My 20 Favourite Tracks of 2009

OK, so once again I failed to do a top albums write-up. I dunno what it is, but whatever I write seems pretentious and uncomfortably gushing, so I'm shelving it for the time being. The "good" news is I managed to write some track review things. Here they are.

NOTE: I make no apologies for the hyperbole in this list. What can I say? There's been a whole lot of great music this year.

20. Local Natives
"Sun Hands"
I guess this has all been done before, and recently at that. Who cares? It's got drums that click into place just so, great harmonising and an overall nice warm feeling. Like a hug, yes.

19. Washed Out
"New Theory"
I guess this is "glo-fi" or whatever it is they're calling it. I don't really know. What I can confirm is that this song is seriously chilled. The hazy, lazy drum beat and shimmering vocals reminds me of dancing on the beach with friends, or at least it would if I'd ever done that.

18. Bombay Bicycle Club
"Always Like This"
I'm a sucker for nerdy, yearning vocals and quietly charming pop. So this song had me in a powerful grip less than thirty seconds in.

17. Four Tet
"Love Cry (Joy Orbison Remix)"
That multi-coloured button artwork on the vinyl release, juxtaposed with the unbroken rainbow of the original version, perfectly represents this remix. Joy Orbison has shredded every aspect of the smooth original track, and emerged with a beautifully pitched, vibrant remix.

16. Fever Ray
"Keep The Streets Empty For Me"
All of Fever Ray's self-titled debut is claustrophobic and wonderfully creepy. Truth be told, picking one song to represent the bunch was an exercise akin to picking names out of a hat. Every track on the album is excellent. If you're unfamiliar, this is as good a place to start as any.

15. Passion Pit
"Little Secrets"
As if Passion Pit's music wasn't sweet enough, they went and added a bunch of children joyously chanting to the chorus of their best single. If I were a policeman trying to convince someone not to jump from the roof, I'd just play them this at full blast. It would work a treat, trust me.

14. Bibio
"Jealous of Roses"
Lithe, funky and sepia-toned, "Jealous of Roses" was the highlight of Bibio's autumnal Ambivalence Avenue. A short but brilliant track.

13. HEALTH
"Die Slow"
LCD Soundystem proved you could combine punk and dance music, but what happens when you mix noise rock with the more demented side of electronic music? You get "Die Slow", one of the most storming, insane tracks of the year.

12. Animal Collective
"What Would I Want? Sky"
Merriweather Post Pavilion was the critics' darling this year, and yeah, it's a great record, blah blah. Seemingly left in the dust was AC's superb follow-up EP, Fall Be Kind. While not a huge step outside their comfort zone (if indeed they have one), "What Would I Want? Sky" is a reminder that one of the decade's most-loved experimental bands isn't done innovating. Here's hoping they'll churn out gorgeous music well into the 2010s.

11. Delorean
"Seasun"
Man oh man, this is a tune and a half. To be a little more eloquent, it basically has everything you might want in a dance track. Handclaps! House piano hooks! Soaring vocals! Delicious summery vibe! Yep, it rules.

10. The Big Pink
"Dominos"
I thought this song was all set to become the next British ANTHEM, but it doesn't seem to have made it much further than a few clubs and that Xbox advert. Regardless, it rocks and may well cause you to dance and yell like an idiot. Like all the best dancefloor songs, then.

09. Wild Beasts
"All The King's Men"
Most of Two Dancers is more obviously strange than this single, with songs about hooliganism and rape and boots up arseholes. On first listen, "All The King's Men" seems more like basic, likeable, strident guitar rock. Well, that's true, but the fact that behind the veil is a Mangum-esque rumination on sex, birth and dreams is the icing on the cake.

08. Röyksopp
"You Don't Have A Clue"
Some of our UK starlets could do with a lesson from these Danes in how to make strong, full-blooded pop music. Not only is it expertly constructed and charming as hell, the whole thing is draped in a wistful, late-night atmosphere that is impossible to resist.

07. Dirty Projectors
"Useful Chamber"
Personally, I wouldn't consider Bitte Orca a contender for album of the year. Musically it's fascinating and often brilliant, but it veers into self-indulgent and irritating territory a little too often for my liking. On occasion though, Dave Longstreth and co. strike gold, like with this experimental, woozy gem of a song.

