I didn't listen to as much new music this year, I wonder if I just wasn't paying enough attention, not much music grabbed my attention, or I am gripped by nostalgia for older music (i.e. I am getting old). But I could make a list of ten songs that came out this year that I liked so I figured I would post them as a way to sum my year in music:
Houghson Boys – Y La Bamba
This is song is exactly what you need at the end of a rough day. I’ve heard Y La Bamba play it several times over the last couple years, I’m glad it was finally released on an album.
Thrift Shop – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Reasons I like this song: I like the saxophone sample, I like Macklemore’s flow, I like that someone wrote a song about a song about thrift stores and rejects the ideas that new designer things as the ideal, and I think it’s fun and clever without crossing over to ‘joke song’ territory.
La Grande – Laura Gibson
The album cover for La Grande is Laura Gibson wrapped in a Pendelton blanket next to a bonfire in the middle of the woods at night. That’s exactly what this song sounds like, wild and haunting.
I Belong In Your Arms – Chairlift
An electro-pop declaration of love. I just discovered there is Japanese version of this song, it translates really well.
Television – You Won’t
A mysterious modern hymn.
Tuck the Darkness In – Bowerbirds
An aching look back at life almost over.
Myth – Beach House
I tend to think of Bloom as one long continuous piece of music and each song is a movement. The album just washes over me. Myth sets the tone for the album, it builds and builds and builds…
Bright Whites – Kishi Bashi
A joyous and surreal love indie-pop love song.
Hambone – Gospel Claws
A touching message from a parent to a child, ready to bring them into the world.
(no video available but you can listen to it online at NPR's All Songs Considered)
If It’s the End – Willy Mason
Willy Mason has a rugged and sometimes weary voice, but this song is also hopeful: We never reach the end, everything that ends brings a new beginning.
Same Love – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Macklemore gets two songs on this list because I really love both of these songs. Same Love makes me want to cry a little, which usually only happens when I am heartbroken and listening to sad song about heartbreak because apparently I am an emotional masochist. But this song makes me want to cry on a g ood day. Same Love came out the same year that Washington legalized gay marriage by a popular vote, in fact Macklemore urged people to support Referendum 74, allowing gay marriage. Here is to hoping that Oregon follows soon, we already have an anthem to rally behind.
