Everyone always raves and roars about their albums of the year (settle the fuck down, that's tomorrow), but personally, I'm always one to get lost in songs. There's something so elegantly beautiful about the handful of minutes that bring together such a beautiful array of noises into one cohesive, elegant masterpiece. 2016 had some incredible tracks like Childish Gambino's sultry R&B track, Redbone, Tax the Heat's driving riff-fest, Fed to the Lions, or White Denim's frantic-funky guitar masterpiece, Ha ha ha ha (yeah). But they were all my runners up.
This year my song of the year found a way to blend so many genres, so many instruments, so many sounds, and so many emotions into a simple, driving 2-beat that still completely owns your ears. I'm talking about Fantastic Negrito and his soulful ripper, Lost in a Crowd. Opening with some simple humming that give way (after a totally necessary piano slide) to a basic but aggressive stomping beat. This song is unquestionably led by the vocals and drums, however, during the verses, one can almost picture the pianist, guitarist, and bassist elbowing each other in the face to vie for more play time as their instruments battle back and forth. It's aggressive, it's subtle and kind, it's soulful, it's powerful, and it's weak - it's what an incredible song should be.
-Grab hold of the circle and ride it round and round to the end
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