Listomania: Favorite Songs of the 00's (50-41)

50. "Shine a Light" by Wolf Parade (Apologies to the Queen Mary, 2005)

There's a certain sort of song that has a special place in my heart, and it's the driving, guitar-driven rock anthem--something "Shine a Light" is an archetype of. As soon as the song begins the listener is given quick-stepped, urgent guitar strumming bracketed with calculator-synth sounds that persist throughout the song's four-minute running time. Since their inception Wolf Parade have been known for their unique vocals, which consist of Dan Boeckner's gruffness and Spencer Krug's Bowie-esque warble, so it's really cool on this track especially to see the two voices play off of each other. Ultimately, it's the song's ability to convey the feeling of resilience despite confusion that makes it stand out. It's unexpectedly moving stuff for such a foot-tapper.

49. "My Love" by Justin Timberlake (FutureSex/LoveSounds, 2006)

I'm not going to lie, my initial reaction to Justin Timberlake was one of aversion. Perhaps this was because I've never had a huge ear for pop or because at the time I was still attaching to him all the stigma normally associated with boy bands. No matter, the man won me over. In 2006, upon the release of this album, you could say that the new "king of pop" had been crowned, with "My Love" being his coronation. Pay no mind to the run-of-the-mill loveydovey lyrics: it's JT's style that makes this song, what with his sugar-sweet falsetto and suave delivery that succinctly convey to any girl that it's babymakin' time. And then to top it all off is an immensely catchy beat and some infectious synthesizers that only further the notion that this song is in the same, special group as those written by Michael Jackson in the 1980's (i.e., pop, but darn good pop).

48. "One Two Three Four" by Feist (The Reminder, 2007)

Maybe I'll always have a soft spot for Feist since she's a member of Broken Social Scene, but this is also just a genuinely catchy, musically jubilant track that is the musical equivalent of a warm summer day spent in your hammock. Her airy vocals are relaxed yet soaring (but not to the point of being over-the-top) and fit together perfectly with the song's dense instrumentation (banjo, horns, a rickety piano). What's interesting is that in this particular selection of ten songs (50-41 on the list, that is), five are, arguably, examples of "pop perfection," with this track being among those five.

47. "Since I Left You" by the Avalanches (Since I Left You, 2001)

Here's one that's going to leave a smile on your face. It's amazing to me that on an album that contains over 900 samples, this band is able to find the right mixture to create something undeniably addictive and captivating. On "Since I Left You" the samples are all over the place, although most have a sort of tropical feel to them, with light-hearted flutes, sunny strings, a girlish tenor, and a looping beat that all come together in a composition that is nothing short of buoyant.

46. "Electric Feel" by MGMT (Oracular Spectacular, 2007)

Another one of those songs that has "summer" written all over it. Making use of a Bee Gees-esque falsetto, the boys coo and strut around on "Electric Feel" in a way that would have made Prince proud. While on occasion the band can become bloated by the diverse musical styles in their repertoire, on "Electric Feel" they find a happy equilibrium for their spacey, electro-funk and disco theatrics. Maybe it's the snappy bassline or the chorus that brims with energy, but this is one astonishingly fresh-sounding track despite being steeped in retro sounds.

45. "At Least That's What You Said" by Wilco (a ghost is born, 2004)

Ah, yes, Wilco's take on the age-old breakup song. The song starts off typical enough for your standard breakup fare: slow guitar strumming and delicate piano chords followed by Jeff Tweedy's quietly mournful lyrics...and then suddenly, around the two-minute mark, the still air is punctuated by the violent snap of a distorted electric guitar followed by the dramatic booming of drums and bass. The guitar then takes over the rest of the song, driving it with the force of a punch to the stomach. It's an immensely bitter track, as witnessed by the absolute thrashing Tweedy gives his SG. It's also a beautiful track in the sense that the band lets the aggressive guitar solo (one of my all-time favorites) do all the talking necessary to convey the turbulent nature of a bad breakup.