06. Girls
"Lust for Life"
It's nice to hear a song about desire that isn't pretentious or overwrought. "Lust for Life" jumps that hurdle by focusing on the little things. Sure, Christopher Owens wants a significant other, but he'd also like a pizza, a beach house to share with friends and a bottle of wine. Ah, don't we all?

05. Neko Case
"People Got A Lotta Nerve"
Forget about Florence and her caterwaul, Neko is a strong contender for the best voice in modern music. Make no mistake, it's powerful, but also perfectly controlled. When backed up by accomplished musicians and intelligent lyrics, the result is overwhelmingly wonderful.

04. Memory Tapes
"Bicycle"
For pure aural pleasure, it doesn't get a whole lot better than this. The way the music perfectly evokes the scene described in the lyrics, the effortless shifting from verse to ecstatic bridge and back to verse again, the way Hawk's voice melds perfectly with the percussion and wavering synth line. Finally, there's that guitar at the end. The buildup is sweet, the release is euphoric. I grin like an idiot every time.

03. Atlas Sound
"Walkabout (ft. Noah Lennox)"
Maybe I'm a little biased? This song is, after all, a collaboration between two of my favourite artists in modern music. If it was a bad song though, I'd be honest with you. Luckily, it totally rules, easily standing with the best from both singers' catalogues. I pretty much kept it on repeat all of August, and I'd struggle to find a better soundtrack to summer.

02. Grizzly Bear
"Two Weeks"
I'm not sure there's such a thing as a perfect song. In any case, I'd certainly hesitate to label any piece of music as such, but goddamn was I tempted with this one. So, so tempted.

01. Phoenix
"1901"
Indie and pop are two of the vaguest genres going, both capable of producing beauty and utter crap. With the similarly vague hybrid genre, Indiepop, the latter is arguably in woeful abundance. If you've lost your faith, just listen to the insanely catchy, anthemic "1901", and all will be well in your world.

16

No time for a proper post tonight I'm afraid, I've got a 1500-word essay due in tomorrow afternoon and I've barely broken the 500 mark. Panic mode is not yet engaged, but rest assured it is a mere few hours away.

So anyway, today I..

-Listened to Album by Girls again. I can still heartily endorse it.

-Got excited about Four Tet's forthcoming album, due in January. First single "Love Cry" is streamable from his MySpace (sorry, no time for links!). I found it rather lovely, and have been aching for new material from Four Tet, so I went ahead and ordered the vinyl single off Bleep. It looks colourful.

-Went to work and while there listened to Arcade Fire's Funeral (undoubtedly one of the albums of the decade) and the new Flaming Lips record, Embryonic. If you haven't listened yet, it's one of the rawest and most visceral albums I've had the pleasure of hearing recently. It's a double album too, and double albums are never this exciting.

-Got back from work and buried my head in my hands. It's gonna be a late one tonight for me, so some minimal techno and strong coffee is in order I think.

See you tomorrow!

15

So there's this kinda new band from San Francisco. Their album came out about six weeks ago, and it goes by the name of.. Album. Crazy titling, I know. Oh, and the band are called Girls, despite being made up of two guys. So yeah, searching for them online was fun (also on the unsearchable band list: !!! and WHY?).

Anyway, what's the deal with Girls? Well, besides an interesting backstory (singer Owens grew up in the Children of God cult, and had a pretty screwed-up childhood as a result), they've released one of the best albums of the year. It's hard to put a finger on what exactly makes it so good to be honest, I can only bleat uselessly about how good it makes me feel. Even when plumbing depths of wretched emotion, Album always rides with a glimmer of hope and awe. At its most exhilirating points, such as in wonderful opener "Lust for Life", it's a serious rush.

Unsurprisingly, most of the album is about, well, girls. By extension, it examines friendship, youth, despair and joy. This is well-trodden ground, but Owens' lyrics are sharp enough, and his voice evocative enough, that it never feels stale. Both band members are accomplished musicians, swinging through takes on sunshine pop, shoegaze, Buddy Holly-esque rock and more with consummate ease (epic centrepiece "Hellhole Ratrace" even has shades of post-rock).

