Lake Street Dive, Thao, brakence and more new favorites

We update our running list of the year’s best songs with reflections on shedding the past, moving on and the joy of simple pleasures.  This includes the emo-coded pop of oso oso, Lake Street Dive’s list of hopeful what-aboutisms, the twitchy, genre-hopping sound of brakence, pipe organ drones from Kali Malone and more.

NPR Music editor and writer Sheldon Pearce joins host Robin Hilton.

Tell us what you think with a review on Apple or Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts.

Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org

Featured artists and songs:

(00:00) Intro

(01:56) Thao: “Fossils”

(09:40) Helena Deland: “Tip Of My Tongue”

(16:58) Oso Oso: “someone like that”

(24:38) brakence: “death rolL”

(32:33) Lake Street Dive: “What About Flamingos?”

(42:46) Kali Malone: “Map The Path”