If there was a theme to the music I listened to this year, it was getting music ideas from the 12/13-year-old set rather than from the radio or stuff I’ve been listening to for decades. Almost all the songs on this year’s list are current or recent; it’s fun learning about music from your teenager. As usual, I saved anything I heard that sounded interesting in my Stuff I Heard 2021 list and reduced it down to the stuff I really liked in The Sound of 2021.

Here are my Best of 2021:
– ESG – You Make No Sense
– Billie Eilish – you should see me in a crown
– Dua Lipa – Levitating
– Olivia Rodrigo – jealousy, jealousy
– SAULT – Stop Dem
– LUMP – Animal
– Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy
– Arlo Parks – Hurt
– Marie Davidson – Work It (Soulwax Remix)
– Lorde – Solar Power
– St. Vincent – Los Ageless
– Two Sheds – You Get to Me
– Clairo – Sofia
– The Beatles – Don’t Let Me Down
– MARINA – Venus Fly Trap

Once again, here I am with the songs I listened to this year. Usually I can identify some themes, but the only real theme for the year, musically, is that, without a daily commute for most of the year, I listened to the radio a lot less and encountered less new (to me) music. My Stuff I Heard 2020 list is about half as long as usual, as is my Sound of 2020 list. Highlights for me are the topical “Lockdown” and “Killing in the Name”, the greatness of “Boys” and “bury a friend”, and classics from The Animals and Herb Alpert.

Here’s my Top 12 of 2020:
– The Animals – House of the Rising Sun
– Lizzo – Boys
– Billie Eilish – bury a friend
– Herb Alpert – Rise
– SAULT – Free
– St. Vincent – Digital Witness
– Rage Against The Machine – Killing in the Name
– Wax Tailor – How I Feel
– Bill Withers – Who Is He (And What Is He To You)?
– Yves V, Afrojack, Icona Pop – We Got That Cool
– Eagles – Journey of the Sorcerer (aka Hitchhiker’s Guide theme)
– Anderson .Paak – Lockdown

Another year, another top songs post. As I’ve been doing each year since 2013, I kept a playlist of stuff I listened to this year, whenever it was released, and I’ve distilled it down to my favorites (12 this year) and the ones that define the sound of the year for me. One strong theme for the year was particularly cheezy 80s music, of either the high-NRG or synths in space variety, though it turns out that some of that stuff was actually retro faux 80s cheeze. Another theme was that I had to do physical therapy every morning for more than half the year, and I desperately needed some good 120 BPM-ish music to help me wake up and count off my stretches; I had definite favorites.

Here are my 12 best songs of 2019:
– Janet Jackson – What Have You Done for Me Lately
– Janelle Monáe – Tightrope
– The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
– of Montreal – Gronlandic Edit
– Chromatics – Time Rider
– The Specials – Ghost Town
– The True Loves – Mary Pop Poppins
– Gary Numan – My Dying Machine (Instrumental)
– Patrice Bäumel – Roar (Adana Twins Remix)
– Paul Parker – Baby You Can Have My Lovin’ Anytime
– Magazine 60 – Don Quichotte – No Estan Aqui
– Grover Washington Jr. & Bill Withers – Just the Two of Us

Another year, another top songs post. As I’ve been doing each year since 2013, I kept a playlist of stuff I listened to this year, whenever it was released, and I’ve distilled it down to my favorites (13 this year) and the ones that define the sound of the year for me. There weren’t really any strong themes this year; there was the usual retro-80s and techno, a brief foray into surf guitar, Janelle Monáe, and an unusual number of non-techno/non-retro pop in the favorites.

Here are my 13 best songs of 2018:
– Janelle Monáe – Make Me Feel
– DKMD – I’m Watching You
– James Curd, Annabel Weston – Think You Know
– Yoshinori Sunahara – Clipper’s Discoteque Break
– Dirtylover – Feel The Right
– Shocking Blue – Love Buzz
– Oliver Koletzki, HVOB – Bones
– Charlotte Gainsbourg – Deadly Valentine
– Salt-N-Pepa – Shoop
– Robots with Rayguns – Sweat It Out
– Telex – Second Hand
– New Order – Tutti Frutti (Takkyu Ishino Remix)
– Janelle Monáe, Grimes – Pynk

As I’ve done since 2013, I’ve made a top songs list for 2017. And as usual, it’s stuff I listened to this year, whenever it was released, and it’s 12 songs because why not. During the year, I keep a playlist of songs I hear, and at the end of the year I distill it down to the ones that define the sound of the year for me and my absolute favorites.

This year’s themes were deep, minimal techno and house, old-timey hip hop, and dub. I couldn’t get enough of several of these tracks and listened to them over and over, when I wasn’t obsessing over the Beatles’ songwriting. This year was all over the map.

