Top 50 Songs of 2015 (10–1)

10) Grimes — “Realiti (Demo)”

For me, “Realiti” is the perfect blend of the old Grimes and the new Grimes. It’s a mix of the pop superstar the Claire Boucher is, and the introverted beat maker she once was.

9) Bully — “I Remember”

Bully’s “Feels Like” is one of the boldest albums of 2015. “I Remember” is as raw as a song gets. The track is only 2 minutes long because I think Alecia’s lungs would be broken if she kept going any longer.

8) Nao — “Bad Blood”

Nao is on pace to be one of my favorite ne0-soul/R&B artists. With “Inhale Exhale” and now “Bad Blood,” I see Nao becoming one of the biggest breakout stars in 2016. She has all that it takes: big, soulful production, a FKA Twigs-esque voice, and smart, tactical lyrics.

7) Sufjan Stevens — “Fourth of July”

Fourth of July seems like the climax of “Carrie & Lowell.” The other tracks hit sad notes of course, but “Fourth Of July” is the knockout punch. It makes sense too that the most emotion comes in a song about the passing of his mother. The song is about a conversation he is having with Carrie in which she tries to console him about her imminent death. She tells him “we’re all gonna die” to try to help him move on. But it’s the way that Sufjan changes his intonation that really makes these songs so hard to listen to. It feels as though Sufjan at first is understanding of his mother, but then the weight of the words hit him. “Carrie & Lowell” is full of moments like this, where you can hear Sufjan finding the dark spots in his mind. I’ve never heard an album like this. It’s a masterpiece, from start to finish.

6) Father John Misty — “Bored In The USA”

I saw Father John Misty play in Central Park this summer. When “Bored In The USA” began, the people in the crowd immediately started smiling as if they were excited to see if he was going to do anything extravagant for the song. For Father John Misty, the presentation of his music is just as important as the music himself. On Letterman for instance, Father John pretended to play piano only later to reveal that the piano was actually playing itself. It’s the perfect way to perform a song like “Bored In The USA” that ends with snippets of a laughing track injected in between lines like “They gave me a useless education” and “Keep my prescriptions filled.” It’s no surprise that when the Letterman performance ends, the audience track fades out and then the theater is silent. How are you supposed to react? “Bored In The USA” is just as thought provoking as it is beautiful. It’s about a stagnant, predictable, unfulfilling American life. It’s about the way we can be deceived and about the inauthenticity of capitalism in America. Father John is not just the previous drummer in The Fleet Foxes, he’s one of the most provocative artists around.

5. Courtney Barnett — “Depreston”

Courtney Barnett finds beauty in the mundane. “Avant Gardner” is her anthem — a lazy, bumbling tune about trying to get out of bed on a Monday, and then having a panic attack trying to pull out weeds. Courtney doesn’t write songs, she writes stories. In “Depreston,” she describes visiting a sad town in Melbourne while house hunting. The town has few cafés, visible crime, and alcoholics on the street. Courtney is at her best though when she describes the upsides to Preston. Like the fact that they would save money making their own lattes instead of going to cafés. Or the fact that the garage space might be nice for storage in the case that they don’t have two cars. No one tells it like it is like Courtney Barnett. She able to capture the normality of everyday life by describing the way her mind races — the way she thinks about everyday object like handrails in the shower. “Depreston” would not be what it is without the outro. The guitar solo fades out as the drums move into a brushy, light snare beat. Courtney delicately sings the lines “If you’ve got a spare half a million / You could knock it down and start rebuildin.” Surely, this is one of the best musical moments of the year. It sounds like Courtney is repeating the words the real estate agent told after they finished the tour. As if she can’t believe the agent would think they might have a “spare half a million.” “Depreston” is about feeling dissatisfied with the future to come and feeling like there is no way to prevent it. Courtney may be the queen of the mundane, but it seems she might finally be getting tired of it.

4) Tame Impala — “Let It Happen”

