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R7′s Top 100 Songs Of The 00s

December 13th, 2009 · areseven · Lists - Tags: ,

Thanks for the visit. We’re not just here at the end of the decade; we’re here all year, sharing our songs of the week and other loves. Subscribe to our RSS feed, follow us on Hype Machine, or follow us on Twitter.

Top 100 Songs of the 00′s: 100-81

100. Tahiti 80, “Heartbeat” (2000)
99. Animal Collective, “Grass”
98. Gwen Stefani, “Hollaback Girl” (2004)
97. Of Montreal, “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse” (2007)
96. The Shins, “Girl On The Wing” (2001)
95. Ozomatli, “Sueños en Realidad” (2001)
94. The Walkmen, “Thinking Of A Dream I Had” (2004)
93. Kleenex Girl Wonder, “Reunited Airlines” (2000)
92. St. Germain, “Rose Rouge” (2000)
91. Field Music, “In Context” (2007)
90. Elliot Smith, “Son Of Sam” (2000)
89. Mos Def, “Quiet Dog” (2009)
88. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Dig!! Lazarus, Dig!!”
87. Spoon, “I Summon You” (2005)
86. The Strokes, “Someday” (2001)
85. Vampire Weekend, “Walcott” (2008)
84. The Juan Maclean, “Happy House” (2008)
83. The Bees, “Chicken Payback” (2005)
82. Daft Punk, “Crescendolls” (2001)
81. Sufjan Stevens, “The 50 States Song (live at Lee’s Palace, Toronto)” (2005)


Top 100 Songs of the 00′s: 80-61

80. The Postal Service, “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”
79. Burial, “Archangel” (2007)
78. Ben Kweller, “Hospital Bed” (2004)
77. The Oranges Band, “OK Apartment” (2003)
77. The 6ths Featuring Momus, “As You Turn To Go” (2000)
75. The Pipettes, “Pull Shapes” (2006)
74. Panda Bear, “Bros (edit)” (2007)
73. Architecture in Helsinki, “Do The Whirlwind” (2005)
72. Basement Jaxx, “Romeo” (2001)
71. PAS-CAL, “The Bronzed Beach Boys” (2003)
70. Sleigh Bells, “Crown On The Ground” (2009)
69. Ladytron, “P.A.C.O!” (2001)
68. The Lucksmiths, “T-Shirt Weather” (2000)
67. Interpol, “PDA” (2002)
66. Amon Tobin (featuring MC Decimal R), “Verbal” (2002)
65. The Clientele, “6 am Morningside” (2002)
64. Patrick Wolf, “The Magic Position” (2007)
63. The Cloud Room, “Hey Now Now” (2005)
62. Dirty Projectors, “Stillness Is The Move” (2009)
61. Guillemots, “Trains To Brazil” (2007)


Top 100 Songs of the 00′s: 60-41

60. Peter Bjorn and John, “Young Folks”
59. Architecture in Helsinki, “That Beep” (2008)
58. Ed Harcourt, “Born In The 70′s” (2005)
57. Nouvelle Vague, “In A Manner of Speaking”
56. Hercules & Love Affair (featuring Antony), “Blind” (2008)
55. The Killers, “All These Things I’ve Done” (2004)
54. Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse, “Valerie” (2007)
53. Sufjan Stevens, “The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us!” (2005)
52. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, “My Man Is A Mean Man” (2005)
51. Arctic Monkeys, “A Certain Romance” (2006)”
50. The Fiery Furnaces, “Sing For Me” (2005)
49. The Lucksmiths, “The Year of Driving Languorously” (2001)
48. Beck, “Lost Cause” (2002)
47. New Pornographers, “Mass Romantic” (2000)
46. Bonnie “Prince” Billy, “I’ll Be Glad” (2008)
45. Outkast, “Hey Ya!”
44. Andrew Bird, “How You Gonna Keep ‘em Down On the Farm” (2008)
43. Jarvis Cocker, “Big Julie” (2007)
42. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, “By The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth” (2005)
41. Mull Historical Society, “The Supermarket Strikes Back” (2003)


