3B — Thursday, January 7, 2016 the b-side The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Lyrically, the track is life- affirming. For most, it was a groovy, easy beat that many matched with the windows- down, warm-summer and smooth-drinks moments of their summer. Artistically, the track is exceptionally accomplished. What is more important than the catchiness and happiness of the track are the names attached to it: “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” put Young Thug on popular radio. Jamie xx intro- duced Young Thug, one of the most important rappers of this year and, surely, the upcom- ing, to those who had not found him yet. Thug and his gloriously eccentric, outwardly clever, and quietly complex rasps were sam- pled by the American public in this 2015 summer jam. We were given something a little more strong, a little more sonically pungent, to counter the sugary overload of the summer’s pop music circus. Jamie xx set the rap weirdo free on the track, bal- ancing out his raspy words and screams with samples from The Persuasions’ 1972 single, “Good Times.” Popcaan, an up-and- coming Jamaican dancehall art- ist, added inventive twists and turns to the tracks. His added reggae undertones, pressed up against Thug’s melodic, strange screams, encourage that invol- untary head and hip sway. Jamie xx’s “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” is a smooth balance of something tangy and something sugary. It’s the second-best banger of the year, and it’s actually good. And it actually introduced new, dar- ing artists of the sometimes myo- pic music industry. It mixed the mainstream, Billboard Top 100 with that which is harder to find. Jamie xx is helping you be bet- ter. He is helping you grow. And Young Thug is helping you get better. Because “you don’t got to struggle/ baby girl sit it down….” -AMELIA ZAK 2. “Good Times” Jamie xx Ft. Young Thug Best Singles of 2015 Opening a TV season with a four-minute-long take of a wed- ding portrait session is a bold move. For any other show, start- ing with a static camera and bickering family might appear a desperate attempt to appear cinematic — clever filmmaking tricks have been enough to win movies Oscars and earn shows their fanboys for life. But Ama- zon’s “Transparent” isn’t trying to show off. That opening shot is meant to reacquaint viewers with the Pfefferman clan and remind them just how uncom- fortable it is to spend time with that family. “Kina Hora,” “Transparent” ’s second season premiere, is full of gorgeously framed shots and top-notch performances, but the episode never feels like it’s bragging. The swoops across hotel windows and claustro- phobic tight shots augment the episode’s dramatic tension. Writer-director Jill Soloway (“United States of Tara”) pulls out all the stops to portray the horror show that is Sarah (Amy Landecker, “A Serious Man”) and Tammy’s (Melora Hardin, “The Office”) wedding — and imperfect wedding portraits are only the beginning. “Kina Hora” shatters the illusion of normalcy and happiness for almost every character, sending them spin- ning on arcs that take them through to the end of the sea- son. Family dysfunction never looked so good. -CHLOE GILKE 3. (Tie) “Kina Hora” “Transparent” “Parks and Rec,” like “30 Rock” and “The Office,” sig- nified the end of an era. For seven whole seasons, we grew along with Pawnee through marriages, children and town mergers. What was most beautiful was watching Leslie Knope’s (Amy Poehler, “Saturday Night Live”) “pipeline dreams” become a tangible reality. Though we were left with a Lil’ Sebastian-shaped hole in our hearts, the series finale offered the perfect closure — even bringing back our beloved Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones, “The Office”). After the finale, we were left desperately YouTub- ing gag reels, madly scrolling through Tumblr GIFs — any- thing for a little more time with these characters. All we’d ever wanted was a happily ever after for each of them — and we got that. For so many actors — Aziz Ansari and Nick Offerman, to name a few — “Parks and Rec” was their big break; for Leslie, Pawnee was her own big break toward her presiden- tial dreams. But for both the fictional characters and their real-life actors, they will never be “too good” for Pawnee, even when they move on. -KAREN HUA 4. “One Last Ride” “Parks and Recreation” Was there a more purely joyful moment this year than when the inmates of Litchfield briefly escaped from prison and spent the day at a nearby beach? Everyone knows that it’s just a temporary excursion; soon, they’ll be rounded up and brought back. But for now, that’s okay. Even forgetting about that moment at the lake, though, “Trust No Bitch” is full of excru- ciatingly beautiful moments. Black Cindy’s (“Adrienne C. Moore, “30 Rock”) attempts to prove her Jewish beliefs turn from selfish to sincere in a stun- ning monologue about faith. Morello (Yael Stone, “Spir- ited”) weds her frequent visi- tor Vince (John Magaro, “Not Fade Away”), inspiring tears from the stoic Healy (Michael J. Harney, “Deadwood”). In a series that usually (and right- fully) lingers on the injustices of the criminal justice system, “Trust No Bitch” is the rare epi- sode that celebrates life, friend- ship and love. It’s absolutely awe-inspiring. -BEN ROSENSTOCK 5. “Trust No Bitch” “Orange is the New Black” “We’ve got to wake up at a cer- tain point and recognize what’s going on here!” In perhaps the most poeti- cally ironic statement of the year, Fox News correspondent Ger- aldo Rivera made a resounding appeal for the Black