40: Bad Religion - The Empire Strikes First - I celebrate Bad Religion's entire discography, even their less stellar recent efforts. This album was a complete return to form for them, IMHO, and I can sing this entire song (and Los Angeles is Burning) by heart with no accompaniment.
39: Keane - Bend & Break - Oh, how I love Keane. Particularly this song. The multiple beautiful layers of sound fill the entire spectrum without becoming noisy or overwhelming.
36: Queens of the Stone Age - Go With the Flow - "I want something new to die for, to make it beautiful to live..." Quite honestly, I saw QOTSA live opening for the Chili Peppers several years ago, and I wasn't impressed. I still don't like most of their music, and very well may have overlooked this song completely, had I not ended up singing it repeatedly in Rock Band. The lyrics are just awesome!
35: Manchester Orchestra - I Can Feel a Hot One - Manchester Orchestra's more acoustic style tracks are right up my alley, especially this one. Their harder stuff, on the other hand, is almost guaranteed to make me cringe. Take that for what you will.
34: Arcade Fire - Intervention - Again, I had a really hard time picking an Arcade Fire song, because their entire catalog is incredible. Someday, I will learn to play the hurdy gurdy.
33: Matthew Good - Weapon - Matthew Good is another artist who has been almost completely overlooked by the mainstream, with an excellent variety of songs that should have been huge. What is it with Canadian music? (Again, I found a Supernatural video for the song, so I had to pimp my Jared and Jensen again. *swoon*)
32: Ben Kweller - Penny on the Train Tracks - If I had my way, Ben Kweller would live in my basement, in a very luxurious silken cage, ready to perform (musically, you sickos) for me at will. He manages to be both mellow and upbeat at the same time, and I can appreciate that. Bonus points for having his real-life grandma star in the video.
31: Butterfly Boucher - Another White Dash - "I got a heart full of rubber bands that keep getting caught on things..." I really can't find enough good things to say about BB, who, incidentally, I think is the only Australian artist to make my list.
30: The Transplants - Diamonds & Guns - Do I really need to count all the ways in which this song rules? Like, really? (Beside the fact that I kinda have a major little thing for Tim Armstrong...)
29: White Lies - Farewell to the Fairground - White Lies is definitely one of my favorite new bands of the year. I love their darker, yet not oppressive sound. I almost jumped out of my chair in surprise when the Vampire Diaries started to feature their songs during episodes. (Especially since they had already included Placebo in a previous episode. How can such a cheesy show actually feature artists I love?)
28: Milow - You Don't Know Me - I don't listen to much music from Belgium, but Milow totally works for me. I was drawn in by his cover of Ayo Technology, which is absolutely amazing, but I stayed around for his original work.
27: Band of Skulls - Fires - I've been going on and on about Band of Skulls for months and months now, even more so after seeing them live. I Know What I Am has been exploited almost as much as Percussion Gun (White Rabbits), but it's totally deserving. When pimping them online to a friend, she was asking me to try to describe their style, and I was at a loss. The best I could come up with was kinda-psychadelic-kinda-rock-kinda-pop-with-a-bit-of-funk-thrown-in. She listened to a few songs, and succinctly described it as "hippie rock". That works.
26: Pendulum - Propane Nightmares - When this song first started getting popular, and people who had never listened to Pendulum before started gushing about it, I have to admit that I got a bit cross, because they have SO much awesome material, and it's really not a very typical Pendulum song, after all. Once I got over the initial grumpiness, I had to admit that even as a Pendulum fan, it was totally worth the gushing.
25: Amanda Palmer - Ampersand - Amanda Palmer very well may be my soul mate. I love her work with the Dresden Dolls, I love her solo work, I think I just love her. This song, in particular, suits me nicely. I've never been a fan of changing who I am to suit a partner. Like Alanis, I believe that one and one is still two. THE LYRICS in this song should be engraved on a national monument, as far as I'm concerned.
24: Phoenix - Sometimes in the Fall - Have you ever had an artist that you really like be completely overlooked by the world for a long time, and then discreetly release a new album, have that album become a major success, start being played in commercials, and eventually have fricking Wal-Mart ready to bet the farm on them, but yet have their older, perfectly wonderful albums still be completely forgotten about? Well, I have, and that band is Phoenix.
23: Death Cab for Cutie - Your New Twin Sized Bed - Even though I've been lucky enough to be successful at the relationship game, I can still appreciate the plight of so many of my friends, who despite being fantastic people just can't seem to find love. This song describes their plight perfectly.
