Blog

Actually make that 52, added a couple tracks that I forgot about half way through the write ups and didn't see the need to delete Approach the Throne and Spiders just to make it an even 50.

52. Clues - Approach The Throne
Cool song from debut album fronted by ex-Unicorns Alden Penner. Far more satisfying then any Islands one.

51. Swan Lake - Spider
I threw this song up here because I think it shows Swan Lakes true potential. Beast Moans and Enemy Mine are both alright but has nothing on any of its members primary projects. Honestly for the most part this song is nothing more then an average Bejar track. But then it ends with Bejar repeating the line "they want you", first Mercer joins in, then Krug. It's somewhat chilling and very cool. i wish they would do more things like this.
Favorite Lyric -
They want you

50. Thee Oh Sees - Ruby Go Home
Great bit of 60's style garage rock.

49. Cymbals Eat Guitars - And The Hazy Sea
Such a great opening. One of the cooler bands to see at Pitchfork musical festival since it seemed obvious that it was the biggest show they had ever done to that point. They opened with this song there, and it worked great as well. I like the screams after the silence at 3:37

48. The Twilight Sad - I Became A Prostitute
A highlight off Forget the Night Ahead, an album full of catchy, shoegazy, indie rock.
Favorite Lyric -
bleed you dry
we're taken half your tide
if we bleed you dry

47. Metric -Gimme Sympathy
Catchy, affecting pop song.
Favorite Lyric -
Who would you rather be
The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?
Oh seriously
You're gonna make mistakes you're young
Come on baby play me something,
Like here comes the sun

46. Reigning Sound - Break It
Great opener to Love and Curses.
Favorite Lyric -
Cause it still thinks that you are mine
And it still seems to think you are so kind
So do it a favor and help it to remind
And break it for me one more time
One more time

45. Das Racist & Wallpaper - Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper. RMX)
Shut the fuck up if you don't like this song
Favorite Lyric -
IM AT THE PIZZA HUT
IM AT THE TACO BELL
IM AT THE COMBINATION PIZZA HUT AND TACO BELL!

44. Lotus Plaza - Red Oak Way
Lotus Plaza got unfairly ignored amongst the other Deerhunter related releases this year. Red Oak Way is a great piece of hazy dream pop

43. Matt & Kim - Daylight
As infectious as anything that came out this year.

42. The Antlers - Epilogue
The beautiful closer to Hospice. Absolutely spectacular live. Musically it is somewhat a reprise of Bear stripped down to its core. The part from 3:42 leading up to the coda is incredible
Favorite Lyric -
When I try to move my arms sometimes, they weigh too much to lift.
I think you buried me awake (my one and only parting gift.)
But you return to me at night,
just when I think I may have fallen asleep.
Your face is up against mine,
and I'm too terrified to speak.

41. Grizzly Bear - While You Wait for the Others
The vocal part towards the end is awesome.

40. Handsome Furs - Radio Kaliningrad
The kind of energetic rock song Dan Boeckner is known for.

39. St. Vincent - The Strangers
An awesome introduction to Annie Clark and her music. Starts off like some nice female-fronted pop a la Feist, then kicks your ass with some awesome guitar out of nowhere.

38. Dinosaur Jr. - Said The People
"sad" rock music like only J. Mascis and Dinosaur Jr. can do(and Built to Spill I guess). Great vocal perfomance and awesome guitar solo.

37. Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is the Move
I never really got into Bitte Orca but this song is bizarrely catchy. The violins in the last part are a nice touch.

36. Bill Callahan - My Friend
Nice lyrics and vocal delivery. I love his delivery of "my friend", its almost sinister sounding.
Favorite Lyric -
Now I'm not saying we're cut from the same tree
But like two pieces of the gallows
The pillar and the beam
Like two pieces of the gallows
We share a common dream--
To destroy what will harm other men
My friend

35. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Stay Alive
Very pretty hazy pop song. Also congrats for coming up with maybe the worst band name of the decade.

34. The Flaming Lips - Worm Mountain
Of the the more rocking out parts of Embryonic. Apparently MGMT contributed to this, I'm assuming with some of the noise and distortion. Like most of Embryonic, a great bass line is what keeps this song going.

33. Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You
Neko at her peak. A great opener to Middle Cyclone
Favorite Lyric -
climb the boxcars to the engine
through the smoke and to the sky
your rails have always outrun mine
so I
picked them up and crashed them down
in a moment close to now
cause i miss
I miss x10

32. Wilco - I'll Fight
Great vocal performance from Tweedy.
Favorite Lyric -
And if I die
I'll die
I'll die alone like Jesus
On a cross
My faith cannot by tossed
And my life will not be lost
If my love comes across

31. Destroyer - Bay Of Pigs
The problem with Destroyer's latest album Trouble in Dreams was that for the first time since 2000's Thief Dan Bejar sounded like he was repeating himself. Trouble in Dreams was basically Rubies pt. 2. Looks like Dan decided that was an issue too, if this EP is anything to go by. Bay of Pigs is a nearly 14 minute epic of ambient disco. Four minutes of ambient music open up the track before the first synths enter. From the there the song goes on for 8 more mintues as Bejars rather dark lyrics contrast with the upbeat synths, guitar, and handclaps. The ambient music returns to close out the track and is rather sinister and more in tune with the lyrics then the middle part of the song. It's an epic and exciting song and hopefully Dan keeps following this route for his next album.
Favorite Lyric -
I was ripped on dope. You were a ray of sunshine.
I was a hopeless romantic. You were swine.
You've got to spend money to make money.
You've got to stop calling me "honey".

