Yay for another decade list of albums that influenced my growing up as a teenager. This list probably means jack-shit in the grand scheme of things, but regardless here are my top 40 records that I think owned. Just a note that one a band has had an album already appear, no more will come up, just to share it around.

Also, try not to hate the list to much…at least try.

30. Editors – The Back Room (2005)

UK’s, second to king, brit-pop hit Editors have had a stellar second half decade. Well, at least until In This Light And On This Evening was released. So let’s pretend it’s just over a month ago and that record hasn’t been released yet. Editors have sawed to #2 on the UK charts ahead of 2007’s An End Has A Start. But before that there was their more-so fantastic debut, which I found a defining point in my teenage-hood. Lead singer Tom Smith, once a man of few words, did himself a favour back then by not speaking up. Writing songs like “Munich” that had about 3 or 4 different lines in it, that just focused on the instrumental writing abilities, and it paid off. They knew what they were good at it, and they stuck to it; for a time.

29. Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)

Favourite Worst Nightmare took the unique and refreshing sounds of Arctic Monkeys gold star winning (in fastest selling record) Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not and refined them. Taken to the point of developing an often darker atmosphere, the songs had been given a bit more of a polish and work than older material. Melodically, the album is brilliant. The guitar hooks and the manner in which they’re layered leaves interesting nuances in the songs, yet it doesn’t detract from the overall quality. The pacing of the songs is held together by great drumming, that’s used rhythmically in most songs to a good effect, more often than not creating an interesting and intense feeling.

28. Cold War Kids – Robbers & Cowards (2006)

It’s no secret that Cold War Kids debut LP, Robbers & Cowards, doesn’t scream “I’m fucking amazing”, though subtly it has its own uniqueness to it. “Hospital Beds”, with it’s simple piano riff, rolling drums, and smooth fretless bass is the highest point of the record, and front man Nathan Willett writes great lyrics when he wants to, but fantastic melodies always; “Tell me the story of how you ended up here, I heard you were born in a hospital“, or “Tell Me In The Morning” with “I’m shouting questions like a fist fight“. Considering how many Californian bands I think aren’t really any good, Cold War Kids lead the pack, still, after the release of Loyalty To Loyalty didn’t hail to great, along with an epic amount of EP releases.

27. Elliott Smith – Figure 8 (2000)

Born Steven Paul Smith, died a more famous Elliott Smith, and 34 just seemed too young. And around the same time of his death there was an online explosion of his work. This all just before the release of From A Basement On A Hill. And then there’s those who say, if only he’d held on he would have been famous. Regardless of what may or may not have happened to Smith, Figure 8 is still one of the spectacular records of the decade, and it would be on this album that he have the hits with “Son Of Sam” and “Happiness”, after his move from Portland to Los Angeles. Always the quiet, withdrawn, and nervous wreck on stage, and Smith’s music was always going to back this up. Singing of melancholic self-doubt, and hopelessness, was always backed by a single acoustic guitar live.

26. The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike (2004)

The single greatest indie hiphop record to come out of this century had to be The Go! Team’s Thunder, Lightning, Strike. Its lack of lyrics play key to what makes the album so great. With its awesome crashing cymbals and thumping drums beats, backed by clean electric guitars, and the occasional recorder, featured in “Get It Together” equate to brilliance. Key tracks include the fantastic chorus melody and rhythm in “Ladyflash”, and fast-pace singing among thunderes (I may have just made up a word?) drums in “The Power Is On”. Samples from other artists appear every so often, like The Jackson 5 style in “Bottle Rocket” with “2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 2, 4, 6, 8, 20 2!“

25. Sufjan Stevens – Come On Feel The Illinoise! (2005)

The positioning of Come On Feel The Illinoise! may insure people forget about this list altogether, considering its accomplishments and dominating of 2005, I’m pretty sure ranking higher than any other album overall. And so it should. This album is more than excellent. Full of beautiful arrangements, across a vast range of instruments, while all this accompanies Sufjan Stevens lightly stunning voice, attributing the great state of Illinois. Featuring “Chicago” (seek The Avalanche for multiple alternative arrangements), “The Seer’s Tower”, the public holiday “Casimir Pulaski Day”, and a serial killer from the state, “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.”. What is truly amazing about this album is Stevens’ personal experiences with all these things, and his amazing lyrical ability to put forth his ideas.

24. Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport (2009)

If anything, all this entry is, is a preview of what’s expected for my “best albums of 2009 list”. Yet Fuck Buttons have come a long way from Street Horrrsing to Tarot Sport. Beginning with lead single “Surf Solar”, DJ/Remixer Andrew Weatherall’s production is pasted all throughout Tarot Sport. Early 90s sounding beats remain the core of the album through finally giving Fuck Buttons new direction. At no point does the music ever back down. Lighter moments are simply replaced by heavy, bass undertones. Even the records own personal encore is applauded on closing track “Flight Of The Feathered Serpent”, at a point where you have no idea when this record will end, or if it ever will? Multiple distorted riffs and synth combination’s play in conjunction with processed beats, over the top of real ones, it becomes hard to tell them apart. It seems it’s the distorted riffs that are the true uplifting beauty behind Tarot Sport.

23. Eels – Blinking Lights And Other Revelations (2005)

Mark Oliver Everett has always been fantastic by me, but he really hit the nail on the head with Blinking Lights And Other Revelations, a 33-track, 2 disk phenomenon. It was described by Everett as an album about “God and all the questions related to the subject of God. It’s also about hanging on to my remaining shreds of sanity and the blue sky that comes the day after a terrible storm, and it’s a love letter to life itself, in all its beautiful, horrible glory.”. Everett’s melancholic pain has always shown in his work, and Blinking Lights And Other Revelations was no exception in, “Trouble With Dreams”, “Suicide Life”, “Railroad Man”, and “Last Days Of My Bitter Heart”. But it’s the way Everett had finally turned his perception around to produce pop styled music. This record was easily the soundtrack to my 2005.

22. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (2008)

It’s not often that a debut album is “the shit”, but Seattle based 5-piece, Fleet Foxes deserved all the praise they received. To my delight I bought Fleet Foxes on vinyl and found their Sun Giant EP as well. Featuring an un-dying  amount of folk-rock at its finest, Fleet Foxes crafted their porch-strumming, summer record to perfection, all based on the foundations of a single, usually nylon stringed, acoustic guitar backed by drums and bass more often than not. And it’s even Robin Pecknold’s voice that carries the songs so much. Like on mis-titled closing track, “Oliver James”, should be titled “Robin Pecknold” as he is the only thing you’ll here. But Fleet Foxes finer moments come from its melodic folk-pop brilliance in “Ragged Wood” and “He Doesn’t Know Why” that will strike the best notes in your brain.