Basically, Girls rule. Listen to them. They're on Spotify, I checked =)

The gauntlet

Have you heard of NaBloPoMo? No, me neither until a few minutes ago. It has its own website and everything, but the gist of it is anyone participating has to blog once a day for all of November. I thought hey, why not. I haven't blogged since April (or even come close, if I'm honest), and need to get started again somehow. So, here goes.

I'm a bit too tired to write up anything like a proper review, but I saw Passion Pit live in Southampton a couple of nights ago and may as well talk about it a bit.

I got into Passion Pit into a big way back in May of this year. Well, I almost did. After picking up the EP and being thoroughly charmed, I bought the album with high hopes. While not a bad record by any stretch of the imagination, Manners just didn't grab me, despite being built from solid and likeable electropop. Maybe it just couldn't stack up with the many other great releases this year (of which I'll get to in about six weeks' time), or maybe Passion Pit have some growing to do before they make a truly great album.

Anyway, I digress. The goodwill built up from Chunk of Change EP (plus the stellar "Little Secrets") was enough to make me and a few friends take the train to see them live at Southampton Uni. In a word, the gig was good. The affable and polite Passion Pit put on an enjoyable show which, in its best moments, had the crowd jumping about and yelling along with wide-eyed admiration. My only real gripe is that singer Michael Angelakos' high-pitched, emotive voice - what turned me onto Passion Pit in the first place - was occasionally indisctinct and too low in the mix, which somewhat dulled the effect of songs such as "I've Got Your Number". Regardless, it was a great set.

Credit where credit is due: The two support acts were also very entertaining. We only caught the last two songs of The Joy Formidable's set, but they seemed enthusiastic and agreeably heavy. Second support act was Max Tundra, and my my, did he impress me. Having known virtually nothing about him before arriving at the gig, I was initially surprised to see an unassuming, friendly man standing behind an array of what looked like toy keyboards. Once the music kicked in though, it was a treat - an irresistible combo of offbeat lyrics, slippery rhythms and skittery percussion. Highly recommended, if you get a chance to see him.

Well, that about does it for now! Back tomorrow? Hopefully.

Free mixtapes

As you may or may not know, this Saturday just gone (18th April) was Record Store Day. An international event, the basic idea was that a bunch of record labels sent out limited singles, live EPs, rarities discs and that sort of thing to independent record stores all over the world. The majority of participating stores were in America, but there was a sprinkling of others dotted about the globe, including, quite incredibly, three in my home county of Wiltshire.

Over the last few years, as I've slowly developed a passion for music, I've come to lament the lack of an independent record shop where I live (there was one in my hometown once, but it closed many moons ago, and there's only HMV where I go to uni). Of course, I don't need one. Through high street shops, online stores and eBay I can get my hands on pretty much any album I want to. All that's really missing is the personal touch. I savour the few occasions that someone serving me in HMV recognises the album I'm buying. In an independent place, you'd likely get that a whole lot more.

So anyway, last Saturday I was heading down to Salisbury anyway, and decided to take a look at the participating store there (StandOut Records - it's a nice place, with a section at the back dedicated to house, techno, DnB and "weird shit" vinyls). I bought a limited Smiths single, had a flick through the album racks and generally enjoyed the atmosphere. I was handed a couple of free CDs at the till as well, which I'll never complain about. It felt oddly sad though, as if I was somehow being bribed into coming back. The truth is that unless I had tracked down something elusive (example: when after a long search I found Person Pitch by Panda Bear in an independent store in Brighton for £12 - happy days), I wouldn't willingly spend £11-20 on an album, and as year by year it gets increasingly easier to find the music you want online, is there really a place for the independent record shop in the modern world? While they still exist, they are increasingly, unfortunately, becoming irrelevant, and I'm pretty sure the mainstream consumer doesn't really care either way. With each passing generation people will care less and less about the plight of these stores - if they are even aware of them at all, and I can't help but feel that gestures like Record Store Day just won't cut it in the long run. Regardless, it's a cause well worth supporting. All I can say is that it'd be nice to someday take my kids to the local record shop.

