Song · Alt J
“Tessellate” by Alt J
From the album An Awesome Wave (2012)
“Tessellate” by Alt J appears on 16 radio countdowns from 14 stations between 2012 and 2026. It was first released in 2012 on the album An Awesome Wave. Its best result is #12 on the WEQX Top 102.7 of 2013. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #52 alternative song of 2013 and #428 of the '10s.
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"Tessellate" sits on An Awesome Wave, the 2012 debut album from English indie rockers Alt-J, though it first surfaced in October 2011 on a double A-side with "Bloodflood" before getting a single release of its own on 13 July 2012, the album's third. Charlie Andrew produced it, and Kirsty Mangan adds violin.
It's a strange, sleek little thing: a slow, clipped groove, hip-hop weight in the drums, and a hushed, oddly angular vocal that seems to be solving a puzzle as it goes. Nothing else on the radio that year sounded quite like it. Alex Southam's video matched its brainy streak, restaging Raphael's painting The School of Athens with 21st-century characters in a room modelled on the Panthéon in Paris.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 112 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 200 Songs of 2012 | 200 |
| 2012 | 71 | 96.5 The Buzz Kansas City, MO-KS | 96.5 The Buzz Top 96 Songs of 2012 | 96 |
| 2012 | 31 | The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | The Current Top 89 Songs of 2012 | 89 |
| 2012 | 64 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2012 | 100 |
| 2013 | 40 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 2013 | 91 |
| 2013 | 70 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2013 | 103 |
| 2013 | 65 | 97X Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL | 97X Top 97 of 2013 | 97 |
| 2013 | 57 | 94.5 The Buzz Houston, TX | 94.5 The Buzz Top 94 of 2013 | 94 |
| 2013 | 12 | 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) | WEQX Top 102.7 of 2013 | 103 |
| 2013 | 35 | ALT 104.5 Philadelphia, PA | Radio 104.5 Top 50.5 Songs of 2013 | 51 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 504 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2013 | 45 | BBC Radio 6 Music | BBC 6 Music 100 Best Tracks Of The Last 10 Years | 100 |
| 2025 | 198 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
| 2025 | 399 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2025 | 611 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
| 2026 | 299 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
Also listed as: Tesselate.
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