21. Death Cab For Cutie – Plans (2005)

In 2005 the indie giant Death Cab For Cutie made their jump to major label’s Atlantic and Warner Bros. and a huge fan population sharpened their knives, ready to dismember Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla. But after close listen, the indie giants stuck to their strong point, not changing a thing about who they are and what they are here to create. Admittedly, I may have positioned this record in the wrong place looking back now but it’s too late to place it back a bit, still, Plans is the indie pop/rock Death Cab at its simplest. A lack of guitars (but still existent) shifted a new direction for Death Cab, claiming “more drums”. They simply got rid of their ensemble of guitars and stuck to one. It’s the range that is hard to find in Plans but is there, from “Soul Meets Body”’s up beat tempo, to “Summer Skin”’s brilliant bass rif and Gibbard’s vocals, to the beautiful “Brothers On A Hotel Bed” which I think isn’t recognized enough, and the single acoustic guitar wonder, that still has every teenage girl singing “I’ll follow you into the dark.“.

Publicado originalmente en: Google Open Source Blog el 10 de Noviembre de 2009.
URL: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2009/11/hey-ho-lets-go.html
Traducción por Go-devel

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Aquí en Google, creemos que programar debería ser rápido, productivo, y lo más importante, divertido. Por eso es que estamos emocionados al abrir el código de un nuevo lenguaje experimental llamado Go. Go combina la velocidad de desarrollo de trabajar en un lenguaje dinámico como Python con el funcionamiento y seguridad de un lenguaje compilado como C o C++. Construcciones típicas se sienten instantáneas, incluso binarios grandes compilan en sólo unos cuantos segundos. Y el código compilado corre a velocidades cercanas a las de C. Go te deja moverte rápido.

Go es un gran lenguaje para programación de sistemas con soporte para multi-procesamiento, un toque ligero y fresco de diseño orientado a objetos, además de algunas características fantásticas como clausura verdadera y reflexión.

¿Quieres escribir un servidor con miles de hilos comunicantes? ¿Quieres gastar menos tiempo leyendo blogs mientras esperas que se compila tu código? ¿Te sientes como batiendo un prototipo de tu última idea? ¡Go es la forma de hacerlo! Revisa el video para más información o visita golang.org.

Por Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, Ken Thompson, Ian Taylor, Russ Cox, Jini Kim and Adam Langley – El Equipo Go.

Listas, listas, listas…

Oh, las listas, que absurdas son pero como mola hacerlas. Elegimos los 50 discos de la década, los 25 míos y los 25 de eldrsaleabailar (próximo miércoles). Ambos coincidimos en algunas referencias, pero sobre la mayoría estamos en radical desacuerdo, he aquí mis 25, con comentarios hirientes propios de eldrsaleabailar.

1. The Strokes – Is This It

Indiegnado: Indudablemente, el disco de la década. Once autenticos himnos que han inspirado tanto a músicos como a simples mortales durante los 9 años que esta maravilla lleva con nosotros.

Eldrsaleabailar: Indudablemente, unos pijos medianías de NY que tuvieron la suerte de vivir (artisticamente) en la década más medianía de la historia.

2. Arcade Fire – Funeral

Indiegnado: Con su instrumentación barroca, sus melodías completamente particulares y diferentes, hizo que, por primera vez, la palabra épica adquiriera un nuevo significado.

Eldrsaleabailar: Uno de los pocos descubrimientos de Pitchfork que me hicieron volver a creer en la música después de los 90

http://musicwebzine.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/morrissey-you-are-the-quarry/

3. Morrissey – You Are The Quarry

Indiegnado: Con este disco, Morrissey volvia tras siete años de silencio. Y lo hizo con el mejor disco que ha firmado en solitario.

Eldrsaleabailar: Grandísimo, guapísimo y con la mejor canción de la década. Un recuerdo para la organización del festival en el castillo de Sohail, espero que no hayan levantado cabeza desde aquel despropósito.

4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell

Indiegnado: “Fever To Tell” es un disco de rock hecho en los 00, y cuando digo hecho en los 00 me refiero a que suena de esta decada, no es un revival, ni intenta copiar a nada anterior. Solo ellos consiguieron hacer un disco de rock, aportando algo más en estos ultimos 10 años.

Eldrsaleabailar: Vamos de sobrada en sobrada. Perdonadle, es joven.

5. The GO! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike.

Indiegnado: Ian Parton es el ideologo de esta autentica joya. Creando a partir del mash up sobre discos de los 70 y aportando voces y matices, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento y que en cada corte crea melodias perfectas. Tremendamente fresco.

Eldrsaleabailar: Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento” ¿QUÉ NO QUÉ?

6.Los Planetas – La Leyenda Del Espacio

Indiegnado: Siempre en progresión, siempre dando un paso más en su música, Los Planetas consiguen en “La Leyenda del Espacio” fusionar el flamenco con el rock, algo que nos intentaron colocar erroneamente con “Omega“. Ellos lo consiguen firmando algunas de las mejores canciones de todo su repertorio, desde “Ya no me asomo a la reja” hasta “Si me diste la espalda“.

Eldrsaleabailar:Lo único erróneo es tu animadversión a “Omega“, pieza clave de la historia musical patria.

7. Death Cab For Cutie – Transanlanticism

Indiegnado: Death Cab For Cutie son uno de los grupos que más vende en america, juegan en la liga numero uno del mainstream americano, algo que empezaron a conseguir tras su “Transantlanticism“, un disco de pop preciosista simplemente perfecto.

Eldrsaleabailar: Me aburren un poco. Para mainstream americano me quedo con Britney Spears.

8.Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Indiegnado: Animal Collective hacen la música que se deberia hacer en el siglo XXI, música actual que aporta algo nuevo y se olvida de esa estupidez estendida del “todo esta inventado” ellos demuestran que no, que aun se puede hacer algo nuevo que no suene mal, algo nuevo, que de hecho suena como nada más suena actualmente.

Eldrsaleabailar: Estoy de acuerdo, lo que no sé es si gracias a dios, nada más suena a ellos.

9. Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare

Indiegnado: El debut de Arctic Monkeys fue un golpe de aire fresco en el panorama musical, y supuso un disco que llevo la musica a aquellos oidos que la relacionaban con horteradas varias sin sentido. Pero lo mejor llego con su segundo disco, un disco que no se centraba en el hit instantaneo, sino que buscaba nuevos matices y nuevos sonidos.

Eldrsaleabailar: Los caminos del myspace son inescrutables.

10.La Casa Azul – La Revolución Sexual

Indiegnado: “La Revolucion Sexual” es un disco perfecto, hit tras hit y estribillo coreable tras estribillo coreable, los intentos anteriores habian  dejado grandes canciones, pero no es hasta esta revolucion sexual cuando todo suena engranado y menos organico, pero a la vez, más profesional, un sonido que le va mucho mejor a La Casa Azul.

Eldrsaleabailar: Guille Milkyway es lo más importante que nos ha pasado, si señor.

11. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

Indiegnado: Soplo de aire fresco. Los lideres del afroindie, con un debut mas que interesante lleno de cambios pero sonando siempre a ellos mismos. Increible.

Eldrsaleabailar:Increible, de inicio a fin, yo también caigo rendido y espero que el nuevo trabajo me siga hechizando

12. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

Indiegnado: Grandes. Su primer disco es una coleccion de hit tras hit, y con canciones tan míticas ya como “Take Me Out” o “Michael“.

Eldrsaleabailar: Grandes no, gigantes.

