| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |
70. Frank Ocean “Sweet Life”
We’ve given up hope for a Neptunes-resurgence despite their continuing appearances in our Hot Mixes over the years. (“Trouble On My Mind” in 2011, “Fun Fun Fun” in 2010, “I’m Good” in 2009, “Us Placers” in 2007, Hell Hath No Fury in 2006, and various appearances from every year prior. The only year they missed completely was 2008, which is better than a lot of other people can say.) For this reason, we were happy to learn that Pharrell is partially responsible for the early-80’s Stevie Wonder homage “Sweet Life” (acting as a companion-song to “Super Rich Kids,” the song that follows on Channel Orange) divulging the blinding effects of materialism to someone unreachable. “Why see the world when you’ve got the beach?” | Soundcloud | Youtube |
69. Beak> “Liar”
“Claustrophobic” is probably the best term to describe Beak>’s sophomore release which arrived on Bandcamp unexpectedly in late-June. Their first record is one of our favorite albums of the past decade, and we always assumed they were a one-off project. So it became a total surprise when this immediately turned into (possibly) our favorite full-length of 2012. It’s truly the best kraut-influenced record since the early-70’s spawned all of Can, Neu! and Faust’s best full-lengths. “Liar” sounds like it could be used during a Sesame Street segment demonstrating the process of some sort of bizarre factory-produced item, like Halloween masks or something. 68. Pile “Grunt Like a Pig”
Yet another 7/8 jam. (Animal Collective’s “Moonjock” is also in a much slower 7/8. Could this be our official time signature of the year? Both songs use it with a similar cadence to Radiohead’s “2+2=5” and one section of Tool’s “Forty Six & 2” but that’s just music nerd shit that literally no one ever cares to hear and so we’ll move on...) One of Pile’s signature strengths lie in their ability to build tension through enormous dynamic changes. However, “Grunt like a Pig” immediately stood-out for us as NOT using this motif, instead plowing through the muck and filth with some serious-ass fire power for the entirety of its 3 minutes with crucial buried scream-vocals tremendously benefitting. Gimme tension fuck yes. 67. Carly Rae Jepsen “This Kiss”
2012 marked the 10th anniversary of Kylie Minogue's Fever LP (or 11th anniversary depending on your country). We hear “This Kiss” as a proper tribute to this album, specifically its classic “Love At First Sight” (also ripped off more recently by Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” and Katy Perry’s “California Gurls”). While the chorus isn’t as huge as “Call Me Maybe,” “This Kiss” feels like a more fully realized single, less labored and more carefree. (The kids disagreed, and this only reached #87, but what the fuck do they know anyway?) | Soundcloud | Youtube |
66. Joey Bada$$ featuring Capital Steez “Survival Tactics”
Comparing 17-year-old rappers who broke in 2012: Chief Keef embraces abrasive, harsh club-elements and his singles have been described as “earworms” when they’re actually not. As for Joey Bada$$, we don’t really see anything wrong with preferring warmer production, inspired jazz and funk samples, and rappers who can actually rap. There’s an abundance of unfortunate hiphop fans who take it personally when the sound of the radio moves farther from where it was in 1994, which is not really our stance. But hopefully these people finally got what they wanted with Joey Bada$$’s 1999 (probably the most solid 90's-influenced rap album of the past 10 years) even though it has no shot of ever getting played on commercial radio. | Soundcloud | Youtube | Hype Machine |
65. Mac Demarco “Dreaming”
The same general theme of so many pop songs throughout history, it’s likely to never get old. Searching for fulfillment, wondering if it’s possible. “Maybe I’m out of luck, maybe it’s running still.” Mac Demarco’s first album Rock & Roll Nightclub from early 2012 was full of warped jams like “Baby’s Wearing Blue Jeans,” setting a neutralizing tone and helping to define his placement among singer-songwriters working strictly with home-recording technology. When “Dreaming” appeared early on his second higher-profile release only months later, the progression was obvious: Instead of more expensive methods of recording, the subject matter was suddenly deeper, without tongue-in-cheek sarcasm or (noticeable) tape manipulation. We still love his first LP, but 2 will likely be placing in our 10 favorite LP’s from 2012 (which may come as a surprise since we’re bigger fans of Ween’s pre-Chocolate & Cheese-era). | Youtube | Hype Machine |
64. Action Bronson & Party Supplies “Steve Wynn”
Let’s all fully understand how fortunate we are to be alive during the era of the greatest fat ginger rapper of all time. We give much mad props to Action Bronson for completely not giving a fuck, straight-up candy-gobbling and blunt-puffing in his videos. That’s some #yolo shit right there. The bass sample inserted by Party Supplies is a big part of what pushed “Steve Wynn” into our 2012 favorites. This is the one where the music pauses for the line “long as she got big nipples and a tan face.” Well done, sir. | Soundcloud | Youtube |
63. Kendrick Lamar “The Art of Peer Pressure”
Outside of the context of good kid, M.A.A.D. city, this song could work well as the “trailer” to Kendrick’s “short film” (described on the album cover). It's split into four parts: - The quickly sung 15-second intro goes like this: “Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody sit your bitchass down and listen to this true mothafuckin story told by Kendrick Lamar on Rosecrans ya bish.”
