Fav songs of the decade: 40-39

40. The Cool Kids: "88"Listen

39. Deerhoof: "+81"
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38. KiD CuDi: "Day N Nite"
Listen
Video

37. Iron & Wine/Calexico: "16, Maybe Less" from In the Reins
Listen/Video

36. The White Stripes: "Little Cream Soda" from Icky Thump
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35. LCD Soundsystem: "All My Friends"

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34. Subtle: "The Mercury Craze"Listen/Video

33. The Very Best: "Warm Heart of Africa (feat. Ezra Koenig)
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32. The Decemberists: "Song for Myla Goldberg" from Her MajestyListen/Video

31. Animal Collective: "The Purple Bottle"Listen

Song of the Day: September 15th

Shearwater: "La Dame et la Licorne" from Palo Santo
Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg has an amazing voice. There's no debating that; it's a piercing, pure voice that can't be compared to any other vocalist because it's so unique, only words like sharp, searing, soaring can describe it. But one of the reasons that it is so spectacular is that the band know so perfectly how to use it; in the beginning of his voice starts as a gentle purr over a light piano chords, but suddenly it explodes over the top, then just as rapidly, it returns back to gentle slowly building towards a massive closing crescendo. The piano mirrors the vocals, growing louder and more decisive in its chords; which is really the thing with Meiburg's vocals, they're another instrument.
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Song of the Day: September 14th

Broken Social Scene: "Anthems for a 17 Year Old Girl" from You Forgot it in People
For a bunch of people in their twenties or older, Broken Social Scene nail the feelings of teenager pretty well here, but it's the style at which they are delivered that really drives things home; Emily Haines' wavering, effects laden vocals display the indecision of youth and the gentle repetition of "park that car, drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me" begins slowly, but then reaches an unbelievable height of intensity. The song is basically a banjo an strings with a little percussion, which create a light background that Haines' voice fills like a instrument in itself. The song maybe folkish, but the melody is pure pop. Which suits a band like Broken Social Scene, which has never done what it was supposed to.
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Live version!

Playing for Change

Playing for Change is a project that covers "peace" songs using separately recorded musicians from around the world. If that doesn't make any sense, just watch their video of Bob Marley's "War/No More Trouble" and try to ignore Bono ruining it.

The version of "Stand by Me" is also highly recommended.

Song of the Day: September 12th

Belle & Sebastian: "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying"
from If You're Feeling Sinister
For a songwriter with some of the best one liners in music, Stuart Murdoch really out does himself on this song. From the very first line through the whole song, Murdoch is very self-aware, something more songwriters need to be: "nobody writes them like they used to, so it may as well be me", "think of it this way, you could either be successful or be us" and that's just in the first couple lines. He shifts gears from self-referential to fantastical, telling a fairy tale: "Said the hero in the story, 'it is mightier than swords, I could kill sure but I could only make you cry with these words'". Each line is painstakingly crafted to lead into the next continuing the winding story; usually in songwriting you get great one liners or a great story, Murdoch does the rare and has both.
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Great live version

Beck covering Leonard Cohen

Currently on Beck's website (beck.com) there are two covers of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" and "Master Song" (both originally from Cohen's Songs of Leonard Cohen) and while there's nothing groundbreaking here, it's a pretty fun listen as one of the most interesting musicians around covers one of the best songwriters ever. These are part of the "Beck's Record Club" series that already covered The Velvet Underground & Nico and Skip Spence's Oar and apparently intend to cover all of Songs... too. Beck's band this time includes MGMT, Devandra Banhart, and members of Wolfmother and Little Joy. They update with a new song every Thursday.

Song of the Day: September 11th

The Magnetic Fields: "I Wish I Had an Evil Twin" from i
Stephin Merritt likes to write about fantasies; namely songs about people who want to act out of their situation ("The Nun's Litany", "Busby Berkley Dreams", "Love in the Shadows") and his crowning achievement in this department is this song. No other song I've ever heard more clearly or blatantly expresses repressed human emotion. Who, at some point in their life, wishes they could act with responsibly? Who doesn't want to punch some person they dislike, or talk confidently to a girl they're nervous around? Now some of these feelings are not something we should be experiencing, but we all have them and lines like "sometimes the good life wears thin, I wish I had an evil twin... all men would writhe beneath his scythe" while violent, shows clearly just how despicable humans can be when they get worn down by this world. The gentle stings and plunking keyboards make the song seem ever more consumed with and under current of suppressed frustration and rage.
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