Thursday, January 31, 2008
Top 50 Songs of 2007 (#s 40-31)
40 "Can I Get Get Get" Junior Senior Hey Hey My My Yo Yo [Rykodisc]
"I'm busy bee but I'm taking it easy."
I never thought a second Junior Senior album would hold up. I was skeptical to hear their new single after having the record finally released in the states after much delay, but they are just too sincere and genuine in making joyous pop music to pass up. Usually I let people have their opinions when it comes to sugary dance-pop (because I can often sympathize with the disgust), but if you can go through listening this whole song without smiling and/or bopping your head along, you might as well die now, because life has nothing to offer your kind. The scary thing is, there's no hyperbole there. That's how much I believe in this song. In fact, it's the epitome of the kind of song that is perfect for a wedding (Qualler and Brigitte's wedding to be exact), where you can hear it, jump out on the floor, forget all ambition, and just pump those cabbage patch arms like there's no tomorrow. Cuz there's not, there's only now.
39 "Confusing Possibilities" Six Parts Seven Casually Smashed to Pieces [Suicide Squeeze]
Moment @ 4:57
Ah the band that wrote the song Joe and I named our instrumental radio show after. They are still consistently writing the most relaxing instrumental guitar music on this blue world. Not only this, but if you let yourself get engaged by the charming melodies, they become characters playing in a scene together. In a moment of pause, the skittish pizzicato scurries away into the corner as the bully horns' shadows grow more ominous, the droopy slide mopes in the background, and the flighty harmonics finally overtake the youngsters with a boost of distorted bass to close out our story. There's so much going on in this modest yet epic tale, but it never clouds up the mind, always allowing for breathing room. Shut your eyes on a bright afternoon and listen to this song - surely a beautiful movie will project on the back of your eyelids.
38 "23" Blonde Redhead 23 [4AD]
"All things we love will die."
I fell in love with this song when I saw the stately trio play it live on Conan. Of course you will not be able to find this online, but if you ever see a Conan rerun with Blonde Redhead playing, watch it. When the drummer started programming Kazu's vocals and suddenly there were a sheet of "na-na-na"s buried into a wall of shoegaze entanglements as the frantic drumbeat spiraled out of control and there were still only three people on my TV screen, I practically lost my marbles. The mysticism, the detached anger, the existentialism, and the beleaguered acceptance all implode into a warped energy unheard of to these ears. Seeing and hearing but not believing while being unable to fall asleep at 12:35 in the morning on a weekday, I felt strangely okay and twitchy all at once. Definitely unforgettable.
37 "Backed Out on the..." Kevin Drew Spirit If... [Arts & Crafts]
"Everyone can write this song / they can't write you and me."
Did the subject of this song back out on the cause...or...did he/she back out on the cocks? This seems to be the topic of debate surrounding the lyrics of this song, and it's brilliant. It's two songs in one! Either it's a great proletarian Screw You song, demanding respect, loyalty, and passion amongst the people or it's a fantastic choral refuting of the male masculine identity in our society. Doesn't really matter, because there's one thing that this song obviously is - a party song. Once again, I didn't realize the genius of this song until I saw its corresponding video (linked above) and saw how much the guys from Broken Social Scene were having fun with Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis and a bunch of other crazies just by rocking out. And this is some rocking out that defies categorization - if you love guitar solos, it's for you. If you hate guitar solos, Mascis is the man to change your mind about it. And if you love loudness, this is for you, and if you loathe loudness, this is one song that makes you want to shout with glee "YOU CANNOT WRITE ME!"
36 "Tournament of Hearts" The Weakerthans Reunion Tour [Epitaph]
"Why can't I ever stop where I want to stay?"
Nasally singing can get to me, and yet I could listen to John K. Sampson's wheeze away for the rest of time and enjoy every second of it. It's because his whine is exploding with a tremendous kind of hope - one that is full of despair and yet still infinitely caring for every human being on the planet. It's not a one man guilt show with The Weakerthans, it's about finding the power in feeling down. This is probably way more emo than a little rant on a pop-rock song should be, but the fact is that this song is not only another perfect gem in the catalog of a near-perfect band, but it's the homonym of "right off" and "write off" followed by a heart-pounding "no never never ever ever" every time. It brings me back into a state of patience and allowing life flow into me like it's only just begun. This is how much a song can save my life.
35 "It's O.K." Howard Hello Howard Hello & Greenness [Sickroom]
"It's all right / I'll go / tonight will be no more."
