Favorite Songs 2011

1. Grouper - "Alien Observer"
Beautiful song. I played this a whole lot this year over and over and over. Liz Harris proves you can do a lot with a little. Minimal repetition of a lonely guitar/organ figure and isolationist lyrics about being an alien in your own skin/own world/etc.


2. M83 - "Midnight City"
A dream pop song with a trashy sounding '80s sax solo. If you'd described "Midnight City" to me like this last year I would have said "no fucking way I would like something like that." This turned out to be one of many unbelievably excellent pop songs on M83's double album opus Hurry Up, We're Dreaming and if you think "Splendor" or "New Map" or "Intro" are better than this I'd be hard pressed to argue.


3. Tim Hecker - "The Piano Drop"
One of Hecker's finest moments. If you blast this and don't immediately want to hear Ravedeath, 1972 from start to finish you've got a stronger heart than mine. Shimmering guitar static that continually sounds like it's fading out only to completely overwhelm once more.


4. Ursula Bogner - "Sonne = Blackbox"
Imagine if you took some tin can vocal recordings from an old animated Walt Disney film and gave them to Delia Deryshire this is the kind of piece I think she would have made. Beautiful voices that hiccup and glitch out like sped up and slowed down tape loops.


5. Gang Gang Dance - "Mindkilla"
Siouxsie Sioux does rave.

http://soundcloud.com/mexicansummer/04-remember
6. Oneohtrix Point Never - "Remember"
Sorry no video for this one. Daniel Lopatin plays on the same malfunction of memory that James Kirby's entire album as The Caretaker did. Here it's done with a vocal sample that sputters the word "remember" over and over as a mantra. But what is the question?


7. Moon Wiring Club - "RSVP VIP Fresh"
Again no video and I couldn't even find a soundclip for this to post. Great track featuring what sounds like a Vincent Price sample. Simultaneously able to conjur evil while placing it in a setting from a children's cartoon.


8. John Maus - "Believer"
Unless he ends up doing something even more brilliant on his next album I'm going to call "Believer" Maus' answer to Ariel Pink's "Round and Round." While not quite reaching the level of bizarre that song did it still has a quality to it that is endearing in its own way. Kind of like Ian Curtis crooning into a wind tunnel.


9. Rihanna - "We Found Love"
Rihanna continues a streak of great singles. Your appreciation of which completely hinges on how much you like maximalist pop music. Another rave style single in the vein of "Only Girl (In The World)."


10. Kreayshawn - "Gucci Gucci"
This comes from a genre that I often lovingly refer to as "trash rap." Disposable hip hop. I played this repeatedly because it was quite funny. The video is funny too. It's just something to have a good time with. If you want to argue and try and make more of it than that then we'll have to agree to disagree.