Class of 2019 – The 100 Greatest Songs of the Year!

Playlist on Spotify at the bottom of each page.

#100-#81 | #80-#61 | #60-#41 | #40-#21 | #20-#2 | #1

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80. Nilüfer Yanya “Safety Net”
(from Miss Universe)

79. Fat White Family “Feet”
(from Serf’s Up!)

“The next moment of discovery came when Graham suggested the band scrap Brian’s vocals and to give it to Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip…”

78. Holy Fuck feat. Alexis Taylor “Luxe”
(Single)

“Among more literal translations, Luxe is the short form of Luxembourg – the city in which the nexus of the song was created. During our European tour supporting our ‘Bird Brains’ EP, we discussed how the band had drifted away from doing more experimentation on stage, how we missed creating something new, from scratch, in front of an audience. On this particular night during soundcheck we had a pulsing minimal synth loop we’d been tinkering around with (we were listening to lots of TRAX Records stuff on that tour). We decided if we got an encore we’d go for it. ‘Luxe’ was the result, or at least the MP3 we had recorded at the sound board, then called ‘Luxembourg Encore’, was the result.

Once home from tour we took the demo back to the drawing board and made a proper song from its initial form and idea. However, before we got that far, somewhere around checking out of the first studio, while still referencing our ever growing folder of sound check ideas, we shared everything with our friend Kieran Hedben AKA Four Tet. His always-intuitive advice was to ‘push away’ from some of the ‘very indie rock sounds’ and that his ‘favourite thing here is Luxembourg Encore… There are so many cool moments… It could be a good club track.’

The next moment of discovery came when Graham suggested the band scrap Brian’s vocals and to give it to Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip. When we presented Alexis with the concept, our reference notes to him, based around Brian’s temporary vocals, were ‘like an old sample you’d dig up off an old folk record… and approached more like a classic house track’. He responded ‘we could try to record the vocal in a Voice O Graph booth (an obsolete 1940s coin operated phonograph booth) if we can access one…’. As far as we’re aware, there are only 2 in the world – one in Liverpool (that apparently doesn’t work anymore) and the other in Third Man studio in Nashville, where he sang ‘I’d like to scrap all of this and start over again.’ Fittingly it was New Year’s Eve.

Thankfully all these steps never veered from the original path set out on stage in Luxembourg. Everyone’s commitment to the song, everyone’s input, proved the importance of a collaborative process and reinforced the notion that good things come from daring experimentation.“

– Brian Borcherdt, Graham Walsh, Matt McQuaid and Matt Schulz

“…a partnership, a union, ‘we are one’, that whole thing. But we are never one, we’re always two. Two but together. But what happens when you change?….”

77. The National ”Oblivions”
(from I Am Easy To Find)

“There’s a promise to be a partnership, a union, ‘we are one’, that whole thing. But we are never one, we’re always two. Two but together. But what happens when you change? Sometimes people don’t want things to change and then you make these promises of ‘this is what you and I will be forever’. But what happens when you change underneath and around? Are you going to be there in my worse? Are you sure you want to take on this responsibility of me or am I sure I want to take on this responsibility of being your second half? I don’t know if I’m going to be a good second half to your half. I don’t know if what I am right now is going to be totally the same.

No matter how much we change we’ll still be there to pick each other up. Marriages and relationships can be defined in a million different ways. Our band has been a marriage for twenty years in a weird way, you know, and it’s been rewarding, filled with love and excitement but also filled with pain and anger. The record and songs like ‘Oblivions’ and lines like ‘…carrying me over threshold…’, some of that stuff is about Bryan, some of it is about Aaron and some of it is just about our friends.”

– Matt Berninger

76. Beach Bunny “Dream Boy”
(Single)

75. Vanishing Twin “Magician’s Success”
(from The Age Of Immunology)

74. Hiss Golden Messenger “Katy (You Don’t Have To Be Good Yet)”
(from Terms Of Surrender)

73. Fontaines D.C. “Roy’s Tune”
(from Dogrel)

72. Hatchie “Obsessed”
(from Keepsake)

“…I really wanted to write a song that talked about my body in a way that wasn’t sexualized. Sex is a part of it, but my body is so tied to my soul…”

71. Maggie Rogers “Back In My Body”
(from Heard It In A Past Life)

“‘Back In My Body’ is one of the most special songs on the record to me. There’s a reason it’s last on the album, too. I really love track listing, I spent a long, long time figuring out what the perfect order for this is. It was written on an acoustic guitar in my childhood bedroom in rural Maryland. The same bedroom where I started writing songs when I was thirteen, so it’s a very vulnerable but also very powerful return to form for me. I went back to songwriting in the most basic form that I knew. I produced most of this song in my little studio in my parents’ farm, then I brought it to Greg Kurstin. We made the drums sound a million times better.

