Favorite Tracks: January

I thought about doing an album wrap-up for January but then said fuck it.  In its place, here are ten tracks from the past month (and probably a bit further back) that you need to hear.  I probably missed a lot, so correct me if you need to.

Grimes "Genesis"
Claire Boucher might just be the next big thing in indie music.   Songs like "Genesis" are daring but refreshing in their simplicity.  And absolutely exciting to listen to.  The goth/dream-pop aesthetic definitely requires some good doses of ethereal reverb, but it isn't used to obscure the music.  Instead, the sounds are bold, with the low, stuttering synthesizer pattern taking center stage. 


POLIÇA "Wandering Star"
Silky vocals meet gloriously crisp drums and bass.  Futurist, minimalist R&B.  There's a sighing, decaying accordion (?) sample constantly levitating in the background.  There's the jazzy, shifting rhythm section.  But its Channy Casselle's distinctive singing that steals the show and makes a real case for auto-tune as not just a novelty act.


The Men "Open Your Heart"
"Open Your Heart" is the first single to the same-titled album.  And what a great track it is.  The band's dirty, noisy, thrashing sound can't obscure the greatness of the riffs on this tune.  


Cloud Nothings "No Future/No Past"

Attack on Memory received this site's highest rating with an 8.7 from Justin Bautista.  And I agree.  The record is the class of January, and "No Future / No Past" is its best, most ominous, most brooding, most cathartic track.  When Dylan Baldi sings, I imagine his vocal chords looking a little something like this:

Chairlift "Wrong Opinion"
The post-punk rhythm is what really sets this song apart.  The deep bass and snappy drums just propel this thing along with so much attitude.  And they just keep motoring along through the fantastic coda before Caroline Polachek's ethereal vocals take the song out. 

ScHoolboy Q "There He Go"

Q shows off his supremely charismatic flow and the beat is phenomenal, twisting around the piano and sax of Menomena's "Wet and Rusting."  It's such an inventive beat, but it's also so subtly put together that it doesn't jump out at you.  Not the kind of sample you'd use to be cool because most who hear this thing aren't even going to recognize it.  

of Montreal "Dour Percentage"

I'll have a review oM's new LP next week, but "Dour Percentage" was probably my favorite single released in January.  Funky bass and sax, singing flute, multi-tracked vocals, and bar-room piano collide and when the verse ends and the hook begins is anyone's guess; the entire track is just that catchy.


Sharon Van Etten "Serpents"
"Serpents" was released toward the end of 2011, but the record is out next week and it is a fantastic first single.  It streamrolls in on the back of its sturdy rhythm section, but as with the rest of Tramp, Van Etten grabs you and doesn't let go, constantly delivering slinky, slippery melodies and pointed lyrics.  


The Shins "Simple Song"

The first song from Port of Morrow is promising, bringing hints of the keyboards and atmospherics that made Broken Bells so intriguing.  This is certainly a heavier, harder rocking direction for the Shins, as the highlight of the verses is a sharp guitar riff that could have been on Genesis' Foxtrot.  


Porcelain Raft "Shapeless & Gone"
Strange Weekend didn't particularly impress me (though Brendan Athy enjoyed it), but "Shapeless & Gone" is one of the LP's best songs.  It's a great slacker jam full of Galaxie 500-isms like the lazily strummed acoustic guitar and the shots of distant, reverb-laden electric guitar.