Currents feels like a concept album. Usually concept albums have a story, or are about a single moment, event, or person. On the contrary, Currents is simply about change. It’s about going in one person, and coming out another. “Yes, I’m Changing,” “Past Life,” and “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” are all songs that deal with what it feels like to have a change in identity. They are about attempting to recognize your past self and the terrifying outcomes of failing to do so. Look at the album cover. It’s a marble, trying to go in a straight line, running into a layer of waves that takes it’s trajectory off course. For Kevin Parker, this is what change is like. Once the marble is off course, it has no control. “Let It Happen” is the opener for Currents and also Kevin’s thesis statement. The arch of the song is really what amazes me the most. The tone of the song starts ominous as Kevin sets up a dream like scene. This is that kind of dream that confuses you to the point where you your sleep is more tumultuous than relaxing. “All this running around / Bearing down on my shoulders / I can hear an alarm / Must be mornin,” he sings. But then about three and a half minutes into the song, Tame Impala goes somewhere they have never gone before. The ominous synth melody suddenly beings to skip (when I first heard this I thought my iPhone was broken). It is incredibly unselttling. But what is so genius about this moment is that it describes the troubling nature of change, while simultaneously forcing you as a listener to push through the moment and well… let it happen. Kevin is telling us not to be afraid of moments like this. Slowly, as the repeating synth finds it way to a melody and drums fade in, you find yourself on the other side. Then we hear a new voice — a new Kevin. His voice has become robotic and futuristic. The song ends with the line “Maybe I was ready all along.” Lonerism will always be a favorite of mine, but songs like “Let It Happen” only work to fulfill the prophecy that this is one of the most important bands of our time.

3) Joanna Newsom — “Time, As A Symptom”

“Time, as a Symptom” is Joanna’s biggest song to date. It’s the closer of her album, Divers, which revolves around the fear of loss, especially as a result of the passing of time. After many soft, delicate tracks like “The Things I Say,” “Same Old Man,” and “Pin-Light Bent,” Joanna decides to take a climatic turn, but does so carefully and methodically, in a way that only she can. Right before the build begins, she restates the main theme of the album. She sings, “And it pains me to say, I was wrong \ Love is not a symptom of time \ Time is just a symptom of love.” She is dismissing the common sentiment that love grows as time passes. Rather, time has its influence on love. Time has the ability to end a relationship, whether that is through death or boredom. This is what Joanna fears the most. But what defeats time? For Joanna, it’s simple: the joy of life. “The nullifying, defeating, negating, repeating / Joy of life” she says. And just then, the song builds, as if the song is now a great battle between time and the joy of life. Joanna begins to sing with more energy. You can hear strings in the background and kick drums pop in and out. A quick drum fill leads us into the grand finale where Joanna has a duet with her own voice, hitting high and low registers. The brass section send out triumphant blasts. The songs ends with the sounds of birds and owls. Joanna, once again has proven her musical mastery. The complexity of her work is undeniable, and it’s songs like these that remind us of how compelling she can be with her poetry.

2) Kendrick Lamar — “Alright”

At the BET Awards in June, Kendrick performed “Alright” on while standing on top of a vandalized cop car with the American flag waving in the background (video). A few days later he is responding to accusations by Fox newscasters that his music incites violence. “This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism in recent years,” said Geraldo Rivera. As Kendrick says himself, “Alright” is about hope. It’s about persistence. Kendrick is determined to incite hope in a world where racism leaves unarmed dead black men in the street week after week. To me, this song is the shining star of the oh so great To Pimp A Butterfly. Backed by an unbelievable stuttering chorus of male voices, Kendrick has some of his fastest lyrical moments. He only catches his breath for the second of silence after a high screech, “ah.” “Alright” feels important. This song — this album — it needed to exist. Kendrick has entered his prime, and there is no better way to do it than to address real problems while focusing on resilience and community.

1) Beach House — “Levitation”

Beach House enters a world that no other band can reach. Often, it’s described as “blissful,” or “dreamy.” But it’s also not easily attainable. “Levitation” is the opening track of Beach House’s fifth studio album Depression Cherry. Victoria Legrand speaks of a “place I want to take you,” but this place is not of the physical world. This “place” is the album’s theme and something I think Beach House has been trying to reach for a long time. Maybe you can call it “depression” but I think it’s easier to think of musically. Since the beginning, this band has been interested in songs that put you in a trance, allowing you to close your eyes and drift (listen to “Turtle Island”). But what is often true about trances and dream-like states is that they are fleeting. They are hard to remember, and hard to grab on to. Beach House feels the difficulty and is extending a hand. “When the train comes I will hold you / Cause you blow my mind” says Legrand. But like Joanna Newsom, Beach House knows how to not just talk about emotion, but show it. Beginning at three minutes and forty seconds, we’ve reached this place Legrand speaks of. This moment in “Levitation” is the most beautiful Beach House has ever sounded. Legrand sings with herself, repeatings two separate slow melodies, one that is slow and monotone, and one that soars high and wide. Underneath are organs, and sharp synth piano chords. This is the world of Beach House — this is where their minds live. Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally may get criticism for making similar sounding music, but if you listen closely, they have only evolved each year, getting closer and closer to attaining the sound that they have been searching for since their first LP. When I listen to this song I forget where I am. It’s my number one favorite song of the year and I adore every second of it.

Thanks for listening! Have a great year!