- Immediately after this, we unexpectedly hear classic 90's Dr. Dre, made all the more amazing after realizing it's the first time Dre has produced anything with a lone-keyboard-note whistle since the days of Tupac. It sadly only lasts for one verse, but it's necessary to help the story.
- The third section abruptly changes to an even darker Outkast-style beat, when Kendrick starts questioning the loyalty of “the homies.”
- And then there’s a skit at the end, which doesn’t mean much out of context but assists the album’s story progression. (And this also gets removed for the video version.)
| Youtube | Hype Machine |
62. Big Boi featuring Theophilus London “She Said OK”
What’s the word everyone used to describe this song? Oh yeah, “languid.” Cool word, not. How about "fucking hilarious?" Do you like that word? The first line of the song is "Let me see them tittayys." Yeah, something suggests this song wasn't really meant to be taken as seriously as his previous stuff, despite the detailed soulful and subdued Atlanta-style instrumentation. Overall, we found the three bonus tracks far more satisfying than the album itself. Maybe he should stick closer to ATL-soul and steer clear of fusions with modern indie-rock, a style which sounds best separated from hiphop. His efforts seem well-intentioned, but not anything we were interested in hearing more than once, whereas “She Said OK” is the type of song we’ll always welcome. Also we've been informed that a Family Guy joke is referenced somewhere in the lyrics, but it didn’t register for us since we don’t watch that crap. We’re hoping Outkast have been storing up amazing songs for the past 9 years, anticipating the moment when their legal obligations finally allow them to work as a unit once again. We’ve been waiting forever. The kids need Outkast. They really do. | Soundcloud | Youtube | Hype Machine |
61. Dinosaur Jr. “Rude”
We were ready to label the recent Barlow contribution “Rude” as the most Sebadoh-sounding Dinosaur Jr song since “Poledo,” but then we remembered Without A Sound which included a few Mascis-penned vocal melodies (including big hits “Feel The Pain” and “I Don’t Think So”) which felt somewhat congruent with Barlow’s writing style, helping to place “Rude” in a different light. It’s one of the biggest reminders since their 2006 reformation of how well J and Lou complement each other, while also displaying their differences in execution. Mascis does not typically lean towards “Rude’s” pop-formula-brevity (similar to 60’s-Britpop style) or drastic emotional contradictions, such as bleak lyrics (“It’s better for my health / If I don’t intrude / ‘Cause caring is rude / Nature is crude”) juxtaposed by a melodic major-key vocal melody and uptempo happy-sounding accompaniment. Halfway through, Mascis supplies a vital 8-bar solo, obliging the song’s “fake smile and pretend” theme for just a moment. The song easily places alongside “Poledo” and “Take a Run at the Sun” as one of Dinosaur Jr's most noteworthy anomalies and a standout amongst their reunion material. | Soundcloud | Youtube | Hype Machine |
| Continue to Page 5 |
Hot Mix 2012 on Spotify
| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |
No comments:
Post a Comment