Filed under: hot, lists, music, starfucking, the dan fogelberg and hair metal decade, tv, Uncategorized | Tags: 2k8, beards, chris brown, malcolm middleton
Sorry for the ugly layout on these; probably I should be Photoshopping, or not including pictures at all, to make this less ugly. But anyway. Here’s songs 70-61.
(And tomorrow’s list almost definitely will be delayed. I’m helping somebody move in the morning and then working in a holiday craft store thing after that.)
70. Andrew WK, McLaughlin Groove
Sometimes big things come in small packages. In this case, a fifty-one second song made up up things said on the McLaughlin Group. Death comes in the night on little cat’s feet, indeed.
69. Jazmine Sullivan, Bust Your Windows
Okay, so the lyrics are lacking here: “You probably think that it was juvenile/But I think that I deserve to smile.” But whatever, it’s the combination of female-revenge saga mixed with the ballroom music (Hit ‘Em Up Style meets Shirley Bassey’s Get The Party Started) that means this will surely be a big hit on the gay karaoke circuit for years to come.
68. Kalomoira, Secret Combination
While I eventually got to be okay with Armenia’s second-place Qele Qele, I really can not fathom how this song placed third in Eurovision and that ridiculous Russian Timbaland-produced ice skating trainwreck won. I mean sure, this song by Grecian Long Islander Kalomoira sounds like it’s from the year 2000, but then, this is Eurovision, so maybe it was just a little too hip and edgy for people to handle.
67. Chris Brown, Forever
Okay, so it was actually a Wrigley-financed gum commercial disguising itself as a mid-tempo R&B song. But shut up, it was still good. I think Chris Brown’s has a lot more talent than most people give him credit for, and this is just one example of the quality songs he consistently puts out.
66. Marianne Faithfull, Black Coffee
Marianne Faithfull’s new album, which may or may not be out right now, is a rather stirring collection of dirges featuring a variety of celebrity guest musicians. It’s available in 10 and 18-song versions, and the latter’s the way to go since that’s where the Jarvis Cocker duet is, as well as Faithfull’s great versions of Morrissey’s Dear God Please Help Me and this song, which sounds perfect coming from her can opener-like voice.
65. Vivian Girls, Tell The World
Since Saturday Looks Good to Me went down the crapper and I’m not actually sure what the Aislers Set are up to these days, the Vivian Girls officially now fill the void in my life where dubbed Girls In The Garage cassettes used to be.
64. Duffy, Rain On Your Parade
I hate deluxe editions of albums. A lot. But, annoyingly, at least three songs on the countdown were singles tacked-on to albums fading from the spotlight. (See also #67 and one yet to come.) Rain On Your Parade, Duffy’s James Bond homage, was slick and calculated (and a million times better than that Jack White/Alicia Keys mess), and it ended up being (by far) Duffy’s best single.
63. Dengue Fever, Mr. Orange
I wasn’t as into Dengue Fever’s Venus On Earth album as much as I thought I would be, considering how often I played 2005′s Escape From Dragon House; the newer record drags a little, and there’s not enough of singer Chhom Nimol’s Khmer-language freak-outs. Luckily there’s the lively Mr Orange, the last (and best) song on the album, to make up for some of the slower numbers in the middle.
62. Malcolm Middleton, Stay
Madonna covers can be an iffy thing; if you’re not Ciccone Youth, there’s a very good chance that the song is going to be horrible. (See: Kelly Osbourne’s Papa Don’t Preach, andthing by Mad’house, etc.) Luckily, mopey Scottish troubadour Malcolm Middleton covered Stay, a 1984 album track, rather than one of her better-known songs. It’s surprisingly moving, coming from half of the over-sexed Arab Strap. His version’s all folksy and contemplative where Madonna’s is produced within an inch of its life.