Comments/thoughts/debate welcome, if you're reading.

Intermission/Recommended listening

It's been a while, I know. I intended to use this blog to write about all the different music I listen to or hear about, which is usually fairly varied. Unfortunately, over the last few months I've pretty much just listened to Animal Collective (with splashes of other stuff I'll detail further down), and since I reviewed their new album for my last post I thought I'd leave them be for a bit.

Anyway, to the hypothetical reader who has spent the last several weeks wringing their hands in despair, I'm back! To my real, admittedly tiny readership, here's another post. Not a proper post per se, more a quick rundown of what I've been listening to of late. I call it recommended listening, because there isn't really a more exciting way of putting it.

Animal Collective
Feels
[FatCat, 2005]
May as well get this out of the way first. Since "discovering" the wonderful Animal Collective late last year, I've been slowly working through their back catalogue. They are a consistently excellent and inventive group of musicians, and Feels is a perfect example of this. Part warped sunshine pop, part drifting clouds of strange sound, the album is built on awkward guitar plucking, bizarre lyrics (all of which are about love, one way or another), bashed drums and of course, copious yelping. A beautiful, atmospheric album.

Deerhunter
Microcastle
[Kranky/4AD, 2008]
If the production on My Bloody Valentine's Loveless is a little too dense and murky for you (don't tell Creation Records, it cost them a lot of money), then perhaps Microcastle is for you. Deerhunter's epic shares the soft vocals, flat percussion and focus on guitars that shoegaze music is famous for, but mixes these elements together in a manner rather more palatable for the average ear. Microcastle often soars, and some might accuse it of being overwrought, but it is never anything but an intimate listen.

Neko Case
Middle Cyclone
[ANTI-, 2009]
I'm all for experimentation, weird sounds and ridiculous beats and all of that. Sometimes though, all you really need is a man or woman with a bloody incredible voice. "Case" in point (haha) is Neko here, who sings tales of sentient tornadoes, prison life and magpies with a voice that could make statues shiver (couldn't resist the hyperbole, sorry). More to the point, her considerable talents are not overused like so many supposed "country" singers, but instead weighted just right. Often gentle, she unleashes a full-throated belt very rarely, but it counts when she does.

Daft Punk
Alive 2007
[Virgin, 2007]
If I ever meet someone who doesn't like Daft Punk, I will.. er, well I'll be extremely surprised. Live album, greatest hits and DJ mashup all at once, Alive 2007 is a great party album. Familiar beats and samples pop up everywhere, tracks wind in and out of each other, songs from opposite ends of their career matching up as if they were made on the same day. What's more, this is one of few live albums where the atmosphere of the captured performance somehow carries through. An addictive, euphoric listen.

So yeah, those are all good treats! I'll be back within less than two months this time, promise.

11

Righto, it's February, and I really need to get on with this blog properly. Firstly, I've given up on posting my top albums of '08, for these reasons:

a) It's taking me far too long to write and I want to concentrate on proper, meaty posts now that we're well into 2009.
b) After doing twenty track write-ups, I'm kinda sick of lists at the minute.
c) There are no albums in my Top 10 by artists not already mentioned in the tracks list, and I would surely end up repeating myself.
d) Hmm.. there is no d.

The scraps of the Top 10 I have written will probably be made into a proper list a few months down the line (likely when I'm stuck for other ideas), by which point it'll be more of a retrospective, but hey, never too late to discover good music.

Anyway, here is the first of what will hopefully become a regular feature in 2009: A record review!

Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavilion
[Domino, 2009]

Album titles don't have to mean a lot if you don't want them to. A lot of my favourite albums have bloody stupid titles (I mean, what the hell is a "soft bulletin"?), but as long as the music holds up I can happily forgive it. Merriweather Post Pavilion, however, is one of the most apt album titles I have heard in a long time. Named after an outdoors Maryland venue that the band frequented as teens, they themselves have said that just the word "merriweather" has great resonance for them. It means outdoors music - grandiose and uplifting songs you would listen to while lying in long grass, watching clouds drift lazily past the sun. Animal Collective, you see, have made a beautiful and fulfilling summer record.

