I'll be unveiling #101-#250 as 20-second snippets (totalling about 50 minutes) and then #51-#100 as longer snippets before the top 50 will be played in full! I'll be revealing the lower half of my top 500 in the meantime in this thread
For a look into what might be in the top section of my list, my mid-year list can be found here and in my first thread: https://pastebin.com/2jCNfvfk
Like last year I have a list of songs from the previous year that I enjoyed listening to in 2020. The list is very much without any defining qualifiers of inclusion because some of these songs have vastly different degrees of relevance to 2020 to others
0171 - 1000 Words 0171 - SMTHN RL 220 KID & GRACEY - Don't Need Love 24kGoldn - CITY OF ANGELS Annie Hamilton - Kitchen Arlo Parks - Paperbacks Ava Max - Salt DIIV - Like Before You Were Born DIIV - Taker Doja Cat - Streets Doja Cat feat. Gucci Mane - Like That Foals - Sunday Hope D - Swim KAYTRANADA feat. Durand Bernarr - Freefall Nilüfer Yanya - Paradise Nyxen - Insomnia Poppy - Fill the Crown Post Malone - Saint-Tropez Sam Fender - Hypersonic Missiles SASSY 009 - Maybe in the Summer SebastiAn & Gallant - Run for Me The 1975 - People Tove Lo - Mistaken Tove Lo feat. MC Zaac - Are U Gonna Tell Her? TR/ST - Iris Zoe A'dore - Galaxy
This list is less consequential than last year's since I already love most of these originals and featured all but two 2017 songs in my last two years of EOY lists but nonetheless, these are some of my favourite 2020-released remixes/alternate versions:
Allie X & Della Casa - Downtown (2020) Angel Olsen - New Love Cassette [Mark Ronson Remix] Angel Olsen - (Summer) Song (essentially an acoustic version of "Summer") Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now [KAYTRANADA Remix] Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia [Joe Goddard Remix] Georgia feat. Yung Baby Tate - Feel It Robyn - Honey [Avalon Emerson's Deep Current Reroll] ROSALÍA - A Palé [Gesaffelstein Remix] Tinashe & THEY. - Hopscotch Tinashe & ZHU feat. Ms Banks - Die a Little Bit
2020 remixes I really liked will be littered throughout the list as always!
As a change from only revealing my favourite songs of the year in my long mid-year and yearly lists, I've wanted to do so in a slightly different way for a while, having long accepted that weekly charts just don't work for me with every occasional impulse that I have to attempt to revive mine (as much as I do wish I had an extensive chart history that spans more than one year ). I began saving all the current music I liked on Spotify in late 2016 and this has been my method of keeping up with everything since. Provided I don't accidentally un-save a song and remove it from its original place in date order (I feel like most Spotify updates make it increasingly easier to do this ), it makes it really useful to decide what ends up in my end of year lists. So I've decided to isolate the 2021 songs I've saved in each month of the year and rank the songs after the end of the month, which should be a nice touchstone for when I do make an EOY list. I like the idea of having everything grouped amongst songs I've saved at the same time rather than by release date, though it might expose how late I am to some things further down the line In a way it's like what a chart might look like from me without any songs returning for a second week.
To start I have 65 songs that were released in January 2021 that I happened to save, which is more than expected and is indeed more than the 46 2020 songs I saved last January (and the 50 in January 2019, 38 in January 2018 and... 14 in January 2017 :p). I've shuffled the order of the top 7 songs since the end of the month so I'd call it a strong start to the year!
Commentary is less daunting without looking down the barrel of 100 or so songs so here goes... my first #1 belongs to Julien Baker's "Hardline". I liked boygenius' song "Bite the Hand" quickly (which I always seem to hear when I'm in IKEA lol) but I was surprised to find "Hardline" to be so instant after unfairly thinking the rest of her solo music would sound as kind of... stoic as "Appointments" (not necessarily a bad thing but it took me a while to get into it). This song sounds as precarious as its lyrics - there's something about those heavy organ chords at the start that make it so easy to just sink into its doom. It reminds me of "Breathe Me" in the release that comes with the instrumental chorus. Last year I really warmed to Baby Queen's debut "Internet Religion", which I'm sure Spotify would sort alongside "Mad at Disney" or something but instead reminds me more of "Give Yourself a Try" [s]without Matty Healy's generally insufferable persona[/s] in how she dresses some scathing and depressing commentary in such a warm and fuzzy song. Her EP was quite solid ("Buzzkill" and "Pretty Girl Lie" were highlights), but her first single of this year "Raw Thoughts" is perhaps the most worthy follow-up to "Internet Religion", aptly matching its breathless energy and impressive lyricism. I've keenly anticipated a full album from HUGE DANNY L Harle for a long time - his work across his two amazing EPs, one-off singles, production for other artists and remixes have made him one of my absolute favourite producers. Last year's "Dreaming" hinted at something harder and reminiscent of happy hardcore compared to the sugary-sounding singles he'd released before. "On a Mountain", one of the first tastes from the album, lands somewhere in the middle. Unexpectedly the vocalist is not co-writer (and "1UL" vocalist) Eyelar but Georgia Twinn, who delivered my second favourite song titled "I Don't Mind" last year (cue money/pole emojis). London Grammar's 2017 album had enough really lovely songs on it to make me hold them in a higher regard than I'd previously thought and the singles from their new album have also been pleasantly interesting and quite distinct from each other. "Lose Your Head" has become my favourite so far, I really like the build-up of textures which makes the chorus sound almost chant-like. A more recent grower in Odette's "Amends" is #5. It's her first in a while to resonate with me so strongly and I think it's down to the interesting twists in the melody and especially the chorus, which feels like it grows in intensity each time. The saxophone makes things all the more lush. I've been a fan of Bicep's music from the second I heard "Glue", which is probably the perfect introduction to their sound. Their music is so sparse and repetitive that it could sound simple to some, but I love the indulgence in how the songs develop and their new album Isles certainly delivers on that front. Even after three of its best tracks were released last year, there are still highlights to be found in its new songs; my two favourites are album closer "Hawk" and "X" featuring Clara La San (of their previous collaboration "Saku" which was #79 in my EOY). I think "Mariners Apartment Complex" marked a really important shift in Lana Del Rey's music because everything from her since has sounded so good. Even when I didn't find myself as intensely in love with NFR! as a whole as a lot of others did ("Venice Bitch" set too high a bar obviously) I think Jack Antonoff has more than proven himself to be a great collaborator especially in Lana's case. I'm quite looking forward to Chemtrails Over the Country Club (COCC if you will) if the title track is anything to go by. She has a knack for memorable choruses and "Chemtrails"' hook is really catchy and becomes more charming over its runtime. Aly & AJ are demanding that we "Listen!!!" ahead of their new album When The Pawn Hits The Conflicts He Thinks Like A King When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go When The Fire Goes Out. "Listen!!!" is one of my favourite offerings from their solid recent string of releases and it sounds closer to their 2017 EP in sound (very pleasing to me as "I Know" from their EP is my favourite single of theirs). I liked the previous two songs she's released since her 2019 mixtape but it feels like Slayyyter is properly back with "Troubled Paradise". It's more straight-forwardly conventional than maybe ever before for her but she's certainly not alienating me with a chorus as huge as this one. Broods have returned alongside Bad Sounds in the very good sounds of "Move Into Me". I don't have much to say about it other than that it took me a while to place that the twinkly piano reminds me of Flight Facilities' "Two Bodies" and that Georgia Nott is one of my favourite voices (and people) and a worthy addition to anything. And that somehow "Hospitalized" is two years old.
Elsewhere: my favourite offering from Maggie Lindemann's recent pivot into pop rock (which is unexpectedly an Alex Lahey and Gordi cowrite), Mall Grab and Ross From Friends with quite long songs that I couldn't tell you how they sounded from the title but are very good, a fantastic new remix of one of my favourite songs from Perfume Genius' last album, Blanck Mass in unusually short form thanks to the single edit of new song "Starstuff" and ELIO's Charger (which already sounded like "Gone" before Charli XCX made a new version of the song) among other songs...
1
Julien Baker
Hardline
2
Baby Queen
Raw Thoughts
3
Danny L Harle
On a Mountain
4
London Grammar
Lose Your Head
5
Odette
Amends
6
Bicep feat. machìna
Hawk
7
Lana Del Rey
Chemtrails Over the Country Club
8
Aly & AJ
Listen!!!
9
Slayyyter
Troubled Paradise
10
Bad Sounds feat. Broods
Move Into Me
11
Still Corners
White Sands
12
Ben Böhmer & Tinlicker feat. Felix Raphael
Run Away
13
Maggie Lindemann
Crash and Burn
14
Smerz
Believer
15
Digitalism
No Holiday
16
Bicep feat. Clara La San
X
17
Royal Blood
Typhoons
18
FKA twigs, Headie One & Fred again..
Don't Judge Me
19
San Mei
In the Machine
20
Rose Gray
Easy
21
Ashnikko feat. Kelis
Deal with It
22
Mall Grab
Nonstop Feeling
23
HAERTS
Shivering
24
Jazmine Sullivan feat. Anderson .Paak
Price Tags
25
Middle Kids
Questions
26
Issey Cross
Who
27
FRITZ
Die Happily
28
dvsn feat. Miguel
He Said
29
Charlotte Cardin
Daddy
30
Virgil Abloh feat. serpentwithfeet
Delicate Limbs
31
Perfume Genius
Your Body Changes Everything [Boy Harsher Remix]
32
Alice Glass
SUFFER AND SWALLOW
33
Tate McRae
rubberband
34
Blanck Mass
Starstuff [Single Edit]
35
ELIO
CHARGER
36
Taylor Swift
right where you left me
37
Avalon Emerson
Rotting Hills
38
Georgia Twinn
Raccoons
39
LANKS
Cold Blood
40
Poolside & DRAMA
I Feel High
41
Ashnikko
Good While It Lasted
42
Ross From Friends
Burner
43
JPEGMAFIA
FIX URSELF!
