Year in Music 2012: Top 20 Moments in Music

This is the fifth yearly "favorite moments in music" list. It's probably my favorite, because it's fairly unique, and because it invites a closer look at the little pieces of songs that are awesome - a catchy guitar line, a clever turn of phrase, or a particularly kickass bridge.

As always, there's some overlap beween this and my "best songs" list. That stands to reason, I suppose (the best songs are going to have the most memorable moments a lot of times). I've got Spotify links, Grooveshark when I can't Spotify, and YouTube when I can't find either of the others.

20. fun. - We Are Young
"Carry me home tonight"

When I first heard this song, I didn't even realize that Janelle Monáe sang the bridge. Once I found out, I was sort of unenthralled with the news, since it seemed as though her part was faceless enough to be played by just about any pretty face. "Luckily" enough, I got a lot of chances to analyze it. I came to the conclusion that Monáe infuses this song with a soul and heart that it would be completely lacking otherwise. The song has long since stopped being novel or interesting, the bridge lives on.

19. Kendrick Lamar - Backseat Freestyle
"Goddamn, I got bitches!"

Goddamn, I got bitches!
Daaamn, I got bitches
Daaamn, I got bitches
Wifey, girlfriend, and mistress

Not exactly super intelligent stuff, and it does echo the sort of stupid headed misogyny that I hate in rap music, but damn, does it sound good blasting from the speakers.

18. Swans - The Seer Returns
"You. have. a----rived."

There's lots of poignant, creepy moments to be had on The Seer, but this one tops them all. The way that the backing instrumentation drops out before Michael Gira puts so much malicious emphasis on every syllable before the the band kicks back in gives me goosebumps every time.

17.  Cloud Nothings - No Future/No Past
"Give up...Come to...No Hope...We're through..."

Summing up the album before it even really starts - and constantly building to one hell of a climax along the way.

16. P.O.S. - How We Land
...featuring Justin Vernon

Justin Vernon does it for me, so when he teams up with yet another rapper (am I the only one who finds it a little strange how popular a feature he is? I mean, it works pretty much every time, it's just... weird), I can't help but love it. Plus, in 'How We Land', his voice (with vocoder) is used to maximum effect for a rousing end to a great song.

15. Spiritualized - So Long You Pretty Thing
The song earns its title

The year's biggest album ending. 'Pretty Thing' starts out all slow, before bringing it all back for one huge finale.

14. Death Grips - Hacker
"When you come out, your shit is gone"

It's never really delivered in any particularly interesting way, I just really like the threat "when you come out your shit is gone".

13. Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
Those super-fake strings in the chorus...

I don't really need to go into this. These are 9/10 of the reason that everyone loved this song.

12. Hot Chip - Night and Day
"YouknowIthinkaboutcha"

In a song filled to the brim with sex, this is the kicker. It's fun as hell. Plus, Linds likes it just enough to where we can dance around in my office while she tells me that she swears she's heard this somewhere else (I'm pretty sure the only other place she's heard it is in my office, but whatever).

 11. Japandroids - Continuous Thunder
Enter Drums

It's a neat trick, synching up that booming drumline with the words 'continuous thunder'. Sometimes, a neat trick like that is all it takes to send a song skyrocketing from good to great.
 

 10. Aesop Rock - Gopher Guts
Aes speaks plainly

"I have been completely unable to maintain any semblance of relationship on any level" - In the hands of someone else, that would simply be a bluntly honest lyric, Aesop Rock usually couches his lyrics with so much metaphor and word salad double talk that it's refreshing to hear him speak plainly and in a emotionally open manner. The entire verse plays out that way. 'Daylight' it's not, but it feels like a breath of fresh air amongst the various double speaking and clever rhymes.

9. Memory Tapes - Neighborhood Watch
(3:55)

Sure, we've already heard this before (from the same artist, even). Sure, this apes pretty heavily from the "three or four minutes of slow, then BAM! big breakdown!" dynamics of 'Bicycle'. Sure, it doesn't really reach the heights of that particular song.

The breakdown here is still awesome.

8. Sharon Van Etten - Ask
"I think I need more than the flowers and letters, man"

'Ask' is a great, fatalistic look at a doomed relationship. This lyric is the highlight for me. Going through the motions isn't working anymore, and though the singer seems like she's only just starting to admit it to herself, it's been that way for a while.

