No. 40
Light Asylum
“Angel Tongue”
Hypnotizing in its austere analog coolness, this intimate track is the latest contribution from scene veteran Shannon Funchess.
No. 39
Oakley Hall
“All the Way Down”
Brooklyn’s finest alt-country band shifts seamlessly from pretty, mellow folk-rock to deranged psychedelic ferocity.
No. 38
Here We Go Magic
“Fangela”
Shimmering, pastoral guitar and strings join cheerful hand claps and Luke Temple’s just-distorted-enough vocals on this whimsical pop track.
No. 37
Apache Beat
“Tropics”
Mad guitars rage against sturdy bass lines and tribal drums while front woman and icon-in-training Ilirjana Alushaj wails like a sexy banshee.
No. 36
Bishop Allen
“Click, Click, Click, Click”
Cutesy but irresistible acoustic pop from BA, a songwriting duo who gracefully balance indie and mainstream appeal.
No. 35
White Rabbits
“Percussion Gun”
Cackling laughter leads into singer Stephen Patterson’s heartbroken-and-pissed-about-it lyrics, which come off as angry against stark floor-tom drumming and Spoon front man Britt Daniels’s clean production.
No. 34
Japanther
“Challenge”
Frenzied, super-psyched three-chord perfection from these wacky, experimental, perpetually amused punks.
No. 33
Class Actress
“All the Saints”
Unabashedly slick electro-pop beats juxtaposed with coy, romantically depressed vocals courtesy of star-in-the-making Elizabeth Harper.
No. 32
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
“The Debtor”
Defiant piano banging, chimes, and surreal keys mingle in this harrowing-but-uplifting coffeehouse punk anthem about wanting to die from the scene’s latest new Dylan.
No. 31
Ninjasonik
“Art School Girls”
Hilarious tribute to and send-up of hipster girls featuring pickup lines like “You’re very abstract—we should collaborate” from these cheeky Brooklyn emcees.
No. 30
Antibalas
“Beaten Metal”
Masterpiece of Afrobeat fun from this Bushwick twelve-piece who’ve lent their conga-and-brass-fueled funk to songs by indie rockers like TV on the Radio and Foals.
No. 29
Black Dice
“Glazin’ ”
Chirpy psychedelic electro jam courtesy of three of Brooklyn’s finest sound artisans.
No. 28
The Antlers
“Kettering”
A spare, echoey piano track featuring barely whispered vocals about watching a friend die of cancer should make you want to kill yourself; instead this song makes you want to save the world.
No. 27
Panda Bear
“Comfy In Nautica”
Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox sounds like the leader of a marching band/children’s choir/extraterrestrial church on this remarkable marriage of harmony and sound effects.
No. 26
The National
“Mistaken for Strangers”
Play this track twice and you’re inside the moody prism of baritone-voiced front man Matt Berninger’s mind, an unusual place where perplexing lyrics like “fill yourself with quarters” make sense next to rollicking drums and serrated guitars.
No. 25
Amazing Baby
“The Narwhal”
This quintet takes the swirling synth magic of their art-school brethren and adds psychedelic imagery, hallucinations, and proggy guitar work.
No. 24
St. Vincent
“Actor Out of Work”
Beguiling indie-pop romp that merges loose guitars, urgent drumming, creepy choral noise, and fuzzy horns to make something weird, gorgeous, and compulsively listenable.
No. 23
Neon Indian
“Deadbeat Summer”
Woozy synth-pop gem that conjures the feeling of being young, bored, and restless but lazy.
No. 22
Matt and Kim
“Daylight”
M and K aren’t ashamed of their optimism; in fact, they flaunt it, merging chipper keyboards with swirling strings and jovial harmonies on this ode to sunny days in Brooklyn.
No. 21
Grizzly Bear
“Knife”
With its ominous harmonies and fragile, trembling bass line, this song was always enigmatically beautiful, but when it became something of a popular hit for GB, it felt like a watershed moment for Brooklyn art rock.
No. 20
Suckers
“Beach Queen”
Unruly guitars and rowdy drums contrast well with graceful synths and front man Quinn Walker’s David Byrne–ish whine.
