TRF. Posted January 14, 2023 Author Posted January 14, 2023 #50. Feli Colina feat. Valentina Brishantina - "Chukatrunka" A weird crossover of Argentinian chacarera, slam poetry and experimental pop that oddly works in a really beautiful way. #49. OHYUNG - "symphonies sweeping!" Very few ambient tracks manage to be striking as this was for me. #48. Kwon Eun Bi - "GLITCH" I'm a sucker for UK garage x K-pop crossovers and this is the best we've had since like, "4 Walls"? #47. RAYE - "Black Mascara." Feels very Honey-era Robyn, which I love. Btw I'm leaving "Escapism." for next year's list. #46. Charli XCX - "Hot Girl" While she's great at making pop bangers and I'm a CRASH defender, I also gotta admit she kills it in this style. Have not seen Bodiesx3 yet though. #45. Doechii - "Crazy" This song is what finally sold me onto Doechii, hope she does more Crazy stuff like this! #44. Marina Satti - "YIATI POULI M'" Taking an Ancient Greek track about the fall of Constantinople and turning it into a vocoder-ed heartbreaking acapella ballad... her mind. #43. Denzel Curry feat. Slowthai - "Zatoichi" The contrast between the slower verses and the fast breaks on the chorus really made this one of my fav Denzel tracks. #42. Bree Runway - "That Girl" Bree and EASYFUN are such a great team! This sounds like if she took a track from Jam City's Classical Curves and just rapped over it. #41. Rusowsky & Dinamarca - "mwah :3" Brilliant idea of them to make this song as short as it is because once I listen to it once, I gotta listen 4 or 5 more times. #40. Caroline Polachek - "Billions" Imogen Heap you have 24 hours to respond! #39. FKA twigs feat. Shygirl - "papi bones" Not what I expected from a twigs and Shygirl collab, but more than I could ever dream of. #38. Kilo Kish feat. Vince Staples - "New Tricks: Art, Aesthetics and Money" Obviously a great song but someone said its title sounded like the name for an art course in Euphoria High School and I haven't been able to take that off of my mind. #37. La Zowi - "Terapia de choque" One of the weirdest beats La Zowi has ever rapped on and that's saying something! #36. HYD - "So Clear" Beyond her lasting influence, it's sad to think of everything SOPHIE could've given to pop music, and we won't be able to see that. At least this song is a good reminder of it. #35. Pabllo Vittar feat. MC Carol - "Descontrolada" VAI DAR PT!!!! I need a full album from Pabllo in this style! #34. Florence + the Machine - "My Love" Aside from the topic of the song which I find #relatable, I also love how this one's for the people who got the Spectrum remix... aka me! #33. Flo Milli - "PBC" Shame this wasn't bigger than it was, probably my favorite track on her album. #32. Taichu - "Gabbana" So aside from killing it on trap and hyperpop tracks she's also able to pull off reggaetón really well too... potential mother! #31. Ice Spice - "Munch (Feelin' U)" So she's from NY right but I kinda like how in an odd way this feels like a call-back to Chicago drill, like while it's more influenced by UK drill, the drum pattern (and bpm) is more influenced by footwork, kinda showing that Chicago is still present in the genre's DNA... I'm sure I'm reaching idk but like she's great and deserves the world. #30. Kendrick Lamar - "The Heart Part 5" Not only my fav "The Heart" track by Kendrick, but also possibly my fav track Kendrick dropped this year? Maybe! #29. El Alfa - "Lebron en el Bameso" Biggest Dominican dembow rapper sampling Marie Davidson and Soulwax. This has gotta be one of the songs I listened to the most this year due to how unreal it feels. #28. Jockstrap - "Concrete Over Water" Going from an abstract ballad to a PC Music-inspired electronic-pop banger multiple times like it's nothing, it's the centerpiece of the record for a very good reason. #27. Clip - "Fall Back" I liked "Sad B!tch" a lot but this was the song that told me she's truly up to something special, the combo of memphis rap and breakbeat is fantastic enough. #26. Beyoncé & Madonna - "Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)" Obviously not something I'd ever admit under any other context but... I wasn't a big fan of "Break My Soul" when it dropped. While I liked it more in the album context, this remix (or more like, mashup) felt like the piece it was missing. Also I kinda owe my life to this song because I did quit my job after it dropped lol.
ATRL Administrator Lee!! Posted January 14, 2023 ATRL Administrator Posted January 14, 2023 Black Mascara., My Love, Break My Soul
ATRL Moderator Legend E Posted January 14, 2023 ATRL Moderator Posted January 14, 2023 BMS yass and good for you for quitting the job tbh
TRF. Posted January 15, 2023 Author Posted January 15, 2023 19 hours ago, Legend E said: BMS yass and good for you for quitting the job tbh Thank you going from online English tutor to a translator has definitely been way better for me Final update coming very soon!