The song is last on the album because I really wanted to write a song that talked about my body in a way that wasn’t sexualized. Sex is a part of it, but my body is so tied to my soul and my general mental well-being. I find it has so much to do with my body. It’s last because the record really tells the story of the two years in my life where everything was changing. I’ve felt a lot of different ways about it: overwhelmed, scared, ecstacy and so much joy. At the end, coming back was saying ‘Okay, all this happened and now I feel like myself again. I feel ready, prepared, I feel whole’. It’s sort of like a complete reassertion of self at the very end of the record.”

– Maggie Rogers

“The idea of a footprint is a memory in the past that everybody has, that comes and goes. The lyrics kind of speaks for themselves…”

70. Night Beats “Footprints”
(from Myth Of A Man)

“‘Footprints’ was a song that I’d had in the back of my mind for a while when I came down to Nashville to record Myth Of A Man. I had the pleasure of working with a lot of old, amazing musicians. The tempo and the chords were some of the things that got shifted around. It came into fruition with those players down in Nashville. All the parts were written in my head.

Part of the recording process I wanted to do a little differently to where I wasn’t micro-managing everything. I had the parts to show the players. My friend Russ played the 12 string. The guitar work is kind of a dissolution of the ego to me. That has to do with the theme of the record. Having the message and the idea of the recording process was really important.

It could symbolize regret but it’s not. The idea of a footprint is a memory in the past that everybody has, that comes and goes. The lyrics kind of speaks for themselves, but a large part of when I write and record is to leave it open to interpretation so everyone could have their own opinion on it. Their own version.”

– Danny Lee Blackwell

69. Faye Webster “Right Side Of My Neck”
(from Atlanta Millionaires Club)

68. Black Marble “One Eye Open”
(from Bigger Than Life)

67. Patty Griffin “Where I Come From”
(from Patty Griffin)

66. Tycho feat. Saint Sinner “Pink & Blue”
(from Weather)

65. Chelsea Wolfe “Little Grave”
(from Birth Of Violence)

64. Loma “Half Silences”
(Single)

63. Show Me The Body “Madonna Rocket”
(from Dog Whistle)

“…a story about a guy who has a chance meet up that takes him to a few different locations before leaving him alone and cashless in a strange hotel room…”

62. The Hold Steady “Denver Haircut”
(from Thrashing Thru The Passion)

“‘Denver Haircut’ is a story about a guy who has a chance meet up that takes him to a few different locations before leaving him alone and cashless in a strange hotel room,” says the band’s lead singer Craig Finn. “Steve Selvidge (guitarist) brought in the music to this song and everyone felt it immediately, it was really fun to play. The story unfolded quickly too. When recording, we remarked that it sounded like it could kick off an album…and so here we are.”

– Craig Finn

“I accidentally dropped the midi track from the synth lead onto the bass track and it sent it to the SH101. As soon as I heard that breakdown “Hate Body” came to mind…”

61. Boy Harsher “Tears”
(from Careful)

Gus: “Tears was the last song we wrote for the album. We were hoping to create something a little more fast-paced and the song came together pretty quickly. Jae and I worked on the whole thing together – which usually is not the case. I even helped with some of the lyrics. The “Hate Body” break down in the middle was a total accident. I accidentally dropped the midi track from the synth lead onto the bass track and it sent it to the SH101. As soon as I heard that breakdown “Hate Body” came to mind, although I am not really sure what it means.”

Jae: “We needed to complete Careful and none of the other skeleton songs really fit. One morning, Gus asked me to come listen to this new thing – which at the time was just the first forty seconds of what is now ‘Tears’. I thought it was great. We finished it that day I believe. I tried to develop a sense of rage in the lyrics – but that type of anger you have to keep down inside. Then it kinda’ settles and becomes who you are. I don’t really like breaking down line for line, but I can say that ‘My blood – it runs clear’ alludes to crying or … Tears.”

– Gus Muller and Jae Matthews

#100-#81 | #80-#61 | #60-#41 | #40-#21 | #20-#2 | #1

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