This is the third of five posts listing my 50 favorite songs of 2011. Here’s Part 1, Part 2, and an updated Spotify playlist.

30. Meyrin Fields – Broken Bells

This song was first released as a b-side, eventually making its way onto a self-titled EP this year. Why Danger Mouse and James Mercer kept this song hidden I have no idea, because “Meyrin Fields” is easily better than anything off of last year’s self-titled album. Where most of Broken Bells was laid back to a fault, setting a mood without really drawing attention to itself, this track demands it. The world is falling apart at the seams around Mercer, and he seems to be the only one who notices. He screams out to anyone who’ll listen, accompanied by equally dramatic synths and a beat that gives the whole affair a sense of urgency.

29. Truth – Alexander

Alexander Ebert is the frontman of both Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes and Ima Robot. I can’t wrap my head around that, no matter how hard I try. Is he a David Bowie-type character, too restless to stay in any one genre for too long? Is this his crass attempt to cash in on whatever sound is big at the moment? Is he just plain goofing around? He’s a talented songwriter, but there’s no denying that there’s a weird aura of insincerity around his various acts. (Have you seen this album art, for chrissakes?) This makes the fact that he wrote such a good, capital-M Meaningful song about embracing the dark sides of one’s personality a bit odd. “Truth” is a cold, lonely song, the backing vocals that join Alexander distant and uncaring. Eventually Alexander is reduced to talking to himself, promising that everything he does, he does for love under the theory that if he says it enough it’ll become true. The song was used during the season four premiere of “Breaking Bad”, and it makes perfect sense. Both are brilliant depictions of what happens when a man succumbs to his darkest urges and tries to convince himself that he’s still in the right.

28. The Last Huzzah [Remix] – Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire (feat. Despot, Das Racist, Danny Brown & El-P)

As this is a posse track, I’m legally bound to structure this blurb around the question of who “wins” lyrically. Danny Brown’s Lil-Wayne-crossed-with-a-duck schtick doesn’t do much for me, so he’s out. Despot and eXquire are both solid emcees, and they have some great lines here (eX’s swipe at Kanye and Jay-Z is particularly nice), but neither is distinct enough to stand out when put up against the larger-than-life personalities they share the track with. Based on pure skill alone, the win has to go to El-P, who delivers the most carefully composed verse I’ve ever heard. Seriously, read the lyrics and marvel at how he was able to count from 3 to 16 without turning it into a ridiculous gimmick. It’s like that song by Tool based around the Fibonacci sequence, only not terrible. Despite that, I’m a huge Das Racist partisan and I have to put the two of them on top. Victor Vasquez has the shortest segment on the song, but he packs it full of the kinds of lines Das Racist delivers best: simultaneously witty, stupid and self aware. Heems’ verse is nowhere near as tight but just as memorable, ending with the line “The worst rapper on this track/Third coolest”, which automatically makes one try to figure out the rest of the rankings (My guess: Danny Brown > Victor > Heems> eXquire > El-P > Despot).

27. The Ride – Drake

“The Ride” is a triumph of good taste. Out of little more than a sparse electro beat and a few vocal overdubs from coproducer The Weeknd, Drake constructs what is easily hip-hop’s most epic post-MBDTF track. Seriously, I could easily see this scoring the climax of a Martin Scorsese movie. Drake brings an appropriate level of drama to his verses, essentially delivering a 21^st century, post-Kanye update of “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems”. Drake isn’t a very gifted rapper, but the travails of fame and fortune appears to be one topic he can talk about effortlessly. At the end of every verse, Drake’s hangers-on assure him that they feel him, but this is clearly false. How can peasants understand how it feels to be king, especially when the king sits upon a throne as grand as the one Drake sits upon in “The Ride”?