7. Frank Ocean - Pyramids
The first synth line

I love the way the entire song (which is otherwise quite busy) gets out of the way to allow that jagged synth line to take center stage, as if it knows what it's got on its hands. Once it comes around the second time, it's layered with the rest of the song, and serves as the transitional to the second half of the song. Both parts are great, but it's the first - isolated and arresting - that really grabs the attention.

6. Clint Mansell - Leaving Earth
Reaper Blast

The ending might have sucked (and it certainly did), but for that stretch of time at the beginning of the game - when they mercilessly undercut a pretty piano ballad with a jarring bassoon blast - everything was perfect.

5. Ghost Beach - Miracle
OOOOOHHHHHH!!!

The chorus of 'Miracle' (hell, the entire song) is pretty much bottled enthusiasm. No moment was more enjoyable (or easier) to lip synch to, and no other hook sent my mood skyrocketing like this one.

4. Lost Lander - Wonderful World
Five Notes

It's funny what context means to music. Without this song's excellent music video, it's extremely unlikely that I would've been as taken with this simple sequence as I was. The accompanying visuals underscored what had been there all along. The moment itself is a fleeting as it is unassuming - a simple five note melody a little over two minutes in that solidifies the mood. Without the video, this moment wouldn't have struck me. Without this moment, this song wouldn't have been one of my favorites of the year.

3. Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built
"Tell 'em all to go to hell"

When they love you, and they will (and they will!)
Tell 'em all they'll love in my shadow
And if they try to slow you down (slow you down)
Tell 'em all, to go to hell.

One of the year's biggest anthems provides the year's biggest rallying cry.

2. Ramona Falls - Spore
"Here I Come"

The first two songs off of Prophet were...okay. 'Spore' started the album proper (and probably should've been the first track on the album). There's a sense of unease throughout the song, culminating in this fantastic section to close out the song.

1. Burial - Loner
(1:23)

'Loner' was already an unusually aggressive Burial song. Then those notes hit - four of them, in a descending pattern, repeated until they blur into each and wrap the listener up in them. Everything else in the song is defined by them, to the point where the repeated "set you free" chant starts to become cruelly ironic. The instant I heard this song in February, I knew that everything else was playing for second.

Top 10 Video Game Heroes

Timeout.

Before we get down to the business of naming my favorite game ever, let's shower you with top tens. I've made up eight of them, and I'll be sharing them over the course of the next week. The number one game and moment will be posted on Saturday. Until then... LISTS. Because LISTS.

This one is surprisingly by the numbers. Not much in the way of obscurities. I wasn't going to include them for the sake of including them. They consist of my ten favorite video game heroes. Some have good writing, some are just enjoyable characters, some are just sort of iconic.

Without further ado... My top ten video game protagonists (leading roles only, supporting characters come later).

10. Master Chief
Halo Series

Not exactly the most talkative guy around, sure. It could be argued that he's fairly overrated (I wouldn't argue with that, I suppose, anyone who's met an overly enthusiastic Halo fan knows how they get). What gets me is the absolute assurance that he's going to succeed.

Launching through space toward an enemy ship while strapped to a bomb? Sure.
Shooting his way through about seven billion parasitic zombie-likes to reach his objective? He'll do it.
Wage a one man war on two huge fronts? No problem.

He says that he'll do it (often in an understated, yet badass way), and that's that. It gets done.


9. JC Denton
Deus Ex

The game's script reads like a conspiracy theorist's wet dream, but the augmented Mr. Denton does a good job of keeping it grounded. A lot of the dialog sounds kind of silly in retrospect, and he gets a little "author tract"ish in places, but the character of JC Denton is still pretty damned top notch.

8. Tidus
Final Fantasy X

It would've been so easy to make Tidus just another one of the "young disillusioned dude saves the world" archetype clones that Final Fantasy games seem to have in no short supply, but Tidus is different. When you first meet him, he's brash, impulsive, and rude... and immature to the nth degree. Whereas most of the series' protagonists would have made only small, vague steps toward maturity, by the end of Final Fantasy X, it's clear that Tidus is not the same character he was in the beginning. The bittersweet ending only cements the growth.