13. TV On The Radio – Dear Science

Indiegnado: “Dear Science” es el disco que mejor suena de Tv On The Radio, aunque muchos prefieran el anterior, en “Dear Science” alcanza una variedad de estilos, sonidos y matices que pocos han conseguido en estos 10 años.

Eldrsaleabailar: No me acaban de llegar, pero no se puede negar que no sean buenos

14. The XX – XX

Indiegnado: El debut de 2010. Ellos han demostrado que se puede tener 20 años, un par de guitarras y una caja de ritmos para crear un disco redondo y con un sonido exquisito, 11 canciones llenas de magia.

Eldrsaleabailar: Buff, empezó sin gustarme y ahora me empieza a encandilar, en mi lista no llegarían a tiempo.

15. Capitán Melao – Lágrima

Indiegnado: Si tengo que elegir un descubrimiento personal del underground mas underground me quedo con Capitán Melao. Un disco injustamente olvidado hasta por su creador, que desde entonces no ha vuelto a dar señales de vida al proyecto y con canciones tremendamente buenas.

Eldrsaleabailar: Si es tu disco fetiche nada tengo que objetar, para que no me taches de inmaduro

16. Astrud – Tú No Existes

Indiegnado: “Tú No Existes” es el disco mas pop de Astrud, esa música tremendamente recordable llena de arreglos electronicos y acompañadas de esas letras tan divertidas. Ni que decir que “Noam Chomsky” o “El Vertedero De Sao Paulo” son de lo mejor que astrud han firmado.

Eldrsaleabailar: ¡Increíble!, va el tío y escoge el menor de todos los discos de Astrud de la década, en fin…

17. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black

Indiegnado: La drogada mas mal vista del mundillo rosa, ¡canta! y ademas lo hace de una forma absolutamente espectacular. “Back To Black” es un disco imprescindible dentro del revival soul que se creo, en parte, gracias a ella.

Eldrsaleabailar: Me aburre

18. Triángulo De Amor Bizarro – Triángulo De Amor Bizarro

Indiegnado: El noise patrio, las ganas y la furia de los gallegos, todo eso esta contenido en el debut de TAB, un debut que pronto tendra su esperadisima continuacion. y dentro de ese debut una de las mejores canciones de la decada a nivel nacional, “El Fantasma De La Transición“.

Eldrsaleabailar: ¿Son tan buenos como para estar entre los 25 mejores?

Indiegnado: Rotundo sí.

19. Coldplay – A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Indiegnado: Coldplay son los nuevos U2, los herederos de los estadios, lo llenan todo, incluso un año antes, de locura. Pero esa euforia que se ha desatado en los ultimos años poco tiene que ver con el pop pianistico de los inicios, lo verdaderamente bueno de Coldplay

Eldrsaleabailar: ¡Viva La Vida! , ¡Afroditaaaaa! (Prefiero a dana internacional)

20. Ellos – Lo Tuyo No Tiene Nombre

Indiegnado: El primer disco de Ellos es el mas fresco, y punto. LLeno de himnos bailables y un aire muy divertido

Eldrsaleabailar: Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, ¡por fin algo bueno!

21. Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin

Indiegnado: El primer disco fue un disco aclamado en todos los medios, pero no fue hasta el segundo “Cease To Begin” cuando Band Of Horses alcanzaron su exquisitez musical, canciones pop rock con un aire americano realmente exquisito.

Eldrsaleabailar: Apenas les conozco, será por algo.

22. El Guincho – Alegranza

Indiegnado: Si tuvieramos que el artista nacional con mas proyeccion y que mas fronteras ha conseguido romper, ese es sin duda, El Guincho, por primera vez, un artista nacional no es tratado como secundario, sino que se coloca en las privilegiadas primeras posiciones, y ademas con un discazo absoluto como es “Alegranza“.

Eldrsaleabailar: Absolutamente de acuerdo

23. The National – Boxer

Indiegnado: El post punk ha sido el estandarte mas copiado e irritante de la decada, que si interpoles, editores, y catpeoples insulsos todos, pues bien, The National escapan de esas connotaciones y colocan su “Boxer” como un disco lleno de matices y buenas canciones.

Eldrsaleabailar: Disco precioso, de verdad, para escuchar con alguno de M. Ward.

24. Ladytron – Velocifero

Indiegnado: Viva el electropop de los 00´s y claro, vivan Ladytron. Cuatro discazos en siete años, el mejor, el último, un disco impecable.

Eldrsaleabailar: A mi no me ponen.

25. Sigur Rós – Takk…

Indiegnado: ¿y que seria de la decada sin la bizarrez extrema de Sigur Rós? Pues nada, lo suyo si que es autentica epica, sin el significado negativo.

Eldrsaleabailar: ¿sin?

Beatdigger, producer and DJ RJ Krohn aka RJD2 needs no introduction. With 3 studio albums under his belt and a whole string of productions and remixes for artists such as Massive Attack, The Go! Team, Aesop Rock and Souls of Mischief, RJD2 is certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Right at the calm before the storm of launching his next album, The Colossus, WhoSampled got the man to talk about his musical development, vinyl and sampling, and the making of an RJD2 production from the beats up.

WhoSampled: What is your earliest musical memory?

RJD2: Records. I remember my mom’s record collection: Kraftwerk, The Beatles, Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass – things like that. I remember playing NES games and listening to those records. Both things played an important part in my development.

WS: To what extent did older records inspire you in your past productions? Is that still true today? Which artists do you feel have influenced you the most?

RJ: The tones that are found within records are constantly informing what I do. I think that my best foot forward is as a producer, not a DJ or singer or keys player. And obviously, when sampling records, they end up playing a direct role in a new song. Even if I’m not sampling them per se, it’s still true; I am constantly referencing things off records when I’m tracking live instruments.
I think the biggest things I’ve internalized are the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, The Impressions, and then the experience of things like a Meters or De La Soul record on a big system.

WS: When digging for samples, are there any specific genres or eras that you look out for?

RJ: Eras, yes. Genres, no. My roll-off years are around 1961 and 1985 or so. That’s my usual window. Otherwise, I’m just usually looking for the rarest things I can get my hands on; the least visible record I can possibly sample.

WS: What is/was your favorite 2nd hand record store and why?

RJ: The one that was a huge contributor to my first record (Deadringer) was a place called Robert’s Records on the southeast side of Columbus, Ohio. They had been a distributor throughout the 70’s, and then went out of business around 1999 or 2000. It was just an insane goldmine, when they had their going out of business sale. It was massive; about a basketball court sized room for LP’s, and another for 45’s. HUGE. All LP’s were $1, all 45’s were $.25. I spent 5 days going through a storage closet stacked top to bottom with boxes of 45’s; I was pulling things like Lowell Fulsom and J.B.’s 45’s, and thought I was doing well. I didn’t realize the 45 room was open as well at the time; we are talking 8 ft racks, 60ft long rows, and about 8-10 rows. Alvin Cash’s Keep on Dancin’, Incredible Bongo Band 45’s, that caliber of stuff, all for a quarter a pop. I probably clocked 50-60 hours in the store before it closed.

WS: What’s your forecast on the future of vinyl – do you think it will die out and if it does, will it matter?