Ever since my obsession with instrumental music began, I've become even more engrossed by instrumental songs that just happen to have lyrics. This sounds ridiculous, I'm well aware, but hear me out. Instrumental songs exist to exude a progression of feeling, a tone, a unique orchestrated set of abstractions while songs with lyrics try to say something to the listener. So when a song with lyrics tries to do what most instrumental songs succeed at without trying to directly tell a story, bring a message, or even a set of symbols, it's breathtakingly refreshing. All you feel when you listen to this song is both a tone and a story: rejection (the blow to the head intro), followed by frantic self doubt (the overlapping voices and off-kilter wandering), finally resulting in nervous acceptance followed by a deep breath (rising blissful instrumentation).
34 "Part 1 (Movement 4)" The Bird Ensemble Migration [Self-Released]
Moment @ 4:25
Speaking of non-instrumental instrumental bands, The Appleseed Cast surely would rank up there if they didn't so explicitly tell stories/produce linguistic images in their lyrics. And here we finally have the instrumental Appleseed Cast in The Bird Ensemble. Guitars that sparkle beyond eternity in earnest, yelping layers. Crashing drums that could be at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and still be heard like the marching in of angels on Earth. It's cacophonous and heavenly at the same time, and it swells with such confidence and shine that it feels like it literally is a sound from up above, except distilled through a DIY band in a Tennessee basement with only average recording equipment. And yet, it's almost better that way, because it feels like gods interacting with the common man, becoming sprightly rather than overly dramatic, cherubic rather than mighty.
33 "Summersend" Misha Teardrop Sweetheart [Tomlab]
"When you love someone / you wait for them too."
I am just now realizing that it might not be about sending love to someone on a summer's day from far away, but the more likely interpretation of the compounded title is the end of a summer's romance. So many double meanings in the countdown! The summer romance angle might seem played out, but this delightful bubbly tune knows how to tweak it just right: in one version of the story in my head, a boy is waiting for his girl while counting dandelions in the grass as the sun beats down on his back, giving her the benefit of the doubt that she's actually coming and this absence isn't the beginning of the end. In another, they are separating ways on the last day of the summer, planning to wait for each other, but they've already started missing each other, and thus have already started the waiting process. Is this the end or has the end already begun? If they never get together, at least they will have known they waited, and thus, they have truly loved. The shy vocals overcoming their tininess is only the icing on the cake.
32 "Woozy With Cider" James Yorkston The Year of the Leopard [Domino]
"And I'll be happy because we won't be taking anything too seriously."
This is the problem with the word "pretentious." Someone hears a Scottish guy mumbles over a melodica and a dramatic keyboard lilt without actually listening and suddenly they're a poster child for melodrama. As if people couldn't be deathly serious and still have a light attitude toward life. I think that the people that truly do "serious" music the best are most comfortable with the silliness of life. It's the people that find too much comedy and absurdity in life that have anxiety and depression issues. They're the ones that are consistently uncomfortable in their own skin. When you get get relaxed, stay relaxed, and appreciate the unsteadiness of life, and communicate it artfully or overtly when you're over thinking on a rainy day, then you've achieved nirvana. Yorkston did with a couple electronic loops and a stream of consciousness of images and memories and conversations with loved one - it just takes a little time and open-mindedness to let go and still stay real.
31 "I Am John" Loney, Dear Loney, Noir [Sub Pop]
"Got a heart full of plans but nowhere to run."
And here we go with the first song on the countdown that has made me cry. I could have sworn there was a song before this one, but here we are all the way at #31 and no tears. Amazing, considering how I used to be called "Captain Emo" an inappropriate amount of times...in public. Nevertheless, the first time I listened to this song on headphones and heard the sobbing snare drum and childlike xylophone/clarinet duet getting louder and louder, I started feeling (sigh) emotion build up inside me like no one's business. Then when he goes into that piercing falsetto at about 2:14, my jaw trembles, my heart opens up, and puppies and flowers burst out of it onto the floor, flooded with eye juice pouring out of my sockets. I feel like my metaphorical clothes are shedding, leaving me metaphorically naked on a dirty city street at sunrise, left completely vulnerable and surprised that the damn song ends so damn early. "Someone fix me," I scream, and there's no one there but Johnny, and I'm there for him.
Next week: we continue with #s 30-21. ¶ posted by chris at 2:42 PM
40 "Can I Get Get Get" Junior Senior Hey Hey My My Yo Yo [Rykodisc]"I'm busy bee but I'm taking it easy."
