4 posts tagged “lists”

2007's Top 50 Songs - aka, I know nothing

Jan 12, 2008
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If you know anything about me, you know I have a penchant for making lists; but when it comes to anything music related in list form, I end up taking my sweet ass time putting a list even together, and take about a gazillion years time to even begin ranking stuff. Want to know about my past email addresses, childhood secrets, and the favorites toolbar on my work computer? That's not a problem!

This year, however, I have indeed finally hammered it out, and so per inspiration via Elias, I bring to you my top 50 songs of 2007. It was a combination of MySpace songs I've had, stuff I've reviewed and listed through the Tripwire, and things I mentioned on this here bloggy poo. Judge, criticize, laugh, and enjoy.

"1234,” Feist
"20 Years," Placebo
"Acceptable In The 80s," Calvin Harris
"Are You The One," The Presets
"Augustine," Patrick Wolf
"Buy You A Drank," T-Pain
"D.A.N.C.E.," Justice
"Dashboard," Modest Mouse
"Destroy Everything You Touch," Ladytron
"Devil You Know," Pinback
"Get To Know You Better," Junior Senior
"Gimme More," Britney Spears
"Golden Skans," The Klaxons
"Halo," Depeche Mode
"It Will Find You," Maps
"Jane Fonda," Mickey Avalon
"Kids From Orange County," Moving Units
"Kingdom Of Doom," The Good, The Bad, And The Queen
"Last Request," Paolo Nutini
"Like A Boy," Ciara
"Loose Wires," Kenna
"Mama Yer Boys Will Find A Way Home," Scissors For Lefty
"Marry Me," St. Vincent
"Misery Business," Paramore
"Music Is My Boyfriend," CSS
"Nantes," Beirut
"Night Skies," On Fire
“North American Scum,” lcd soundsystem
"Phantom Limb," The Shins
"Pogo," Digitalism
"Salvador," Jamie T
"She Is The New Thing," The Horrors
"Standing On The Edge Of Control," The Gossip
"Stiff Kittens," Blaqk Audio
"Stop Me," Mark Ronson
"Straight Lines," Silverchair
"Stronger," Kanye West
"Taught To Look Away," Matt Pond PA
"The Devil," The Rapture
"The Heinrich Maneuver," Interpol
"The Plot," White Rabbits
"The Prayer," Bloc Party
"The Way It Is," Nicole Atkins & The Sea
"Thunderhorse," Dethklok
"Valerie," Amy Winehouse
"Wake Up Call," Maroon 5
"We Are Your Friends," Simian Mobile Disco
"Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," Radiohead
"When Did Your Heart Go Missing," Rooney
"Young Folks," Peter, Bjorn & John

Jenz's Favorite Records of 2007 - part 1/3

Dec 30, 2007
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I read in an interview a while ago Paul Banks’ sentiment towards fans who like to gush all over him:

“A lot of people have said a lot of beautiful things to me. I always make time for that, because I care about it. It’s beautiful. Look, the most beautiful feeling music can give you is physical. Goose bumps, shivers down your spine. It’s listening to a song and waiting for your favorite part: you get all excited and then that part finally comes and the chemicals just shoot out of your brains…Well, if someone comes up to you to tell you that your music gives him that feeling: that’s the point. That’s why I’m in this band. I get that feeling from what the four of us write together. So I’m also doing it for myself.”

I thought at length about that part where he describes what music does to you. To be honest, I am still trying to figure out my top records list for this year, in what order. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to be a “music journalist,” because I was a follower of it for so long. It can be hard to separate the “fan” from the “critic,” to put aside the bias and the memories and the people associated with the songs. On the surface I so desperately don’t want to like the Album Leaf because it’s a painful reminder of an ex who undoubtedly hurt me tremendously; but the blips and the soft reverb and the shattering of electronic keys do me in every time, and I smile, and I appreciate, and most of all, I love. We each have our own opinions on what we think constitutes “good music” and what should be considered to be “the best of the year” material. For me, I guess I leaned more to the ‘physical’ factor while trying to weave in a value factor.

