Transmission's Top 75 Tracks of 2011
Posted at 6:06 PM on December 30, 2011
by Jake Rudh
Filed under: Transmission
Thanks for clicking on to check out Transmission's top 75 tracks of 2011. Enjoy your stay.
There is no order to this and the descriptions will be short. You may not agree with the brief descriptions or think they're too simple, but remember folks with varying musical backgrounds are looking at this. If you dig what Transmission is based on (new wave/post-punk/synth-pop/electro/glam/garage/Brit-pop/60's/mod/etc)...add to it ambient, experimental and chill-wave, then I think you'll dig some if not most of these tracks.
Enjoy!
- Dum Dum Girls - "Bedroom Eyes" (60's)
- Dum Dum Girls - "Wrong Feels So Right"
- The Drums - "Money" (Smiths/New Order)
- Blouse - "Into Black" (Dark/synth)
- Blouse - "Firestarter" (Dark/synth/Sioxsie/Cure)
- Blouse - "Videotapes" (Dark/Synth)
- Cults - "Abducted" (Melodic indie boy/girl duo/synth)
- Lykke Li - "I Follow Rivers" (pretty original stuff here from Sweden)
- Duran Duran - "Runaway Runaway" (fan made vid for song that could have easily been on their 1982 "Rio" release. Love)
- Duran Duran - "Too Bad You're So Beautiful" (see above description)
- Duran Duran - "The Man Who Stole A Leopard" (sounds like a modern day "The Chauffeur" for you fellow Duran nuts)
- Geneva Jacuzzi - "Do I Sad" (synth-pop)
- Real Estate "It's Real" (The Smiths)
- Peter, Bjorn & John - "Second Chance" (catchy)
- Night Manager - "Pizza Pasta" (lo-fi pop, Best Coast-like)
- Smith Westerns - "Weekend" (catchy)
- Washed Out - "Amor Fati" (Chill Wave)
- Soft Metals - "Psychic Driving" (synth)
- Still Corners - "Cuckoo" (breathy, spacey, dreamy pop)
- Summer Camp - "Better Off Without You" (Debbie Harry/Blondie-esque pop)
- The Cars - "Blue Tip" (They came back this year!)
- The Cars - "Sad Song" (They came back better than ever!)
- Fonda - "Better Days" (straight-up, flat-out, old-school shoegaze...but from 2011)
- Destroyer - "Kaputt" (mellow, 80's soft rock, Yachtrock, sax!)
- Destroyer - "Song For America" (see above)
- Eleanor Friedberger - "My Mistakes" (Vocalist from Fiery Furnaces goes solo, and it feels great!)
- Future Islands - "Balance" (Bass-heavy/synth-pop. Love this song)
- M-83 - "Midnight City" (There was no escaping this song this year...and there's a reason for it. That sax still gives me the chills when it comes in at 3:02)
- Girls - "Alex" (this guy just knows how to write good, melodic pop tracks)
- Arctic Monkeys "That's Where You're Wrong" (Brit pop...but so much more)
- Chapel Club - "All the Eastern Girls" (see above)
- another Chapel Club that came out the year before to help seal the deal (For the Morrissey believers)
Chapel Club - "O Maybe I"
- Cat's Eyes "Over You" (Psychedelic 60's)
- The Horrors "Still Life" (Darker 80's pop/rock - think Echo & the Bunnymen/The Chameleons/Sad Lovers & Giants/early New Order)
- Cold Cave - "Confetti" (dark/synth)
- Atlas Sound - "The Shakes" (side project of Bradford Cox from Deerhunter. Love the guitar in this)
- Cut Copy - "Need You Now" (synth/Australian pop/New Order)
- Neon Signs - "A Gap Between" (synth/Chillwave)
- John Maus - "Believer" (synth/from MN!)
- Ice Choir - "Two Rings" (Synth. Updated Pet Shop Boys/Erasure/New Order with Tears For Fears vocals)
- Craft Spells - "Your Tomb" (Smiths/early New Order)
- Burning Hearts - "Into the Wilderness" (synthy/dreamy)
- Austra - "Beat and the Pulse" (darker/synth)
- Beach Fossils - "Fall Right In" (lo-fi/The Smiths)
- David Newton & The Mighty Angels - "Paint the Town" (New Order-like bass, feel-good 80's-style pop from former Mighty Lemon Drops vocalist)
- 13 & God - "Old Age" (Remember this awesome Notwist track from a few years ago? --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E0zej3qZRY ... it's the same guy.)
- Phantogram - "Don't Move" (Turn on the Current : )
- Kavinsky "Nightcall" (dark, synth from "The Drive" soundtrack. Sweet dreams)
- The Vaccines - "Post Break-Up Sex" (see Arctic Monkeys/Wedding Present)
- The Kooks - "Junk of the Heart" (sugar-sweet Brit pop)
- Twin Sister - "Bad Street" (funky & addictive)
- Rosebuds - "Woods" (this song/video deserves so many more views....Ohhh goood God!)
- The Wind - "Hathor" (60's psychedelic/sunshine pop. Later Beatles)
- Veronica Falls - "Bad Feeling" (post-punk/Twee/early 90's Lush)
- Wilco - "I Might" (60's psych pop/rock)
- Work Drugs - "Third Wave" (synthy / chill-wave)
- Wyla - "You're the One" (dreamy/Cocteau Twins with male vocals and synths...and you can understand him. Scratch that, not Cocteau Twins)
- Casa Del Mirto - "The Haste" (synthy/dreamy)
- James Blake "The Wilhelm Scream" (you describe it)
- Holy Ghost! - "Do it Again" (synth/electro)
- Melted Toys - "Come On" (I'll let one of the vid's commenters take this one..."gorgeous, nostalgic, ethereal"
- Mirrors - "Hide and Seek" (It's OMD's favorite new band...and you'll see why)
- Neon Indian "Polish Girl" (synth/electro/chill-wav...ahh, forget it)
- Ladytron - "White Elephant" (synth. Man, I had my day with this track this year...)
- Ladytron - "Mirage" (see above)
- Princeton - "Clamoring For Your Heart" (The Smiths. Can you tell I like the Smiths yet?)
- Juveniles - "We Are Young" (Sferro Remix) (electro/synth. Beautiful)
- The Swiss - "Double of Nothing" (electro/Nu-disco/Giorgio Moroder-ish)
- Toro Y Moi - "New Beat" (Turn it up and go hit the town. Love these guys)
- Voltaire Twins - "Animalia" (electro pop woth digitized female vocals)
- The Strokes - "Machu Picchu" (Oh come on...get off your high indie throne and just admit they write great pop tracks)
- Unknown Mortal Orchestra - "Ffunny Ffriends" (fuzzy/psychedelic pop)
- The Antlers - "No Widows"
* There are loads more, but I can only put three hours into this. The list doesn't include the many fantastic local acts who put out some outstanding numbers this year. I might compile those next.
** You can hear many of these and more on my weekly radio program (Transmission / Thursday nights / 10pm / The Current) --> http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/programs/transmission/