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!

Band Name in Song Title Mix

photo: Kyle Dean Reinford

As anyone who’s been in a band (or at least created one in Guitar Hero / Rock Band) knows, a lot of thought goes into picking a band name. It’s often the first impression that the listener has of the group and is a defining aspect of a band’s identity. So it’s understandable that some bands use their chosen moniker in one (or sometimes more) of their song titles.

Two of my favorite albums from this year, Free Energy’s Stuck on Nothin’ and Titus Andronicus’ The Monitor include eponymous song titles and they got me thinking of more examples of the practice. Here’s a mix of 12 of my favorite examples of band names in song titles. If you have any more you can add, let me know in the comments.

MP3 Free Energy – Free Energy
MP3 Big Country – In a Big Country
MP3 Wilco – Wilco (The Song)
MP3 Queen – Killer Queen
MP3 God Help The Girl – God Help The Girl
MP3 The Monkees – (Theme From) The Monkees
MP3 Build to Spill – Built to Spill
MP3 Yo La Tengo – Georgia vs. Yo La Tengo
MP3 The Fratellis – Baby Fratelli
MP3 Belle & Sebastian – Belle & Sebastian
MP3 The Clash – Radio Clash
MP3 Titus Andronicus – Titus Andronicus Forever

Runners up: “Who Are You?” / “Talk Talk” / “The Dandy Warhols Love Almost Everyone” / “Bad Religion” / “My Name is Prince” / “Black Sabbath” / “The Good, The Bad, and The Queen”

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!

Yo La Tengo – Live @ Pitchfork

I was very excited to be back at Pitchfork Festival after taking off last year for my wedding/honeymoon. I arrived at Union Park just in time to catch Yo La Tengo, my favorite of the four bands participating in Friday’s Write the Night performances where the band’s pick their setlist based on web votes.  I had seen Yo La Tengo twice before this (one time was also at Pitchfork, three years back) and this was definitely the best, mainly due to a setlist was full of classics like “Autumn Sweater”, “Tom Courtenay”, and “Stockholm Syndrome”.

The biggest highlight for me was hearing two of my favorite songs back to back from And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, “Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House” and “Cherry Chapstick”, the latter sending a burst of  power-pop energy through the crowd.  It wouldn’t be a Yo La Tengo show without an extended Ira Kaplin guitar solo/wank session which came during the sonic assault of “Pass the Hachet, I Think I’m Goodkind”.

After deviating briefly to play a new song, “Periodically Double or Triple” (which featured a really cool spacey keyboard solo) the band then closed it off with what I can only assume was the #1 requested song, “Sugarcube”.  I’ve always loved that track and it was a thrill to finally see it played live and sing a long to indelible chorus, “try to squeeze a drop of blood from a sugar cube”.

MP3 Sugarcube
MP3 Periodically Double Or Triple

Follow the jump to see more pictures. Click here for the whole set.

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!

Pygmalion Fest: Yo La Tengo

While I had to miss Friday’s performances at Pygmalion Fest (including Black Mountain and Titus Andronicus), I came prepared to hit Day 4 of the fest with full force, starting with Yo La Tengo‘s festival headlining show at Krannert Muesem.  Most of my history with Yo La Tengo revolves around two albums, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out and I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One.  I’ve recently gotten into their newest album as well, I Am Not Afraid of You And Am Going To Beat Your Ass.  I didn’t really know what to expect out of the show, but Yo La Tengo ended up playing a wide variety of whispery folk, bouncy pop, and sprawling guitar rock with a few very random covers thrown in (I learned later that this is a pretty typical YLT show).

The show opened with one of my favorite Yo La Tengo songs, the nostalgia-tinged, absolutely gorgeous love song, “Our Way To The Fall” and I was overjoyed when it was followed up by the warm organ tones of another YLT fave (and Girl Talk sample material), “Autumn Sweater”.  Following was the garage rock head-boppin’ classic, “Tom Courtenay, which got a big reaction from the crowd.

It was obvious from the beginning, that the sound in the concert hall was very conducive to the variety of styles that the band plays.  Nothing compared sonic-wise though, to when the band pulled out the epic “Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind” leading to a massive guitar wank-fest from Ira, while Georgia and James maintained the steady beat. Much of the second half of the set was dedicated to songs of the band’s newest record, out of those “Beanbag Chair” and “Mr. Tough” being the funnest to hear.

The main set closed on the song “The Story of Yo La Tango” and featured an extended session of Ira beating his guitar into submission by swinging over his head, strangling it, forcing into the ground, etc.  It’s all very fun to watch, but I couldn’t help but think how awkward and flailing he looked tossing his guitar around, in comparison to someone like Wilco’s Nels Cline, another aging axe-wielder, who plays with furious intensity while still retaining precision and control over his instrument.  Either way, it’s amazing to watch.

For the set’s encore, the band turned into Yo La Tengo the cover band, first playing “Speedy Motorcycle”, a Daniel Johnston cover, which was requested by email (if I knew you could do that, I totally would sent in “You Can Have It All”).  I was completely surprised when I heard the song was a cover because the band really put their unique style on it, making it easily one of the best songs played that night.