22: The Decemberists - We Both Go Down Together - I want to bear Colin Maloy's musical children. 'Nuff said.
21: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Think I Want to Die - "Think I wanna die if you don’t stay, drop dead in place, you can forget it. Carry a torch for days, I’m gonna let it burn..." SSLYBY is just so darn much FUN, there's no way I could deny them a fairly prominent spot on my list. Their lyrics are generally quite enjoyably tongue in cheek, and also extremely clever. I fully expect to see them touring with Vampire Weekend someday in the (hopefully) not-so-distant future.
39: Keane - Bend & Break - Oh, how I love Keane. Particularly this song. The multiple beautiful layers of sound fill the entire spectrum without becoming noisy or overwhelming.
38: Breaking Benjamin - Polyamorous - For a modern emo-ish grunge-ish rock band, Breaking Benjamin is completely enjoyable to me. There aren't too many bands who can combine melodic singing with growling quite as well as they can. Plus, Ben Burnley is totally sexy in a non-rock star type of way.
37: Badly Drawn Boy - Pissing in the Wind - This song came out right around the time I was job searching, and quickly became my go-to soundtrack for commuting to interviews. To this day, I have to listen to it before I submit a resume or have a phone interview. It's tradition.36: Queens of the Stone Age - Go With the Flow - "I want something new to die for, to make it beautiful to live..." Quite honestly, I saw QOTSA live opening for the Chili Peppers several years ago, and I wasn't impressed. I still don't like most of their music, and very well may have overlooked this song completely, had I not ended up singing it repeatedly in Rock Band. The lyrics are just awesome!
35: Manchester Orchestra - I Can Feel a Hot One - Manchester Orchestra's more acoustic style tracks are right up my alley, especially this one. Their harder stuff, on the other hand, is almost guaranteed to make me cringe. Take that for what you will.
34: Arcade Fire - Intervention - Again, I had a really hard time picking an Arcade Fire song, because their entire catalog is incredible. Someday, I will learn to play the hurdy gurdy.
33: Matthew Good - Weapon - Matthew Good is another artist who has been almost completely overlooked by the mainstream, with an excellent variety of songs that should have been huge. What is it with Canadian music? (Again, I found a Supernatural video for the song, so I had to pimp my Jared and Jensen again. *swoon*)
32: Ben Kweller - Penny on the Train Tracks - If I had my way, Ben Kweller would live in my basement, in a very luxurious silken cage, ready to perform (musically, you sickos) for me at will. He manages to be both mellow and upbeat at the same time, and I can appreciate that. Bonus points for having his real-life grandma star in the video.
31: Butterfly Boucher - Another White Dash - "I got a heart full of rubber bands that keep getting caught on things..." I really can't find enough good things to say about BB, who, incidentally, I think is the only Australian artist to make my list.
30: The Transplants - Diamonds & Guns - Do I really need to count all the ways in which this song rules? Like, really? (Beside the fact that I kinda have a major little thing for Tim Armstrong...)
29: White Lies - Farewell to the Fairground - White Lies is definitely one of my favorite new bands of the year. I love their darker, yet not oppressive sound. I almost jumped out of my chair in surprise when the Vampire Diaries started to feature their songs during episodes. (Especially since they had already included Placebo in a previous episode. How can such a cheesy show actually feature artists I love?)
28: Milow - You Don't Know Me - I don't listen to much music from Belgium, but Milow totally works for me. I was drawn in by his cover of Ayo Technology, which is absolutely amazing, but I stayed around for his original work.
27: Band of Skulls - Fires - I've been going on and on about Band of Skulls for months and months now, even more so after seeing them live. I Know What I Am has been exploited almost as much as Percussion Gun (White Rabbits), but it's totally deserving. When pimping them online to a friend, she was asking me to try to describe their style, and I was at a loss. The best I could come up with was kinda-psychadelic-kinda-rock-kinda-pop-with-a-bit-of-funk-thrown-in. She listened to a few songs, and succinctly described it as "hippie rock". That works.
26: Pendulum - Propane Nightmares - When this song first started getting popular, and people who had never listened to Pendulum before started gushing about it, I have to admit that I got a bit cross, because they have SO much awesome material, and it's really not a very typical Pendulum song, after all. Once I got over the initial grumpiness, I had to admit that even as a Pendulum fan, it was totally worth the gushing.
