I posted 1,069 songs in 2012. Here are my 11 favorite, counting down to my very favorite.
11. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye Roberta Flack
Before this year, I did not know there was such a thing as Roberta Flack singing a Leonard Cohen song. And it's even better than it sounds--from her debut album, singing a song I had never really heard any version of until this year. To borrow a song title, it's sadly beautiful. She sings with such warmth and restraint, against a perfect arrangement and makes the song her own.
10. Brass Buttons Gram Parsons
Much is made of Gram Parsons being the catalyst for "country rock" or "alternative country", but his singing here reminds me of soul music in the purest sense. Against a devastating lyric, filled with details of a woman he loves, the guitar is a perfect accent against his voice. I always assumed it was a love song for a woman who left him, until I read that it was about his alcoholic mother.
9. I'm Drunk & I'm Real High (In The Spirit Of God) Ada Richards
A song like this would be great for the title alone. But it's no joke. Ada Richards was a beautician in Detroit in the early 70s when she laid this down. The organ fuels an improbably funky gospel song, but it's her voice that convinces. I'm always grateful to find obscure gems like this one.
8. New God Flow.1 Kanye West, Pusha T & Ghostface Killah
The hook is a sample of Ghostface Killah's "Mighty Healthy" from one of my favorite albums ever, Supreme Cliente from 2000. For good measure Ghostface guests on this but not before a killer opening verse from Pusha T followed by a verse by Kanye West that's every bit as daring as his production. This is thrilling music, insanely catchy and fun.
7. I Hear Voices Screamin' Jay Hawkins
At first blush , this is a novelty song from a novelty artist. But in reality it's so much more. Hawkins' insane persona is put in the service of what is probably another insane idea: utter submission to someone in the name of love. "Most lovers are blind, the rest just lose their minds"he cautions and then present the idea of love as a form of psychosis. It's funny and terrifying and hypnotic.
6. Reagan Killer Mike
When Killer Mike released his new album last spring, this song of course immediately grabbed my attention. It's a brilliant political polemic, and a great piece of music, with eerie production and fierce, brave lyrics. The soundbites and effects are used to devastating effect.
5. The Money Will Roll Right In Fang
This is ugly, catchy, snotty, funny and full of life. I can't believe I'd never heard of these guys until last year, and they are unjustly obscure. But I can see why Nirvana covered them a decade after this was released and how this is the template for so much that came after.
4. When You Sleep My Bloody Valentine
As I mentioned briefly in the "best of" below, 2012 was a year when I dug into the brief but brilliant oeuvre of My Bloody Valentine. This song stood out as my favorite, with its keening flutelike melody piercing through the layers of guitars, which in turn bury dream-like male and female vocals, with lyrics that sound snatched from a dream. So hopefully romantic and indelible.
3. Moonlight Serenade Glenn Miller
Perhaps even more romantic is this Glenn Miller tune. I've included a brief snippet of this on a mix years ago, but this year fell in love with this full version, which feels of course belongs to another time but also somehow feels timelessly beautiful.
2. Funky Dividends Three Times Dope
This is very nearly my favorite song of the year, old school hip hop with the classy "Oh Honey" by Delegation sample that's fueled many other songs. On the face of it, the lyrics concern the transactional nature of romantic relationships, employing soundbites from Flip Wilson to J.F.K.'s inaugural address. It seems to speak to how one looks back on the end of a relationship, with equal parts recrimination and regret. And they just don't make them like this any more--the world is very different now, indeed.
1. Trees And Flowers Dum Dum Girls
My very favorite song of the year is a cover of the obscure 80s song by the Scottish band Strawberry Switchblade. While the original was a great find, and in my "best of", the cover by Dum Dum Girls is so gorgeous and sad and full of yearning it practically defies description. The voice wafts over the melodic hum of the guitars like a ghost passing commentary on life below.
Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye Roberta Flack
Brass Buttons Gram Parsons
I'm Drunk & I'm Real High (In The Spirit Of God) Ada Richards
New God Flow.1 Kanye West, Pusha T & Ghostface Killah
I Hear Voices Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Reagan Killer Mike
The Money Will Roll Right In Fang
When You Sleep My Bloody Valentine
Moonlight Serenade Glenn Miller
Funky Dividends Three Times Dope
Trees And Flowers Dum Dum Girls
