Vashti Bunyan’s third album, “Heartleap,” is purportedly her last, but it seems like she’s just settling in. The British folk singer’s canon consists of the 1970s cult classic “Just Another Diamond Day” and a 2005 comeback “Lookaftering,” released as the 2000s freak folk movement catapulted the formerly obscure Bunyan to new fame as one of its patron saints. She’s done a few collaborations as well, including an excellent duet with Vetiver on Kathy Heideman’s “Sleep A Million Years” and an even better EP, “Prospect Hummer,” with Animal Collective. But even there, her presence felt less like a celebrity guest-spot and more like a Loch Ness Monster sighting.

“Heartleap” is the first album of Bunyan’s career that doesn’t feel like a milestone, the first one that can be described as “the new Vashti Bunyan album” with little to no hyperbole. As such, it’s her most easygoing, immediate and low-stakes record. The songs here aren’t particularly “deep,” and the lyrics don’t matter as much as the way they’re sung. Bunyan’s voice is a beautiful thing, crystalline and pure but possessing a well-worn edge belying her 69 years on Earth. The arrangements are minimal yet evocative, centered around piano, acoustic guitar and bells.

“Heartleap” is unlikely to change your life, but it’s a testament to music’s ability to conjure a space for the listener to step into. Put it on over room-sized speakers and try to deny its power as the room turns into fairyland. Of all of Bunyan’s records, “Heartleap” feels the least stuck in time. “Diamond Day” wore its Joni Mitchell influence on its sleeve, while the hippie-isms of “Lookaftering” seemed anachronistic even in a musical landscape that celebrated even the most daft flower-child gibberish. “Heartleap” seems to come from another world entirely.

Perhaps Bunyan’s involvement in two major periods of folk music’s history contributes to the timelessness of “Heartleap,” but the tunes here sound like they could have come from any time in the last four decades. This may have to do with how idiosyncratic Bunyan’s approach is in the world of folk music. “Folk” (a label which Bunyan tellingly rejects) implies music focused on lyrics, prioritizing first-person perspective over dainty things like arrangement and texture. Bunyan’s music, by contrast, seems most suited for casual, lazy-day listening. “Heartleap” is best approached as an acoustic ambient album with vocals; and from this angle, it succeeds unequivocally.

If “Heartleap” truly is Bunyan’s final statement, it breaks from the conventions of the “last album” in every way possible. If Bunyan had sought to create anything more ambitious and potentially game-changing, she probably would have released it by now. Rather, she’s left us with something just as good, if not better: an immensely likable and listenable record for future generations to enjoy and remember her by.

Follow Daniel Bromfield on Twitter @bromf3

The Boreal may be Eugene’s number one spot for all-ages shows featuring local bands right now, but as of late, they’ve set their sights on more ambitious prospects. On Nov. 10, the Whiteaker venue will host United Nations, a post-hardcore supergroup featuring members of esteemed bands such as Thursday and Converge.  It’s United Nations’ only all-ages show between Seattle and the Bay Area; according to Boreal volunteer Alex Acuna, “People are driving from Boise to this thing.” It’s sure to be packed, so best get there a bit early if you want to see some of the most legendary musicians in the post-hardcore genre play together.

Non-screamo fans, local music supporters and those without the $12 needed for the United Nations door need not worry. Leading up to the United Nations show is an impressive run of concerts featuring both touring and local bands, many of them very aggressive. Here are a few of them with everything you need to know, if you’re looking for a local show in the coming two weeks:

11/1: Valley Maker, Woke Up New, Bending ($5 adv, $7 day of show). Valley Maker has never toured south of Portland, so the Boreal will serve as the inaugural venue for the Seattle emo-folk band. Opening the show are Woke Up New and Bending, both similarly morose acoustic acts. (The latter is formerly known as Plath, which should give you a pretty good idea.) If you’ve had a disappointing Halloween, this show should be a good place to get covertly drunk and reflect.