44
Bicep
Sundial
45
Run The Jewels feat. Pharrell Williams & Zack De La Rocha
This month Danny L Harle ranks two spots higher than he did in January with the immense "Interlocked" at #1 - his highest of six songs from Harlecore making the list this month. "Interlocked" was co-produced by "DJ Mayhem" (Hudson Mohawke) and has L Devine on vocals, as well as a writing credit from Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches (now that's a collaboration I'd like to hear, if only for harley's sake). Danny also claims #5 this month with "Do You Remember", which is appropriately titled considering how much it sounds at once like five different early 2000s songs that would have been uploaded on SteveAATW's YouTube channel. KSHMR is a name I've known in passing for years without hearing much of his music other than Tiesto and his 2015 banger "Secrets"... or so I thought, because I recently discovered that he was one half of the Cataracs and the only member in the final two years of their activity (meaning that he is solely responsible for producing eternal Selena banger "Slow Down"). Ahead of his 2021 debut album I came across the lead single "The World We Left Behind" featuring his frequent collaborator KARRA and I've unexpectedly kept coming back to it. I don't know what to say about it other than that it's a total rush of euphoria. The Best Band on Earth Wolf Alice are back. If anything can be learned from "Yuk Foo" and Visions of a Life, it's that their new album could sound nothing like the lead single and, to be honest, "The Last Man on Earth" being largely piano-led is perhaps even more of a disorienting return. I think there is something in the arrangement that admittedly holds me back from being wholeheartedly won over (as far as their own songs go I feel like "Silk" is a distant cousin which to me has the edge over this in how much more substantial it is in hooks from the start) but that feels unfair to get hung up on when Ellie's lyricism and presence is as strong as ever and when the second half of the song sounds as huge as it does. I also really like that the lyrics can read as this sardonic criticism of individualism while the song sounds so universal. Like Danny, Julien Baker is in my top 10 for a second time: "Favor" is another very good cut from Julien's very good album, this time with her boygenius bandmates involved. I called "Troubled Paradise" the most conventional that Slayyyter has sounded but "Clouds" is similarly quite straightforward if even more subdued - worlds away from anything like "Alone", "BFF" and "Candy" which I first encountered her through but nonetheless a direction I can get behind. Franky Wah had two songs in my 2019 EOY ("Time After Time" and "Hide") and he's kept up the good work and general resemblance to CamelPhat with Anjunabeats release "Should Have Seen It Coming" featuring AETHO. Not even a year after her first solo album, Hayley Williams has released another album and it's quite good, perhaps without the same variation in sounds as the first (it's very acoustic). The single (or the song put on 'the playlists') "My Limb" is something of an outlier and is naturally my favourite song on it, it reminds me more of "Over Yet" on the last album with the fast chorus. I first came across Norwegian Sámi band ISÁK in 2018 via Popjustice's New Music Friday playlist featuring their song "In Comparison" and have liked their music since, including their previous collaboration with Alan Walker in 2018 on the song "Lonely" (which Steve Aoki did a new version of in 2019 which has just about double the streams of the original). Their new collaboration "Sorry" is really impressive and less characteristic of his usual style (honestly, "The World We Left Behind" sounds more like him), I was surprised to see it released as a commercial single. I'm yet to know for sure if Allie X is officially releasing her older songs as a project or anything but I do know for sure that her 'new' single "GLAM!" was intended for her debut CollXtion I and it certainly sounds like it. Her music is so reliably solid across the board that there's at least one song I really love on all four of her projects but after getting less out of last year's Cape God than I expected, particularly after "Fresh Laundry", it's nice to hear a 'return' to the full-throttle synthpop of songs like "Prime" and "Sanctuary" from CollXtion I.
Elsewhere, Madison Beer delivers a very impressive debut, perhaps unexpectedly to anyone who hadn't heard the pre-release songs or to those who only judged her by whatever her conspirators on TikTok have incriminated her for ("Blue" and "Effortlessly" are my favourites of the new tracks); Gorgon City & DRAMA reunite after last year's brilliant "Nobody" with "You've Done Enough" which I was happy to see quickly make the UK chart (and more recently/importantly the ACI ~); Katy B's first high-profile release since 2016 (!!!) in a vocal mix of Mercury Prize-nominated jazz drummer/composer Moses Boyd's "2 Far Gone" (a really good fit for her). Dua Lipa's "That Kind of Woman" is #28 after the anachronistic Jacques Lu Cont remix placed one spot higher in my 2020 EOY.
I've capped the list at 100 songs because I saved slightly more than that in February, and I think I'll cap each list at a round number when they exceed 100 songs from now on. I'm also going to aim to keep the posting of the monthly lists within the next month so watch this space
My plan for getting the next monthly list done in the immediately following month was unsuccessful once again I've had the actual list ready for like two weeks but I've been busy and have really procrastinated in making my commentary coherent - I'd have probably have ditched it altogether if this wasn't the most excited I've been so far about my list's top 10! I also have 140 songs in my list this month (yes I can be busy and still listen to too much new music for my own good), so the year is properly in full swing
#1 is Ivy Rose's "I've Been Watching You", which I came across on the triple j Hitlist without having heard of it/her previously. It's one of the most impressive debut singles I've heard in recent times and a frustrating case of not being able to pinpoint what it is that it sounds so much like other than that it's vaguely '80s. My best guess is that it sounds like a Bonnie Tyler song, whereas her voice's inflections otherwise remind me of LAUREL. Since Ivy is American, it turns out that her triple j relevance is justified by this song's producers being Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes of Pnau. Nick's wife stumbled upon Ivy's YouTube covers (the oldest of which is of "Fade Into You", the most recent is of Lil Peep's "Falling Down" [s]maybe she's the original voice of Gaullin - Moonlight[/s] with numerous Radiohead, Lana and Daughter covers in between) which led to Nick and Peter producing her upcoming EP. Speaking of Lana, a close #2 is "White Dress", which made a solid first impression but has really won me over in the past two months like the Chemtrails album on the whole. Even with the strange controversies she seems to invoke (which, if I'm going to weigh in, seem mostly innocuous other than the 'question for the culture'), I was surprised to see this album met with such a muted response after the overwhelming critical consensus that NFR! got. To my ears Chemtrails is sonically within the same world and after revisiting it I (probably unpopularly) find it to be just about as good on the whole I will say I wouldn't feel the same enthusiasm if it wasn't for how fucking good "White Dress" is though. I really like her vocal approach and like "Chemtrails" (song), it's the song's endless succession of hooks that keep me coming back (to the Men in Music Business Conference). Laura Mvula is someone I've always felt I should make more of an effort to become more familiar with ("Overcome" alone is reason enough) and her two new singles "Safe Passage" and "Church Girl" really confirm my need to do so. Both songs draw from familiar, vaguely '80s sounds while feeling distinctive and structurally free, which I really like. "Church Girl" is safely my favourite of the two, the chorus is sublime. I only got around to listening to Jazmine Sullivan's [s]glorified EP[/s] album in March and my main takeaways were that I should have had "Lost One" much higher than #347 in my EOY and that the song I had to hear again after was "The Other Side". Jazmine's voice is a force in itself but it's the nostalgic quality of that song's melodies (again without reminding me of anything in particular) that draw me in so much. Lyrically it feels like a feature-length film in a single song. Boys Noize, Kelsey Lu and Chilly Gonzales are a trio of artists I don't know quite enough about off the top of my head to provide that much background on but I don't think I'd have foreseen this collaboration based on what I've heard from the first two. Nonetheless I've come to really love their collaboration "Ride or Die", particularly when it all kicks into gear about halfway through. Sega Bodega racked up four entries in the top 100 of my EOY last year with three songs he produced on Shygirl's amazing ALIAS EP and his own song "Make U Stay". He's made another big impression on me with his production on Donna Missal's new song "sex is good (but have you tried)", which is far more understated than the aforementioned songs but has really captivated me the more I hear it thanks to Donna's delivery. I listened to Japanese Breakfast's 2017 album at the time (probably because it's quite short) and I liked it without returning to it much outside of "Machinist" and "The Body Is a Blade". Ahead of her new album I'm a lot more excited based on "Be Sweet" and her April-released new song "Posing in Bondage" (this is the weird part of finalising these lists so long after the actual releases of these songs because follow-ups have already been released by this point ). Like Laura Mvula, Mykki Blanco is another artist whose songs I know and guest appearances elsewhere have had me waiting on a new project to have a proper entry point into their music for quite a while. They have such a commanding, disarming presence which is exhibited very clearly on the very fun "Free Ride" (produced by FaltyDL & Hudson Mohawke, who continues to be peripherally involved in my lists). It's maybe a little too short for its own good - I wouldn't argue with the 'what I wouldn't do for love' chorus being repeated a few more times. I can't say I've been as interested in Julia Michaels' solo career as I was in 2017 (particularly after the completely overlooked "Uh Huh") but last year's "Lie Like This" was a real return to form with the very reliable Monsterz & Strangerz on board. They've also produced the follow-up in "All Your Exes", which starts out less excitingly but really delivers in the chorus - the switch-up is much appreciated.
