June's Top Songs of 2008, pt. I

My favorite songs released this year, in no order:

Cut Copy - So Haunted.m4a
buy In Ghost Colours
Addictive and hypnotizing.

Coldplay - Lost!.m4a
buy Viva La Vida
An enthusiastic backbone with power pop lyrics.

Reynaldo - Brothers Forever.mp3
The only good thing to ever come out of American Idol.

Lykke Li - Little Bit.mp3
buy Youth Novels
Swedish with a light voice, a lovely sweet song.

Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.m4a
buy Vampire Weekend
Why be "A-Punk" when you can lean into this floaty Caribbean beat instead?

Besnyo - No!.m4a
buy Worry
Another great exclamation-point song, from a fab band out of Buffalo NY.

The Hood Internet - The Year This Club Broke (My Heart) [Usher (feat. Young Jeezy) vs Los Campesinos!].mp3
The year's best mash-up.

Flight of the Conchords - Bret, You've Got It Goin' On.mp3
buy Flight of the Conchords
This isn't from the album, but the best song from the show.

Islands - Vertigo (If It's a Crime).m4a
buy Arm's Way
11 minutes of sheer epic awesomeness.

the Mountain Goats & Kaki King - Black Pear Tree.mp3
The Black Pear Tree EP is SOLD OUT so instead buy Heretic Pride
A wistful, sadder song.

Weezer - Pork & Beans.mp3
buy Weezer (The Red Album)
Too obviously catchy and lovable to not theme your summer.

Top 26 Songs of 2008 (Jess Edition, Part 2)

Read Part 1 here

13. In the New Year – The Walkmen
Hamilton's snarl is so damn sexy and menacing. The way he sings “I know it’s true –it’s gonna be a good year” is like a threat. Year, you better be good or I’ll choke you with my bare hands. Meanwhile the shambolic guitars teeter as if on the brink of cautious optimism.

12. Sleepyhead – Passion Pit
Incredibly disorienting on the first listen, but upon closer examination this total mindfuck of electro-pop reveals layers upon layers of hooks. In my utopian world, this is what the future sounds like, or at least it should.

11. Lovecraft in Brooklyn – the Mountain Goats
John Darnielle finally gets his metal on--albeit in a highly literary, detailed narrative of paranoia in the city. Novelistic imagery of switchblades and brains in mason jars abound to genuinely frightening affect. The nearly meta-lyrics ring true: like John, we too are “like genuinely afraid.”

10. 5 Years Time – Noah and the Whale
The whistling intro, the clap-along melody, the Wes Anderson homage video – no doubt about it, this song is what it says: Love, Love Love.

9. Oh My God – Ida Maria
The Norwegian fireball defies you to “find a cure for her life” with raging grrrl power riffs and a smidge of vulnerability. Let us know if you.

8. Little Bit – Lykke Li
Sometimes the most minimal arrangements are the most effective. The sparse cyclical percussion, the whimpering puppy dog vocals that only a Swede can utter, plus those gutsy lyrics about “keeping your legs apart to forget about your tainted heart” all synergistically culminate in an anthemic confessional for the ages.

7. My Year in Lists – Los Campesinos!
Britain's cheekiest youngsters possess the wit or Art Brut and the twee-ness of Architecture in Helsinki and in under two minutes create one of the catchiest, cleverist melodies of the year.

6. Lights and Music – Cut Copy
This song is like a prism that shines rainbows on the dancefloor. It’s a technicolor wonderland of dance-y 80's goodness. How did New Order not record this song?

5. Light of Love – Music Go Music
Abba is reincarnated as a Californian indie-pop band, and sound a whole lot better this time around. The sugary chorus soars with this weird thing called optimism.

4. L.E.S. Artistes – Santogold
Pure empowerment from an electro-new-wave-hip-hop goddess. It’s the very definition of fierce.

3. Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? – She & Him
Old-timey adorableness with a contemporary snap. Makes me wanna hike up my skirt and bat my eyelashes, though somehow I doubt I could beat Zooey in the coy, come-hither department

2. Blind – Hercules & Love Affair ft. Antony Hegarty
Very few songs move me. Even fewer songs get me to move. It is an extremely rare thing when a song accomplishes both. Antony’s operatic vocals humanize the icy synths and bleating horns into six full minutes of pulsating pathos.

1. Lost Coatlines – Okkervil River
This is everything I believed this band could be. With a delicious “Lust for Life” baseline, a lingering coda of “la, la, las”, not one, but two of the sexiest male voices in existence, this is a smart, sad wallop of a song. It won over my heart, my mind and my toe-tapping feet and is best heard in darkness alone.

