Thursday, February 07, 2008
Top 50 Songs of 2007 (#s 30-21)
30 "Snake Mistakes" Dan Deacon Spiderman of the Rings [Carpark]
"My dad is so cool / he is the coolest dad in dad school."
I, like so many others, have been interminably smitten by Deacon ever since I heard his twisted synthesizer and saw a photo of his wicked Fred Flintstone t-shirt. However, I did not know how unforgettable he would turn out to be until during his performance of this song the first time I saw him live, he screwed the song up halfway through, scolded himself for not knowing how to use his iPod shuffle correctly, and said "I'm not going to let this ruin it." He immediately got his sound back together, and the entire crowd was forgiving as hell - joining his exclamation and proclamation of never-ending fun, and partied even harder when the song came back together. I know it should be expected that musicians should not let slight screw-ups phase them on stage, but as you might know, Deacon refuses to use a stage on tour. His being down with a bunch of sweaty kids wearing bright clothing, screwing up at our level, let everyone coalesce so beautifully that I felt so much togetherness in the moment his crazy music flew back in my face and I started dancing my heart out all over again. See this man live and smile for the rest of your life.
29 "March Against the Savages" Lights Out Asia Tanks and Recognizers [N5MD]
"Save her."
Probably the only song on the countdown that was nowhere close to my radar for best songs of the year, but I kept listening to the album it was on over and over again, thinking "when am I going to fall in love with a song on here?" This band is responsible for my #1 song of 2003, which was also basically the reason I fell in love with instrumental music in the first place. Almost all of the songs on their new one has vocals, but I loved the singer's sparse placement and soaring quality, so that wasn't a problem. It was a beautiful and pleasant-sounding record, but no one track leaped out at me...until I stopped my car in the driveway one brisk fall afternoon and paid attention to this track's bassline, which doesn't even come in until the midway point. For an oeuvre that is so full of desolation and infinite black holes, the plucky uplifting bass part turns everything around just in time for the most gut-wrenching climax of a song whose rising action seems all pretty fluff for so long. Wait for it, the payoff is so worth it.
28 "Los Federales" Signal Hill EP [Self-Released]
Moment @ 0:56
Another unique situation for a song to get on the countdown: I made a random mix CD of instrumental tunes in the spring just to keep in my car for "mood music," i.e. a CD of language-less music to put in to calm myself down on overly stressful days. This song would always catch my ear whenever it came on, but I could never for the life of me place who it was by. But I never remembered when I got home to check my iTunes playlist to see who it was by or what it was called, for whatever reason. So I just kept hearing these perfect mid-tempo guitar ballets on days I wanted to escape the world into a void, and the balance of the shimmering, the neglected, and the embarrassed danced through my ears like flawless melodies across an open field of reckless abandon, and I always felt so completely at peace when the four-and-a-half minutes were up. But it took me forever to find out it was this little DIY California band, so understated they could go unnoticed by the whole world, and it seems like they'd be just fine with it, by the calm yet sad sounds of their instruments.
27 "Headup" Apparat Walls [Shitkatapult]
"I'm feeling better now."
The nectar of this song is bookended by such quietness that it really demands your full attention in order to grasp its brief and transcendent journey. One small distraction and that breathy ambient scream will come out of nowhere and you'll ask yourself, "why haven't I been listening more closely?" The trepidation of the piano and solemn jerkiness of the sequencer lead into an orgy of headphone-ear fornication as guest vocalist Raz gets buried in a whirlwind of candy-coated dust and static rattling off the attempts to escape a world of put downs and leave behinds. It becomes so filled with presence you begin to wonder what happened to that ignorable skittering beat and smooth croon at the beginning of the song. If there ever were to be an award for a song that metaphorically went from 0 to 60 in the quickest amount of time, it would definitely go to Mr. Apparat and his deftly honed skills that make sadtronica become more than a silly made-up genre by some kid who makes a long list of his favorite songs ever year.