I never thought a second Junior Senior album would hold up. I was skeptical to hear their new single after having the record finally released in the states after much delay, but they are just too sincere and genuine in making joyous pop music to pass up. Usually I let people have their opinions when it comes to sugary dance-pop (because I can often sympathize with the disgust), but if you can go through listening this whole song without smiling and/or bopping your head along, you might as well die now, because life has nothing to offer your kind. The scary thing is, there's no hyperbole there. That's how much I believe in this song. In fact, it's the epitome of the kind of song that is perfect for a wedding (Qualler and Brigitte's wedding to be exact), where you can hear it, jump out on the floor, forget all ambition, and just pump those cabbage patch arms like there's no tomorrow. Cuz there's not, there's only now.
39 "Confusing Possibilities" Six Parts Seven Casually Smashed to Pieces [Suicide Squeeze]Moment @ 4:57
Ah the band that wrote the song Joe and I named our instrumental radio show after. They are still consistently writing the most relaxing instrumental guitar music on this blue world. Not only this, but if you let yourself get engaged by the charming melodies, they become characters playing in a scene together. In a moment of pause, the skittish pizzicato scurries away into the corner as the bully horns' shadows grow more ominous, the droopy slide mopes in the background, and the flighty harmonics finally overtake the youngsters with a boost of distorted bass to close out our story. There's so much going on in this modest yet epic tale, but it never clouds up the mind, always allowing for breathing room. Shut your eyes on a bright afternoon and listen to this song - surely a beautiful movie will project on the back of your eyelids.
38 "23" Blonde Redhead 23 [4AD]"All things we love will die."
I fell in love with this song when I saw the stately trio play it live on Conan. Of course you will not be able to find this online, but if you ever see a Conan rerun with Blonde Redhead playing, watch it. When the drummer started programming Kazu's vocals and suddenly there were a sheet of "na-na-na"s buried into a wall of shoegaze entanglements as the frantic drumbeat spiraled out of control and there were still only three people on my TV screen, I practically lost my marbles. The mysticism, the detached anger, the existentialism, and the beleaguered acceptance all implode into a warped energy unheard of to these ears. Seeing and hearing but not believing while being unable to fall asleep at 12:35 in the morning on a weekday, I felt strangely okay and twitchy all at once. Definitely unforgettable.
37 "Backed Out on the..." Kevin Drew Spirit If... [Arts & Crafts]"Everyone can write this song / they can't write you and me."
Did the subject of this song back out on the cause...or...did he/she back out on the cocks? This seems to be the topic of debate surrounding the lyrics of this song, and it's brilliant. It's two songs in one! Either it's a great proletarian Screw You song, demanding respect, loyalty, and passion amongst the people or it's a fantastic choral refuting of the male masculine identity in our society. Doesn't really matter, because there's one thing that this song obviously is - a party song. Once again, I didn't realize the genius of this song until I saw its corresponding video (linked above) and saw how much the guys from Broken Social Scene were having fun with Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis and a bunch of other crazies just by rocking out. And this is some rocking out that defies categorization - if you love guitar solos, it's for you. If you hate guitar solos, Mascis is the man to change your mind about it. And if you love loudness, this is for you, and if you loathe loudness, this is one song that makes you want to shout with glee "YOU CANNOT WRITE ME!"
36 "Tournament of Hearts" The Weakerthans Reunion Tour [Epitaph]"Why can't I ever stop where I want to stay?"
Nasally singing can get to me, and yet I could listen to John K. Sampson's wheeze away for the rest of time and enjoy every second of it. It's because his whine is exploding with a tremendous kind of hope - one that is full of despair and yet still infinitely caring for every human being on the planet. It's not a one man guilt show with The Weakerthans, it's about finding the power in feeling down. This is probably way more emo than a little rant on a pop-rock song should be, but the fact is that this song is not only another perfect gem in the catalog of a near-perfect band, but it's the homonym of "right off" and "write off" followed by a heart-pounding "no never never ever ever" every time. It brings me back into a state of patience and allowing life flow into me like it's only just begun. This is how much a song can save my life.
35 "It's O.K." Howard Hello Howard Hello & Greenness [Sickroom]"It's all right / I'll go / tonight will be no more."