11/5: Greg Gorlen, Don Haugen, JUICE MACHINE & Andrew Quitter, Nick Hoffman, Fashion Beards, Entrail. This lineup focuses primarily on noise and avant-garde music, featuring a headlining set from San Francisco-based tape-loop prankster Greg Gorlen. Don Haugen makes “metal machine music” (you can probably guess), while Eugene experimental scene majordomo Andrew Quitter plays tough, texturally-focused drone music. Nick Hoffman and Fashion Beards play abstract electronic noise and Entrail plays apocalyptic folk. Bring earplugs and an open mind.

11/9: Unrestrained, Losing Skin, Funeral, Chaos Order. If you’ve got earplugs and an open mind but are also super down to move around, the venue will be throbbing with hardcore music on this night. The headliner is Portland’s Unrestrained. Metalcore band Funeral will be releasing an EP entitled Human Ruin at this show. Spokane’s prolific Losing Skin also plays, as does Chaos Order all the way from Nashville, Tennessee.

It’s rainy season and if you find yourself standing outside in a torrential downpour, that’s because October is one of Eugene’s rainier months of the year. Well, it’s one of the nine. Here’s a soundtrack for those long strolls in the rain:

Julianna Barwick – “Pyrrhic.” Most of Barwick’s music conjures daytime fairyland imagery, but her recent album Nepenthe‘s element is rain.  I advise listening to this song around 1:30 a.m. while twirling around in the field of grass near the reservoir on 26th and Lawrence while it’s lightly raining.

Marianne Faithfull – “Penthouse Serenade.” This is one of the more lighthearted cuts from Faithfull’s gorgeous yet unrelentingly melancholy 1987 album Strange Weather. Listen from an empty room in the top of PLC during a rainstorm for best experience.

Bvdub & Loscil – “Aether.“ This cut from Brock Van Wey and Scott Morgan’s dub-techno epic Erebus at first seems to spray the listener like a gentle dust of rain. But then shelf clouds begin brewing; divine voices swell from the heavens and you’re caught in a Biblical-scale storm.

Donato Dozzy – “Vaporware 1.” Italian producer Donato Dozzy makes deeply organic-sounding electronic music that contrasts shimmering instrumental leads with wet, squelchy backdrops. “Vaporware 1″ is the musical equivalent of that shine the streets get at night after the rain.

Philip Jeck – “Wholesome.” Decades before chillwave and vaporwave, Philip Jeck pioneered the use of warped samples to evoke a certain nostalgic loneliness. Detached and muffled yet oddly joyful, “Wholesome” evokes obscure memories of rain-swept places.

Vladislav Delay – “Kohde.” I’ve included Vladislav Delay on a few of my lists for no less a reason than that he’s my favorite ambient artist (tied with Gas, whose Pop is one of my favorite rain albums but is unavailable on Spotify). “Kohde” exemplifies the wet and windy soundscapes he’s known for.

Destroyer – “Bay Of Pigs.” Dan Bejar is a Vancouver native and Cascadian weather runs in his blood.  Rain is a frequent image in his lyrics, but his foggy, atmospheric arrangements evoke that form of precipitation on their own.

Bill Orcutt – “Heaven Is Closed To Me Now.” Former punk noisemaker Bill Orcutt now crafts solo guitar epics with an intriguingly primal quality. His 2011 album How The Thing Sings is proof you don’t need samples, synths, or even bands to make evocative and engaging music.

Vangelis – “Blade Runner Blues.” While Eugene certainly isn’t 2019 Los Angeles, the weather’s pretty similar. Vangelis’s eerie synths seem to cut through layers of storm clouds, making them a perfect accompaniment to Ridley Scott’s rain-soaked film and pretty much any other rainy environment.

(Not on Spotify) Tink – “When It Rains.”  Chicago rapper Tink’s Winter’s Diary 2 is one of my favorite hip-hop releases of the year so far, in no small part due to this song.  Though it’s firmly rooted in contemporary musical traditions, it feels timeless due to its romantic exploration of a universal yet highly specific theme – in this case, sex in the rain.