RJ: No, I think it’s gonna do fine, cause it already is! Records are definitely making a resurgence. People will always love buying vinyl, even if it’s not a huge market.

WS: What rapper(s) would you like to work with if you could choose anyone you want? Whose style and voice do you think would go well together with your beats?

RJ: Ludacris, first and foremost. The Clipse. Freeway.

WS: How different was your approach to the production on The Third Hand from that on Deadringer and Since We Last Spoke? Did you use any samples on The Third Hand at all, or was it all made from live instrumentation?

RJ: There were some very minute samples, and all of the drums were samples, on The Third Hand. I was still going for “vintage” type of sounds, but trying to do it in a different way.

WS: You did a set for the BBC’s Breezeblock radio show, where you deconstructed some of your own beats using some of the original samples. It was interesting to hear you recreate some of the cuts by hand. What’s the initial catalyst or first step in an RJD2 production – beats, samples, instruments, inspiration from DJing or something else? When in the studio, do you often get ideas for sample combinations or tracks from “DJing on top of a beat”?

RJ: When I’m in the studio, it’s really all centered around the MPC, at least if I’m doing something that is inherently “beat oriented”, or if I’m just making a beat. There are things that can be done on an MPC that can’t be done on turntables, so when I’m doing those “redux” versions of tracks using the original records, it’s more reverse engineering a beat, rather than providing the germination point of a beat. On the MPC, I’m working at a more molecular level; DJ’ing is much more broad strokes, if you will.

WS: What can your fans expect to hear on The Colossus, your next album due in 2010?

RJ: BIG SECRET! Nah, I might end up talking about it closer to the release, but I don’t want anyone going into it with a preconceived notion of anything, stylistically speaking. Fresh ears and multiple listens, that’s all I ask of the listener. I always try to be as detail-oriented as possible with my solo records, and this one’s no different in that respect.

WhoSampled manages RJD2’s page on the site in cooperation with the artist. Look out for RJD2’s fourth studio album The Colossus, which will be released on his own label in 2010.

http://rjselectricalconnections.com
http://www.myspace.com/rjd2

We’ll keep this brief.  It’s just one of those weeks.  A lot to do and it helps having an energetic 70’s-like soundtrack.  Here is another album, like the Avalanches – Since I Left You that I discussed a few weeks ago, that would be terrific for a workout regimen.  It’s also pretty solid for housework too.  This album I speak of is The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike.  With it’s blend of cheerleader samples, 70’s horns, TV soundtrack piano, and a driving guitar it is like a party just waiting to kick off.  Albeit, it’s a very strange party with it’s own cheering section.

Cindi sometimes gives me kind of an eye rolling sort of look when I put on The Go! Team.  The cheerleader samples bother her.  (But I think she’s coming around…)  She’s not wild on cheerleaders, apparently.  However, she is big on those cheerleader contest extravaganzas that sometimes pop up on ESPN.  I can’t figure if she is truly wowed by the skill or hoping someone falls off one of those insane people pyramids they build at those things.  I can see how the cheerleader samples could be a deal breaker, but I love unusual non-musical things in musical composition.  A few examples would be the pots and pan drums in “Packt Like Sardines In a Crushed Tin Box” by Radiohead, the dental tools sampled to make the tracks on Matmos’ A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure, to the chandelier “played” by the Squirrel Nut Zippers for auxiliary percussion on their album Hot.

Thunder, Lightning, Strike is highly addictive.  To me at least.  The biggest problem is that when the album is over I want more, but I have yet to find an album that at all approximates the sound, energy, and that intangible x-factor that really pulls it together for me.  Not even The Go! Team follow up album comes close to this sound.  So, usually when the album is over I end up just putting it on again.  Over and over Thunder, Lightning, Strike is a terrific soundtrack for any high-octane part of your life, whatever that may be.

~J

Messy, punchy and weirdly foreign-sounding

Drew Barrymore in Whip It!

I saw Whip It last night and loved it! I always enjoy a movie that explores a fun subculture…doesn’t get more entertaining than Roller Derby. The film didn’t take itself too seriously which made it work. Highlight was definitely the soundtrack – The Ettes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Go Team etc.

Check out the NY Times review if you’re interested:

Stepping Into the Skates of the Director – NY Times

About two weeks ago Barcelona celebrated La Mercè, which is the largest, most important holiday for the city. I meant to write about it then, but it took me some time to recover.  Also, Katy and Paul were here for a special birthday visit from Holland  and we were somewhat busy eating tapas.

Some notable events of the festival we saw included: the correfoc, a pyromusical, and a Go Team! concert.  What is a correfoc, you ask? I was initially under the impression that its a parade with fireworks, but that’s sort of like saying that methamphetamine is like a cup of coffee. From Wikipedia:

Correfocs are amongst the most striking of Catalonia’s festive events: “devils” play with fire and with the people. These devils are not the incarnation of evil; they are sprightly and festive, dancing to the sound of the drums and the traditional gralla, while they set off their fireworks.

Turns out it’s the day the devil comes out and scares the crap our of Nina. Imagine about 40 troupes of people, 20 per troupe, all dressed in costumes that involve devil horns, pushing 20 foot tall paper mache dragons, who spit 20 or so rounds of roman candles on the hoards of surrounding spectators. For about 5 hours. I’m hazy on the origins, but the most notable aspect of the correfoc– running under the firework sparks, started after the Franco regime was over. That year the local children decided to run into the firework sparks, instead of away from them, and so the tradition began. All the locals, who were clearly more prepared than us, came wearing hoodies, bandanas, and long sleeved clothing. Dmitry, Katy, Paul and I cowered and screamed like little girls each time a dragon approached. I’m pretty sure I singed a few hairs on my arms, and the audio sensation was what I image residents of a city under siege feel–the earth shaking, the sky lit up in a thousand places, eardrums popping, running and yelling, endorphins flowing through your body ripping your heart to pieces.

Fire breathing dragon

Running for my life

Little Damian

Between the madness, we made it out to the beach a few times. Turns out even the quiet bay in Barcelona gets some gnarley waves, and the surfers come out of the woodworks.

Katy & Paul vs. the wave

The city spared no expense at the finale fireworks ceremony. This “pyromusical” was exactly that. Music started to play– lots of American doo wop for some weird reason, and to its beat explosions of colors and stardust sprayed across the sky, illuminating the palacial looking Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in the distance. The fountain in Placa Espanya was in on the game, and the water jumped and changed colors to the rhythm as well.

My favorite part was towards the end, when after an announcement, sparklers magically materialzed in the hands of the thousands of spectators (save us four) and everyone waved along. So beautiful!

I hate to pit my fave cities against one another, but I think Mercè wins over the NY Halloween parade.

Take 60’s and 70’s movie music samples, throw in some phat beats and add a cheerleading squad and you’ve got the completely unique sound of The Go! Team. You may have heard them before in Honda or Zappos commercials. This band is always a blast to listen to, and they are played in heavy rotation on almost every roadtrip I take.

The Go! Team “Doing It Right”

Like what you see feel free to email me at tad@creativesquall.com and don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook. Check out the Creative Squall website to see how sketches grow up to be complete ideas.

