“Night Shift” is a song by American indie rock musician Lucy Dacus. It was released as the lead single from her album Historian in December 2017. Dacus described the song as, “The only breakup song I’ve ever written.” It was inspired by her relationship with her former bassist, with whom she broke up after finishing the tour for her previous album No Burden. “Night Shift” was released to critical acclaim. Julien Luebbers of The Spokesman Review wrote that the song was “a vibrant example of linear construction, the song building from soft guitar and vocals to headbanging passion and some seriously impressive singing,” In 2019, NPR Music listeners picked “Night Shift” as one of the top 25 songs of the decade.
“Levels” is a progressive house song by Swedish DJ Avicii that was released in October 2011 through Universal Music Group on iTunes. “Levels” topped the Swedish Singles Chart. Outside Sweden, “Levels” topped the charts in Norway and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and received a platinum certification eight times in Sweden, twice in the United Kingdom, and once in the United States. The music video was directed by Petro Papahadjopoulos, who came up with the concept after a phone interview with Avicii about the supposed “symbolism” behind “Levels.” The video is about a businessman who starts dancing in his office in front of his co-workers and boss before being stunned by an officer and sent to the hospital. All the hospital workers slowly start dancing against their own free will after two of them touch a flower sprouted out of the businessman’s mouth.
“Archie, Marry Me” is a song by Canadian indie pop band Alvvays. It was released in April 2013, as the lead single from the band’s debut album (2014). “Archie, Marry Me” examines modern romance and traditional marriage, and touches on themes of commitment and financial stability. It was written by vocalist and guitarist Molly Rankin with guitarist Alec O’Hanley as a critique of the standard societal expectation that one is to marry upon entering adulthood. The song’s lo-fi music video, filmed on a Super 8 camera, pictures Rankin at a wedding reception and sailing on the sea. Though it did not chart, “Archie” was considered the band’s breakthrough hit; it grew in popularity in the mid-2010s on streaming services. Critical reviews of the track were very positive, praising its bittersweet tone and lyrical content. It was ranked on several best-of lists in 2014, and has been called a “indie-pop classic.”
‘My Queen Is Harriet Tubman’ is a track from the Sons of Kemet’s album ‘Your Queen Is A Reptile’. The album is a sacred totem for black female icons. The track ‘My Queen Is Harriet Tubman’ is dedicated to the American abolitionist and political activist who was born into slavery. After her escape, though, she was able to help many other enslaved persons to regain their freedom as well, including members of her family and friends. It is an incendiary blast of high-energy Caribbean soca rhythms and skronking jazz uplift. Skinner and Hick provide the roiling backbeat as Hutchings’ saxophone moves in tandem with Cross, trading short lines. But as the doubletime beat continues to push, Hutchings weaves between the drums and tuba and then steps a little higher, his horn roving around the raucous rhythms. At the track’s thrilling climax, Sons of Kemet make clear a continuum wherein the century-old jazz tradition, soca, and grime can all shout together.
“Crystalline” is a song by Icelandic artist Bjork, released as the lead single from her eighth album Biophilia. The song was released as a single in June 2011 accompanied by an iPad app developed exclusively for the song. It was afterward released as part of The Crystalline Series alongside the second single from the album, “Cosmogony”. “Crystalline” is a mostly electronic song, featuring a continuous ‘gameleste’ base and electronic beats and rhythm. After the bridge, the song features a gameleste solo, and consequently ends with a breakcore section which uses the Amen break. A review in The Guardian described the piece as a hybrid of the musical styles of her previous albums Post and Vespertine with undercurrent percussive elements from her album Homogenic. It was a minor hit in Iceland and Italy.