Follow Daniel Bromfield on Twitter @bromf3

The University of Oregon’s ban on amplified music before 6 p.m. sheared four hours, three bands and a cake catapult contest off the UO Campus Oktoberfest’s docket. But this didn’t stop a small throng of revelers to journey out to the South Lawn on a foggy night to enjoy the festival’s selection of DJs, all of them local and many of them UO students.

The first two acts, Chris Long and KittyTrap, devoted half their sets to trap and the other half to Disclosure-indebted deep house. While Long seemed to mostly throw in trap as an afterthought after starting with engaging 125-BPM material, KittyTrap was equally serious about both. Its trap beats were often astoundingly creative, and while its house remixes didn’t always work (A$AP Ferg’s “Shabba” with the cantina music from Star Wars?) they nonetheless approached them with an admirable enthusiasm.

This cast an interesting light on the state of EDM. Dubstep was out of the picture, trap was a familiar guest, and deep house was a dark horse on the rise. Later, Sokko & Lyons brought our omnipresent friend electro house to the party. I haven’t been to any EDM events since last year, and it was interesting to see how the dance music landscape had changed over the summer.

The only DJ to break from the EDM zeitgeist was Ricardo Acosta, whose meditative, slow-burning techno culled the crowd to a small but fervent group of followers and at least one angry partier clamoring for a bass drop. Those who remained seem to deeply vibe with Acosta’s music, and at least one partier took advantage of the spaces between crowd members to swing a pair of poi.

His set may have gone better if it had been scheduled either earlier or later — he was originally scheduled to perform immediately before Sokko & Lyons. Perhaps the lead Cal was making on the Ducks at that point in the night’s game, which was screened onstage next to the performers, also soured some attitudes. I applaud Acosta for staying true to his admittedly formidable style; however, he deserves a larger and more devoted audience.

The event never grew huge, but there was a certain intimacy to seeing these acts on a crisp fall night in an obscure corner of campus.  The music had more space to fill, as did the dancers, and it was easier for crowdgoers to move from booth to booth.  I had a good time, but those disappointed by the lack of bands and bass drops need not worry: the team behind UO Campus Oktoberfest are currently planning the next installment of Campus Block Party, and I suspect it’s going to be a rager.

Last year’s Campus Block Party was a resounding hit, an all-day showcase for Eugene music and art that a few too-rowdy revelers couldn’t upset. Now, the team that got that festival off the ground is back with a new event: the UO Campus Oktoberfest, an homage to the Bavarian fall festival featuring DJs, bands, comedy, German food, prizes, a cupcake catapult contest (exactly what it sounds like) and a live showing of the Oregon game against the California Golden Bears.

Ethos Magazine is the main host of the festivities, along with Duck TV and UO sports blog Pit Crew. The team is heavy on Block Party alumni, including president and PR director Lindsey Simmons and fundraiser-booker Daniel Kantor.

They’ve got a wide array of sponsors on their side from Caspian to Off The Waffle to Growler U – the latter two of which will be raffling off coupons. The team aims to improve on Block Party as much as possible, hoping to retain its carefree vibe while maintaining a more organized schedule.

The event will be starting at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24 on the South Lawn behind the Knight Library, a relatively secluded part of campus that Simmons hopes will give a more relaxed air to the event. “I wanted it to be somewhere where a typical student wouldn’t feel like they were at school,” Simmons said. “Everyone knows that area, but they might not spend a lot of time there, so I feel like it would be more relaxed than if we had it right in the middle of campus.”

The event’s campus location and target demographic of UO students means no alcohol will be served during the event. But no Oktoberfest is complete without beer, so Ethos will host a 21+ after-party at Taylor’s from midnight to 2 a.m., featuring half-off appetizers and a selection of German beers that might actually be served at a traditional Oktoberfest.

