80 Radio Dept.: Committed to the Cause

Every time I hear this amazing song for the first two and a half minutes I wonder whether I’ve overrated it slightly, and perhaps it’s merely brilliant rather than the AMAZING required to be considered one of the year’s Legit Bosses, but then that musical break explodes into life and I remember how much I love the song

79 Beyoncé: Pray You Catch Me

http://videos.sapo.pt/OBl0pRzRKF92LIpQwbAe

Yeah, you’re right, this’ll probably be the only Beyoncé song on this list. As an opening track, and intro to the album’s concept, style and tropes, it’s an utterly perfect song

78 Ash Koosha: Ote

https://ashkoosha.bandcamp.com/track/ote

For the first minute the track sounds like an horrible and abrasive mess, though Koosh manages to interweave contrasting and individually discordant sounds into an utterly gorgeous soundscape.

77 D.D Dumbo: Oyster

An utterly wonderful song, either in its own right as a pop rock epic or as an exhibition of Oliver Hugh Perry’s otherworldly voice

76 Jherek Bischoff: Cistern

 

75 Frank Ocean: Nikes

‘Blonde‘ opens with one of its strongest tracks, a laid-back and emotional blast of pristine production. (By the way, if you haven’t heard ‘Blonde’: this is about as exciting as it gets!)

74 Bon Iver:10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄

1:27- ‘Well I’ll wrap you up!/And I’ll take it by the touch’

73 Schoolboy Q: WHateva U Want

Yeah, that’s actually how it’s spelled: capital W and H. Christ, Schooly-Schooly-Q, you are so annoying! However, there are frequently magic pieces of music like this amongst the sickening malevolence of ‘Blank Face’

72 Danny Brown: Ain’t It Funny

Perhaps the year’s best video, and musically a perfect encapsulation of both the invigorating stylings of ‘Atrocity Exhibition‘ and his lyrical concerns of alcoholic and pharmaceutical dependency rarely being the laugh a minute fun ride it’s too frequently made out to be

71 Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam: A 1000 Times

 

Yeah, that band name’s a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it ladies? Probably why the album didn’t make it on to the NE list. Christ, I love this song though

2:52 ‘I don’t answer questions/I just keep on guessing’ Shaun Ryder approves

 

I don’t need to point out which entries are next, do I? Like, you’ll be able to work it out?