Song of the Week: Stage Dive – Sol

Some refreshing new feel-good hip hop. This guy has some seriously sweet flow, reminds me a lot of Lupe actually. The production is tip top, gotta love it.

My Top 25 Songs of 2011 (…and yes I’ve finally started blogging again)

I came home from University and realized I stopped blogging for 10 months. That’s a long time, but I’ve made pre-emptively made the New Years resolution to start posting again. What better way to come back than to share my favourite songs of 2011. This will span a variety of genres and will give you a taste of my iTunes.

25. Take Me Home – Germany Germany

This minute I heard this track I fell in love with it. When the synths come in after the rain, you instantly get goosebumps. The production is very low-fi but it creates a great atmosphere. This should be in every romantic comedy. period.

 

24. Contact High – Architecture in Helsinki

Keeping up the feel good trend, Contact High is just a great song. I love the 80s feel and it would always end up playing on my iPod when I was in a bad mood. The bouncy bass and playful lyrics are irresistable and place this song in the number 24 spot.

 

23. My Body – Young the Giant

Young the Giant came out of nowhere this year. Their album juuuuust made this list, since it was released in January. Their performance of this song at Lolapalooza made me love it more than I already did. It’s high energy and the chorus never left my head.

 

22. You, Me & The Boatman – Quiet Company

This hidden gem is from a band that you’ve probably never heard of. . This song has a soaring quality about it, the chorus picks you up and just never lets you go.

 

21. The Gold Coast – Local Hero

As you can probably tell, I like songs that put me in a good mood. This is no exception. It has a surf-rock feel to it and makes me wanna fly out to California just to go to the beach.

 

20. Over my Dead Body – Drake

Fuck all the Drake haters. He put Toronto on the map and Take Care is a phenomenal album. This song pretty much sums up the feeling of the whole album, exactly what the first song should do. The haunting vocals and honest lyrics are just so damn good.

 

19. Stuck in my ID – Reptar

Reptar should have blown up just like Foster the People but you can’t really whistle to this song. It’s a bizarre song but it’s addictive as hell and separates itself from other pop-rock songs with it’s unique sound and production. Props to the vocalist too, that guy has a crazy voice.

 

18. Polish Girl – Neon Indian

I LOVE THIS SONG

 

17. Video Games – Lana Del Rey

She’s beautiful, this song’s beautiful, and I put money on her to be the next Adele.

 

16. Welcome – Hey Rosetta!

The Newfies never disappoint. They put out a wall of sound and then can bring it so low that you swear they turned the song off. The combination of the strings, the driving guitars and the passionate voice of Tim Baker makes this one of the best songs of the year.

 

15. Black Treacle – Arctic Monkeys

My favorite song off of their 4th album, Suck it and See. As always Alex Turner turns out phenomenal lyrics, I could never understand why they didn’t pick this for their single.

 

14. Gold on the Ceiling – The Black Keys

This song just sounds so classic. It pretty much sums up everything that El Camino is about – bringing everything back to basics and making it even catchier. Danger Mouse does a phenomenal job on this one and the simplicity is what it makes it so irresistable.

 

13. Tallulah – Company of Thieves

I’m a sucker for a good horn section. Adding in Genevieve’s unbelievable voice and a funky groove makes this tune a recipe for success.

 

12. Kiss Cam – Arkells

Such a brilliant concept for a song. The Arkells take a staple of baseball games and makes a great pop song without being too cheesy.

 

11. Montana – Youth Lagoon

Youth Lagoon’s entire album is absolutely brilliant but this song has to be my favorite. Next to Bon Iver, I can’t think of a single artist this year that made music this hauntingly beautiful. It’s honest and unapologetically sad but it still manages to be uplifting in the end. Plus, the music video for Montana is one of the most powerful videos I have ever seen.

 

10. Bizness – tUnE-yArDs

The first time you listen to this song you’ll be confused. The second time through and you’ll still be left at a loss for words. The third time you listen to it and you’ll be praising the tUnE-yArDs for crafting one of the most bizarre and intriguing songs of the year. There’s just so many pieces to the song: the intricate vocals, the off-center bass line and the saxophones make for a song that has you constantly thinking. That being said it’s also unbelievably catchy.

 

9. Pop Culture – Madeon

Ok, so this kid is my idol. Only 17 and the Frenchman is absolutely killing it. He uses Novation’s Launchpad controller for Ableton Live to expertly put together a song made entirely out of samples of his favorite songs. With over 7 million views on youtube, he’s become an internet sensation overnight. Also look up the dance video for this song, that guy has better moves than Jagger…

 

8. Arlandria – Foo Fighters

This is rock and roll. I bow down to Dave Grohl.

 

7. Under Cover of Darkness – The Strokes

This song is the culmination of everything The Strokes had done before. You can hear a little bit of all their old sounds in this masterpiece. If only the whole album had been this damn good.

 

6. Break (AOTL)- Childish Gambino

As much as I love everything off of Camp and EP, this song is still my favorite release from my man Donald Glover this year. He takes the Kanye West soon-to-be classic and adds his own flair. His flow and punchlines on this track are pure insanity, but he incorporates incredibly introspective reflections at the same time. Dopeness.

 

5. Niggas in Paris – Kanye West and Jay-Z

That shit cray.

 

4. Midnight City – M83

This song is on infinite repeat. I don’t even need to go into detail, it speaks for itself.

 

3. Towers – Bon Iver

Straight off of my favorite album of the year. Every other blog and the Grammy’s put Holocene as their top song but I find this song much better to be honest. Justin Vernon builds upon his debut masterpiece into a fleshed out sound. The orchestration of this track is breathtaking and just the acoustic guitar alone hooks you in.

 

2. Trojans – Atlas Genius

There are songs that are deeper, there are songs that are more badass but this song is just…. genius. Pure pop music genius. It’s Atlas Genius’ only song but it was stuck like a Trojan in my head for months. When I made this list, this was an easy pick for a top spot since it had over 50 plays in my iTunes alone. I’m still trying to figure out how to play the riff on guitar….

 

1. Le7els – Avicii

Everyone knows this song. Everyone loves this song the first time they hear it. It’s absolutely euphoric. I know some people are rolling their eyes at this right now but I can’t think of one song this year that had as big of an impact as this. Le7els had unbelievable hype for the entire year and when it finally dropped, North America fell in love with house. There’s a reason why I put this song at the end of every DJ set, and it’s the same reason why it’s my number 1. It’s the very best.