Ra Ra Riot

Songs, 2010

/ Jared / Leave a comment

Songs 2010_edited-2

I enjoyed making my list of favorite albums of the year more than this list, because it’s easier to think of things to say about an entire album than it is a single song, but this list is probably more appropriate for the times in which we live.  It also allowed me to include some stuff that couldn’t make the albums list because it is from an EP or an otherwise unspectacular album.

A few notes: If the song was released as a single, I generally used the single’s release date, if only to get some great songs from albums released in 2009 on the list (notably the two Florence + the Machine songs near the top).  Also, sorry that this takes a minute to load; I think I’m going to have to start breaking up these video-heavy entries up into multiple parts.  As always, this is not a list of the best songs of the year, which I don’t necessarily feel qualified to write, and rather just a list of my favorites.

Remind to listen to some more hip hop in 2011.  All that really made the list here is Kanye, and that doesn’t even completely sound like what I think of as hip hop anymore.  I miss it.

40) MNDR – “I Go Away”

As I’ve said before, I’m very charmed by MNDR, even though normally someone with as many affectations as she obviously has would drive me crazy.  OK, by “many affectations” I really just mean her crazy, unnecessary glasses.  That’s pretty much all I know about her.  Also, yes, I know it’s technically a duo, but c’mon, you know what I mean.  Don’t be that person.

39) Active Child – “When Your Love Is Safe”

I was introduced to this band and several others on this list by this great post over at Stereogum, so props to them.  This song sounds like it could have been an outtake from that Holland album Beirut put out under the name Realpeople.  You know, falsetto vocals on top of pretty electronic music.  Although, in the video below it isn’t electronic.

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Music Video Monday

/ Jared / Leave a comment

These aren’t the best videos or songs ever; most of the bands I’m really liking lately seem to be video-averse, or just too poor to make a video.  If this keeps up I’m going to have to start posting fan-made stuff, or, heaven forbid, those videos where the song just plays over still photos that seem like something an old person would use the internet to make.

Warpaint – “Undertow”

Remember last week when I posted that other Warpaint video and said that I actually really preferred a different song?  Well, they released this video for the other song, “Undertow,” today, just in time for Music Video Monday!  Unfortunately, the video is sort of a hazy snoozefest.  I guess that’s what happens when you hire the girl from A Knight’s Tale, Shannyn Sossamon, as your director.  (I briefly felt bad about the unprovoked dig, and then I read her IMDB page and discovered that she was born “Shannon” and added the “y” to her name herself.  The dig stays in!)

Belle & Sebastian – “I’m a Cuckoo”

There’s a new Belle & Sebastian album out tomorrow, but I’ve yet to hear anything off of it, mostly because I have way too short of an attention span to watch any of the 30-minute long videos they’ve been putting online.  So, in honor of the release, rather than posting one of those behemoths, I’m included this favorite of mine from a couple of albums ago, which is a much more manageable four minutes in length.

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Songs, 2000-2009

/ Jared / 8 Comments

I debated how to best represent the decade in music in list form.  Eventually, I decided on songs over albums; it seemed more fitting in the era of iTunes.

This list shows that my musical tastes, like my politics, are pretty middle-of-the-road. I like the most mainstream and accessible indie rock and I’m a sucker for the occasional pop song.

I should also point out that I think this might be longer than anything I wrote in college.  It’s entirely possible that the length of this will make it completely unreadable.  But whatever, brevity has never been my strong suit.  Here they are, my 150 favorite songs of the decade (music videos when I was able to easily find one that I liked that allowed embedding):

150) Cannibal Ox – “Iron Galaxy” (2001)

This album has such a singular sound that it’s weird hearing Vast Aire rapping over any other production.  I think that’s why I could never really get into Look Mom…No Hands.  The Vast Aire verse at the end of this song is sort of the end of the golden age of underground hip hop for me, a topic that will definitely be more thoroughly discussed if I ever do a list of my favorite songs of the 90s.

149) Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros – “Johnny Appleseed” (2001)

The best part of John from Cincinnati.  Almost makes me want to check out the rest of Joe Strummer’s post-Clash career.

148) Air – “Universal Traveller” (2004)

The only song from Talkie Walkie that holds up for me.  Really the only Air song that I listen to on a regular basis.  Pops up on the occasional Rick Steves podcast, so that’s a plus.

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