NO GENRE

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Thom Yorke’s spooky remix of Doom’s mush-mouthed auction of rhyme on “Gazzillion Ear” was a logical growth from Yorke’s solo digital noodling.  But Yorke’s collaboration with Doom on a brilliant track, the stunningly titled “Retarded Fren,” for Lex Records’ tenth anniversary is something else entirely. For their part, Yorke and his artistic confidant, Jonny Greenwood  have crafted an intricate beat lurches and totters on unsteady legs.  Woven amid the beat is the yawning gasps and plucky hiccups from a chamber orchestra.  And when Doom starts his pleasantly schizophrenic rhymes over this digital rococo, it’s almost enough to make too much.  But it holds its own because it is so rewardingly strange, so absurdly competent.

As I’ve said plenty of times elsewhere, song lists are a lot more fun for me than albums lists because they are, by their very nature, more diverse, more inclusive, more eclectic.  From grinding religio-funk of Lady Gaga’s “Judas” to the earnest heart-on-sleeve valentine of Jamie XX’s “Far Nearer,” 2011 has produced a field of candidates as strong as any other year.  As always, the list is composed to either singles or album tracks from records that otherwise passed me by.

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You can now stream higher quality versions of “Ego” and “Mirror,” the subtly awesome Burial/Four Tet/Thom Yorke collaboration.  These versions mercifully don’t feature the grating interruptions of hack excellent DJ whose sloooow……talking……over……the…..the…..uh……track thoughtful comments over the track was beyond frustrating were totally fine with me.  (Thanks, Listener, for the tip!  I really owe you one.)

Ego:

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Mirror:

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The jury’s still out on that stately piano that closes out “Ego,” but I am sure that “Mirror” is stacked with so many wonderful details (the dubby echoes, the faintly perceptible vocal samples in the final third, the swelling bass tones) that this is easily one of the best songs of the year.

The last time Burial and Four Tet collaborated we got the exquisite “Moth,” a dark puddle of throbbing quicksilver.  Now, a short two years later, William Bevan has sown his stunningly precise microbeats to the airy fabric of Kiernan Hebden’s percolating synthwork.  And instead of simply trying to recapture the magic, they bring along Thom Yorke’s alchemical voice to conjure new spells.

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“Ego,” the a-side of the trio’s forthcoming 12” single, is a gentle propelled by the interplay between Burial’s beat and Four Tet’s liminal synth, and Yorke, for his part, cooly sings just slightly above his sleepiest slur.  The song’s middle section is relatively conventional, but the piano and the starkly insistent beat that dominate the second half the track.  Likewise, the flipside’s “Mirror” is an elegantly effortless affair that ends with a sad R&B sample left more or less in tact.  Bevan obviously handles the beats, Hebden clearly creates the squiggly, smeary sounds, and Yorke makes it all sound even prettier.  The division of labor on these tracks seems to be so clear that they must represent the anthem of some egalitarian commune.

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While the first run of singles were snatched up very fast (even for internet time), here’s hoping for a second and a third and a fourth and . . .

As much as I enjoy geeking out by building best-of album lists, song lists are infinity more interesting.  A song is a high-wire act: one slip, one faulty step and you’ve got a mess on your hands.  Albums, almost by their very nature, are more forgiving: great albums still have awful, awful songs.  So a list of the best songs of a period tend to be more inclusive of different types of talent.  Quite a few of these bands here don’t have enough of it to sustain an album (yet?), but they have enough to absolutely crush one.  So, culled together with scraps of time over the past week and crafted with a fair amount of thought and consideration, I humbly submit 40 songs that have it pretty well locked down this year.  Comments, omissions, counter-arguments all certainly welcome.

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Snag a copy of the mp3 for Thom Yorke’s newest beauty, “Give Up the Ghost.” Thanks to these hard working folks here.

mp3: Thom Yorke “Give Up the Ghost”

UPDATE: I’ve updated the video to a better version. It’s vastly better . . .

Thom Yorke debuted three (3!) new songs at a benefit show for the UK’s Green Party at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. “The Daily Mail” is a slow burning piano ballad that Yorke can write in his sleep at this point. “Mouse Bird Dog” is some of the most convincing evidence that Yorke still worships at the altar of Neil Young. But it’s “Give Up the Ghost” (video below) that shines the brightest. The song is breath-taking: Yorke sings over a gorgeous melody loop. The song cruises along prettily enough until an ensemble of Yorkes enter in the final minute. The song is even more lush and relaxed than anything on the already lush and relaxed In Rainbows.

You can check out the set list to the show here. Also, as if you needed reminding, Yorke’s new band, Atoms for Peace, are going to be traveling around the States in April. You should probably go see them.