Independent booking agent Daniel Kantor is in charge of booking; he was one of the original Block Party organizers. He’s put together a selection of three Eugene bands (Tyranno Tut, Pluto the Planet, and The Great Hiatum) and four DJs (Kittytrap, Good Vibes, Ricardo Acosta, and Sokko & Lyons). Two representatives from Eugene’s Stand-Up Society will also perform comedy sets. Kantor isn’t certain who yet, as the Stand-Up Society chooses their envoys.

While the DJs mostly cater to popular EDM and house music styles, Kantor made an unusual decision in booking Ricardo Acosta, a Mexican-born DJ who works in the relatively underground genre of minimal techno. Yet, both Kantor and Acosta are confident he will be a hit with the crowd.

“It’s not your typical day-glo Life In Color Steve Aoki sort of thing,” Kantor said. “But I trust he’s gonna know what to do.”

“Whenever I play at parties in Eugene people really enjoy it,” Acosta said. “There needs to be a way for people to be introduced to just how big the cave of electronic music is. I feel like people are right at the door, but it goes so much deeper, and I feel like people are going to open up – just give it time.”

It’s been Harpo’s Blue Note, the Butte Tavern, Rascal’s and a warehouse for Gibson Steel. But thanks to the efforts of a team of three musicians and music promoters from around Eugene, the lonely, old warehouse that sits at 211 Washington will return to its rock club roots as Old Nick’s, Eugene’s newest music venue.

Emily Nyman, Tim Kinney and Jevon Peck envision the 150-capacity space as a stepping stone between bars and larger venues like W.O.W. Hall. In addition to performances, Nick’s will feature food (courtesy of Peck), a skateboard check (like a coat check) to attract patrons from WJ Skatepark, and even a live video feed of the bike racks to ensure patrons can enjoy their experience with no fear of bike bandits.

The trio has been discussing starting a music venue ever since they met at Tiny Tavern, where Nyman had organized a concert and Kinney and Peck were working. Though their dream is rapidly coming a reality, they’ve had their fair share of setbacks. Originally slated to open this month, the club is now tentatively scheduled for a December opening.

“With construction you have to go through a lot of processes, and there’s inspections and permits on top of those, so it always takes a lot longer than you think,” said Kinney.

If the venue’s location is any indication, it should pay off. Old Nick’s is located between downtown and the Whiteaker, very close to the WJ Skatepark and the all-ages venue, The Boreal. They hope to attract spillover from all four of these places, and they also hope to correspond with the Boreal to prevent any competition. As Nick’s will be 21-and-up, the owners hope bands can play all-ages sets at the Boreal and then cross over to Nick’s for a boozier bill.

The trio sees Nick’s as a more music-oriented alternative to the bars that dominate the live circuit in Eugene.

“A lot of bars are very choosey about what they play,” Nyman said. “Some of the more aggressive genres of music tend to drive people out of the bars.”

“There are bars that have music,” said Peck. “We’re an entertainment venue that happens to have a bar.”

Peck sees the lack of such venues as the main issue with the Eugene music scene. He cites the recent closure of John Henry’s and the Lazarus Pit, both respected Eugene rock venues, as a major motivator for starting Old Nick’s.

“This is a city of artists without enough places to play,” Peck says. “That’s silly. There’s a built-in market.”

Local artists are likewise looking forward to the opening of the venue–not only as a place to play, but as a place that could attract major touring names.

“I think it will be an integral part of the scene,” said Abram Hurd of Eugene metal band Rye Wolves. “We need places for bands from around the world to come to play. I’m really excited for it. People can take Eugene a little more seriously when they come through here.”

Every year, thousands of fresh faces arrive in Eugene to enroll at the University of Oregon. A few bring guitars, meet new people and score gigs and  just like that, new Eugene bands are formed.  Though Eugene may not have produced as many world-beating acts as, say, Athens, Georgia – home of R.E.M., the B-52s, Neutral Milk Hotel, and the University of Georgia – the University of Oregon still forms a small but integral part of Eugene’s larger music scene.