Ever since my obsession with instrumental music began, I've become even more engrossed by instrumental songs that just happen to have lyrics. This sounds ridiculous, I'm well aware, but hear me out. Instrumental songs exist to exude a progression of feeling, a tone, a unique orchestrated set of abstractions while songs with lyrics try to say something to the listener. So when a song with lyrics tries to do what most instrumental songs succeed at without trying to directly tell a story, bring a message, or even a set of symbols, it's breathtakingly refreshing. All you feel when you listen to this song is both a tone and a story: rejection (the blow to the head intro), followed by frantic self doubt (the overlapping voices and off-kilter wandering), finally resulting in nervous acceptance followed by a deep breath (rising blissful instrumentation).
34 "Part 1 (Movement 4)" The Bird Ensemble Migration [Self-Released]Moment @ 4:25
Speaking of non-instrumental instrumental bands, The Appleseed Cast surely would rank up there if they didn't so explicitly tell stories/produce linguistic images in their lyrics. And here we finally have the instrumental Appleseed Cast in The Bird Ensemble. Guitars that sparkle beyond eternity in earnest, yelping layers. Crashing drums that could be at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and still be heard like the marching in of angels on Earth. It's cacophonous and heavenly at the same time, and it swells with such confidence and shine that it feels like it literally is a sound from up above, except distilled through a DIY band in a Tennessee basement with only average recording equipment. And yet, it's almost better that way, because it feels like gods interacting with the common man, becoming sprightly rather than overly dramatic, cherubic rather than mighty.
33 "Summersend" Misha Teardrop Sweetheart [Tomlab]"When you love someone / you wait for them too."
I am just now realizing that it might not be about sending love to someone on a summer's day from far away, but the more likely interpretation of the compounded title is the end of a summer's romance. So many double meanings in the countdown! The summer romance angle might seem played out, but this delightful bubbly tune knows how to tweak it just right: in one version of the story in my head, a boy is waiting for his girl while counting dandelions in the grass as the sun beats down on his back, giving her the benefit of the doubt that she's actually coming and this absence isn't the beginning of the end. In another, they are separating ways on the last day of the summer, planning to wait for each other, but they've already started missing each other, and thus have already started the waiting process. Is this the end or has the end already begun? If they never get together, at least they will have known they waited, and thus, they have truly loved. The shy vocals overcoming their tininess is only the icing on the cake.
32 "Woozy With Cider" James Yorkston The Year of the Leopard [Domino]"And I'll be happy because we won't be taking anything too seriously."
This is the problem with the word "pretentious." Someone hears a Scottish guy mumbles over a melodica and a dramatic keyboard lilt without actually listening and suddenly they're a poster child for melodrama. As if people couldn't be deathly serious and still have a light attitude toward life. I think that the people that truly do "serious" music the best are most comfortable with the silliness of life. It's the people that find too much comedy and absurdity in life that have anxiety and depression issues. They're the ones that are consistently uncomfortable in their own skin. When you get get relaxed, stay relaxed, and appreciate the unsteadiness of life, and communicate it artfully or overtly when you're over thinking on a rainy day, then you've achieved nirvana. Yorkston did with a couple electronic loops and a stream of consciousness of images and memories and conversations with loved one - it just takes a little time and open-mindedness to let go and still stay real.
31 "I Am John" Loney, Dear Loney, Noir [Sub Pop]"Got a heart full of plans but nowhere to run."
And here we go with the first song on the countdown that has made me cry. I could have sworn there was a song before this one, but here we are all the way at #31 and no tears. Amazing, considering how I used to be called "Captain Emo" an inappropriate amount of times...in public. Nevertheless, the first time I listened to this song on headphones and heard the sobbing snare drum and childlike xylophone/clarinet duet getting louder and louder, I started feeling (sigh) emotion build up inside me like no one's business. Then when he goes into that piercing falsetto at about 2:14, my jaw trembles, my heart opens up, and puppies and flowers burst out of it onto the floor, flooded with eye juice pouring out of my sockets. I feel like my metaphorical clothes are shedding, leaving me metaphorically naked on a dirty city street at sunrise, left completely vulnerable and surprised that the damn song ends so damn early. "Someone fix me," I scream, and there's no one there but Johnny, and I'm there for him.
Next week: we continue with #s 30-21. ¶ posted by chris at 2:42 PM
Comments:
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Man, that is some harsh commentary on the Jr. Sr. song. I gotta say, it looks like I should just die right now. Happy music blows, Polley. Dance music is only good if it's either sexy or melancholic, preferably both.
The rest of this 10 is quite good. I love the Kevin Drew tune and especially that Misha song.
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The rest of this 10 is quite good. I love the Kevin Drew tune and especially that Misha song.
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