1
Ivy Rose
I've Been Watching You
2
Lana Del Rey
White Dress
3
Laura Mvula
Church Girl
4
Jazmine Sullivan
The Other Side
5
Boys Noize & Kelsey Lu feat. Chilly Gonzales
Ride or Die
6
Donna Missal
sex is good (but have you tried)
7
Japanese Breakfast
Be Sweet
8
Laura Mvula
Safe Passage
9
Mykki Blanco
Free Ride
10
Julia Michaels
All Your Exes
11
Everything Everything
SUPERNORMAL
12
Julia Stone
Fire in Me
13
Zara Larsson
Need Someone
14
Half Waif
Party's Over
15
iris & SKAAR
voodoo voodoo
16
ZHU & Yuna
Sky Is Crying
17
The Veronicas
GODZILLA
18
Sweet Trip
Walkers Beware! We Drive Into the Sun
19
Gary Numan
I Am Screaming
20
Kero Kero Bonito
The Princess and the Clock
21
Lana Del Rey
Tulsa Jesus Freak
22
Ronnie & Clyde
In the Garden
23
Bebe Rexha
Sacrifice
24
King Stingray
Get Me Out
25
Cody Frost
verbal warnings
26
Octo Octa
Find Your Way Home
27
Aly & AJ
Pretty Places
28
Two Feet
Fire
29
Grace Mitchell
MANGO
30
Lana Del Rey
Yosemite
31
Odette
Herald
32
Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats feat. Joey Bada$$
'Cosmic'.4a [The Alchemist Version]
33
YONAKA
Ordinary
34
Donatachi
Cry
35
Jodie Harsh
My House
36
Pearl Charles
Only for Tonight
37
slowthai feat. Deb Never
push
38
Lauren Faith
It's All a Blur
39
Death From Above 1979
One + One
40
Nicole Millar
Are You Kidding?
41
Robin Schulz & Felix Jaehn feat. Alida
One More Time
42
Jorja Smith
Addicted
43
Skegss
Valhalla
44
Hadiya George
Hot Flavor
45
For Those I Love
Birthday / The Pain
46
Ladyhawke & Broods
Guilty Love
47
Trans-X
Living on Video [Claptone Remix]
48
Viagra Boys
Girls & Boys
49
lau.ra feat. JessB
Don't Waste My Time
50
Montaigne
Technicolour
51
Solomun feat. ÄTNA
Tuk Tuk
52
D'Arcy Spiller
Wolf Blood
53
Nasty Cherry
Her Body
54
Sumner
Stranded
55
Mette
Petrified
56
Perfume Genius
Describe [A. G. Cook Remix]
57
Raissa
COLD FEET
58
JIMMY EDGAR & Semma
CHEETAH
59
Chloe x Halle
80/20
60
Franky Wah feat. LOWES
Not in Love
61
CLEWS
Want You That Way
62
Lana Del Rey
Dark But Just a Game
63
Prudence
Good Friends
64
Danny L Harle & DJ Mayhem
Shining Stars
65
Sycco
My Ways
66
Alex Mills
Want You to Want Me
67
Tkay Maidza
Where Is My Mind?
68
Hayden James, Gorgon City & Nat Dunn
Foolproof
69
Warpaint feat. Gang of Four
Paralysed
70
Dua Lipa
We're Good
71
Claptone
Zero
72
Jess Locke
Halo
73
Royal Blood
Limbo
74
Xan Griffin
Nostalgia
75
Rebecca & Fiona
Rivers
76
Charlotte Adigéry
Bear with Me (and I'll stand bare before you)
77
Grouplove
Deadline
78
Noname
Rainforest
79
BURNS
Can't Let Go
80
ROSÉ
On the Ground
81
The Knocks feat. Mallrat
R U HIGH
82
salem ilese
(L)only Child
83
Cloud Nothings
Oslo
84
Lil Nas X
MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)
85
Julien Baker
Ziptie
86
Slowly Slowly
Anywhere
87
Allison Ponthier
Cowboy
88
Rag'n'Bone Man
All You Ever Wanted
89
CLOVES
Manic
90
Polish Club
Stop for a Minute
91
Lily Papas
Freak
92
Max Leone
the craziest thing i've ever done
93
spill tab
PISTOLWHIP
94
FRITZ
Sweetie
95
Gordi & Alex Lahey
Dino's
96
Dimension feat. Clementine Douglas
Sensory Division
97
St. Vincent
Pay Your Way in Pain
98
Genesis Owusu
Easy
99
The Midnight
Neon Medusa
100
Middle Kids
Cellophane (Brain)
101
Kito, VanJess & Channel Tres
Recap
102
Danny L Harle & DJ Mayhem
All Night
103
Julien Baker
Relative Fiction
104
Choomba feat. LP Giobbi & Blush'ko
Say It
105
MAY-A
Time I Love to Waste
106
London Grammar
How Does It Feel
107
Perfume Genius
Just a Touch [Danny L Harle Harlecore Remix]
108
The Million
Last Call
109
Madison Beer
Stay Numb and Carry On
110
Kaskade & Ella Vos
Miles to Go
111
Rostam
4Runner
112
BROCKHAMPTON feat. Danny Brown
BUZZCUT
113
SACHI
Take Me Back
114
Liar Liar
Pretending
115
Otosan & Shadow Child feat. Carrie Baxter
Right Here
116
F-POS feat. Goldfang & Moody Beach
Classic
117
Tinashe & TOKiMONSTA
I'm Every Woman
118
LÂLKA feat. BRUX
Atomic Blonde
119
Tainy & Miguel
Sunbathe
120
Justin Bieber
Hold On
121
Odette
I Miss You, I'm Sorry
122
Tricky feat. Marta
Like a Stone [Trentemøller Remix]
123
Jade Bird
Open Up the Heavens
124
Made in Paris feat. Simonne Jones
Wonderlust
125
Zara Larsson
Poster Girl
126
Shygirl
SIREN [Basement Jaxx Cruise Mix]
127
Georgia Mae
Let You Go
128
Idris Elba & Inner City feat. Steffanie Christi'an
Little Simz angles for a third consecutive top 100 appearance in my EOYs with "Introvert", which actually might have already outranked her previous entries "Wounds" and "where's my lighter". I really love how she treats the music with the same vitality that her lyrics and delivery have, and though it feels banal to call this song cinematic, it's definitely less insular than her last two projects have been. She's not credited as she usually is but Cleo Sol's hook is a highlight each time it returns. As I mentioned last month, Japanese Breakfast's "Posing in Bondage" is very very good. I listened to the shorter, demo-like version she released in 2017 and this new version sounds otherworldly in comparison. There's a lot of interesting elements in the production which are put into sharpened focus as the track develops - I think this song on its own warrants her comparison of the album to Homogenic (though I'm not so sure about the rest of the album... but I'll get there in June I guess). The last two pre-release songs from Aly & AJ's May-released album "Symptom of Your Touch" and "Don't Need Nothing" are easily my two favourite tracks on it. I think the album needs a few more knock-out tracks on that level for me to have the same enthusiasm that a lot of others have for the album but it's cohesive and solid as per usual. Like Marina and Bonnie Anderson before her, this is not Slayyyter's first time at the rodeo or her first time in the top 10 of these lists, and I think "Cowboys" is my favourite of the singles from her album. On first listen it was the unexpected turn in the melody on 'rodeo' that had me instantly sold but more listens have revealed the really fun lyrical moments scattered through the song. Laura Mvula and Aly & AJ aren't the only ones with double entries in my top 10s; Doss is a newer name to me who joins them with "Puppy" and "Strawberry" (and "Look" further down). "Puppy" is the euphoric, trance-inspired sound that I feel like I've tried to hear in Porter Robinson's music (probably an unfair comparison) whereas "Strawberry" really surprised me by sounding more like an electronic trip hop song. I think I put Xiu Xiu's "A Bottle of Rum" too low in my February list but they can make up for it with "Sad Mezcalita" from their new album ending up so high this month. It features Sharon Van Etten who I admit to being very unfamiliar with but who I think I prefer in darker tracks in the vein of this and Hercules & Love Affair's "Omnion", which was the first song I heard her voice on. A similarly moody, spoken-word-featuring top 10 entry comes from Real Lies' "Late Arcades", who have very much been delivering in the moody, spoken-word electronic music department with "White Flowers" in 2018, last year's amazing "Boss Trick" (which I only heard recently) and this year's "Oh Me, Oh My (Nicotine Patch)"; needless to say I hope they continue doing so. Closing out the top 10 is Sydney-born artist THE BLOSSOM, who made a promising first impression on me with "CLOVES". I feel like their music has a lot of crossover potential and a BROCKHAMPTON member featuring on their EP makes a lot of sense in that regard.
Admittedly this might be my weakest month of these lists so far but I still have quite a long list for May. I'll try and get June done sooner rather than later because as always I'm really looking forward to doing a mid-year chart.
Prospa's "Ecstasy (Over & Over)" was one of the more distinct dance tracks that were able to break into the UK chart last year (I'd forgotten it made #77 at all really) and their latest single "WANT NEED LOVE" is quite special. Like "Ecstasy" it has a singular chorus but it manages to achieve a lot in its runtime to make up for it. It reminds me a lot of "Another Chance" down to the two kicks before the final section. I've really enjoyed Agnes' recent singles, which could quite easily be filed alongside Dua Lipa and Jessie Ware's recent material (though "Fingers Crossed" skews more towards Ava Max to the extent that you could sing the chorus of "Kings & Queens" over it and it would fit). 2019's "I Trance" hinted at something more self-indulgent, however, and her new song "24 Hours" certainly leans into that Junior-era Röyksopp synthpop sound. MØ properly returns with "Live to Survive" which... sounds a lot like the Agnes song. I found her last album to be very solid and I really like that she's so chameleonic, but I have no issues with her following in the direction of straightforward pop songs like this one. Admittedly I'm quite cynical towards the recent resurgence in popularity of pop punk when the mere mention of Paramore automatically garners 100,000 likes/reblogs but for the most part, the songs are usually good in their own right. In the case of WILLOW's [s]"t r a p s o u l"[/s] "transparent soul", the execution is as accomplished as her pivot to this sound is smart (and generally more interesting - from what I've heard I don't think her previous non-"Whip My Hair" material is for me). The fast verses and huge chorus are hard to resist and the vocal performance is really fantastic. Somewhat in the same territory is girl in red, who I also prefer in huge chorus mode as evidenced by "rue" landing in my top 50 of 2020 and the quirkier "Body and Mind" being an instant favourite on her debut album (beyond being the playlisted track on the album release week). Sydney sister duo CLEWS have been on my radar for quite a while and "Overluck" is their best offering so far. They seem to have a knack for memorable choruses and this is another one. The more I hear of Erika de Casier's recent music, the more I'm made aware that I should have gotten into her music months ago. I've taken the most instantly to the Sade-sounding "Someone to Chill With" so far. I've realised that my greatest issue with MARINA's music since Love + Fear was the songs themselves, considering that "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" instantly became my favourite song of hers in years by just... sounding like "Mowgli's Road" or maybe more specifically like "Personal Jesus". The social critique in her new songs leaves a bit to be desired and I'm honestly not sure what she's really getting at on "Ancient Dreams" but the song (especially the post-chorus) has the playful, whimsical hallmarks of her best material.
