Last year, I didn't do a very good job of sharing the music I discovered beyond new releases, and because I'm not creative enough to consistently come up with proper themes for my Top Ten Tuesday posts, I've decided to use them as a vessel for doing just that. Here are ten of my most-played songs of January, roughly in order of how vital I think listening to them is (though, let's be real, you should just listen to them all) and pretty evenly split between freshly-released stuff and stuff from the past few years I'm playing catch-up on. Now let's see, first of all, if I can follow through on these posts for longer than a couple months, and, second of all, how long I can keep up the alliteration before that particular well runs dry.
10. MØ - When I Was Young
After releasing an excellent debut album in 2014 with No Mythologies to Follow, Danish singer MØ has struggled to find her footing in the larger pop landscape. Since that album, she's released a handful of scattered singles and collaborations, many of which have neutered her quirkier leanings for more generic sounds, seemingly aiming for a radio breakthrough. This year's standalone single, "Nights with You," and EP, When I Was Young, offer up a more compelling compromise between alternative and mainstream pop. The EP's title track is a delightfully bright and brassy burst of joyousness. Its instantly memorable chorus is followed up with a surprising peel of marching band horns, in and out of which MØ's adlibbed vocal harmonies interweave until the two disparate sounds become one and the same.
After releasing an excellent debut album in 2014 with No Mythologies to Follow, Danish singer MØ has struggled to find her footing in the larger pop landscape. Since that album, she's released a handful of scattered singles and collaborations, many of which have neutered her quirkier leanings for more generic sounds, seemingly aiming for a radio breakthrough. This year's standalone single, "Nights with You," and EP, When I Was Young, offer up a more compelling compromise between alternative and mainstream pop. The EP's title track is a delightfully bright and brassy burst of joyousness. Its instantly memorable chorus is followed up with a surprising peel of marching band horns, in and out of which MØ's adlibbed vocal harmonies interweave until the two disparate sounds become one and the same.
9. ABRA - Crybaby
I can't remember when I first heard of ABRA, but I first heard her voice on Charli XCX's "Drugs" and was immediately captivated by her effortlessly cool and easy tone. Although most of her songs have a similar atmosphere - dark and minimal electronic backdrops, subtle midtempo melodies, vocals that echo and reverberate enigmatically - it's not a formula that grows tired quickly because ABRA has mastered it well enough that it enthralls and hypnotizes time and time again. Although anchored by retro-styled Casio beats and spooky, Gothic synthwork, "Crybaby" truly takes flight in ABRA's softly soulful voice, which flutters like a nighttime moth, playing coy in the verses before beautifully opening up in the chorus and reaching its apex on an emotive, desperate bridge.
I can't remember when I first heard of ABRA, but I first heard her voice on Charli XCX's "Drugs" and was immediately captivated by her effortlessly cool and easy tone. Although most of her songs have a similar atmosphere - dark and minimal electronic backdrops, subtle midtempo melodies, vocals that echo and reverberate enigmatically - it's not a formula that grows tired quickly because ABRA has mastered it well enough that it enthralls and hypnotizes time and time again. Although anchored by retro-styled Casio beats and spooky, Gothic synthwork, "Crybaby" truly takes flight in ABRA's softly soulful voice, which flutters like a nighttime moth, playing coy in the verses before beautifully opening up in the chorus and reaching its apex on an emotive, desperate bridge.
8. First Aid Kit - My Wild Sweet Love
Since finding success as teenagers, Swedish sisterly duo First Aid Kit have rarely fumbled in delivering one quality Americana-inspired tune after another. Admittedly, they haven't changed up their formula much over the years, but, so far, there hasn't been much need to when their songwriting skills have steadily become more and more refined. I won't say much about Ruins as a whole, since I'll probably end up discussing it in more depth at some point in the near future, but I will say that mid-album highlight "My Wild Sweet Love" encapsulates everything that's great about it. Klara and Johanna Soderberg achieve the sort of intimate, impeccable vocal harmonies that are only possible via blood relation. Steeped in a dreamy bed of pedal steel and stringed orchestration, they sing willowy melodies straight out of the 1970s - less pastiche than straight-up invocation of an era before they were even born.
