Aughts Songs: #1 Phoenix - "Too Young" from United ('00)

PERFECTION! From the chords to the subject matter to the production to the instrumentation...is this not all the things that I loved about the other 19 songs wrapped into one? IT IS.

Aughts Songs: #2 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "In This Home On Ice" from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah ('05)

Like I said before, the top 5 songs on a different tier, but the top 2 are on another planet. This song just makes me melt. The chords and the texture are gorgeous, but the way that it switches up in the middle and introduces other chords without devaluing the perfection of the main chords is crucial. Like the outro to "Superpowers," if I could get some kind of permanent vibrating system that represents the notes played within this song implanted within my ears forever, I would consider it.

Aughts Songs: #3 The Dismemberment Plan - "Superpowers" from Change ('01)

When I think of this song, I think about a specific time I listened to it on my headphones while walking around the Spring Arbor campus. I realized that the tempo was about the same as the steps I was taking and so I began to walk in step with the beat. But the drum part is so funky that I couldn't help getting lost in the song and adding a little swagger, which eventually became a full-on strut. Then I realized I probably looked like a total knob-job and stopped. But that's how powerful and convincing the Plan is: They turned a nervous introverted kid into a unconscious strutter. And I'm betting I'm not the first.

The thing that elevated this to "All-Time Great" status for me was when I learned to appreciate the extended outro jam that comes in at 3:20. I could listen to that part repeated forever. It sounds exotic and affluent and sexy and European (in fact, I've always kinda thought it sounds like this looks).

Aughts Songs: #4 The Clientele - "Since K Got Over Me" from Strange Geometry ('05)

Sometimes it takes an outside perspective for me to fully appreciate something. Like all the subtleties and hidden rhythm tricks that Quillen's pointed out to me over the years. With "Since K Got Over Me," it took sharing the song with Alec and Tom and seeing their reverence and awe for it that made me take a step back and reconsider how seriously great this song is. I mean, I've always loved the song and have always felt a strong connection to the resigned sort of melancholy that Alasdair MacLean is expressing. The last chorus, especially the line "I don't think I'll be happy anymore/I guess I've closed that door" has always killed me. But with all of the songs one hears every year, it's easy to neglect offering your full attention to worthy songs. For me, seeing or hearing a friend's passion can be the ultimate selling point. Maybe it's an illusion, but it's one I don't have a problem buying into.

Aughts Songs: #5 Blitzen Trapper - "Futures & Folly" from Wild Mountain Nation ('07)

From this point on, the songs are in a different tier. Each of these songs could have been #1.

I knew I liked this song! That doesn't always happen, especially with the great ones. It's rare that something clicks immediately with me and I fall in love and it's able to last for more than a week or two. I think my favorite parts are the arrangement and the main riff. I guess that's really it...I don't have any personal connection to it or specific part I gravitate toward, I just like it. A musical song played by instruments, recorded for listening purposes.

Aughts Songs: #6 Jens Lekman - "A Sweet Summer's Night On Hammer Hill" from Oh You're So Silent, Jens ('05)

Sometimes music is capable of evoking thoughts or memories that you forgot you ever had. I don't how real this is, but I have these memories of when I was really young, like around 5, and my parents took me to a party at one of their friend's apartment complex. It was a great night and lots of fun, and this became the quintessential block party experience for me. So when Jens sings about a "sweet summer's night," these really vivid images come to mind of a hot August night in Flint in 1988, with the sun going down and my parents and their friends cooking on a grill and grabbing beers out of a kiddie pool. Did this ever happen? I don't know, and I don't wanna know, because it makes me feel good to think about this. But I hadn't really considered any of this before hearing this song.

Aughts Songs: #7 Radiohead - "Optimistic" from Kid A ('00)

I didn't fully appreciate this song until I learned to play it on guitar a few years ago. Outside of The Dismemberment Plan, I've never known such a melodically disjointed song to be so coherent. The key shift that happens between halves of the progression (the first 3 chords vs. the second 3 chords) is something that I don't think I'll ever understand. Throw in all the crazy little leads (especially the one that comes in after the chorus at 1:30 - the rhythm and the texture make it one of the most eerily beautiful of the 00s), and end with a drum part whose sound calls back to the title track and you have a hell of a song. Apologies for the nerdy theory-speak...uh, I also love how wide open the lyrics in the chorus are.