1
Prospa
WANT NEED LOVE
2
Agnes
24 Hours
3
MØ
Live to Survive
4
WILLOW feat. Travis Barker
t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l
5
girl in red
Body and Mind
6
CLEWS
Overluck
7
Erika de Casier
Someone to Chill With
8
MARINA
Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land
9
LUMP [Laura Marling & Mike Lindsay]
Animal
10
Georgia & David Jackson
Get Me Higher
11
CHAII & Party Favor
Oh Nah Yeah
12
Biig Piig
American Beauty
13
Kate Nash
Misery
14
ZHU & Arctic Lake
Yours
15
Daya
The Difference
16
Nicki Minaj feat. Drake & Lil Wayne
Seeing Green
17
Garbage
Wolves
18
Red Moon
Thirsty
19
Erika de Casier
Busy
20
Go_A
SHUM
21
Jorja Smith
Home
22
Liz Lawrence
Down for Fun
23
Lil Nas X
SUN GOES DOWN
24
Pond
America's Cup
25
Aly & AJ
Hold Out
26
HAERTS
Days Go By
27
Ngaiire
Closer
28
LAUREL
Let Go
29
JEFFE
Home
30
Doss
On Your Mind
31
Olivia Rodrigo
jealousy, jealousy
32
Garbage
No Gods No Masters
33
renforshort & glaive
fall apart
34
Tirzah
Sink In
35
Duran Duran
INVISIBLE
36
Jorja Smith feat. Shaybo
Bussdown
37
Xiu Xiu
Killing Distance
38
Little Simz feat. Cleo Sol
Woman
39
D-Block Europe & RAYE
Ferrari Horses
40
Alok, Sofi Tukker & INNA
It Don't Matter
41
Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen
Like I Used To
42
Georgia Twinn
Moth
43
Julia Jacklin & RVG
Army of Me
44
Jorja Smith
Weekend
45
Olivia Rodrigo
good 4 u
46
Seaside
State of Grace
47
Lauren Sanderson
QUEEN BEE
48
Q
If You Care
49
Jorja Smith
Digging
50
CFCF
Life Is Perfecto
51
Molly Sandén
DOM SKA VETA
52
KUČKA
Afterparty
53
Spellling
Little Deer
54
Warpaint
Lilys
55
Billie Eilish
Your Power
56
Middle Kids
Stacking Chairs
57
Saweetie
Fast (Motion)
58
Winnetka Bowling League & Sasha Sloan
barcelona
59
Laura Mvula
Got Me
60
Sycco
Time's Up
61
Big Scary
Bursting at the Seams
62
St. Vincent
Down
63
For Those I Love
You Stayed / To Live
64
Dizzy Fae
360 Baby
65
Slayyyter
Over This!
66
Gorgon City
Tell Me It's True
67
Lana Del Rey
Blue Banisters
68
Devault feat. EVAN GIIA
Pockets
69
The Veronicas feat. Allday
Life of the Party
70
Wave Racer
What Are We Waiting For?
71
Baba Ali
Black Wagon
72
Aly & AJ
Lucky to Get Him
73
M-22 feat. Rhea Melvin
Gravity
74
Natalia Gordienko
Sugar
75
HEALTH & Nine Inch Nails
ISN'T EVERYONE
76
Shapeshifter
Ritual (Under Your Spell)
77
Ódú
Men Like Me
78
Sugababes
Run for Cover [MNEK Remix]
79
Emotional Oranges feat. Becky G
Down to Miami
80
Paul Oakenfold, Azealia Banks & Zach Salter
Hypnotic [Benny Benassi & BB Team Remix]
81
Olivia Rodrigo
brutal
82
Kinder
Bus Stop
83
42 Dugg & Roddy Ricch
4 Da Gang
84
Nicole Dollanganger
Whispering Glades
85
Tommy Trash feat. Daisy Guttridge
hiiigh
86
BROCKHAMPTON
THE LIGHT
87
Nicki Minaj
Fractions
88
Hooverphonic
The Wrong Place
89
The Veronicas
Sugar Daddy
90
Skrillex, Starrah & Four Tet
Butterflies
91
Minnie-Oh
Homesick
92
City Girls
Twerkulator
93
Tion Wayne & Russ Millions feat. ArrDee, E1 (3x3)...
This is the longest monthly list I've posted so far with 160 songs, and its top 50 or so is probably the strongest in quality, with tracks from a number of long-awaited album releases in the mix and an influx of other 2021-released music I had feverishly tried to catch up on ahead of the mid-year cut-off (that I take very seriously ). I'm posting this in September but the order of the list is closer to how I was feeling during June.
My most anticipated album in recent times is Wolf Alice's Blue Weekend. Following an album as personally monumental as Visions of a Life was for me, I was fearful of it not meeting the colossal expectations I'd set for it; fortunately Blue Weekend absolutely manages to. It was "Heavenward"'s single release that assured me that Visions was going to be something special in 2017 and while I didn't quite have a moment like that with any of Blue Weekend's promotional singles, I did rather instantly with "How Can I Make It OK?", which happens to be their next single and has quickly asserted itself as my favourite track on the album. Wolf Alice have their share of all-encompassing, anthemic tracks but there's something unique about how the song evolves with such bracing intensity. "Feeling Myself" was the second song that really stopped me in my tracks on my first listen of the album, which particularly surprised me because the mention of the song in their writeup for NME made it seem like it would be a bit more... obnoxious or literal lyrically. I don't know why I doubted them, because instead it's one of their most sonically ambitious songs, and the release of beautiful sound after the second verse is immense. It feels most reminiscent of the atmospheric quality of "Soapy Water" from My Love Is Cool - a very welcome development in their canon. "Delicious Things" feels like a new side to Wolf Alice that as always testifies to Ellie's talent for lyrics in how it depicts the precarity of an experience of LA in a vivid but also kind of humorous way. "Lipstick on the Glass" was apparently one of the most difficult songs to complete but I'm so glad they refined it as much as they did (though I'd love to hear the more electronic-sounding version too!). "The Beach II" is my favourite of the two "Beach" bookends and "Safe from Heartbreak (if you never fall in love)" is personally the strongest of the album's shorter tracks, the harmonies are really compelling.
Something of an unforeseen challenger to Wolf Alice's general dominance of the top section of this month came from Spellling's "Boys at School", which is fantastic in the literal sense and otherwise and struck me as something special on first listen. This song and her album fill a void that I feel like Let's Eat Grandma left in 2018 with their sprawling, experimental, emotional and crucially very long tracks, coincidentally as LEG basically soundtracked my anxious last year of school (I very much share the sentiment!). I should revisit Japanese Breakfast's album because I found it a bit hit-or-miss on first listen but knew to revisit "Sit" as soon as possible after. It could well be my favourite song of hers, I absolutely love the shoegaze-y guitar sound. Like Christine and the Queens last year with La vita nuova, my reigning EOY champion Yves Tumor has wisely and quickly followed up Heaven to a Tortured Mind with a very solid EP. Track 1/lead single "Jackie" is a total stomper that sounds like "Kerosene!" fused with the percussive element of "Noid" or "Gospel for a New Century". It's a bit of a shame that LAUREL has seemingly split what would have been a remarkably solid second album into two EPs but her single choices from the EPs have been on point. "Wild Side" is right up there with "Scream Drive Faster" and certainly reminds me of the latter in how every verse feels as much like a hook as the chorus does. Another excellent pop song from Baby Queen comes in "American Dream", which happens to feature Australian MAY-A. I'm really impressed at the efficiency in which she's had consistently great new material come out. I like "He Said She Said" a lot but like "Death Stranding", "How Not to Drown" feels like Chvrches in their element of formidable, dynamic synthpop, which I'm pleased means longer runtimes these days. I think Robert Smith was involved at a later stage in this song but its darker edge (specifically the last minute and a half) sounds like his direct influence - it's all very welcome, my favourite Cure songs are the darker-sounding ones.
Very close are the two very good singles from Jax Jones' new EP ([s]"When Love Takes Over"[/s] "Crystallise" in particular is so good with a truly odd, ill-fitting drop), the clear standout on Planet Her in "Need to Know" (the album is fine but decidedly not as strong as Hot Pink for me) and the "Alone"-sized banger from Slayyyter in "Villain".
1
Wolf Alice
How Can I Make It OK?
2
Spellling
Boys at School
3
Wolf Alice
Feeling Myself
4
Japanese Breakfast
Sit
5
Yves Tumor
Jackie
6
LAUREL
Wild Side
7
Wolf Alice
Delicious Things
8
Baby Queen feat. MAY-A
American Dream
9
Chvrches feat. Robert Smith
How Not to Drown
10
Wolf Alice
Lipstick on the Glass
11
Jax Jones feat. Jem Cooke
Crystallise
12
Doja Cat
Need to Know
13
WILLOW
Lipstick
14
Erika de Casier
Drama
15
Megan Thee Stallion
Thot Shit
16
Foxing feat. WHY?
