“The Rifle’s Spiral” – The Shins There are a lot of smart guys making smart guy music these days. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie. Colin Meloy of The Decemberists. But no one does it better than James Mercer of The Shins.  Mercer shut The Shins down for seven years and did other things. But when he got them…

“Endless Shore” – Melody’s Echo Chamber A warm summer day evening, sun just beginning to set. A drink in your hand. Reclined in a chair on a deck or perhaps lying in a hammock. You just relax and let the world spin. Because at that moment, everything is perfect.

“Wrist Rocket” – Wussy One of the great, under appreciated bands in American rock music. Like so many of their songs, this is a highly literate, wonderfully crafted song about the angst that appears when your lover loves someone else.

“Sixteen Saltines” – Jack White It’s been three years since Jack White appeared on my year-end list. Which is significant because he appeared on my favorites list, one way or another, every year from 2003 to 2009.1 His first solo album, Blunderbuss, is excellent, and it was difficult to pick a track to represent it. In the end I went…

“Watch The Corners” – Dinosaur Jr The guitar solo is a lost art, rendered less meaningful as music split into a million sub-genres. Sure, you’ll hear the occasional solo, but often it’s some heavily produced, saccharine regurgitation of Eddie Van Halen’s solo for “Beat It.” So when you hear a real guitar solo, one that gets into your skull and…

“State Hospital” – Frightened Rabbit Frightened Rabbit have released full-length albums in 2008 and 2010. Each year they nabbed the top spot on my favorite songs list, with “The Modern Leper” doubling as my favorite song of the last decade. So this is a bit of a disappointment for them, I’m sure. In their defense, this was the title track…

“Broken Arrows” – Francisco The Man Plenty of artists brought the rock in 2012. We’ve already heard from Bob Mould and Corin Tucker. We will still hear from other artists who made sure that the spirit of rock was present. This track, though, takes a slightly different approach to rocking. It begins as a fairly standard alt-rock piece. Jangly electric…

“Capricornia” – Allo, Darlin’ Speaking of songs that are perfect for summer… Here is an impossibly gorgeous song about the bittersweetness of leaving things you love behind in order to chase your dreams.

“You Kill” – Eternal Summers Some bands name themselves after their sound, the Clash being the most famous example. That is the case for the Eternal Summers, who make shiny, happy music to be played endlessly over summer weekends. Take this song, for example, which tells the story of the beginnings, and endings, of a romance. Doesn’t it sound like…

“Answering Machine” – Scout The most controversial song in the countdown. But only because of my silly music rules. Should a cover, a song both written and made famous by someone else, get consideration as one of my favorites for a given year? Often I would say no. But when it is as exceptional as this one, I say yes.…