måndag 17 Dec 2007, 3:38
Well, it’s been another year, and we’ve already seen another horribly involved list of the top 10 albums of the year. But while in past years I’ve listed the 25 best songs of each particular year, I’ve found that there’s just too much good stuff dancing around for me to ignore. So, without further adieu, or jokes at the expense of Wilco, here is my list of the top 50 songs of 2007.
Los Compesinos! seem to be a right upstanding bunch of Brits. They also make some pretty songs. Here we find a few sparse guitar strums building after 45 seconds to a shrill wall of violin playing, while the beat starts up, and the drums kick in, and you’re in for an Indie Rock blast. Only a band that writes songs with titles like “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives” can pull off lines like
It’s sad that you think that we’re all just scensters
And even if we were, it’s not the scene that you’re thinkin’
While still just letting us know that, after all, it’s you! It’s me! It’s DANCING!
49. Myriad Harbour
It was kind of a disappointing year for The New Pornographers. Yeah, they made a new album, but did they make another “Bleeding Heart Show”? How about another “Mass Romantic”? Hell, I’d have settled for another “Use It”! But, no, they decided to release an album full of well intending, but ultimately flat songs that are nice to listen to, but definitely take the “power” out of “power-pop”.
At least Dan Bejar managed to write the best song he’s written yet for the Pornographers. Yup, you liked “Jackie Dressed in Cobras”, it’s a good song, he’s made many fine contributions to the band, but “Myriad Harbour”, with its up-tempo guitar line, and almost choral chanting, is really, above all else, a fun song.
Josh Ritter is back, and his occasionally unique alt-rock fits in nicely with the opening track of his new album, “The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter”. Starting off with murky, yet upbeat, almost staccato vocals that seem to scream Bob Dylan, he gleefully prattles through verses, name dropping Joan of Arc, and weaving a song that is catchy enough to let us forget the fact that, yes, he actually does say, “Did I mention I like how you look in your underwear?” Well, he did mention that actually, because the opening line actually says “and I love the way she looks in her underwear”. Is that an almost laughably bad lyric? You bet. And still this song makes my top songs of the year list, so that tells you how good the rest of it is.
47. Oversleeping
See a live recording of it here (pardon the video quality)
In my opinion, this is the most infectious song written by I’m From Barcelona, a band that solely exists to write infection songs. They have 29 band members, unlike bands like The Polyphonic Spree, which try to flaunt their size, you’d almost imagine that there are fewer members than there actually are. There’s one distinct lead singer, who starts off declaring, “Damn! Oversleeping again!” before postulating how he could possibly make it to work on time. The instrumentals aren’t too complex, there’s xylophones, guitars, and drums in the background primarily, and background vocals come in towards the end of the song, but it almost seems like a good indie rock band from a 5 person group.
But the group’s size doesn’t matter, what matters is the fact that they make catchy songs. And this is their catchiest.
Art Brut is just about the only song I’d allow to write a song about drunken texting, since, as we can see here, they have the ability to deceptively make it seem like it’s about so much more. Here we see Eddie Argos and the gang rocking some tight guitar lines, but not really flashing out the laugh-out-loud wit, instead replacing it with a more expressive, dare I say deeper and wiser, side of the band?
Try not to like a song that fits in lines such as
River deep and mountain high
There’s some lyrics that’ll never apply
‘cause I don’t lie awake at night
With thoughts of river depths or mountain height
Leading directly into the repetition of
I don’t care what your parents say
It won’t always be this way
That’s not about naked women, Eddie! And it is not girls named Emily Kane either! But… well, okay Art Brut, I’ll forgive you this time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUS2ieIO5os
Just watch that scene from the film “Once” for just a bit. No, keep watching. Okay, so have the drums picked up yet? Oh, that got that producer’s attention, didn’t it? Okay, where are you now? Okay, at the 2:45 mark? Right when Glen Hansard starts to have a stroke of awesomeness while screaming the lyrics? You see that look on the producer’s face right then? That smug smile that seems extremely and surprisingly pleased?
Exactly.
