#16 - Yung Lean ft. FKA twigs - "Bliss"

It was such a surprising release—both the FKA twigs linkup and the post-punk turn—that worked shockingly well. Twigs’ acrobatic melodies are the perfect counterpoint to Lean’s sedate mumbles, and his jumpy flow and tactile images (“We got each other like bones and blood… like brothers in mud”) come alive across the keys spinning like bicycle wheels. After he raps steadily for a verse, it’s a thrill to hear Twigs fly in and start somersaulting over the instrumental. The main refrain was sampled from the Soviet new wave group Alyans’ “At Dawn,” which was released in 1987, and you can kind of tell—”Bliss” feels outside-time, like it could’ve been produced in any decade of the last four.

Like Twigs, I too “only wanna feel the bliss on bliss”—luckily this song provides some.

The list:

#25 - Destroy Lonely - “NOSTYLIST”

#24 - elusin - “Elksling”

#23 - skaiwater - “#miles”

#22 - Wednesday - “Bull Believer”

#21 - islurwhenitalk - “pink neon lights”

#20 - Two Shell - “home” & “Memory” (tie)

#19 - Luci4 - “ON GANG”

#18 - Harto Falión - “{*______*}” (prod. evilgiane, whitearmor, Gud)

#17 - lecie - “ex post facto”