#60: "Chamakay", Blood Orange
Pitchfork went and named Blood Orange's "You're Not Good Enough" as one of the best music videos of the year. I'm confused. I kind of thought it was a joke. In any case, I love the retro 80s R&B feel of Dev Hynes a.k.a. Blood Orange. A lot of people want to collaborate with him now, so his star is definitely on the rise.
#59: "Riptide", Vance Joy
This is actually the second song on the list to feature the word "riptide" in the lyrics. Now you have to go back again and listen to the rest:) Now that Vance is slated to open for T Swizzle on her massive tour, Top 40 radio is deeming "Riptide" worthy of spins. It will be interesting to see if he can parlay all of this attention into something Sheeranesque.
#58: "Chandelier", Sia
This song is so short, so simple, but also so well written. I've been championing Sia for years so it was nice to see her get a ton of exposure (except that she's the type of person who doesn't necessarily want exposure). Prior to this year, Sia had a lone Grammy nomination to her name. This year, she tacked on another four so maybe this will be the year for her to take home a trophy.
#57: "Sing", Ed Sheeran
Pharell Williams certainly had the magic touch this year. This song dropped just as "Happy" was falling off and it helped catapult Ed Sheeran and his album X into the stratosphere. Given how this song exploded onto the scene, I was surprised that it failed to hit the top 10 on major charts and that "Don't" was the song to eventually do the trick. We'll have to see if Sheeran fatigue sets in over the coming months.
#56: "Emanate", Phoria
The sonic blast at the end of this song doesn't quite fit for me, but the first 75% of the song is amazing. This is the lead single off their third studio album. Actually, their Wiki entry is fairly interesting; you can link to it here.
#55: "Do What U Want", Lady Gaga feat. R. Kelly
What would happen if R. Kelly insisted asked Tony Bennett to "Turn the mic up". This is the second of five songs to rank on the best-of lists from both 2013 and 2014 and still stands as an amazing jam. Now if only Michael Buble and Diana Krall would cover it.
#54: "Buzzcut Season", Lorde
Well, I've finally broken the seal on Lorde tracks. One of the biggest albums of last year generated "Royals" and "Team" on last year's recap and three other songs also make an appearance this year. I was fortunate enough to catch the first half of Lorde's set at the Ottawa Folkfest (until my son passed out on my shoulders) and she was pretty solid. Her Coachella set this year was also quite good.
#53: "Hunger of the Pine", alt-J
After my infatuation with An Awesome Wave, I expected a lot out of This is All Yours. For now, I'm a little disappointed, but I'm sure I just haven't listened to the album enough to get it. Or maybe it's just weaker. At the very least, I don't think I'll ever get into the current single, "Left Hand Free".
#52: "Help Me Lose My Mind", Disclosure feat. London Grammar
One of my two favourite tracks from Disclosure's Settle (the other being "Latch", which was featured near the top of my 2013 list). This is yet another 2013/2014 straddler and was destined to be huge, given my love of these two artists.
#51: "Budapest", George Ezra
This song had a strange trajectory in my household. I heard it. I liked it. I liked it a lot. I played it for my wife. She liked it more. She put it on repeat and then the kids got addicted. My three year-old started requesting it. My oldest child wanted to know what a "castillo" was. Then I got burned out on the song in short order. Four months later, it surfaces on alternative radio and the kids go bananas when they hear it again.
#50: "Sleepwalking", Chain Gang of 1974
And here's the other song from GTA 5. In fact, it seems that this song was featured in the trailer. Not that I believe I ever saw it. Another retro-feeling tune that hearkens back to the 80s, this was constantly getting cranked in my sweet ride (minivan, not stolen) all spring long.
#49: "Lost on the Way Home", Chromeo feat. Solange
Was the Elevator Fiasco really just this past year? Weird. It feels like that was quite some time ago and that Jay-Z and Beyonce have broken up and gotten back together a couple of times since then. Chromeo secretly had a pretty big year, with "Jealous" getting some attention all over North America. Heads up, this is not their biggest song of the year for me.
#48: "Younger", Seinabo Sey
It's been way too long since we've heard from a Swede (way back at #77: Junip). Seinabo Sey came out of nowhere this year and has released a bunch of interesting material. I've heard "Hard Time" on network TV and "Pistols at Dawn" is popping up on an awful lot of music blogs right now. But it was "Younger", featuring the production team behind Mapei's "Don't Wait", that got everything started. Kygo's remix seems to be the more popular track online, but I'm going back to the original on this one. Is it strange that one of my favourite parts of the song is the 6-second pregnant pause at 1:10?
#47: "I Need My Girl", The National
And the National is back for more. This is the second of three tracks on the list and is definitely one of the highlights of Trouble Will Find Me.
#46: "Went to War", Amason
The fourth of five 2013/2014 best-ofs, we're going back to Sweden to hear from this supergroup of indie musicians that, just like Galantis, features an ex-member of Miike Snow. This was a monster song for me and would have been well inside the top 10 of the year if it ran summer-to-summer.
#45: "Heavenly Father", Bon Iver
I had been starving for some Bon Iver and, unlike the alt-J experience, I am not disappointed one bit in their first material in a couple of years. "Heavenly Father" was featured in the Zach Braff's Kickstarted film Wish I Was Here. I heard the movie stunk so I'll just have to be content with this song from the soundtrack.
#44: "Mess is Mine", Vance Joy
More Vance! "Riptide" was a cute and a nice way to grab attention (that uke!), but this is the real meat. He had me at clap track. If Vance Joy can really cross over, then this might be playing all over the place next spring.
#43: "The Journey", Tom Misch
The first of only two truly instrumental tracks on the 2014 list, "The Journey" is one smooth number. Tom Misch seems to be hailed as the second doming by a number of blogs. I've listened to a few of his pieces, some instrumental and some featuring his or other people's vocals, and this is by far the standout.
#42: "Old Pine", Ben Howard
Oddly enough, I found out about this song thanks to someone who commented below George Ezra's "Budapest" video on YouTube that the song reminded them of "Old Pine". Not totally sure I see it. It's funny, though, that "Old Pine" ended up outdoing "Budapest" on the countdown. I still blame the kids.
#41: "I Owe You This", Chad Valley feat. Twin Shadow
Another weird find. In 2012, I fell for Chad Valley's "Fall 4 U" from his debut album Young Hunger. For some reason I never found this song until I was looking for some more Twin Shadow material following my discovery of "Old Love/New Love". In the end, "I Owe You This" is 7 spots higher up the list than "Fall 4 U" got in 2012. Who knows what track I'll stumble onto in 2016 from the same album?
No comments:
Post a Comment