Aughts Songs: #8 Death Cab For Cutie - "Debate Exposes Doubt" from The Photo Album ('01)

This is one of the best guitar songs of the decade. I can't think of another song that made as much of an impression on me in terms of ideal guitar arrangement. Two chimey parts, playing occasional notes outside the scale, and almost no true chords. One of two excellent Death Cab songs that lyrically take place inside a restaurant, the theme here is big and romantic, and is typically Gibbardian. It's always sounded cooler to me than all of his other lyrics. There's a little bit more of an edge to this, more menace in his "choked" stare than any other DCFC song I can think of. It's possible that this song had an unfair advantage over the rest of the album because when I only had a burned copy back in '01, this song cut out after 10 seconds. So I ended up waiting until the actual album came from Barsuk to really spend as much time with this song as I had with the rest. Along with "Coney Island," it always sounds a little bit fresher than the rest of the album. Even after nine years, it's a song I haven't begun to get sick of.

Aughts Songs: #9 The Decemberists - "The Engine Driver" from Picaresque ('05)

I always assumed I was going to include "Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect," which is generally considered The Decemberists' best song, in this list. But this summer I realized I felt much closer to this song. The occupational metaphors that lie outside of context give the lyrics a feeling of timelessness, that Colin Meloy is singing about a relationship that could have existed centuries ago or in the future. Though it's not especially profound, it's one of the most convincing expressions of love and yearning that I can think of within a song. The haunting chords and acoustic guitar sound are an excellent compliment to the song's sentiment, and the prechorus harmony part ("And if you don't love me let me go") is one of my favorites of all time. Every time that line is repeated, it seems to have a greater impact. When it is repeated in the coda, it defines the kind of perfection that I'm always trying to find in a song.

Aughts Songs: #10 Belle & Sebastian: "Piazza, New York Catcher" from Dear Catastrophe Waitress ('03)

Here is one of the most unique ballads of the decade. The arrangement is common, but the melody Stuart Murdoch sings oozes 60s Merseybeat. The remarkable thing is how he does it with just a voice and guitar. Everyone else needs a 12 string rickenbacker, a tambourine, and three part harmonies. Up til this point, B&S had been perfecting the style for 7 years. By the time DCW came out, it was in Murdoch's bones. Gorgeous, sophisticated...the nod to The Left Banke is just showing off.
And while we're on the subject...C'mon Mike, we won't judge you. Nobody likes a closeted self-loather.

Aughts Songs: #11 Annie - "Heartbeat" from Anniemal ('04)

This song is singlehandedly responsible for Honest Men. Ashleigh and I have always bonded over these upbeat, minor key electronic pop songs and pretty quickly we realized that this was a perfect realization of what we loved about that style. The 10cc-style "Ahhh"s (aka "bondi breath" in Garageband) in the chorus are the crucial element. They blow up the chorus in a way that crashing cymbals cannot.

Aughts Songs: #12 The Avalanches - "Since I Left You" from Since I Left You ('00)

There is music all over this one. It's nothing like the mash-up culture that it sometimes gets thrown in with. Something like this requires skill and patience. It's smart, and every decision is a right one. It's not lacking, and there are no superfluous layers. "Since I Left You" sounds like a big party, with dozens of gorgeous samples filtering into one room, trying to find their places. It takes them until the breakdown at 1:38, where everything clicks, and everyone does a perfectly choreographed electric slide. What a groove!

Aughts Songs: #13 Yo La Tengo - "The Race Is On Again" from I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass ('06)

This song has been for me what "Blank Generation" was for Malcolm McLaren. It has become the foundation for an entire personal movement for me as a listener. It taught me that when a song repeats itself, using mostly only one chord, any changes have a tenfold effect. Here, the big change comes with the crash cymbal at the 2:47 mark, when the song takes off into the stratosphere. If it wasn't for hearing all the incredible songs that preceded this as an influence, this might have ended up being my favorite song. Still, it is easily the best song of this decade that follows that awesome VU formula.

Aughts Songs: #14 Jimmy Eat World - "If You Don't, Don't" (Demo) from Bleed American Demos ('00)

It's easy for me to forget this, but there was a time around the fall of 2000 to summer 2001, where Jimmy Eat World seemed like they had limitless potential. They were already one of my favorite bands, but they were starting to show signs that they could really fly off the charts (so to speak). They had just put out three excellent songs on their split with Jebediah, bootlegs of Jim Adkins' side project Go Big Casino were floating around that featured one especially great song ("Power"), and their live show in Sept. '00 blew me away. They opened with "What I Would Say To You Now," played an ace version of "No Sensitivity" from the split, and debuted new songs from their upcoming album. One of these songs was called "If You Don't, Don't." And this song had the sweetest, cleanest, shimmeriest guitars I'd heard in my life to that point. If that weren't enough, they added a sort of call-and-answer chorus that is sublime. J.E.W. was in between labels at the time, so they recorded Bleed American themselves to shop around. That demo version leaked on Napster and it was full of really great and exciting songs. I spent so much time with it, that it became sort of a faux-official album itself. And of course, the story of B.A. ends badly: Dreamworks releases a neutered version of the album, every song sounds worse instead of being better, the guitars don't sound the same, there's no soul, and they never recover. BUT...
Have you ever been hoping to hear a certain kind of music or to hear a specific thing, and then actually be lucky enough to have it fall into your lap within that same phase of your life? Personally, it's been such a rare phenomenon that I always remember when it happens. Even if it was fleeting, this was certainly one of those moments for me.

