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!

Good Cover Version

Cheryse recently wrote about First Aid Kit, a band that first came to my attention thanks to this cover of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”. Re-listening to that cover got me thinking about other covers I’ve enjoyed over the past few years, so I decided to compile and share some of my favorites with you guys. There really weren’t any strict guidelines, but I tried to stick to more recent songs that I felt people either overlooked or forgot about, like TV on the Radio’s “Mr. Grieves”, or that I thought were just as good (or better) than the originals, like the Futureheads’ “Hounds of Love”. Of course, I couldn’t resist throwing in one of Sue Jorge’s Bowie covers.

If you have any good covers to add to the mix, be sure to leave them in comments. If I get enough, I’ll probably do an update to this post later this week.

Cat Power – Sea of Love
First Aid Kit – Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
Gil Scott-Heron – I’m New Here
Grizzly Bear – Deep Blue Sea
José González – Teardrop
Local Natives – Warning Sign
Robyn – Cobrastyle
Samamidon – Sugar Baby
Seu Jorge – Rebel Rebel
The Flaming Lips – Can’t Get You Out of My Head
The Futureheads – Hounds of Love
TV on the Radio – Mr. Grieves
Xiu Xiu- Ceremony

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!

The Flaming Lips – Live @ Pitchfork

If ever you need a reminder of the life-affirming power of a great concert, go see The Flaming Lips.  If you know anything about Oklahoma psych-pop legends, you know they put on one of the most crazy, visually spectacular, musically overwhelming live shows of any band out there.  This performance was particularly exciting because the band was playing as a part of Pitchfork’s “Write The Night”, where the fans chose the setlist.  Wayne Conyne made it pretty clear from the get-go though, that the setlist votes wer basically the same list of songs they play every night anyway (heavy on classics, Yoshimi songs). The band did deviate quite a bit from the list playing by some obscure tracks like “Enthusiasm for Life Defeats Internal Existential Fear” and playing a few songs from their upcoming album, Embryonic.

The visual aspect of the show was just as I remembered it, absolutely spectacular, whether it was Coyne surfing over the crowd inside his giant space bubble hamster ball during “Race For The Prize”, the two huge cannons that shot TONS of confetti into the crowd, or the dozens of oversized balloons that were projected from the stage and bounced around during the set’s entirety.  The visual extravanganza is an absolute joy to watch and the band provides the perfect soundtrack to go along with the fantastic visuals. I think many fans (including myself) would have loved to hear more from The Soft Bulletin and anything from Clouds Taste Metallic, but it’s hard to argue with amazing songs like “Fight Test”, “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Pt. 1”, and “She Don’t Use Jelly”.

The setlist ended with the number one requested song (and recently named “official rock song of Oklahoma“), “Do You Realize”. Predictable as the selection was, the song really is one of the most beautiful anthems of our generation and I couldn’t imagine any other song ending the night.  You can not deny the awesomeness of thousands of people singing along to the song’s euphoric, optimistic lyrics. Being in that moment is one of the best experiences I’ve had at a concert and it closed out the entire festival on the highest note possible. I could spend hours describing the overwhelming, jubilant experience of a Flaming Lips show, but nothing compares to actually witnessing it. If you ever get the chance, see the band live, I can guarantee that you’ll never forget it.

MP3 Race For The Prize (Remix)
MP3 Do You Realize??

Follow the jump for more Flaming Lips pictures. Click here to see the full set.

T.A.I.S.T.M. (The Acronym In Song Titles Mix)

Occasionally I like to make mixes that highlight eccentricities in song titles, and one of these that I come upon ever so often is songs with acronyms in or as their song title. I found nine songs, all of which I very much enjoy, that uses this unique titling method. I only counted ones that actually have a meaning (unfortunately that excludes D.A.N.C.E.). You can download the songs and see what the acronym means below.

Fun fact: The term “acronym” has only been around for a little over 50 years but acronyms are at least as old as the Romans, who would abbreviate the ancient Roman government (Senatus Populusque Romanus in Latin) as SPQR.

of Montreal  – Requiem For O.M.M.2

“of Montreal Mark 2” is a term used by of Montreal purists to describe the second line-up of the band which began after Aldhil’s Arboretum.

MP3 The Flaming Lips – The W.A.N.D.

“Will Always Negates Defeat”.

MP3 Outkast – B.O.B.

You know this one. “BOMBS OVER BAGHDAD” YEAH!

MP3 Wilco – ELT

“Every Little Thing”. (also Wilco is short for “will comply”, a radio term)

MP3 Justice – DVNO

DVNO is short for “El Divino”, which is the name of any night club where you have to be wearing a white shirt to get in.

MP3 Broken Social Scene – TBTF

As the chorus states this means “to beautiful to f–k”.

MP3 TV on the Radio – DLZ

Although not stated officially, but it’s been speculated it stands for “Designated Launch Zone”, a military aviation term.

MP3 Interpol – PDA

“Public Display of Affection”

MP3 Wu-Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M.

“Cash Rules Everything Around Me”, dolla dolla bill y’all!

***

If you have any more good acronym song titles, post them in the comments…

Favorite Live Shows of 2008

With everything that’s been going on in my life this year, graduating college, getting married, starting a new job, I didn’t make it out to as many concerts as I have in the past.  The shows I did see this year though, stand among the music experiences I’ve ever had. These are the 15 performances I loved the most in 2008. Make to sure to follow the read more… link to see the whole list, and visit Pictures For Kids Who Can’t Read Good to check out all my concert pictures from this year. Have a very festive Christmas season!

15. Caribou Courtyard Café (Urbana)

Caribou completely jammed the Courtyard Cafe with their bright, psychedelic sound and trippy lights.  Sinkane, who now plays for Of Montreal, made a special guest appearance on the drums at this show.

