ST&SP Best of 2012: Top Songs of the Year

1. Frank Ocean - Pyramids

Frank Ocean made waves with last year's Nostalgia, Ultra but 2012 he really stepped out into the limelight with one of the most formidable records of the year. It's safe to say that channel ORANGE is an instant classic and Ocean a confident ambitious artist. There are many bright moments in this album but the one song that towered above them all was the epic "Pyramids." Clocking in at nine minutes and fifty-three seconds this song is massive. I am going to make the audacious claim that this is the best long playing R&B song since The Temptations' "Papa Was A Rolling Stone." This song is a perfect example to show how far soul music has come since the early days. "Pyramids" is broken up into a few different parts. It starts off with allegorical mystical lyrics about Cleopatra during the times of the pharaohs. But then with a key change it is revealed that Cleopatra is a stripper and the pyramid is the club. The song lyrically switches from ancient to modern times seamlessly. It's a song that is too slow to be a club banger but too fast to be a slow jam. With "Pyramids" Frank Ocean put himself in a league of his own.

2. Fiona Apple - Werewolf

Fiona Apple had been away for seven years, but she returned with a bare-bones and brutally beautiful record with the impossible to remember title: The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do. While every track on this album filled with perfectly crafted stories of love and love lost the album seems to be centered around "Werewolf" and it's thesis, "Nothing wrong when a song ends in a minor key." Fiona really opens up her heart on this song which makes it immediately accessible. The song culminates with the sounds of children playing at recess in the background. Apple has said in interviews that she struggled to find a powerful background noise to add to this song until she heard these kids playing outside her apartment in New York.

3. The Magnetic Fields - Andrew In Drag

"Andrew In Drag" The lead single off of Love at The Bottom of the Sea reminds us all of singer songwriter Stephin Merritt's impeccable wit. This song is scandalous on so many levels. It's the tale of a man who realizes he's gay when his friend Andrew does a drag show as a joke at a party. This story is told in the most tongue-in-cheek way imaginable. "Andrew In Drag" is reminiscent of "Lola" by The Kinks. It's a shame songs with this much jest seem to be a dime a dozen.

4. Hot Chip - Flutes

With LCD Soundsystem hanging it up, Hot Chip has assumed the role of most important dance band on Earth. They returned with a good but not great record called In Our Heads. While I thought overall this record was a step down from their previous release One Life Stand, this record did yield one tremendous song called "Flutes." This track is a nod to the 80s house music style Balearic Beat. A laid back but extremely infectious groove, "Flutes" allows Hot Chip to show off their confidence as a band and really sink their teeth into the song. Hot Chip are certain this one will get your body moving. Hell the chorus itself is dance instructions! A great song to let loose to and one of my new go-to tracks for party playlists.

5. Kendrick Lamar - Swimming Pools (Drank)

While I don't want to get too much into Kendrick Lamar's album Good Kid, m.A.A.d City (we'll save that for next week) What amazes me is that months before the album came out Kendrick released Swimming Pools as a single and it gained a bunch of attention and radioplay. When the album came out he reworked the song and added another verse. This shows me how much of a perfectionist Kendrick Lamar is. He's not afraid to take something that is already recognized as being great and rework it until it's perfect in his eye. What I love about this song is that while the chorus is obviously a party anthem that celebrates drinking "Nigga why you babysittin' only 2 or 3 shots? I'ma show you how to turn it up a notch First you get a swimming pool full of liquor, then you dive in it." The song's verses are actually a sobering look at the pressure and consequences of that lifestyle. "Some people like the way it feels, Some people wanna kill their sorrows, Some people wanna fit in with the popular, That was my problem." Kendrick is not afraid to show both sides of the coin which is what makes the album but in particular this song tremendous.

6. Beach House - Lazuli

 Beach House follow up Teen Dream with Bloom by sticking to their formula of painting lush beautiful landscapes and it certainly paid off. "Lazuli" is what the rest of the record was built around, it is the heart of Bloom. There's just no other way to put it, it's just a beautiful piece of music.

7. Killer Mike - Reagan

Killer Mike delivers what I have wanted for years, especially from Hip-Hop; timely and in-your-face protest music. Mike uses the deceased President to show the political injustice that is happening in our communities as well stating how Presidents are puppets in the hands of corporate interest. I haven't heard such frank political-protest since Rage Against The Machine. Of course this song will be on pretty much nobody's radar since at the peak of the track the beat bottoms out and Mike belts "I'm glad Reagan's dead." It's a shame that many musicians shy away from politics in their music since it's alienating but, people are hurting out there and Killer Mike isn't afraid to take a controversial stand that some people can rally behind.

8. Here We Go Magic - How Do I Know

Here's another overall disappointing record that had a few gems in it. Here We Go Magic are a band that have released several great tracks on several decent albums. It seems like the band can never decide on what they want to be, and thus constantly release inconsistent LPs. However when they do get it together they can make some truly magical music. Case in point the blissful strumming of "How Do I Know" a joyful song perfect for long car rides with the windows down. Also check out the music video to this, one of the best of the year.

9. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Walk Like a Giant

The first time I heard Walk Like a Giant was when Neil played it live at The Hollywood Bowl. The record hadn't even been out yet but I knew that this song was one of the better jam songs he had ever written. It was the highlight of the concert and the highlight of the album. This song stomps along with gigantic guitar solo breaks in between Young's lyrics of trekking across a desert. It's a song that only Neil Young could ever get away with.

