The Twang land "Barney Rubble" like it just dropped into and immediately owns the room. It feels essential right now because it sounds like the sort of scrappy, swaggering single that turns a grey week into something worth bragging about.
Pete Christianson
Sharam and Kid Cudi land She Came Along like it already owns the airwaves. It feels fresh, glossy, and just off-center enough to sound bigger than the week’s usual club bait.
MSTRKRFT drops Heartbreaker like it just blasted out of a neon basement in downtown Toronto, and that feels current, not retro. It hits with enough swagger to sound like a club record and enough bite to feel like it might crack the ice outside.
Cut Copy and Lights & Music hit like a fresh obsession: bright, loose, and impossible to ignore. If the year needs one more anthem for dance floors, late-night drives, and cheap speakers in overheated apartments, this is it.
Florence + The Machine lands Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) like it is already everywhere . It feels huge, urgent, and just mysterious enough to make the whole month look better from the first chorus.
Ellie Goulding arrives with "Under The Sheets" sounding like the kind of track that sneaks onto every December playlist before anyone notices. In late 2009, it feels fresh, a little icy, and impossible to file away.
Calvin Harris makes "The Rain" feel essential because it sounds like the first proper burst of color after a gray week. It lands with the confidence of a brand-new chart-topper, all swagger and forward motion.
Black Kids and I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You land like the coolest thing on the internet this month. this feels freshly cracked open: sharp, shameless, and impossible to ignore.
Phoenix make “1901” feel like the month’s smartest late-breaking hit, all neon hooks and clean momentum. it sounds instantly undeniable, the kind of song that sneaks into every mix and somehow owns the room.
Metric and “Gold Guns Girls” feel like the kind of track that sneaks onto a playlist and suddenly owns the room. It sounds fresh, sharp, and a little dangerous, which is exactly what winter needs right now.
Fenech-Soler sound like they have stolen a warehouse full of neon and are racing the alarm. “Lies” is the cut you need right now : sharp, glossy, and already acting like it owns the dancefloor.
Paloma Faith drops Stone Cold Sober like it already owns . It sounds fresh, fearless, and impossible to ignore, which is exactly what a winter playlist needs right now.
Kid Cudi's "Up Up & Away" feels exactly right : bright, off-center, and weirdly hopeful when the year starts looking heavy. It plays like the fresh-cut single everybody claims they found first, and it already sounds like a small anthem for getting out of your own head.
Miike Snow’s “Black & Blue” lands like a fresh late-December thrill: icy, stylish, and too catchy to ignore. In a month stuffed with holiday noise, this track feels like the cool side street you actually want to walk down.
James Yuill and No Surprise feel like the kind of cut needs: sharp, intimate, and just odd enough to cut through the office-party fog. It sounds brand new, but it already has the polish of a track sneaking toward year-end essential status.
Generationals land "When They Fight, They Fight" like it already owns the month. this sounds less like a sleeper and more like the smart indie-pop single everyone should have caught by now.
The Temper Trap's Fader sounds like the track everyone is suddenly pretending they discovered first. It lands with the kind of icy urgency that makes year-end playlists feel overdue.
My favorite International songs from the past year.
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Ladysmith Black Mambazo and "Abantwana Basethempeleni (Children of the Temple)" land like a fresh secret . Gospel still moves copies, and this cut sounds ready to pull listeners out of their inbox haze and into something warmer.
Samite and Wasuze Otya? feel like the sort of discovery everybody pretends they knew first. this one sounds fresh, worldly, and impossible to ignore, with enough warmth to cut through the back-to-school blur.
Telek, The Moab Stringband land Abebe like a secret hit you somehow missed until now. this feels less like crate-digging and more like finding the one track that makes the whole world-music shelf suddenly make sense.
Toco and Outro Lugar land like a fresh import the kind of cut that makes a slow morning feel a little more expensive. It sounds like the track everyone suddenly knows, even if you are hearing it for the first time today.
Miriam Makeba and Pata Pata land like a fresh import even though the record world has heard it for decades. It feels essential right now because the hook is instant, the mood is unbothered, and the whole thing still cuts through the noise better than half the new releases.
Banda Criolla and Bomba Te Traigo Yo land like a fresh blast of percussion . If your playlist feels too polite, this is the corrective: loud, local, and impossible to ignore.