Speak with the Dead
17
Slayyyter
Villain
18
Jax Jones
Feels
19
Royal & the Serpent feat. phem
girls
20
Tkay Maidza
Cashmere
21
Ava Max
EveryTime I Cry
22
Wolf Alice
The Beach II
23
King Princess
House Burn Down
24
Shygirl & slowthai
BDE
25
Zella Day
Dance for Love
26
Liars
Sekwar
27
Half Waif
Sodium & Cigarettes
28
Rain Radio & DJ Craig Gorman
Talk About
29
Negative Gemini
House of Trix
30
Stellie
22 Pieces
31
LSDXOXO
The Devil
32
Chelsea Wolfe
Diana
33
Purple Disco Machine
Playbox
34
Hayley Mary
Sullen Kink
35
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
Carnage
36
Ladyhawke
Mixed Emotions
37
Squid feat. Martha Skye Murphy
Narrator
38
Alice Skye
Party Tricks
39
Wolf Alice
Safe from Heartbreak (if you never fall in love)
40
Charlie Collins
Fuck It
41
Mykki Blanco feat. Blood Orange
It's Not My Choice
42
Mabel
Let Them Know
43
Jax Anderson feat. PVRIS
Can't Get Me High
44
Cassandra Jenkins
Hard Drive
45
Nothing But Thieves
Futureproof
46
Famous
The Beatles
47
MAY-A
Swing of Things
48
Oneohtrix Point Never & ROSALÍA
Nothing's Special
49
Slayyyter
Letters
50
Trippie Redd feat. Playboi Carti
Miss the Rage
51
Hayley Kiyoko
Chance
52
SAINt JHN & SZA
Just for Me
53
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
K.G.L.W.
54
Half Waif
Swimmer
55
Telenova
Bones
56
daine
dainecore
57
TOKiMONSTA & VanJess
Say Yes
58
Soccer Mommy
Kissing in the Rain
59
Chelsea Wolfe & Emma Ruth Rundle
Anhedonia
60
Wild Pink
The Wind Was Like a Train
61
Little Simz
Rollin Stone
62
TSHA feat. NIMMO
OnlyL
63
Negative Gemini
Clown Cleaner
64
L Devine
Girls Like Sex
65
Holy Holy
Believe Anything
66
spill tab
Anybody Else
67
Wolf Alice
The Beach
68
Dizzy Fae
Bend n Snap
69
SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE
WAKE UP (IN ROTATION)
70
Jessie Ware
Hot N Heavy
71
Calvin Harris feat. Tom Grennan
By Your Side
72
Japanese Breakfast
Paprika
73
Tyler, The Creator
LUMBERJACK
74
Garbage
The Creeps
75
KUU [Alex Metric & Riton] feat. Shungudzo
Dancing in the Dark
76
Squid
Paddling
77
Wolf Alice
Play the Greatest Hits
78
Michael Gray & James Hurr feat. RoRoe
Jump In
79
Olivia Rodrigo
favorite crime
80
For Those I Love
The Myth / I Don't
81
Cannons
Bad Dream
82
Mykki Blanco feat. Kari Faux
Summer Fling
83
Måneskin
ZITTI E BUONI
84
Kanine
XTC
85
Slayyyter
Serial Killer
86
DARKSIDE
The Limit
87
Zueva
over the edge
88
Joy Crookes
Feet Don't Fail Me Now
89
DJ Khaled feat. Bryson Tiller, Lil Baby & Roddy Ricch
BODY IN MOTION
90
Harper Finn
She Said
91
PNAU feat. Budjerah
Stranger Love
92
TOWNS
Swimming
93
Doja Cat
Love to Dream
94
Wes Nelson feat. Yxng Bane
Nice to Meet Ya
95
THE BLOSSOM
HARDCORE HAPPY
96
Peking Duk
Chemicals
97
Squirrel Flower
Hurt a Fly
98
Flight Facilities
The Ghost
99
Rauw Alejandro
Todo De Ti
100
Biig Piig
Baby Zombies
101
Gorgon City & Jem Cooke
Dreams
102
Jessie Ware
Impossible
103
Slayyyter
Butterflies...
104
Doja Cat
Been Like This
105
Middle Kids
Today We're the Greatest
106
Porter Robinson
Musician
107
LoneLady
(There Is) No Logic
108
twenty one pilots
Shy Away
109
Eluera
Petty
110
MIKE
Evil Eye
111
George Maple
Demise
112
Marshmello & Jonas Brothers
Leave Before You Love Me
113
LUMP [Laura Marling & Mike Lindsay]
Climb Every Wall
114
bülow
Revolver
115
Crowded House
To the Island [Tame Impala Remix]
116
Hybrid Minds feat. Grace Grundy
Bad to Me
117
Jam & Lewis feat. Mariah Carey
Somewhat Loved (There You Go Breakin' My Heart)
118
Hiatus Kaiyote
Red Room
119
DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ*
Try Not to Be Afraid
120
Gang of Youths
the angel of 8th ave.
121
D'Arcy Spiller
K Karma
122
Bimini
God Save This Queen
123
THE BLOSSOM
SHAPESHIFTER
124
Bissett
Every Single Time
125
Tinashe & Buddy
Pasadena
126
Japanese Wallpaper
Leave a Light On
127
Fryars feat. Rae Morris
Moscow
128
Doja Cat
Get Into It (Yuh)
129
Dua Lipa
CAN THEY HEAR US
130
PinkPantheress
Break it off
131
Biig Piig
Remedy
132
COBRAH
BANG
133
Katy Perry
Electric
134
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Weekend Run
135
Moyka
I Don't Wanna Hold On
136
The Weather Station
Parking Lot
137
Japanese Breakfast
Slide Tackle
138
GoldLink feat. PinkPantheress, Rizloski & Rax
Evian
139
WEISS feat. Sharlene Hector
Lift Me Up
140
cupcakKe
Moonwalk
141
Lupa J
Saviour
142
SAULT
London Gangs
143
Cascada & Trans-X
One Last Dance
144
Polo G & Lil Wayne
GANG GANG
145
DARKSIDE
Lawmaker
146
beabadoobee
Cologne
147
Ninajirachi & Kota Banks
Secretive! [umru Remix]
148
Gia Woods
Enough of You
149
RAYE
Call on Me
150
Miguel
VIOLENT DREAMS
151
Sugababes
Same Old Story [Blood Orange Remix]
152
H.E.R. feat. KAYTRANADA & Thundercat
Bloody Waters
153
David Guetta
Get Together
154
Morrisson feat. Aitch
House & Garage
155
Griff
One Foot in Front of the Other
156
SAULT feat. Little Simz
You from London
157
OneRepublic
Run
158
Marshmello & Carnage
Back in Time
159
MARINA
Venus Fly Trap
160
Clairo
Blouse
*DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ feat. Delilah Brao, Luke Markinson & Anyelisax
Tinashe has the productivity that I associate with artists like Charli XCX and Lana Del Rey (moreso recently since she's been releasing music independently): her new album 333 is her ninth album-length release in the last ten years. Her quality control has set a really high standard when it comes to new music and, while I wasn't as keen on the album's lead single, the follow-up "Bouncin" instantly captured me, what with its instrumental being so reminiscent of Megan Thee Stallion's "Don't Stop" and its addictive, wordy chorus. It definitely stacks up against her best singles and videos - that somehow synchronised choreography on the mini-trampolines is so much fun. Thank you to villages for Deafheaven's "Great Mass of Color", which was unlucky to miss out on making my mid-year because I saved it in the first few days of July after hearing it for ACI. I really have no reference point for this kind of music other than... maybe De(a)ftones but this song has no shortage of compelling melodies and textures. I love how it goes all out in its last minute - the track is so well-paced that the last minute feels as momentuous with every listen. More than her previous output, Peggy Gou's "I Go" faithfully reincarnates '90s house that its bassline and chord progression sounds like "Rhythm of the Night", "Sweet Dreams" (La Bouche), "Mr. Vain", "More and More" and even "Into the Groove", which is to say I completely welcome it. I love her luxurious, tasteful style of dance music (and her single art continues to be sublime). Last year, Poppy's "Fill the Crown" was a top 50 contender in my 2020 mid-year...until I realised it was released in December 2019. I've never really paid attention to her YouTube videos (which I think she's better known for) but I've generally liked her music, particularly as it's moved in a more electronic/nu metal-inspired direction. Her new single "Her" is less electronic-sounding than "Fill the Crown" but rather hits a Metric/Cherry Glazerr sweet spot for me. Billie Eilish's second album is decidedly stronger than her debut for me. I don't necessarily think the album is even that much of a departure from the music she's made before, it feels more like she's really refined her songwriting and emphasised the more dynamic elements from her previous material. Only the title track, "Oxytocin" and "NDA" feature this month because of its July 30 release, but more is to come from the album next month! It goes without saying that the second half of "Happier Than Ever" is amazing, it's pure catharsis. I'm not sure what's going on with Normani, whose team ostensibly believes that the way to establish her as a solo artist is leaving extensive gaps between single releases (it's almost more baffling considering the eventual success of Camila's 'throwing singles out and seeing what sticks' strategy in 2017). I love most of her...five songs as a lead artist though - "Wild Side" returns to the slinky, sparse sound that she was doing really well on "Waves" - it definitely helps with a sample as mesmerising as "One in a Million". I've really enjoyed the energetic tracks that Pond have released this year but "Toast" has become my favourite of the singles, probably mostly because of the breezy Roxy Music-esque guitar line that runs through it. I still can't really put my finger on what I found so disappointing about Solar Power (song and album), but there's something kind of alienating and uninspired about Lorde's perspective on the album that bewilders me because Melodrama has such vitality in its songwriting and production. I don't think Solar Power is all bad, though, and in fact I've grown to love "Stoned at the Nail Salon", which is probably the most successful at communicating her disaffection. TDJ and fknsyd's "Open Air" is a collaboration of keyboard-mash artist names that I'd previously not heard of and the kind of minimal dance music I'll always love - in fact, the piano in it reminds me of Minimalistix's "Close Cover". It otherwise sounds like late-2000s Kaskade/Adam K & Soha's remixes down to the ~ethereal angelic~ vocal trance vocalist. Thank you to 392 and Zacco for getting me into Fluir's "Only One" many years later. Her new single "Better Off Alone" is not a cover but it's firmly in "Only One"'s wheelhouse of dreamy, melodious electronic pop.