Next up was a fun one.  The band covered what they called a “Traditional Illinois Song” and what turned out to be Cheap Trick‘s “Come On, Come On”.  Finally, they closed on a politicial note covering Sun Ra‘s “Nuclear War”.  A song that features such sunny, upbeat lyrics like “hydrogen bombs / atomic bombs / neutron bombs / kiss your ass / goodbye goodbye.” Alright, so I guess it’s not the most joyous song to end on, but it was pretty cool to see Ira leading the crowd out of the arena with maracas in hand, while chanting “goodbye”.

MP3 Our Way To The Fall
MP3 Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind

See more pictures that I took of Ira, James, and Georgia by clicking below.

Newsflashes: Noah & the Whale, Pygmalion Fest, Disaster Movie's IMDB Rating

This is the part of the blog where I discuss all things that I am currently finding awesome.

First off is Noah and the Whale‘s new album Peaceful The World Lets Me Down.  To regular readers of this blog, Noah and the Whale should be a familiar name, I first learned of the band almost a year ago through their single “Five Years Time” and I’ve began talking them up ever since.  The band has done pretty well for themselves booking a main stage spot at Lollapalooza (which unfortunately they had to cancel) and having “Five Years Time” appear on a national car commercial for Saturn.

The new album is a mixture of previously released songs (like the previously mentioned hit single, “Five Years Time” and “Rocks and Daggers” which I reviewed here) and new tracks.  Unlike some bands who make their name on fantastic singles, the band’s new songs are just as strong as the old ones making for an extremely satisfying listen.  I’m sure that once their debut album is officially released they will continue to win fans over with their charming and infectious folk-pop  sound.

MP3 Noah and the Whale – Five Years Time
MP3 Noah and the Whale – Rocks and Daggers

***

In local/festival news, the Pygmalion Fest schedule has been recently released and I’m getting pretty excited for the upcoming fest.  The line-up is scheduled so that you can catch all the big acts that you’d like to such as Yo La Tengo, Asobi Seksu, Dan Deacon, and Black Mountain and still have tons of time to catch the lesser-known bands.

Other than the four mentioned above I’m getting really excited for Titus Androcius, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Oxford Collapse, Pattern is Movement, and PWRFL Power.  It will also be nice to see Evangelicals, Headlights, Catfish Haven, and The M’s again.  If you live in the midwest and haven’t been fully informed yet, click here for festival information.

MP3 Yo La Tengo – Our Way To The Fall
MP3 Asobi Seksu – Thursday

***

I don’t know about all of you, but I get really excited when critics and moviegoers just tear into a really horrible movie.  I don’t think there’s been a better example than the blatant hatred exhibited for “Disaster Movie“, the latest and perhaps the worst entry into the god-awful “___ Movie” series.  It has a well-deserved 0% at rottentomatoes, is rated the worst movie of all time at IMDB.com, and opened 6th on a slow weekend at the box office, all of which means humanity might still have a chance.   Here’s a couple of my favorite quotes from reviewers:

“there’s probably enough suicide-inducing material here to make a send-up of The Happening redundant. ” – Jam! Movies

“As so-called writer-directors, (Friedberg and Seltzer) are cretins whose sensibilities never rise above that of a messily overflowing sewer and whose intelligence borders between that of a three-eyed inbred sheep’s and a human vegetable”  …   “‘Disaster Movie,’ which only half-heartedly recalls literal disaster movies but is a pure disaster all the same, is as depressing and empty a cinematic experience as any other picture this year or last (or maybe the whole decade). To label it as simply unfunny or vacuous or ugly or boring would be a compliment. ” –The Movie Boy

“Embarrassment. It’s a feeling you should get used to, Freidberg and Seltzer. You should feel it deeply and painfully. You should be ashamed to tell anyone your names. May you never befoul another cinema with your grotesque comic abortions. ” – Film.com

Also, there was, at one point, a detailed blow-by-blow of the plot (if you can call what it had a plot) at wikipedia, that completey trashed the movie, but it was taken down because it was “biased”.  Luckily you can still read it here, if you really want to know excactly how bad “Disaster Movie” is, without going to see it.

MP3 The Futureheads – Stupid and Shallow

***

For those of you LOST addicts like myself, there is finally something noteworthy to talk about (I don’t consider Michelle Rodriguez returning for one episode to be anything too exciting personally).  There’s a new cast member on board for season 5 for a character named Illana, a dangerous and intelligent female fatale.

The actress playing Illana is Zuleikha Robinson, who has previously starred in New Amsterdam, Rome, The X-Files and that movie where Aragorn had to enter a horse race.  Obviously, the above character description could fit just about any LOST female (except Claire, I guess), but EW is suspecting that this could another one of Sayid’s lady friends.  Only time will tell the role that Illana plays in the LOST creator’s plans for the ever-anticipated season 5.

