good dream,” he sings. “It’s a call to action, not a fantasy.” As Bono calls for community, unity, and compassion, it’s as inspiring as he’s been in ages. You just have to forgive the goofy “Refu-Jesus” line at the end, that’s all.

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