Best albums for first half of 2008

In no particular order, a brief rundown at what's pulled at our heartstrings so far this year. Please click on the artist's name to buy these albums. We repeat: Buy! Buy! Buy!

the Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride: Superchunk's Jon Wurster is a welcome addition to the band.
San Bernadino.mp3


Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight: Driving, earnest songs that belie the band's meek moniker.
Keep Yourself Warm.mp3


Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago: These delicate little songs have gently led me through many dark places this year.
Skinny Love.mp3


Islands - Arm's Way: Epic from start to finish. The strings are incredible!
Creeper.mp3


The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely: An extremely cohesive album. A sweltering album that, in my opinion, surpasses the bands debut.
Salute Your Solution.mp3


Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs: A shift in sound for the band. I've heard a lot of bad things about this album, but I'm really enjoying it.
I Will Posses Your Heart.m4a


Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours: Dance, Dance, Dance like you're at an 80's prom, except with way hipper music!
Unforgettable Season.mp3


Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea: David Berman's wit and rasp at its best.
Candy Jail.m4a


She & Him - Volume 1: The pinnacle of adorableness, plus M. Ward's immaculate, sepia-tinged production.
Black Hole.m4a


Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster...: Britain's cheekiest youngsters rock...with glockenspiel of course.
This Is How You Spell, "HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics".m4a


Vampire Weekend: Unironic pure joy, with a summertime-lounge-y feel.
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.mp3


Flight of the Conchords: Silliness without sappiness, spanning different genres.
Mutha'uckas.m4a


Sigur Rós - Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust: Faux-languaged Icelandic group pulls together a sharp, fun, poppy record.
Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur.mp3

Top 6 songs of the moment

Guy Blackman & Jens Lekman - A Dark & Quiet Place.mp3 from Adult Baby
The most homoerotic song ever! Regardless of your gender or orientation, it'll make you want to take your pants off. Slow, sultry and tinkly... whimsical and yet serious all at once with gorgeous male-on-male vocal harmonies.

Van She - Kelly (Cut Copy mix).mp3 from the Kelly 12"
Like the first time I heard Cut Copy, I heard this Van She song and was convinced it was straight from 1985. The chorus, the synthesizers, the sound effects... This 7+ minute remix is just icing on the retro cake.

Damien Rice - Woman Like a Man.mp3 from B-Sides
Dark, hot, brooding, sweaty and powerful (and that's only the guitar!), this is a song for those of us who like it rough. For the heady feminists out there it produces a cultural conundrum: it is a degrading command or an observational compliment? Throw in some cello and ethereal female harmonies, and you will only say YES.

Islands - I Feel Evil (Creeping In).m4a from Arm's Way
I should have just uploaded the entire Islands album, because, really, that's almost all I've been listening to lately. Also, will someone PLEASE PLEASE get on the anticipated/inevitable Creeper remix or mash-up?? For reals, people. It's screaming for it.

Cold War Kids - Saint John.mp3 from Robbers & Cowards
I'd listened a bit to CWK some time ago but never really "got into" them until recently, with a revival of their true greatness courtesy of the recent Sasquatch festival. This song is a bit odd and off-tempo for them, like a jangly olde-tyme revival preacher. The schizophrenic cymbals and determined bass offset the choir-like vocals calling out for mercy from death row.

Flight of the Conchords - Bret You've Got It Goin' On.mp3
There's no reason or excuse for this, save for the fact that it's brilliantly written. It makes me want to be a guy so I can sing it to other guys. All I can do instead is Jam out with my...Clam out? (ooof, sorry for that one.)

Dance Music Pt. II: Indie-remix version

...because, deep down, hipsters really do like to dance. (At least in their living rooms when they think no one is watching).

Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Black Dominoes Remix).mp3
Take some Graceland-inspired Afro-Carribean beats, add 4 years at Columbia University and a heavy dose of Upper Crust "Summer in the Hamptons, anyone?"... and then remix. Go buy Vampire Weekend first, though.

Patrick Wolf - Tristan.mp3 from Wind In The Wires
With heavy, plodding beats, this bruised-n-bleedin' cut is the ultimate in darkly sexy, brooding indie-fucks to go "down the road and not across the street" to. Recommended for that hot, dirty rough sex with your favourite indie boi.

Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You (Pocketknife's Considerate Eagle Scout Remix).mp3 from Tambourine Dream
This soft fluffy DOWN-tempo song originally comes off Sufjan's very mellow album Seven Swans. (Get it? It's a pun, with "down" and "swans"... oh, never mind.) This is probably the last song I would ever expect to hear remixed, but it works incredibly well with a strong backbone beat, and some flourishes near the end that emphasize the minor chords.

