For the “Best Songs of…” portion of my annual music review I thought I’d put together a playlist on Spotify and provide a link to it. Below you’ll find an embedded playlist of 50 great songs from the year. This isn’t necessarily a list of the top 50 songs – it’s just too hard to rank all the individual songs. Instead, I made a rule that I could only pick one song per artist and then just started grabbing the songs I listened to most or that stood out to me. Finally, for a little context, I’ve added some editorial comments on a few of the songs.
Best wishes to all on 2013 and I hope you find some music that you enjoy.
Best Songs of 2012 Playlist
“Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant,” Diamond Rugs – Given the season I thought I should start off with a holiday song. Sad Christmas songs being one of my favorite sub-sub-genres, this closing track on the Diamond Rugs album stood out to me. (Although it’s tough to match the bar set by the Tom Wait’s classic in this category.)
“Longevity,” Yeasayer – This could be my #1 song of the year – at least it has been for the last couple months. Gotta love the striding bass line combined with the staggering keyboard hook.
“Same Love,” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Some might say it verges on sappy, but I think the message is piercing enough to drive through the cynicism and strike a deep cord.
“Brothers,” Tanlines – A lot of similarities with “Longevity” but a little more electronic/dance.
“Plumage,” Menomena – Hand-clapping, foot-tapping opening track from this Portland band’s new album. If you’re a Gorillaz’s fan, I think you might like this.
“The Magic Clap,” The Coup – Speaking of hand-clapping… This song should come with a surgeons general warning: may cause earworms.
“Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings,” Father John Misty – The spacy, melancholy vibe combined with the subterranean beat made for a hook I couldn’t resist – and the songwriting on the entire album is engrossing.
“Deer Creek Canyon,” Sera Cahoone – Sera Cahoone has an amazing voice. Regretfully I have to say the producers on this new album didn’t help much by playing with it – adding an extra touch of reverb, echo or something that just isn’t needed. (Check out her 2008 album Only As the Day Is Long for comparison.) Regardless, this is still a beautiful song.
“If I Needed You,” Andrew Bird – Always a busy man, Bird put out a full-length album and two EP’s this year. All of them are great. (His album was on the cusp of my “Best of…” list and I may regret leaving it off.) But this track off his EP of folk songs is a true stand-out gem.
“Birmingham,” Shovels & Rope – Another band in that crowded folk-rock genre but a great combination of modern song structure with a sound that could have rolled in from a 1930’s radio set.
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