Top 100 Songs of the 00′s: 40-21

40. TV On The Radio, “Halfway Home” (2008)
39. Menomena, “Muscle N Flo” (2007)
38. The Dandy Warhols, “Bohemian Like You” (2000)
37. Missy Elliott, “Pass That Dutch” (2003)
36. Camera Obscura, “Happy New Year” (2002)
35. Mclusky, “To Hell With Good Intentions” (2002)
34. Jens Lekman, “The Opposite Of Hallelujah” (2007)
33. The Streets, “Fit But You Know It” (2004)
32. Loney Dear, “I Am John” (2007)
31. Barcelona, “Studio Hair Gel” (2000)
30. Junior Senior, “Can I Get Get Get” (2007)
29. Kleenex Girl Wonder, “Why I Write Such Good Songs” (2000)
28. Animal Collective, “My Girls” (2009)
27. Lykke Li, “Hanging High” (2008)
26. Kelly Hogan, “I’ll Go To My Grave Loving You” (2001)
25. Beyoncé, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” (2008)
24. Joanna Newsom, “Sadie”
23. Sprites, “Do It Yourself” (2002)
22. Belle & Sebastian, “There’s Too Much Love” (2000)
21. LCD Soundsystem, “All My Friends” (2007)


Top 100 Songs of the 00′s: 20-1

20. Sufjan Stevens, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (2002)
19. Hot Chip, “Over And Over”
18. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, “Young Adult Friction” (2009)
17. Mogwai, “2 Rights Make One Wrong (edit)” (2001)
16. Of Montreal, “So Begins Our Alabee” (2005)
15. Fiona Apple, “Extraordinary Machine (Jon Brion Version)” (2005)
14. Fleet Foxes, “He Doesn’t Know Why” (2008)
13. Stars, “Heart”
12. Arcade Fire, “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” (2004)
11. Johnny Boy, “You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve” (2004)
10. Billy Bragg & Wilco, “Do You Remember The Mountain Bed?” (2000)
9. Animal Collective, “Fireworks” (2007)
8. Belle & Sebastian, “Your Cover’s Blown” (2004)
7. Dizzee Rascal, “Hype Talk” (2004)
6. The Lucksmiths, “The Music Next Door” (2005)
5. Neko Case, “Deep Red Bells” (2002)
4. M.I.A., “Galang” (2005)
3. Joanna Newsom, “Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie” (2004)
2. Arcade Fire, “Wake Up” (2004)
1. LCD Soundsystem, “Yeah (crass version)” (2005)

Mumblings on a decade

“It sounds unlikely, I know, but tomorrow, you’ll wake up and find that your whole life has changed. Although nothing looks different, a revolution took place.”
- Pulp, “The Day After The Revolution” (1997)

Simply: I loved the 00s more than any other musical decade of my life. Quietly but surely, this was the beginning of total possibility in music. It was the technology expanding to allow anyone to make quality recordings in their own home and then make it available for anyone in the world immediately and cheap, if not totally free.

It was the decade when we finally started shedding the ridiculous rules and restrictions of the rock era, including whether or not “rock is dead”. It will always exist and always be exciting when it’s done right (like every style of music), but we’ve finally stopped comparing everything to rock; finally realized that rock music is another style of music, not some logical culmination of all music.

Stopping using rock as the beginning point of music, we’ve started to see an expansion of rhythm in US and UK music. There’s no longer a standard beat to begin with. Anything’s possible, and there’s been an incredible variety.

And possibly the most fascinating and important part of the decade is that, even with all of these changes and expansions, there is actually less slotting of music into genres. There are descriptions and comparisons still, but gone are the days of some new kind of music sweeping. Music has become much more amorphous in its form, moving far too fast to get names. The only real new genres that I can think of are both creations of the genre-obsessed Brits: grime and dubstep. Otherwise, we tended to just take in music as it came to us, using a much larger arsenal of descriptions than trying to neatly peg everything with genre.

That brings one of the best and the worst things about what’s happened technologically: while the advances means that we actually get to hear more music than we ever could before, it also means that we’re often buried under piles of tunes, never really getting to stop and take in music fully. And this is the challenge of the near future: how to find and embrace good music. This will be in the trusted voices, whether it’s some new technology that allows us to find what we’re looking for or sticking with individuals known for their taste.