While a large portion of these groups solely gig during the school year and cease to become a thing during the summer, a few student bands remain active all year. Either by luck or choice, these bands are able to continue securing gigs in Eugene and fans outside of their age groups and honing their live performances in preparation for the return of their fellow students.

Eugene bands who remain in town during the summer can attest to how the scene radically changes while school is out.

“It’s weird because no one’s your age,” Elliott Fromm of Eugene band Pluto the Planet said.  “There’s no students, so it’s mostly older Eugene people.”

Pluto the Planet is an indie-pop band comprised of two UO students, Elliott Fromm and Cameron Lister, in addition to former UO student Dylan Campbell. All are multi-instrumentalists and all are native Eugenites who are sharing a house not far from campus.

Being able to remain in Eugene over the summer has proven advantageous for the group’s ability to secure gigs. Touring bands frequently recruit them as an opener, they’ve made friends and gigged with a few Eugene bands also active over the summer including The Shifts and Soul Vibrator.

Pluto the Planet doesn’t consider itself a “campus band” per se. Though they’ve played campus events, they prefer bars and house shows.

“We’ve had mixed luck with the university,” Fromm said. “The Willamette Valley Music Festival was awesome, we were treated great. But we’ve played for six people in the EMU before.”

If they so desire, Pluto the Planet could have a long and leisurely life on the Eugene music scene. Yet this band has different plans—they’re moving to L.A. after Fromm and Lister graduate.

“Just about everyone we know says people would dig our shit in L.A,” said Fromm. “It’d be a totally different environment for all of us. I think it would be good for us.”

Before I left the interview, Pluto the Planet played one of its newer songs. It starts as Afropop-inspired indie rock before a swell of synthesized organs invades; I am reminded first of Local Natives, then of The Beach Boys’ Love You. Sadly for the Eugene scene, Fromm is right; L.A. would dig its sound.

* * *

Pluto the Planet is tight enough that the loss of one of its members would most likely break them up. But Tyranno Tut and the Great Hiatum use another strategy to keep the band stable throughout the turbulent year: they keep its lineups fluid.

Tyranno Tut is a trio of L.A. natives currently residing in Eugene for studies. Yet they have played with or without additional band members on numerous occasions–either due to conflicts or simply to give the band a different flavor.

“There are some shows where we’ll want to do something different, and sometimes we’ll have even different members,” said vocalist-bassist Nick Steiner. “But 90 percent of the show(s) are the three of us.”

The Great Hiatum is another band that employs this strategy. The dance-rock ensemble has members hailing from all over the West Coast, and as such, its frequently-shifting lineup should keep the band active and adaptable.

“Band members have moved away and we’ve decided to find someone new and keep going,” Melissa Randel said, the band’s singer and keyboardist. “Every time someone leaves we ask ‘are you really invested? Do you want to keep making music with us?’ and everyone is always really excited to keep going.”

The core of the band – Randel and bassist Max Miller – has remained constant since the band’s inception. Yet there has been a substantial turnaround in their lineup over the years as members graduate or leave town. Some of its founding members are no longer involved in the band. Now grad students, Randel and Miller continue to keep the group going, and they’re even working on their second album.

Though the band is content to remain in Eugene for now, its plans after graduation are as yet unclear. While a few of the members hail from Oregon, Randel and her guitarist brother Keith are native Californians—so remaining in Eugene is only one of many possibilities.

“We might move to Portland, we’ll have to see,” Randel said. “If we make it big enough I’ll take time off for touring.”

This is not uncommon among student bands. With students’ lives so strongly entangled in the university’s schedule, it can be hard to predict what can happen post-graduation.