61. Britney Spears, Womanizer
I was revolted the first time I heard Bloc Party’s Mercury. The chorus was soooooooo repetitive, and the whole pitch-shifting thing annoyed the hell out of me. Little did I expect that just two months later Britney Spears would do pretty much the same thing and I would love it. It’s not her best song by any means, but it’s still insanely catchy.
Time Out New York just posted their year-end best-of lists. I’m listening to Elisabeth Vincentelli’s 10 best songs of the year (which you can hear on the site.) I’m a little surprised she didn’t go for Alphabeat, but Girls Aloud’s Miss You Bow Wow is like a million times better than The Promise is. I also like this Little Jackie song a lot more than the one that was on the radio, and the Disturbia remix is pretty nifty too.
I actually only knew three of her top 10 before, and the She and Him album irritated me to no end, but I’m liking the playlist.
Today: well hung guy, “same auld lang syne” piano sheet music, hookers.com, lady gaga muffin, “von hayes” and “band”, best pop hits from the 80s, tindersticks boobar mp3 blog, escorts in providence on craigslist, lady gaga’s mufen, mixtape “babe ruth – the mexican”, “hookers” skopje”, muffin lady.gaga, looking for hookers number, rich franklin gay, seahawks bedroom, lady gaga hooker
Yesterday: www.hits pop song.s , johnny knoxville jackass , hookers.com,
mixtapes for hookers, mixtape 09, pre teen hookers, claudia galanti sex tape, www.evilangel.com, password roccosiffredi.com 2008, ryan dempster tattoo, none of my ads showing on craigslist eve, terry richardson jared leto, wearing glasses naked, annie “i know ur girlfriend hates me”, fucking hookers on craigslist, californians names bands summer hits of, johnny knoxville nerdy glasses, hot guy wearing glasses
Filed under: lists, music | Tags: 2k8, antony, david byrne, new kids on the block, the chap, von hayes
Okay, so the radio show’s definitely not happening on Sunday. Which means I’ll be posting the top 50 here first rather than doing it live. I’m annoyed, but whatever.
Anywizzle, here’s my 80th through 71st favorite songs of the year.
80. Brian Eno and David Byrne, Strange Overtones
Did you know that Brian Eno and Grace Jones both turned 60 this past May? Both had big splashy comeback albums this year; Eno’s (with David Byrne…another Taurus!) featured this catchy number, which is the only track on their Everything That Happens Will Happen Today album that I listened to much. (Not that it’s the album’s fault. Not enough time, I’m only one person, etc.)
79. Von Hayes, Mr. Guts*
Von Hayes, the group named after the current coach of the Lancaster Barnstormers, put out a really good album called Evident Eyelid that just barely missed my albums of the year list. Short, catchy lo-fi numbers that would do Bob Pollard proud. Mr. Guts is probably my favorite of the album’s 20 short tracks.
[*Hopefully I'll remember to post an mp3 later, since the shitty Myspace player thing doesn't seem to be working right now. And this song's not on there anyway.]
78. Bjork, Nattura
Though I try to support the locals, i have to say that, in general, Providence’s Brian Chippendale bores my guts out. I think Lightning Bolt are totally overrated (and hate it when people bring them up right away when I mention where I’m from), and his art usually annoys me to no end. But let his loony drumming run rampant on a Bjork charity single, add a pinch of Thom Yorke and a sprinking of Matthew Herbert, and you’ve got yourself a winner!
77. Klee, Zwei Herzen
I first came across Klee on My Old Kentucky Blog a couple of years ago; they have a lovely song called Fur Alle Die that I was really into for a while, though I never really looked for more until this year. Scouring the world’s pop charts for my radio show, I found Zwei Herzen, a #29 hit in Germany and a delightful pop song, even if I don’t understand a word of it.
76. Antony and the Johnsons, Another World
While I doubt I’ll ever again like Antony as much as I did in 2005 (Fistful of Love was my #1 song of that year), Another World was a welcome return. This slow tale of wreckage managed to work on relationship and environmental levels, something I can’t think of ever happening before.
