With the year virtually half over, there’s already a bevy of new music to enjoy. Why don’t we bust out one of those arbitrary Best Of lists that are ultimately meaningless in practice yet manage to yield (mostly) lively conversation? This go ‘round, we’ll take a look at the 10 best track of 2011 (so far).
10. “The Wall” – Yuck
Infectious, catchy and capricious: this song from lo-fi Londoners Yuck is a hell of a pop tune. The band’s no-frills approach to garage rock has been a welcome shot-in-the-arm the genre needed, and this standout track from the band’s eponymous self-titled debut has proved to be a flawless breakout single.
9. “E.T.” – Katy Perry featuring Kanye West
For all its high-concept buffoonery, this radio anthem manages to be a booming club banger that boasts what can only be described as an epic hook. Largely uninteresting in her own regard, Perry is aided by the ever-intriguing West, who proudly proclaims that we “are not invited to the other side of sanity,” where apparently a bunch of cool shit like alien sex goes down. Maybe one day we’ll get to visit the planet these two megastars live on, but for now we can live vicariously through this helplessly likeable track.
8. “I Don’t Want Love” – The Antlers
Though it acts as something of a cathartic renouncement of monogamy, this somber track comes equipped with the kind of sentimentality many bands seek but rarely achieve. As a unit, The Antlers are formidable trio that sustain a somber yet infinitely listenable sound. Their latest release, Burst Apart, opens with this sweepingly emotional track.
7. “Analog” – Tyler, the Creator featuring Hodgy Beats
Hip-hop polemicists Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All have been an endless source of debate—on this website and in many other corners of the Internet. In looking solely at the music, however, it’s hard to deny the stark intrigue of a track like “Analog.” Carrying with it a creepy synth hook and perfectly constructed melodicism, this might be the most easily listenable track in the OFWGTKA repertoire. In fact, you could call it outright charming if it weren’t for Tyler and Hodgy’s brooding vocal effects. But then it wouldn’t be OFWGTKA without needless provocation, now would it?
6. “Super Bass” – Nicki Minaj featuring Ester Dean
She’s turned heads on more than her fair share of featured tracks, but those who were yearning for the scathing, outright intimidating Minaj that outshined everyone’s verse on West’s “Monster” felt somewhat let down when her album, Pink Friday, didn’t exactly match the veracity she’d displayed. And while “Super Bass” might not top her most audacious moments (she once claimed to have a flow that was tighter than a dick in a butt), there’s a certain assertiveness here that signifies her status as a true force to be reckoned with—not only in popdom, but in the hip-hop world as well.
5. “Helplessness Blues” – Fleet Foxes
By placing frontman Robin Pecknold’s vocals front and center, indie-folksters Fleet Foxes took their already indelible sound and embedded it beneath his austere lyrical quality. When coupled with the songs immaculate, surging structure, “Helplessness Blues” enters uncharted territories for the band.
4. “Bizness” – tUnE-yArDs
Nearly everything about Merrill Garbus’ experimental project is two steps away from obnoxious. From the needlessly StudlyCapped name to the gimmicky genre-blending, the entire product teeters on unlistenable. Thankfully, Garbus seems wholly in control. “Bizness,” the album’s bouncy single, is a perfect summation of her aesthetic: off-kilter instrumentation coupled with passionate if not flailing vocalization, merging together in a fascinating fusion of indie-pop and old school R&B.
3. “Imagine Pt. 3” – Smith Westerns
This sleepy, nostalgia-fueled pop tune is hands-down the best offering from these Chicago natives. The filtered vocal quality and electric guitar riffage put them in the realm of the early-era Strokes, but Smith Westerns are smart enough to keep the sound from bordering on novelty. It’s cleverly structured outro speaks volumes of their astuteness for songwriting, as well.
2. “Down by the Water” – The Decemberists
After the meandrous pontification that was his rock opera The Hazards of Love, Colin Meloy did the right thing by stripping down virtually every aspect of the band’s sound and infusing it with some down-home sensibility. The rest of the band clearly bought into the notion, as The King is Dead has the distinct sound of a group of musicians all on the same page. This lead single held mass amounts of promise, and the Portland natives delivered.
1. “Last Night at the Jetty” – Panda Bear
In order to avoid waxing poetic about an artist that has seen more than his fair share of hyperbolic praise in the past—and will undoubtedly continue to garner in the future—I’ll leave it at this: This song is amazing. Let’s leave it at that.
