The Top Songs of the Decade

A combination of reviews - mostly Pitchfork and the AV Club - and YouTube lets me hear the stuff that sounds interesting. NPR's All Songs Considered podcast is another great showcase.

 

XMU. Sometimes the Verge. Also, tips from friends on what they like.

 

Fucking love this song. I can't listen to it once. I'll throw in Kicking Television and listen to it 5-6 times in a row. Cannot get enough of the two and a half minutes of smokin' guitar work the song culminates with.

 

Definitely not an "indie expert," but as a quasi-luddite, I'm fortunate enough to live in an area with a cool, locally-owned radio station that hits the "Americana" alt-country genre hard. I hear lots of new stuff on there, plus a liberal mix of other styles. Yeah, I'm talking about KPND, 95.3 FM, out of Sandpoint, Idaho.

On the internet, there are a couple of cool Web sites that review/offer music outside of the American Idol mainstream. Besides the ones already mentioned, I like Daytrotter, a cool site with in-studio recordings by bands across the spectrum: http://www.daytrotter.com/

 

XMU - Alt Nation on the sattellite radio

http://www.91x.com/info.html?common=musicvideos.php

http://www.wnrn.org/sponsors.html

 

My experience with XM was that the music stations mostly sucked. I liked Sirius, though. What's it like now that they've merged?

 

More commercials...

Actually, I cannot tell a thing music-wise looking from the Sirius side.

 

Since the merger the playlists have shortened and they kept Sirius DJs who never, ever shut the fuck up.

Still light-years ahead of terrestrial radio, though.

 

I like listening to a full album, so I try to avoid radio, satellite or otherwise.

Usually, I stumble onto new indie music. I read magazines (SPIN, RS, Mojo out of the UK), and read review websites such as All Music, Pitchfork and Pop Matters.

Also, places like Last Fm and Amazon are great, too. Tebow knows how many artists I've discovered just digging through pages and pages of "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" on Amazon.

 

Some more songs...

Radiohead, Jigsaw Falling Into Place. I think it's the smoothest song on "In Rainbows." Frenzied like "15 Step" and "Bodysnatchers" without being too noisy. Melodic and refined, though.

Death Cab for Cutie, I Will Follow You Into The Dark. Simple, beatiful song.

Silversun Pickups, Lazy Eye. Yeah, it's similar to the Pumpkins' 1979, but it's not the same song, as some will make you think. There are a lot of great songs on this record, but this one stands out.

Queens of the Stone Age, No One Knows. NHL 07 introduced me to this song and this band. Been hooked ever since.

Jimmy Eat World, 23. I loved the singles that the band put out, but this one, tucked at the end of the band's second album, really sucks you on. Very anthemic sounding.

Hockey Night, Tubin'. I know, I know. This band is really Pavement part 2, but that's OK. I liked Pavement. This song, the 10th track on Keep Guessin', has a pretty spacey type of sound and an amazing guitar solo. Plus the double drum kit thing they do is pretty cool.

More as I think of them ...

 

Here's my list of what I thought was pretty good. Mostly rock stuff. Some from established acts. Others from weirdo land. Uploaded 'em too.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=12AZCNWM

The Donnas - Perfect Stranger - Hard to believe this band has been together for 16 years, but alas they've made it to this point in tact and as greatly improved musicians. This song is off a greatest hits collection released in the last year. It's one of two new tracks on the album and unlike almost all of their catalog it finally shows that they can break out of writing about drunken teenage debauchery and do it quite well. With as much experience this band has in the studio and on the road, I would not be surprised if one of the first great album of the 2010s is theirs.

Rodrigo y Gabriella - Tamacun - Heavy metal husband and wife duo bailed on the electric world a few years ago and settled on being acoustic virtuosos. You'll be hearing more from them.

Turbonegro - High on the Crime - Lying and thieving. Perfect theme for this decade. And this band will one day be as important as the Ramones.

Metallica - All Nightmare Long - Only took 20 years or so to return to this sound. Reminds me a lot of One. And the video is awesome.

Alice in Chains - Check My Brain - AC/DC didn't get shit for replacing Bon Scott after his booze-related death, so I don't know why AIC should either. As good as anything they've done.

New York Dolls - Take a Good Look at My Good Looks - After a 30-some year hiatus these guys returned to the scene and have put on some really damn fine shows (in fact I rank the two I saw as the best rock shows I've seen ... period). I was skeptical about them recording again, but they managed to put out two really good albums.

Death - Politicians in My Eyes - Somewhere in the mid-70s a group of black guys from Detroit put down tracks for a potential major label punk rock album. They wouldn't budge on the band name though and were dumped and soon disappeared. The tracks they finished for the album went unreleased until this year. This is a song of potential untapped. If it had been, the music coming out of the hood in the late 70s might have been punk rock and not hip hop. Yes, it's that good.

The Black Crowes - I Ain't Hiding - A disco song. Super weird, but groovy as hell.

CSS - Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex - It was in Apple commercials for a time. A fine example of what good pop music is and what it can become.

Adolescents - Hawks and Doves - Anti-war song from the seminal Orange County punks.

 

My hatred of it stems from the fact that so many people are going to know Outkast by THAT song, and it is not even close to their best work. Their third album, Aquemini, is one of the best hip-hop albums ever made. Hey Ya! did give them a new audience, but I just detest what the song became.