This is not to suggest that MPP is a pointless listen during the winter months (I've been listening obsessively for a good two weeks, and as of today I need ice skates to go to the shops), rather it is a record so drenched in sunshine and joy that it brings summer to you, all balmy breezes and fields of flowers.

Opening track "In The Flowers" sets the mood perfectly, a hazy and shimmering vision of dancing in a beautiful field. Avey Tare's yearning vocals intertwine with distant handclaps and twinkling keys, building to an explosion of pounding percussion mixed with pure euphoria. The song eventually calms down again, but it is near impossible not to smile right through to the final beautiful line - "now I'm gone/I left flowers for you there".

If this all sounds a bit wishy-washy to you, then let me reassure you that MPP is rich with emotion. Animal Collective have always been good at extracting beauty and heart from the mundane, and on MPP this is more apparent than ever. "My Girls" and "Brother Sport" (both sung by Panda Bear) are two songs merely about looking after your family, and the importance of keeping them going. "Brother Sport" in particular is a highlight, combining familiar abstract vocal trickery with a full-on sonic assault encompassing sirens, digital squiggles and hypnotic percussion.

Other standouts include "Summertime Clothes" a lyrically bizarre ("my bed is a pool and the wall's on fire") but ultimately very sweet ode to summer love, and the dreamily romantic "Bluish". The latter initially feels a little out of place on an AC album, but it soon feels wonderful and natural.

If there is a fault with Merriweather Post Pavilion, it's that it may initially seem more appealing to newcomers than longtime fans. Coming after an album that included songs about digging up ancient monsters and getting stoned after doing the housework, MPP's simple themes of family, romance and happiness may seem rote and dull. Vocally as well, this album is lacking in the screams and yelps that defined songs like "Grass" and "Fireworks", and fans may miss this peculiar but arresting method of vocal delivery. These differences, coupled with the fact that it's a long album composed of long songs, mean MPP is initially overwhelming and a little trying to listen to. Have patience, though, and Animal Collective's trademark sense of whimsy and relentless shaping of sound into all shapes and colours shines through. Most of all, their sense of awe at all life and the world provides is as prominent as always, and perhaps more potent than ever before.

Jesus Fucking Christ

So I finally got the Best Tracks list up - was only over the last couple of days I managed to knuckle down and do it, and it feels good to have it finished.

Of course, you may have noticed the formatting looks like shit and the font, size etc. is all different to before. That's not intentional, but blogspot has decided to act like a dick and refuse to publish my post the way I want it. If I can ever figure out why then I'll try and fix it, but in the meantime it's stuck that way. Grr.

Still have the Top 10 Albums list to go, hoping to tackle that over the weekend. Have an essay to do now though.

Bye for now!

Best Tracks of 2008 #10-01

Unsurprisingly, I am already way behind schedule, and now hoping to finish these lists before the end of 2009, having missed my previous deadline by over a week. Here we go with the Top 10 Tracks:

10: M83

"Kim & Jessie"

[Mute]
Pretty much everyone who's heard it agrees - Saturdays = Youth is a great album. Similarly, these same people nodded and declared "Kim & Jessie" the finest track on the album. Naturally, and stupidly, it was my first instinct to stick a more left-field choice in the Top 10. Sparse but lovely "Skin of the Night" perhaps, or maybe the sombre "Too Late". I even briefly considered opening track "You, Appearing" (which, while divine, doesn't really work as a standalone song).

It was only after a dig through my recent memory that I remembered it was this song that I first fell in love with - after buying the album on a total whim - and that I still return to time and again. I listen to the whole album lots, of course, but this one song remains a permanent fixture in playlists and mix CDs some nine months on. If this is the "new" sound for M83 - epic, heartfelt, windswept, and very '80s, then "Kim & Jessie" is surely the new quintessential M83 track.

09: Hercules and Love Affair
"Blind"
[DFA]
Before 2008, it was no secret that Antony Hegarty had one of the strongest and most unique voices in modern music. Whether anyone but Hercules creator Andy Butler knew that it was also a perfect fit for disco is another matter, but nowhere is the brilliance of that pairing more apparent than on this single. Most people would agree that great music should either move your heart or move your feet. By this thinking, any song that manages both should be fine indeed, and upon listening to "Blind" you may find it hard to argue. Together, Butler and Hegarty craft a song of such seductive passion and unbridled emotion it is difficult to resist, and once inside you won't want to leave (a good thing for a song over 6 minutes long). What's more, you'll feel like dancing like it's 1979.

