“Lafaye” – School Of Seven Bells (Administrative note: the countdown will continue over the weekend, so check back Saturday and Sunday for songs #15 and #14.) I’ve always enjoyed sub-genres like Dream Pop and Shoegaze. Noisy, atmospheric realms where lyrics are often difficult to discern, but where you can close your eyes and completely disappear inside the soundscape. School Of…

“Groundhog Day” – Corin Tucker Band The second 1990s indie rock hero to make the list, Tucker was one of the founding women of the Riot Grrrl movement. With Carrie Brownstein she formed Sleater-Kinney, a band that helped to set the standard for women who wanted to make intelligent, socially-conscious music that also rocked hard. She hits all those points…

“Peacemaker” – Jesca Hoop Massive. That’s the word that pops into my head each time I listen to this song. It is huge, punching you in the mouth and demanding your attention. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t turn it off or skip to the next track. But why would you? It’s freaking brilliant. Hoop’s genius is combing vaguely…

“October” – The Helio Sequence Echoing early U2, this Portland duo offered a gorgeous set of atmospheric pop on their Negotiations album. This track fits the month it is named after perfectly. Warm, with a hint of a chill in the background. A reminder that no matter how perfect things may seem, there is always something just below the surface…

“Star Machine” – Bob Mould Last summer was was the summer of Mould. In July, all three Sugar albums got the remaster/rerelease treatment and I spent a couple weeks wallowing in Mould’s epic, mid-90s pop. It came as a surprise six weeks later when he dropped a new solo album, a nifty recreation of the classic Sugar sound. Like another…

I wonder how many songs I listened to this year. Thing is, despite using multiple tools to track what I listen to and how often I do so, I purge so many tracks after sampling them a time or two, that I would imagine the majority of the songs I screen are buried deep in a virtual pit of 1s…

As the numbers get smaller, the hits get bigger! Here we are. The end of another year. I’ve listened to a lot of music over the past 11 1/2 months. iTunes tells me I’ve added over 700 songs over that period. I would guess that I’ve sampled well over twice that number, often giving songs a listen or two and…

And now for part two of my year-end list of favorite songs. 20 – “Twice If You’re Lucky” – Crowded House. Anytime Neil Finn releases an album, he gets a spot in my year-end countdown. This track claims his spot for 2010, another in his long line of perfect pop pieces. I think he can roll out of bed and…

’Tis the season for year end lists. I’ve been blogging for seven years now, and each December I’ve posted a list of my favorite songs of the previous year. Why mess with a good thing? Here are my 20 favorite songs of 2010 . Not necessarily the best or the most played in my iTunes library,1 but the ones from…