Songs! There sure were a lot of them this year, weren’t there? Like, at least 100 of them. Easily. Maybe more. Here are the 10 (+1) best of that bunch.
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Honorable mention: “Whirring” – The Joy Formidable
If I allowed The Joy Formidable’s spinning opus to be on this list, it’d probably crack the top half. However, I’m DQ’ing it for the following two reasons:
A) Despite coming to prominence this year as a single off of The Joy Formidable’s excellent debut LP The Big Roar, the song was previously released on the band’s EP A Balloon Called Moaning. That EP came out in 2008 in Japan, 2009 in the UK, and 2010 in the States, so claiming it as a song of 2011 would be somewhat disingenuous.
B) More importantly, aforementioned previously released version is better than 2011′s more known version. It’s rawer and shorter, doing away with the unnecessarily long instrumental outro. Since this is, after all, a great pop song, there’s no need for the excess fluff tacked on the end.
10. “Life’s a Happy Song” from The Muppets Original Soundtrack
You’re damn right The Muppets made this list. The entire soundtrack to the film is golden, thanks to songwriting by Bret McKinzie of Flight of the Conchords. The Conchords’ sense of silliness and fun is on display in this song (which essentially serves as the film’s main theme). “Life’s a Happy Song” is pure-hearted upbeat fun filled with simple, gleeful rhyme. If this song can’t bring a smile to your face, then you really need to get over yourself.
9. “Won’t Let Go” – David Bazan
There’s a surprisingly long lineage of rock songs about spacemen: Bowie (“Space Oddity”), Elton John (“Rocket Man”), and the Foo (“Next Year”) to name a few. But none of those astronaut tunes are quite as dour as “Won’t Let Go” – David Bazan’s take on the theme. With hushed ambient backing Bazan’s repetition of the refrain “I will not let go…of you” feels like a gut-punch. There may be a glimmer of hope in his hopelessness, but you have to mine through a poetically rough shell to reach it.
8. “Berlin Wall” – The Heavenly States
“Berlin Wall” is the best rock ‘n roll sing-along in some time. The song slowly and patiently builds layer upon layer of backing music to support its rallying cries that dream of a post-war machine world. Finger-picked acoustic guitar leads to keys, backing vocals, and a distant beat. The flourishes keep coming until a chorus of voices explodes into a of massive nebulous of jubilation. “Berlin Wall” begs the listener to belt along and is crafted in a way that makes anyone who doesn’t join in after a few spins seem foolish.
7. “Cruel” – St. Vincent
I would not have put my money on Annie Clark making a killer dance track, but that’s just what she did with “Cruel.” While the song starts with sweeping strings typical of a St. Vincent song, they quickly give way to a throbbing beat, vaguely Caribbean-feeling electronic twitterings, and a downright dirty fuzzy guitar line to accompany her woeful lines of causal cruelty. It’s enough to make all the indie tweesters that adore her stop staring for a second to shake their shoulders and hips.
6. “Bridge Burning” – Foo Fighters
After years of growing a little soft (eww…you got Norah Jones in my Foo and it’s gross), Foo Fighters quite literally roared back into rocking mode with “Bridge Burning.” The opening track to Wasting Light set a tone of unadulterated non-stop rock and the Foo never looked back. The song’s opening apprehensive string clangings quickly burst into furious drums, heavy guitars, and Ghrol screams. “Bridge Burning” condenses the essence of Foo into a powder keg and then throws a match it’s way. The resulting explosion is a sound to be heard.