26 "Little Bit of You in Everything" The Rentals The Last Little Life EP [Boompa]
"There's a little bit of you I keep with me."
People sure do complain a lot when a beloved musician starts making music they don't like anymore. So much so that I think it's often overshadowed when a beloved musician goes away, then comes back with material that was just as strong as "their old stuff." Matt Sharp didn't get the hype he deserved when he and his rented brethren returned this year with newly recorded songs full of the same clever Moog and heavenly female back-up vocals that made them an honorable Weezer offshoot in the mid-90s, but still with a distinct newly found direction - acceptance and smoothness in replace of resentment and business. It's so simple and comforting in fact, that it feels like (and this is so rare that when it happens, it's beyond rewarding) I've actually grown in step with a musician I've so deeply respected for numerous years. Matt was the goofy kid in 96, the depressed kid in 01, and now he's the mature and optimistic kid in 07. Let's keep this up, Matt, I'm with you all the way.
25 "Beautiful Life" Gui Boratto Chromophobia [Kompakt]
"It's a beautiful life."
It's never good when the first thing you read about a song before you even listen to it is that it will change your life. Woops, sorry if you haven't listened to this one yet. But at least I will expound upon the statement for you, unlike the unmentionable blogger who did the same to me. You see, I saw and heard the generic phrase "beautiful life" over and over again when reading about this supposedly revelatory track as I was listening to it for the first time. It lost meaning and relevance almost immediately and I never gave it another thought. Decent song with a bright and unique keyboard effect, but could have done without the Benigni-esque naivety or blindness. Then one day, of course grumpy and sick of the world, I go looking in my iTunes for a benign but long song to lull me into a much-desired after-work nap, and I find this. I actually remember verbally challenging this Brazilian to cheer me up with his circular vision of absolute completion of mind and body before I pressed play and closed my eyes. Turns out, when you're so angry that you put the music on too loud and try to sleep with sun still pouring through the slits of your blinds, Boratto's unadulterated and unfiltered take on life will turn you around quicker than any pep talk or motivational book ever could.
24 "Control" Kid Sister Control EP [Fool's Gold]
"Turn / Stop / No / Control."
I am usually a sucker for angsty girls spouting poppy rhymes over twisted production for approximately one month after I hear each for the first time (M.I.A., Lady Sovereign come to mind quickly), then I get tired of the shtick quick. That is of course until I heard this track by Kid Sister. She seems to be the only one putting the music in front of the issues or the reputation. Somehow I can imagine her actually putting her entire self into this song, tweaking every piece of delivery until it becomes a full-fledged masterful piece of hip-pop. The guy-girl exchange that sits atop the hand clap chorus flows in and out effortlessly, the squeaks and twists of her verses are molded with the utmost, err, control, and the airy bridge completes another summer song that could be put on repeat forever and I could never get sick of it. That's saying a lot for a list that lacks rhymes and turntables in over 95% of its contents.
23 "City of Echoes" Pelican City of Echoes [Hydra Head]
Moment @ 0:59
Regardless of totally not hardcore it is according the legions of people who have disassociated themselves with the Chicago instru-metal outfit over the year may claim, Pelican still balance the heavenly and the hellish better than anyone else. Unfortunately, I don't listen to music like it's an X-treme sport, so I cannot sympathize with this rabid group of black-clad darkness enthusiasts, so I'm one of the wusses left to enjoy Pelican in my argyle sweater in my semi-suburban condominium. Oh well. I am proud to say I can live with that outcome, because this song may just say everything perfectly about the balance between light and dark (us fans of all things medium might call it "gray") that good vs. evil stories have been trying to say with words for centuries. The journey from purity and innocence into a realm of unquestionable diabolism glides with such ease that when the pounding bass drum and rabid devil-worshiping distortion kick into high gear, it becomes a pleasure rather than an assault. Before you know it, you're realizing just how close opposites are to each other, as if they were born from the same womb.
22 "Ice Cream" Muscles Guns Babes Lemonade [Modular]
"I don't know how to react or if I should fight back."