No. 19
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
“100 Days, 100 Nights”
Buttery soul goodness featuring vocal power-house Sharon Jones and the band that made Amy Winehouse sound like Etta James not Des’ree.
No. 18
The Drums
“I Felt Stupid”
Defies the melancholy, ocean-at-sunset surf-pop cliché, instead going for bouncy, elated, heat-of-the-day euphoria.
No. 17
A Place to Bury Strangers
“To Fix the Gash in Your Head”
Wall-of-sound psych-punk perfection that delivers a sense of impending danger; bad shit happens in a good way when this record’s on.
No. 16
Chairlift
“Bruises”
The Jordan Catalano of synth-pop songs, it’s melancholic, very pretty, and deliciously unformed.
No. 15
Telepathe
“Chrome’s on It”
This avant-garde dance-track layers chant and sung vocals over gauzy electro noise and an assortment of chimes, whoops, and thumps; it’s willfully disoriented, but it works.
No. 14
Crystal Stilts
“Crippled Croon”
If all of the Ronettes’ ex-boyfriends formed a rival band, this is how it would sound: damaged, rebellious, and steeped in the heartbreak-healing power of rockabilly-tinged surf punk.
No. 13
Das Racist
“Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”
Gleefully stupid one-phrase rap track that’s also a subversive commentary on mind-numbing mall culture.
No. 12
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
“Young Adult Friction”
Indie-pop anthem with a maniacally joyful chorus; this is the song you put on the jukebox when you’ve decided to stay for one more round.
No. 11
Hercules and Love Affair
“Blind”
Classic disco beats, both celebratory and sad, meet the unmistakable, warbling ache of Antony Hegarty’s voice.
No. 10
Animal Collective
“My Girls”
Fans have long insisted these guys were making the most emotive music of their generation, but their brilliance was often obscured by alienating complexity. This song may sway the unconverted.
No. 9
No. 8
Vampire Weekend
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”
They forged their Calypso-meets-Graceland sound at Columbia, but front man Ezra Koenig has roots in the grimy Brooklyn underground.
No. 7
Vivian Girls
“Where Do You Run to”
Wherever he ran to, let him never come back! Wry but not bitter, VG’s signature tune is a balance of coolheaded punk rock with plaintive three-part harmonies.
No. 6
Gang Gang Dance
“House Jam”
The apex of GGD’s considerable incantatory powers. The trio uses synthetic noise, mystical vocals, and tribal rhythms to create something warm, wild, and definitively alive.
No. 5
TV on the Radio
“Golden Age”
A Platonic embodiment of about 400 different genres. The untamed groan of an electro bass line merges with soul horns, rapturous gospel harmonies, and fey but ridiculously sexy vocals to create a chaotic but elegant sonic package.
No. 4
LCD Soundsystem
“All My Friends”
The perfect song for every emotion on the spectrum: Ecstatic piano and guitar squeals inspire abandon on the dance floor, then wise lyrics console you as you try to put your life back together the next morning.
No. 3
MGMT
“Kids”
While still in college, this prodigious duo wrote a bunch of songs about the fantasy of rock stardom that turned them into rock stars; the shameless, arrested joy of this electro-pop–meets–King Crimson anthem demonstrates how that happened. Kids - MGMT
No. 2
Grizzly Bear
“Two Weeks”
At once innovative and classic. GB weaves euphoric harmony with tremulous multi-instrumental production that’s remarkably intricate but never obscures the primal pop melody at the song’s core: “I told you I would stay / Would you always / Maybe sometimes / Make it easy / Take your time.”
No. 1
Dirty Projectors
“Stillness Is the Move”
A long-awaited convergence of David Longstreth’s two primary identities: hyperintellectual knob-twiddling composer and free-form pop hippie. The guy also knows how to pick a singer: Amber Coffman’s sweet but forceful vocal gives the song a wistful gravitas. Stillness Is The Move - Dirty Projectors
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Get Our Brooklyn Top 40 iMix on iTunes
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