ATRL Moderator Legend E Posted January 15, 2023 ATRL Moderator Posted January 15, 2023 3 hours ago, TRF. said: Thank you going from online English tutor to a translator has definitely been way better for me Final update coming very soon! omg love that for you, when will my flop career choices
Remmy Posted January 16, 2023 Posted January 16, 2023 Black Mascara. is alright, although I haven't been super impressed with this era so far. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying this Caroline era, it's just that Billions is the weakest one for me from what we've heard. NEW TRICKS + THAT GIRL Both are really great bops... and growers! TG really carried Bree's EP too. Not the Queens Remix of BMS But I love the original for sure. "Also I kinda owe my life to this song because I did quit my job after it dropped lol."
TRF. Posted January 16, 2023 Author Posted January 16, 2023 #25. Ralphie Choo feat. Rusowsky, PEDRAXE, mori & Clutchill - "Valentino" One of the most fascinating and addicting songs I've heard all year, definitely one of the coolest vaguely "hyperpop" related things this year, just for the last minute alone. That being said, I could not tell you what each of these 5 people are doing in this 3-minute-long song. #24. Safety Trance feat. Arca - "El alma que te trajo" It's crazy to see Arca's career progression, going from underground electronic producer in the early 2010s to a niche popstar today, this reggaetón banger produced by fellow Venezuelan Safety Trance shows how convincing she is at being a full-on pop queen, without losing any of her signature weirdness. #23. Embaci - "Tiniest Whisper" After working with people like Chino Amobi, Elysia Crampton, MHYSA and more, New York singer and producer Embaci released a proper debut single, and it's a gorgeous track that combines her R&B vocal sensibilities and harmonies with an all-enveloping ambience. We need more of this!! #22. PinkPantheress - "Do You Miss Me?" A collab from PinkPantheress and Kaytranada seems like such a no-brainer I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. While not as immediate as her d'n'b or 2-step garage bangers, after a couple listens it was stuck on my head and soon became one of my fav songs of hers. #21. Nilüfer Yanya - "midnight sun" Compared to her earlier work, "midnight sun" sounds somber, slower, a little closer to In Rainbows-era Radiohead than anything she's done before, but her smokey vocals, the oddly romantic lyrics and the gorgeous outro make it one of her most brilliant tracks ever. #20. Hatchie - "Quicksand" The contrast between the restrained, gloomy verses with the post-punk-sounding guitars and the explosive, poppy hook (possibly one of the catchiest in the whole record) truly make this a perfect pop song to me, deserves millions of views! #19. Wednesday - "Bull Believer" Must admit I've not heard much of their other music, but if it's anything like this (especially what's to come) please count me as a stan from now on. 8 minutes of pure indie-rock bliss... kinda like Big Thief if they slayed (jk. kinda). #18. Sudan Archives - "Home Maker" Was always a fan but once I heard this track I knew she was taking it. Far from the experimental-folk-R&B crossover of her earlier material, it's kind of a disco banger, but still retains the qualities of a great Sudan Archives song. #17. Eliza Rose & Interplanetary Criminal - "B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)" This being a huge hit as it was (at least in the UK and Europe kinda) makes me really (or well, a tiny bit) hopeful that TikTok's existance isn't a total tragedy. A perfect garage-house-pop hit for the summer! #16. Bizarrap & Villano Antillano - "BZRP Music Sessions #51" This track is what forced many to pay attention to Villano Antillano and it's easy to hear why, the way she rides the beat effortlessly as it shifts from trap to tech-house to boom-bap, one of the best hits of the year and the best BZRP session this year without a doubt. #15. Alvvays - "Easy on Your Own?" There's honestly like 3 different Alvvays singles that could've gone here, but the hook on this track combined with the distorted guitar feel like entering heaven, and Molly's voice in the bridge and in the last hook feel like touching God's hand. #14. Ethel Cain - "American Teenager" While it's true this is song is not at all representative of Ethel Cain's music sound-wise, it kinda feels so for her aesthetic in part. A complete deconstruction of Americana, in which a pop song about American teenagers adresses the effects of religion growing up in a Conservative area, war as an exploitative machine, but it also helps that the hook is truly fantastic. #13. HitKidd & GloRilla - "F.N.F. (Let's Go)" It feels great that there's current Memphis rap out there that's not done by edgy white guys, and actually comes from Memphis. No offense Lil Ugly Mane, love you! But I can't help but to yell "LET'S GOOOOO" in the exact same way as this song whenever something good happens to me. #12. Weyes Blood - "God Turn Me Into a Flower" While she's obviously great at doing the 60s baroque-pop kinda thing, I also love her when she gets into full-on Enya mode. The synths on this track are probably my favorite thing Oneohtrix Point Never's been involved in since Garden of Delete, probably. #11. KayCyy - "OKAY!" Have probably said this before, but I love how this