How can one be so passionate about such a dumb topic? Don't get me wrong, I love ice cream as much as the next sane person, but I could never finagle enough brazen strength and courage to dedicate an entire song (and an anthemic and totally serious one at that!) to the food, much less anything edible. It seems wrong in so many ways, but this Australian manages to make it sound equally hokey and completely and effectively sincere in an almost completely synthesized song. It sounds like it should be a joke, but I swear it's not! From the apathetic breathing exercise that introduces and interrupts the song to the Ace of Base sirens in the chorus, you hear these gimmicks and want to dismiss them, but you can't, because he's constructed such a perfect way to express the notion of "screw the world I'm going to do what I want and what I want is ICE CREAM," that you cannot do anything but shout at the man along with him. It's mind-boggling.
21 "The Evil That Never Arrived" Stars of the Lid And Their Refinement of the Decline [Kranky]
Moment @ 0:55
I'll be the first to admit that ambient music isn't for everyone, and this is about as ambient as it gets on the list. There's seemingly nothing going on here except pretty yet menacing flourishes of computerized strings and synths, but the best part about the legendary Texan duo is their use of silence. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but if you seriously take a moment to take in this song with no other outside influences and you pay attention to the moments in this song where there is no sound, all of a sudden the sound that surrounds the silence becomes suspenseful. It becomes enchanting. It becomes otherworldly. It sucks you in and finally every other time you may have heard the word "minimal" and brushed it aside, you might just now rethink everything. This is what happens when we are left with close to nothing - we adapt and train ourselves how to enjoy the little that is there. Brian Eno, possibly the most famous ambient artist ever, said that ambient music has to be as engaging as it is ignorable - to do this is to fully realize and hear sound again for the first time, by stripping it away and starting again from square one.
Next week: #s 20-16. ¶ posted by chris at 6:33 PM
30 "Snake Mistakes" Dan Deacon Spiderman of the Rings [Carpark]"My dad is so cool / he is the coolest dad in dad school."
I, like so many others, have been interminably smitten by Deacon ever since I heard his twisted synthesizer and saw a photo of his wicked Fred Flintstone t-shirt. However, I did not know how unforgettable he would turn out to be until during his performance of this song the first time I saw him live, he screwed the song up halfway through, scolded himself for not knowing how to use his iPod shuffle correctly, and said "I'm not going to let this ruin it." He immediately got his sound back together, and the entire crowd was forgiving as hell - joining his exclamation and proclamation of never-ending fun, and partied even harder when the song came back together. I know it should be expected that musicians should not let slight screw-ups phase them on stage, but as you might know, Deacon refuses to use a stage on tour. His being down with a bunch of sweaty kids wearing bright clothing, screwing up at our level, let everyone coalesce so beautifully that I felt so much togetherness in the moment his crazy music flew back in my face and I started dancing my heart out all over again. See this man live and smile for the rest of your life.
29 "March Against the Savages" Lights Out Asia Tanks and Recognizers [N5MD]"Save her."
Probably the only song on the countdown that was nowhere close to my radar for best songs of the year, but I kept listening to the album it was on over and over again, thinking "when am I going to fall in love with a song on here?" This band is responsible for my #1 song of 2003, which was also basically the reason I fell in love with instrumental music in the first place. Almost all of the songs on their new one has vocals, but I loved the singer's sparse placement and soaring quality, so that wasn't a problem. It was a beautiful and pleasant-sounding record, but no one track leaped out at me...until I stopped my car in the driveway one brisk fall afternoon and paid attention to this track's bassline, which doesn't even come in until the midway point. For an oeuvre that is so full of desolation and infinite black holes, the plucky uplifting bass part turns everything around just in time for the most gut-wrenching climax of a song whose rising action seems all pretty fluff for so long. Wait for it, the payoff is so worth it.