MP3 Caribou – Melody Day

14. British Sea Power / 1900’s Canopy Club: Void Room (Urbana)

British Sea Power tore up the stage at the Canopy Club Void Room with some wonderful opening support from folk-collective 1990s.

MP3 British Sea Power – Waving Flags

13. Kanye West Lollapalooza (Chicago)

Kanye West’s homecoming performance at Lollapalooza was an extremely enjoyable and memorable show. He performed all his greatest hits and had a spectacular stage presence.  We even got a speech that compared his music to making an iPhones.

12. The Roots Summer Camp (Chillicothe)

The Roots are talented performers and fantastic musicians.  ?uestlove’s drum solo during their 10 minute version of “Masters of War” was unforgettable.

MP3 The Roots – The Seed

11. Yo La Tengo Krannert Center (Urbana)

Yo La Tengo headlined Pygmalion Festival with a performance at the Krannert Museum Theatre. From classics like “Autumn Sweater” and “Tom Courtenay” to the extended jamming sessions of their latest album, they put on an awesome show.

MP3 Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater

Click the below link to see my top ten!

The Flaming Lips – Live @ Summer Camp

After dancing on stage for Girl Talk and meeting Wayne Coyne backstage, I was extremely pumped for Flaming Lips and positioned myself third row front and center for the most anticipated show of the festival, The Flaming Lips. Having seen tons of pictures of the Lips live show and being a rather huge fan, I was prepared to have my mind blown and the band succeeded in putting on one of the most crazy, visually spectacular, musically overwhelming performance I’ve ever seen. The band opened in the best way possible with Wayne Coyne surfing the crowd inside his giant space bubble hamster ball as the music for “Race for the Prize” began to play. Two huge cannons shot tons of confetti into the crowd and there was probably around three dozen large balloons floating around as well. Did I mention that there was a number of volunteer dancers on stage dressed up in Iron Man and Pink Ninja costumes?

The crowd was amazing for this show. Everyone was jumping around, dancing, singing, smiling, having the best time of their life, and the feeling was mirrored by Wayne on stage who called Summer Camp one of America’s best festivals and said this was most perfect place he could imagine for the band to play. After the visual feast of “Race For The Prize” the band shot into another fantastic opening track, this time “Fight Test” which featured Wayne heaving around a fog machine and shooting it at other band members.

The third song was perhaps the most shocking part of the fest as the band played a energetic version of Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains The Same” (my personal fave from Zep) and encouraged the crowd to strip all of their clothes off and dance around. By the end of the song, there were probably six fully naked crowd members (all ladies) on stage. What other band could get away with that

“Free Radicals” came next, a song which I’ve never been a huge fan of, but I couldn’t deny how fun it was to shout out “In fact, you’re, FANATICAL!”. The real sing-a-long prowess of the band was explored during a poignant acoustic version of “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” which was more similar to the “live on bbc” version than the actual recording (which was perfectly fine with me). We all joined in on the song in typical campfire fashion. It was a beautiful thing to witness.

The rest of the night continued in the “greatest hits” fashion for the band with favorites like “She Don’t Use Jelly” (which was awesome) “The W.A.N.D.”, and “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” (including a bit-too-extended intro) all being played. All the while the band continued to pump confetti into the crowd and display incredible visuals through the spherical video screen. The encore was “Do You Realize” which made for a completely transcendent and beautiful moment. After experiencing the live extravaganza that is the Flaming Lips, now I completely understand why they are known as one of the best live bands in the world. Let me just say that I won’t be forgetting this show anytime soon.

MP3 Race For The Prize
MP3 Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (Live On BBC)

There’s a lot more awesome pictures where these ones came from. Click here to check them all out.

The Knack Sue Everyone + Other Copyright Lawsuits Mix!

The Knack have decided to sue everyone who’s associated with the song “It’s Tricky” for copying their one hit “My Sharona”. This includes the artists (Run DMC) producers (Rick Rubin), publishers, and record companies. Online music retailers such as iTunes, Yahoo, Amazon, and Napster are even getting in on the being-sued action.

Wait, wasn’t “It’s Tricky” released 20 years ago? Yes, it was, and it had an awesome video featuring Penn and Teller. But conveniently no one in The Knack knew that the song, which is considered one of the most famous in the rap genre, existed until last year (that line about living under a rock would fit here). Or maybe, could it be because online music retailers are a bit more vunerable when it comes to copyright laws, they certainly didn’t sue Wal-mart or Best Buy, who also distributed the track.

To honor the timeless art of illegal sampling and the lawsuits that have come with it, here’s a mix of some original songs and the sampled tracks, that have been brought to the court of law, and the court’s verdicts I got most of my info from Illegal Art check out their article on the subject.

MP3 The Knack – My Sharona
MP3 Run DMC – It’s Tricky

The Verdict: We’ll see

MP3 Queen feat. David Bowie – Under Pressure
MP3 Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby

The Verdict: Settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

MP3 The Chiffons – He’s So Fine
MP3 George Harrison – My Sweet Lord

The Verdict: “It is clear that ‘My Sweet Lord’ is the very same song as ‘He’s so Fine.'” George Harrison loses all the royalites for the song.

MP3 Muddy Waters – You Need Love
MP3 Led Zeppelin – Who Lotta Love

The Verdict: The case was settled out of court but Led Zeppelin payed a large, undisclosed sum.

MP3 Cat Stevens – Father and Son
MP3 The Flaming Lips – Fight Test

The Verdict: Cat Stevens is receiving some of the royalties from the song

I would post the Rolling Stones – The Last Time/ Verve – Bittersweet Symphony except I can’t find the Rolling Stones version that was sampled… Anyone got it?

Happy Anniversary Celeste!