44. "Haiti" by Arcade Fire (Funeral, 2004)

Regine Chassagne takes lead vocals here (normally the job of husband Win Butler) and alternates between French and English in a song that is essentially a tribute to the land her family emigrated from. To Chassagne, Haiti is a nation that still remains very much apart of her and her family's lives, despite its deathly societal and natural problems. What's interesting is how peppy the music sounds: the guitar strumming is vivacious and the bass line dapper as the listener is essentially transported to the exotic island, with cool water effects to boot. Yet, despite how upbeat the music may sound, the lyrics are uniformly heartbreaking, making reference to the death and chaos her family escaped from; themes that fit all too well with the album's "funeral" theme. What's interesting is how the song's upbeat sound contrasts starkly with its lyrics, much like how Haiti's tropical locale contrasts with its violent history.

43. "Mykonos" by Fleet Foxes (Sun Giant EP, 2008)

If I could write melodies half as good as this one I wouldn't be writing this list right now; I'd probably be off touring the country with my awesome band (The Birmingham Bricklayers) and living off the royalties I received from licensing my songs to car-makers for their commercials. What's cool about Fleet Foxes though is how all the dudes can sing, kind of like The Eagles or CSNY back in the day. "Mykonos" begins with a wordless harmony from the band before Robin Pecknold's powerful vocals take over and drive the rest of the song (although the rest of the boys all join in for a powerful a capella near the middle). The song's sound as a whole hearkens back to the old-timey, woodsy feel of songs past, which is no small feat in the day of advanced electronics and computerized soundscapes.

42. "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn And John (Writer's Block, 2006)

Oh, man. The whistling! PB & J's breakthrough single was so huge when it came out (for an indie song at least), mainly due to its effortless melody perpetuated by that whistling, that freaking catchy whistling. It's a very breezy song that on top of the whistling bit features some deadpan (but surprisingly beautiful) male and female vocals and bongo drumming. It's just excellent pop music with incomparable universal appeal--even someone who has never heard the song before is going to be tapping their feet by song's end.

41. "99 Problems" by Jay-Z (The Black Album, 2003)

Yeah, Jay-Z was big before this song, but this was the one that propelled him to super stardom. I mean, just as a testament to the song's influence, the phrase "I got 99 problems..." has pretty much become apart of the common vernacular. The Rick Rubin-produced track is mainly made up of a stripped down beat and a stadium-sized guitar riff that loop throughout the track. And while the riff is pretty monstrous, it's Jay-Z's surefooted lyrics and confident swagger that command the track. What's really neat to see is one of the most memorable moments in music from the past decade: in the song's last verse Jay-Z spouts out the lyric "you're crazy for this one, Rick," at which point you can almost see Jay-Z's huge grin beaming back at Rick Rubin in the sound booth, both of them knowing that they'd just nailed it, big time.

Listomania: Favorite Songs of the 00's (60-51)

Man, we're almost halfway there. The one downside to stretching this list out to ten weeks is that I'm beginning to discover tracks that probably could have made the list. Ah, well. Too late to turn back now!

60. “Losing My Edge” by LCD Soundsystem (LCD Soundsystem, 2005)

For my take on “Losing My Edge” I’m going to borrow popmatter.com’s description of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, as it pretty much sums up the whole song:

“He's like the much cooler version of us. He is the big white music nerd who actually went on to do something about it by co-founding DFA Records and producing the coolest music in the world: post-punk post-funk punk-funk, new wave that also sounds like no wave, tunes that make dancers confused as to whether they should pogo or do the pelvic thrust, music that incorporates all other musics.”

That, in a nutshell, is "Losing My Edge." It's not your typical electronic/dance song, as it is essentially James Murphy monologuing over scratchy computer beats and a throbbing bass line. What carries the track, however, is Murphy's deadpan delivery of some of the hippest lyrics imaginable.

59. “All Caps” by Madvillain (Madvillainy, 2004)

While “All Caps” is a mere two-minute snippet from MF Doom and Madlib’s 2004 comic book-themed opus, it is also the album's highpoint. The beat is incredibly varied, featuring a rattling piano trill and a riveting jazz sample that blends together nicely with Doom’s monotone rasp. This song is an example of when hip-hop can really, really work: that is, when you can hear the chemistry between producer and emcee.