Many bands on the Eugene scene relocate once school is out, while others go on hiatus or disappear entirely. This year saw the departure of Blind The Thief, The Zendeavors, Dirty Man & The Chiefs—all major presences on the Eugene bar and house show scenes last year, and all consisting of at least some graduating seniors. While the former is currently on hiatus, the latter two have moved to Portland and are still active for the time being.

“It’s like a college football team,” Daniel Kantor said, an independent booking agent who worked with all three aforementioned bands during their tenures in Eugene and has also worked with The Great Hiatum. “People graduate; the team loses talent; new people come in.”

Kantor hasn’t noticed any new bands cropping up yet, but he believes they will appear in time.

“You find them at house shows,” Kantor said.  “I wanna say the freshman class, but it’s hard to be a band in the dorm. Probably freshmen who get their own places — or friends of the bands playing gigs right now — will start making their moves.”

It’s too early in the term to tell at the moment. But once the Pluto the Planets, Tyranno Tuts and Great Hiatums of the Eugene scene are off making their names elsewhere, new acts will almost certainly fill their shoes – and with the school year coming up, we may see those bands very soon.

Without seasonal festivities, extreme weather conditions or parties begging to be soundtracked by the latest Top 40 bangers, autumn is mostly a quiet, transitional period. In assembling the fall album selection, the Emerald has chosen eight great records suitable for studying, relaxing or walking in the woods. Four selections are classics you may be familiar with, while the other four are more outré options for the adventurous ear.

Basics:

Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True. Elvis Costello writes songs about the work week rather than school, but the amiably angry tunes on his phenomenal debut My Aim Is True should strike a chord with anyone returning to the daily grind. Costello sings about his responsibilities with equal doses of humor and frustration; he’s in a crappy place, but he can still chuckle about it.

Grizzly Bear – Yellow House. Before their track Two Weeks made them indie superstars, Grizzly Bear made this gorgeous, meditative album of psych-folk soundscapes. Yellow House sounds autumnal, largely because of the sense of unease that hangs over it; though everything is still in bloom, the sense that winter is coming is unavoidable.

Prince – 1999. In addition to being a great album to get drunk indoors to (among other inside activities), 1999 possesses a crisp sound that evokes empty workday streets in the midst of the cold season. In Prince’s world, it’s always raining and everyone is sexy, just like Eugene in fall.

Neil Young – Harvest. It’s hardly his best work, but Neil Young’s 1972 folk-pop opus epitomizes the autumn album, from its name to its idyllic sound to its permeating melancholy and introversion. This is by far the saddest album on this list, so don’t play it at parties.

Next steps:

John Fahey – The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick. On this spectacular live set from 1968, folk guitar legend John Fahey conjures an entire universe in 76 minutes with nothing but a humble acoustic. While listening to “Oil Slick,” I imagine pastoral, autumnal landscapes with spectacular foliage, but Fahey’s music is so expressive and evocative you may think of something completely different.

Fennesz/Sakamoto – Cendre. This album is a sublime collaboration between two of ambient music’s most gifted instrumentalists. Guitarist-producer Christian Fennesz’s evocative soundscapes, at times evoking wind, rain, thunder and rustling leaves, give Ryuichi Sakamoto’s playful piano motifs ample room to dance around.

Gas – Königsforst. The third installment in Wolfgang Voigt’s four-album, acid-fueled quest to “bring the forest to the disco” as Gas. Spacious, but with a permeating wetness, the tracks on Königsforst evoke a post-rainfall landscape where everything is clean, pristine and awesome-smelling.

Loscil – Endless Falls. Vancouver ambient-dub auteur Loscil’s sixth album is a tribute to the Pacific Northwest’s relentless rainfall, something with which most people reading this likely have ample experience. (It also has a song called “Dub For Cascadia.”)

Follow Daniel Bromfield on Twitter @bromf3

Pop music thrives in the summer. Better weather and more free time means more parties, and more parties means more bangers. But once the leaves begin to fall and the grindstone starts turning once again, only the songs of the summer will remain, incongruously bouncing around our heads and thwarting our attempts to shake our minds out of summer mode. Here are a few of the songs you’ll likely be sick of by the time school starts.

