Unlike album countdowns, which tend to display a broad consensus across publications (i.e. everyone likes Frank Ocean), end-of-year song countdowns tend to be a bit more idiosyncratic. Given that one’s opinion of an individual song is so dependent on mood and moment, and given that a 3-minute pop song is such an ephemeral entity, memorializing the year’s “best songs” in a permanent, static list seems a bit of a ridiculous exercise. But we’re doing it anyway. All week we’ll be counting down what are, for now anyway, our favorite songs released in the last twelve months. We’ve kept our thoughts on each song brief in an effort to avoid detracting from the fun of listening to the songs themselves. At week’s end, we’ll provide you with a full-countdown Spotify playlist. Enjoy the music.
50. Chairlift – “I Belong in Your Arms”
Got a case of the Mondays? Lift your mood with this bouncy, uplifting, and earnest 80’s-inflected synth-pop gem by one of the many stellar acts we saw in March at South by Southwest. -KLM
49. Schoolboy Q – “There He Go”
It’s a hypervulgar, egotistic, self-aggrandizing anthem but it works. The catchy chorus hook and the Menomena-sampled beat will have you repeating the lyrics and bobbing your head by the time the song’s over. -AH
48. How To Dress Well – “& It Was U”
No, for real: that’s a white dude. -LVL
47. Swans – “Mother of the World”
Creepy old man Michael Gira starts “Mother of the World” by breathing along a nine minute, two-note riff coupled withrepetitive snares, ultimately creating a song nausea-inducing, intense, and then quiet, placing itself amongother contemporary classic tempo-changing tracks like Animal Collective’s “My Girls” and Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song.” -JM
46. Twin Shadow – “I Don’t Care”
If there was a more emotionally resonant booty-call song released in 2012, I didn’t hear it. -LVL
45. Nicolas Jaar feat. Scott LaRue and Will Epstein – “And I Say”
I didn’t just put this song on my personal list because everybody involved went or goes to Brown University (where I go), but because Nicolas Jaar’s electronic, subtle jazzy beats seriously never do wrong, here perfectly complementing sexyvocals and sax from Scout LaRue Willis (Bruce Willis’ daughter) and Will Epstein, respectively. -JM
44. The Killers – “Runaways”
There’s not question that The Killers lack originiality. Indeed, at times they are unbearably derivative. But, on the other hand, if everyone can write songs like this…remind me why they don’t. -LVL
43. Angel Haze – “New York”
The best song on the best mixtape of the year from an up and coming artist who has exposed her past troubles to theworld through confessional raps, or, like on “New York”, who has put those troubles aside to show off her skill andswagger and “spit till my lips need 16 stitches.” -JM
42. Cloud Nothings – “Wasted Days”
What every teenage band in their parents’ garage thinks their jams sound like. -PTL
41. Animal Collective – “Today’s Supernatural”
L-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-let GO, indeed! AnCo releases the sound and the fury on the shape-shifting first single from their highly anticipated ninth studio album. If anyone in indie rock has a better scream than Avey Tare, I haven’t heard it. -TH
Check back tomorrow for #40-31.