1
Tinashe
Bouncin
2
Deafheaven
Great Mass of Color
3
Peggy Gou
I Go
4
Poppy
Her
5
Billie Eilish
Happier Than Ever
6
Normani feat. Cardi B
Wild Side
7
Pond
Toast
8
Lorde
Stoned at the Nail Salon
9
TDJ feat. fknsyd
Open Air
10
Fluir
Better Off Alone
11
RÜFÜS DU SOL
Alive
12
upsidedownhead feat. Clea
say something
13
Laura Mvula
Before the Dawn
14
Pictureplane
Blade Addict (Crimson Mist)
15
Billie Eilish
Oxytocin
16
Poppy
Flux
17
Yves Tumor
Crushed Velvet
18
AURORA
Cure for Me
19
Billie Eilish
NDA
20
BLOXX
Magnet
21
flowerkid feat. KUČKA
It's Happening Again
22
Skeleten
Live in Another World
23
Holy Holy feat. CLEWS
The Aftergone
24
Martina Topley-Bird
Pure Heart
25
Caroline Polachek
Bunny Is a Rider
26
L'Rain
Two Face
27
Ivy Rose
Home
28
Nina Kraviz
Skyscrapers
29
Foxing
If I Believed in Love
30
Erika de Casier
Call Me Anytime
31
Laura Mvula
Remedy
32
Syd
Fast Car
33
Anne-Marie & Little Mix
Kiss My (Uh Oh)
34
Spellling
Revolution
35
Ruby Fields
Song About a Boy
36
Yves Tumor
Secrecy Is Incredibly Important to the Both of Them
37
Tom Staar, Jem Cooke & AVIRA
Gravity
38
Azealia Banks
Fuck Him All Night
39
Eliza & The Delusionals
Save Me
40
WILLOW
naïve
41
Ngaiire
Him
42
KID BRUNSWICK
The Feel
43
DJ Seinfeld
These Things Will Come to Be
44
Macy Rodman
Love Me!
45
Rudimental & Skream
So Sorry
46
Ethel Cain
Crush
47
Kilo Kish
AMERICAN GURL
48
Boys Noize feat. Tommy Cash
Nude
49
Isabella Lovestory
Alo
50
Luke Hemmings
Starting Line
51
Magdalena Bay
Chaeri
52
TOPS
Party Again
53
Jaykae feat. Jorja Smith
1000 Nights
54
PinkPantheress
Passion
55
ILLENIUM & Tori Kelly
Blame Myself
56
Foxing
Draw Down the Moon
57
BIA feat. Nicki Minaj
WHOLE LOTTA MONEY
58
Swedish House Mafia feat. Ty Dolla $ign & 070 Shake
Lifetime
59
Shakira
Don't Wait Up
60
HARD FEELINGS [Joe Goddard & Amy Douglas]
Holding on Too Long
61
Alewya
Jagna
62
Don Toliver feat. Kali Uchis
Drugs N Hella Melodies
63
Ethel Cain feat. lil aaron
Michelle Pfeiffer
64
Swedish House Mafia
It Gets Better
65
Sigrid
Mirror [Kelly Lee Owens Remix]
66
Prayer
Breathe
67
Yves Tumor
...And Loyalty Is a Nuisance Child
68
Allison Ponthier
Hell Is a Crowded Room
69
Samsaruh
333
70
Redinho
Finally We're Alone
71
Cosha
Hot Tub
72
Grace Davies
toothbrush
73
Post Malone
Motley Crew
74
Half Waif
Midnight Asks
75
TRANS FX feat. Valerie Warren
Arizona
76
Self Esteem
Prioritise Pleasure
77
Camila Cabello
Don't Go Yet
78
REI AMI feat. Lolo Zouaï
CHERRY CHAPSTICK
79
Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers
AHHHH!
80
Sleigh Bells
Locust Laced
81
Alewya
Spirit_X
82
deadmau5 & Lights
When the Summer Dies
83
Soccer Mommy
rom com 2004
84
D'Arcy Spiller
In Another Life
85
Iggy Azalea
I Am the Stripclub
86
Baby Queen
You Shaped Hole
87
Isaiah Rashad
Headshots (4r Da Locals)
88
Lolo Zouaï
Galipette
89
Amyl and The Sniffers
Guided by Angels
90
TDJ
Lalala (Want Somebody)
91
Nothing But Thieves
Miracle, Baby
92
Tommy Genesis
a woman is a god
93
MNDR & GIRLI
Cult of Me
94
Ethel Cain
Unpunishable
95
JIMMY EDGAR & Rochelle Jordan
CRANK
96
Grace Mitchell
Tryst
97
Namasenda feat. La Zowi
Demonic
98
Annie Bass
Step Aside
99
Chelou
Wishing Well
100
Sassy 009
Blue Racecar
101
Liz Lawrence
Saturated
102
DJ Q, Shola Ama & Hans Glader
I Can't Stay
103
Chvrches
Good Girls
104
Half Waif
Fortress
105
DARKSIDE
I'm the Echo
106
Jazmin Bean
R U Looking 4 Me Now
107
Nabihah Iqbal
Is This Where It Ends
108
Mano Le Tough
Aye Aye Mi Mi
109
Tirzah
Tectonic
110
Pom Pom Squad
Head Cheerleader
111
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Timmy Trumpet & Edward Maya
Feel Your Love
112
Telenova
Tranquilize
113
Doja Cat feat. Eve
Tonight
114
Empara Mi
Saving All My Love
115
ZHU feat. John The Blind
Monster
116
WILLOW
don't SAVE ME
117
ÄTNA & MEUTE
Weirdo
118
Lastlings
Visions [jamesjamesjames Remix]
119
Tinashe
I Can See the Future
120
Logic1000
YourLove
121
MENTIS feat. Kate Wild
Excuses
122
Paul Kalkbrenner
Si Soy Fuego
123
No Rome, Charli XCX & The 1975
Spinning [A. G. Cook Remix]
124
Peggy Gou feat. OHHYUK
Nabi
125
Laura Mvula
Conditional
126
Dillon Francis & Shift K3Y feat. Marc E. Bassy
Love Me Better
127
Lauren Flax feat. Alejandra Deheza
Out of Reality
128
Polo G feat. Pop Smoke & Fivio Foreign
Clueless
129
caro♡
over u
130
Piroshka
Loveable
131
Devault feat. Kiiara
Never Felt Like This
132
LP
Goodbye
133
Sigala & Rita Ora
You for Me
134
Nonô
HONEST
135
Yves Tumor feat. NAKED
Tuck
136
Anne-Marie
x2
137
Loren Gray
Piece of Work
138
Ed Sheeran
Bad Habits
139
TRANS FX
Simply Red
140
Miss Grit
Dark Side of the Party
141
BURNS
Talamanca
142
The Lazy Eyes
The Island
143
Lucy Dacus
First Time
144
The Buoys
Bad Habit
145
Laura Mvula feat. Simon Neil
What Matters
146
MNDR feat. Phone Wallet Keys
Awake
147
Jennifer Lopez & Rauw Alejandro
Cambia el Paso
148
L'Rain
Suck Teeth
149
Kah-Lo
Commandments
150
Armin van Buuren & Jorn Van Deynhoven
Lost in Space
151
Tropical Fuck Storm
New Romeo Agent
152
GIRLI
Dysmorphia
153
paris jackson feat. Manchester Orchestra
adagio
154
KAMILLE feat. Haile & Ivorian Doll
Sad Party
155
Alexandra Stan & NERVO
Come Into My World
156
Eilish Gilligan
Get Well Soon
157
ILLENIUM & Matt Maeson
Heavenly Side
158
KUČKA
Beautiful
159
UNIIQU3 feat. DJ 809
MOVE YA BODY
160
Chris Malinchak & Kiesza
In My Eyes
161
Oscar and the Wolf
Oliver
162
KUU [Alex Metric & Riton] feat. Shungudzo
Lucky
163
Banks
The Devil
164
ShockOne feat. Reija Lee
Hardwired
165
Not a Friend
Killer Instinct
166
Zara Larsson feat. Trevor Daniel
I Need Love
167
WILLOW feat. Cherry Glazerr
¡BREAKOUT!
168
Genesis Owusu
The Fall
169
Miley Cyrus feat. watt, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma...