The Cure - Close To Me (Closer Remix).mp3 from Mixed Up
This remix album covers most off the songs of one of the best albums ever, Disintegration, plus several other much-loved classics. For that angsty high school kid inside all of us, who was never understood! A change of tempo: this lighthearted, bouncy and up-tempo beat hits nicely with bright tambourine and light bells.

Le Tigre - After Dark (Morel's Pink Noise Vocal Mix).mp3 from This Island Remixes
A complex Jungle beat remix, richly layered with multi-textured beats and sophisticated synthesizer.

Future Bible Heroes - The World Is a Disco Ball (Rob Rives club mix).mp3 from The Lonely Robot EP
I used to work it out to this during my days as a campus foodservice slop-jockey, in college. This 8+ minute loop of thumping beats shows a side of Stephin Merritt that's less plucked acoustics and more computers. A good club mix for those nights when you just wanna dance, dance, dance.

Tori Amos - Raspberry Swirl (Lip Gloss Version).mp3 from Cruel
If any of these folks know dance, it's Tori. Frequently lending her tracks to entire LPs of remixed tracks, these club mixes are second-to-none. But going back to the roots, a really simple, clean remix of this track off From the Choirgirl Hotel highlights the late 90's best works.

Mirah - La Familia (Remix).mp3 from Joyride: Remixes
It's very important, when putting this song on a mix tape for someone (or even a muxtape), that you emphasize that the question posed in the chorus is a PONDERANCE ONLY and NOT a proposition... unless that is what you really mean. Hmmm, this could get complicated. The really light, tingly beats sounds familiar from "Cold Cold Water, but now perfected for dancing, and the chorus in the background is more straightforward, altered in a minor chord that taken on a more serious--rather than playful--sound.

Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire.mp3 from In Ghost Colours
So 80s! So dancey! So addictive! Not at all what you might expect from a contemporary Australian group, known for somehow recreating each song live onstage, each time resulting in a new but fabulous sound. I don;t know why this track isn't as well-known as some of their others; it blows them away. Put it on a loop and watch yourself plow through a mountain of paperwork or household chores.

Caribou - Pelican Narrows.mp3 from The Milk of Human Kindness
Not a remix; just a fantastic original cut off their super album. The dynamic interaction of the sounds are undeniably classically-based.

LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing At My House (Soulwax Shibuya Re-Remix).mp3 from www.electrorash.com
A club remix to keep the party going. Complete with the background white noise of people chattering, bottles being recycled (because, you know, if you're playing either Daft Punk or LCD Soundsystem at a house party, you're probably recycling). This remix offers synthesizers, bells, electric guitar and all kinds of crazy shit with a hi-hat (and a suped-up tempo!) White people, get it on.

Annie - Heartbeat.mp3 from Anniemal
A sweet song of the bubblegum variety but with a perfect beat for a cool night.

ABX - The Trees Were Presidential (Andrew Bird vs. Youngbloodz).mp3 from thehoodinternet.com
Yeah, I realize a mash-up might be cheating, but it's just too awesome. Based on Andrew Bird's "The Trees Were Mistaken" off of the Soldier On EP. It gets the heavy treatment with some gangstas. The light and tinkly strings which flow and bounce intertwine beautifully with a hard rap beat and these down-n-dirty lyrics. Even Bird's sweet whistling is sampled here, from this track and also from "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left." Fantastic!

the Mountain Goats - Color in Your Cheeks (Mike's Remix).mp3
A spacey, dizzying remix based off this song from All Hail West Texas. It retains the distant feel and the tape hiss of the boom-box recording while adding some "2001: A Space Odyssey"-type beats and sound effects.

Jens Lekman - Sipping on the Sweet Nectar.mp3 from Night Falls Over Kortedala
Great song, boring video. The super 70's disco feel here, however, should keep you on your feet for some time.

Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks (Datassette Remix).mp3
Based off the insanely popular (and rightfully so!) cut from 2006's Writer's Block, you probably won't recognize this song for the first few seconds, as the heavy, block-y ticks count off a surreal, futuristic beat. The whistling is replaced here with some super staccato synthesizers, and the chorus is amped up with slick, smooth sound effects that make the verses seem minimalist by comparison.

Soho Dolls - Prince Harry.mp3 from Ribbed Music for the Numb Generation
Initially minimalist in the verses and polished in the choruses the exceedingly bouncy beat, ultra British-ness and cheeky lyrics beg to be used as a girls' night out theme. Sing along: Save up all your USDs for British universities! This song is way too short for how much fun it is.