08: Animal Collective
"Seal Eyeing"
[Domino]
Animal Collective's brief but gorgeous 2008 release succeeded in feeling as epic as their recent full-length albums. In just under 20 minutes, it winds through breezy meditations on water, wanders down moonlit city streets, dives into echoing caverns, before finally bubbling out into a clear and beautiful lagoon. That lagoon is closing track "Seal Eyeing", a gentle piano ballad comprising melting shores, swimming in sunshine and the fragility of nature. Compared to his usual abrasive style of vocals, here Avey Tare sounds calm and at peace, with the air of someone entranced by a scene of utmost beauty. The combination of fluttery piano, sighing vocals and melted ambient sound will make you feel much the same way.

07: Conor Oberst
"Sausalito"
[Merge]
As an accomplished and experienced young musician, Conor Oberst is no stranger to the road song. 2005's aptly-titled "Another Travelin' Song" from I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning proved this. However, while that song was an angry and confused rant from a tormented heart, "Sausalito" finds the songwriter more relaxed. Much like sister track "Moab" on the same album, this is a song all about redemption and healing on the road, and the promise of a new and better life elsewhere. More than just a dream of far-off happiness, here Oberst revels in the beauty of travelling the beaten path, and of escape.

06: Crystal Castles
"Vanished"
[Last Gang]
Much of Crystal Castles output so far is of the shouty variety of electronic music, and that's all well and good. For my money though, their real talent lies in more restrained pieces, the tracks that are more concerned with subtle modulations than shock or impact. "Vanished" is hypnotic in its use of a single sound. Lonely and icy sounding, yet comforting, it is pitched up and down, stretched and punctuated with clear thudding percussion. Beautiful even without the accompanying lyrics, as a whole it is spellbinding to the last desolate line.

05: Kings of Leon
"Sex on Fire"
[RCA]
Perhaps in thirty years' time, music historians will examine 2008 and note it was the year that Kings of Leon transformed from popular rock band to global phenomenon. The reason is "Sex on Fire". While the Tennessee quartet have rarely been a band of subtle pleasures, this single takes the latent epic quality of their music and kicks it into overdrive. While not their best song, it outstrips the rest of their discography in terms of pure fun, practically commanding the listener to jump around and shout along. Their new glossy production style may not work on every track, but here it is perfect, bringing Caleb's vocals high up in the mix, while the backing instruments lock together in brilliant unison. Yet despite the rigid production, it is not a boring song. In fact, it's one of the most exciting of their career.

04: Hot Chip
"Ready for the Floor"
[EMI]
Hot Chip started their career with an endearing take on hip-hop, and on second album The Warning they successfully applied that same style to electro music. Twin singles "Boy From School" and "Over and Over" successfully proved they could conquer both the heart and the dancefloor respectively, but "Ready for the Floor" is perhaps the ultimate combination of the band's two distinctive sides. While there is nothing overtly emotional about this track, it is perhaps the sweetest and most earnest dance song you will ever hear. While many tracks on The Warning were tongue-in-cheek aggressive, here Hot Chip remain confident but dispose of the threats, instead offering a wholly charming pop tune that not only commands you to dance, but also to smile. No.1 guys indeed.

03: Four Tet
"Ribbons"
[Domino]

Much of the music that comes under the broad ambient/techno/IDM/downtempo umbrella works well as both background sound and something to be actively listened to, and while "Ribbons" is certainly dreamy sounding, its gentle layering and building of different sounds demands to be unthreaded and picked apart in your head. Kieran Hebden is an expert at sprinkling his tracks with delicious blips, bubbles and drips of noise. On "Ribbons" though, the listener is positively spoilt. Each bassy thud, every ambient splash is a joy for the ears. A piece of music to be savoured.

