Happy Festivus! Did you all have a great Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength today? Look it up if you're clueless. Anyway, I say we should get #50 to #41 out of the way before Christmas. OK, let's go.
Top Ranking is an incredible mix of Santogold's songs with a chaotic world of other stuff, but this particular song from it (a cover of "Guns of Brixton") stands out ahead of the rest.
Old habits die hard. Yet another fantastic, low-key track from
Volume One. Even more to come.
CSS makes my list in some way or another for the 3rd year in a row. All in all,
Donkey is a bit more controlled than their previous self-titled effort, but it's still pretty damn good.
I don't need no reason, or a changing season. One of the best tracks from
This Gift right here.
The best of us can find happiness in mi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-sery. Talk about an infectious song. Say what you want about FOB, but they know how to crank out the hits.
I think this leaked back in October, which seems crazy early, but early enough I guess to propel it up to #45 on my year-end for 2008. What a song! The Franz has still got it.
An incredible emotional rollercoaster of a song. Jem made this one about suffering loss after 9/11 and it really hits hard. The end of the song features Jem reading the text from the poem, "Do not stand at my grave and weep," and it's really just kind of devastating in a way. But the song is a work of artistic genius and well worthy of a spot on this list.
The opening track from
Fire Songs gets the album off the ground right. More from my sisters to come.
The Hold Steady are a group of geniuses. Their new album,
Stay Positive, is good front to back, but this particular track stands out because of the in-freakin'-SANE solo that comes out of nowhere.
Probably the best track off of the great
Arm's Way. It packs the power and doesn't stop. And how can you go wrong with the lyric, "track Sasquatches through the snowy climbs of Canada"?!
Now, everybody here has to have a great Christmas... that is an order. Most likely after the holiday, I'll be back to crack open the top 40. Good? Good! I'll see you then.
I like this one a lot more now.