50 Songs Of The Decade (2000 – 2009)

(photo by dcdead)

I released my 50 albums of the decade list two years ago with all intentions to follow it up with a matching songs list. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. No such list ever materialized and I kindof gave up on the idea. That is until earlier this summer when I took a weekend trip to visit some friends in Chicago and decided to soundtrack the drive with a playlist of my favorite songs from 2000-2009. I thought the mix turned out pretty good so I chiseled it down to my absolute favorite 50 songs, gave them a mostly-arbitrary ranking and now I’m sharing it with you. Of course, belating this list for two years has given me the necessary perspective to narrow this list down to only the essentials. These are the tracks that I play over and over and never get tired of, the songs that always make me turn the volume up when they shuffle on my iPod, basically the songs that are “really, really ridiculously good looking” and not just “so hot right now”.

A few words of about this list, I’m not claiming to have made an end-all be-all “greatest songs of the naughts” list, just my personal favorites. A few folks took offense to the lack of  some genres (ahem, hip hop) on the albums list but hopefully this one will counterbalance that woeful underrepresentation somewhat. Furthermore, I didn’t do full reviews of each track, because seriously, who has that kind of time, but I’ve created a Spotify Playlist where you can listen to all of the tracks (there’s also vimeo/youtube videos linked to each one). In keeping with my yearly songs lists I’ve limited myself to one track per artist.  If you scroll all the way down you’ll see some songs that “just missed” and some per-year stats (‘05 reins supreme again in my book). So here it is, the long overdue top 50 songs of the decade according to me. Feel free to dispute or agree with my choices in the comments. Enjoy!

music for kids who can’t read good presents: 50 Songs Of The Decade (2000 – 2009)

Most easily found on: The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

Most easily found on: The Execution Of All Things

Most easily found on: Bows + Arrows

Most easily found on: Veckatimest

Most easily found on: Sticking Fingers Into Sockets

Most easily found on: Black Sheep Boy

Most easily found on: White Blood Cells

Most easily found on: Let It Die

Most easily found on: Shut Up I Am Dreaming

Most easily found on: Give Up

Follow the jump to see the rest!

DJ Hero Gift Card Contest

One of the benefits of living in a college dorm was my introduction to the Guitar Hero, a game that I have developed a serious obsession with over the years. This year has already brought Guitar Hero 5, which is a great addition to the series and has the most indie-fied song list yet (TV on the Radio, My Morning Jacket, Elliott Smith). Last week DJ Hero a new addition to series for the more electronica/dance-inclined, had it’s debut. I was a bit skeptical of DJ Hero at first, mainly because the last thing my wife needs is another gaming peripheral taking up precious living room space, but after playing it a couple times I can honestly say it’s a ridiculously fun game and pretty much a must-have (it’s also been getting killer reviews elsewhere). I mean, seriously, you get to play as Daft Punk, Grandmaster Flash is your DJ professor, and the soundtrack includes club-banging artists like M.I.A., Dizzee Rascal, and Justice.

The good folks at Activision have given me a $25 dollar gift card to GameStop* to give away, which will knock a chunk out of a DJ Hero purchase. To enter all you have to do come up with a totally excellent DJ name*. I’ll choose my favorite and have the prize sent to you. Be creative y’all! Leave entries in the comments and make sure to include your email address so I can get in touch if you win. Contest ends in a week.

MP3 Daft Punk – Robot Rock
MP3 Justice – Genesis
MP3 Grandmaster Flash- The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels of Steels

If you haven’t seen DJ Hero in action check out their youtube channel and watch some of the videos. But really, they don’t do the game justice, you gotta play it yourself for the full experience.

*Update: Nathan Bishop is the winner. Congrats Nate (aka DJ Blacklung Lazybones).

50 Albums of the Decade

(photo by dcdead)

I told myself I wasn’t going to do a decades album list. I mean how can you really rank all your favorite albums over a period of ten years that isn’t even completed yet? Over the last couple of months though, I found myself slowly beginning to compile a list of my albums from the 00’s that I loved and I then I began chiseling the list down to around 50 albums. I guess my love for making lists got in the way of the logic and reasoning I had for not making a list. Also since, I started this blog around the middle of the decade I thought only fair that I share this list to acknowledge those great albums that I wasn’t around to write about or put into a fancy EOY list.