Interpol - Public Pervert (Carlos D Remix).mp3 from C'mere
A slow one to finish up the night with. Spoon, baby, starry nights.

Cut Copy @ Studio B, Brooklyn, NY March 15, 2008

Cut Copy put on a truly awesome live show. These guys make perfect late night dance music, combining contemporary electronica with an 80s new wave sensibility. Plus, they get extra-cute bonus points for being Australian.

Many thanks to Amy for the fantastic photos. Also check out her most recent podcast which features a track by Cut Copy and several other great artists.

Hearts On Fire - Cut Copy
Far Away - Cut Copy

Mix Tape III!

Another mix for your sharing pleasure; this one for a great friend celebrating a recent birthday.
22 songs / 1:18:40 total

Side "A"
4 Non Blondes - What's Up.mp3 (from Bigger, Better, Faster, More!)
To Be Sung At Maximum Volume.

Rosie Thomas & Sufjan Stevens - Say Hello.mp3 (from These Friends of Mine)
A sweet tune with two lovely voices. I love the awkward, adorable "hi" introductions at the end.

Acacia Sears - Passion Play.mp3 (from Dialtones)
Another favorite track off the album by trhe same lovley lady interviewed here a few days ago.

The Unicorns - Sea Ghost.mp3 (from Who will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?)
Every song can be improved by a 17-second sea chanty intro.

Arcade Fire - Intervention.mp3 (from Neon Bible)
I've said it before and I'll say it again: this brain-exploding tune will melt your face so as to leave your corpse unidentifiable. This is an understatement.

Neutral Milk Hotel - Two-Headed Boy.mp3 (from In The Aeroplane Over The Sea)
"Never, under any circumstances, admit you have no idea who Jeff Magnum is." --Everybody Hurts
Words to live by, there.

Weird Al - Happy Birthday.mp3 (from Weird Al)
I've managed to make a birthday mix for this person every year for four years in a row now, always including a nontraditional birthday song, and never repeating one. However, I'm beginning to run a bit low on material.

Art Brut - Good Weekend.mp3 (from Bang Bang Rock & Roll)
Jess and I once proposed to PPH that the Mountain Goats should cover this; PPH replied that he'd been already practicing the bass line that weekend (which is a wonderful, fun bassline). Cue glee.

Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks.mp3 (from Writer's Block)
The mandatory introduction to PB&J for everyone else who missed all the great music that came out last year.

Cut/Copy - Hearts on Fire.mp3 (from Cut/Copy)
Beleve it or not, this upbeat, highly dancable tune from some folks in Australia didn't come out in 1986; it came out within the last 12 months. I know, I was shocked too!

Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence.mp3 (from Violator)
Perfect transition into a classic that everyone loves (but sometimes forgets how beautiful this song really is).

Side "B"
Daniel Smith & Sufjan Stevens - Worried Shoes (Daniel Johnston cover).mp3 (from I Killed The Monster)
The two friends pair up here for a richly polished cover of one of our favorite lo-fi heroes.

The National - Ada.mp3 (from Boxer)
Moar Seekrit Soof-yawn Plz! Here he tickles the ivories with panache on one of the best songs from one of the best albums this year.

Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire - 11:11.mp3 (from The Swimming Hour)
This mix contains several duets and this is yet another, with a superb balance of male-female vocals here in a rousing Americana-tinged rock song.

Patrick Wolf - Tristan.mp3 (from Wind in the Wires)
A rough, passionate, dark and undeniably sexy song.

the Mountain Goats - Cubs in Five.mp3 (from Nine Black Poppies)
John Darnielle & Peter Peter Hughes up the "oh snap!" quoitent in this wicked sharp anti-love song.

Phish - Mmm Bop (live Hanson cover).mp3 (from A Live One) (YSI)
This is actually Phish doing an impression of James Brown's cover of Mmm Bop. Must be heard to be believed.

R.E.M. - Nightswimming.mp3 (from Automatic for the People)
The epitome of an Indian summer in New York. September's coming soon (and when it does, I too shall find myself there).

Belle & Sebastian - Your Secrets.mp3 (from the Books EP)
"I just had somebody tell me I was introspective to a fault." Wait, did I write this inappropriately bouncy song?

Holcombe Waller - Anthem.mp3 (from Extravagant Gesture)
A great man hailing from Portland, Oregon. With incredible, silky soaring falsetto vocals and digestabe lyrics, this tune redefines what rock is.

Jeff Buckley - Satisfied Mind (live Johnny Cash cover).mp3
A song for a funeral. Recorded live from the WFMU broadcast October 1992.

Tenacious D - Friendship Test.mp3 (from the self-titled album)
...It never hurts to check, just in case.