Top 50 Songs of 2014
20. Jessie Ware
“Tough Love”
from Tough Love (PMR)
Jessie Ware’s Tough Love isn’t lacking in breathtaking, gorgeous tracks. We’ve come to expect as much at this stage, even if she’s only released two albums. “Say You Love Me” is agonizingly heartbreaking and “Champagne Kisses” fizzes with the kind of instrumentation and melody you’d imagine appearing on the soundtrack to your personal love story (I’m visualizing it right now — it’s very good). But the lead single and title track “Tough Love” is the money song. It’s sparse and sexy, and Ware pours every luscious ounce of her passion into the breathy vocals, documenting the kind of pain that comes from heartbreak—“When your heart becomes a million different pieces / that’s when you won’t be able to recognize this feeling / that’s called tough love.” We might not have been able to recognize it — not until hearing this arrestingly beautiful track. – NG
19. Caribou
“Can’t Do Without You”
from Our Love (Merge)
Dan Snaith is a man of few words. Throughout most of “Can’t Do Without You,” he sings little more than the song’s title, which he tag-teams with a pitch-shifted sample that opens his latest album as Caribou, Our Love, on a hopeful if melancholy note. It’s a simple, solitary cry, the kind of thing you’d only repeat over and over if there’s an actual danger that the person on the receiving end is actually going to let go. But 90 seconds in, backed by the swell of sound that erupts — with heady buzzing synthesizers and an explosive, empowering pulse — “Can’t Do Without You” transforms into something else entirely. It becomes a driving force, and with it, Snaith’s words become affirmational and encouraging rather than desperate. To say you can’t do without someone is to leave some heavy baggage on their door, or alternately, it can be incredibly romantic; Snaith opts not to settle. “Can’t Do Without You” explores all the possibilities of four seemingly simple words. – JT
18. Sun Kil Moon
“Ben’s My Friend”
from Benji (Caldo Verde)
I’d write more about the stark yet easygoing realism in this centerpiece from Sun Kil Moon’s Benji album, but Mark Kozelek can suck my cock. – AB
17. Sleater-Kinney
“Bury Our Friends”
from No Cities to Love (Sub Pop)
I’m willing to hear arguments for second prize, but the best thing to happen in music in 2014 was Sleater-Kinney’s return. Nope, not arguing with you — this was it, and will continue to be music’s high point into 2015 as the band releases No Cities to Love and plays their first live shows in a decade. But even if it’s just a taste, “Bury Our Friends” found one of the best bands of the ’90s and ’00s returning triumphantly. From the colossal sound of its opening riff, you’d assume no time has passed since the band took a final-ish bow with 2005’s The Woods, and yet, paradoxically, it feels very of the moment. And part of the reason it feels so current, so crucial, is because the band holds absolutely nothing back — they’ve hit the ground at a sprint, barreling forward with both direction and intent, and a seemingly relentless power behind them. Every note and every element is engineered to deliver maximum impact, but it’s Carrie Brownstein who delivers the coup de grace: “Only I get to be sickened by me!” They’re wild and weary, perhaps, but you better believe they’re not giving in. – JT
16. Todd Terje
“Strandbar”
from It’s Album Time! (Olsen)
There’s a winking campiness to almost every song on Todd Terje’s debut It’s Album Time!, and “Strandbar,” with its toybox of Latin percussion and gurgling synths, is certainly no exception. But the song, which was released in a much longer form last year as “Strandbar (Disko),” is the record’s most immediate toe-tapper. Perhaps there was no simpler musical pleasure this year than hearing the slow build of this song culminate with the funkiest piano riff in recent memory. Sure, Terje’s cheeseball aesthetic is charming and unique, but “Strandbar” works on a much more visceral level — and is all the more powerful for it. – SP
15. Perfume Genius
“Queen”
from Too Bright (Matador)
If Too Bright’s hushed, piano-based opener “I Decline” didn’t give any indication that major changes were afoot for Perfume Genius, the album’s strident second track announced them with bravado. Stirring synths buzzing around a haunting chorus of “oohs,” the sparse quiet of Perfume Genius’ past was been replaced with something altogether soaring and fully fleshed out. It stands to reason that the track harnesses Mike Hadreas’ most confident performance to date. If “Queen”’s grander scale necessarily removes some of the intimacy we’ve come to expect from Hadreas, the song still maintains the melancholy beauty that has always made Perfume Genius so special. – CK
14. Angel Olsen
“White Fire”
from Burn Your Fire For No Witness (Jagjaguwar)
This year’s darkest, most devastating song was seven-minutes long, but it didn’t come from the realm of metal. Hell, you could hardly even call it a rock song. In fact, it relies on nothing more than Angel Olsen’s mesmerizing voice and her understated fingerpicking. And while that may not sound all that menacing, spin the first thirty seconds and let Olsen’s melancholy coo of “Everything is tragic/ It all just falls apart” drag you back down to earth. But the beauty of this track is — like Leonard Cohen or Will Oldham before her — Olsen knows how to reach far beyond depression or self-criticism to reach a level of morbid fascination that is so captivating, you can’t help but stare. Burn Your Fire For No Witness boasted a handful of truly impressive rock songs, but this eerie ballad blows all of those tracks out of the water — and that’s saying something. – ATB
13. Beyoncé
“Partition”
from Beyoncé (Columbia)
If anything good has come from Destiny’s Child breaking up, it’s Beyonce’s solo career. You just can’t argue with her creative genius. She does it all. And while it’s worth highlighting the important messages that appear in well-crafted tracks like “Flawless” and “Pretty Hurts,” the real highlight from her late-2013 self-titled album is the single “Partition,” where Yonce, Beyonce’s rapping alter-ego is born. From the opening clip of Beyonce’s live tour, “Say haaaayyy Mrs. Carter,” and the thundering, deep, almost dirty, bass beats of the first half of the track, to the tongue-curling, indulgent verses about a sexual encounter in the back of a limo in the second half, she holds nothing back here. It gives a voice to the power of female sexuality and opens up space for ladies everywhere who like to get down without being marginalized. – NG
12. Mac DeMarco
“Passing Out Pieces”
from Salad Days (Captured Tracks)
Let’s face it, it’s getting harder and harder to square Mac DeMarco’s immature behavior — be it endearing or downright disgusting — with the increasing sincerity of his music. With lines like “Watching my life pass right in front of my eyes,” “Passing Out the Pieces” in particular reaches striking new levels of introspection. Even musically speaking the song stretches out into territory that’s a bit more sophisticated, right down to the Beach House-esque chiming synths and stately lead guitar. Sure, even amid his most contemplative moments, nothing about his work feels heavy; there’s always a boyish charm lurking beneath the surface (see the line “What mom don’t know has taken its toll on me”). He may be opposed to growing up any time soon but he’s certainly growing artistically. – CK
11. Dum Dum Girls
“Too True to Be Good”
from Too True (Sub Pop)
The de facto title track on the Dum Dum Girls’ winning Too True, is another of the Los Angeles quintet’s signature black-leather bliss-outs. For all the bands aural links to the Jesus and Mary Chain and Siouxsie and the Banshees, it’s obvious, now three LP and four EPs in, it’s Dee Dee Penny’s vocals that warrant repeated listens. – SC