25: Amanda Palmer - Ampersand - Amanda Palmer very well may be my soul mate. I love her work with the Dresden Dolls, I love her solo work, I think I just love her. This song, in particular, suits me nicely. I've never been a fan of changing who I am to suit a partner. Like Alanis, I believe that one and one is still two. THE LYRICS in this song should be engraved on a national monument, as far as I'm concerned.
24: Phoenix - Sometimes in the Fall - Have you ever had an artist that you really like be completely overlooked by the world for a long time, and then discreetly release a new album, have that album become a major success, start being played in commercials, and eventually have fricking Wal-Mart ready to bet the farm on them, but yet have their older, perfectly wonderful albums still be completely forgotten about? Well, I have, and that band is Phoenix.
23: Death Cab for Cutie - Your New Twin Sized Bed - Even though I've been lucky enough to be successful at the relationship game, I can still appreciate the plight of so many of my friends, who despite being fantastic people just can't seem to find love. This song describes their plight perfectly.
22: The Decemberists - We Both Go Down Together - I want to bear Colin Maloy's musical children. 'Nuff said.
21: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Think I Want to Die - "Think I wanna die if you don’t stay, drop dead in place, you can forget it. Carry a torch for days, I’m gonna let it burn..." SSLYBY is just so darn much FUN, there's no way I could deny them a fairly prominent spot on my list. Their lyrics are generally quite enjoyably tongue in cheek, and also extremely clever. I fully expect to see them touring with Vampire Weekend someday in the (hopefully) not-so-distant future.
Okay, I have a bit of time to kill, so I figured I should get familiar with the next twenty songs on your list.
Bad Religion - Love the name of this song! It's not suiting my mood at the moment, but I'm writing the title down so I can enjoy it at a later time.
Keane - as mentioned before, I own one of their albums, and they really do have some great songs. I've started to close my eyes while I listen in order to appreciate them more... wait, what?
Breaking Benjamin - love. They are a heavier band than my taste normally leans towards, but I can't help but enjoy their music.
Badly Drawn Boy - new to me, but right up my alley! :)
QOTSA - This song is so fucking awesome. Anything Dave Grohl touches is golden in my ears.
Manchester Orchestra - Wow. I'm unfamiliar, but I'm intrigued. I'm pretty sure, like you, that I'd prefer the acoustic-type songs to anything harder, but I love this song!
Arcade Fire - I'm in love with them. I would have Arcade Fire babies.
Matthew Good - This song should draw me in more, but it doesn't. I'll give it a few more listens.
Ben Kweller - Sundress is my favorite song of his, but I love anything he touches. Mmmm.
Butterfly Boucher - I didn't love it or hate it. It was alright.
The Transplants - It's a song off of a commercial, so of course I know it. And I love it.
White Lies - Ooh, I like this. I'm afraid I've neglected VD terribly. I so wanted it to be one of my new shows of the season, but I've had a hard time keeping up. Maybe someday I'll have a marathon and catch up. I'm known to do things just like that.
Milow - Yes.
Band of Skulls - I love Band of Skulls despite their placement on the New Moon soundtrack (or because of it, I can't decide). This song TOTALLY fits my mood right now. Great.
Pendulum - Eh, this song was alright, but I probably wouldn't play it on repeat.
Amanda Palmer - Love, love, love.
Phoenix - Put me on the bandwagon of Phoenix newcomers, because I was unfamiliar until recently. Does it count that I really, really like them, and their older stuff? Is it the same as being a Foiled fan of Blue October? If it is, then I'm very sorry
Death Cab - This is most definitely one of my most favorite Death Cab songs.
The Decemberists - I love the Decemberists... I do not love that I had to miss their last Houston show thanks to financial woes.
SSLYBY - This song was new to me, but I'm really liking it. A song called 'Think I Want to Die' with an upbeat tempo? Story of my life.
I didn't condense this post much, since my time is limited... I have been so busy doing so much nothing lately, that I haven't been able to finish your list. Thanks for sharing, and I will finish soon. :)
Posted by: marty | 12/27/2009 at 05:35 PM
So glad you liked SSLYBR, because they are so incredibly talented, I find it astounding that theyre not huge yet. And no, youre totally off the hook as far as Phoenix is concerned, because you actually bothered to try their older stuff. Ive never been big on the whole Ive been a fan longer than you, so Im cooler mentality. Im also totally okay with people not liking a bands older (or newer) material, but I DO get annoyed when so many people will completely ignore the existence of a good bands back catalog.
*hugs* and thanks again for reading and commenting!
Posted by: evilkittywonka | 12/30/2009 at 06:24 PM