Hey, it’s time for my annual listing of the songs that moved me and/or stuck with me the most this year. Enjoy.
Honorable Mention
“Buildings & Mountains” – The Republic Tigers. A lovely song by a fine band from Kansas City. This sounds like a warm, early summer afternoon.
“Northern Lights” – Science For Girls w/Boots Ottestad. Mellow brilliance.
“Got It Bad” – The Broken West. Not enough people use the Minneapolis drum sound from 1985 these days.
“Profanity Prayers” – Beck. Beck takes Radiohead’s sound and does quite nicely with it.
“Cheap And Cheerful” – The Kills. Perhaps the catchiest song of the year.
“Juno” – Tokyo Police Club. You can’t go wrong with taking the early U2 sound and updating it.
“Molten” – Sky Larkin. Recalling that era when there were a number of kick ass British bands fronted by women.
“I’m Not Gonna Teach your Boyfriend How To Dance With You” – Black Kids. Try to listen to this and not smile. I double-dog dare you.
“Right Hand On My Heart” – The Whigs. Biggest rocker of the year.
“The Bones Of You” – Elbow. A band that should get a lot more attention.
10 – “Time To Pretend” – MGMT. A fine take on one of the staples of rock: singing about the excesses that come with stardom.
9 – “Shove It” – Santogold. One of the most interesting artists of the year, this song brings together all kinds of influences into one undeniable sound.
8 – “Halfway Home” – TV On The radio. Another band that takes pieces of different influeces and molds them into something fresh and unique.
7 – “Lord, I’m Discouraged” – The Hold Steady. This song stuck with me because it varies from their traditional sound. Bleak and heartbreaking. Oh, and an epic guitar solo straight out of the 80s.
6 – “Bixby Canyon Bridge” – Death Cab For Cutie. Who would have guessed that a “thoughtful” band would rock so well?
5 – “Plasticities” – Andrew Bird. Thanks to my kids, and Noggin’s Jack’s Big Music Show, for introducing me to this amazing artist.
4 – “I’m Amazed” – My Morning Jacket. This song was everywhere this summer. With good reason.
3 – “Going On” – Gnarls Barkley. Proving they’re neither one hit wonders nor a novelty act that can be easily dismissed.
2 – “Old Enough” – The Raconteurs. Jack White and Brendan Benson lived up to all the hype on the Raconteurs’ second album.
1 – “The Modern Leper” – Frightened Rabbit. I could have picked one of several songs from The Midnight Organ Fight, Frightened Rabbit’s phenomenal second album. The disk as a whole is a perfect use of lyrics and music to share a point of view: a man destroyed by the end of a relationship. We hear his anger, his disbelief, his loss of self-esteem, his willingness to sacrifice his pride to reclaim the relationship, and ultimately his need to reform his identity as Me after We disappears. I selected this stunning disk-opener as my favorite song of the year.