Aughts Songs: #15 Spoon - "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga ('07)

This is one of the most overt examples of how Britt Daniels has such a unique ability to co-opt elements of sixties songs without sounding like a straight-up rip. Leading with the bass and horn section along with the fixed, static drum part is a pretty clear nod to Motown, but they manage to do it with enough restraint so as not to sound like genre tourists. One of the things that amazes me about this band is that as certain as their songs sound, they're always so malleable. This could've just as easily been a country song, or been played in a different time signature. How they settled on this arrangement for only this song is confounding. How can they not be tempted to give every one of their songs a sound that feels this good?

Aughts Songs: #16 Elliott Smith - "Happiness" from Figure 8 ('00)

This is as grand as Elliott Smith ever got, in terms of sound and theme. I bought this album in high school (I cannot believe that was this same decade) after hearing this song on the MSU station on the way home from a baseball game. I liked it then, but it took until late 2002 for me to develop a real closeness to this song. I clung to "Happiness" during a sort of recovery phase I was going through, and it became more than just a welcome distraction. It seemed to have an unavoidable favorite song/personal anthem weight to it. It has a general theme that different kinds of people can relate their situations to, while still managing to make the song feel very personal. Which is a big reason why so many people love his music so much.

Aughts Songs: #17 The Shins - "Kissing The Lipless" from Chutes Too Narrow ('03)

This is the song that got me into The Shins. I remember seeing the video for "So Says I" late one night on MTV when I was home from college and being kinda sickened by the gross animation. And for all I was hearing about their hooks, it certainly didn't seem very catchy. About a year later, Quillen made me a mix and put this song in the five spot. It didn't jump out immediately as being one of the best songs. Then one night at work a few weeks later, I found this song stuck in my head and became really excited about it. Since then, there have been countless times where I'm alone in the car and belt out the cathartic transition to the verse ("you TOOOOOOOOOOOLD us of your new life..."). One of the unique things about a part that feels so anthemic is the (more or less) cymbal-less drum part that joins in. You expect chaos at that point, and it doesn't really happen. But the part that really takes the song to the next level is the ending, with its high, chimey delayed rhodes and slide guitar, as well as the finely-toned alternating note guitar part that comes in the last time through.

Aughts Songs: #18 The Casket Lottery - "A Priest Walks Into A Bar" from Lost At Sea 7" ('00)

This was one of the songs that was played most in my freshman dormroom (from the Napster library!). The lyrical content focuses on some of the not-so-great changes people sometimes go through as they become more spiritual. It's something that happened regularly to friends and acquaintances in college, and it was always fascinating and sad. I'm sure I've even been guilty of this kinda thing at some point over the last 12 years. But to be able to put such a complex reformation so concisely ("You lost your heart for your soul") is really something. I used to like this song because it sounded great, like a perfect midwest emo song (which it is). But as I've gotten older, I've noticed little things like the acoustic guitar part and tambourine in the second verse that help make the song something more.

Aughts Songs: #19 Rilo Kiley - "More Adventurous" from More Adventurous ('04)

Rilo Kiley's songs tend to be hit and miss. They don't have one consistently good album, but they've written about 10 songs over the last 8 years that are as good as it gets. There really isn't any one thing that sets this song apart from the others, it's just a really great timeless song that I've had a tendency to put on playlists a lot. I love the Joni Mitchell-"We don't need no piece of paper from the city hall"-theme, even though that's mostly hippie propaganda.

Aughts Songs: #20 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "The Tenure Itch" from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart ('09)

I'll start with a spoiler alert: This is the only piece of '09 music that will show up on either list. Though so many new bands are trying to sound like music from another decade, Pains do it in the best and most specific way. This song is so much up my alley (The chorus of "Oh No!" + the chords of "Black & White = "Itch") that it would be a good bet that this will be something I listen to in 5 years. And they've really gotten a free pass with their album. When I think of the band, I always think of this song, though the rest of the album is nowhere near as brilliant. But it's still fun to listen to.

