Without further ado, and with fancy new headings:
The Albums I Bought Before Listening To (i.e. the Indie Songs You Heard)
1. "Wilco (the Song)" - Wilco, Wilco
Great band, good song, great tour.
2. "My Girls" - Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
This song reflects my own desires to leave behind my material excess and live a simple life
3. "The Privateer" - Andrew Bird, Noble Beast
Gotta love songs about the sea, you may have heard this on Facebook
4. "Sleepyhead" - Passion Pit, Manners
I used to think this wasn't as good as The Reeling, now I think it's better. Check out this video on Pitchfork
5. "The Reeling" - Passion Pit, Manners
I think this was in a super bowl commercial. It's my default ring tone,
6. "Lisztomania" - Phoenix, Wolgang Amadeus Phoenix
Just cause it was in like 5 car commercials, doesn't make it any less awesome. btw, how great is the current Mercury line of automobiles?
7. "1901" - Phoenix, Wolgang Amadeus Phoenix
Chorus about bars = winner, former ringtone
8. "Zero" - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's, It's Blitz
The 2 best songs on this album are both really good. YYY's just plain rock.
9. "Heads Will Roll" - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's, It's Blitz
This was in a commercial for SciFi channel's Alice in Wonderland, which made me want to watch it a little more. The SyFy re-branding made me want to watch less.
10. "Big Booty Woman" - Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears, Tell 'em What Your Name Is!
I bought this in Austin a few months after SXSW, and the music store was still buzzing about their performance
11. "Love Letter to Japan" - The Bird and the Bee, Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future
"Oh, oh, oh, oh..." Catchy, half haunting
12. "Meet Me in the Garden" - Dent May, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
Dan's brother's blog mentioned this, and I loved it. Stef and I saw him at the Independent. Best indoor show we went to all year
13. "26 Miles (Santa Catalina) - Dent May, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
As mentioned above, I'm a sucker for songs about the sea
14. "Daylight" - Matt and Kim
The Songs I Heard on Rhapsody (i.e. the Indie Songs You May Have Missed)
15. "Little Kids" - Deerhunter, Microcastle
Definitely a little more indie, less pop; "To get older still...", lots of catchy choruses this year
16. "Walkabout (w/ Noah Lennox)" - Atlas Sound, Logos
Gotta love Panda Bear, "What did you want to be, when you grew up"
17. "Sheila" - Atlas Sound, Logos
"You'll be my wife, you'll share my life", rings a bit in my ear right now
18. "Silver Moons" - Sunset Rubdown, Dragonslayer
Unfortunately, I found out this band isn't from the sunset district of SF. But it's still a great song. "Maybe these days are over, over now" Seems a fitting way to end the decade.
19. "Black Swan" - Sunset Rubdown, Dragonslayer
Sounds kind of medieval or something
20. "Surf Solar" - Fuck Bottons, Tarot Sport
Hard driving, really cool beats, etc. This is what I wish was playing at lounges and dance-y type places.
21. "Intro" - The xx, The xx
It's not even a real song, but it is really awesome
22. "Basic Space" - The xx, The xx
It just oozes sexy, not a whole lot more to say
23. "Lust for Life" - Girls
Finally, a SF band. They shot their other video in Dolores Park, but this one is ok too. I wish I had a pizza and a bottle of wine.
24. "Two Weeks" - Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
It sneaked into a VW commercial and almost made me want my Jetta back. And then I got my insurance refund check today. Getting rid of the car was the right call.
Songs That I Heard on the Radio, but were too Good to Ignore
25. I'm on a Boat - The Lonely Island
It was on SNL so it goes in the pop catgory, here's the video on Hulu
26. "Panic Switch" - Silversun Pickups
I tagged this on my phone with Shazam. It was basically the perfect use of the app, hear a song I really like, let the internets identify it for me
27. "Tik Tok" - Ke$ha,
Great video, greater parody
28. "Party in the U.S.A." - Miley Cyrus
I know, I know, but it's super catchy, and it inspired the gayest video ever
29. "Halo" - Beyonce
I drift into dreams of killing the Flood every time I hear this song. Master Chief would be so proud.
30. "Day 'N' Nite" - Kid Cudi
Great beat, catchy, only draw back is the implication that stoners are lonely
31. "Dead and Gone" - TI feat. Justin Timberlake
TI, J. Tim's, awesome
32. "Hard" - Rhianna
She's so cool. This song is just plain cool. Until about the 50th time. Then it gets a little less cool.
33. "I'm Yours" - Jason Mraz
It's sweet, and it's the chart toppingest song of all time
34. "Uprising" - Muse
Feels like it should be a workout song, but it's also kind of inspirational
So there it is. Comments? What did I miss? How much did I nail each and everyone of those songs?
8 comments:
Pretty good list! Mostly fitting categories as well. Did you do all this on your snow day yesterday? Oh wait, you probably didn't have a snow day. Mine was the first time my office has been closed for weather since 1996.
I'm curious about whether you intentionally did not include:
-I Gotta Feeling, Black Eyed Peas (I like that Imma Be song more and Boom Boom Pow less, so this falls in the middle)
-LADY GAGA!!!!! Bad Romance? Paparazzi? Love Game? Poker Face?