1. Disclosure — Latch. One word: “da-daaaa.”

2. Iggy Azalea — Fancy. Vulture’s Amanda Dobbins was right — we deserved a better song of the summer. We also deserved a better pop star of the summer than Iggy, whose main contribution to the charts as of this moment seems to be giving white pop stars the a-OK to act like cartoon “gangsta” caricatures in their videos (see Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off, Katy Perry’s This Is How We Do.)  Once Lady Gaga starts prancing around in oversize gold chains, we can all collectively curse Iggy and exorcise her from our memories of summer 2014.

3. Sam Smith — Stay With Me. Another appearance from Latch guest vocalist Sam Smith. I admired Smith at first for his submissive persona, which struck a refreshing contrast with 2013′s obnoxious trend of alpha-male pop stars. But the more I listened to the song, the more disingenuous it sounded — from the churchy sex-as-religion chorus to his obviously James Blake-aping vocals to the fact that he’s probably gonna chuckle to himself once his puppy-dog schtick gets the object of his affections back in bed.

4. KONGOS — Come With Me Now. One of 2014′s weirder hits, Come With Me Now comes on strong, mashing up post-grunge muscle with influences from African pop and Western folk music. But once you’ve gotten over the initial shock of hearing it, the only thing you’ll likely retain is the chorus, which is as lunkheaded as anything their frequent tourmates Linkin Park ever crafted.

5. Ariana Grande — Problem. Featuring two of the most irritating pop trends of this year — an annoying sax loop and an Iggy Azalea feature — Problem is a song you won’t want stuck in your head after September. Keep an eye on Grande, though. She’s got a great voice and a great ear for production, and I have no doubt she’ll produce hits in the future a lot better than this one.

Pop music thrives in the summer. Better weather and more free time means more parties, and more parties means more bangers. But once the leaves begin to fall and the grindstone starts turning once again, only the songs of the summer will remain, incongruously bouncing around our heads and thwarting our attempts to shake our minds out of summer mode. Here are a few of the songs you’ll likely be sick of by the time school starts.

1. Disclosure — Latch. One word: “da-daaaa.”

2. Iggy Azalea — Fancy. Vulture’s Amanda Dobbins was right — we deserved a better song of the summer. We also deserved a better pop star of the summer than Iggy, whose main contribution to the charts as of this moment seems to be giving white pop stars the a-OK to act like cartoon “gangsta” caricatures in their videos (see Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off, Katy Perry’s This Is How We Do.)  Once Lady Gaga starts prancing around in oversize gold chains, we can all collectively curse Iggy and exorcise her from our memories of summer 2014.

3. Sam Smith — Stay With Me. Another appearance from Latch guest vocalist Sam Smith. I admired Smith at first for his submissive persona, which struck a refreshing contrast with 2013′s obnoxious trend of alpha-male pop stars. But the more I listened to the song, the more disingenuous it sounded — from the churchy sex-as-religion chorus to his obviously James Blake-aping vocals to the fact that he’s probably gonna chuckle to himself once his puppy-dog schtick gets the object of his affections back in bed.

4. KONGOS — Come With Me Now. One of 2014′s weirder hits, Come With Me Now comes on strong, mashing up post-grunge muscle with influences from African pop and Western folk music. But once you’ve gotten over the initial shock of hearing it, the only thing you’ll likely retain is the chorus, which is as lunkheaded as anything their frequent tourmates Linkin Park ever crafted.

5. Ariana Grande — Problem. Featuring two of the most irritating pop trends of this year — an annoying sax loop and an Iggy Azalea feature — Problem is a song you won’t want stuck in your head after September. Keep an eye on Grande, though. She’s got a great voice and a great ear for production, and I have no doubt she’ll produce hits in the future a lot better than this one.