Decades
The title is a Joy Division reference, just to be clear. Hip.
Some people say the decade doesn’t end until the end of 2010. These people are overzealous and probably think they’re cool because they listen to Cold War Kids.
Hey, here’s a fun activity. Try to find out how many songs in your iTunes library use the opening drumbeat from ‘Be My Baby’ ! I bet it’s like a million. Just over the past few days, the “random” function has brought me to ‘Postcode’ by Orphan Boy, ‘Eighties Fan’ by Camera Obscura and some song by Au Revoir Simone from The Bird of Music the name of which escapes me at the moment.
Anyway, we were talking about decades, which are just periods of ten years, an example of which would be… 2000-2009. Great. Glad that’s cleared up. Let’s see if I can come up with some big things to say about the decade in music.
Best year for music: 2007. From Here We Go Sublime; In Rainbows; For Emma, Forever Ago; Untrue; Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?; Strawberry Jam; Person Pitch; Mirrored; All Hour Cymbals; Kala; Neon Bible, The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse; Sound of Silver; Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever; Myths of the Near Future; Marry Me; We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank; Wincing the Night Away; etc… Even if some of these weren’t as good as previous entries in their creators’ discographies, I still enjoyed them a lot. If someone were new to “indie” music and for some bizarre reason had to start listening only to albums from a single year of the Aughts, 2007 would be the one to pick.
Songs that surprisingly didn’t get some kind of high-profile exposure via t.v. or advertisements or something, or maybe they did and I just didn’t notice but how high-profile could it have been, though? or maybe the fact that I missed it says more about me than about the exposure:
‘Hey Now Now’ – The Cloud Room
‘Coffee’ – Motel Motel.
‘Steady Rollin” – Two Gallants.
My favorite albums:
10. Apologies to the Queen Mary – Wolf Parade
9. From Here We Go Sublime – The Field
8. Alligator – The National
7. Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? – of Montreal
6. Funeral – Arcade Fire
5. Feels – Animal Collective
4. Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven – Godspeed You! Black Emperor
3. Yellow House – Grizzly Bear
2. Kid A – Radiohead.
1. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver
My favorite songs:
13. ‘Ignition (Remix)’ – R. Kelly
12. ‘I Won’t Be Found’ – The Tallest Man on Earth
11. ‘Twilight’ – Elliott Smith
10. ‘Avril 14th’ – Aphex Twin
9. ‘I Believe’ – Simian Mobile Disco
8. ‘Everything in Its Right Place’ – Radiohead
7. ‘The Purple Bottle’ – Animal Collective
6.’Neighborhood #4 (Tunnels)’ – Arcade Fire
5. ‘King’s Crossing’ – Elliott Smith
4. ‘Skinny Love’ – Bon Iver
3. ‘Fireworks’ – Animal Collective
2. ‘Maps’ – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
1. ‘Heroes [Aphex Twin Remix]‘ – Philip Glass
Best concert: Leonard Cohen at Radio City Music Hall, 17 May 2009
Artist of the decade: Animal Collective
Just heard another ‘Be My Baby’ drum intro: ‘Lewis Takes Action’ on the new Owen Pallett LP, Heartland.