Because we’re looking for someone to sort through the thousands of sounds to give us the goods, it’s not surprising that lists have become so ubiquitous. They’re easy to scan, and more than that, it boils things down for us: I know you’ve heard a lot of good stuff this week/year/decade, but force yourself to come up with the one/ten/100 that you think I should listen to. I don’t have eternity, so just give me what I need. It’s because of this that I’ve gone from thinking that lists are pointless exercises in pretending that the subjective is objective to realizing that they’re necessary. And fun.

And with that, here’s my list. I can be critical of aspects of it (and I’m sure you can, too, and you’re welcome to be in the comments), but another great thing about ranking in lists is that it’s hard to be dishonest. And though it may be lacking in deep variety, I can tell you that the placing and the rankings are nothing but totally honest. Oh, and I can tell you that my number one song was picked early and was never in doubt for a second.

Thanks for checking it out. God knows I’ve spent far too much time on it (and thanks to Katie for being so patient). And because I’ve spent so much time on it, I’ll allow myself a little beg: if you’re into it, share it on Twitter or Facebook or wherever you like telling people about stuff. Thanks.

Bring on the next ten.

Photo: my drums mic-ed up at Inner Ear Studios, September 2008.


Brief tech notes on the mp3s:

I’ve installed the Yahoo music player, which will play any mp3s found on a page in the order they appear, so that you can listen to all of these songs without having to click on each individually. Click on an arrow icon to play an individual song’s headline, or play all the songs on a page by opening the player at the bottom left of the page.

Also, I’ve kind of hidden the mp3s so it’s a little harder for the freeloaders to find, but the full title of each is an mp3. To download an mp3, right-click on each song and select “save link as”.

Lastly, the mp3s will (should) be up for about a week, but it depends on how much they’re getting downloaded. If it’s a lot, I may have to take the down a little sooner, but if my little hiding scheme works, they’ll be up for longer.

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Fine Tune Friday wants to see the end of it

February 13th, 2009 · areseven · Fine Tune Friday - Tags: ,

Last week’s release of the debut album by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart seems like a little bit of a clear line where the reveling in the music of the 90′s replaces reveling in the music of the ’80′s. Not that the ’90′s influcence hasn’t been around, but it seems as pronounced now as it does on TPOBPAH’s album.

So in other words, where half of everything new used to remind me of high school, now it all reminds me of college.

The Joy Formidable, “Cradle” (2009)

download at last.fm

This song seemed plucked right out of the mid 90′s. That was a time when guitars and energy were back in vogue, but it was also a time that proved that guitar rock–like power pop and singer-songwriter stuff–lived and died by its hooks. When the hooks were there, it was glorious, but when they weren’t, it was hard to imagine music more boring.

A description of “Cradle” is likely to put just about anyone to sleep: crunchy guitars, chirpy female vocals, big drums. “I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that one before,” you say, and you’re right. But there’s the hooks: the hooting background vocals, the irresistible descending bass line, and the clear production that pulls out the energy and gives you that jump of excitement that’s a reminder of why we all like R!O!C!K! music in the first place.

(Fine Tune Friday is my favorite song of the week, every week. See the past posts or subscribe to the RSS feed)

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Simmer down, Fine Tune Friday

February 6th, 2009 · areseven · Fine Tune Friday - Tags: , ,

Until the day I die, I will never get tired of the feeling of loving a song on the very first listen.

Mos Def, “Quiet Dog“ (2009)

download for free from RCRD LBL

I’m not sure if it’s an actual trend or just personal awareness, but it seems like lately has been a great time for tight, exciting hip-hop. Since the 80′s, this has been the stuff that pumps my blood. I can appreciate the slow groove party rap that started up in the 90′s, but that music’s appeal fades a pretty good amount when I’m away from the party and home alone with headphones.

But stuff like “Quiet Dog”, Dizzee Rascal, Black Milk’s Tronicor the new P.O.S. album(which I’ve been loving this week), show a refound love for fast raps and creative beats, to put as much effort into the intellectual craft as its feel for the dance floor. This track balances both perfectly, and that gets me all kinds of riled up.

Thanks to Troy and Katie at Kindness Of Ravens for tipping me off to this.

(Fine Tune Friday is my favorite song of the week, every week. See the past posts or subscribe to the RSS feed)

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