Friday, December 31, 2010

It's 3:08 a.m. on New Year's Eve

and I believe we have it down to 100. I'll post tomorrow.

Thanks, peoples*, for your help. (Not you, John Roderick. Not you.)

*Principally: @bankbryan, @stgramophone, @jamestweeting, and the friends who chimed in on Facebook. All in all, about 25 of you gave me your recommendations and I hope I did well by all of you.

Gah


Research continues. I forgot how horrifying this album cover is.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Existential crisis (thank you, John Roderick)

This year's year-end list is under construction -- nearing completion. (Scattered applause)

But I just had an existential crisis at the hands of Long Winters frontman, John Roderick.


Mr. Roderick published his "Top 10 Reasons I Hate Year-End Top-Ten Lists," and OK, so dude is right. These things are all basically the same (Yes, we all think Arcade Fire and Kanye would be pretty even without their makeup). And, as he writes, ranking songs -- even from 100 to 1 -- "does not reflect the way we actually experience them."

Well, shit. Do I quit and end a tradition entering its 16th year? I could do that. But then this jumped out at me:

"Ranking things in order of how much you like them is a coping strategy of 9-year-old girls."

Sounds like me. So I'm back at work.

Toaster out.


Saturday, January 09, 2010

The Best of 2009: Songs 100 to 1

A little late, admittedly...but I wanted to fully process all of those 12/29 releases. Select downloads below.


100 >> Condo Fucks, “What’cha Gonna Do About It?”

99 >> Devendra Banhart, “Baby”

98 >> Ah Holly Fam'ly, “All Unfolding”

97 >> The Soundtrack of Our Lives, “Flipside”

96 >> Lily Allen, “The Fear”

95 >> The Flaming Lips (feat. Karen O), “Watching the Planets”

94 >> Speech Debelle, “Spinnin’”

93 >> Lou Barlow, “Too Much Freedom”

92 >> Erin McKeown, “The Foxes”

91 >> Annie, “I Don’t Like Your Band”

90 >> Art Brut, “Summer Job”

89 >> Kurt Vile, “My Best Friends (Don”t Even Pass)”

88 >> The Antlers, “Bear”

87 >> Patrick Watson, “Big Bird in a Small Cage”

86 >> Dent May, “26 Miles (Santa Catalina)”

85 >> Bob Mould, “I’m Sorry Baby, But You Can’t Stand in My Light Anymore”

84 >> Blame Ringo, “Garble Arch”

83 >> Liechtenstein, “Postcard”

82 >> White Rabbits, “Percussion Gun”

81 >> Here We Go Magic, “Fangala”

80 >> Marina & the Diamonds, “Mowgli’s Road”

79 >> Jail, “No Mindless Love”

78 >> Matt & Kim, “Daylight”

77 >> The Mountain Goats, “Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace”

76 >> Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, “Natural Light”

75 >> Burning Hearts, “I Lost My Colour Vision”

74 >> Ben Kweller, “Fight”

73 >> Dinosaur Jr., “I Want You to Know”

72 >> Monsters of Folk, “Say Please”

71 >> Andrew Bird, “Oh No”

70 >> The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, “Everything With You”

69 >> The Raveonettes, “Suicide”

68 >> Deer Tick, “Easy”

67 >> Wye Oak, “Take It In”

66 >> Wussy, “Muscle Cars”

65 >> M. Ward (feat. Zooey Deschanel), “Never Had Nobody Like You”

64 >> Cuddle Magic, “Expectations”

63 >> Handsome Furs, “I’m Confused”

62 >> Young Galaxy, “Destroyer”

61 >> Fruit Bats, “My Unusual Friend”

60 >> Immaculate Machine, “Sound the Alarms”

59 >> Neon Indian, “Deadbeat Summer”

58 >> Woods, “Get Back”

57 >> Regina Spektor, “Folding Chair”

56 >> Tegan and Sara, “Hell”

55 >> The Thermals, “Now We Can See”

54 >> Miike Snow, “Animal”

53 >> Lady GaGa, “Poker Face”

52 >> Surfer Blood, “Swim (To Reach the End)”

51 >> We Were Promised Jetpacks, “Roll Up Your Sleeves”

50 >> Daniel Johnston, “Mind Movies”

49 >> St. Vincent, “Actor Out of Work”

48 >> Crocodiles, “I Wanna Kill”

47 >> BOAT, “Name Tossers”

46 >> Vic Chesnutt, “Flirted With You All My Life”

45 >> God Help the Girl, “Come Monday Night”

44 >> Bishop Allen, “The Ancient Commonsense of Things”

43 >> Eels, “My Timing Is Off”

42 >> Ha Ha Tonka, “Close Every Valve to Your Bleeding Heart”

41 >> Camera Obscura, “My Maudlin Career”

40 >> Fanfarlo, “I’m a Pilot”

39 >> Southeast Engine, “Preparing for the Flood”

38 >> Telekinesis, “I Saw Lightning”

37 >> The Decemberists, “Annan Water”

36 >> Jay Reatard, “Wounded”

35 >> The Swell Season, “Feeling the Pull”

34 >> Lonely, Dear, “I Was Only Going Out”

33 >> Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, “Cardinal Rules”

32 >> J. Tillman, “Though I Have Wronged You”

31 >> The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, “Contender”

30 >> Girls, “Lust for Life”

29 >> Tegan and Sara, “The Ocean”

28 >> The Mountain Goats, “1 John 4:16”

27 >> Matt & Kim, “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare”

26 >> Vetiver, “Everyday”

25 >> Dirty Projectors, “No Intention”

24 >> The Swell Season, “The Verb”

23 >> Wilco (feat. Feist), “You and I”

22 >> Arcade Fire, “Lenin”

21 >> Harlem Shakes, “Sunlight”

20 >> Neko Case, “I’m an Animal”

19 >> The Avett Brothers, “I and Love and You”

18 >> Cave Singers, “Beach House”

17 >> El Perro Del Mar, “Change of Heart”

16 >> Animal Collective, “My Girls”

15 >> Sharon Van Etten, “Much More Than That”

14 >> Phoenix, “Lisztomania”

13 >> Bowerbirds, “Northern Lights”

12 >> A.C. Newman , “There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve”

11 >> Cains and Abels, “My Life Is Easy”

10 >> Emmy the Great, “MIA”

9 >> The National, “So Far Around the Bend

8 >> Bon Iver, “Blood Bank”

7 >> Andrew Bird, “Natural Disaster”

6 >> Grizzly Bear, “Two Weeks”

5 >> Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Hysteric”

4 >> The Antlers, “Two Weeks”

3 >> Neko Case, “People Got a Lot of Nerve”

2 >> Dirty Projectors and David Byrne, “Knotty Pine”

1 >> Phoenix, “1901"


Download the top 25:

Part 1 (No. 25 to 16): http://bit.ly/2009_25to16

Part 2 (Top 15): http://bit.ly/2009_top15


The links are good until 1/16. After downloaded and unzipped, drag+drop both folders into iTunes. Then sort by track number, which will display as a countdown (The #1 song will be listed as Track 25.)