30. Atlas Sound - Walkabout
Walkabout is basically exactly what you'd expect a collaboration between Bradford Cox and Panda Bear to sound like. A hazy pop song with pretty vocals.
Favorite Lyric -
What did you want to see?
What did you want to be when you grew up?

29. Timber Timbre - Magic Arrow
Utterly badass song. Very evocative, feels like something you'd listen to while driving in the middle of the desert at night by yourself.

28. Why? - Into The Shadows Of My Embrace
The highlight off Eskimo Snow, typically great lyrics from Yoni and the song has an infectious energy to it.
Favorite Lyric -
they said sex will keep you young and make you older at the same time,
they said sex will have left you aged normally,
and so i guess it's sorta like smoking and walking at the same time
in that it will have left you aged normally

27. A.C. Newman - The Heartbreak Rides
Probably some inconsistency with this songs placement here compared to the decade list but I'm not to worried about it. Regardless it is a great power pop ballad like only AC Newman can make

26. The Flaming Lips - See The Leaves
4:24 of a rough bassline with Wayne chanting out the lyrics. Does a good job encapsulating what is so great and exciting about Embryonics more freak out parts. Ends with a wavering synth(I think? not sure really) that is beautifully haunting.
Favorite Lyric -
See the leaves
They're dying again
See the moth
It's flying again
See the grass
It's dying again
See the sun
It's trying again

25. Japandroids - The Boys Are Leaving Town
Post-Nothing is about growing up, girls, and boys trying to find girls, and Japandroids are about screaming this idea out to anyone who will listen and making a lot of noise while they do it. This song opens the album by focusing on the growing up theme. The only lyrics are the ones I list below, but they sound so excited and emotional when shouting them out that they're really all that's needed.
Favorite Lyric -
the boys are leaving town
will we find our way back home?

24. Metric - Help I'm Alive
A great, atmospheric, sinister pop song.
Favorite Lyric -
Help, I'm alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer

23. Phoenix - Lasso
Only song off Wolfgang that I really wish was longer. Infectiously endearing chorus.
Favorite Lyric -
Where would you go
Where would you go
With a lasso?
Could you run into
Could you run into
Could you go and run into me?

22. Sunset Rubdown - Idiot Heart
Scattershot drums and guitars open the song, and the song is kind of interpolish as Krug sings about idiots and Icarus. The song breaks open after a nice little reprise of the chorus from The Men Are Called Horsemen and rocks out the rest of the way. Great vocals from Krug and backing vocals from Camilla.

21. Atlas Sound - Shelia
A simple pretty, if dark, pop song.
Favorite Lyric -
Shelia Lyrics
Send "Shelia" Ringtone to your Cell
Shelia,
Shelia,
You'll be my wife and share my life,
You'll be my wife, you'll share my life.
We will grow old,
We will grow old.
And when we die we'll bury ourselves,
And when we die we'll bury ourselves.
'cause no one wants to die alone

20. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Pretty vocals, euphoric, all and all a pretty great song.

19. Sunset Rubdown - Nightingale / December Song
Pulsing drums pervade and drive the entire song. The guitars and distortion only accent this centerpiece. The great thing about this song is how it subtly builds up momentum without you noticing.
Favorite Lyric -
so let me hammer this point home
i see us all as lonely fires that have burned alive as long as we remember
but like all fireworks and all sunsets, we all burn in different ways

18. City Center - Bleed Blood
Part Panda Bear part Disco Inferno. Distorted drums and a heavy bass pervade this song accompanying rather pretty vocals.

17. Reigning Sound - Debris
Reigning Sound have this amazing ability to churn out great heartfelt rock song after rock song.
Favorite Lyric -
Is there another lover there in your room, does he even know about me?

16. Atlas Sound - Quick Canal (w/ Laetitia Sadier)
8 minute epic off Logos. A repetitive disco sort of beat pervades the song and accompanies Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab on vocals. The song has a great momentum and the combination of the noisy music and pretty vocals is great.

15. The Flaming Lips - Silver Trembling Hands
The closest to Yoshimi the Lips get to on Embryonic, and even then that's only during the chorus. The rest of the song with pulsing drums and keyboards creates a tense undercurrent for the chorus. The "when she's high" chorus is classic.

