(All week, we’re counting down our favorite songs of 2012. If you missed any previous entries, you can catch up here. Enjoy the music).
30. Grimes, “Oblivion”
The various melodies and synth settings behind the layered vocals create an unsettling tension, especially given the paranoid lyrical content contrasted with the syrupy-sweet vocal melody and upbeat tempo. -AH
29. Usher, “Climax”
Usher and Diplo remind us that even the peak can be somewhat anti-climactic. -PTL
28. the xx, “Angels”
The first song of the sophomore album Coexist sets the tone for the rest of the record: languid, achy, and minimalist, anchored by three chords implied by two-note guitar licks and the breathy, ethereal voice of Romy Madley-Croft. -KLM
27. Miike Snow, “Paddling Out”
The best album-centerpiece of a dance track since Caribou opened Swim with “Odessa” in 2010. -TH
26. Savages, “Husbands”
Its tense bass line, its loud-quiet-loud dynamic, and its lyrical delivery reminiscent of Chrissie Hynde in desperate need of Xanax make Savages’ “Husbands” one of the most arresting debut singles in recent memory. -JM
25. Bat for Lashes, “Laura”
A perennial favorite of the FP editors, British-Pakistani chanteuse Natasha Khan brings her sensual voice to this tearjerker of a piano ballad, which sounds like a sob story song in a Broadway musical, minus the fromage. -KLM
24. Ty Segall Band, “Wave Goodbye”
The first few seconds of clear bass in “Wave Goodbye” set up an extreme contrast to the rest of the song, a fuzzed-out Zeppelin-esque banger in which Segall squeals and wails and ultimately proclaims “Fuck yeah!” -JM
23. Andrew Bird, “Lusitania”
On no other song this year is Andrew Bird’s rebirth more apparent. This melancholic ballad with St. Vincent’s Annie Clark is as bittersweet as life itself. -PTL
22. Fiona Apple, “Werewolf”
Few people do the bittersweet piano ballad better than Fiona Apple, her jazzy contralto as raw, growly, and ragged as it was on her 1996 debut Tidal. There’s nothing wrong when a song ends in a minor key. –KLM
21. OFWGKTA, “Oldie”
At the end of this 10-minute, full-posse epic, Odd Future’s de facto leader Tyler, the Creator says “So instead of critiquin’ and bithcin’, being mad as fuck/Just admit: not only are we talented, we’re rad as fuck.” Of course, if they were this rad all the time, they wouldn’t have needed to write this song. -LVL
Check back tomorrow for #20-11.