02: Vampire Weekend
"M79"
[XL]

Despite having gone on for decades, it still feels somewhat novel to hear a rock aesthetic paired with sweeping strings. When done as effortlessly as Vampire Weekend manage, the result is positively delightful. A brilliant song in its own right, it is the giddy string refrain that makes "M79", swooping in and out of the track with a heady joy. Combined with the four-piece's remarkably full sound and Koenig's colourful lyrics, it provides the apex of the album and an undeniable statement of talent. Mediocre indie bands, pay attention.

01: Fleet Foxes
"White Winter Hymnal"
[Sub Pop]

The best song of 2008 isn't an indicator of musical trends, nor is it a cultural or political signpost. Like the rest of the album, "White Winter Hymnal" seems to almost exist outside of our time. Not only does it sound like it could have been made at any time since the advent of popular music, it sounds like it could have existed at any point in human history. The lyrics, abstract though they may be, are truly universal - the joy of life, the passage of seasons and the inexorable encroach of death. Everything passes, all things die, singer Pecknold seems to suggest, and yet he and his band have crafted a song so achingly beautiful and essential that its own end seems impossible. Here is a song that soundtracks human existence, and deserves to last just as long.

Best Tracks of 2008 #15-11

15: Fleet Foxes
"He Doesn't Know Why"
[Sub Pop]
Fleet Foxes invest their music with such emotion and grandeur that merely a whisper or a pluck is enough to make me shiver. Their debut is an epic canvas so awash with feeling it sometimes threatens to overwhelm, and nowhere is this more apparent than in this beautiful track. Like most of the album, it paints an abstract narrative without piling on unnecessary detail, the backbone provided by Pecknold's moving refrain, "I didn't understand". From the first verse, it builds and builds, until finally you feel cleansed and happy. Cathartic.

14: Bloc Party
"Ion Square"
[self-released]
It's ironic that, in an album where Bloc Party pushed both their musical and lyrical boundaries more than ever before, it is the track that sounds most like "old" Bloc Party that is also the best. Like most of their best songs, "Ion Square" is about love. This time though, it's the happy side. For over 6 minutes, Kele sings with palpable love and affection of a relationship that, oddly, appears to be going just fine. That may sound boring to you, but chances are if it does you wrote off Bloc Party a long time ago. Lyrically, this is as beautiful a song as Okereke has ever written, even if the most affecting line is cribbed from an E.E. Cummings poem.

13: Foals
"Big Big Love (Fig. 2)"
[Transgressive Records]
After being the British band to watch for at least a couple of years, everyone seemingly stopped caring about Foals the moment they released an album. A great shame, as they all missed out on gems such as this. Odd title aside, "Big Big Love" is a spare, hypnotic track. Yannis spins an abstract yarn of love and towers, of electric shocks and cracked hearts. His voice is distant, as if singing from another time. The instrumentation remains sparse throughout, only as clear as it needs to be. The result is a mesmerising song that will hold you in its thrall for far longer than its running time.

12: Kings of Leon
"Closer"
[RCA]
I shouldn't have been surprised by Only By The Night. In hindsight, the line from lo-fi southern kicks to stadium anthems is straight and clear as an arrow. All the same, Nathan Followill's opening drums - crisp and clean as a full moon - initially took me aback. Luckily, it also enthralled me, and combined with understated guitar and frankly epic lyrics made it into both a fine first track and a decent statement of intent. While I'm still not entirely sure about the Kings' new direction (for my money, their best work was on albums 2 and 3), if they continue to write songs like this then I'm behind them all the way.
Plus, it's about friggin' vampires. Need I say more?

11: MGMT
"Electric Feel"
[Columbia]
I don't believe MGMT are pioneers, saviours, geniuses, or any of those other hyperbolic terms the NME wheel out every five minutes. However, on occasion they can bust out a bloody fine song. While their epic, anthemic side is well-demonstrated on singles "Kids" and especially "Time to Pretend", second single "Electric Feel" was unfairly left on the wayside. A great shame, as it combines the widescreen quality of the rest of the album with a thoroughly danceable tune. Much like the video, it is beautifully hazy - the kind of song you would dance to in a dream - with enough kick to the percussion to be energetic. Finally, like all the best music, it sounds incredible when played as loud as possible.