MP3 Tilly and the Wall – Lost Girls

***

Has anyone tried out that new Chrome browser everyones talking about?  Personally, I don’t see myself leaving Firefox any time soon, but once Google gets around to making a mac-compatible version, I’m planning on giving it a spin.

Music Fest Watch: Pygmalion, Summer Camp, Lolla, P4k

The Illinois music festival scene just keeps getting better. You got the big Chicago fests, Lollapalooza and Pitchfork Fest who are both at the top of their games this year but some of the smaller fests like Summer Camp and Pygmalion are stepping as well in ’08. I expect to be hitting up all these fests (except P4k because of a prior engagement) this year starting next week with the once just a hippie fest, now indie rock friendly Summer Camp.

I always thought it was cool that there was a well-known music festival located about 10 minutes from my house, but the Summer Camp line-up (which always consisted of moe, umphreys, keller williams and other similarly jammy bands) never really suited my fancy. This year that all has changed as they’ve added a second main stage to the fest and filled it with some amazing artists like The Flaming Lips (seen in above pic), The New Pornographers, Girl Talk, The Roots, and George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic. There’s also some really cool smaller/local bands on the line-up like Headlights, Dark Meat, and Elsinore. Even Pitchfork gave the fest it’s seal of approval. So to sum up things: I’m totally going to this festival which takes place next weekend in good ol’ Chillicothe.

MP3 The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
MP3 The New Pornographers – Bleeding Heart Show

I’ve been going to and enjoying Pygmalion Music Festival for three years now and it continues to impress me on getting great bands. Last year the fest snagged Okkervil River, Andrew Bird, Yeasayer, and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (among many others) and they’ve also had Of Montreal, Elf Power, Man Man, Danielson, Mates of State, Saturday Looks Good To Me and Murder By Death play the fest. From the early outlook of 2008 though, this is going to be the best year ever. In The Aeroplane Over UC (an awesome new Champaign/Urbana music scene blog), has the scoop on the current line-up which includes Yo La Tengo, Shearwater, Black Mountain, Dan Deacon, The Cotton Jones Basket Ride, High Places, Headlights, and Pattern is Movement. Holy crap, this is going to be good. And there’s still tons of artists two be announced. Count me as excited.

MP3 Yo La Tengo – Sugarcube
MP3 Shearwater – Leviathan Bound
MP3 Dan Deacon – The Crystal Cat

I won’t be going to Pitchfork Festival this year, but the line-up looks awesome (seriously, The Hold Steady, Animal Collective, Ghostface/Raekwon, Les Savy Fav, Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, Dodos). Word on the street is Three Day Passes are sold out, so you probably want to scramble to get those two-day passes.

MP3 The Hold Steady – Stuck Between Stations
MP3 Vampire Weekend – M79

I’ve always had to skip Lollapalooza for one reason or another, but this year I have no excuses. Radiohead is playing (as well as about hundred other bands I want to see) and I already have a ticket. The line-up has been well publicized (take a look here) but there’s also been a couple recent additions like Iron & Wine and Devotchka to get excited about. Also, if you’re interested the Lollapalooza message boards has a listing of which bands are playing on which day. Check that out here.

MP3 Radiohead – Bodysnatchers
MP3 Iron & Wine – Boy With A Coin

What festivals are you guys hitting up this year? Illinois or otherwise…

The Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good Back-to-School Mix

School is right around the corner and since we at MFKWCRG are huge on education, I’ve compiled a list of songs that will help you kids to read good. Personally, I’ll be hearding to Illinois State University which is in a town by the name of Normal (thousands of pun possibilities there). Without futher ado:

MP3 Mark Mothersbaugh – Hardest Geometry Problem in the World
“I’m sorry. Did someone say my name?”

MP3 Beach Boys – Be True to Your School
School spirit is so underrated, just because your an indie kid doesn’t mean you can’t let your colors fly.

MP3 The La’s – There She Goes
Don’t ask me why, but I think this is a great back to school song. Now that we’re in the Facebook era though the song should be more like “There she goes again – Her name is Mandy, she’s an elementary ed major and she enjoys Jack Johnson and The Notebook”

MP3 Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater
Not quite autumn yet but this song will prepare you for its inevitable arrival.

MP3 Wham! – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
For those of you exploring the college night life but like to take long afternoon naps. Also a good song to put on for spontaneous visits to Starbucks.

MP3 Hot Chip – And I Was A Boy From School
Not only is this song about school but it will impress your hipster friends.

MP3 Paul Simon – Me and Julio Down By The School Yard
The lesson here is if your going to get it on with some guy named Julio by a school yard, make sure your mom isn’t around.

MP3 Belle & Sebastian – Wrapped Up In Books
This will describe alot of you guy’s college experiences. Luckily, I’m a Mass Comm major, which means minimal book-reading and lots of watching TV (for homework).

MP3 TV Theme – Saved By The Bell
Perhaps the most accurate portrayl of high school/college ever. Oh, the memories.

Feel free to leave in the comments what school you’re going to and/or a good back-to-school song.