The Top 40 Songs of 2014
Shamir – “I Know it’s a Good Thing”
The Juan MacLean – “A Simple Design”
Caribou – “Can’t Do Without You”
This year, Shamir Bailey received a bejeweled sash declaring him “The Coolest Teen in Las Vegas.” (We haven’t fact-checked this but c’mon, probably.) With hotel/casino sized charisma and a clear, androgynous voice that made him seem less like a gracious kid and more like a perfect pop construct, Shamir spent the year hopscotching across dance pop genres, unable to land a wrong foot. His mix of influences resembled those that made DFA Records the coolest thing happening in the early 00s, and while we’re at it, that made Ze Records the coolest thing happening in the early 80s.
Just because each generation discovers the good stuff for themselves doesn’t mean that the last one ever stopped refining. The Juan Maclean, whose NYC roots go back over a decade, recorded their best work this year. “A Simple Design”, is a clean-lined pop song about the messy realities of adult compromise, about letting preconceived ideas about your life’s path just fucking go, already. This sort of thoughtful, grown-up dance music seems suddenly thick on the ground. Take “Can’t Do Without You”, a deeply soulful work of psychedelic disco by late-career dancefloor evangelist Caribou, which votes in favor of going to the club with your spouse and then also heading back home with them later.