Wow, sorry for the delay.  The start of school caught me completely off guard and I am way behind on everything in my life.  However, that didn’t stop me from putting together an amazing playlist for all your future road trips – it just delayed things a bit.

I almost always fall asleep when I’m driving, so I need a raucous mix of high energy pop and great sing along songs to keep me going.  I hope you enjoy my travel/ road trip playlist!

Free Mp3 - Justin’s Favorite Road Trip Songs

1. Wanderlust King- Gogol Bordello

2. Nowhere with you – Joel Plaskett

3. Johnny Appleseed – Joe Strummer and the Mescalaroes

4. Sure Can Start – Two Hours Traffic

5. I’m Good I’m Gone – Lykke Li

6. Huddle Formation – The Go! Team

7. Have Love will Travel – The Black Keys

8. Baby Driver – Simon and Garfunkle

9. Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen

10. Barking at the Moon – Jenny Lewis

Last week I kind of got into a rather nihilistic rut, music-wise. Perhaps I was overtired. Maybe it was the old debbil-blues. Maybe, just maybe, it was nothing intentional. So to head off any potential WTFs and nightmarish, um, nightmares, this week’s Heavy Rotation will feature some of the feel-goodingest music ever collected.

This is not to say that I’ve gone soft (despite Cena’s comment) or am now living la vida Gleemonex. Just an attempt to strut down the sunny side of the street without sacrificing quality for cheese.

Previous volumes here:
The Heavy Rotation Archive

Cornershop – Brimful of Asha (Fatboy Slim Mix)
Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) inserts some pumped-up beats into Cornershop’s breakthru hit and sends it spinning pleasantly out onto the brightly-lit dance floor. The addition that seals the deal is the breakdown, which features ping-ponging samples of the lead singer delivering shout-outs to record labels, various producers and Bollywood stars, with the refrain “on the 45″ answering each one.

(Which you won’t hear in this version, unfortunately. Can’t find it online. You’ll just have to download the zip file to hear the full version. Sorry.)

Bonus: brought the word “bosom” back, however briefly.

Space Raiders – Disko Doktor
Another dance floor keeper, from another artist on Skint’s brilliant roster. Half-disco, half-house, half-vocoder, all fun. Good for what ails you, disko-wise. If the song itself doesn’t make you feel a little warm all over, the video will. Still nothing? Take two of these disko biscuits and call me in a day or two.

(Starting to sense a pattern here, but the video version is severely truncated. The track I have runs in the 5 minute length. So, start clicking.)

Fatboy Slim – Sho Nuff
A b-side from his Praise Yousingle. Singular in its pursuit of a good time, full of thumping beats, bright synth lines and some audacious sampling. All together now: “Humpin’ and bumpin’ and thumpin’ and pumpin’…” It will get stuck in your head, and for that I apologize insincerely.

(See above. Heavily edited on youtube. Full length in my [and possibly your] possession.)

The Go! Team – Huddle Formation
A band that throws everything, including the kitchen sink, into their songs. Then the whole mess gets handed to the local high school cheerleaders and pep squad and taken for a high speed joyride up the main drag. Your guess is as good as mine on the lyrics, but they do shout out a recognizable “Go Team!” here and there. The ass-kickingest good time song ever to be made by people who could probably not kick any ass whatsoever.

The Cramps – Garbage Man
One of the simple joys in life is the music of the Cramps. Coming on like the lovechild of Duane Eddy and a Hammer horror film, the Cramps brought a cheerful derangement to their off-kilter rockabilly.

Their lead singer, Lux Interior (RIP) vamped, preened, deep-throated mics and strutted all over the wrong side of the musical tracks. Managing to run a band without a bassist for several years, as well as a revolving door of drummers, the Cramps managed several great singles, an occasionally great album and the continued employment of Poison Ivy Rorschach (aka Mrs. Interior) as permanent lead guitarist.

If you haven’t heard them by now, it’s never too late to start. Prepare to have your mind dragged thru the gutter by these self-described “1/2 hillbilly and 1/2 punks.” Off the splendidly titled Songs the Lord Taught Us album, which features other classics like Strychnine, T.V. Set and I Was a Teenage Werewolf.

All files unabridged, zipped and tucked into a handy, downloadable file (link opens in new window):
Heavy Rotation 17

-CLT

[All music posted on Fancy Plans... is kick ass and too awesome to be contained. All music is also posted temporarily and, due to it's high level of ass-kicking, should not be distributed without a prescription and care should be taken while operating heavy equipment or dancing around the living room (clothing optional, but do remember that the blinds are open/kids are still awake).
Should you wish to have your brilliant artistic statement forced back into confinement, please email me at 2timegrime@gmail.com. Feel free to leave a comment, as that will probably be noticed sooner.
By all means, if you like what you hear (and you will), please support the totally rocking artist(s) by purchasing some music or heading out to see them live.]

Since the movie Whip It opens today, here is After The Show’s overview of Whip It’s soundtrack.

The soundtrack has 21 songs — most tracks are album only, so it makes sense to purchase the entire album on iTunes for $9.99.

Tracklisting:

1. Pot Kettle Black – Tilly and the Wall

2. Sheena Is a Punk Rocker – The Ramones

3. What’s the Attitude – Cut Chemist, Hymnal

4. Bang on – The Breeders

5. Dead Sound – The Raveonettes

6. Blue Turning Grey – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

7. Your Arms Around Me – Jens Lekman

8. Learnalilgivinanlovin – Gotye

9. Boys Wanna Be Her – Peaches

10. Jolene – Dolly Parton

11. Caught Up in You – .38 Special

12. Never My Love – Har Mar Superstar feat. Adam Green

13. Black Gloves – Goose

14. Crown of Age – The Ettes

15. High Times – Landon Pigg, Turbo Fruits

16. Unattainable – Little Joy

17. Lollipop [Squeak E. Clean & Desert Eagles Remix] – The Chordettes

18. Doing It Right – The Go! Team

19. Breeze – Apollo Sunshine

20. Know How – Young MC

21. The Road to Austin – The Section Quartet

Highlights:

“Pot Kettle Black” by Tilly and the Wall:

“Dead Sound” by The Raveonettes:

“Your Arms Around Me” by Jens Lekman:

“Jolene” by Dolly Parton:

“Doing It Right” by The Go! Team:

Aqui está a banda que vos falei e que me agradou na quinta-feira passada , chamam-se El Petit de Cal Eril um abanda Catalã e podem visitar o seu myspace e escutar umas cantigas aqui. Gosto deste teledisco!

Ontem à noite surpreendeu-me o senhor Patrick Wolf, esteve em grande durante o pouco tempo que vi o seu concerto.

E no final The Go! Team, que têm muito boa onda e conseguem animar uma plateia já de si animada por outras coisas que deixam a malta a rir. São uma banda muito versátil na medida em que todos tocam diferentes instrumentos e passam de um momento ao outro a vocalistas. Podem ver o seu site e escutar algumas canções aqui.