Here are my 12 best songs of 2017:
– Marie Davidson: Naive To The Bone
– Maya Jane Coles: What They Say
– Eric B. & Rakim: Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em
– Kriss Kross: Warm It Up
– The Frightnrs: All My Tears
– Jah Shaka & Mad Professor: Wig Wam
– The Beatles: I Saw Her Standing There
– Mr. Flagio: Take A Chance (ItaloConnection Rework Vocal)
– Anthony Rother: My Name Is Telekraft
– Boris Brejcha: Dark Planet
– Digital Underground: The Humpty Dance
– Dead Can Dance: Song For Sophia

As I’ve done since 2013, I’ve made a top 10 songs list for 2016. Same as always: it’s not all stuff released in 2016, and it doesn’t contain 10 songs. This year’s has 15 (up from 12 in previous years, because why not), and, as always, it’s music I discovered, rediscovered, or just listened to in 2016, whenever it was released. During the year, I keep
a playlist of songs, and at the end of the year I distill it down to the ones that define the sound of the year for me and my absolute favorites.

This year’s theme was cheezy 80s retro. And I don’t just mean classic synthpop, but also modern throwbacks and some true cheese. FM Attack’s Deja Vu got a lot of play this year, and most of the album is great, retro or not. But I have to make a special callout to Laser Dance’s Power Run, a truly stupid and awesome song. It’s so gloriously terrible, I at first thought it was a deliberate retro parody, but no, it’s actually from 1987 and, I guess, was composed in all sincerity. Stop whatever you’re doing and go listen to it.

Anyway, here are my 10* best songs of 2016:
– Depeche Mode: Fools
– FM Attack: With You Tonight
– Tears For Fears: Mad World
– Bomba Estereo: Soy Yo
– Fujiya & Miyagi: Serotonin Rushes
– Ibeyi: River
– Cat Power: Free
– Jungle Fire: Snake Pit
– LCD Soundsystem: Get Innocuous!
– Depeche Mode: New Life
– FM Attack: Activate
– Wild Beasts: Get My Bang
– Colder: To The Music
– Clive Tanaka y Su Orquesta: Neu Chicago
– Charles B.: Lack of Love

As I’ve done since 2013, I’ve made a top 10 songs list for 2015. Same methodology as always: it is music I discovered, rediscovered, or just listened to in 2015 (whenever it was released), and it includes 12 songs. Over the course of the year, I kept a playlist of interesting songs I heard. At the end of the year, I made two more lists: The Sound of 2015, the stuff I listened to and enjoyed enough that they define the sound of the year for me, and The Best of 2015, my absolute favorites.

If I had one musical obsession this year, it was with Klein & M.B.O., whose “Dirty Talk” was my favorite song in 2014. I could as well have put it on top this year; it’s in there, along with several more of their tracks. Not only did I listen to “Dirty Talk” while walking to work many mornings, it inspired me (along with “Acid Trax” and “Intro”, also on the list) to return to my live techno roots in my own music. The other thing that had an impact on my listening was KEXP’s day of Paul’s Boutique, which got me listening to that album and a lot of the songs it samples. My top album this year would have to be Yppah’s “Eighty One”, which I listened to in its entirety fairly often. Nothing else really broke through for me beyond single songs.

Here’s the list:
– Yppah + Anomie Belle: Film Burn
– Simian Mobile Disco: Audacity Of Huge
– Klein & M.B.O.: Dirty Talk
– LFO: Intro
– Beastie Boys: Shake Your Rump
– Rose Royce: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
– The Chemical Brothers: Go
– MC 900 Ft. Jesus: The City Sleeps
– New Order: Tutti Frutti
– Led Zeppelin: Poor Tom
– Klein & M.B.O.: Last Call
– Fujiya & Miyagi: Photocopier

In our ever-growing Perkosmith family tradition, Nora kept a playlist throughout the year of songs she was listening to, and selected her top ten at the end of the year. Both are on Spotify: Nora’s Best of 2015 and Nora’s Songs of 2015. I was sad that “Join in the Chant” didn’t make the top ten list, but it was fun driving around with her blasting it out the windows.

Nora’s top ten:
1. Stereo Total: L’Amour
2. Fumio Hayasaka: Rice Planting Song (from The Seven Samurai)
3. Kraftwerk: Numbers
4. Edvard Grieg: In the Hall of the Mountain King
5. Erasure: Blue Savannah
6. Fumio Hayasaka: Samurai Search (from The Seven Samurai)
7. Steve Martin: King Tut
8. Katy Perry: Firework
9. Michael Jackson: Thriller
10. Mark Ronson + Bruno Mars: Uptown Funk