#90
Album: God's Son
Year: 2002
I'll be the first to admit, I don't really know hip hop. I rarely seek it out, have trouble listening to it analytically and find 98% of it doesn't hold my attention. A lot of this has to do with the fact that I am just not a lyrics girl. I mean, I hear them and occasionally something really evocative will get me all choked up but I am not particularly impressed by the cadence or rhyming of words. (I'm not fond of poetry either, if you're wondering.) Usually, I listen to hip hop and just wonder, "Why is that man talking over those cool sounds? He is totally killing this for me." It's endlessly frustrating as I think the origins and trajectory of hip hop as a genre are conceptually more fascinating than any other. All this is just to say, I have no idea what I'm talking about or how this song fits into an intelligent discussion of the Decade in Hip Hop. But damn, I think it sounds really cool.
#89
Album: Coastal Affairs EP
Year: 2006
I have a totally crush on Sweden. It's got infectious indie pop, shockingly gory literature, and unnaturally good-looking citizens. So it's not surprise that I love Sambassadeur's "Kate," which manages to be both lush and fluffy, has great guitars, and two (undoubtedly gorgeous, probably well-dressed) Swedes breathily layering a sweet melody over the top of it all.
#88
Album: Recording a Tape the Colour of the Light
Year: 2005
A thickly layered, slowly building instrumental from a side project of several members of The Arcade Fire. It sounds pretty much exactly like you'd imagine a song by intellectual rockers making a conceptual instrumental song sounds. Killer drums, shivery strings and cinematic penchant for storytelling.
#87
Album: Justified
Year: 2002
Justin Timberlake is about as arty as Top 40 got in the Aughts, which is cool with me. He (or rather, his producers, songwriters and choreographers) have a real knack for highlighting the more ragged spectrum of human emotion. This song exhibits some fairly ugly sentiments and a chilling lack of pity and it does so with huge beats and rich textures. Plus that video was a Cultural Event and a thing of beauty.
#86
Album: Spelled in Bones
Year: 2005
The first time I heard this song, I could not believe (and sort of still can't) that Jon Brion was not involved in the making of it. Lead singer Eric D. Johnson sounds exactly like him and the song is rich in summery hand claps, piano pop, and a smart, retro punch that all scream, "This is off the I ♥ Huckabees soundtrack!" And yet it is not. It's just a great tune from Chicago's consistently impressive Fruit Bats.
#85
Album: Putting the Days to Bed
Year: 2006
John Roderick, the lead singer of the Long Winters, is - from what I can tell - a pretty awesome dude. For example, the local personality spent the better part of 2008-09 wandering around Seattle and playing gigs with a missing front tooth. He also once referred to my friends and I as "a bevy of supercute girls," which I don't think we have collectively ever quite gotten over. Their sun-steeped brand of infectious, insightful indie pop has had me hooked ever since I first saw them (with DS co-blogger Aaron!) at a rare underage show at the old Croc way back in 2003. "Ultimatum" has been kicking around in their repertoire for years, starring in both the Ultimatum EP and also featured on 2006's Putting the Days to Bed, which is to me its most perfect incarnation. With punched up drums, tight guitar licks and fantastic keyboards, it's pure pop joy. File under: Happy-Sounding Songs That Are Actually About Really Sad Stuff and play often.
#84
Album: Overpowered
Year: 2007
Irish dance diva Róisín Murphy steps briefly away from the jangling nervous energy that got her noticed to deliver this drowned, artfully layered slow burner. Murphy's soulful, almost hoarse voice makes a great contrast with the chilly synths and lyrics littered with scientific and clinical terminology. In fact, this Overpowered cleverly showcases this kind of juxtaposition across the board. The album and its accompanying singles all feature cover art of Murphy clad in avant-garde costumes engaged in commonplace public activity--breakfast at the caf, strolling in a manicured park, waiting at a crosswalk. This performance, as well as the production on "Overpowered" show some serious Alison Goldfrapp channeling and the slower, synth-drenched turn make me all kinds of pysched. (Check out this article on Sleevage for more on the album design and singles artwork for Overpowered)
#83
Album: Voodoo
Year: 2000
Confession: this one made it on the countdown mostly because I had to include one sex jam, and Ginuwine's "So Anxious" was not eligible, being released just shy of the last decade in 1999. But also, D'Angelo's offering is gorgeous--pulling just the right amount of influence from old-school soul and fusing it with a decidedly contemporary sensibility. Starting off subtly sultry and building to a complex concoction of crooning harmonies and skillful instrumentation, this one's been sexy for ten years now. "So Anxious" - featuring more than one glaringly awkward reference to early mobile technology - can make no claims to such timelessness.
#82
Album: Teardrop Sweetheart
Year: 2007
Love at first listen. A tale of long distance love rides swooning chord progressions and - holy fuck - that beautiful, insistent bassline into instant favorite status. The slight friction between the lines "Come on baby tell me what you miss about me"/"Come on baby tell me what you'd do about me" highlights the heartbreakingly subtle differences between poetics and the sad reality of two people not together.
#81
Album: Hey Venus!
Year: 2007
I find myself wondering constantly why more artists do not employ key changes any more. Sure, they are kind of a cheap shot, but the emotional response they drag out is so satisfying . Especially in this in-your-face slab of pop deliciousness with Gruff Rhys' melancholy, Welsh-accented croon - "I still recall your banking details" - over a wall of guitars, chimes and sixties percussion.
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