28 "Los Federales" Signal Hill EP [Self-Released]Moment @ 0:56
Another unique situation for a song to get on the countdown: I made a random mix CD of instrumental tunes in the spring just to keep in my car for "mood music," i.e. a CD of language-less music to put in to calm myself down on overly stressful days. This song would always catch my ear whenever it came on, but I could never for the life of me place who it was by. But I never remembered when I got home to check my iTunes playlist to see who it was by or what it was called, for whatever reason. So I just kept hearing these perfect mid-tempo guitar ballets on days I wanted to escape the world into a void, and the balance of the shimmering, the neglected, and the embarrassed danced through my ears like flawless melodies across an open field of reckless abandon, and I always felt so completely at peace when the four-and-a-half minutes were up. But it took me forever to find out it was this little DIY California band, so understated they could go unnoticed by the whole world, and it seems like they'd be just fine with it, by the calm yet sad sounds of their instruments.
27 "Headup" Apparat Walls [Shitkatapult]"I'm feeling better now."
The nectar of this song is bookended by such quietness that it really demands your full attention in order to grasp its brief and transcendent journey. One small distraction and that breathy ambient scream will come out of nowhere and you'll ask yourself, "why haven't I been listening more closely?" The trepidation of the piano and solemn jerkiness of the sequencer lead into an orgy of headphone-ear fornication as guest vocalist Raz gets buried in a whirlwind of candy-coated dust and static rattling off the attempts to escape a world of put downs and leave behinds. It becomes so filled with presence you begin to wonder what happened to that ignorable skittering beat and smooth croon at the beginning of the song. If there ever were to be an award for a song that metaphorically went from 0 to 60 in the quickest amount of time, it would definitely go to Mr. Apparat and his deftly honed skills that make sadtronica become more than a silly made-up genre by some kid who makes a long list of his favorite songs ever year.
26 "Little Bit of You in Everything" The Rentals The Last Little Life EP [Boompa]"There's a little bit of you I keep with me."
People sure do complain a lot when a beloved musician starts making music they don't like anymore. So much so that I think it's often overshadowed when a beloved musician goes away, then comes back with material that was just as strong as "their old stuff." Matt Sharp didn't get the hype he deserved when he and his rented brethren returned this year with newly recorded songs full of the same clever Moog and heavenly female back-up vocals that made them an honorable Weezer offshoot in the mid-90s, but still with a distinct newly found direction - acceptance and smoothness in replace of resentment and business. It's so simple and comforting in fact, that it feels like (and this is so rare that when it happens, it's beyond rewarding) I've actually grown in step with a musician I've so deeply respected for numerous years. Matt was the goofy kid in 96, the depressed kid in 01, and now he's the mature and optimistic kid in 07. Let's keep this up, Matt, I'm with you all the way.
25 "Beautiful Life" Gui Boratto Chromophobia [Kompakt]"It's a beautiful life."
It's never good when the first thing you read about a song before you even listen to it is that it will change your life. Woops, sorry if you haven't listened to this one yet. But at least I will expound upon the statement for you, unlike the unmentionable blogger who did the same to me. You see, I saw and heard the generic phrase "beautiful life" over and over again when reading about this supposedly revelatory track as I was listening to it for the first time. It lost meaning and relevance almost immediately and I never gave it another thought. Decent song with a bright and unique keyboard effect, but could have done without the Benigni-esque naivety or blindness. Then one day, of course grumpy and sick of the world, I go looking in my iTunes for a benign but long song to lull me into a much-desired after-work nap, and I find this. I actually remember verbally challenging this Brazilian to cheer me up with his circular vision of absolute completion of mind and body before I pressed play and closed my eyes. Turns out, when you're so angry that you put the music on too loud and try to sleep with sun still pouring through the slits of your blinds, Boratto's unadulterated and unfiltered take on life will turn you around quicker than any pep talk or motivational book ever could.
24 "Control" Kid Sister Control EP [Fool's Gold]"Turn / Stop / No / Control."