10. Animal Collective - New Town Burnout / Monkey Riches

If someone were to ask me what Animal Collective sounds like I would direct them to the songs "New Town Burnout" and "Monkey Riches", which I treat as one piece since they seamlessly transition from one to the other and they even play these songs live as one mega track as well. If you didn't know already Animal Collective has two singers that each have their own unique approaches to music. On "New Town Burnout" we have Panda Bear at the helm. Panda Bear's songs tend to be very melodic with a strong emphasis on his powerful Brian Wilson-like voice.While Avey Tare tends to be the more animalistic and yelpy of the two. His song "Monkey Riches" focuses on the cacophony of sounds and the beat of the drums. These two songs serve as some of the best material these two individual artists can do. How these two very different sounds come together and blend is what is at the core of what makes Animal Collective so great.

Make sure to stop by next week as I reveal my top 25 albums of 2012!

Neil Young: Beneath The Rust

A few weeks ago I saw Neil Young & Crazy Horse at The Hollywood Bowl. I consider myself a fan of Young however much to my chagrin I was only familiar with his greatest hits. It was no surprise to me that he only played only a few of his mainstream hits, "Cinnamon Girl," "The Needle & The Damage Done," and "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)." However, the rest of his set was comprised of songs from his newest Crazy Horse record Psychedelic Pill and a bunch of songs from his enormous back catalogue. With thirty eight studio records it seems like a daunting task but I decided to listen to every single record, and every single song the entire way through. Here's what I've found. Neil Young is unlike any other artist I've ever listened to. He has some game-changing records, some pretty good ones and some records that should be rounded up and destroyed. Neil is a man who made initial success as a solo artist with some folk and rock songs that help defined a generation and has been trying to shed commercial success ever since. He is a man who does whatever he wants. After a streak of highly successful albums he made his music more challenging and went experimental. In the 80s he toyed around with being a rockabilly singer, a jazz man, and even tried his hand at proto-synth rock. Eventually he settled on being the Neil you see today; a dirty old man in flannel who practically paved the way for Grunge. Regardless on every Neil Young record there are a few tracks that have gone undeservedly unnoticed (except for Landing On Water, that record isn't on Spotify for the benefit of everyone). So enjoy this three hour Neil Young deep cut mix below and check out the ten songs I have highlighted. After I post this I'm probably going to give Neil a rest for awhile, thirty-eight records takes a long time to go through.


This song has such a funky vibe tonight to it that I always felt it would be a great opening number for a Crazy Horse show. The title track of this album, "Tonight's The Night" sounds like Neil's beckoning call to a mischievous evening. This album and the even greater On The Beach are the best examples of great Neil Young records that unfortunately buried in the mix.


On The Beach is a record that Neil himself isn't a fan of for some reason, so naturally it's my favorite Young album. In fact this record wasn't even released on CD until 2003, it has maintained a cult favorite among fans. My personal favorite on this album has to be "For The Turnstiles" I have a theory that if you give a Neil Young a banjo he's going to give you back a great song. This simple folk track is the most backwoods thing he has ever done and it's a shame Neil hasn't explored this vein any more because this kind of music pairs quite nicely with his voice.


Yes, even on the legendary Harvest there's a song that needs more recognition. The album's closer "Words" is like a summary of all the themes that were explored musically throughout the entire record. Driven by piano it paints a lush landscape that reaches it's pinnacle with an impressive guitar part.


I feel that many people skip this brash romper of a song on Zuma mainly due to the fact that the succeeding track is "Cortez The Killer" which is arguably the best thing Neil has ever recorded.


1982's Trans features many synth-laden tracks that probably sounded dated five minutes after they were released. It's low point in Neil's discography however Neil happened to retool the track "Transformer Man" for his Unplugged album and revealed to us a breezy and quite lovely track. It's just a shame that the original version of this song was ruined by studio production.


Broken Arrow, Neil's twenty-fourth record and his seventh with Crazy Horse opens with a trio of jam songs. Most notably the album's opener "Big Time." It hardly has any redeeming lyrical qualities or any sort of hooks but Neil's guitar work on this song is some of his strongest. The rest of what follows this song is hardly memorable however.


 Ragged Glory was a rallying cry for Neil's relevance entering the 1990s. It captures the spirit of grunge music about as well as any Nirvana record. It's a balls to the wall in your face rock record, each song has a driving force of purpose behind it that makes it such an enjoyable listen. "Fuckin' Up" is not a song that will be played on the radio any time in the future, but Neil still loves playing it during shows and the crowd absolutely eats this one up.

While the song "Harvest Moon" may feature some of the prettiest vocals he's ever recorded, I will also have to argue that "War of Man" is a lush beautiful song that deserves more attention that it has received in the past.

So many of Neil Young's songs are either about history, nature or the two together. Such is the case with "Down By The River" or "Cortez The Killer." On 1979's Rust Never Sleeps the swift simple acoustics of "Pocahontas" tell a tale of being alive during her time and what a joy it must have been. It's a vividly imaginative folk song that is great to sing along to.

Finally, I would like to touch upon his newest release, this year's Psychedelic Pill. I wasn't so sure about this record when it first came out however after doing this research, I feel that this album is a bright spot for him when compared to some of his biggest blunders. Pill features some of his longest songs, including "Drifting Back" a rambling stoner jam that clocks in just shy of a half hour. The best song on the album is the monster closer "Walk Like A Giant" which is as gargantuan as its' title. This may be one of the best straight up rock songs released this year. 

Happy Birthday Neil and long live Crazy Horse!

Click Here For A Three Hour Neil Young Spotify Playlist