58. “Such Great Heights” by the Postal Service (Give Up, 2003)

If I had any say in what songs became popular and what ones didn’t, the Postal Service would still be riding the coattails of this song’s success while Owl City would be wiping tables at Cheddar’s. “Such Great Heights” is the song that perhaps best epitomizes the Postal Service as it combines a dreamy atmosphere with slick synth beats and Ben Gibbard’s peppy vocals to create one of the best pop songs that never got quite the recognition it would have had they been signed to a major label…on the bright side, in UPS commercials the dude with the bad long hair uses the song as background music while he does those astonishingly good whiteboard drawings.

57. “Obstacle 1” by Interpol (Turn On the Bright Lights, 2002)

Emotional disconnection at its most loud and blatant; it’s a fierce song with callous eruptions of anger and unsettling imagery throughout. While Paul Banks' distinct, pained vocals are the song's highlight, the shrill guitars and muddied atmospherics certainly help. It's amazing to me that rock-drenched songs like "Obstacle 1" can still retain this immediate feeling of urgent vulnerability as the song's narrator attempts to nurse his emotional wounds. It's really, really powerful stuff. To be honest, I think this song affects me emotionally every time I listen to it, especially the lyric “She puts the weights into my little heart."

56. “Map of the Problematique” by Muse (Black Holes and Revelations, 2006)

The pulse/beat of “Problematique” sounds like something you'd hear played at LaserQuest or taken straight out of Depeche Mode's songbook—if Depeche Mode had guns-blazing arpeggio-rockin' guitars and Matthew Bellamy’s banshee falsetto, that is. Muse have always had a penchant for melodrama on their albums (not necessarily in the bad way either—please see “Knights of Cydonia” to see what I’m talking about), so when this rave-ready rocker hits about three or four tracks into Black Holes and Revelations, my gut reaction was “Oh schnapps, this is JAMMIN’!” The crazy part is, I still get that same reaction, four years later.

55. “And I Was a Boy from School” by Hot Chip (The Warning, 2006)

Hot Chip are masters of the mash-up, as corroborated on “Boy from School,” which couples a swerving disco-esque beat with smooth but melancholy vocals in what I’d argue is one of the finest pop songs ever written. It is a very poignant song centered around the nostalgia of youth and that unquenchable desire some of us feel to just go back in time to the good ol' days before we made the transition to adulthood. These aren't new themes in music and can come off as pretty cheesy when not done right, but thankfully Hot Chip nails it here.

54. “Flashing Lights” by Kanye West (Graduation, 2007)

“Flashing Lights” is a gorgeous, airy track with a gliding house beat, somber strings, and a silver-tongued flow from Kanye. Interestingly, it's not really a particularly buoyant song and even possesses a strange, unsound quality to it despite that catchy euro-club beat and the symphonics that accompany it. For a hip-hop track, "Lights" has a sort of James Bond grace and poise to it that makes it one of the more memorable of Kanye’s career. The music video ain’t half bad, either.

53. “The Modern Age” by the Strokes (Is This It?, 2001)

Whenever I listen to “The Modern Age,” I envision a scene of Julian Casablancas n’ friends cruising down a desert highway with the top down on their convertible, bobbing their heads left and right while enjoying a nice healthy dose of God’s OJ. All while wearing leather jackets and being totally badass, of course. It starts off with some old-fashioned barn stompin’ kickdrums and a driving guitar riff before meeting Casablancas’ sunny (and awesome) kinda-singing-but-not-really vocals. It’s nothing groundbreaking, just tried and true awesome rock music.

52. “Knife” by Grizzly Bear (Yellow House, 2006)

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Yellow House when it came out, but boy, did this track blow me away. The vocals, which are probably the highlight of the song, are one part ethereal, one part mellifluous. It’s an almost entrancing melody that draws you into its swirling soundscape and doesn't let your ears off the hook until the final piano chord resounds in your headphones.

51. “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” by the Arcade Fire (Funeral, 2004)

Whenever I listen to this song I’m reminded of all the times friends and I have tried to sing along together to Arcade Fire. Every time “Tunnels” would come on we would attempt to emulate Win Butler’s raw, wavering vocals, especially when he belts out the heartfelt lyric “Then I’ll dig a tunnel, from my window to yours.” Gah, gets me every time. It’s those lyrics and the dense sheet of guitars, piano, and drums that propel this track to heights most bands only dream of. Nobody combines weighty subject matter with joyfully harmonious music like the Arcade Fire do.