Listen to it streaming on their myspace here
I honestly don’t know much about Effi Briest. I’ll admit, I heard about them on the all-powerful and increasingly-unreliable pitchforkmedia.com, and my knowledge of them is limited to, “uh, they’re from New York” and “they released a 7-inch in England I think…”
This track, one of only 2 songs they have on myspace (last time I checked). It’s also really damn good. Starting off with an almost Native American type chant, the guitars and drums kick in with the female vox almost violently asserting
Oh, yes, I love you honey,
I don’t care if you’re marriedIt’s rare for songs to fit two distinct, and equally appealing sounds into their songs, and even rarer for that song to be a mere two and a half minutes long. But no matter what, I guess I’ll have to keep an eye out on these Effi Briest fellows. Whoever they may be.
43. Nightswimming
The Wrens have to get another goddamn album out. I’m not even joking anymore, it’s been 4 years, people! We need more Wrens! Until the epic event of the band’s fourth album release occurs, which I predict will cause at least two thousand people such joy that it will cause them to reach the otherworld realm of Nirvana, which, though it’ll be great for those individual, it will cut into the band’s record sales, and will sadly force them to continue working their day jobs as a tragic result.
Woah, what just happened there? Anyway, until that happens, we’ll take whatever the band can give us. For those interested, if you search the band’s message board enough you can find some pre-Meadowlands tracks from their Overnight Success tape. Good stuff.
This is the only new Wrens track you’ll get this year, so listen to it and relish it. It’s a cover of an R.E.M. song. Charles Bissell, on the link above, states that he loves the song primarily because it’s beautiful, and the guys do nothing to change that here. The first minute and a half is just soft guitar strums with Charles singing and Kevin Whelan on soft harmonies in the background. The drums don’t even kick in until the 1:45 mark, and even then they’re faint. But this is a song the way The Wrens do best. It starts off slow, and then gets bigger and faster and more complex and better all while it builds non-stop.
Nightswimming is essentially a 4 and a half minute build of layered vocals, added instruments, and yes, even the occasional falsetto. It all synchs together gorgeously, and after you finish listening, you think, “that was a nice song.” It won’t kick you in the fact the first time, like a lot of the band’s catalogue. The second time, you start to notice it a bit more, and so on, and so on. After enough listens, it really sinks in. This song is amazing. Your chest sinks and rises at the same time, because it’s forced a twisted smile onto your lips, and at the same time you know that these guys are in their 40s and still have received nowhere near the amount of recognition they deserve.
Hear it here (right click and save target as if you want to download it)
By now, anyone who’s read my top albums of the year list knows my stance on Bodies of Water, primarily in terms of sex noises, The Arcade Fire, and The Polyphonic Spree Here’s a prime example of the totally crazy, yet totally awesome sound that they’re able to get. Starting off slow and dramatic, with lots of loud singing, it slows down to a single lead singer, with soft backing female vox by the one minute mark, at 1:45, it slows to just a strumming guitar, which suddenly explodes into a flurry of chanting between male and female vocals to a heavy guitar line- this build lasts just about the rest of the song, which emcompases a good three minutes, and eventually decides to invite some fast moving horns to play.
It sounds like The Arcade Fire with no inhibitions, it’s big-sounding Indie without the suddenly-big record companies. It defies definition, and doesn’t offer an explanation, it’s just Bodies of Water. Nice to meet you too, guys.
41. Spitting Venom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjDtMovNtaM&feature=related
Here’s a live clip, just so you can get an idea of the song.
So, you remember when Modest Mouse released that song “Float On” back in ’04, and they suddenly, they got fucking huge? And all the hipsters were all, “No way man, I was listening to them back before all that Q101 bullshit, I was Doin’ the Cockroach before you even knew a mouse had modesty!” and they thought they were really funny that they made that little joke about the band’s name? And then their lead singer Isaac Brock started cutting himself at concerts?
Well, I’m sure I wasn’t alone in worrying that their next album would be a musical disaster. But, surprisingly enough, it wasn’t, and “Spitting Venom” is one of the prime examples of it. Starting just with a catchy verse and some picked guitar strings, this eight minute opus has one of the best single pick-up moments of the year (at about 1:28 in the actual song. The second half of the song is completely different than the first part, full of horns and softly harmonizes vocals, but overall the track has the perfect combination of rocking you out and calming you down.
40. Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
Oh Okkervil River, I could go on about “The Stage Names” for years. This is just another example of the band’s awesomeness. It doesn’t need too many bells and whistles (excluding a part towards the end consisting of atonal piano notes and other noises), it simply utilizes the winning combination of guitat+drums+piano+Will Sheff’s voice=box-office gold. It also helps that this is one of the more upbeat songs in the band’s catalogue at the moment.
39. The Plot
Listen to it on their myspace here
Alright, so here we have the White Rabbits, that spunky group of kids from New York, trying to show us that they’re as fun-loving and catchy as my previous depictions of them may have led you to believe. Well, here’s the proof. Using lightning-fast drums with a nice piano touch; it’s hard not to get swept along in their infectious beats and harmonies. Hell, I’m having a hard time focusing on the computer screen right now ‘cause my head’s currently bobbing along to it. Damn straight.
38. D.A.N.C.E.
It’s hard to really give Justice more props than most Indie outlets have already been doing. “Yeah, we know, their best stuff is the stuff that reminds us of Daft Punk, but don’t you think more bands should try to remind of us Daft Punk?”
They’re fun to dance to. *shrug* This is the sort of song that you can either listen to in your car and blast it out of the windows with a shit-eating grin on your face, or you can take a lot of ecstasy and listen to it at a rave while you grind up glowsticks in your teeth and go to the hospital for dehydration. Either way, if you’re doing it to this song, you can’t go wrong.
37. Snake Mistakes
Dan Deacon is fucking crazy. No, I’m not joking here, Dan Deacon is fucking CRAZY (note from editor- the url linked under the word “Crazy” is a recording of Dan Deacon on shrooms. Surprising?)
“Snake Mistakes” is a song that I enjoy all the way through, with its odd bwoops and whistles and Deacon’s trademark computerized and altered vocals throughout. It’s also a song that I feel a bit weird about playing in front of friends. Because, you know… it is FUCKING CRAZY.
But the way the track ends out, with one of those talking computer voices bragging
My dad is so cool
he is the coolest dad in dad school
he does not break any dad rules
he would pick you up if I asked him to
This song pretty much only makes it on this list because of that pure, unadulterated goofiness.I guess is the closest to a single on “Challengers”. It’s the one the band first leaked, and it’s the best song on the album. So yeah, let’s call it the single.
It’s got what you expect from The New Pornographers. Quick drums, poppy instrumentation, Neko Case reminding us that she should have played God in “Dogma”, since to actually hear her voice in her direct presence would be too glorious for us to handle, and would cause our heads to explode. It also starts off slow, but builds up really nicely, and is a pretty song. Sorry, I ran out of jokes to make for this song description.
35. Direct Hit
hear it here
Fuck YES Art Brut! That’s what I’m talking about. Art Brut makes an infinitely danceable song in “Direct Hit”. A song about… well, dancing to a direct hit. Yeah, I know, it’s totally meta- this could be the song they’re talking about! I’m freaking out, man!Man, whatever, shut up with that philosophy bullshit and turn up the song. It’s fucking sick!
34. The Pelican
Hear it here (scroll down to the bottom of the page)
If you want a good idea of the sound that Menomena pulls off, with its mix of atonal and melodic pop sounds, here’s a good start. It’s not the best song on the album, but it’s pretty symbolic of how much they try to do with each song. It starts off simple, with just piano and borderline-screamed lyrics, which meets up with a cranky rattled guitar and discombobulated drumming, but still manages to throw in some pretty harmonies here and there. It’s also got a pretty sweet pick up, which as you’ve probably noticed, usually will go a long way in making me like a song. So?
33. Dear Confessor
Here’s a good example of why I love Immaculate Machine. This song is upbeat, extremely catchy, full of three part harmonies, and has multiple members of the three-piece rocking the lead vocals. The song is simple enough, the lyrics aren’t really all that present- yeah, they’re there, but you’re too busy listening to the catch power-pop. So what? It’s a good song! Don’t over-analyze it!
32. Muscle'n Flo
This Menomena track is a bit more accessible than “The Pelican”, but it still shows how indescribable the band really is. Aren’t those drums loud? But, they’re not bad. Hmm… I don’t have much to say about this one, other than the fact that the harmonies that come in halfway through the song are actually quite amazing, and surprisingly hauntingly beautiful. Go figure, right?
