Top 45 Songs of 2018 (#10–1)
10. Light it Up- Moon Hooch
Moon Hooch’s surreal version of EDM and dance comes by the way of two big-ass saxophones and an octopus indebted drummer. But the jazz always slinks back in somehow and “Light it Up,” off the improbably perfect EP of the same name, marries the two worlds in a way that nearly matches Moon Hooch’s feverish live show on wax. The opening few moments gently trick you into thinking the trio might actually make a straightforward jazz tune. Don’t be fooled by the coozy work. Soon enough they burst into flight, a cavalcade of cascading notes banging through the speakers at weapons grade quality. A back and forth of this goes on, until they unleash the opening melody an octave up and with an army of overdubs creating a full march of saxophones. If this don’t get ya off your seat, there is no helping you.
9. Bubblin’- Anderson .Paak
Delirious, James Bond-ass shit that takes a careful hint from Britney Spears’ “Toxic” and a heaping helping of bravado from Snoop Dog. In other words, the perfect canvas for Anderson .Paak to spray his trademarked version of excess all over the place. The Starsky and Hutch vibe beat, courtesy of Jahlil Beats, helps detail a familiar rise to fame story. But .Paak delivers the rags to riches like the carnival barker that Hugh Jackman could only dream of being. From the feverish video where .Paak has the stacks to buy two extra set of arms to the verse that goes “Imma need all the fries you can get me” .Paak’s like a kid in the world’s most expensive candy store with Daddy’s credit card safe in hand.
8. In My View- Young Fathers
Maybe it’s a bit too on the nose for a group called Young Fathers to be the best deconstructers of masculinity in modern music, but if it works, it works. The Scottish trio and self-proclaimed “psychedelic hip-hop boy band” has continued their wild musical mutation and came out with “In My View” their most regal and elegant song yet. Alloysious Massaquoi’s impossible versatility gives him and unparalleled power in his flexible tenor, shouting, pleading, mewling like Otis Redding in the year 2121.
“I wanna be king until I am” coos Gram “G” Hastings. Well, cheer up boys, because you are young kings.
7. Short Morgan- Ovlov
Fuzz-cult heroes Ovlov ran the gamut of every sound you could make out of a washed out amp. But “Short Morgan” was where they reproved their anthemic resume, bursting them into the echelons of Guided By Voices and Dino Jr.’s finest fist pumpers. Band leader Steve Hartlett said the song was focused on fighting through feelings of loneliness, and despite the minuscule run time (or perhaps because of it) it’s the near perfect ‘jump around your bedroom and get all the feels out,’ song.
6. The Ghost Ship- Farao
Like Gorillaz and The Knife covering each other with a Beyonce filter smacked on top. Hypnotic with stuttering hi-hats teetering like a drunk, the “ship” in the title refers to Farao’s own feelings of being tossed and turned through a string of unpredictable relationships, fading in and out of view. On the verses, her voice sings clear and high, her introspective thoughts matched by blazing synthesizers and an undeniable bass line. But once that earworm chorus hits, it’s a tsunami of outside voices; boys, girls, lovers, haters and cheaters all turned into ghosts floating through her head. “I need to get my shit together to be worthy of a man” she sings, only to later have a petty segment of her brain smerk “I got my hands on your money/ Got my hands on your guy.” It’s a deeply troubled, confused song — except for its musical confidence. There, it’s smooth sailing.
5. Acetone- Vundabar
There’s a canon of hook songs. We’re not just talking catchy tracks, but songs that are only made up of hooks, where each bar could have repurposed for a different top 40 hit. Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” The Breeder’s “Cannonball,” My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade” and, now, Vundabar’s “Acetone.”
That opening wall of guitars and thrashing drums could have been the basis for any number of punk anthems, but the Boston boys discard it as quickly as they introduce it. Then goes a lanky verse, bubbling with low end tension as frontman Brandon Hagen does his best David Byrne. Then the pre-chorus is just as catchy, with a staircase ascending melody and the “oh wee oooh” chorus is as silly as it is infectious. Hagen delivers it all while nodding toward “Acetone”’s story, detailing taking care of a loved one as they slowly died.
But unlike the pretty poison of St. Vincent or The Shins, Vundabar aren’t hiding that morbid lyricsim to creep up on you. Instead, “Acetone” uses hooks on hooks on hooks as a form of sheer catharsis. Call it pop therapy.
