30. Nervous Tick
Motion – Andrew Bird
When songs have really long titles, you have to make up your
own title at some point because the musician has failed you.
29. Word of
Vibrations – Blackalicious
Though The Craft was
hardly half as good as its predecessor, it did have two songs that rival
anything on it.
28. Lay Low – My
Morning Jacket
This one is tough for me to rank because the solo kicks so
much ass, and one does not say that about solos in 2005, but what happens
before that sounds borderline uninspired.
27. Sixteen Military
Wives – The Decemberists
With further Dylan comparisons, what Meloy does a very good
job of is being political via showing versus telling, something Dylan was a
master of. While the Beastie Boys are
telling you how much they hate George Bush, the Decemberists aren’t trying to
pull you into their politics.
26. Can I Have It
Like That? – Pharrell
You got it like that.
25. Dondante – My
Morning Jacket
I’m not sure why the sax comes in at the end, but it
works.
24. I Turn My Camera
On – Spoon
I almost want to put this in my disco song group, like I do
the Scissor Sisters, but it would stick out like a sore thumb despite its
mellow cool.
23. The Skin of My
Country Yellow Teeth – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
One of the things that made their debut album so good was
its humility. This song has to be loved
by non-smiling faces people across the nation, well, aside from the fact that
that’s usually rednecks who wouldn’t listen to a band like this in a Brazilian years.
22. Gold Digger –
Kanye West
Though I hate the gratuitous use of the N word, almost
rendering this great song unlistenable, I have to give it props, though I'm
pretty certain in a manner similar to my mom saying the word "diss"
the other day, "props" probably don't exist anymore aside from being
on movie sets.
21. Bucky Done Gun –
MIA
20. First Day of My
Life – Bright Eyes
Between Colin Meloy and Coner Oberst, I’m making Dylan
comparisons for 2005 and that’s a good thing.
As much as I love this song, and this album, perhaps Coner reminds me of
Dylan at times because a song like this sounds so much like “Don’t Think Twice,
It’s Alright”. Oh well, I still would rather be working for a paycheck, then
waiting to win the lottery.
19. Broken Drum –
Beck
The laser beam does chime in at a specific time, contrary to
popular belief, maybe just not a particular beat.
18. Oh La La –
Goldfrapp
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.
That’s why I think every time I hear this song.
17. Upon this Tidal
Wave of Young Blood – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
What I always thought was a David Byrne rip off seems more
like a whoever the singer of Television is ripoff. Either way, it’s done well, so it’s borrowing
and not stealing.
16. It Beats For You
– My Morning Jacket
15. The Sides of
Monsieur Valentine – Spoon
14. Fake Palindromes
– Andrew Bird
Not that this song is commercial or anything, but it’s a
HUGE crossover for the man. It’s almost
like him trying to go pop. The results
are amazing.
13. Stevie Nix – Hold
Steady
12. John Wayne Gacy,
Jr. – Sufjan Stevens
I play this song on Anxiety some times, but Suffy’s vocals
are pretty impressive so I may stop.
11. Is This Love? –
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
I’m tired of laying
this pretty head in the ground.
10. Road to Joy –
Bright Eyes
I get why one would hate Coner Oberst. It’s easy, but the lyrics he has on this
album are some of the best I’ve ever heard.
9. Come on Feel the
Illiniose! – Sufjan Stevens
There aren’t too many changes as good as the one during the
jam part of this one.
8. We Are Nowhere and
It’s Now – Bright Eyes
The Knocked Up crew
almost ruined this private treasure, but fortunately, it was a good enough
movie for this song to remain awesome.
It did however ruin its intimacy … kinda like a newborn baby.
7. Cattle and the
Creeping – Hold Steady
This is the song that made me fall in love with the Hold
Steady.
6. Off the Record –
My Morning Jacket
This is that “song Zach learns on guitar 1st so
he falls in love with the band” song of theirs for me. It also kicks ass live. This may not sound complimentary to some, but
seeing them play this live makes you feel like you’re at a good Phish
show.
5. Wordless Chorus –
My Morning Jacket
I’ll never forget the moment I threw this album on, heard
this song kick it off and immediately think, “Wow, I can’t believe pawned their
last album!” Also, seeing Jim James sing
this live kicked major ass.
4. Side to Side –
Blackalicious
This is probably the best rap song ever that people probably
don’t know. Blackalicious in general is
pretty unpopular so it’s a fair bet most people haven’t heard them. This is their best song. It’s not too much more complex than
that. I love the phrase “I think you need
Jesus” even though … you know.
3. Chicago – Sufjan
Stevens
This is a great post wedding drinking a Bloody Mary in a
Milwaukee airport remorseful song. Some
of these songs on Illinios I can’t
imagine seeing live. Chances of Sufjan
coming to Tampa I’d say are worse than Tampa winning the Super Bowl, Stanley
Cup and World Series all in the same calendar year. That’s the downside of Florida. You miss the acts sometimes. The upside?
If he did come to Tampa, like 6 people would go and you’d have a very
personal show. It’s getting to the point
where I can no longer count on one hand acts I’ve seen with hundreds while the
night before the same band was playing in front of tens of thousands.
2. Pull Up the People
– MIA
Less than a year after I heard the MIA/Diplo “mix tape”
which was basically making it seem like she was so confident in her album
that’d come out the following year that she could lend it to a mash up. It didn’t work, but it did. I didn’t want to get this album because I
figured I had heard it already. For one
reason or another, this one wasn’t included in the mash-up and led off what I
thought would be a new era of music.
Ultimately, I’m not sure if she’ll be remembered for anything other than
wearing a cheer leader outfit and giving football fans the bird during the
Super Bowl, but I didn’t start listening to her because she was that
idiot. There’s something very unique
going on here.
1. At the Bottom of
Everything – Bright Eyes
Years later, I’d
go on to find out that that’s Jim James from My Morning Jacket providing
back-up vocals.
So there was this woman
and she was on an airplane, and she was flying to meet her fiance seaming high
above the largest ocean on planet earth.
She was seated next to this man she had tried to start conversations,
but the only thing she had really heard him say was to order his Bloody Mary.
She was sitting there and she was reading this really arduous magazine article about a third world country that she couldn't even pronounce the name of. And she was feeling very bored and despondent. And then suddenly there was this huge mechanical failure and one of the engines gave out, and they started just falling thirty-thousand feet, and the pilots on the microphone and he's saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, oh my god... I'm sorry" and apologizing. And she looks at the man and says "Where are we going?" and he looks at her and he says "We're going to a party. It's a birthday party. It's your birthday party. Happy birthday darling. We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much."
And then he starts humming this little tune, it kind of goes like this: 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4
She was sitting there and she was reading this really arduous magazine article about a third world country that she couldn't even pronounce the name of. And she was feeling very bored and despondent. And then suddenly there was this huge mechanical failure and one of the engines gave out, and they started just falling thirty-thousand feet, and the pilots on the microphone and he's saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, oh my god... I'm sorry" and apologizing. And she looks at the man and says "Where are we going?" and he looks at her and he says "We're going to a party. It's a birthday party. It's your birthday party. Happy birthday darling. We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much."
And then he starts humming this little tune, it kind of goes like this: 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4
Yes, the intro to
this, where Coner Oberst uses the word arduous is possibly the most pretentious
intro to an album in the history of life, but he backs it up with a magnificent
piece of work. If I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning is anything but an A+ of an album, this
would fail. Fortunately, it’s an A++ and
everything that follows is immaculate.
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