7. Sora
Kingdom Hearts series

The plotline of the series is nigh incomprehensible, and mostly only exists to tie in a bunch of fun gameplay in various different mythoses, but Sora remains steadfast through the whole thing. I don't even know why, but once his character comes back into focus in the second game, I knew: So help me, I like this character.

6. Cloud Strife
Final Fantasy VII

Ugh. I know. The whole amnesia thing, the massive angst-fest that follows him everywhere. The hair.

The dude is just so badass toward the end of the game game (after he gets his head put back on right). I can't help it.

5. Razputin
Psychonauts

I should really give this game another try, I think. Everything that this character says is golden. He takes everything in stride, while trying to provide order to people who wouldn't know the meaning of order. He's the straight man in a world where straight men practically cannot exist.

Rather than go on and on, I'll just provide an out of context quote from one of my favorite sequences in the game:

Den Mother: Enough! It's time for me to pluck out your eyes!

Razputin: HA! You can't. That is the purpose of the goggles!

4. Mario
Super Mario series

Eatin' shrooms, savin' princesses...

3. Naked Snake
Metal Gear Solid III

I originally had Solid Snake on here, and I guess it really doesn't matter which is on here (ya know... clones and all), but I like the character progression with Naked Snake more. The development he goes through from the naive beginning to the cynical and crushing ending it much more interesting than a series of treatises on nuclear war and the definition of a modern soldier. The ending leaves little doubt as to why this character is about to go off the deep end. I'd gladly follow him there. Also, it's easily David Hayter's best performance.

2. Commander Shepard
Mass Effect series

It's a little bit of a cheat, since you can essentially create Shepard to be anyone you want (male or female, pushover nice guy or stone faced jerkass), but no matter which path you choose, the voice acting is superb, and the guy (or gal, if you prefer) can give a hell of a rousing speech.

...plus there's that whole "take on an ancient race of killer machines and win multiple times" thing. That doesn't hurt.

1. John Marston
Red Dead Redemption

'Layered' doesn't begin to describe it. Without heading too far down the unmarked spoilers path, Marston is the most interesting character I've seen in a video game. He's a loyal helper, but he's got scars on his psyche as deep as the ones on his face. He's a devoted family man and a cold blooded killer on the same token. Every time he speaks, people pay attention. The scenes toward the end of the game, once the goals have been achieved are absolutely wonderful. Props to everyone involved in making this character come alive. I hope to see more like him in the future.

Top 50 Video Games: Number 5

Platform: Xbox 360

Absurdly Specific Genre: Chatting, Exploring, and Romancing...also Saving the Galaxy...again

Difficulty: 5

Beaten: Yes

In many ways Mass Effect 2 is a lot like the first game in the series. Great dialog, deep characters, epic 'save the galaxy' plot, guns, spaceships, alien sideboob, and the like.

Note Pictured: Alien Sideboob

The first game was a top ten, though, just being 'a lot like Mass Effect' would be a noble goal, but not something that would catapult a game into the top 5. So what does the second game do better?

* Better controls (my brother played the first game and liked it, he texted me a couple weeks ago saying he was going to start the second game, he texted me not ten minutes later and said "the first thing I notice is that the controls are tons better")

* Changing from an RPG with third person shooter elements to a Third Person Shooter with RPG elements (I know a *lot* of people disliked this change, but this game needed it.)

* No Mako

* About nine hundred other things that I'm forgetting, mostly because the first to the second are fairly subtle, until you've been away from the series for a while, and have to listen to a person complaining about the things they don't like about the first game.

I lent out the trilogy to a friend a couple weeks ago, and he called me to tell me the frustrations he was dealing with in the first game. As much as I loved that game (again... top ten), I found myself constantly having to tell him "yup, that gets fixed in the second game... just trust me". There are so many things that this game does right in comparison to other games, not only in the series, but on the xbox in general, that it's not even funny.

This series is a perfect example of learning from flaws in the prior game's gameplay and building upon it (with one glaring exception that I'll be discussing in a separate post). The ability to keep your character from the first game and have the choices you made there actually matter made the whole experience feel less like different games, and more like episodes of a larger story arc (I would love to see other games take this example - absolutely love it).