75. The Research, I Think She’s The One I Love
This charmingly twee ditty by UK trio The Research put a smile on my face almost every time I heard it. It’s not often that cutesy songs like this do it for me, now that I’m not a teenager anymore, but this one’s pretty frigging adorable.
74. Finger Eleven, Paralyser
Did no one else notice that this amazing slice of boneheaded Franz Ferdinand-eque rock sounded kinda like the Ting Tings’ Shut Up And Let Me Go? The lyrics are silly but the music is awesome and the chorus is hilarious. I’m pretty sure it’s the only song on cock rock radio that I liked this year. Also, I’m fairly certain it’s the highest-charting song by Canadians on this list.
73. The Chap, Fun and Interesting
“Come on, come on cloner! Clone me another me! My generation needs another me!” It might be 2008′s best shower sing-along, and it was my favorite part of the Chap”s excellent Mega Breakfast album. (Also, I really like the song’s video concept, though the execution could have been a little tighter.)
72. New Kids On The Block, Full Service
By not releasing this as a single, the Old Kids totally missed the opportunity for the best music video ever. Picture it: A convertible full of bleached and tanned ladies rattles up to a dusty old gas station. One gets out to pump, giving us a peek at her denim cutoff hot shorts, but then not one but five dudes in matching greasy mechanic outfits come out to fill them up. The girls dig it (as they should!) Another car pulls up, New Edition’s in that one, because somehow this song required eight to ten vocalists*. The fun goes on and on until the two groups stage a dance-off at the end.
Oh, and one of the girls in the car should be about twelve; there can be an intro part where it’s explained that she’s the niece of one of the other ones, in keeping with The Block’s inability to decide what age group to target.
[The New Edition Wikipedia entry is too confusing for me to figure out how many members they currently have, for some reason.]
71. Hercules and Love Affair, Blind
I don’t think I was quite as into Hercules and Love Affair as the rest of the world (or at least the gay music blogging world), but it’s hard to deny that this song’s pretty darn groovy.
Filed under: lists, music | Tags: 2k8, clinic, euros childs, flo rida, ravage! ravage!, stuart staples
So, the radio station I DJ at is part of a university that’s spontaneously closing for Christmas early on account of the festive economy. So I may not be able to count down my Top 50 on the air this week after all, because the radio station’s in a building that they’re locking up for two weeks. Yay.
More on that as I find out more (because nobody from the station’s actually told me anything yet…) In the meantime, here’s part deux of my favorite singles from 2008. (I’m also adding a couple of mp3s to yesterday’s post, so you might want to check that one again.)
90. The Rosebuds, Cape Fear (mp3)
Surprisingly rockin’ after their moody and wonderful Night of the Furies album, Cape Fear is the most immediate standout on Ivan and Kelly’s Life Like album (which I need to listen to more.)
89. Clinic, Free Not Free
Speaking of albums I should listen to more, Clinic’s Do It! was actually very good, although it sort of got lost in the mix of great spring releases. The first single’s quite killer, though.
88. Tindersticks, Boobar Come Back To Me
It seems like every British group out there is suddenly releasing singles as limited-to-500-copy 7-inches. I haven’t heard the single version of this, actually, though the album version from earlier this year is really nice in an old-fashioned Tindersticks sort of way, though the group has fewer than half the members it used to.
87. Ravage! Ravage!, Substance (mp3)
Dutch act Ravage! Ravage! returned this year with a new track, released in October as a mailing list exclusive. It’s a lot of fun, in a clubby Pet Shop Boys sort of way.
86. Ipso Facto, Six and Three Quarters
Stylish London quartet Ipso Facto had a big breakthrough this year, largely because of this militaristic-sounding song. I have no idea what it’s about, actually, but it’s super-catchy and I like their aesthetic.
85. Dragonette, The Boys
While I’ve always thought Calvin Harris was kind of a boring turd, I really like what Martina and Her Dreamy Male Friends did to his song The Girls. This was released as a bonus track on the American edition of their album, which came out last month, approximately sixteen months after it should have.