14. Animal Collective - Brother Sport
Animal Collective letting it all out. The build up in the middle before the climax is great.
Favorite Lyric -
I know it sucks that daddy's gone
But try to think of what you want
You got to open up your
Open up your, open up your throat
Matt!

13. Yo La Tengo - Here to fall
Great drumming and bass line. This song blew me away when they opened live with it. The strings are a nice tough that they didn't have live. The lyrics are pessimistic, hinting at bad times to come, yet reassuring. The music actually goes well with the lyrics, giving them a tense undercurrent.

12. Neko Case - Red Tide
Spectacular vocals, the live versions of it that I've seen seem great if you can find one
Favorite Lyric -
I want to go back and die at the drive in
Die before strangers can say
I hate the rain
I hate the rain

11. Bill Callahan - Eid Ma Clack Shaw
Nice strings, great vocals, but this song is about the lyrics. The song is touching 'till the punchline then its hilarious.
Favorite Lyric -
I fell back asleep some time later on
And I dreamed the perfect song
It held all the answers, like hands laid on

I woke halfway and scribbled it down
And in the morning what I wrote I read
It was hard to read at first but here's what it said

Eid ma clack shaw
Zupoven del ba
Mertepy ven seinur
Cofally ragdah

10. Sunset Rubdown - Silver Moons
Restrained for a Spencer Krug song, Silver Moons has Sunset Rubdown turning over a new leaf. Slow and deliberate this song took awhile for me to get into but it has a great melody and some great backup vocals from Camilla.
Favorite Lyric -
maybe these days are over, over now
maybe these days are over, over now
and i loved it better than anyone else you know
and i believe in growing old with grace
i believe she only loved my face
i believe i acted like a child
making faces at acquired tastes
and now silver moons belong to you

9. Fuck Buttons - Surf Solar
Maybe I was just in the right mood(read: slightly drunk) when it came on, but Surf Solar hit me harder then any song as in a while. Other songs on Tarot Sport are just as good but they didn't leave the initial impression Surf Solar did. I don't really listen to much noise or electronic music so I've really no basis for comparison when talking about Fuck Buttons. Basically its very distorted, symphonic, electronic music. Surf Solar is both catchy and engrossing and makes its ten minutes feel like three.

8. Ganglians - Valient Brave
Part Beach Boys part I don't really know. The pounding percussion at 2:26 is ridiculously awesome.

7. The Flaming Lips - Watching The Planets
This track really needs to be heard on either great headphones are a decent stereo system. Listening to it through shitty computer speakers really doesn't cut it. Live they use a big ass gong to help with the monstrous percussion this song delivers. The return of the percussion after the brief silent moment is awesome. And if you haven't already you need to see the music video.
http://www.nme.com/video/bcid/49582897001

6. The Antlers - Two
Great emotionally affecting lyrics backed by one a catchy guitar piece which is probably the happiest thing about Hospice.
Favorite Lyric -
There's two people living in one small room,
from your two half-families tearing at you,
two ways to tell the story (no one worries),
two silver rings on our fingers in a hurry,
two people talking inside your brain,
two people believing that I'm the one to blame,
two different voices coming out of your mouth,
while I'm too cold to care and too sick to shout.

5. Yo La Tengo - More Stars than there are in heaven
As beautiful as anything Yo La Tengo has created. Slowly unwinding over ten minutes this pretty song perfectly fits the title.
Favorite Lyric -
We'll walk hand in hand
Never as we planned
And even those we never knew
Fast they disappear from view
Fading world without a price
Right before our very eyes
Melts before our very eyes
Dies before our very eyes

4. Animal Collective - Bluish
The prettiest thing that AC has done since Winters Love. Just a great melody and nice sentimental lyrics

3. Modest Mouse - The Whale Song
Just when I thought Issac Brock couldn't do it any more he whips this out. Possibly their best track since The Moon & Antarctica, The Whale Song is a nearly instrumental, atmospheric, 6 minute epic. Featuring some of the most typical Modest Mouse guitar work that has been mostly absent from their last two albums. Usually I would put a favorite lyric on a Modest Mouse song but, though they aren't bad, they aren't the point here. The song builds up for the first three minutes, takes a brief break half way through for the lyrics, and then builds up to a frenzy to end the song. This song features Issac Brock down in a darker place then he has been in the last two albums, "God I wish I could find my way out" he sings. Please don't your music is better if you stay down there.

2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Runaway
Zero and Heads Will Roll are both great but this is the true highlight of It's Blitz! Gorgeous and haunting Runaway is the YYYs most emotionally affecting song since Maps. I'm actually pretty neutral on Karen O's vocals but she really kills it here.
Favorite Lyric -
Run, run, run away
Lost, lost, lost my mind
Want you to stay
Want you to be my prize

1. Phoenix - Lisztomania
That first "from the mess to the masses" absolutely floored me the first time I heard it. Simply the catchiest, most joyous pop song of the last few years.
Favorite Lyric -
So sentimental, no not sentimental,
but romantic