Aughts Under Review: Introduction

After months of prep time, multiple cross-checks and unnecessary research, I think I'm finally ready to start rolling out my Favorite Music Of The Decade lists. They shall be unfurled in two sets: 20 Songs and 20 Albums. I'll be following the template for posting songs created by our man Jensen, as it will allow more focus on and celebration of each song. It will also be easier to read and to write. The Albums List will come closer to Christmas and will be likely presented as a single megapost.

Some notes about the process:
- I am not nearly disciplined enough to have re-listened to all of the albums that I've come across since 2000. I am fairly confident, however, that I was able to listen to all of the albums that I've quote unquote loved at one time or another without missing anything.
- Creating a Songs List is nearly impossible. Probably only the top 12 are locks. But considering how many great songs one hears in a 10 year span (especially this 10), attempting to document any kind of accurate overview seems futile. I did my best to look through all of my albums and significant mixes for standouts, but I can't help but feel that there has to be some oversights. Not so for albums, though.
- I've always had difficulty mixing genres in list-making. For that reason, almost everything on both lists tend to fall under the ever-expanding "indie" umbrella. There are only, at most, four emo-related items between the two lists and of course, there will be a few electronic things. I guess I feel like there has to be some kind of cohesiveness...it's not a reflection of anything, really.
- I'm not sure I've never mentioned this before, but the main purpose of these things is for me to be able to look back and read my own feelings about music when I'm forced to sit down and concentrate on it. I tend to forget how I feel about things from week to week, so for yearly lists, it's good have these thoughts down while they're still semi-fresh. For a decade list, I'm not exactly sure how this will sit, but it's been really fun to put together. These are my favorites; not the best or most important.

Rolling Down A Mountainside

My dad made me a mix cd last week with this song on it. I was previously somewhat familiar with The Main Ingredient . I knew that Cuba Gooding Sr. was the lead singer, I've heard "Everybody Plays The Fool" a thousand times and also "Just Don't Want To Be Lonely." But this song is so much better, and there is something specific about it that makes this way.

The "God Is On Our Side" section after the choruses (1:21, 2:42) sounds so awesome to me, and it's not just because of the melody. There's something unique about the way God is introduced to the song, in a strictly feel-good way. There's nothing religious or political about the song. It's not about civil rights (not that there aren't some great songs about that). It's just sort of a people-getting-by theme. And I was totally shocked by how cool it sounds to me in that context. Considering how negatively I feel towards most (all) contemporary Christian music (ignoring gospel, of which I have very little knowledge/contact), I really appreciate the way this song puts God in a different light. How much better is it to hear a song about God that you can cruise to with the windows down than one with bad weather metaphors, where you feel obligated to make some kind of emotional/spiritual connection? Maybe that's what it comes down to: "Rolling Down A Mountainside" is really just a song about living, reminding us that God is on our side.

Ode

Squidgy had to be put down yesterday. He had tumors and a lot of blood issues that we weren't really aware of. Over the last two weeks, he had been spending all of his time in the laundry room on the washing machine or in the dryer. Mar found him in a pretty bad way yesterday and decided to take him to the vet. We both knew he didn't seem to be doing very well, but thought he just needed some medicine. So it was a shock to find out how bad of a situation he was in.
Squidgy and I didn't really get along very well most of the time (and that's an understatement). He woke me up all the time, peed on my stuff, and cried this awful scream that sounded like a human baby. But I've been really bummed out since he died, and there's two main reasons. One, I've lived with him for nearly five years. When anything or anyone that substantial becomes part of your routine for that long, there's a drastic change in the atmosphere when it's gone. Our house feels different now, even if it's quieter and dryer. Two, it's difficult for me to think about how something so relatively simple as a cat's body can become so diseased. It's obviously more tragic when a person dies of disease, but I think I've become almost immune to the idea of people contracting diseases because you hear about it happening so often. When it happens to a cat and you actually consider what's going on inside their bodies, it just seems very grotesque and upsetting.
Like I said, I didn't really have a lot of good times with Squidgy. But even though he was my nemesis, sometimes when I would lie on the couch to watch TV, he would lie on my chest and it was really comfortable and nice. Then he would stand up and push his front paws under my ribcage, and it drove me nuts. Regardless, I'm sad he's gone and wish he was still here.

Life Would Be a Lot Better If I Hadn't Lost My Jazz June Hoodie.

