#20: "If I Could Change Your Mind", HAIM
You might have thought it was strange that I had mentioned that the albums by Chvrches, Lorde, The National and HAIM were the ones I had listened to most this year when HAIM hadn't made an appearance on the countdown. Well, here is the first of their two big tracks for me this year (and they were at numbers 3 and 2 last year). The most talked about thing regarding this song was probably the video, choreographed by Fatima Robinson (most acclaimed for choreographing Mary J. Blige's "Family Affair" video back in the day). If you can't wait to find out what other HAIM track made the cut, feel free to cheat and scroll down.
#19: "Never Say Never", Basement Jaxx feat. ETML
I might go wire to wire on videos in this post - I'm suspicious that some of the page-loading issues of previous posts may be linked to the Soundcloud embeds. Maybe it's just the quantity. Who knows? While Avicii and "Turn Down for What?" dominated the Dance/EDM year-end charts on Billboard, it was "Never Say Never" that stole the top spot for 2014 on the Dance Club chart. I can see it. I'd like to think that if I still had ye olde DJ gig of 17 years ago, I could destroy the place with this song. Or maybe I'd have another beer bottle thrown at me. Again, who knows? This is the first of three entries on the list that were my favourite songs over the course of two months…it's only ranked this poorly as it came on the scene in July.
#18: "Ghosts 'n Stuff", deadmau5 feat. Rob Swire
Uploaded in 2009? Wow, I missed the boat on this song. deadmau5 has been a mainstay on my year-end lists (see: "The Veldt", "Raise Your Weapon", "Some Chords", "I Remember") but for whatever reason never heard this song until I was rolling through Vancouver this summer. Very strange. And now it's on top of my December list and #18 for the year.
#17: "Magic", Coldplay
I really, honestly, seriously and truly thought I was past the point in my life where Coldplay would be relevant to me. Then "Midnight" announced the release of Ghost Stories and somehow, the band caught my attention again. The second song I heard from the album was "Magic" and I still have a hard time believing that it was a lesser hit than the Avicii-produced "Sky Full of Stars". As far as I can tell, there are about a dozen artists I've seen more than once live and Coldplay is the only one still standing on my chart.
#16: "Marvin's Room", Sir Sly
So it seems that quite a few people have taken a shot at covering "Marvin's Room". There's something about what little instrumentation there is in this version that makes it go down so smoothly. Sir Sly just released their first full-length album in September and so far have only one alternative hit to their name ("Gold", 2013). This is my favourite song of theirs, although my favourite original material of theirs would be "Easy Now", a song that made my 2013 list.
#15: "Coffee", Sylvan Esso
These guys seemingly came out of nowhere this year and took music blogs by the throat. "Hey Mami" might be leaving more of a lasting impression with people, but "Coffee" was the supernova. Plus, it was one of the 1,482 songs performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this year. I have no idea what's next for Sylvan Esso, but I will be paying attention.
#14: "Skeleton Key", Kenzie May
I don't know much about Kenzie May, other than she was born in the U.S., is now based in London, has provided vocals for a few tracks (including my much listened-to "I'm Aquarius", by Metronomy, surprisingly) and has now released an EP featuring "Skeleton Key" alongside a track she released independently last year, "Hide & Seek". She's also contributed to the Mahogany Sessions, live recordings done by the Mahogany music blog (worth a look).
#13: "Pompeii", Bastille
This song was praised by music bloggers early last year, rose to the top of the Alternative chart by the end of the year and became a pop smash this year. I'm not sure things will ever be this good again for Bastille, but it's definitely been a nice ride with "Pompeii". Is this one of those songs that will still turn up on the radio in five years? Not sure, but I still find it immensely relistenable. That's not a word.
#32: "Honey & I", HAIM
This is pretty much the only song in this set of ten that really has no video on YouTube (aside from that looping thing for "Marvin's Room", I guess). However, there are a few live performances. Do be warned that their live sound is not nearly as polished as it is in the studio. Does this make them worse artists or more real because they are clearly singing whenever they're live? I'll go with option b.
#11: "New York Morning", Elbow
This veteran alt-rock band from England made their first big waves in North America this year and due largely to this song (and possibly its video, definitely my favourite of the year). "The Take Off and Landing of Everything" is their first album to crack the top half of the Billboard 200 (whatever that means these days) and became their first chart-topping album in the UK, Ireland and Belgium. I heart this song, dennis and lois.
For sticking with me this far, I'm going to throw you this bonus Elbow video, allegedly recorded live in a BBC Live Lounge Session. Not quite as highbrow as when they played the Closing Ceremony at the 2012 Olympics, but funny.
No comments:
Post a Comment