Una Plaça Reial a reventar acollia una de les jornades del BAM més esperades per un públic cada any més eclèctic i dispers. El panorama de la plaça ideada per Francesc Daniel Molina amb fanals de Gaudí i la Font de les Tres Gràcies eren motius de distracció suficients per aguantar el concert de Patrick Wolf. Com si el personatge de Sacha Baron Cohen, Brüno, hagués decidit muntar un grup i apropiar-se del so del Bowie dels 80’s i 90’s, Patrick Wolf va oferir un concert on el més remarcable era la qualitat de so, i més tenint en compte el que venia després.

The Go! Team va iniciar el concert a les 00.50. Un so lamentable i un soroll espantós per part d’un públic per tot menys per la música no permetia connectar de cap manera amb la banda anglesa. Afortunadament, Junior Kickstart va suposar un gir de 180º. El so es va destaponar finalment i ja no importava res més que les cançons d’una banda divertida i enèrgica liderada per una màquina de ballar i saltar anomenada Ninja, que va aconseguir captar l’atenció d’una audiència que s’ho va passar bomba durant la mitja hora final i demostrar perquè Chuk D va acceptar cantar un dels temes del segon i darrer àlbum dels de Brighton, Proof Of Youth.

Incomprehensible lyrics but FABULOUS CHOON.

This is a playlist that attempts to combine a lot of different genres and I think it does so pretty effectively. All the songs on this playlist are really good, and the fact that you go from one style of music makes it refreshing, that way you aren’t listening to monotonous music, and you get some variety. Variety is great, and so I think that this playlist is also.

Homegrown – Humboldt Beginnings – The Pharcyde
Summer Babe [Winter Version] – Slanted & Enchanted – Pavement
Victoria – Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) – The Kinks
Act III Scene 2 – Saul Williams – Saul Williams
Shiksa Goddess – The Last Five Years – Jason Robert Brown
Mr. Grieves – Doolittle – The Pixies
Secret Agent X-9 – Sad Sappy Sucker – Modest Mouse
Holland, 1945 – In The Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel
Grip Like a Vice – Proof of Youth – The Go! Team
All My Love – In Through the Out Door – Led Zeppelin
Corner Soul – Sandinista! – The Clash
Who’ll Pay Reparations On My Soul – Small Talk At 125th and Lenox – Gil Scot-Heron
Harder Than You Think – How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul??? – Public Enemy

L’Alberto desvia la mirada i desapareix de la conversa cordial que teníem mentre li ensenyava la ràdio. Ha vist alguna cosa, un senzill, a la taula de la persona que s’encarrega de la discoteca. És de Soap&Skin, “te’n recordes? et vaig demanar que me’n busquessis un disc quan vas anar a Berlin“. És una noia de 19 anys que va interpretar el paper de Nico en una espècie de opera teatral que es va fer a Berlin sobre la seva vida, una pianista i violinista creuament de Björk, Nico i Cat Power. Només un malalt de Nico com l’Alberto ho podia saber. Marxem, la casualitat es tanca quan acte seguit busco el cartell del BAM d’enguany, i clar, hi haurà Soap&Skin. Tot plegat serveix per arrodonir la llista que estava preparant aquesta setmana sobre coses que es podran veure i sentir aviat a Barcelona. Al BAM tornen The Go! Team, no se’ls perdin, i també hi he trobat tres dones de tres continents diferents que valdrà la pena anar a sentir, i Patrick Wolf, un senyor que té tendència a enfadar-se amb els regidors d’escenari, especialment quan no li deixen fer bisos. Tanca la llista un avançament del Primavera Club: Port O’Brien.

Bona setmana,

<<<//// la llista ////>>>>

Arriba una nova edició del festival BAM (Barcelona Acció Musical), que entre els propers dies 23 i 26 de setembre es cel·lebrarà a la ciutat de Barcelona sota el marc de les Festes de la Mercè.
Gairebé 60 artistes actuaran als diferents escenaris repartits per la ciutat, i on cal destacar la presència de: The Duke and The King, el nou projecte musical del Felice Brothers, Simone Felice, juntament amb Robert “Chicken” Burke, els quals acaben de debutar amb el notable Nothing Gold Can Stay; els britànics The Go! Team, que desplegaran tot el seu ventall d’estils, en el que segurament serà un dels concerts més enèrgics del festival; el grup de Pennsilvània, Akron/ Family, practicants d’un folk-rock experimental; els suecs The Hives amb el seu rock frenètic i repetitiu; i Billie The Vision & The Dancers, famosos per ser els autors de la “cançoneta de l’estiu”, Summercat, o el que és el mateix la del “Tonight, Tonight…”. Manel, The Unfinished Sympathy i Cat People són els grups de casa més destacats.

Com cada any l’organització ha apostat per la música independent, completant un cartell, que sense arribar al nivell de la passada edició, convida a apropar-se als diferents escenaris per viure uns concerts més que destacables, i com sempre, una bona oportunitat per conèixer noves propostes musicals.

Així queda el cartell per dies:

Dimecres 23

Rambla del Raval: Nour & Speed Caravan & Rabah Donquishoot + La Kinky Beat
Portal de la Pau: Calima + Canteca de Macao
Plaça del Rei: El Petit de Cal Eril + Anni B Sweet + The Duke & The King
Plaça Reial : Cui Jian + The Unfinished Symphaty + Berri Txarrak

Dijous 24

Rambla del Raval: Tonino Carotone
Portal de la Pau: Club Mestizo Allstars
Plaça Reial: Beatspoke + In*Digna + Naive New Beaters
Plaça del Rei: Boat Beam + Melissa Laveaux

Divendres 25

Rambla del Raval: Ceza + Shantel
Portal de la Pau: Very Pomelo + Los Impagaos + Instituto Mexicano del Sonido
Plaça Reial: Napoleón Solo + Ix! + The Go! Team
Plaça del Rei: Inspira + Pájaro Sunrise + Estanislau Verdet
Parc del Fòrum: Furguson + Vinilette + Subway + Krikor + Slurp Tv (visuales)
Parc del Fòrum: Markooz + Praxiz + Flavio Rodríguez + Hablando en Plata + 7 Notas 7 Colores

Dissabte 26

Rambla del Raval: Rumbamazigha + Ganga Vives
Portal de la Pau: Canibala + El Tio Carlos
Plaça Reial: Big City + The Joe K-Plan + Danielson + Akron/Family
Plaça del Rei: Pony Bravo + Eh! + Soap & Skin
Parc del Fòrum: Trash Van Traxxx + Mwëslee + Terry Lynn + RSD + Peverelist
Parc del Fòrum: Cat People + Dirty Projectors + We Are Standard
Antiga Fàbrica Damm: Manel + Billy The Vision & The Dancers + The Hives

Veiem i escoltem If you ever get famous, dels The Duke and The King:

The Go! Team’s first album, ‘Thunder Lightning, Strike’ places much less emphasis on vocals, which is fairly unusual in modern music. Using a wide array of instruments including piano, recorder, harmonica, guitar, synthesizer, glockenspeil and tamborine, ‘Thunder, Lightning, Strike’ is an ecclectic blend of hiphop, electronic, funk, psychedelic and rock. Chants that sound as though they’re being recited by a group of high school cheerleaders are the only vocals on the album, and even those are moderately scarce. While the music may not be intended for mainstream consumption, The Go! Team has gathered a broad circle of devoted fans over the years with an ever changing sound.

