Top 25 Songs of the First Half of 2005: #20-16
Friday night. Me. Dell Laptop. 20-16. Sexy.
Oveis predicted Journey in the 19 spot. Close. So close.
20. Low "Cue the Strings" from The Great Destroyer (Sub Pop)
Duluth, MN feels about a million miles away from Oakland, like Pleasanton or Burlingame, but like much further. But when Low's Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk harmonize on "Cue the Strings", Duluth's romantic midwest serenity surrounds you. It's embracing you from behind. It's shining down from above. It gently rumbles from below. And right in front of you? Well, there are strings of course, along with a heartbeat kick drum and that lovely melody. Which leads me to ask, what's so wrong with slow-core when it's this goddamn beautiful?
19. Black Mountain "Modern Music" from Black Mountain (Jagjaguwar)
From the tiny little blurt out of the saxophone at the start of "Modern Music" to the hard headbanging riffing closing the song out, it becomes pretty damn clear these hippies can really fucking play. But screw the bookends, we know from Oreos and Tootsie Pops that it's middle where the sweetness lies. Motown jive, a counting shout-along and a little jazzy horn breakdown gives this shaggy haired anti-anthem life and a desire to rock, something most lazy hippies have yet to grasp.
18. Nic Armstrong and the Thieves "Broken Mouth Blues" from The Greatest White Liar (New West)
So here's another Brit who loves the blues, he sings like Jack White with an accent, and has opened for bigshots like Mercury Rev and The Bravery... So why isn't he famous? Probably because his album is a lukewarm collection of Beatles/Kinks rip-offs. Fortunately "Broken Mouth Blues" is a such fabulous song. It's short and poppy with tons of bounce. While a song like The White Stripes' "Hotel Yorba" is a sing-along exercising the same exuberance with only toe-tapping results, "Broken Mouth Blues" would wreak absolute havoc on a 1963 dance floor. Maybe a few more shots on MTV2 and it can happen this year. Nah, nobody gets that channel.
17. The Oranges Band "White Ride" from The World & Everything In It (Lookout!)
Didn't I just write about how much I loved this song? Well, let me reiterate. It's really quite simple. There is nothing remotely wrong about this song. Chuck Berry riffs. Doo-Doo background vocals. The fuzzbox glory of a young Nick Valensi (man, that's too funny). This is sonic perfection. Pop has never been so succinct. Indie has never been so unironically bright. The Oranges Band has never been so underappreciated.
16. M.I.A. "Bucky Done Gun" from Arular (XL)
I'd like to start by saying I have not a clue what "Bucky Done Gun" means or is about. I can barely make out what's she's actually saying. I really don't care to. I don't like Reggae. I don't like Dancehall. I don't even know what Grime is. I don't know if I've been duped by hype or whether I'm expanding my horizons, but M.I.A. is so good. Diplo's regal horn sample is brilliant. The minimalistic blips stirred in with percussive cornucopia presents a beat that really gets the limbs loose. Then there's M.I.A. She walks a fine line between free-spirted youthfulness and hard-nosed adulthood. Then you see her live. And man she can dance. Her confidence is contagious; You start to believe you can dance as well.
#15-11 comin' by the end of the weekend. Bustin' down your big wall and soundin' the horn.
Oveis predicted Journey in the 19 spot. Close. So close.
20. Low "Cue the Strings" from The Great Destroyer (Sub Pop)Duluth, MN feels about a million miles away from Oakland, like Pleasanton or Burlingame, but like much further. But when Low's Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk harmonize on "Cue the Strings", Duluth's romantic midwest serenity surrounds you. It's embracing you from behind. It's shining down from above. It gently rumbles from below. And right in front of you? Well, there are strings of course, along with a heartbeat kick drum and that lovely melody. Which leads me to ask, what's so wrong with slow-core when it's this goddamn beautiful?
19. Black Mountain "Modern Music" from Black Mountain (Jagjaguwar) From the tiny little blurt out of the saxophone at the start of "Modern Music" to the hard headbanging riffing closing the song out, it becomes pretty damn clear these hippies can really fucking play. But screw the bookends, we know from Oreos and Tootsie Pops that it's middle where the sweetness lies. Motown jive, a counting shout-along and a little jazzy horn breakdown gives this shaggy haired anti-anthem life and a desire to rock, something most lazy hippies have yet to grasp.
18. Nic Armstrong and the Thieves "Broken Mouth Blues" from The Greatest White Liar (New West)So here's another Brit who loves the blues, he sings like Jack White with an accent, and has opened for bigshots like Mercury Rev and The Bravery... So why isn't he famous? Probably because his album is a lukewarm collection of Beatles/Kinks rip-offs. Fortunately "Broken Mouth Blues" is a such fabulous song. It's short and poppy with tons of bounce. While a song like The White Stripes' "Hotel Yorba" is a sing-along exercising the same exuberance with only toe-tapping results, "Broken Mouth Blues" would wreak absolute havoc on a 1963 dance floor. Maybe a few more shots on MTV2 and it can happen this year. Nah, nobody gets that channel.
17. The Oranges Band "White Ride" from The World & Everything In It (Lookout!)Didn't I just write about how much I loved this song? Well, let me reiterate. It's really quite simple. There is nothing remotely wrong about this song. Chuck Berry riffs. Doo-Doo background vocals. The fuzzbox glory of a young Nick Valensi (man, that's too funny). This is sonic perfection. Pop has never been so succinct. Indie has never been so unironically bright. The Oranges Band has never been so underappreciated.
16. M.I.A. "Bucky Done Gun" from Arular (XL)I'd like to start by saying I have not a clue what "Bucky Done Gun" means or is about. I can barely make out what's she's actually saying. I really don't care to. I don't like Reggae. I don't like Dancehall. I don't even know what Grime is. I don't know if I've been duped by hype or whether I'm expanding my horizons, but M.I.A. is so good. Diplo's regal horn sample is brilliant. The minimalistic blips stirred in with percussive cornucopia presents a beat that really gets the limbs loose. Then there's M.I.A. She walks a fine line between free-spirted youthfulness and hard-nosed adulthood. Then you see her live. And man she can dance. Her confidence is contagious; You start to believe you can dance as well.
#15-11 comin' by the end of the weekend. Bustin' down your big wall and soundin' the horn.
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