I haven’t decided what the other seven are going to be. Rather than say “my top records of the year,” I like the term “my favorite records.”

And because I am a dick, I’m going to post #3 today and then #2 tomorrow, #1 on New Year’s Day. You love me.

3. Radiohead – In Rainbows
Rated against the other favorite two albums:
All around: 3/3
Sentimental value (tears, memories): 1/3
New listen test (how much I liked it when I first listened to it): 3/3
Hype, media (how much everyone was freaking out): 1/3
Hype, personal (how much I psyched myself out): 1/3

There was about a week leeway when I first read In Rainbows was getting ready for release; I was pretty jazzed knowing I was going to have mastered copies of all the bootlegs I had been listening to of the 2006 tour. But then they did this and that and this too, and it exploded into pure mania. I’m sure some CEO over at Capitol had a hernia and that messageboards were shut down for the overload of the word “fuck.” I mean, it’s fucking Radiohead, right?

At midnight that fateful October day, the internets almost broke as everyone and their mom registered for on W.A.S.T.E. and downloaded the glorious In Rainbows straight to their computer. None of this import shit on iTunes, no more filesharing (although some were still passed around), just a direct link from band to listener in what was called the most ballsy and “fuck off” move in the music industry to date.

But then, there was the actual matter of the music itself. Was it going to be up to par? Was it going to be another “OK Computer,” or “Kid A?” And thankfully for us, it was neither and it was both. "Weird Fishes" kept the pop-friendly cadence with a sweet entanglement of guitar at the end, "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" provided the rock element we knew the boys could always do, and "Videotape" came as an 11-hour stab in the jugular that proved the band around from 15 years ago could still do a love song.

On an intimate level, this band is so colossally important to me it is so hard to put into words. It was my first taste into Britpop, my first experience being winded; it was my first introduction into being obsessive and devout, and open to possibility. I love Radiohead so illimitably it's sort of gross.

That being said, I’m sure there’s someone out there who knows me that’s going “You have a tattoo of this band on your arm and it’s not your number one? What the hell?” Here’s the thing: it’s not even anything to do with the fact that I don’t love this album. I wholeheartedly, seriously do. I just happen to love two other albums slightly more.

There is much to talk about/I CAN'T DECIDE BETWEEN VANILLA ICE OR INCUBUS...shit

Jun 3, 2007
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So many things happened (or, I found out about) while I was gone!! Shit...

Chris Cornell, again solo - and playing July 10 at the Warfield. First rock'n'roll crush, do I go see you?
While doing my concert calendar for professional and personal purposes, I found a listing for a band at the Make-Out Room called Eggplant Casino and all of a sudden, it made sense: SFist music kid and fellow Vox'er Krissy was right about the whole naming-your-band thing. (For the record, I tried finding them and no MySpace results heeded anything - their band website doesn't have audio either).
Too many concerts coming up, with a number of good shows all on the same day: Hot Chip or Pipettes? Gwen Stefani, Roger Waters, The Horrors, or Darren Hayes (um, of Savage Garden fame)? Nelly Furtado or Skinny Puppy? Incubus or Vanilla Ice? Damn my crazy music tastes.
October is a little far away to be thinking of a show, but with the Cure, BRMC, and my other boyfriend in AFI playing...I'm down.
I'm not sure what this is?? Tom Waits Peep Show?? Confused...
Okay, a little sad I missed Jordan Knight play...a club prom...shut it...
And for a laugh: my friend Wendy drove me to San Jose the day I flew out on a trip so I could meet up with my parents - I had just walked the Golden Gate Bridge with my best friend Lissa and I told Wendy I couldn't stop laughing because all I could think about was this video:

I am so embarassed to know all the words to this song

Points for the sweet locations in North Beach (specifically the Washington Square church and the bus stops) - whoever was the cinematographer had a good eye.