#decade so far

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My Favourite Tracks of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)

#76

St Vincent - Digital Witness (2014)

If any artist was able to launch a full-on pop assault, it would be Annie Clark. Explosive “horn” instruments immediately attack you right out of the gate in this song, which would be preachy if it wasn’t for the alluring personality of the St Vincent brand. It sounds like a deconstruction of the sounds of funk, which goes right into the lyrical subject. Almost vaporwavey, it sounds like the sounds you might hear in a tv ad, yet way more layered to the point of brilliance - it’s essentially propaganda where Annie is playing the role of a big brother like dictator - “people turn the TV on/looks just like a window”; wow. It’s thumping, repetitive and has just enough pop-sensibility to work as both a celebration and a cry for help.

Listen Here

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My Favourite Tracks of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)

#77

Icona Pop - I Love It [ft. Charli XCX] (2012)

Just listening to this song with a 2015 lens should be convincing enough to prove that this is basically Charli XCX’s song, which she got really no credit for. In interviews Charli XCX called it “one of the most annoying songs in the world” - and who can really blame her:

I GOT THIS FEELING ON THE SUMMER DAY WHEN YOU WERE GONE. I CRASHED MY CAR INTO THE BRIDGE. I WATCHED, I LET IT BURN. I THREW YOUR SHIT INTO A BAG AND PUSHED IT DOWN THE STAIRS. I CRASHED MY CAR INTO THE BRIDGE.

I DON'T CARE, I LOVE IT. I DON'T CARE.

It’s basically brainwashing - but it doesn’t even matter! I love it! As much as Charli may hate it (it basically pushed her career back another year, it wasn’t until Boom Clap in the middle of 2014 that she was actually able to get a big break) it’s undeniable in it’s feminist furiosity. It’s just a shame that pop music became so male dominated right afterwards, with the advent of the “year of Blurred Lines”. Quite possibly the loudest dance song of our generation.

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My Favourite Tracks of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)

#78

Run the Jewels - Blockbuster Night Part 1 (2014)

Fuck me. What’s this song even out. All I know, for real - is El-P and Killer Mike just bring it. The beat is fucking brutal. 

Despite Mike’s staunch political activism around the time of the Ferguson/Baltimore riots - he presents his style of subversion and rebellion around an ideal of anti-bourgeois crowd-sourced anarchy propogated by Blockbuster Night Part 1 & the “RTJ manifesto/way of living” - basically the sole running theme throughout their two albums. If anything, the flow presented on this song is nightmarishly good - it shows a clear amazing chemistry the two emcees share. It’s powerful enough alone on the clear anger, disillusionment and rebellion against social norms the “vibe” delivered on the banger.

[kwhitesays]

A Letterboxd list, just for a larf

Favorite films of the decade so far: 2010-2014

By no means is this comprehensive, as there are still a lot of movies I need to catch up with, and from what I know of them, a lot may end up somewhere on here: Once Upon A Time In Anatolia; The Past; Before Midnight; The Act Of Killing; Winter’s Bone; Take Shelter; Martha Marcy May Marlene, to name a few. But this more or less jives with my individual lists for each of the last 5 years, such as they are.

Top 15:

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Frances Ha

Boyhood

The Master

Dogtooth

Her

The Tree Of Life

Holy Motors

A Separation

Under The Skin

Inside Llewyn Davis

Certified Copy

The Cabin In The Woods

Margaret

It’s Such A Beautiful Day

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My Favourite Tracks of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)

#79

Frank Ocean - Bad Religion (2012)

I think Frank’s disappeared. Apart from the occasional tumblr post I’ve heard nothing public from him. Maybe there still needs to be more time to let the emotional bomb that Channel Orange was to really die down before he could even think of dropping again. Even the album cover feels like a distant barrier between himself and the external world - or what anyone can feel. The fuzz of, perhaps, a television, even if as just a metaphor, creating an eternal headache of unrequited emotion. 

Bad Religion is an emotional song, yet it’s not like any regular top 40 ballad. Unlike most of the album, this is the first real time Frank’s spoken seriously about love, likening unrequited feelings to religion - making the link between a worshipper not knowing if a God loves them back - yet a bad religion, wherein faith itself isn’t really enough. It’s incredibly melodramatic, yet Ocean’s vocal performance and sheer craftsmanship with the lyrics make up for it. It should be able to bring you to your knees - it evokes compassion.

(this song isn’t on youtube, you’ll have to find the album somewhere to listen to it)

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My Favourite Tracks of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)

#82

Beyoncé - ***Flawless [ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie]

Beyoncé isn’t the last person you’d expect to make a potent fuck you banger – but she definitely wouldn’t be the first. This isn’t a normal song, incredibly subversive, political and structurally absurd – but it works. It even has a sample of a TED talk.

What’s so great about this song is how nothing is reliant on approval – she creates her own authority, and projects that onto everybody, in an overwhelmingly radiant fashion. It’s effectively a victory lap in the last moments of her surprise self-titled masterpiece. Clearly one of the most defining imagery of the decade is Beyoncé proclaiming herself defiantly that she is a feminist, and after this, who wouldn’t be.

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My Favourite Tracks of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)

#83

Janelle Monae - Tightrope [ft. Big Boi] (2010)

“I’ll take your pain away”

This song has no time for your problems, it’s just too quick. You have to actually make sure you “stay of the tightrope”. No wonder it’s on every second tv ad. Coming out in 2010 couldn’t be the wrong time. Almost a metaphor for the economic cycle in a way (made quite literal by Mr Boi), Janelle enacts guidelines on just hanging in there, regardless of whether you’re high or low. Positive stuff.

The music video is so fantastic - here’s Janelle, clearly making herself physically small, yet her movement and mannerisms are just so large that it makes itself irresistible. At heart, it’s an incredible piece of pop subversion. Part of her Metropolis concept spanning all her albums, Tightrope feels entrenched in Americana roots - sheer enjoyment and a song that can maintain its groove no matter the stoppages. 

Listen Here 

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My Favourite Tracks of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)

#85

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill (2010)

The opening synthline in this song is prickly and electric that it’s impossible to not be moved by it. Something of an afterthought by the band - On Melancholy Hill was only released as the fourth single on Damon Albarn’s project’s third album. This feels like the most introspective song Gorillaz have ever released, and unlike all the other collaborative efforts, sounds like it’s just Damon. If you’re looking for substance it’s unlikely you’ll find it here, with barely-there lyrics and one continuing chord progression - yet its simplicity creates its beauty. This song is the closest anyone’s going to get to a summer sunset on the coast of Spain.