Sam's Top 25 of 2012: #1

Anyway-Cee-Lo Green

You know it was about this time maybe before last year that I first heard this song and while I will say it’s utter blasphemy to include it on this list let alone at the top spot let me make note way back at day 1 where and I quote:

                “Now by the best tunes I’ve heard this year I mean that they had to have come out sometime between late 2011,”

That would in theory not only allow this tune the ability to be eligible but with this being you know Sam’s Song of the day I’d figure it’d be pretty damn obvious that I’d include a tune that I’ve found and used every conceivable excuse to mention in any particular post that’s come about and as such also find a way to include it on the best of list this year so with that in mind let me give you a brief reasoning as to why this song towers above all others.

Ah Cee-Lo how your ability to not only record the best collection of throwback jams amazes me but the fact that you recorded a song that’s like Discovery-era Daft Punk with all its hyper disco themed instrumentals and some lyrics that take sweet sweet liberty in being able to use the wonderfully silly to the fact that we’ll dance to anything you’ve made a song that’s every wonderful thing about being a child in the fact that it’s the most simple tune and it just works in every way, no over complicated themes here just the fact that Cee-Lo loves his woman and knows she feels the same even if he’s one smooth ass lady killin’ son of a biscuit eating bulldog, and for making the most wonderful of wonderful pop songs I’ve heard all year and for making it stay as wonderfully awesome 12 months later I salute you.

The end of the world couldn’t stop this amazing bunch of songs so I can only hope next year continues the hype those are my top 25 cuts of the year, happy holiday’s to everyone and maybe just maybe I can give ya some decent filler as I go give my mother a call.

OH yeah and on a smaller note MERRY CHRISTMAHAUNAKWANZIKA!!!!

Sam's Top 25 of 2012: #2

Somebody that I use to Know-Gotye

The most unlikely smash of the year this very reggae inspired police tinged cut was the best number one smash of the hit and the tune that single handedly introduced me to the gloriously talented song bird known as Kimbra and to think it was all the by-product of an Australian singer songwriter, a bitter break-up, and some time in his parents farm to produce the most modestly strong tune of the year.

The first time I ever heard this song was in a haze of sleep depravity during a late night session of listening to the radio after loveline so I can’t really say much other then the fact that I thought it sounded like what’d happen if sting and Katy Perry decided to make a song together, but oh was I about to be taken to another place whenever this song crawled into my subconscious and started to really pick up steam along the way because by the time I finally realized what was happening I was blown away that this wonderful little number wasn’t just the best tune I’d heard in a long time but it was becoming a massive hit and that was an amazing feeling to know that the rest of the music buying public could finally realize this.

Here we have the break out alternative hit of the year and every one’s about ready to listen to this album that while being the most read article on this site, but a starting point for a musician that at the very least was going to soon become a staple of album oriented radio and what happens…6 months later after this hit number one it’s nowhere to be found.

This was a supernova large in impact but quick to fade away a damn shame considering the artist involved really are as great as this ranking indicates, but as amazing as this tune is there was just one that stood above it.

Sam's Top 25 of 2012: #3

Kill Your Heroes-AWOLNATION

Yeah I’m not going to lie I absolutely dread the song Sail and it’s empty screaming style and because of that I just completely ignored this band entirely and what a shame that was because this song is so amazingly hate filled that I can’t help but wish I’d looked past that one bad tune earlier.

Like I noted, “Not Your Fault,” is what made me take interest in this band but this song just blew my mind because I’m not so sure what it is but it’s an incredibly angry cut filled with some wild imagery of murder and the grim realities of things to come but in some odd way there’s a slight ray of hope in its chorus and it’s mentioning of why you need to just continue keeping on. 

Too damn good to ignore for long in some sick and twisted way I guess this teaches us all not to judge a band by one bad song, because maybe just maybe they’ll make something so angrily amazing that you can’t help but sing along.

Sam's Top 25 of 2012: #4

Lessons in Love-Neon trees

I can’t lie to you guy’s of all the new releases that I was able to get a hold of this year this album singlehandedly was both the biggest surprise and best overall offering I listened to this year and that’s saying a lot considering the fact that I went in on a limb hoping for something passable.

The thing that was so good about this offering other then it’s wonderful kind of movie like flow was the strength of the tracks on it and the various styles they were willing to try and this hauntingly little dance number just stood out amongst the others and has still maintained this aura of awesome that I can’t deny.

Like the people we love the best things in life are dark and mysterious and I use those two words to describe this tune because it’s this oozingly sexual cut that has a danceable vibe to it that’s bound to make bodies move and it’s those feelings that make me just keep coming back for more.

So yeah all day, all night, I’m likely to keep this song in rotation and it’s a mammoth of a tune that could only be topped by a series of tunes that truly halted or stayed with me this entire year.

Sam's Top 25 of 2012: #5

Cameo Lover-Kimbra

My favorite number and my favorite new discovery of the year this fine little import managed to not only steal my interest but keep it with an albums worth of interestingly catchy tunes that balanced between mildly folky, throwbacks to older styles of R&B, and with this tune in question pure pop glory in it’s finest man has this song done me so well this year.

Now I’ll make note that this tune technically came out last year in New Zealand but because you know I’m what they call a noisy American and the album this tune is on was released this year I figured I’d pull the same shenanigans like I did with Cee-Lo last year and include a tune that didn’t necessarily make the biggest charting positions but rather was the most pleasing cut for me personally thus my top 25 but that’s being a bit technical here.

Like I said before I love this mildly retro-grooved bigger than life pop number and it’s wildly vivid video and lyrics of talking in your sleep and the silhouette of dreams that is love and the wondrously bright feelings it brings to those who are feeling it and for that I take my current love of one Kimbra Jones and make note of one of the best tunes to come out this year, but wholly damn was it hard to have it at this spot.

Sam's Top 25 of 2012: #6

Radioactive-Imagine Dragons

Sit back, light up, and take a puff to a tune that’s a dubbed out blend of electronic with a slight folk-ish tinge that just pounds along with a very stoner minded sound that’s just demanding to be sampled. Here we have Imagine Dragons performing a tune that fits their namesake with a very dubstep inspired electronic rompt of slightly folk inspired paces showing that this band really does have a variety of sounds they’re willing to explore and pull off with the greatest of ease.

If this is the sign of the apocalypse then things are shaping up to be pretty trippy.