I’ll give you two guesses as to the sexual orientation of Lesbians on Ecstasy. Was your first guess, “Um…are they all lesbians?” Damn straight! They also very clearly address their sexuality in just about every song they write. The chorus for this song, for example, simply states,
We’ve been waiting all our lives
For our sisters to become our lovers
That little novelty aside, this song is actually really good. Essentially female harmony driven, up-beat rock with strong electronic-raver undertones, it all synchs together to make some pretty rocking, catchy music. Hehe, they also have a funny name, don’t they?30. Woody Woodpecker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG0o5SADikY&mode=related&search=
(note, the song is slightly out of synch from the original in this video- it is far murkier in the video for some reason)Yeah, so remember what I said before. Dan Deacon=crazy. This song is creepy as shit, with rising electronics combining with Woody the goddamn Woodpecker’s eerie laugh to make a “song”. Except… there’s something incredibly beautiful about the song. Maybe it’s the way that the laughter blends together, or maybe the way the whole thing soars with the rising synthesizer before all quieting down at the end and giving way to the one section that is more song than tape manipulation. It’s eerily soothing. But maybe that’s just because I’m greatly damaged. You know, emotionally. *exaggerated shrug, with palms upturned*
29. The Party
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JQnn1a3CXE
Seriously, doesn’t this song make you want to take drugs that’ll make you feel your hair excessively and stay up all night to party? I’m not condoning ecstasy or cocaine, and I have not indulged in either myself, but this seems like the kind of song that makes that kinda-hot-yet-trampy-but-not-trampy-in-a-bad-way-more-like-trampy-but-with-standards-
which-makes-her-a-little-bit-hotter-except-she-has-too-much-eyeliner chick go up to you at a club and say, “Can’t you feel the music?” while her friends urge to drink more water, Tanya, drink more water!The message is simple. There is a party. It has to get started right. That may involve getting drunk and fighting. Preferably in the freaky variety. There will be cocaine and alcohol. You will be dancing along to a kickass French DJ duo that has their songs in English. Pencils down, there’ll be a quiz next week. For the extra credit question, you will be asked to draw a picture of a raver giving the “rock on” sign. Class is dismissed.
28. Black Mirror
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVcy9dVZif8&feature=related
This was the first song from this album that really caught my attention…actually, okay, it was the first song of the album. It has a dark undertone throughout it, probably because of the murky and steady drums, and the yelped chorus, with a whole lot of strings action going on in the background. The song feels like having a dream in a storm- it’s not a nightmare, it just feels outside of the conscious world, yet at the same time unsettled and uneasy. Wow, there wasn’t really anything funny about this description, huh? It was…just kind of a downer. Okay, next song!
27. My First Wedding
The Wombats put a really catchy song together here, don’t get me wrong, but it is fucking brutal! The song, which describes going to an ex’s wedding with nothing but jealousy, anger, and a seat close to the open bar, screams out the chorus, “She’s not that beautiful!”, with other nice, calm lines like
As they dance to their soppy song I pray it isn't love
Because she's my heartless bitch that I just can't seem to get enough of
It’s a damn fine song though, catchy, fun, and in the right mindset, can be pretty cathartic. Yes, okay, so maybe when I first heard this song I was going through a brutal breakup with a she-demon, but that doesn’t mean that I was sympathizing with pissed off sentiment in the song, per se. What? Why are you looking at me like that? Bugger off!26. It is Familiar
Ah, another day, another Bodies of Water track. While “These Are the Eyes” was the Arcade Fire in the missionary position song of the Bodies of Water’s catalogue, this one comes off more like a Polyphonic Spree in the reverse cowgirl position song. Yes, in my overwrought metaphor of The Arcade Fire+The Polyphonic Spree+kinky sex=Bodies of Water, The Arcade Fire is the dude, and The Polyphonic Spree is the chick. If you don’t know why, then you just don’t get it, dammit. You just don’t get it.
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Well, that’s the first 25 of this two part list. You probably didn’t read most of this, and I don’t blame you. I didn’t even read it myself. I just put a magazine in a blender with a couple of bad comedy screenplays and old editions of Spin magazine, and hoped for the best. Keep an eye out for the final list of the year- my top 25 songs of 2007. Who’s excited? No? No one? Eh, oh well.