26. Calgary – Bon Iver

It’s awesome that Bon Iver got nominated for so many Grammies, but I’m a little annoyed that it was for “Holocene” rather than this song. As one of my friends jokingly said at the time, “Holocene” is essentially the sound of ice melting. Beautiful, but a little slight in my opinion. The buildup on “Calgary”, on the other hand, gets my heart racing every time. Justin Vernon brings a lot of different sounds to bear on the track, creating a great buildup of sound. Hazy mood-setting synths are joined by strummed acoustic guitars and drums, eventually breaking out into a swell of distorted electric guitars before climaxing and receding once again. It’s an old trick, but one I never get tired of hearing, and Bon Iver executes it very well. Above it all float Justin Vernon’s falsetto vocals, spouting now-famously unintelligible lyrics but singing with such conviction you can’t help but nod and agree.

25. Cruel – St. Vincent

Strange Mercy was my first St. Vincent album, so it was a bracing experience for me to hear songs like “Cruel”. Annie Clark may be one of the most inventive songwriters in indie music today, fusing disparate elements from several genres into music that’s unique and exciting. On “Cruel”, sappy operatic strings coexist peacefully alongside hip-hop beats, circus-like guitar riffs, and one of the most fuzzed-out solos you’ll ever hear. Clark holds it all together with a great vocal performance, bouncing between the high and low ends of her register with absolute ease. When the lead guitar comes back in on the outro, now screeching with distortion, only for the song to abruptly end, you’ll wish that chorus could go on for another hour.

24. Otis – Kanye West & Jay-Z

There’s a lot to dislike about “Otis”. Kanye and Jay-Z spent a ton of money licensing Otis Redding’s immortal “Try a Little Tenderness”, chopped the hell out of it, and used it as a platform to brag about their extravagant wealth. This is the anthem of the 1%, but it’s impossible to dislike, because it’s such a damn good song. Much like he did with Jim Morrison’s voice on “The Takeover”, Kanye takes the climax of Otis’ treatise on love and loneliness and turns it into a battle cry accompanied by a few stabs of guitar. Over this, Yeezy and Hova exchange lines in a way that rappers don’t really do anymore, laying down some classic lines along the way. I aspire to one day write all my curses in cursive.

23. Romance – Wild Flag

In which two thirds of Sleater-Kinney gather up a band and show lesser musicians how to please a crowd. “Romance” roars out of the starting gate and never lets up, all pounding drums and muscular guitars. Carrie Brownstein leads the charge with manic intensity, and the song’s chock-full of great pop-inspired melodies. Seemingly just to prove a point, the catchiest snippet of all is delivered a cappella during a brief bridge section. Many bands would be lucky to come up a melody that good and base an entire song around it; Wild Flag is so good at what they do that they can just toss these things off like it’s nothing.

22. The Long Haul – NO

It’s still hard for me to believe that this song wasn’t written by the National. It isn’t terribly rare to hear one band copy the sound of another, but it’s a bit odd for a slightly-obscure indie band like the National to be a target of imitation when they’re still in their prime. I’m not complaining, though, because the National is one of my favorite bands, and NO does a brilliant job of writing music in their style. “The Long Haul” is the best of the songs off their great debut EP (which is free on the internet!). Bradley Carter’s lyrics are a bit more direct than Matt Berninger’s, but they cover very similar ground thematically and Carter delivers his lines with the same rich baritone. Instrumentally, the National comparisons remain, but NO brings a bit more bombast to their music, and rely more on loud/soft dynamics. “The Long Haul”’s chorus has an anthemic quality that the National occasionally touches on but never fully commits to. It might sound as if I only like this band because they remind me of another band I love, but these guys are really talented in their own right, and I’m excited to see what becomes of them in 2012.

21. Never Die Again – The Rapture

Luke Jenner doesn’t make it look easy. On the already-epic chorus of “Never Die Again”, he ups the ante with a descending tapped guitar riff. This isn’t exactly Van Halen-level stuff; Jenner’s characteristically tinny guitar tone allows you to hear every stab of the fretboard, and it’s clear that he can barely keep it up through the chorus, let alone the short interlude that follows. The best part is that he doesn’t really need to put in this effort; strip “Never Die Again” of everything but vocals, drums and bass and you’ve already got a brilliant piece of dance-punk. Because the Rapture are such perfectionists, we’re also treated to rapidfire guitar strikes and some awesome saxophone work. The album this song comes from marks their return to James Murphy’s DFA label, so it goes without saying that there’s also plenty of righteous cowbell here. Welcome back, guys.