I always like to wait until after the new year to try and put together a ‘best of’ list of the top songs that I enjoyed in the past 365 days. Here’s last year’s top 20 21 that worked their way into my head, and stayed there.
MP3: 21 Camera Obscura - Lloyd Im Ready To Be Heartbroken
I remember when “Let’s Get Out Of This Country” was sent to me as a teaser for the new Camera Obscura album and I thought it would be impossible to top. Not so. “Lloyd…” is everything I hoped Camera Obscura would turn out to be.
MP3: 20 The Pipettes - Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me
OK, let’s put aside that this femme-fronted girl band is actually kind of a puppet group for male songwriters (hey! just like in the 60’s!). If you can do that, you’ll find a crazy-good song, the likes of which haven’t graced my ears since I kept it on the oldies stations.
MP3: 19 Swan Lake - Nubile Days
I have to admit that I fell for this song mostly for the “uh uh uh oh’s” that close it out, but “Nubile Days” is really a gem from start to finish. And the best part? Spencer gets to shine.
MP3: 18 The Blow - Parentheses
Seeing The Blow in concert at CMJ was the turning point for my love of this song. I loved the hooks, cute vocals and witty-cute lyrics, but she delivers it with such passion and conviction live that it’ll erase any idea in your mind that this is not one of the year’s best love songs.
MP3: 17 Danielson - Did I Step On Your Trumpet
A novelty? Perhaps. Catchy and even kind of funny? For sure. Danielson put together a real indie pop classic and have a music video to match.
MP3: 16 The Features - I Will Wander
I can’t lie to you good people: I thought the Features would crumble after they got dropped from their label. But their new EP proved me wrong, and then some. I had a tough time picking between this one and “Wooden Heart,” but my iTunes playcount tipped the battle in the favor of “I Will Wander.”
MP3: 15 The Minus Five - With A Gun
Hark! It’s old-school Wilco! Oh, it’s just Jeff guest-vocalizing on a Minus Five track. If nothing else, this one is priceless just for the line “I’ll kick your sister’s ***” But really, the best line in this is “It’s a tale of dynamite, like those two ships that blew up in the night.” You couldn’t buy a lyric that good.
MP3: 14 Grumpy Bear - Luis Bunuel
It’s a weird keyboard drone that turns into one of my favorite choruses of the past few years! Plus, Grumpy Bear get all referential in it by asking “how you gonna cut my eye?” in a song about Luis Bunuel.
MP3: 13 Final Fantasy - Song Song Song
I was never a big Final Fantasy fan until Said the Gramophone billed this song as a monumental achievement. After downloading and listening, I was hooked. Owen’s use of percussion and strings proves him a master of his craft.
MP3: 12 Great Lake Swimmers - See You On The Moon
Yes, this song made its debut on a compilation for children; but does that make it any less loveable? Great Lake Swimmers serve up a song that’s both catchy and inspiring. I’m a kid with a fairly cemented life path, but I still get misty-eyed and hopeful that maybe one day I’ll meet Tony Dekker of GLS on the moon.
MP3: 11
I think I may prefer the fuzzed-out early version of this that popped up on a pre-album EP/single, but that doesn’t keep me from loving the produced, shiny final version. The Hidden Cameras consistantly up their game with every album, and “Learning the Lie” shows that they can keep it deliciously weird too.
MP3: 10 The Essex Green - Don’t Know Why (You Stay)
The first time I heard this song, I just knew it was perfect. The Essex Green perfectly balanced some understated guitar with lyrics that tell of loneliness in the City. And more than that, the eleveting chorus builds you up just in time to cry out in unison with the band.
MP3: 09 Grizzly Bear - On A Neck On A Spit
“On a Neck, On a Spit” was actually my first real introduction to Grizzly Bear. It builds slowly, changing pace and approach until it erupts in a cascade of drums and guitar to eventually transform itself entirely at the two-minute mark. After that, it’s all perfection.
MP3: 08 Man Man - Engwish Bwudd
Yes, yes, and yes. Man Man hit the nail on the head with Six Demon Bag, and this wild piano-driven work serves as the centerpiece of a spectacular album. It’s a drunken fairytale told by madmen, but it warms the heart.
MP3: 07 Elvis Costello and Allan Toussaint - Tears, Tears And More Tears
I had heard exactly none of the Costello/Toussaint collaboration until catching them at Bonnaroo earlier this year. This is a reworking of one of Allan Toussaint’s old songs, but it just screams at me from all kinds of new angles: every one of them good.
MP3: 06 Viva Voce - From the Devil Himself
When I got my promo copy of Viva Voce’s new album, Get Yr Blood Sucked Out, I popped it in the stereo in my bathroom and danced. Then I put this song on repeat… and danced. I danced while I cooked. I danced with my girlfriend when I was supposed to be cooking. I even danced in the shower. And with a driving, catchy song like this, I’m wondering if I’ll ever want to stop dancing.
MP3: 05 Islands - Where There’s a Will There’s a Whalebone
This was my go-to song of 2006. This was curious, since my friends seemed to be split 50/50 on if this was a perfect, or terrible song. For me, it’s the height of 2006 collaborations. Subtitle and Busdriver provide lightning-fast lyrics overtop of Islands’ backdrop. And for added flavor, check out that bassline — nothing in this song was an accident.
MP3: 04 Oh No! Oh My! - Walk in the Park
It’s been over a year since I first heard this song, and it’s only gotten better with age. It’s a textbook-simple case of a great melody lifting a song up and beyond its contemporaries. And what’s more is that they keep it fresh from verse to verse with the addition of banjos, flutes and God knows what else.
MP3: 03 Regina Spektor - Fidelity
Hearing Regina Spektor’s song “Fidelity” made me want to jump on the rooftop and proclaim my love for her. I’d thought she was pretty cool, but this was the first time that she was able to connect fully, 100% with anyone who listens to her. It’s touching, moving and catchy.
MP3: 02 Bishop Allen - Corazon
I didn’t expect this song to stick with me. The first listen found me confused and befuddled at what my beloved band had turned into. But twelve months later I’ve discovered that this was one of those songs that a band is born to create. “Corazon” is a narrative — largely factual — that tells the story of the band discovering, fixing and playing an abandoned piano. And the passion that pours from Justin’s lyrics echos the name they’ve given the piano: “Corazon,” Spanish for “heart.”
MP3: 01 Starlight Mints - Seventeen Devils
The only way I can explain my soul’s immediate reaction to “Seventeen Devils” is somewhat odd: upon my first listen, I started trying to sing along to the chorus. While I’m sure I sounded half newborn and half madman, it was because I just had to find some way to connect with it. And how could I not? The violins wind you up so tightly that the only way to escape is through the Mint’s characteristically herky-jerky strum pattern, that same stop-and-go pace which carries over into the the chorus and makes it the year’s best pop work.
I’d also like to add that Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and Christina ’s “Ain’t No Other Man” would have made the list, but I’m not going to post MP3s.
