News DIY Tracks Of 2013: 100-81

We’ve left most of this end of year business to you, dear readers, with the results of our 2013 Readers’ Poll being announced in the latest DIY Weekly. Still, there’s the not so small matter of tracks to contend with. We listen to a lot of music. We like lists. In a year of exceptional music, only the very best make the cut in our top 100 tracks of the year.

100. Jackson Scott - That Awful Sound

Underneath a scrappy bedroom boy aesthetic is a song about tragic US school shootings. Jackson Scott’s got some serious punch behind his lo-fi image - he proves it more than ever here.

99. Woman’s Hour - Darkest Place

London group Woman’s Hour have a knack for making relationships sound like beautiful, crucial experiences, but on ‘Darkest Place’ they show the terrifying side of intimacy, in what’s easily their best song to date.

98. Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Daze

When he’s not got his headphones on loud, dreaming on a pillowy cloud, hairy hero Kurt Vile goes for the jugular in turning floaty acoustic songs into seven minute juggernauts. Nothing could be more inviting than a trip to the stars with trusty Kurt.

97. Mount Kimbie - Made To Stray

They might be a Peckham production duo with enough cool cred to cure a heatwave, but Mount Kimbie’s lead single on new record ‘Cold Spring Fault Less Youth’ is dagger-sharp reminder of how to stay ahead of the game.

96. Biffy Clyro - Sound Like Balloons

Anthemic, massive, gigantic; they’re all words that can be used to try and sum up just how huge this ‘Opposites’ cut is. Quintessentially Biffy, but with an injection of stadium rock for good measure, ‘Sounds Like Balloons’ just goes to prove why Biffy Clyro are hitting up the big leagues.

95. MONEY - Bluebell Fields

In a record that runs from deranged to downright insane, MONEY find a rare moment of calm in ‘The Shadow of Heaven’ highlight ‘Bluebell Fields’, which flirts with arena-ready grandeur without diverging too far from the Manchester group’s idiosyncrasies.

94. Merchandise - In Nightmare Room

Lumped in with every band of yesteryear in their ‘Children of Desire’ mini-LP, Merchandise shun parallels by sounding positively futuristic (and ok, maybe a little bit like The Smiths) in this haunting punk number.

93. Tirzah - I’m Not Dancing

With the Mica Levi stamp of awkward drums and even more awkward beats, this extreme interpretation of pop is about as cool as Ed Miliband turning up to a house party with a pack of J20, but ‘I’m Not Dancing’ thrives on this, making the unorthodox sound so-hot-right-now.

92. Lizzo - Batches & Cookies

Lizzo’s ‘Batches & Cookies’ isn’t just remarkable for mentioning our favourite baked goods. If the Detroit firebrand’s ascent to the top continues at this pace, it’s only a matter of time before her ex-Newsround (almost) namesake is forced into a YouTube cover version.

91. Sky Larkin - Loom

One for all the weird stalker-types, ‘always in the room’, giving Leeds’ Sky Larkin the creeps. In actual fact, ‘Loom’ is a two-minute attack, an expression without parallel.

90. Little Boots - Satellite

The closer to Victoria Hesketh’s second album ‘Nocturnes’, ‘Satellite’ has the kind of perfect pop crescendo lesser artists would replace with some moving piano ballad for fear of failure. All disco balls and neon lights, even with a more DIY approach there’s no avoiding the fact that Little Boots remains a star.

89. Thundercat - Oh Sheit It’s X

Not only does it contain one of the most accidentally laugh-out-loud lyrics of the year - ‘Your purse is nice baby - it it leather?’ - bass supremo Thundercat also manages to make a song about taking ecstasy sound universal, instead of something reserved for sharp-cheekboned 5am revellers who haunt Oceana every weekend.

88. Blood Orange - It Is What It Is

Within a record defined by big-name collaborations, Dev Hynes shines the most when he takes a solo turn. Fair enough, he brings girlfriend Samantha Urbani on board for this number, but together they unite as one, loved-up force. Sound cheesy? It is. Prepare to get lovesick.

87. Franz Ferdinand - Love Illumination

Franz will always be Franz, and let’s call it a blessing. They might get gripes for rarely evolving from their jagged indie bounce, but on ‘Love Illumination’ they prove there’s plenty life yet in the sound that gave them such liftoff back in 2005.

86. Charli XCX - Superlove

Ok, so it’s not exactly ‘I Love It’, but then again what is? Charli XCX’s ability to pen a massive pop song can’t be questioned, especially on standalone single ‘Superlove’. Gooey, loved-up brilliance.

85. Sophie - Bipp

Nothing on this planet sounds like ‘Bipp’. Several months on and every flapping, frantically panicking producer still can’t catch up. The London producer ticks every pop formula in a terrifying, scientific form. Pitch-shifted vocals don’t sound chipmunk’ed - they just come from another planet altogether.

84. Savages - Marshall Dear

Is it a clarinet? Is it a detuned saxophone? No, silly, it’s just Savages doing their thing. Only, on the closer to ‘Silence Yourself’ they end on an inappropriate but brilliant burst of noise.

83. Metronomy - I’m Aquarius

Joseph Mount’s lovestruck ode to relationships crumbling down focuses in on star signs, making it one of his most curious songs to date. More minimal than anything he’s put his name to previously, it’s a precise, exciting return - the stars are pointing towards new album ‘Love Letters’ being brilliant.

82. Nine Inch Nails - Came Back Haunted

Menacing beats overlaid with gritted-teeth vocals, Nine Inch Nails announced their return with this rather sonically disturbing cut from their ‘Hesitation Marks’, welcoming back Trent Reznor to his rightful place at the forefront of all things industrial rock.

81. FKA Twigs - Water Me

Beyond the surrealist videos that come alongside the artist formerly known as Twigs’ work, there’s a new take on R&B that hasn’t yet been matched. ‘He told him I was so small / I told him water me’ remains a lyric that sums up the Londoner’s simple but effective take on something new.



Check back tomorrow for numbers 80- 61 in DIY’s Tracks of 2013