84. Flo Rida, Low
This song was very, very, very hard to escape, but I actually liked it. Sure, the lyrics were kinda stupid, and there’s really nothing less hot than baggy sweatpant/furry boot combos, but this song totally bent my will and made me cry for mercy. (Okay, and it didn’t hurt that I liked Flo Rida’s facial hair attempts and the surprisingly hot-looking cast of Step Up 2: The Streets, a movie I came very close to seeing in theaters thanks to hunky Robert Hoffman.)
83. The School, I Want You Back (mp3)
Okay, so they basically sound like Camera Obscura and nothing else. But so? Camera Obscura are really awesome! And the super-catchy I Want You Back, the first single from this Welsh six-piece, really made my day a few times this fall.
82. Paula Abdul, Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow
I totally forgot this song existed until I just went sorted all the mp3s on my computer by date. Maybe it’s something about the badly-ripped radio mp3 I have, but the tinny vocals on this piece of foof are actually appealing in a naive sort of way, especially paired with the clunky 1990-era drum machines. [Whimsically, the Wikipedia entry for this song keeps getting defaced. The word 'pooperhead' is in there, as well as a note that the drumline from her Super Bowl performance have yet to be paid for their services. Oops!]
81. Euros Childs, Farm Hand Murder (mp3)
Wonderfully eerie death-folk from the frontman of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. His album Cheer Gone got good reviews but I haven’t had a chance to pick it up yet, something I might rectify if Santa and/or my relatives decide to give me any spending money for Christmas.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. SWOP has a list of stuff going on around the world. San Francisco has a lot going on, as you’d expect, but there’s also events throughout Canada and even in Skopje, Macedonia. The best event, though, might be London’s:
Sex Worker Carol Singing in London, England
Wednesday 17th December at 7:30pm
St. Anne’s CofE Church, 55 Dean Street, Soho (nearest tube Piccadilly Circus). End Violence Against Sex Workers Day — join sex workers from around the globe in raising awareness of violence against us. Come and sing carols and drink mulled wine. Bring a bottle. Organized by The International Union of Sex Workers.
Nothing at all going on in New England, as far as I can tell, but Bound, Not Gagged is having some kind of online happening.
Last night I had a dream that, I guess, reflected all of my anxieties about my temp job, my soon-to-be housing situation, and my fear of missing deadlines. Oddly, though, it was a pretty happy dream.
Britney Spears was playing in Providence. I got a call from her manager, saying that when she tours she avoids hotels and that the last time she came to town she stayed in one of the extra bedrooms in the large mansion that I had recently inherited. I asked which bedroom and the manager said it didn’t matter, so I went to figure out which one would be best, because I figured Britney would be particular. Some of the many bedrooms in my mansion, all of which were comletely unfamiliar to me, even in the dream, included a really narrow slopy one with green lights and a stripper pole, one that looked like a Victorian B&B, and one that was all white and fluffy.
Anyway, so then Britney came over and she was wicked nice, but the problem was that apparently my house was occupied by lots of other people, none of whom I had ever seen but all of whom were suddenly going to be home. So Britney took my room (the white fluffy one) and I just stayed up all night.
Then, after she left to go to her concert (I thought I’d get some free tickets, but no such luck) I found out that everybody in my house was going on strike (or whatever) because apparently I was a slumlord and charging way too much rent. One of my tenants, I noticed, was this woman that I work with, who told me she’d been living in the house for years.
I asked her how she could afford to be there so long if I was charging so much, and she told me that she’s been dealing drugs for the last thirty years to cover rent.
Then some hippies came over to buy some board games that I was selling, including Electronic Talking Battleship, but then my co-worker and I couldn’t get the hippies to leave so decided to just watch TV with them. There was some kind of celebrity figure skating special on, and George Michael was there along with some other people I can’t remember now. He was skating and singing Freedom (the Wham one, not Freedom ’90) and wearing basically the black leather equivalent of David Byrne’s big white suit.