4. Curse of the I-5 Corridor- Neko Case
Neko Case has some startling deep lore. Punk rocker, New Pornographer mainstay, country legend all wrapped up in a sprawling life traced from Ukraine to Canada. But she saved her biggest, and maybe best, song for the origin of it all. “Curse of the I-5 Corridor” refers to the highway spanning the American west coast, including Case’s adopted hometown of Tacoma. She returns, gliding in on roiling piano chords and a sweet duet with the aged leather voice of Mark Lanegan.
She mixes the past and the present while she drinks with an old friend or flame. She recalls the first taste of whiskey on a fake ID and how she ran away from home and “fucked every man I wanted to be.” Though the booze and low lights inch her closer to bonding with the past she admits “maybe I should go home alone tonight.” But it’s not a blunt rejection of a missed connection, just pushing her own past where it belongs. The road, the I-5 itself, calls her back as Lanegan, honky tonk piano and a creeping bass all march on into a minor key squall. “Two self-fulfilling prophecies, who don’t even have each other,” Case sings as “Curse of the I-5 Corridor” erupts. It’s a strange admission, not one that’s comfortable with the truths it finds, but absolute in what it means. Case’s home is the road.
3. Soft Power- Tropical Fuck Storm
I get as tired as anyone else when every single piece of media has to be put in it’s proper, Trump-related box. Not that there hasn’t been a great amount of political music this year, but the good stuff ascends far beyond Brexit and right-wing rising. “Soft Power” is one of the finest encapsulations of modern paranoia the 21st century has seen. Tropical Fuck Storm rages on with slasher-flick worthy guitars and a degrading beat that seems more corrosive by the second. “Hold you fire man, don’t shoot/ Here come the Oompa Loompa with the nukes” seeths Gareth Liddiard as we descend.
The first half of “Soft Power” is a contentious panic attack, churning itself to insanity, the guitars scrapping until they draw blood. When it all comes to a raging boil, TFS cut it at the most dynamic point, fading into a haunting outro holding a funeral for the United States. “Bye bye Scarecrow” Liddiard coos, watching America folding into itself, torn asunder by xenophobia and paranoia as the vultures circle. They see the soft power of U.S. imperialism washed away, replaced by — well who the fuck knows. But TFS seem assured the power vacuum will attract the finest bullies and strongmen the world has to offer.
2. Words I Heard- Julia Holter
As a proponent of weeping to music, I have to point out there’s many different reasons to sob. Nostalgic memories attached to chords, lyrics that cut to the bone, lilting sounds that tear at the soul, all fine, true reasons to tear up. But the rarest, and most awe inspiring, form is simply crying from sheer beauty.
“Words I Heard” holds an ethereal, otherearthly beauty that I don’t know if I’ve encountered before. Julia Holter has made gorgeous music before, her balance of indie-pop and avant-garde chamber compositions takes the most pristine portions from both sounds, but “Word I Heard” is a different matter entirely. Holter’s stately, melting coo is spread across swelling piano chords, a slowly rising string section and a whole constellation’s worth of “other” which forms a encasing shell of shimmering noise. “I will love you in the city of man,” she sings, softly, but firmly. In the apocalypse that dominated the rest ofher album Aviary, “Words I Heard” isn’t so much a sanctuary between the blazes, but an acceptance of the sublime. Something else here; love, death, music, the world itself, has become too massive, too overwhelming to process, so submission to the chaos is all that’s left. “Save our souls,” she doesn’t beg in this line, she just sings it, ready for whatever answer comes her way. She has succumbed to the music, and it’s impossible not to follow her.
1. If You Know You Know- Pusha-T
For all the tales of drug dealing, escaping poverty and murdering Drake (metaphorically and literally), Pusha-T’s music has really only been about one thing: being cool. Much in the same way that Shabazz Palace’s intergalactic sermons were meditations on flyness, Pusha’s self-mythologizing uses the imagery of kilos and cops to underscore that he’s A) an unkillable, ageless vampire B) the dopest motherfucker ever to pick up a mic.
Five years on from his original opus on excellence “Numbers on the Board,” Pusha has remarkably matched, or even bested himself. Founded on the best Kanye beat in half a decade, “If You Know You Know” nods at the true fans, family and friends who always knew Pusha was operating at 0 degrees Kelvin. The stark, steely intro is an unpretentious build to 2018’s finest drop, Pusha welcoming the true believers as a richter-scale tipping bass and chipmonked guitars begin to stab and swirl. Between the stick-ups and close calls with the fuzz, he drops lines like “You all get a bird, this nigga Oprah,” so generous in his “fuck you”-isms.
Pusha preformed “If You Know You Know” on Jimmy Kimmel with a backing track and a lower than lo-fi background and made it utterly spellbinding. Pusha doesn’t need the flash, it doesn’t last. He, on the other hand, might be immortal.