Last night, I retrieved and iPod-ed these:

Empire State Games - S/T
Mineral - The Power of Failing, Endserenading
Six Going On Seven - Heartbreak's Got Backbeat
King For A Day - Before I Go
The Jazz June - Breakdance Suburbia, They Love Those Who Make The Music
Boy Sets Fire - The Day The Sun Went Out
Knapsack - This Conversation Is Ending Starting Right Now
Christie Front Drive - Anthology
The First Crush Comp.
Texas Is The Reason - Do You Know Who You Are?, EP, split w/ Promise Ring
The Promise Ring - Discography
The Casket Lottery - Discography
The Enkindels - Buzzclip 2000, Can't Stop The Enkindels, Who Here Wants To Fight?
Initial Records Samplers #1 & #2
Small Brown Bike - Collection, Our Own Wars, Dead Reckoning, The River Bed

I know it shouldn't seem like a big deal that I listened to these things, but I haven't heard most of this stuff since around 2002. And I was surprised that some of it held up so well, and ashamed that I'd turned my back on it because I had felt like it was dated, especially when I consider how good it feels to listen to a lot of these albums. Some of it ("Fors," several Casket Lottery songs, all of Heartbreak's Got Backbeat,) sounds better than it did nearly ten years ago. For me, nostalgia tends to be a slippery slope. But lately, it feels a bit more earned and I've allowed myself to indulge in it. So in the near future, you can probably expect the following from me:

- sullenness/sulking
- dramatic relationships
- constant and unwarranted feelings of alienation
- weenie haircut
- poetry

I'd also forgotten how much I loved Small Brown Bike. I had a moment when listening to "Make This A Holliday" where I was able to more vividly remember them playing it at the bowling alley in Lansing for the Dead Reckoning release show. Generally, when I think of that show, it's mostly vague; I think of free bowling and how great the lineup was (SBB, Casket Lottery, Cursive). But when they played "Holliday," it was insane! I'll save the attempt at trying to describe what it was like, because it won't do justice. But it has to be one of the most awesome, transcendent moments I've been a part of at a show.

Anyways, it would be nice to continue to not only have specific memories attached to this stuff, but also to hear it for what it is.

Bla-DOW!!!

After countless years and numerous trials, I finally bought a new amp. And it is exactly what I wanted. I mean, if I could have my choice of any amp, this would be the one I choose. I had seen this at the Flint Guitar Center in the "Used" section two or three months ago and assumed it had to be gone by now. So I went in to browse and couldn't believe it was still there. And it turns out, it wasn't even used. It was just a floor model that was on clearance. So I got a serious deal. I'm still having difficulty believing this worked out so well. Tomorrow, I'll probably celebrate by taking it up to a mountaintop and playing "Where The Streets Have No Name."

One more:

Nature Boy

One of my favorite quotes from recent memory (from CBS News interview with Ric Flair):

"Wooo! This is what I do if I'm lonely at night," Flair said, modeling one of his robes. "I put my robe on and I walk around."

The whole interview is pretty nice, and not nearly as desparate.

BF...F?

Last night, Randy offered me an extra ticket to see Ben Folds at the Michigan Theater, to which I said, "Of course!" I hadn't seen him live in 7 or 8 years. I had pretty much totally soured on Rocking The Suburbs, completely skipped over his 2005 album, Songs For Silverman, and had only a passing knowledge of Way To Normal. But last night was a blast. Great variety, the band was ultra tight and surprisingly professional. They played for two and a half hours and were almost always entertaining. To the best of my memory, this was the setlist:

Bitch Went Nuts
Effington
Brainwashed
You Don't Know Me
Annie Waits
Alice Childress
Way To Normal
Landed
Dr. Yang (Fake Version)
Dr. Yang
Hiroshima
Bastard
Free Coffee
Free Coffee Town
Boxing (solo)
Fred Jones, Pt. 2 (solo)
Lullabye (solo)
The Last Polka (solo)
Kylie From Connecticut
Tom & Mary
Kate
Zak & Sara
Army
***********************
Fair
Rockin' The Suburbs

My favorite moments were "You Don't Know Me," "Landed" and "Boxing" (the first two, I haven't taken seriously enough - both really great songs; "Boxing" was just really genuine and well played). Of course I loved all of the BF5 songs and I'd never seen him play "Alice Childress" which was one of my favorite songs in high school. And it was great to hear him play anything from Reinhold Messner that wasn't "Army" (though "Army" is still awesome, just expected). So overall, I was totally won over and now I'm surprised to find myself on a Ben Folds kick.

Here is a video of "Lullabye" from the Ben Folds Five reunion last year. I was shocked that, with the exception of a horn section, they were able to cover all of the parts on Reinhold Messner between the three of them. The whole concert is available at Myspace and is (obviously) highly recommended.