Then I woke up. Oddly, this is the first dream in months that I’ve actually remembered for more than thirty seconds after I woke up.
In more nightmarish news, one of my co-workers at the temp job recently bought The Best of Toto and has been listening to Africa and Rosanna pretty much nonstop for the past six hours. I kind of want to cry now.
Okay, here’s the start of my favorite songs of the year list. Hopefully I’ll post ten (or eleven) songs a day between now and Saturday, to pump everyone up for the live countdown on Sunday morning.
This was a funny year; I spent the first nine months of it at a desk job listening to stuff I found on music blogs all day. Then I spent the last three without a computer, but doing a weekly pop radio countdown that involved me listening to hits from other countries on a weekly basis. So I had to actively seek out good stuff to listen to more than usual. Luckily, though, I think I did a pretty good job finding it.
(for the rest of the list, click here.)
101. Claire Diterzi, Zubrowka (mp3)
Filles Sourires is one of my favorite blogs to find new French stuff, and back in January they posted this wonderfully gloomy Diterzi track. Unfortunately, my grasp of the French language has deteriorated to the point where I can’t find much info about her beyond that one blog entry.
100. Martina Topley-Bird, Valentine
Ms. Topley-Bird’s second album didn’t really make a big splash, and I only heard this one song, though the rest of the album’s supposed to be quite good. But this song is very lovely.
99. Peter Moren, Le Petit Coeur
After the massive success of Young Folks, I was surprised that nobody seemed to like (or even hear about) Seaside Rock, Peter Bjorn and John’s follow-up album. Sadder still is that everybody also ignored La Petit Coeur, Peter’s delightful solo single.
98. Lisa, Drole de Creepie
The French sure love to listen to kids sing, for some reason. Their pop charts are full of theme songs from kids shows and songs sung by pre-teens and this, a theme from a kids show sung by a pre-teen. It’s catchy, though, and more interesting than songwriter Mylene Farmer’s own stuff this year.
97. Vampire Weekend, Ottoman
One of the most delightful surprises of the year was the Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist Soundtrack, which took every trendy New York band and smooshed them together (alongside Richard Hawley and The Real Tuesday Weld) into one really delightful mix album. Bands like Vampire Weekend and We Are Scientists actually sounded a lot more interesting in that context.
96. The Notwist, Where In This World?
The Notwist waited six years after their much-beloved Neon Golden to put out a new record, and I don’t think anyone even noticed. It’s too bad, though, as this single’s quite nice.
95. Cannonball Jane, Crush On You
From the fun Buffetlibre Rewind series, Cannonball Jane’s garagey Jets cover stood out among lots and lots of dancy remixes. Although maybe I’m just partial to this one because I rediscovered how awesome the Jets are this summer.
94. Ashlee Simpson, Boys
I totally forgot about Boys until I started compiling this list. ShleeSimp’s third album tanked, selling fewer copies in the past nine months than her previous albums did in their first week. The singles barely broke the Hot 100, but Boys (which wasn’t actually a single for some reason) is fun dance-pop, though it’s no Girlfriend or L.O.V.E. by any means.
93. TV On The Radio, Love Dog
I actually liked Dear Science quite a bit, largely for this swoony ballad. I didn’t actually listen to it much, though, as I got the Lykke Li album on the same day, and her album sort of took over my fall.
92. Amanda Palmer, Oasis
The only song I’ve heard from Palmer’s debut solo album, it sounds more or less exactly like the Dresden Dolls did. Which, while I guess they’re sort of polarizing, I’d say is definitely a good thing.
91. Estelle, Come Over (featuring Sean Paul)
Okay, so I know American Boy is a good song. But I’d just like to remind everyone how much better things were five years ago, when every song on R&B radio was a fun duet with Sean Paul and not a crappy one with Assy Kanye West. Also, though I don’t normally go for the girls, can I just say that Estelle should win some kind of award for Beautifulest New Artist? She is GORGEOUS.
