Welcome to part 3 of illogical computer’s 6 part countdown of the best songs of 2012. Before we delve into it, I want to thank all of our fans and readers that stuck with us through our recent misfortune (that is, our recent shut down). We really appreciate it and we really will do our best to reward you for sticking around.
Now onward. At number 100 is an extremely catchy track that we first heard in the opening days of 2012, MNDR’s “#1 in Heaven”. Purity Ring finally assembled all of the incredible singles they’ve been releasing here and there and put out a whopper of an album, and standout track “Obedear” comes in at 99 in our personal favorites list. Ty Segall’s “I Bought My Eyes” seems, more or less unanimously, to be the standout track off of his excellent 2012 LP as is the excellent single, “Pyramid,” from Four Tet’s 2012 catalog. Both tracks make it into our top 100 at 97 and 95, respectively. Nicolas Jaar deviated a bit from what we’ve come to expect with a track that, we think, took everybody by surprise, “With Just One Glance You.” We were really floored by Brothertiger’s 2012 LP, Golden Years, and it’s highly danceable chillwave sound. Single, “Lovers” exemplified the vibe of Golden Years and makes it into the list at 91. We don’t really plug albums at illComp, but if we did, Chairlift’s absolutely breathtaking Something would undoubtedly be very very very very close to the top of our list. As it is, we saw fit to put a sleeper track from that album, “Cool As A Fire” into our favorite tracks list at number 88. King Tuff’s underground indie rock masterpiece “Bad Thing” and Magic Wand’s second showing with “Teenage Love” turn up right behind Chairlift at 88 and 86. Twin Shadow dominated in 2012, just as he did when he put out his unforgettable Forget and we couldn’t help but include “Run My Heart” in our list of favorites this year. Jessie Ware had a bit of a breakout year with an album so full of incredible singles that it made choosing amongst them extremely difficult. Certainly “110%” is among the best on the record and we’ve chosen it for our number 81 spot. Lotus Plaza’s epic “Strangers” comes in a few places ahead of Jessie Ware at 77 and we really can’t say enough about just how good this Deerhunter spin-off group sounds. Finally, at 76 we’ve placed the Los Angeles based group of sisters, Haim, and their incredibly haunting and hummable “Go Slow”.
This marks the halfway point in our list, drop us a line below and tell us how you think we’re doing. I’m sure we’re missing tracks left and right, but.. it’s been such a great year for music…
We apologize for the lack of streaming, but for most of these, you should be able to left click and play the media within your browser. All download links are right-click (save linked file as) external links unless otherwise stated.
100. MNDR: “#1 In Heaven” Download
099. Purity Ring: “Obedear” Download
098. Perfume Genius: “All Waters” Download
097. Ty Segall Band: “I Bought My Eyes” Download
096. Burial: “Loner”
095. Four Tet: “Pyramid” Download
094. Nicolas Jaar: “With Just One Glance You” Download (left click)
093. King Felix: “SPRING01”
092. Spiritualized: “Little Girl” Download
091. Brothertiger: “Lovers” Download (Soundowl)
090. Mac DeMarco: “My Kind of Woman” Download
089. Blur: “Under The Westway” Download
088. Chairlift: “Cool As A Fire” Download (left click)
087. King Tuff: “Bad Thing” Download
086. Magic Wands: “Teenage Love” Download
085. Soft Care: “Girls” Download
084. xxxy: “I Know This (Can’t Be Love)” Download (left click)
083. Twin Shadow: “Run My Heart” Download
082. Daughn Gibson: “Tiffany Lou” Download
081. Jessie Ware: “110%” Download
080. jj: “Big Hearts, Big Dreams” Download
079. BeachesBeaches: “Drive Slow”
078. Craft Spells: “Leave My Shadow” Download
077. Lotus Plaza: “Strangers” Download
076. Haim: “Go Slow”
Great list so far! Discovering a lot of new stuff, which is always welcome.
Very glad to see you guys back in action. Keep up the great work!
Fantastic list! Really looking forward to the coming installments!