Lives Matter movement when he attempted to criticize Kendrick Lamar’s per- formance of “Alright” on the BET Awards. Forget that his idea of waking up involves completely disregarding the concerns of Black Americans and condemning rap music as the primary cause for their struggles (because it’s cer- tainly not discrimination!). Wak- ing up to Black Americans’ reality is what rap music — and Kendrick Lamar’s music especially — has always been about. Accordingly, Lamar’s sopho- more album, To Pimp a Butterfly, is a masterpiece of Black protest art. With the weight and intri- cacy that carries this album, the genius of “Alright,” one of its most straightforward and commercial tracks, could be initially missed — it doesn’t take more than a single play to understand what “n***a, we gon’ be alright” means. But this kind of blunt activism is exactly what 2015 calls for. With its clear message highlighting police bru- tality and the roiling racial ten- sions across the country, “Alright” has become a clearly articulated rallying cry for the fight. Dem- onstrations across the country have featured the infectious hook shouted alongside speeches by Al Sharpton and prayers for Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland and the scores of other Black men and women killed by police in 2015. “Alright” also happens to be a fantastically well-executed hip- hop song. The psychedelic pop energy that opens the track sus- tains itself from start to finish, propelled by Lamar’s urgent deliv- ery. It’s this energy that allows “Alright” to function both as a party-ready single and a protest- ready chant. Many have listened to this song during a pre-game or on the way to the bar, enjoying the beat but failing to listen to the lyr- ics and recognize its poignancy. The powerful music video for the song, however, makes it clear that this isn’t typical radio fod- der. Ending with a police offi- cer shooting Lamar down like a hunter takes out a waterfowl to be hanged on the wall, the message of “Alright” is by no means made quaint or complacent. Yet, even with such a heavy burden, Lamar manages to keep the positivity. It’s something that we all need to remember, whether we’re facing a mountain of racial issues or you’re just worried about that upcoming test: we gon’ be alright. -MATT GALLATIN 1. “Alright” Kendrick Lamar Is it R&B? Reggae? Meren- gue? Drake drew from innu- merable sources to synthesize “Hotline Bling,” seeming to anticipate everything con- sumers would want as their anthem. A mix of musical styles just eclectic enough to be inter- esting, but not enough to alien- ate the mainstream listener, with lyrics specific enough to be believable but general enough for everyone to get behind and with a video from Director X with the potential for infinite meme adaptations: “Hotline Bling” has exploded into omnipresence. Drake said himself he drew inspiration from the creative process of dancehall — a derivative of reggae in which one or more DJs improvise over the same recorded or live beat — and the merengue-esque rhythm (and dance moves) are impossible to ignore. Take it for what you will — as a sexist anthem of a commodity fetish, that song you hate to love, that song you love to love or all three — we all know when that hotline bling. -REGAN DETWILER 3. “Hotline Bling” Drake 5. “Hello” Adele I’ll never shut up about her eye- liner, and neither should you. And who knew sepia was still available as a filter? Was that a flip phone? Is that faux fur coat from Saks? Do they have Saks in London? These are the thoughts that cross our minds when “Hello” starts playing on the radio. All we have to do is hear those fatal opening lines in our cars, and we’re toast. Doomed. Goners. “Hello … it’s me.” (The ellipsis is essential.) This instantaneous recall — and depression — is a testament to the strength of a signature aes- thetic, of her music videos, her ballads, her voice. These ingre- dients blend into one another, creating the acrylic-nailed, cher- ub-voiced conglomeration that can only inhibit one name: Adele. Let us not forget that Adele released this monumental tune a mere three months ago, in October. It quickly broke many records, achieving over a mil- lion digital sales and 4.79 million online streams in a week. Its video surpassed Miley Cyrus’ “Wreck- ing Ball” in acquiring around 27.7 million views on YouTube within a 24-hour span. What more is there to say? After a painfully One of the many excellent aspects of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” spinoff, “Better Call Saul,” is its winning performances. While Bob Odenkirk (“W/ Bob and David”) continues to make Saul Goodman the most charismatic crooked lawyer of Albuquerque, it’s Jonathan Banks’s (“Commu- nity”) acting as the hapless Mike Ehrmantraut that made “Better Call Saul” such a standout this past TV season. In the show’s sixth episode, “Five-O,” the non- linear plot delves into Mike’s backstory as a Philadelphia cop and the mystery behind his son’s untimely murder. Though Oden- kirk showed both comedic and dramatic depth as Saul, viewers got to see some raw emotion from the usually expressionless Mike. As both Saul and Mike grapple with morally ambiguous deci- sions, “Five-O” plays out like some of “Breaking Bad” ‘s best episodes; it’s heartbreaking, thrilling and devastating to watch, making for powerful television. -SAM ROSENBERG 2. “Five-O” “Better Call Saul” What happens when a self- actualizing housewife, her stressed out husband and a misogynistic criminal are con- fined inside a small cabin? The result is “Fargo” ’s eighth epi- sode, “Loplop.” Fleeing