30 November 2008

Best "!" Songs of the Year!


Ok, so allow me a little bit of shameless self-promotion here. I've got an itty-bitty article in the this month's Paste magazine (it's on page 37 in the December/January issue with She & Him on the cover for those you keeping score). Anyways I basically noticed that an awful lot of songs this year featured exclamation points! So I wrote about them! And here they!

“You! Me! Dancing!” – Los Campesinos!

With its coy boy-girl vocals and meandering instrumental intro, this twee tune by Britain’s cheekiest youngsters possesses all the awkward charm of a middle school dance, but with a lot more glockenspiel.
Why the !: The dancing continues for nearly seven minutes!

“Lost!” – Coldplay
It’s an anthem with pounding percussion, droning organs and relentless riffs—the sound of four blokes striving to be the biggest band in the world.
Why the !: Brian Eno’s immaculate production!

“Be Mine!” - Robyn
The Swedish pop tart blows an electro-pop kiss-off that’s both sassy and sad.
Why the !: You’ll never be Robyn’s lover. Really, you never will!

“Souled Out!!!” – Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

Omaha’s favorite son yelps pun-laden social commentary.
Why the !: Bye bye to the Bright Eyes moniker!

“Dig, Lazurus, Dig!!!” – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

A twisted 21st-century reinterpretation of the biblical story of Lazurus, sung with a snarl and a swagger.
Why the !: He's still the ultimate bad-ass!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

congrats... i did a double-take 'cuz i just read the issue this morning and my initial reaction was "volume knob's reblogging Paste? wtf, and all that..."

awesome, awesome... i'm a huge fan and i wrote you guys in on my ballot for The Gummys...

Anonymous said...

Congrats on getting in Paste.

I feel ya on the "Souled Out!" song. I listen to it for inspiration.

Also love "I don't want to die (in the hospital)" and it should have an exclamation point! I wrote about the song on our blog The Dirty Truth. Have a look: http://www.stophospitalinfections.org/2008/11/i_dont_want_to_die_in_the_hosp.html

Thanks for your top "!" songs.

Jess said...

aw thanks!

andrew you rock for voting for us!

and daniela i totally agree with you about that song too!

thom said...

if i ever have enough free time to make my way to a bookstore, i will be picking up a copy of this issue. congratulations!