Filed under: lists, movies | Tags: 2012, Anna Karenina, asian stereotypes, Funkytown, Joaquin Phoenix, Keira Knightley, lists, Montreal, movies, Pitch Perfect, stanley tucci, The Hunger Games, The Master
Okay, so I only saw ten movies this year, so this list isn’t by any means a list of the ten best movies of the year. (In fact, this might be the first year since maybe high school that I actually went to a movie theater ten times.) And I actually liked all ten of them! Meaning either that I’ve got a really good sense of what to see, or else I’m getting soft and uncritical. Anyway, here’s some thoughts. I tried not to spoil anything although I probably did.
Filed under: lists, music | Tags: best of 2012, Cher Lloyd, Chisu, drake, Javiera Mena, ke$ha, Nely Furtado, rihanna, solange, taylor swift, The Oh Sees, The Wanted
10. Ke$ha, “Die Young”
The first, I don’t know, twenty times I heard this song on the radio I expected it to be Flo Rida. Which is to be expected, since the opening of this Dr. Luke/Benny Blanco song is pretty much the exactly the same thing they used for “Good Feeling” a few months earlier. But maybe that shouldn’t be surprising. We first heard Ke$ha, after all, when she and Flo crucified a Dead Or Alive song together.
This is the first song of Ke$ha’s that I’ve actually liked—well, okay, “Blow” grew on me after a few months but not like this—and I’m hesitant to buy into the promotional angling for her new album (which involves a soul-seeking journey to the Galapogos Islands, and The Atlantic calling her new tie-in memoir the new Feminine Mystique.)
The fifth co-writer of “Die Young” is that whiny singer from fun., and if his own dumb band’s songs were remotely this fun maybe I wouldn’t turn the radio off every fucking time “Some Nights” comes on.
Filed under: lists, music | Tags: best of 2012, Big Freedia, Blood Diamonds, Carly Rae Jepsen, Death and Vanilla, Gemma Ray, Grimes, Macklemore, Paper Diamond, Parallels, Ryan Lewis
Boulder, Colorado-based producer Alex B first released “Can We Go Up” online in September of 2011, but I didn’t hear it until a new version appeared on the Wavesight EP, which came out this spring on Mad Decent. One line repeated for three minutes by an anonymous lady, it’s fairly mindless dance music—the internet tells me that it’s not dubstep but that it resembles dubstep. I don’t think about people from Colorado very often, but his website claims that his next big show is going to be in Aspen.
Filed under: lists, music | Tags: best of 2012, Boss Moxi, ellie goulding, Florence and the Machine, Justin Bieber, Purity Ring, Santigold, Taken By Trees, Titica
32. Justin Bieber, “Boyfriend”
I heard this song in the car, I don’t know, maybe ten times before I realized that everyone’s favorite Canadian moppet now sounds like a grown man. The talk-rapping about fondue reminds me of nothing so much as American Life-era Madonna, and the acoustic guitars also channel latter-day Madonna. American Life is actually my favorite album of hers as a whole, so I like this direction. (I wish the follow-up singles were better, though; “As Long As You Love Me” has that overly stoned guest rap in the middle, and “Beauty and a Beat” just sounds like a silly mess.)
Filed under: lists, music | Tags: beach house, best of 2012, Bruno Mars, cat power, Grimes, kelly clarkson, Kraftklub, Miguel, nelly furtado, Nero, Timo Pieni Huijaus
50. Grimes, Oblivion
Lisping and noodly, I can see how this outwardly precious song might drive people nuts. Even more so since Grimes became something of a critical phenomenon this year, in that way where she was beloved by bloggers and largely ignored by anyone who doesn’t read music blogs. Nevertheless, I like how catchy it is, and I’ll always hold a candle for dance music recorded in people’s bedrooms.
[semi-simulblogged on my Tumblr…]
I considered skipping out on a Favorite Songs of the Year list this year, just because of the moving and everything, but I’ve done it every year since I was twelve (at least) and decided not to stop now. I listened to a lot less new music than usual this year, and honestly the state of pop was rather bleak for a while there. (There was a minute this spring when Katy Perry, Avril Levigne and Ke$ha [above] actually had three of the best songs on the radio!)
I did manage to come up with 56 songs that I liked, though, and starting tomorrow morning I’ll be announcing them, eight per day. [Spoiler: Ke$ha didn’t make the final cut.] I’m posting the songs on my Tumblr during the day, just because, and each night I’ll do a wrap-up here. This page will be the master list, and will link to individual postings. Probably this makes it all more complicated than it needs to be, but whatever.
1. Linnea Henriksson, “Väldigt kär/Obegripligt ensam”
2. Rihanna, “Man Down”
3. Lady Gaga, “Bloody Mary”
4. The Kills, “The Last Goodbye”
5. Lloyd feat. André 3000 and Lil Wayne, “Dedication To My Ex (Miss That)”
6. PJ Harvey, “The Words That Maketh Murder”
7. Baxter Dury, “Isabel”
8. Britney Spears, “I Wanna Go”
9. Lykke Li, “I Follow Rivers”
10. Selena Gomez and the Scene, “Love You Like A Love Song”
11. Adele, “Rolling In The Deep”
12. La Femme, “Sur La Planche”
13. Lena, “Taken By A Stranger”
14. Cobra Starship feat. Sabi, “You Make Me Feel…”
15. Shirubi Ikazuchi, “St. Cabah”
16. Gruff Rhys, “Sensations In The Dark”
17. Cults, “Abducted”
18. Beyonce, “End of Time”
19. Alexandra Stan, “Mr. Saxobeat”
20. Veronica Maggio, “Jag kommer”
21. Stylo G, “Call Mi A Yardie”
22. Coeur de Pirate, “Adieu”
23. Florence and the Machine, “What The Water Gave Me”
24. Jazmine Sullivan, “Drive By (Always On My Mind)”
25. Bjork, “Crystalline (Omar Souleyman Remix)”
26. Ladytron, “White Elephant”
27. Charlotte Gainsbourg, “Terrible Angels”
28. The Rapture, “How Deep Is Your Love?”
29. Dev, “In The Dark”
30. Lil Wayne, “Six Foot Seven Foot”
31. Dirty Beaches, “Lord Knows Best”
32. Emeli Sandé, “Heaven”
33. Warm Ghost, “Mariana”
34. Little Dragon, “Nightlight”
35. Mastodon, “Curl of the Burl”
36. Foo Fighters, “Rope”
37. My Tiger My Timing, “Endless Summer”
38. Little Boots, “Shake”
39. Enrique Iglesias, “Tonight (I’m Fuckin’ You)”
40. Tove Styrke, “Stalker In Your Speaker”
41. Erykah Badu, “Out My Mind Just In Time”
42. Austra, “Beat and the Pulse”
43. Battles feat. Gary Numan, “My Machines”
44. Jenny Silver, “Something In Your Eyes”
45. Martin Solveig feat. Dragonette, “Hello”
46. Guineafowl, “The Lie Is”
47. Roxette, “She’s Got Nothing On But The Radio”
48. Severina, “Brad Pitt”
49. Azealia Banks, “212”
50. Mondo Marcio, “Come Un Italiano”
51. Kelly Clarkson, “Mr. Know It All”
52. God Bows To Math, “Teenagers Is Lazy Journalism”
53. Keren Ann, “My Name Is Trouble”
54. Wale feat. Big Sean, “Slight Work”
55. Jelena Rozga, “Razmazena”
56. Inoj, “On”
