Top 10 Songs of 2013

Doing some end of the year/ best-of posts over the next few days. Though most major publications did their year end lists closer to the beginning of December, this is the one that everyone has really been waiting for.

10. "Reflektor," Arcade Fire
Though it shares many of the same problems as the album with which it also shares a name, such as being overly long, "Reflektor" gets into the best groove of any of Arcade Fire's new disco-tinged tracks. And a David Bowie cameo can only help things.

9. "Suit & Tie," Justin Timberlake feat. Jay-Z
Speaking of grooves, the one this song gets into is phenomenal. Even Jay-Z's verse, which for whatever reason is slowed down, can't ruin this, one of the year's biggest hits and best songs.

8. "Do I Wanna Know?" Arctic Monkeys
Many expected Arctic Monkeys, who came to prominence in 2006 as teenagers, to go the way of many bands of their ilk and fizzle out after their first album. No one counted on them making a song this good at this point in their careers. "Do I Wanna Know?" slinks along to a riff that would make Tony Iommi proud, and the lyrics contain some of the best examples of Alex Turner's biting wit.

7. "Sea of Love," The National
It's telling that this is the most up-tempo song on Trouble Will Find Me, The National's newest album. The album is a slow burn, but this song is a drum-heavy rocker, sure to be a live staple.

6. "I Sat by the Ocean," Queens of the Stone Age
Count on Queens of the Stone Age to come up with a unique, riff-driven single that even their worst albums can boast. This stands up with their very best work.

5. "Lose Yourself to Dance," Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams
Spoiler alert: this is not the only Daft Punk song on here featuring Pharrell. I tried to keep this list to one song per artist, but I couldn't have a top ten songs of 2013 list without including both of these songs. At times I thought this one was better than "Get Lucky," the ubiquitous radio hit, and though I no longer think so, it's still a phenomenal song.

4. "The Wire," Haim
The Fleetwood Mac-iest song to come out since the mid-'70s. Haim takes the best parts of '70s classic rock and '80s pop and makes songs that would have been hits in any era. This is their best work thus far, a classic rock hit transported to the modern day.

3. "Unbelievers," Vampire Weekend
There are several songs from Vampire Weekend's latest album that could have made their way onto this list, but eventually I settled on "Unbelievers." Lie most of the album it lyrically deals with questioning of faith. And questioning faith has rarely been so fun to hear.

2. "Get Lucky," Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams
I may regret not putting this at number one; it's the "Hey Ya!" of this decade, a gigantic hit that attains that status purely on merit. No matter how many times I heard this song this year, I never got sick of it. Daft Punk takes to best aspects of disco and implements everything we have learned about dance music since the end of disco, and uses that knowledge to produce the greatest disco song ever made.

1. "The Mother We Share," Chvrches
If there's one song on this list that really sounds like "2013," it's this one. That may be viewed as a good thing or a bad thing in the future, but it's the reason this tops the list. Much like Daft Punk did with disco and "Get Lucky," Chvrches took '80s synth-pop and put a modern twist on it to craft this incredible song. And though it didn't become a smash hit like "Get Lucky," it certainly would have been worth of it. This is my song of 2013.

Justin Timberlake: The 20/20 Experience (Part 1)

Seven years is an eternity in the world of pop music, even when you're a star of Justin Timberlake's stature. Many were expecting big things from the follow-up to 2006's excellent FutureSex/LoveSounds, and more than a few were disappointed with The 20/20 Experience this year. I wasn't disappointed by the music itself, but I think this is the good album with the worst decisions on it this year.

There are some minor bad decisions here, like slowing down for Jay-Z's verse on "Suit & Tie" (a mistake for a song that gets into such a good groove) and whatever that weird voice thing is in "Let the Groove Get In." But there's one mistake that really stands out and affects nearly every song on this album, and that's the length of the songs.

The shortest song on The 2020 Experience is 4:45, and most are between 7 and 8 minutes. The thing is, most of those long songs aren't actually that long. For whatever reason, Timberlake and producer Timbaland decided to drag out the songs with long, pointless codas instead of ending them naturally, and this really drags things down.

Timberlake's at a level where he can pretty much do whatever he wants without label interference. Normally this is a good thing for creativity, but this album could really use someone to tell him no. Or to inform him that people really don't want to listen to 8-minute pop songs.

FutureSex/LoveSounds included a few 7- or 8-minute songs that really worked in "What Goes Around Comes Around" and "LoveStoned," and that's probably where the idea behind these came from. Clearly Timberlake decided to make long songs his "thing," and that's OK, but only if the songs are actually that long. What you don't want to do is artificially drag the songs out to that length; that does nothing but hurt the album. It's a shame, because this album includes some very good songs. If only they ended where they should.

 

Haim: Days are Gone

The sisters of Haim have been playing music together for a long time, and it shows on this, their debut album. They have a level of polish and professionalism most bands simply cannot reach on their first album, as well as an excellent understanding of what works about '70s and '80s pop music, and it works out to equal one of the best records of the year.

Days are Gone is probably the Fleetwood Mac-iest thing I've ever heard. Each track bounces with staccato vocals, and the sisters' voices provide a nice variety. The album is simply stacked with one great song after another: "Forever" and "The Wire" recall '70s rock music, while "If I Could Change Your Mind" and "Falling" show the band's '80s pop side, with guitars lifted straight out of Thriller. "Honey & I" is worth mentioning too, as it slowly builds to something very impressive. Truth be told, the first seven tracks are all standouts.

Unfortunately, the album tails off a bit after that. "My Song 5's" EDM tendencies are jarring, and take you out of the retro '70s/'80s experience that the first half of the record replicated so well. It's really the only bad song on the album. The last three are fine, nothing more.

Though it tails off at the end, this album is packed with great songs, including some of the best singles of the year ("The Wire"). Days Are Gone is a tremendous throwback, sort of a Fleetwood Mac/Michael Jackson hybrid that understands the aspects that made those artists great, and works them in to deliver a great album of their own.

Grade: A-

Video: "The Wire"

The Strokes: Room on Fire

Unlike The Strokes' fantastic debut Is This It, Room on Fire, its follow-up, has been somewhat lost to time. Most people remember it as sounding exactly like Is This It, or as the one with "Reptilia." It's a shame, because this is a terrific album, one that's just about on par with Is This It.

For those who complain this album is too similar to Is This It, think about this: If this album had come out at any time other than when it did (that is, if it had been their third or fifth album instead of their second), how would it have been received? It probably would have gotten higher scores and been hailed as a "return to form." But since it came right after their fantastic debut, it's labeled as a too-similar disappointment.

Me, I'm fine with similarity from certain bands, especially now that we know what the alternative is for The Strokes. Here, they're still in their Is This It groove, with the distorted vocals and machine-like drums. The guitars are improved here as well (ask any band that has tried to cover "Reptilia," they'll tell you it's practically impossible). What makes this album great is that it returns that sound from Is This It, and they still sound like the coolest band on the face of the earth here.

What really sells me on this album, though, is that when I try to think of a weak spot, I can't think of one. The album is full of highlights-- "12:51" is basically the greatest Cars song The Cars never wrote, and "Under Control" is a standout as well-- but no songs that drag down the album. In fact, its only crime, really, is not being Is This It. And that's OK- that album was a one-time thing, and we can clearly see that now. But far from simply being not bad for a follow-up, this one can go toe-to-toe with its predecessor. The shame of their career isn't how they followed up Is This It; it's how they followed up this album. Julian Casablancas ends the album by saying, "I'll be right back." But that wasn't really true; they made more albums after Room on Fire, but they would never reach its heights again.

Grade: A-