I used to restrict these lists to ten tracks and then whatever would fit on a CD (cause I used to burn 'em). But rather than painfully cull these wheaty tracks, you're getting them all!
Here's a YouTube playlist of all the tracks:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_ixHZ11zQNbUhPpo1BqwChFbTM7hyi7k
These tracks are available at iTunes or your favorite eMusic retailer.
Anything Lulu Rouge touches is turned into something darkly wonderful, and this track is no exception. A dank, dark, and quietly creeping piece of music.
A steampunk track that fuses 1920s Great Gatsby torch singer with a digital work station.
Smokey and mildly charred with Black Soda's soulish vocals means I don;t care if the sun come sup tomorrow.
I promise I'm not homing here, but these Austin producers produced a swanky, slithering masterpiece of downtempo tunage that is simple delicious. Good to hear that Austin is representing!
These tracks: They are so uplifting! Flume's release this year was simply stellar, featuring well produced glitchy goodness like this number.
Portishead doesn't stop in for a visit too much lately, but I'm grateful for this driveby smooch of gloom with lyrics courtesy of ABBA. That's right, THAT SOS.
Bruce Springsteen: Meh. Trentemoller: Yeah. Trentemoller's unauthorized remix of Bruce? HELL YEAH!
This track is a mess of timeliness, sung as it is by the transgendered Antony Hegarty about global warming: "I want to see this world, I want to see it boil. It's only 4 degrees."
In case you are wondering, Kieran is a dude, and he does a great job plaintively cooing "..and I let myself go" over and over and over on this track. I feel the same way this holiday season.
A message of hope delivered by Tee Mango: "I'm going to leave you..."
In a perfect world, Bajka would write the theme songs for every James Bond movie. Her smokey voice and music politely whispers "shaken AND stirred" in your ear.
For an act with a gawdawfull name, this track is delightfully creative in all its warped glory.
Moderat has really been putting a lot of quality stuff out there, including this track that has a Radiohead-with-someone-who-actually-knows-how-to-play synths vibe.
A long but wonderful track by Audiofly to take baths by. Available as a free download via soundcloud. Not available on YouTube, so I've subbed a track above.
A nice song about the wind. Not available on YouTube, so I've subbed a track above.
Going through the year's tracks, I'd forgotten that MA released a solid four-track EP earlier in the year. This track, by my ears, was the best: tribal, sorrowful, and foreboding.
Beacon pulls a twofer with a track here as well as on the upbeat list as well. This much moodier track evokes (kinda) Pink Floyd's quieter moments (if they had better synths).
I had forgetten about Mr. Silla, a young lady from Reykjavik we saw some 10 years ago at an Iceland Airwaves off-venue, until I was putting together a playlist for friends going to Iceland over New Years. This new track is quietly disquieting and warmly icy.
Champion (the Canadian electroblues band, not Champion, the American hardcore band) lost themselves for a decade when Betty Bonifossi left the act. But with Betty's swampy vocals back in the mix, Champion is back. This track is the best of the bunch: minimal and bluesy.
A remix got MMOTHS on my best upbeat tracks, and this haunting track earns a spot on the downbeat list. Space opera.
I desparately try to keep any particular act to one track per list, but this one is just too good to leave behind. Besides, given the remix and subsequent edit, it's more of an sequential ensemble effort than an original Moderat track.
A spooky walk down a moonlit path in the woods. In Arkansas.
Ms. twigs made it OK to produce music like this (that is, there's a market for it), and for that I am grateful. This triphoppy track ticks like a bomb in its beauty.
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