The year is ending! Time to make lists of my favorite things! Let's start with music!

I was going to list my favorite albums, then I decided I’d rather just name my favorite songs, but that ignores albums entirely. Which sucks, but, for me, there weren’t really any complete albums that stuck with me this year, that I listen to all the way through multiple times. Which sucks, really. Anyways, these are in no particular order:

Daikaiju - Spiral Serpent Strike (from Monsters of Surf)
 
A previously unreleased Daikaiju song that dominates an already killer surf rock compilation. Tokusatsu fight music. I saw them play twice this year and was thrilled that it was their opener. Maybe the most visceral song they've done, too. 

Kid Cudi - Too Bad I Have to Destroy You Now (from Kid Cudi Presents Satellite Flight: The Journey To Mother Moon)
 
This whole album impressed me, but this is by far the best track. Best song title of the year too. "All hail king wizard in the motherfucking house" is such a great line. 

Against Me! - Unconditional Love (from Transgender Dysphoria Blues)
 
I dare you to try NOT to sing along to this song. It's pretty much impossible. A perfect punk anthem. 

La Roux - Let Me Down Gently (from Trouble in Paradise) 
 
Probably the best pop song I've heard in a long time, though it feels like they weren't really sure how to end it. Shame the rest of the album doesn't live up to this. 

Run the Jewels featuring Zack de la Rocha - Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck) (from Run the Jewels 2)
 
Killer Mike and El-P prove that last year's Run the Jewels, a favorite of mine, wasn't just a one-off fluke with their second album, but I think this track burns the hottest. Then Zach de la Rocha shows up and things EXPLODE.  

Perturbator - Humans Are Such Easy Prey (from Dangerous Days)
 
That dialogue sample from the Terminator at the beginning sets the track up perfectly. This is what you want to hear if you're taking on an unstoppable machine that's obsessed with your destruction. The whole album is like the unearthed soundtrack to a lost 80's cyberpunk horror film, highly recommended.

Creep Highway - What (from Creep Highway)

One of the freakiest talents in comics right now, Michael DeForge, formed a two-piece noisepunk band with fellow illustrator Patrick Kyle and the result is a glorious mess. It sounds like they just kicked their instruments down a staircase and recorded the result. I love it.

Taylor Swift - Blank Space (from 1989)
 
Yeah, no, I didn't really see this coming either. After being let down by La Roux's Trouble in Paradise, I really wanted a good pop album to sink my teeth into, and then, a week after finally hearing Shake it Off and getting into it, this music video dropped, directed by the brilliant madman Joseph Kahn, and I was hooked. Also, thanks to this video, I want to see Swift play an axe murderer in a revenge film sometime. 1989 may also be one of my favorite albums of the year, don't hate.

Empires – Honeyblood (from Orphan)
 
Empires is my girlfriend's favorite band, and it took some time for me to get into them, even after taking her to see them play and enjoying the show they put on. I'm a little bummed that nothing on their new album hits as hard as some of my favorite tracks on Garage Hymns, but, like the band itself, it's all grown on me over time. I really love the guitars on this one.

John Carpenter - Vortex (from Lost Themes)
 
JOHN CARPENTER HAS AN ALBUM OF NEW MUSIC COMING OUT NEXT YEAR, HOLY CRAP. This is the first and only track they've released off of it so far, and man. Man oh man. I've been listening to stuff like Perturbator up above, Carpenter Brut, lots of synth artists who are heavily influenced by Carpenter's soundtrack work, and for him to just come out of nowhere with this? It's the return of a master. It gives me chills. I can't wait for February when the album drops.

Oh, here, have some honorable mentions:

Tycho – Awake (from Awake)

Useless Eaters - Dungeon (from Bleeding Moon)

Death From Above 1979 - Right On, Frankenstein! (from the Physical World)