The Go! Team’s sound is definitely a creative one. Piano riffs that sound as though they belong on an ambient album are merged with hip hip computer effects, then played over with some fuzzy sounding guitars, and even though it doesn’t sound like it’d work, it comes out working pretty well. Without many vocals to distract, a listener can concentrate on the sound of the band. The music is layered and complex, it gathers itself to a climax in some tracks and then fades off, lessening the indulgence in tracks like, ‘Junior Kickstart’. One is liable to be left wanting more. ‘Thunder, Lightning, Strike’ is playable; even upon several repeated listens, tracks do not grow boring or stale. This music is written intelligently, and it shows. Other good listens are the retro sounding, ‘Bottle Rocket’ and the swirling rock track, ‘Huddle Formation’, which almost seems to find its roots in punk. With the playability of a pop band and the unique sound of an indie band, The Go! Team seems to bring the best of itself to the table with this album.

Some of the best things about ‘Thunder, Lightning, Strike’ are taken too far and end up being the worst. At times, the music is overly indulgent, riding on its own groove longer than a listener is willing to ride with it. It comes off sounding like the cheesy theme from some thirty year old television show with tracks like, ‘Everyone’s A VIP To Someone’. Even when they hit the mark, The Go! Team takes some getting used to. Simpler, more rhythmic pieces could use some vocals added, more complex musical pieces end up rambling. It’s as though the band can’t find a happy medium. The catchy hooks so often present in music are lost by too much layering of sound. Crossing genres is fine, what isn’t fine is when it sounds like a machine spat out a couple of random songs and pressed them together. There isn’t much real consistency to be found within the sounds on ‘Thunder’, certainly not enough to give a new listener any idea of what their next music would be like.

Overall, 6 / 10. The Go! Team is musical brain – food, and it’s definitely an aquired taste. Listeners who are looking for something pleasent and simple to listen to won’t enjoy it, and as they definitely have their faults, that’s understandable.

Thanks to my friend Evan, who alerted me on Monday that some serious Aughties musical canonization was going down this week, I’ve been following Pitchfork’s unveiling of the Top 500 tracks of the decade. As it may be of interest, I thought I’d share my feelings. 

In subsequent posts, I may comment on their impending coverage of the decade’s best music videos and albums, as well as their formulations on the reclamation of pop, the exploration of noise, and the mainstreaming of indie rock. I won’t devote posts to it, though, because there’s a fine line between providing useful commentary and hearing yourself type. And my hunch is that discussing the singles list will suffice, as it presents, by microcosm, a general set of criticisms I’ve long held about the “tastemaker” e-zine.

Covering Pitchfork’s appraisal of the decade in this way makes more sense to me anyway, as the 2000s marked the resurgence of the single. Our increasingly digitized media culture cultivated the need for that one song, found at the click of a mouse or the touch of an mp3 player button or phone pad. That song also tended to get posted on blogs, e-zines, and MySpace pages (however briefly) as a means to define the self or selves (this was a decade when Gnarls Barkley, Brightblack Morning Light, and Crystal Castles could potentially coexist on the same shuffle or mash-up).

So, this list is the first time I’ve seen music of my youth canonized in such a way that it now seems historical. When Pitchfork first did the list half-way through the decade, I was 22 and just out of college; an adult, but only sorta. More specifically, the songs were still new. But having graduated from college twice over and a year into my second post-college job in 2009, I can look at songs from 2000, when I was in high school, and feel my age like many folks who transitioned into adulthood in decades prior.

And now, some nostalgia. A lot of the songs on this list bring up specific memories, images, people, and feelings. I remember my friend Brooke trying to teach me a dance routine to Aaliyah’s “Try Again” for our junior prom. PJ Harvey’s “Good Fortune” reminded me of a high school boyfriend which, in hindsight, speaks to an epic love song’s power to project. I remember a classmate singing the chorus to OutKast’s “Ms. Jackson” to herself in French class. I remember hearing Jay-Z and UGK’s “Big Pimpin’” at a Claire’s somewhere in New York City on a field trip. Radiohead’s “The National Anthem” confused the hell out of me, but I kept playing it at full volume anyway. Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On” was a confusing song that made perfect sense. And if Daft Punk’s “One More Time” was released when the class of 2001 voted for our song, it would’ve been my pick (I submitted U2’s “Beautiful Day” and Counting Crows’ “Hanging Around”; our song ended up being Aerosmith’s cover of The Beatles’ “Come Together” from the Armageddon soundtrack, for some reason).

Then there’s the rough transition between high school and college. Songs off Radiohead’s Amnesiac and Daft Punk’s Discovery suggest my lonely, uncertain summer before college. I started college, withdrew mid-way through my first semester, and resumed in the spring. This was a “the” time — The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Shins, The Avalanches, and the last album by The Dismemberment Plan. It was also when I started to follow Pitchfork, mostly to avoid writing term papers.

After a summer back home, I applied for a college radio show. It was here that I really started learning about music, and just how much music there was. KVRX maintains a “none of the hits all of the time” policy; if a musical act got a single or video on rotation in a commercial market, they could not be played. While I was there, we pulled The Arcade Fire and Franz Ferdinand from rotation. Some deejays would think that by pulling a musical act they liked out of rotation, we were initiating a taste-based attack on coolness (i.e., undiscovered = good, discovered = bad). While this prejudice existed (and I would certainly perpetuate it at times), pulling an artist embraced by the mainstream out of college radio rotation felt like more political to me. “Spoon is on 101X? Great! They’re awesome. Now let’s shine a light on the thousands of other bands who’ll never get that kind of attention.”

Pitchfork made an effort to shine a light too, biases notwithstanding. During my tenure at KVRX, my relationship with Pitchfork became contentious. While I followed Pitchfork, I was also dismissive or derisive of the staff’s opinions (a classic push-pull for many music geeks: we are at once too cool for Pitchfork, yet check to see if we line up with their rulings). As I came into my own as a feminist, I also became more critical of what they covered, how they covered it, and what they dismissed, out of which came, among other things, this blog.

Yet, there are so many songs on this countdown that remind me of that time. I remember my first radio show, when I played Interpol’s “NYC” because I had some vague idea of who they were. I remember exactly where I was when I first heard TV on the Radio’s “Staring At the Sun” and Dizzie Rascal’s “I Luv U.” I remember seeing Spoon perform “The Way We Get By” on Conan and hoping they’d get big. I remember hearing the bass line to Broken Social Scene’s “Stars and Sons” for the first time. I remember fighting The Rapture’s “House of Jealous Lovers” for weeks before surrendering. I remember being unable to avoid The Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights.” I remember playing Broadcast’s “Pendulum” while getting ready for parties. I remember rocking out to The Gossip’s “Standing in the Way of Control” in the deejay booth. I remember LCD Soundsystem’s “Losing My Edge” being one of the go-to songs deejays would throw on for a smoke break when we weren’t quoting from it (I alluded to it in this post’s title). I remember hearing M.I.A.’s “Galang” at a party and having it blow my mind. I remember impromptu dance parties after Alliance for a Feminist Option meetings when a bunch of sweaty grrrls I still call friends would shimmy to Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” and OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” I remember skanking harder and smiling wider than I ever have with the person I built my life with to Ted Leo and the Pharmacists’ “Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?”