I am usually a sucker for angsty girls spouting poppy rhymes over twisted production for approximately one month after I hear each for the first time (M.I.A., Lady Sovereign come to mind quickly), then I get tired of the shtick quick. That is of course until I heard this track by Kid Sister. She seems to be the only one putting the music in front of the issues or the reputation. Somehow I can imagine her actually putting her entire self into this song, tweaking every piece of delivery until it becomes a full-fledged masterful piece of hip-pop. The guy-girl exchange that sits atop the hand clap chorus flows in and out effortlessly, the squeaks and twists of her verses are molded with the utmost, err, control, and the airy bridge completes another summer song that could be put on repeat forever and I could never get sick of it. That's saying a lot for a list that lacks rhymes and turntables in over 95% of its contents.
23 "City of Echoes" Pelican City of Echoes [Hydra Head]Moment @ 0:59
Regardless of totally not hardcore it is according the legions of people who have disassociated themselves with the Chicago instru-metal outfit over the year may claim, Pelican still balance the heavenly and the hellish better than anyone else. Unfortunately, I don't listen to music like it's an X-treme sport, so I cannot sympathize with this rabid group of black-clad darkness enthusiasts, so I'm one of the wusses left to enjoy Pelican in my argyle sweater in my semi-suburban condominium. Oh well. I am proud to say I can live with that outcome, because this song may just say everything perfectly about the balance between light and dark (us fans of all things medium might call it "gray") that good vs. evil stories have been trying to say with words for centuries. The journey from purity and innocence into a realm of unquestionable diabolism glides with such ease that when the pounding bass drum and rabid devil-worshiping distortion kick into high gear, it becomes a pleasure rather than an assault. Before you know it, you're realizing just how close opposites are to each other, as if they were born from the same womb.
22 "Ice Cream" Muscles Guns Babes Lemonade [Modular]"I don't know how to react or if I should fight back."
How can one be so passionate about such a dumb topic? Don't get me wrong, I love ice cream as much as the next sane person, but I could never finagle enough brazen strength and courage to dedicate an entire song (and an anthemic and totally serious one at that!) to the food, much less anything edible. It seems wrong in so many ways, but this Australian manages to make it sound equally hokey and completely and effectively sincere in an almost completely synthesized song. It sounds like it should be a joke, but I swear it's not! From the apathetic breathing exercise that introduces and interrupts the song to the Ace of Base sirens in the chorus, you hear these gimmicks and want to dismiss them, but you can't, because he's constructed such a perfect way to express the notion of "screw the world I'm going to do what I want and what I want is ICE CREAM," that you cannot do anything but shout at the man along with him. It's mind-boggling.
21 "The Evil That Never Arrived" Stars of the Lid And Their Refinement of the Decline [Kranky]Moment @ 0:55
I'll be the first to admit that ambient music isn't for everyone, and this is about as ambient as it gets on the list. There's seemingly nothing going on here except pretty yet menacing flourishes of computerized strings and synths, but the best part about the legendary Texan duo is their use of silence. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but if you seriously take a moment to take in this song with no other outside influences and you pay attention to the moments in this song where there is no sound, all of a sudden the sound that surrounds the silence becomes suspenseful. It becomes enchanting. It becomes otherworldly. It sucks you in and finally every other time you may have heard the word "minimal" and brushed it aside, you might just now rethink everything. This is what happens when we are left with close to nothing - we adapt and train ourselves how to enjoy the little that is there. Brian Eno, possibly the most famous ambient artist ever, said that ambient music has to be as engaging as it is ignorable - to do this is to fully realize and hear sound again for the first time, by stripping it away and starting again from square one.
Next week: #s 20-16. ¶ posted by chris at 6:33 PM
Comments:
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YES! March Against the Savages has probably my favorite bass line ever. I had a similar moment driving up North Avenue to my parents place. All of a sudden it just hit me.
I gotta say, I think Tanks & Recognizers blows Garmonia out of the water. Every song is stellar. And yes, the dude's vocals are so effective and wonderful.
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I gotta say, I think Tanks & Recognizers blows Garmonia out of the water. Every song is stellar. And yes, the dude's vocals are so effective and wonderful.
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