-Evacuate the Dance Floor, Cascada
-Empire State of Mind, Jay-Z & Alicia Keys (Did you leave it out bc of the Yankees? Bc it's okay to like the song even if you're a Phillies fan)
-I also like the Adam Lambert single, and I kind of liked The Climb by Miley Cyrus, but I can't reasonably expect those to make any lists
-I might think of more and add another comment later
-I have a half-day of work today due to inclement weather!!
Black Eyed Peas haven't been cool since Behind the Front (that's the joint!)
Lady Gaga is equal parts annoying and catchy, so she wasn't quite there for me.
I'll have to check out Cascada.
Empire State of Mind is a good song. Most of my list was set in November and I didn't really get into ESoM until December.
I don't tolerate any products of American Idol, except Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini.
I can only assume most of your songs are better than Rachel's suggestions. Until the climb has a funny video on YouTube, I can't quite like it. I am way tooo sick of Empire State of Mind. Boooring. Write a song about somewhere interesting, like North Wales or Roxborough. But I like Alicia Keys's other songs. I don't know a lot of Pete's songs. I think you should give Carrie Underwood a chance. and that Pants on the Ground guy. For a while, I kept listening to the Avett Brothers on their website, and was entertained - your thoughts? Taylor Swift and Jay Shawn have grown on me too. For those (fancy types) that don't listen to the radio, I think Jay Electronica is decent.
Every time I listen to the XX I like it more and more. No Neko Case? Hands-down album of the year for me...
I think 2010's gonna be even better!
All in all a better showing than last year (ie no Leona Lewis this time around). Here are some things from my list that did not rate on yours for your consideration:
Albums: Arctic Monkeys, Diego Bernal, Idlewild, Mos Def, Dan Deacon, K'Naan, Neko Case, Doves, Raekwon
Songs: "Gunman" TCV, "Bubbles" Biffy Clyro, "Actor out of Work" St Vincent, "Animal" Miike Snow, "Stillness is the Move" Dirty Projectors, "Crown on the Ground" Sleigh Bells, "Red Tide" Neko Case, "City Hall", "Readers and Writers" Idlewild
As an aside, I don't get Girls. At all. And the best part is that 2010 means new Radiohead, LCD, Elbow, National, Yeasayer, Roots, Spoon, MIA, plus probably tons more I can't think of or don't know about. Good things are in the offing for us...
first - the omissions.
do you not listen to hip hop at all? with so much room - i.e. 30+ songs - you def had some room on there for a little DOOM. he had two albums that came out this year - both are really enjoyable. mos def also had a nice little LP - sort of a return to the good stuff he was putting out prior to his hollywood stardom. raekwon and speech debelle also had pretty good albums - though raekwon is more of a throwback to wutang days.
beyond that... how 'bout franz ferdinand? that album is killer. prob listened to that more times than any other in 2009. nice little dance, electro-pop piece with a solid baseline.
ida maria is also crazy good. oh my god, or i like you so much better when you're naked. frankly, you could run w/ the whole album and not be disappointed. norway's feminine answer to iggy pop
also, check out bibio. a track called s'vive. more of an electonica bent... but def hip hop inspired.
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in terms of stuff that's on there. passion pit, animal collective, phoenix, andrew bird, xx - yep. all good stuff. most of it on my year end mix... or stuff that just narrowly missed out.
there was a ton of stuff on there that i haven't heard. will have to do my homework and get back to you.
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already excited about 2010. you hear that new charlotte gainsbourg album w/ beck? maybe it's just b/c i'm living in france... but i'm in love. los campesinos already have another great album. gorillaz are about to release a new track.
oh yea... and i'm going to a pretty cool show in may. first concert since 2008 radiohead... and it's going to be a doozy. primavera sound in barcelona. ('cause it's right down the street.)
anyway - good work mr. wise.
I kind of went through my Doom / King Geedorah / Madvillian phase a few years ago, but I guess I can give the newer stuff a try. Any guest appearances by Master Shake?
Yeah, the new Gorillaz track is pretty tight.
New Vampire Weekend is ok, but I don't love it yet. Same with new Spoon. They might just need some more time to resonate. (Listening to VW Contra now and I already like it better than the first time I heard it).
First off I gotta give a shout out to an appropriate track on Contra..."Cousins" of course. Though the entire album has not grabbed me, it may just take time like you said. The new Spoon album on the other hand is getting there quick, I am a big fan and they put on a great show. (Spoon makes for great work out music by the way) Also looking forward to something from Arcade Fire this year.
Despite the fact that my roommate dubbs it car-comm rock, I do dig the Phoenix album. Wilco disappointed a bit, but this could because my man-crush on Sky Blue Sky left little room for anything else. I really like the Atlas Sound track you mentioned, Pete, I must look for more tunes from them.
What I can't quite get into is what I would call arcade-style rock aka Animal Collective, Yeasayer, etc. It sounds they recorded at a Chuckie Cheesey's, pshhh. There are a lot of layers of sound that seem to go nowhere, call me crazy i guess.
How bout good shows of 2009? You mentioned Dent May, Pete, any others to speak of? Wilco at a minor league baseball stadium was the tits for shore. I also liked Minus the Bear who I saw for the first time in '09, they surprised me live.
"Party in the USA" is definitely a guilty pleasure, and it was even more of such when it came on at a bachelor party and we started singing along at the strip club...good times.
PS- Was that a different dialect of German that Hitler was speaking? I could have sworn that speech was about the Dallas Cowboys???
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