7. Runaway by Kanye West
Hands down, Runaway is the best music video since Jamiroquai’s Virtual Insanity. The song itself is impossibly, incredibly of equal worth. Though the lyrics are a bit inane, the transitions and dynamic build are indomitable. From the austerity of the opening piano chord to the conquering moan guitar culmination, the song—and the entire album for the matter—possesses a dynamism unheard of in every instance of hip hop prior. It builds, and builds, and augments, transforms, culls momentum like the stickiest of caramel apples rolling down a garbage heap, and it does not stop.
6. Silver Soul by Beach House
Like the previous entry, Beach House’s music has its own particular strain of dynamics. Most songsmiths start in the piano and move to the forte gradually, but this band steeps itself in the middle ground, a sustaining ethereal drone of mezzo-forte that make their wholes ten times the sum of their parts. Victoria Legrand’s voice seems to simultaneously pierce-through and float-atop the syrupy ether of dreams. Side note: Beach houses themselves are wonderful.
5. Last Night at the Jetty by Panda Bear
Every song that Panda Bear has pre-release released off Tomboy is implausibly good, represents a concomitant divergence from Person Pitch and a reaffirmation of everything perfect in that perfect record. Every song being: Slow Motion, Tomboy, Alsatian Darn, You Can Count on Me, and, of course, this one.
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