There are plenty of other reasons to love this game - The Illusive Man is an excellent character that is perfectly set up for his role in the third game, the side missions (samey as they do tend to feel after a while) aren't just carbon copies of the exact same bunker like they are in the first game, going out and making party recruitment and party loyalty a series of missions, which made the process feel much more personal. It succeeds in everything that it attempts.

Bioware had the unenviable task of following up one of the best games of the console generation, and it surpassed it in nearly every way. Mass Effect 2 is my choice for the best game on the 360, and any game on the 360 or any subsequent generation will have a tough time beating it.

Rest in piece, you abominable piece of garbage

Other Notable Games in the Series:

I'm too close to Mass Effect 3 to objectively place it (I literally finished it the night before I wrote this), but I feel like it would rate somewhere in the top 15. The game itself is great - the perfect synthesis of the first two games. The stakes are crazy high, the choices carry more weight, you're forced to make the types of decisions that define this series. Without spoiling...anything really...the ending really puts a damper on things. I'll probably write more about the ending and the game in general when BioWare comes out with the new ending as DLC, because hell yes, I'm going to play through the entire series again. The game leading up to the ending is probably top 5 - the ending just sours it.

Top 50 Video Game Moments: Number 6

Great moment in Gaming Moment #7 comes to use from Mass Effect. It comes from the end of one of the best current-gen games (one of the best games of any generation, really), so you really ought to hunt it down. I've said that about all of the moments on this list (they wouldn't really be my favorite gaming moments if I didn't think the games themselves were worth a look), but seriously. If you haven't played the Mass Effect series - DO IT. Don't listen to the bitching about the final game's ending (yes. the ending as it stands is severe weaksauce. The 100+ hours leading up to it are not.)

Top 50 Video Games: Number 9

Platform: Xbox 360
Absurdly Specific Genre: Chatting, Exploring, and Romancing...also Saving the Galaxy 
Difficulty: 5
Beaten: Yes

It's a fairly common story at this point, but it holds true again. This one didn't click for me the first time I tried it. There are a variety of reasons why, the Mako (thankfully removed in later games in the series) was unwieldy and annoying, the checkpoint system was dreadful (generally due to the Mako. One of the earlier planets featured a 10-15 minute long run in the Mako, only to be ambushed by a huge force while on foot... hope you enjoyed driving around the ATV), and the inventory was beyond ridiculous. I sort of understood the hype for it, but I just couldn't agree with it.

On the one hand: epic plot, great characters, fun gameplay, on the other hand... this piece of shit

Then I saw Mass Effect 2 on sale for $15 at the local game store and picked it up on a whim. Not wanting to play through it blind, I gave the first another try. The problems were still problematic (more than once, I got killed, cursing the fact that I hadn't saved for quite a while, and the autosave wasn't generous enough to do anything but send me back to the beginning of the level), but everything else about the game started shining. First off, the storytelling is fantastic, and the characters are excellent. The choices you make have weight (this becomes doubly obvious in later games in the series, but would be true even if this were only a standalone game). Shepard (a nicely obvious name) is a great protagonist, and you're able to craft the character exactly how you imagine him to be. Overthoughtful pussy? Abrasive asshole? Something in between? - totally up to you. I admitted in my writeup of Fallout 3 that I'm a conversation junkie. This game (and indeed, this whole series) is like talking porn for me. There's always someone to chat with, with conversations that adapt depending on how you react.

Pointless, you blue whore, just pointless.

As far as the storyline goes, the whole thing feels epic, without feeling forced. Saren makes for a good antagonist, and the Reapers make for an excellent switchout, without feeling like a contrived 'man behind the man' like some Final Fantasy bosses tend to. The final fight (which I won't go into too much depth about, since it's kind of spoiler-laden) is tremendous fun, and the denouement feels less like the end of a great game, and more like the start of an truly amazing series.


Come to think of it, that's exactly what it was.

Top 50 Video Game Moments: Number 17

Today's top video game moment comes to us from Mass Effect. It's a relatively substantial spoiler, so if you haven't played through the game, you'll probably want to steer clear.

Top 50 Video Game Moments: Number 34

Today's entry comes from Mass Effect 2. If you haven't played the Mass Effect series (and the second game in particular), you are missing out. The is a bit of a list spoiler, but both games are top ten for me. You really should play these games - but you should not read this spoiler.