Songs That Will Warm Your Heart and Free Your Mind

Well, folks, here we are at the end of the year and the end of the decade.  I wish I had something clever or poingnant to say, but really I don’t.  I’ve spent a lot of time during December lauding some of my favorite albums from this year and hopefully I’ve either shared something new with you or reinforced your love for a favorite of your own.  I thought it would be appropriate to move slightly away from the album and write some about some of the amazing songs that have come out this year.  I don’t like putting these types of things in order, so don’t read anything into how they’re placed.  These are just the songs that get played most frequently in my Ipod. 

Japandroids, “Young Hearts Spark Fire”  Summer and youth rolled into a tremendous wall of guitars.  It’s hard to think that this amount of noise can come from 3 guys.  Long live Japandroids.  We took a look at Post-Nothing this year, and there are a lot of terrific songs on this album, but “Young Hearts” takes the cake for me.  You can find this track on Japandroids’ Myspace page.

Megafaun, “Guns”  I don’t know exactly how to describe this song.  It’s a seven-minute folk singalong, but there’s more there than you’d think.  This song fits around a campfire on a cool fall night when you’re with good frends.   Head on over to Megafaun’s Myspace page and you can hear it streaming there.

Harlem Shakes, “Strictly Game” Even though the Shakes disbanded this year, Technicolor Health was a fantastic album, and “Game” is certainly the most fun song there.  It has a pretty cool video too.

Regina Spektor, “Eet” I literally never gave a flip about Regina Spektor’s music until I heard Far this year completely by mistake.  This song is almost too precious for me…wait I forgot, I absolutely love precious songs.  If there were more Top 40 music like this, I’d probably listen to more Top 40 radio.  Nah.  Here’s the video if you’re interested.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, “The Sound”  Better Supertramp licks than Supertramp in my opinion.  Benjamin teamed up with my man-crush Kyp Malone to put together a beautiful mess of a song.  Video courtesy of YouTube.

Blitz the Ambassador, “Remembering the Future” Yeah, we consider Blitz a friend of the site.  Yeah, I interviewed him back in September.  So maybe I’m a little biased, but you give me a better hip-hop album this year than Stereotype.  There may be some as good, but nothing better this year.  In my opinion Blitz should be bigger than he is, he’s more than a MC, he’s a producer, arranger, and stellar musician.  “Remebering the Future” is the best representation of what Blitz’s vision of hip-hop can be.  I hope it gets there.  You can listen to this track on Blitz’s Myspace page.

Strand of Oaks, “End In Flames” Moving back to something more folk-y, this little ditty really does the trick.  I’m not a huge fan of the album Leave Ruin, but this is an amazing song.  Check it out here if you like beautiful, sweet, singer-songwriter, acoustic guitar ballads.

Lee Fields and the Expressions, “Honey Dove” Music for making love.  Enough said.

BLK JKS, “Molalatladi” The new release from South Africa’s BLK JKS, After Robots, got lost in the shuffle in my opinion.  If you need a reason why it shouldn’t have, check this track out. 

Antony and the Johnsons, “Kiss My Name” I know Antony Hegarty’s voice isn’t for everyone, but if you like him, this song’s for you.  The arrangement of this song is spectacular and it’s simply is a joy to hear.  As an aside, check out Antony’s terrific cover of Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love.”

Telekinesis!, “Coast of Carolina” Best pure pop song this year, rivaled only by Girls’ “Lust for Life.”  If you want to listen, Myspace comes to the rescue.

The Very Best, “Warm Heart of Africa” This is in a tie for my absolute favorite song this year.  I could get stranded on a destert island with only this song and be musically satisfied for quite some time.  Once again, YouTube has to pull my arse out of the fire so you can listen for free.

Portugal. The Man, “People Say” Sing along songs are not done enough in my opinion.  Try to listen to this one without singing along to the chorus.  I dare you.

Pink Mountaintops, “Vampire” I don’t like Black Mountain.  They sound too much like droning death metal to me.  But I loooove Pink Mountaintops, and aren’t they basically made up of the same people?  Weird.  This song brings tears to my eyes each time I hear it, it is absolutely stunning.

New Ruins, “Angry Ghost” Sounds something like Pink Mountaintops’ “Vamipre”, is that why I like it?  Don’t know, don’t care.  It’s a heck of a song nonetheless.  Find it on Myspace.

Fool’s Gold, “Surprise Hotel” This song will make you dance, dance, dance the night away.  You won’t be able to sit still while you listen, I promise.

I could go on, but I think the point’s been made.  Enjoy the rest of the year.  Later!