Nothing Else Matters
170
Erika de Casier
No Butterflies, No Nothing
171
€URO TRA$H & Psycho Boys Club feat. Bonnie Strange
This is quite possibly the strongest month for the top section of these lists: this is a very close top 4. I liked "Heat Wave" a lot in 2018 but, quite like "Ohio" for King Princess, "Valentine" is something of a reinvention that blows the rest of what I've heard of Snail Mail's music out of the water. I love the lyrics, and musically it's all about the contrast between the mellow verses and the huge chorus. Let's Eat Grandma are properly back - I must have summoned them by comparing "Boys at School" to them in my commentary. They're as sweeping and epic as ever in "Hall of Mirrors". At this point I should pretend that Poppy's new album Flux is Sky Ferreira's second album (which I also hope I can summon into being released soon since apparently it does exist and its songs sound like Tears For Fears, so I'm going to die when I hear it if I don't before it's released). I didn't initially catch that Flux was produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen (as was the new Deafheaven album), who I was made aware of after he produced Visions of a Life and Metric's Art of Doubt but, as Wikipedia reiterates, he's also been involved in... most songs and albums I love, I guess. The standout track on Flux is the storming "As Strange As It Seems". I've come across Magdalena Bay a few times via Popjustice's NMF playlist without anything sticking in a big way, but this year "Chaeri" piqued my interest as something markedly different from the H&M In-Store Playlist-ready kind of synthpop sound I'd heard from them before (not a bad thing!). Two singles later, "You Lose!" immediately became my favourite of theirs, what with the frenzied instrumental sounding like the soundtrack to a Pac-Man game from hell. Their new album is probably one of the best pop albums of the year for what it's worth. "Good Ones" is probably the most a solo Charli song from the past two years has sounded like it could be a huge hit but naturally it's infinitely more interesting than any of the recent "Blinding Lights" replicas (including Oscar Holter's own replicas) because it sounds like "Mirrors" by Natalia Kills crossed "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)". I'm sure there's even better on the album but in the meantime it's a fantastic single. Banoffee's 2020 album Look at Us Now Dad is a really solid collection of well-written and quirky pop songs that would quite easily slot into a playlist with, well, any of the above four artists. She's followed it up with a new EP and its third single "Never Get to Fuck Any1" has become my favourite track of hers to date. After unfortunately not really getting into her efforts last year, Foxes' "Sister Ray" is a welcome shift and distinct enough from other post-"Dancing on My Own"/"Run Away with Me" pop songs in the same vein (though I wouldn't say this is exactly going for the same feeling) purely by how exuberant and fun the production is. I'm surprised Little Mix didn't opt for "Between Us" to lead into their Greatest Hits album but I'm not complaining that the effervescent "Love (Sweet Love)" was released instead (unfortunately to little success compared to their last few singles nn); after all I'll always prefer their high-energy tracks because they're the ideal girlband to carry out songs like this. In that way it reminds me a lot of "Bounce Back" except instead of a Soul II Soul sample there's an interpolation of a... Morcheeba album track? I believe their insistence that they'll be back, but in the meantime hallmark Little Mix bangers of this quality will be sorely missed. South Africa's Sun-El Musician continues to make sublime house music. "Higher" featuring frequent collaborator Simmy (their 2018 collaboration "Sonini" is stunning) is another glowing illustration. UNIIQU3 is a name I've known for a while and I think the dizzyingly "Microdosing" was the right song to get me into them, thanks to Clinton nominating it for ACI. Their Heartbeats EP is really fun too. It'd be interesting to see a Big Freedia-esque rise of their profile after their song "Off the Chain" with TT The Artist was sampled by Chlöe's "Have Mercy" (which features a little lower in the list).
Also very close: a couple of songs from the wall-to-wall banger affair that is the Boys Noize album, one of my favourite Sofi Tukker singles in the insidious grower "Sun Came Up", a new Placebo single(!), finally a 2021 Sega Bodega track of his own to rank amongst his other excellent productions this year, and my favourite of the leftovers from last year's Annie album.
Close to a year after I first heard and quickly became obsessed with Eartheater's song "Volcano", she has released a new song called "Scripture", which is another slightly earth-shattering song in its own right. It was produced with the prolific Sega Bodega which explains the slight shift away from the acoustic foundation of her 2020 album Phoenix toward a more electronic sound without losing any of the intensity and sweeping vocal melodies that seem to be her trademark. After Let's Eat Grandma returned to claim my #2 of September, it looks like Mitski is the artist I strongly associate with 2018 to return and claim my #2 of October with the brilliant "Working for the Knife". Her songwriting is always striking but it's how she puts it to melody and how she and Patrick Hyland construct these intense musical vignettes for each song that makes her so distinct and one of my favourite artists making music at the moment. The volatile percussive edge to the production on "Working" is so promising to hear considering that dulling the sonic aspect of her music could have been an easier route to more mainstream appeal. Keyboard-mash artists TDJ and fknsyd are back with a second collaboration for TDJ's SPF Infini compilation/"audiovisual experiment led by TDJ celebrating the 'hot girl summer' spirit". "Euphoria" is its title which encapsulates very well what listening to it feels like. I don't know much about Danish producer Trentemøller other than that he makes very good songs with women from bands - "River in Me" featuring Jehnny Beth from Savages and "Hands Down" featuring jennylee from Warpaint are two songs of his that I love. "All Too Soon" from his upcoming sixth album is decidedly within the same sound world; though I'm not familiar with vocalist Lisbet Fritze, her ghostly vocals have a familiar quality to someone like Ruth Radelet from Chromatics (who I'm sad to see have called it quits ). Australian singer CXLOE seems to consistently produce robust pop songs that sound like they'd have 5x the streams in the hands of better-established/international artists. I hope she keeps them coming because I love her voice, and nonetheless, she's released my favourite song of hers so far in the massive "Close", which sounds a little like Charli/Christine's "Gone" and bülow's "SAD AND BORED". Speaking of Australian singers, I was stunned to discover that, in the deluge of soundtrack songs and perfunctory collaborations and castoffs from bigger popstars (some of which make up the soundtrack to her own film), Sia has now collaborated with Arca on the sequel (of... four sequels) to KiCk i, one of my favourite albums of last year. I don't think Arca's choice of collaborator went down well with her fanbase but I actually love the collaboration; for whatever reason Sia's archetypal ballad melodies and lyrics sound really quite impenetrable against one of the more bracing tracks on KICK ii. One of four songs to feature Claudia Kane (whose voice is a dead ringer for Susanne Sundfør's voice) on Maya Jane Coles' new album Night Creature is the brilliant "True Love to the Grave", after their 2020 collaboration "Run to You" came in at #85 in my 2020 EOY. Alewya is a really promising new artist who, in the space of a few singles, has revealed herself to be chameleonic in how she cuts across different dance genres while still commanding each track. I think "Play" is my favourite solo single from her so far thanks to the sleek, addictive melodies. Shygirl's "Cleo", produced by Jakwob and Sega Bodega, is not exactly reinventing the wheel - it's a coincidence that the song she remixed on Dawn of Chromatica was "Sour Candy" because both resemble [s]"Swish Swish"[/s] "What They Say" - but it sounds so luxurious. Metronomy released a really brilliant EP of collaborations recently and their collaboration with Sorry, "Out of Touch", is my favourite track. It sounds like if the introduction to "Live to Tell" sounded more disoriented.
1
Eartheater
Scripture
2
Mitski
Working for the Knife
3
TDJ & fknsyd
Euphoria
4
Trentemøller feat. Lisbet Fritze
All Too Soon
5
CXLOE
Close
6
Arca & Sia
Born Yesterday
7
Maya Jane Coles feat. Claudia Kane
True Love to the Grave
8
Alewya
Play
9
Shygirl
Cleo
10
Metronomy & Sorry
Out of Touch
11
alt-J
U&ME
12
Moodoïd & Say Lou Lou
French Boy
13
Diplo, Paul Woolford & Kareen Lomax
Promises
14
Moyka
When
15
The Killers
In Another Life
16
Real Lies
Since I
17
PinkPantheress
I must apologise
18
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
A Dream I Have
19
Sam Fender
Spit of You
20
Anabel Englund
Midnight Rapture
21
Magdalena Bay
Domino
22
Lone
Realise
23
yeule
Don't Be So Hard on Your Own Beauty
24
Lana Del Rey
Thunder
25
Oscar and the Wolf
Nostalgic Bitch
26
Claptone & Like Mike feat. Mansionair
Right Into You
27
Pictureplane feat. YAWNS & Wicca Phase...*
Black Chardonnay
28
RÜFÜS DU SOL
I Don't Wanna Leave
29
Stellie
Bullet Through the Heart
30
Oscar and the Wolf
Livestream
31
Sega Bodega
Angel on My Shoulder
32
Phoebe Green
So Grown Up
33
Swedish House Mafia & The Weeknd
Moth to a Flame
34
j00
aces
35
R Plus & Faithless feat. Amelia Fox
Hold On to Your Heart
36
Dreamer Boy feat. BENEE
ARE YOU LETTING GO?
37
Kelis
Midnight Snacks
38
Flight Facilities feat. Broods
FOREVER
39
Jessica Winter
Do You Do You
40
Lana Del Rey
Black Bathing Suit
41
Agnes
Here Comes the Night
42
Wet Leg
Wet Dream
43
Boys Noize
Close
44
Self Esteem
You Forever
45
George Clanton & Negative Gemini
Fucking Up My Life
46
Lees
Honeymoon Suite
47
Duran Duran feat. Tove Lo
GIVE IT ALL UP
48
Lisa Mitchell
Zombie
49
The War on Drugs feat. Lucius
I Don't Live Here Anymore
50
Hybrid Minds feat. Everyone You Know
Dance Forever
51
Lana Del Rey
Dealer
52
Nia Archives
Forbidden Feelingz
53
Spacey Jane
Lunchtime
54
Millie Turner
Made a Vow
55
Boys Noize feat. Ghost Culture
Polarity
56
IDLES
The Beachland Ballroom
57
Dylan
Someone Else
58
Pictureplane
Avalanche
59
Tori Amos
Speaking with Trees
60
Cannons
Ruthless
61
Magdalena Bay
Mercurial World
62
Metronomy & Pinty
Half an Inch
63
JoJo
B.I.D.
