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“Kettering” |
| The Antlers | ||
| Repeated, persistent piano chords support and console Peter Silberman’s fragile voice as he grapples with mortality on “Kettering.” The song moves from melancholia to anger to acceptance through five minutes of sad shoegaze. | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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“When the Devil’s Loose” | |
| A.A. Bondy | ||
| Dimly lit by the embers of fires, Bondy finds revelatory praises in the darkness. He’s waiting in the shadows with the sort of affected voice that haunts with weakness and vulnerability to warn you of his lovely sadness. The pinewoods can’t hold the “Devil” back and neither will they keep you from A.A. Bondy. | ||
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-Andy DeLoach
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“She Loves Everybody” | |
| Chester French | ||
| A tragic overture surrenders to a deceivingly upbeat song, a smartly recycled and modernized accolade to new-wave and ’60s pop. The lyrics “Well, she craves affection, so I use protection, And I know she loves me, she loves everybody” are equal parts smugly clever and poignantly heartbreaking. | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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“French Navy” | |
| Camera Obscura | ||
| A complete love story in three minutes? Impossible unless you’re Camera Obscura. This carefree tune transports you to a breezy afternoon filled with skipping, laughing, and the reminder that even French sailors will break your heart. | ||
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-Julie Gong
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“So Far Around the Bend” | |
| The National | ||
| Sufjan Stevens would drool over the whimsical woodwinds in an earthy folk-rock song that would feel right at home on the now infamous Garden State soundtrack. | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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“Ambling Alp” | |
| Yeasayer | ||
| Packed with memerising electro beats and a bright pulsating rhythm, “Ambling Alp” strikes a rare balance between forward-thinking experimentation and good old-fashioned fun. | ||
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-Jon Kjarsgaard
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“Dog Days Are Over” | |
| Florence & the Machine | ||
| You know how sometimes you start to wallow in your own self-pity? Everything seems a little grey and dreary and melancholy. But then maybe a ray of sunlight breaks through the mass of clouds above, filling you with enough brightness and warmth that suddenly you’re thinking how lucky you are to be you, here, today, right where you are. Well, that’s the exact feeling evoked here. The beginning piano notes twinkle gently and deliberately beneath the lovely rich quality of Florence Welch’s voice, and then the two slowly build together into a joyful chorus of, well, sunshine, with handclaps taking over the beat to allow Florence and her machine to dance together in that perfect beam of sunlight. And when she sings “happiness hit her like a bullet in the head,” you know just what she’s talking about. | ||
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-Litzy Everson
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“Oh No” | |
| Andrew Bird | ||
| The first seconds of “Oh No” are like a sonic sunrise warmly awakening a field of handclaps and whistling. The day-dreamy music initially seems mismatched with lyrics about humanity being “harmless sociopaths” with “calcium mines buried deep in our chests,” but it’s a gentle wake-up call from Bird to stop feeling numb and get back in touch with our emotions, lest otherwise it take “a calculated blow to the head to light the eyes of all the harmless sociopaths.” | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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“Let’s Go Surfing” | |
| The Drums | ||
| “Let’s Go Surfing” reminds you of everything that is awesome about youthful summer. Skipping off to the beach aside, it’s really about complete and utter freedom and the last sweet drops of pure happiness a teenager can enjoy. | ||
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-Jon Kjarsgaard
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“Got Nuffin” | |
| Spoon | ||
| “Got Nuffin” provides soul, groove, rock, and grit — side-by-side — in less than four minutes. That’s no small feat and the outcome leaves you wanting to either dance, spit, or tell off your boss with confidence. I recommend all three at once. | ||
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-Andy DeLoach
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“Heads Will Roll” | |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs | ||
| “Heads Will Roll” jerks you awake out of monotony. With a snappy beat and infectious lyrics, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs pull you up by your hair and demand that you get up and dance… dance, dance ’til you’re dead. | ||
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-Litzy Everson
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“Young Hearts Spark Fire” | |
| Japandroids | ||
| “Young Hearts Spark Fire” is reminiscent of listening to your high school boyfriend’s band practice in his parents’ basement — it’s lo-fi but high energy, more shout than sing, uncomplicated, incredibly idealistic, and what it lacks it makes up for three times over in charm. | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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“Airplanes” | |
| Local Natives | ||
| There’s no messy sexuality here, or worse, syrupy wistfulness. Instead, “Airplanes” is pure remembrance laced with a longing for something lost that is deeper and older than any romantic connection. The music builds, pulls back, and builds again — steady and hopeful, but always aware of its ultimate finiteness. | ||
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-Casie Yoder
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“Blood Bank” | |
| Bon Iver | ||
| With sparse instrumentation and the haunting “oohs” at the beginning, “Blood Bank” manages to capture the feeling of a Wisconsin winter and actually romanticize it. Though the style does not stray from For Emma, Forever Ago, “Blood Bank” proves Justin Vernon does not need a breakup and a deserted cabin to deliver. | ||
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-Lindsay Juley
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“White Blank Page” | |
| Mumford & Sons | ||
| An urgent, pleading strum pattern supports Marcus Mumford’s aching voice as he sings heartbreakers like “Tell me now where was my fault in loving you with my whole heart.” Barren harmonies and Celtic sounding fiddles and accordion lend the song a feeling of friends hunkering down in a cozy pub to wallow in and drown out their heartache. | ||
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-Claire Tiller
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