song sounds like Playboi Carti meets Chris and Cosey from Throbbing Gristle, he sounds great and the production enhances that. I need more Gessaffelstein produced tracks from this guy, as soon as possible! #10. Shygirl - "Firefly" It was a huge shift going from the industrial club-rap that characterized Shygirl's music to this garage-influenced R&B, but there's very few songs released this year that feel as exhilarating and enjoyable as this one does for me. #9. La Joaqui feat. El Noba & Alan Gómez - "Butakera" Undoubtedly the biggest RKT banger released this year for me, both La Joaqui and El Noba kill it with their verses, with multiple quotable lines, and the beat (and the intro!!!) are spectacular. El Noba's passing is probably the biggest loss in music we've had since Gustavo Cerati, btw. #8. Jim Legxacy - "dj" The mix of emo and rap is at this point no longer a novelty, but what London artist Jim Legxacy touches on here feels like absolute new ground. Yeah, there's the midwest emo guitars, but there's also UK garage, afrobeats, baile funk, drill via the Unknown T sample and probably more all in just over 2 minutes, and listening to it it just makes sense. #7. Tove Lo - "No One Dies From Love" I've always had a bit of a complicated relationship with Tove Lo's music, but this song totally convinced me that what people see in her as a popstar is absolutely worth it. With this song about devastating heartbreak that progressively builds onto something absolutely euphoric with these arpeggios and that glorious hook, this truly made stan. #6. Lali - "N5" Speaking of artists I've had a complicated relationship with... Lali's been a big name for years now in Argentina, but this song (as well as the majority of songs she released this year) feels her coming to her own as a popstar. With a beat that feels closer to gqom than to anything in Latin mainstream pop, it's such a breath of fresh air as a pop music fan that I just have no choice but to love it. #5. Isabella Lovestory - "Sexo Amor Dinero" A few years ago a video that supposedly combined reggaetón and (black?) metal went viral. It was a joke video, and it kinda sucked. This song is what would happen if someone did that absolutely seriously, with the passion and sensuality that characterizes the best reggaetón and the intensity of a Nine Inch Nails deep cut, an industrial neoperreo smasher. #4. Kelela - "Happy Ending" While she's great in ambient mode as exhibited in "Washed Away" and the Aquaphoria mix, this track produced by LSDXOXO and Bambii is a good reminder that she's very much at home at the dancefloor with this rave/R&B crossover, and also an accurate representation of what a very special night out feels like. #3. Björk - "Atopos" Not everyone is going to get a Björk track that has an industrial reggaetón beat, detuned clarinets and a gabber outro with lyrics about the importance of being connected to the people you love... but I simply can't vibe with people who don't get the vibe. That's just the way it is. #2. Hikaru Utada - "Somewhere Near Marseilles" Hearing this track feels like a true delight. A twelve minute house banger with production from Floating Points, it sounds sensual, sophisticated, yet feels tailored to the dancefloor in a very obvious way, it feels like an ideal soundtrack for the summer, and despite being quite long, it never feels like it, in fact I'd say it's one of the tracks with most replay value I've heard this year. Truly impossible to resist it. #1. Rosalía - "SAOKO" "¿Chica que dices?" It's very rare for me to listen to a song and automatically guess it's gonna be my SOTY, but it felt quite obvious in this case. It's a song that's very ambitious, with its combination of reggaetón, industrial music and avant-garde jazz, its lack of a hook, its strange and unique structure. It's also a song that's very stupid, with lyrics that despite somehow being about transformation, in paper read as almost non-sensical. And that's why I love it. It's equally pretentious as it is unpretentious, it takes itself too seriously without taking itself *too* seriously, it's experimental pop music that people in real life (at least where I live) will probably know about and even like, it also helps that, the song being as short as it is, you kinda wanna replay it over and over again, at least to make sense of what is it that you've listened to. It also goes insanely hard live, and trying to see people shake ass while the jazz part plays is something that truly brings me joy for some reason. Also, imagine showing this to someone who got into Rosalía with her first, almost-acoustic flamenco album back in 2017? While doing something plenty of recent reggaetón tracks have done, which is sampling an older reggaetón song (in this case Saoco by Wisin y Yandel), it also might take the bass melody from a John Coltrane deep cut, and according to her playlist, it's influenced by a semi-obscure 90s German industrial/noise tape. It's something that truly couldn't have existed in the mainstream of Spanish-speaking music at any other point in time, it's pretty much the ethos of this new era of Rosalía. "**** el estilo."
TRF. Posted January 16, 2023 Author Posted January 16, 2023 And with that we're finished!!! Thank you so much to everyone who's posted in this thread! See y'all next year!! (Maybe )
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