Top albums? Check. Top EPs? Done. Now it’s time for our favourite tracks of the year. Each of us has picked the one song that hit us hardest this year.
Dirty Projectors – Gun Has No Trigger
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_qFaFl7JVc]
“As a self-confessed Dirty Projectors fanboy, I’ve always admired their musicianship, instrumentation and ability to surprise, and all these things shine through on this track, but there was something new at play too. I would call it structure but that seems somehow unfair (and entirely subjective to the context of a back catalogue that is at times so cerebral that it verges on impenetrable). There’s a directness and simplicity to this track – perhaps not in technical terms, but certainly in terms of ideas – that feels like a picture coming in to focus. Where in the past, Dirty Projectors songs have sometimes felt like an argument between a room full of incredibly clever music students, Gun Has No Trigger (and the album as a whole) feels like it finds freedom in a structure that, whilst formulaic, forces the more surprising and expressive ideas to play together rather than fight each other to be heard.” Dave
Japandroids – The House That Heaven Built
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alW6358dPxI]
“A difficult decision but this is the song that I have continually returned to over the past year. It’s positive, carefree, from an album called ‘Celebration Rock’, and I happened to see them play it on the Thursday before a certain night in Munich. It was a sign!” Jon
Evening Hymns – Asleep in the Pews
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TDvQwisHBE]
“Spectral Dusk, my undoubted favourite album of the year, isn’t the sort of record that has a standout track or a couple of killer singles – it works best as a cohesive whole. I ended up going for Asleep In The Pews which nicely sums up the overarching themes of family and loss and the confusing and strange process that follows losing someone you love. It’s a song about trying to be okay that should resonate with most. It certainly does with me.” Liam
Lone – Crystal Caverns 1991
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJGP2FhdHzM]
“Immaculately produced, incredibly detailed and yet still brimming with furious energy, this is what dance music should aspire to. I’m a little too young to appreciate the nostalgic element of the recent 90s rave revivalism, but I’ve always found a guilty pleasure in the staccato vocal hits and synth stabs, and this track has plenty.” Matt
TNGHT – Higher Ground
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HzyUHxmkg0]
“HudMo’s always been a bit of a character and his collaboration with Lunice as TNGHT helped to reaffirm my belief in music as just pure, unadulterated fun. Higher Ground’s the highlight on our EP of the year. Led by a tuba, with a bit of everything else chucked in for good measure, it’s flat out fucking monstrous.” Will