Since finding success as teenagers, Swedish sisterly duo First Aid Kit have rarely fumbled in delivering one quality Americana-inspired tune after another. Admittedly, they haven't changed up their formula much over the years, but, so far, there hasn't been much need to when their songwriting skills have steadily become more and more refined. I won't say much about Ruins as a whole, since I'll probably end up discussing it in more depth at some point in the near future, but I will say that mid-album highlight "My Wild Sweet Love" encapsulates everything that's great about it. Klara and Johanna Soderberg achieve the sort of intimate, impeccable vocal harmonies that are only possible via blood relation. Steeped in a dreamy bed of pedal steel and stringed orchestration, they sing willowy melodies straight out of the 1970s - less pastiche than straight-up invocation of an era before they were even born.
7. U.S. Girls - Pearly Gates
So far, U.S. Girls is three for three with singles from her upcoming album, In a Poem Unlimited, which is shaping up to easily be her most ambitious effort yet. But Meg Remy has also honed the songwriting skills necessary to carry out those lofty ambitions without getting too tangled up in their complexities. "Pearly Gates" uses religious allegory to explore themes of power and weakness, dominance and submission, particularly as they inform expectations of gender. "I closed my eyes, and I opened my gates wide, and St. Peter came inside," Remy sings darkly, while James Baley's soulful croon makes the aggressive insistence of the chorus - "You're just a man's daughter" - all the more discomfiting. Occasional record scratches, like bursts of feedback interrupting an otherwise clear broadcast, further intensify this sense of dread.
So far, U.S. Girls is three for three with singles from her upcoming album, In a Poem Unlimited, which is shaping up to easily be her most ambitious effort yet. But Meg Remy has also honed the songwriting skills necessary to carry out those lofty ambitions without getting too tangled up in their complexities. "Pearly Gates" uses religious allegory to explore themes of power and weakness, dominance and submission, particularly as they inform expectations of gender. "I closed my eyes, and I opened my gates wide, and St. Peter came inside," Remy sings darkly, while James Baley's soulful croon makes the aggressive insistence of the chorus - "You're just a man's daughter" - all the more discomfiting. Occasional record scratches, like bursts of feedback interrupting an otherwise clear broadcast, further intensify this sense of dread.
6. Ought - Disgraced in America
At this point, I'm convinced Ought can do no wrong. The jury's still out on whether or not their upcoming third album, Room Inside the World, will succeed as a whole, but if its first two singles are any indication, there's not much to be worried about. Although they mark a departure from the nervy post-punk of Ought's first two releases, the band easily slips into these new skins without a hitch. Tim Darcy has improved markedly as a singer, settling confidently into his own idiosyncratic style rather than veering into imitation, and his lyrical command of metaphor is inspired ("I was like a dentist rooting for pain"). Musically, "Disgraced in America" is rangy and relaxed, that is until halfway through, when there's a clatter of noises, like a pile of instruments all being dropped at once, that sounds accidentally harmonic.
At this point, I'm convinced Ought can do no wrong. The jury's still out on whether or not their upcoming third album, Room Inside the World, will succeed as a whole, but if its first two singles are any indication, there's not much to be worried about. Although they mark a departure from the nervy post-punk of Ought's first two releases, the band easily slips into these new skins without a hitch. Tim Darcy has improved markedly as a singer, settling confidently into his own idiosyncratic style rather than veering into imitation, and his lyrical command of metaphor is inspired ("I was like a dentist rooting for pain"). Musically, "Disgraced in America" is rangy and relaxed, that is until halfway through, when there's a clatter of noises, like a pile of instruments all being dropped at once, that sounds accidentally harmonic.
5. Kero Kero Bonito - Break
KKB's 2016 album, Bonito Generation, has been on my to-listen list pretty much since it was released. On one hand, I'm sad that I've been missing out on its many jams for so long. On the other hand, I'm not sure I would've liked it as much before my brain attuned itself to this bright and shiny hyper-surreal synth-pop wave I've been riding for a couple months now. Although the album is full of bouncy sing-along melodies, "Break" has some of the most infectious, buoyed by Sarah Midori Perry's ultra-cutesy vocals and the way she so liberally bounces from English to Japanese and back. Midway through, Perry leaves a faux voicemail message for her bandmates: "Yo, Gus and Jamie! It's Sarah. Just to let you know that I don't want to do anything today, so I'll see you later. Bye!" I dare anyone to resist its whimsical charm.