In addition, there was Boards of Canada, Wolf Eyes, Feist, Black Dice, Andrew Bird, Ladytron, Devendra Banhart, Destroyer, Hot Chip, The New Pornographers, Deerhoof, M. Ward, Liars, Junior Boys, The Walkmen, Manitoba (later Caribou), El-P, The Go Team, (Smog), Sufjan Stevens, RJD2, The Books, Talib Kweli, Phoenix . . . . The list goes on. If I ever had trouble keeping up with new artists after graduating in 2005, it was only because I had so many established artists to follow.

Of course, my college radio utopia didn’t last. It couldn’t. My monolithic friend group fragmented. People moved, lost touch, became casual, or just stopped being friends. Perhaps this is really when the decade became more to me than a sequence, instead an evolution of time. Late-in-the-decade offerings like LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” and Animal Collective’s “Fireworks” convey this for me.

After college, I acquired Deerhunter, CSS, Hercules and Love Affair, Santigold, Bat for Lashes, Grizzly Bear, Battles, No Age, Be Your Own Pet, Girl Talk, Magik Markers, Vampire Weekend, Vivian Girls, Women, King Khan and the Shrines, and St. Vincent.

Assuredly there will be more new artists for me (and you) to adopt. Just this week, because of the countdown, I picked up on The Knife.

There are artists whose countdown placement evinces moments when we were willing to bet the farm on an act that now seem dated (Death From Above 1979, The Streets, and Klaxons). There are also acts I didn’t “get” but sorta came around on later (hello, Joanna Newsom). There are acts I didn’t know that well in college but came to treasure later (bless you, Neko Case). There are acts I enjoy but could never fully champion (I like you fine, Belle and Sebastian). There are acts I appreciate, but kinda overwhelm me and can’t listen to all the time (Jesus, Xiu Xiu). And then there are acts for whom I just never got the fuss (Fleet Foxes and The Decemberists).

With that said, this countdown plays predictably. Accepting minor issues like what song was selected to represent an artist and where songs fell in ranking, Pitchfork got a lot right. They also got caught up with some songs that I think they’re overselling, and some things they marginalized or completely overlooked. I’ll preoccupy the rest of this post with those flaws.

For me Pitchfork’s big Achilles heel has always been hip hop, primarily because they really only cover mainstream hip hop (Lil Wayne, T.I., 50 Cent, Clipse, Eminem, Cam’ron, OutKast, Kanye West, and Jay-Z — the last three are all over this countdown). And while this isn’t a problem in its own right, it limits how hip hop is defined and what it represents, which, in a lot of commercial hip hop, that still means money, Cristal, whips, blunts, and bitches (though not in all cases). It certainly suggests that the only way for rappers to be successful and culturally relevant is to be part of a corporate mechanism. This seems like something a publication that prides itself on giving visibility to independent artists should re-evaluate. Because, in my mind, if there’s no Busdriver or Jean Grae, I question the validity of the list.

As a result, it largely eclipses underground hip hop which has seen tremendous advancements over the course of the decade, particularly in the states. Talent from labels like Stones Throw, Quannum Projects, Rhymesayers, Definitive Jux, and anticon., along with talent at labels like Plug Research, Mush, Warp, and Ubiquity have created some of the most vital and interesting work in the genre, expanding its sound and its content while working outside a corporate mechanism in the process (anticon. runs as a collective). But you’d never know that if you only read Pitchfork, who primarily acknowledged a few efforts, primarily from white male label owners (El-P) and instrumental artists (RJD2, DJ Shadow). No female MCs were acknowledged. This may also speak to the dearth of female MCs in underground hip hop, but doesn’t excuse it (I love you, Jean Grae; I love you, Psalm One). My challenge to hip hop fans in the next decade is to try to create an online resource as influential as Pitchfork to get the message out. You’ve got a guaranteed spot on my blogroll. My apologies if someone’s already doing this and I don’t know about it.

Also, as you may have noticed if you combed through the entire list, only the top 200 songs are accompanied by blurbs from the writing staff. While I understand that writing 300 more blurbs presents its own challenges, I also think it suggests that tracks 500-301 weren’t good enough for a write-up. And this makes me especially sad when many of the women I loved in this decade – Vivian Girls, St. Vincent, Goldfrapp, Sleater-Kinney, Bat for Lashes, Björk, and The Gossip — are thrown at the end and not given any qualifying statements. This especially seems necessary for a song like The Gossip’s “Standing In the Way of Control,” which became a bit of an LGBTQ anthem this decade. That would be especially useful to read alongside #18, Hercules and Love Affair’s “Blind.” This is a great dance song that I’ve always interpreted as an anthem for coming out and living life queer. But you wouldn’t know that from Tim Finney’s write-up.

And while I’m heartened by the women who did make it to the top 200, especially women like M.I.A., Beyoncé, Missy Elliott, Annie, and Karen O of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who made the top 20, I can’t help but notice that many of these women were pop artists who worked extensively with predominantly male producers. I don’t want to suggest that cutting a track with Timbaland or Pharell from The Neptunes means that women are robbed of artistic autonomy, as I wouldn’t say that for Justin Timberlake. However, I do take issue with what female artists and what songs get praise. Or even what versions of songs. While the Diplo remix of the version of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” that features UGK is great, I wonder why her version isn’t enough.

That said, the 2000s were both a hell of an education and a hell of a time. Pitchfork knows it. I know it. Hopefully, you know it too. It was a great time to be alive. I hope the next decade is even better.

I love nothing more than discovering new music. Rarely, do I find songs without the help of my friends. But the few that I do discover all on my own (if you exclude the internet) have a special place in my itunes library. Not literally, but figuratively–like a special place in my heart. Basically, I like them more than any of my hand-me-down tunes. When I went to Bonnaroo this summer, ‘discovering’ my own music took on a whole new meaning. As I wondered through Centeroo surrounded by friendly hippies experiencing complete drug- and alcohol- induced euphoria, I heard an entrancing beat beyond the clouds of smoke and dust. I forced my way past countless die-hard fans of this wonderful band by pretending to be frantically searching for my missing friends, which was partially true: I would have enjoyed stumbling upon them, but I was also about 93 percent sure I knew where they were, and it was not at This Tent. By the time I got to the front of the stage, I learned that this intoxicating band was none other than Passion Pit. My newest obsession.

I found this video using my expertise as a skilled Facebook stalker. It features 100 different songs. All the songs are amazing. The dances/outfits are a little out there, but they’re kind of funny.

The best songs featured:

• 3. Deceptacon / Le Tigre

• 7. Too Young / Phoenix

• 8. Over And Over / Hot Chip

• 22. Electric Feel / MGMT

• 33. Huddle Formation / The Go! Team

• 37. D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix) / Justice

• 44. You Spin Me Round / Dead Or Alive

• 49. Nighttiming / Coconut Records

• 70. Hands In The Air / Girl Talk

• 74. Lex / Ratatat

• 84. 10 Dollar / M.I.A.