20. "Kim and Jessie" by M83 (2008)

Lush, wide-screen musical cinema, "Kim and Jessie" reverberates listen after listen. A gorgeously rendered pop song, its creation is only possible from the imaginative resonance of Anthony Gonzalez, who understands the textural possibilities of live musicianship and computer generation. The guitars throb alongside synthesizers (see a great live version here) while the song's starry-eyed tale of teenage angst turns somewhat foreboding: "somebody lurks in the shadow / somebody whispers."

One of this decade's prime musical motifs was a renewed interest in so-called 80's retro, sometimes painfully so. But this song may be the look-back's crowning achievement. Given the recent passing of John Hughes, a muse of sorts for M83, one would like to think "Kim and Jessie" could have been his final movie's central montage.


Why listen? A lesson in the musical possibilities of electronica. What the artist can conceive, the musician/programmer can achieve. M83's "Kim and Jessie" is a flawless example of synth-shoegaze bliss.

Something else? "Run Into Flowers," "Don't Save Us From The Flames," "Graveyard Girl," "We Own the Sky," and "Coleurs."