4. Blood Orange - Always Let U Down
For years, I've been so enamored by the opening track of Blood Orange's Cupid Deluxe, "Chamakay," that I've been too intimidated to invest much effort into the rest of the album for fear of it being less magical. Luckily, my fear turned out to be unfounded. In fact, I think I might find it more consistent than Freetown Sound as a whole, even if that album has slightly higher highs. Simply put, "Always Let U Down" sounds like an instant classic - quite the feat considering it wasn't even written by Dev Hynes but by a little-known, mid-2000s English alt-rock band. Hynes does a remarkable job translating it into the signature Blood Orange style, though, turning it into a shimmery and sleek but slightly seedy slow jam. His own vocals play back-up to guest singer Samantha Urbani's. "Tonight, it feels so good feeling cheap," she moans at the end of the first verse, her sultry croon turning defiant.
For years, I've been so enamored by the opening track of Blood Orange's Cupid Deluxe, "Chamakay," that I've been too intimidated to invest much effort into the rest of the album for fear of it being less magical. Luckily, my fear turned out to be unfounded. In fact, I think I might find it more consistent than Freetown Sound as a whole, even if that album has slightly higher highs. Simply put, "Always Let U Down" sounds like an instant classic - quite the feat considering it wasn't even written by Dev Hynes but by a little-known, mid-2000s English alt-rock band. Hynes does a remarkable job translating it into the signature Blood Orange style, though, turning it into a shimmery and sleek but slightly seedy slow jam. His own vocals play back-up to guest singer Samantha Urbani's. "Tonight, it feels so good feeling cheap," she moans at the end of the first verse, her sultry croon turning defiant.
3. Purity Ring - Repetition
I have to eat my words: as recently as December, I was calling Purity Ring's sophomore effort, Another Eternity, an underwhelming follow-up to their debut, Shrines. I decided to give it another chance recently, and, lo and behold, I not only fell in love with it, but I may now think it's the better album of the two. Production-wise, it's less chillingly enigmatic, but the lyrics are still surreal and cryptic, the melodies are top-notch, and Megan James' voice is the perfect vessel for both. Honestly, Purity Ring is what CHVRCHES wish they sounded like (and I enjoy CHVRCHES fine); they so perfectly skirt the boundary between eccentric and accessible. "Repetition" has risen to the top as the track I keep coming back to. It's a woozy, hypnotic ballad that immediately pulls you into its orbit, where, if you're anything like me, you'll want to float endlessly in its dream-like serenity and mysterious lyricism ("Watching me is like watching a fire take your eyes from you").
2. EASYFUN - Monopoly (feat. Noonie Bao)
Listen, it took a lot of restraint on my part not to fill this entire list up with PC Music songs. Apart from a couple of other songs that have more tenuous PC connections, I was able to limit myself to "Monopoly," which almost serves as a blueprint for everything a proper EDM banger should be. In some ways, it feels generic, an exercise in checking off boxes. There's the cliched depiction of falling in love as physically falling ("Feel I'm falling/Never hit the ground"), the springy and effervescent synths, the one-line chorus ("I want it all") that can be mindlessly sung along to within seconds, the hyperactive melodies, the youthful and easy-to-digest female vocals. But, by playing all of these elements up to the extreme, EASYFUN actually crafts something that feels fresh, vital, and huge, uncannily capturing that feeling of giddy, bubbly excess that accompanies the first moments of an exciting new relationship.
1. Let's Eat Grandma - Hot Pink
Let's Eat Grandma is a dubiously-named duo of English teenagers, Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth, who were both only 17 years old when they released their debut album, I, Gemini, in 2016. Although it showcases an ambition and scope far beyond their years, the album was ultimately too meandering to leave any sort of overwhelming impression on me. Their brand new single, "Hot Pink," was co-produced by The Horrors' Faris Badwan and SOPHIE, the latter of whom I admit is the only reason I initially listened to it at all. I wasn't expecting to be so entirely blown away. Walton and Hollingworth weave their witchy psychedelic leanings and CocoRosie-like woodland fairy warbles throughout a slick electronic soundscape to create an insanely addictive end product. There are also enough signature SOPHIE twists - precisely-articulated industrial clamor giving way to twinkling, celestial synths - to please fans of hers as well.