A few words of about this list, firstly, these are my personal favorites of the decade and not the end-all be-all of decade-end lists. I realize that some genres (ahem, hip hop) are being woefully underrepresented because of this. Secondably, I would have liked to do full-scale reviews for each album but life kept getting in the way so instead for each album I’ve linked reviews that I feel capture the spirit of the album (click the album cover to go to there). Scroll all the way down to see some albums that “just missed” and some per-year stats (if you want to know which year is best, it’s between ’02 and ’05). So without any further ado, here’s the top 50 albums of the decade according to me. Feel free to dispute or agree with my choices in the comments. Enjoy!

music for kids who can’t read good presents: 50 Albums Of The Decade

Key track: “Beautiful Dreamer”

Key track: “Two Weeks”

Key track: “Postcards in Italy”

Key track: “Hotel Yorba”

Key track: “Consolation Prizes”

Follow the jump to see the rest!

Songs for a Robot (The Wall-E Mix)

I saw Wall-E last week and absolutely loved it.  I’m a huge fan of everything Pixar’s done (except for Cars, which was just ok) and this film is right up there with Toy Story as my favorite Pixar film.  I actually got choked up in a couple parts, it was a completely wonderful movie experience.  There were so many iconic moments in the film that I know will be remembered for years to come. If you haven’t seen it yet, I urge you to check it out.

The movie inspired me to look to my music collection for applicable songs and make a 10 song mix for the film. I’ll point out what the song has to do with the Wall-E’s story while keeping it as spoiler-free as possible. Right-click the song title to download the songs.  Enjoy!

MP3 The Futureheads – Robot

Wall-E is a Robot.

MP3 Smashing Pumpkins – Tales of a Scorched Earth

The first half of the Wall-E takes place on Earth which has turned into a deserted wasteland.

MP3 Radiohead – Paranoid Android

Wall-E meets another Robot named EVE who is at first very paranoid.  Also, like Thom, Wall-E often curiously wonders “What’s there?”

MP3 Daft Punk – Digital Love

Aww, Robots falling in love.  Adorable!

MP3 The Snake The Cross The Crown – Electronic Dream Plant

We soon find out EVE’s eco-friendly purpose.

MP3 Eluvium – Indoor Swimming at the Space Station

Wall-E follows EVE to a Space Station.  Where people ride around on floating chairs and go to the pool.

MP3 Sufjan Stevens – Dear Mr. Supercomputer

There’s a very Hal-9000 type of presence on this ship.

MP3 King Harvest – Dancing in the Moonlight

Probably my favorite scene of the movie is when the two Robots are dancing in Outer Space.  It’s a gorgeous scene.

MP3 Explosions in the Sky – Your Hand In Mine

All Wall-E wants is someone to hold his robot hands (the album title here is also relevant – The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place).

MP3 Guided By Voices – Gold Star for Robot Boy

Wall-E saves the day.  Gold Star!

***

Read the Ridiculously Positive Reviews of Wall-E (19 perfect scores at Metacritic)
Sign up to pre-order Wall-E on DVD.

Have a great 4th of July, everyone!

For The Weekend: Daft Punk Alive 2007

This is a pretty obvious one, but someone was nice enough to send this album my way and I think it definitely deserves a mention on this site. Pitchfork said it best when it called this album the “Ultimate Daft Punk Mixtape”. For those new to Daft Punk, other than seeing their live show in person, this is probably the best introduction to their music. I didn’t grow up listening to French electronica geniuses (or really any dance music at all) and their spectacular comeback this year was my first real introduction to the band.

After spinning Alive 2007 a couple times though, I think it’s the equivalent of Night Ripper from last year. You put this album on and you have a party. The music segues perfectly making the album a nonstop jam. The “Aerodynamic” mix of “One More Time” is a huge highlight for me as is the mashup of “Around the World” and “Harder Better Faster Stronger”. The live versions completely retools these very familiar songs into something new and exciting. The final dance explosion of “Superheroes”, “Human After All”, and “Rock and Roll” climaxes the set perfectly. If you love Daft Punk you probably already have this album and might have even seen the tour (which makes me completely jealous). If you’re not as familiar though, this as a worthy introduction to the Robot/Human identity-searching duo.

MP3 One More Time/Aerodynamic (Alive 2007)
MP3 Around The World / Harder Bester Faster Stronger (Alive 2007)

Also if you haven’t yet seen the Daft Punk “hands” video you need to do so immediately. It would have definitely made my music videos list of 2007 if it were an official release.