64
Perfect Moment
Nightclub
65
Becca Hatch
Safety
66
Azealia Banks
Tarantula
67
Nathan Dawe & T. Matthias
Goodbye
68
UNIIQU3 feat. Dj K-Deucez
Touch
69
JONES
Blue Sunshine
70
PinkPantheress
Reason
71
Remi Wolf
Street You Live On
72
Pictureplane
Dopamine
73
Agnes
Love and Appreciation
74
James Blake feat. SZA
Coming Back
75
Sly Withers
Clarkson
76
PinkPantheress
Last valentines
77
Joy Crookes
When You Were Mine [Prospa Remix]
78
Parcels
Somethinggreater
79
Tove Styrke
Start Walking
80
Ivy Adara
Apartment No. 2
81
Oklou, Pomme & Danny L Harle
galore [French Version]
82
Noizu, Disciples & MOYA
Catch My Love
83
Kanye West
Jonah
84
Magdalena Bay
Something for 2
85
Craig David & MNEK
Who You Are
86
Bugs
Decisions, Commitments & Plans
87
Kito feat. Winona Oak
Skin & Bones
88
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
The Distance
89
Ainslie Wills & James Knight
Primal Animal
90
Moonchild Sanelly & Sad Night Dynamite
Demon
91
The Armed
AN ITERATION
92
Joel Corry feat. Mabel
I Wish
93
Tchami & Habstrakt feat. Lena Leon
Eternity
94
GRACEY
Can't Be Friends
95
Pictureplane
Aerial Black
96
The Marías
Calling U Back
97
Keys N Krates & Haviah Mighty
Pull Up
98
Smile feat. Robyn
Call My Name
99
Kylie Minogue & Years & Years
A Second to Midnight
100
Devault feat. Njomza
Only One
101
Amyl and The Sniffers
Hertz
102
GRAACE
Sentimental
103
Everyone You Know
There for You
104
Milan Ring feat. Jean Deaux
Pick Me Up
105
Aly & AJ
Am I Alright
106
Lil Yachty
Love Music
107
Poppy
Hysteria
108
Jimothy Lacoste
Describe Hampstead Heath
109
Faye Webster
A Dream with a Baseball Player
110
Donatachi
buttons
111
KYE feat. Jerome Farah
Tuesday
112
Logic1000 feat. Big Ever
Natural
113
Angèle
Bruxelles je t'aime
114
Tale of Us & Pete Tong feat. Jules Buckley
Time
115
KEY
BAD LOVE
116
Ashnikko
Panic Attacks in Paradise
117
Cid Rim
Last Snow
118
Jesswar feat. Erica Banks
BAD LIKE RIRI
119
Uffie
cool
120
Todd Terry
What Excites UUU
121
Hope D
Happy Hangover
122
UNIIQU3
Shame on Me
123
Purple Disco Machine feat. Sahara Beck
Can't Get Enough
124
Jesy Nelson feat. Nicki Minaj
Boyz
125
Gia Woods
Fame Kills
126
Foxing
Go Down Together
127
Magdalena Bay
Hysterical Us
128
Jaala
All Here
129
Bugs
Diamond
130
Hatchie
Crush
131
Eli Brown
How Do I Belong
132
Katy B feat. Jaz Karis
Open Wound
133
Sassy 009
Wannabe
134
Kylie Minogue & Jessie Ware
Kiss of Life
135
Magdalena Bay
Prophecy
136
Josef Salvat
The Drum
137
Purple Disco Machine feat. Eyelar
Dopamine [Anna Lunoe Remix]
138
Tierra Whack
Walk the Beat
139
FLETCHER
girls girls girls
140
LOSER
Skyward
141
Namasenda feat. Joey LaBeija
Finish Him
142
Alice Ivy & Sycco
Weakness
143
LÉON
Soaked
144
Rainbow Chan
Idols 偶像
145
Lone
Inlove2
146
Number One Popstar
TV
147
Foxes
Dance Magic
148
Mall Grab
Spirit Wave
149
Vera Blue
Temper
150
Rusko
Sticks and Stones
151
HEALTH & Poppy
DEAD FLOWERS
152
Snail Mail
Ben Franklin
153
Boys Noize
Xpress Yourself
154
Sam Fischer
Hopeless Romantic
155
Georgia Mae
Gentle
156
Miraa May feat. RAYE
Go Girl
157
Lauren Jauregui
Colors
158
Jaguar Jonze
CURLED IN
159
PinkPantheress
Noticed I cried
160
JoJo
Lift
161
Majestic & Nightcrawlers
Losing My Mind
162
Lana Del Rey
If You Lie Down with Me
163
DRAMA
Dark Rain
164
Miiesha
Price I Paid
165
Blindspott
R.I.P. (Rest in Pieces)
166
Kara Lane
Malocchio
167
JoJo
Anxiety (Burlinda's Theme)
168
Arca
Incendio
169
Montaigne
Now (In Space)
170
Tears For Fears
The Tipping Point
171
Phebe Starr
Air
172
Ross From Friends
Love Divide
173
Navvy
Rock Bottom
174
Hybrid Minds feat. Dylan
Blame You
175
JoJo
Dissolve
176
Running Touch
Ceilings
177
Courtney Barnett
Write a List of Things to Look Forward To
178
Jordan Rakei
Illusion
179
AURORA
Giving in to the Love
180
Marissa Nadler feat. Mary Lattimore
If I Could Breathe Underwater
181
Jay Pryor & Coldabank feat. Anna Straker
Good for Me
182
Greta Stanley
Close Call
183
Christina Aguilera/Becky G/Nicki Nicole/Nathy**
Pa Mis Muchachas
184
Devault & Bipolar Sunshine
Don't Be Alarmed
185
The Neighbourhood
Fallen Star
186
K.Flay
Nothing Can Kill Us
187
DJ Snake, Ozuna, Megan Thee Stallion & LISA
SG
188
April
Piece of Me
189
Kacey Musgraves
breadwinner
190
The Killers
In the Car Outside
* Pictureplane feat. YAWNS & Wicca Phase Springs Eternal ** Christina Aguilera, Becky G & Nicki Nicole feat. Nathy Peluso
Like "Valentine" for Snail Mail, "Holiday" is a very exciting comeback for Confidence Man that eclipses everything I'd heard from them previously. I'd noticed that their previous singles seemed to veer toward a novelty appeal that was unfortunately not really working for me bar "Better Sit Down Boy" and "Does It Make You Feel Good?", which I thought was an interesting pivot with odd but rather slick production. There's something uniquely monumental about "Holiday", which leads with such vibrant colour in the production and the on-record presence of Janet Planet and Sugar Bones that I was struck by on first listen: each element sounds immense while retaining an effortless, off-beat charm. Janet's description of it as Underworld meets M.I.A. is totally spot on, and what better reference points to be bringing to mind. The comebacks continue as Nilüfer Yanya challenges for a third consecutive year in the upper echelons of my EOYs with her new single "stabilise", which comes ahead of her upcoming second album Painless. "stabilise" reminds me a lot of "Heat Rises" with the foregrounded percussion loops, but it feels a little more angsty and charged with the fast spoken verses. Beach House break the pattern of artists with 2018-released albums that I absolutely loved making #2 by coming in at #3 with "Superstar", my instant favourite of the four songs comprising the first chapter of their upcoming eighth album Once Twice Melody. Needless to say, they sound as enchanting as always with a distinct character to each of these first four songs; perhaps as a steady slow burner of a song "Superstar" is the most straightforward but it's perfectly paced and beautifully cohesive sonically. I'm not very familiar with Russian DJ/singer Nina Kraviz but I adore her new single "This Time". By comparison to her previous single "Skyscrapers" (which I definitely ranked too low in July) it's quite nebulous as it drifts between the chorus and the verse but it's just as dreamy and melodic. "The Only Heartbreaker" is the first song Mitski has co-written with someone else - she wrote it with Semisonic member Dan Wilson, whose co-writing discography is an interesting mix of artists (with quite a few songs I love in there). It's already quite distinct from "Working for the Knife" but it's no less exciting, I really like how lively the production is until the very end, as if she's revelling in her own self-destruction. Also vaguely recalling '80s pop sounds is Charli XCX leaning as promised toward new jack swing alongside now two-time collaborators Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek. "New Shapes" is the weaker of both of their previous respective collaborations [s](Caroline's howling in "Tears" is sorely missed of course)[/s] but it's still a total blast and the features contribute a lot. Just below are HARD FEELINGS's "Love Scenes" (the brilliant opener to their self-titled EP; HARD FEELINGS is a project of Joe Goddard and vocalist Amy Douglas, who apparently co-wrote Róisín Murphy's "Something More"); CLMD's "Heaven on Earth", which I've designated as a mini "WANT NEED LOVE" for some reason; Hayden James and Swedish singer Yaeger's "Waiting for Nothing" which has quickly become my favourite of his; Lennon Stella's quietly brilliant "Fancy" and my favourite single from G Flip since 2018 by far in "Scream".
In the interest of catching up on these lists before my EOY and not frying my brain with the self-imposed task of ranking 20000 songs I've decided I'll post condensed lists for the last two months of the year in the meantime.
1
Confidence Man
Holiday
2
Nilüfer Yanya
stabilise
3
Beach House
Superstar
4
Nina Kraviz
This Time
5
Mitski
The Only Heartbreaker
6
Charli XCX feat. Christine and the Queens & Caroline Polachek
New Shapes
7
HARD FEELINGS
Love Scenes
8
CLMD
Heaven on Earth
9
Hayden James feat. Yaeger
Waiting for Nothing
10
Lennon Stella
Fancy
11
G Flip feat. UPSAHL
Scream
12
Sega Bodega feat. Arca
Cicada
13
Snail Mail
Glory
14
Cate Le Bon
Moderation
15
Pretty Girl
Arc
16
Boy Harsher
Tower
17
Doss
Cherry
18
Sahara Beck
Crave Me
19
LVRA
IN YOUR BLOOD
20
What So Not feat. EVAN GIIA
Messin' Me Up
21
Gang of Youths
tend the garden
22
Beach House
Once Twice Melody
23
Prospa
Love Someone
24
Tiësto & Ava Max
The Motto
25
Snail Mail
Headlock
26
Mura Masa
2gether
27
DVRST
Close Eyes
28
Barrie
Dig
29
Subjective [Goldie & James Davidson] feat. Lady Blackbird
Sunlight
30
Micra
Sunday
31
Flight Facilities feat. Your Smith
Stay
32
Magdalena Bay
Follow the Leader
33
Alan Fitzpatrick feat. Catrin Vincent of Another Sky
50 latest reviews
) and will be in Discord on the night - memo me if you aren't already there and want an invite. Here's the link: 