from both sides of the law, Ed and Peggy Blumquist (Jesse Plemons, “Breaking Bad” and Kirsten Dunst, “Spider-Man”) hold one pursuer, Dodd Gerhardt (Jeffrey Donovan, “Burn Notice”), hos- tage in a desperate bid to save their skins. A near-perfect dis- play of dark humor unfolds as Ed realizes how in over his head he is and Peggy slowly loses her grip on reality to the detriment of Dodd. Between stabbings, failed extortion and cheesy Ronald Reagan movies, cabin fever sets in as everyone starts to go crazy. As the couple bumbles through their kidnapping, the terrify- ing Gerhardt enforcer Hanzee Dent (Zahn McClarnon, “Long- mire”) circles closer and closer on their location, leaving a trail of violence in his wake. Stoically intimidating, Hanzee injects pure tension into every scene he inhabits. The show slowly brings his suffering to light as he lashes out against ignorant degradation. A large part of “Fargo” ’s suc- cess comes from its ability to make viewers laugh through their gasps of horror. “Loplop” exemplifies this tendency, setting itself apart in a season full of stel- lar episodes. -MATT BARNAUSKAS 1. “Loplop” “Fargo” Best TV Episodes of 2015 3. (Tie) “Hardhome” “Game of Thrones” Season five of “Game of Thrones” had its ups and downs. On the one hand, it failed to grow interest in major plotlines (*cough* Dorne *cough*) and completely ruined the character arc for the once strong Sansa Stark. How- ever, there were some moments where the show reminded me why I loved it, and the biggest example was “Hardhome,” an episode of television that made every battle that came before it in the series look cheap. In the hour, Jon Snow (Kit Haring- ton, “Pompeii”) leads a group of the Night’s Watch to a town of Wildlings to save them from the incoming White Walkers. What they, and us as view- ers, were not expecting was a full-fledged battle between the parties. The episode’s visuals could compete with any from cinema, with broad landscape shots and brutal but beauti- ful violence. One of the last shots of the episode, where the lead Walker raises his arms to bring the battle’s dead back to life, still sends shivers down my spine when I think of it. It established the White Walkers as a real threat, forever chang- ing the course of one of televi- sion’s most important series. There was nothing on TV in 2015 that matched the scale and size of “Hardhome,” and there will likely be nothing that comes close, at least until the next season of “Thrones.” -ALEX INTNER 4. “Let It Happen” Tame Impala One of the most sacred respon- sibilities in friend groups is bestowed upon he who manages the aux cord. In a room or car full of people with eclectic tastes in music, it’s crucial to select some- thing that everyone can vibe to. There’s always the classic rock enthusiast, the hip-hop head, the “whatever is on the radio” type, and the aux cord DJ has to manage all of these personalities by play- ing something universally agreed upon as “dope.” “Let It Happen” is just that: a certified aux cord crowd-pleaser. Despite clocking in at damn near eight minutes, no one ever seems to notice its ridiculous length. The only moment that might cause some head-scratching is about halfway through, when Kevin lengthy hiatus, people wanted Adele back. And she came to us, finally, in 2015. The thing is, though, it’s not the videos, the glitz or the glam that cemented her place on our list. All of that helps the situation, yes, but Adele’s funda- mental magnetism is her voice. Equally smoky as it is powerful, that London-laced instrument has spawned some of the best ballads of the decade. Drake couldn’t have sung the sump- tuously devastating “Some- one Like You.” Selena Gomez wouldn’t be able to carry “Chas- ing Pavements” past the first verse, not in a hundred years. Can Ellie Goulding’s pint-sized pipes handle “Rolling in the Deep”? Ahem. Alas, no one could’ve said “Hello” to us as melodiously as our most favorite Brit, prob- ably the finest talent to cross the pond since Winehouse. Adele is able to twist a phrase, a banal word, into a mellifluous plea that somehow taps at that little empty space in our hearts, put there in the first place by some awful ex-boyfriend, girlfriend, lover, life. And in doing so she reassures us we’re not alone out there, in the sepia-toned day- light. She’s here for us. “Hello,” she says, unapologet- ically. “It’s me.” And I can’t stop staring at her eyeliner. -MELINA GLUSAC DON’T LIKE OUR LISTS? NOT ENOUGH DRAKE? WRITE YOUR OWN! Email arts@michigandaily.com for information on applying Parker seems to mash his fist on a particular excerpt that loops just long enough for everyone to notice. But then there’s “the drop.” Across all genres and personalities, every- one loves a good drop, and this one more than delivers. At this point in the song the vocals return for a now-familiar melody, but this time soaked in a Daft Punk-esque vocoder that makes it pleasantly indecipherable (word to Young Thug). Countless synths layer on top of one another to build a tastefully pop, angelic banger. The title alone suggests some sort of divine advice you already know but need to hear from someone else. Parker almost commands you towards the end of the track with “Try to get through it / Try to push through it / Take the next ticket / Take the next train.” Does the power of Tame Impala compel you to fight the current, as the vortex-shedding album cover suggests? Or perhaps just let it happen and see where the tide takes you? Or maybe you should focus on what you’re play- ing after this? I don’t know, man. Your call. -SHAYAN SHAFII