ChordStrike

Best Living Songwriters?

I was just reading through No Depresssion, one the best online magazines (formerly in print) focused on americana music, and found their list of Five Best Living Songwriters to be an interesting read. It was also interesting to see that Bob Dylan made the number one spot, same as he did on our similar list of The 100 Greatest Singer-Songwriter Albums of All Time. It looks like all 5 of their artist picks made it somewhere onto our list as well.

I would love to know more about the author's apparently strong aversion to Nick Drake. It's also suspect to see the inclusion of Patty Griffin and Billy Joel (the guy wrote Uptown Girl after all) at the number 4 and 5 spots, which would not be my choice, but everyone's taste is their own. That's what's great about music.

Thanks, No Depression, for your best list. Any of you Chordstrike readers care to chime in with more of your passionate opinions and picks of the best songwriters out there? I'd especially love to hear about any under-the-radar artists that aren't the ubiquitous picks we normally see.

--Lucas Hilbert

The Best (And Bestselling) Music of 2009, So Far

Just because it's only July doesn't mean it's too early for us to pass judgment on 2009's song and album offerings. Below, discover not only our favorite music of the year, but also Amazon MP3 customers' favorite songs of the year. We voted with our opinions-- they voted with their wallets. Please hit the comments to let us know where we got it right and/or tell us what morons we are for leaving off your favorite album.

Editors' Picks: The Best Albums of 2009, So Far
1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
2. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
4. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
5. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
6. K'Naan - Troubadour
7. Metric - Fantasies
8. Leonard Cohen - Live in London
9. The Bird and the Bee - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
10. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
11. Iggy Pop - Preliminaires
12. Mt St. Helens Vietnam Band - Mt St. Helens Vietnam Band
13. Royksopp - Junior
14. Dent May - The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele
15. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
16. Various Artists - Dark Was the Night
17. Amadou & Mariam - Welcome to Mali
18. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
19. God Help The Girl - God Help The Girl
20. Passion Pit - Manners
21. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
22. St Vincent - Actor
23. Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
24. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
25. The Crystal Method - Divided By Night
26. The Horrors - Primary Colours
27. Ben Kweller - Changing Horses
28. MF Doom - Born Like This
29. Sarah Jarosz - Song Up in Her Head
30. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
31. Cass McCombs - Catacombs
32. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
33. Finale - A Pipe Dream and a Promise
34. Ida Maria - Fortress 'Round My Heart
35. M. Ward - Hold Time
36. MIDIval PunditZ - Hello Hello
37. Rocco Deluca and the Burden - Mercy
38. Bon Iver - Blood Bank
39. Bonnie Prince Billy - Beware
40. Isis - Wavering Radiant
41. Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
42. Wilco - (The Album)
43. Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light
44. Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies
45. Marianne Faithfull - Easy Come, Easy Go
46. The Bad Plus - For All I Care
47. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
48. Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free
49. P.O.S. - Never Better
50. Point Juncture, WA - Heart To Elk

Amazon MP3 Bestselling Albums of 2009, So Far
1. U2 - No Line On The Horizon
2. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
3. Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
4. Chickenfoot - Chickenfoot
5. Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)
6. The Lonely Island - Incredibad
7. Depeche Mode - Sounds Of The Universe
8. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
9. Keith Urban - Defying Gravity
10. Eminem - Relapse
11. Various - Hannah Montana: The Movie Soundtrack
12. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
13. Dierks Bentley - Feel That Fire
14. Various Artists - Dark Was The Night (Red Hot Compilation)
15. Rascal Flatts - Unstoppable
16. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
17. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
18. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
19. Kate Voegele - A Fine Mess
20. Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King
21. Chrisette Michele - Epiphany
22. Zac Brown Band - The Foundation
23. Jason Mraz - We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
24. Morrissey - Years Of Refusal
25. Steve Earle - Townes
26. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
27. Ben Harper And Relentless7 - White Lies for Dark Times
28. The Decemberists - Hazards Of Love
29. Nickelback - Dark Horse
30. Chris Cornell - Scream
31. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
32. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
33. Moby - Wait For Me
34. Crystal Method - Divided By Night
35. The Fray - The Fray
36. The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
37. Metric - Fantasies
38. Passion Pit - Manners
39. Street Sweeper Social Club - Street Sweeper Social Club
40. Keri Hilson - In A Perfect World...
41. Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted
42. The Bird And The Bee - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
43. k'naan - Troubadour
44. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
45. Various Artists - Just Dance
46. india.arie - Testimony Vol. 2: Love & Politics
47. Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream
48. Newsboys - In The Hands Of God
49. Mandy Moore - Amanda Leigh
50. Seth Walker - Leap Of Faith

Editors' Picks: Best Songs of 2009, So Far
1. Phoenix - "Lisztomania"
2. Neko Case - "People Got a Lot of Nerve"
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Zero"
4. Lily Allen - "The Fear"
5. Animal Collective - "My Girls"
6. Kelly Clarkson - "My Life Would Suck Without You"
7. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Contender"
8. Grizzly Bear - "Cheerleader"
9. K'Naan - "Dreamer "
10. Metric - "Help I'm Alive"
11. Passion Pit - "The Reeling"
12. Kid Cudi - "Make Her Say"
13. U2 - "Magnificent"
14. The Lonely Island - "I'm On a Boat"
15. Bat For Lashes - "Daniel"
16. La Roux - "Bulletproof"
17. Silversun Pickups - "Panic Switch"
18. The-Dream (feat. Kanye West) - "Walkin' on the Moon"
19. Dirty Projectors + David Byrne - "Knotty Pine"
20. Empire of the Sun - "Walking on a Dream"
21. Kinky - "Hasta Quemarnos"
22. Major Lazer - "Hold the Line"
23. MIDIval PunditZ - "Har Ek Baat"
24. Chrisette Michelle - "Another One"
25. Ciara - "G Is For Girl (A-Z)"
26. Doves - "Jetstream"
27. Marianne Faithfull - "The Crane Wife 3"
28. Pet Shop Boys - "Love Etc."
29. Bon Iver - "Woods"
30. Cass McCombs - "Jonesy Boy"
31. Ida Maria - "Oh My God"
32. Deerhunter - "Game of Diamonds"
33. Jay-Z - "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"
34. Molly Jenson - "Give It Time"
35. N.A.S.A (Feat. Kayne West, Lykke Li) - "Gifted"
36. Tonéx - "Bring It"
37. You're Too Gone - "Jason Lytle"
38. Yusuf - "Welcome Home"
39. John Frusciante - "Heaven"
40. Miley Cyrus - "The Climb"
41. Mos Def - "Quiet Dog"
42. The Bad Plus - "Comfortably Numb"
43. The Clipse (feat. Kanye West) - "Kinda Like a Big Deal"
44. The Crystal Method ft. Matisyahu - "Drown in the Now "
45. Bob Dylan - "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'"
46. Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele - "Meet Me In The Garden"
47. Mstrkrft - "Bounce (feat. N.O.R.E. & Isis)"
48. Royksopp - "Vision One"
49. Amadou & Mariam - "Sabali"
50. P.O.S. - "Goodbye"

Amazon MP3 Bestselling Songs of 2009, So Far
1. Black Eyed Peas - "Boom Boom Pow"
2. Flo Rida - "Right Round"
3. Kelly Clarkson - "My Life Would Suck Without You"
4. Various - "The Climb"
5. The Fray - "You Found Me"
6. Kid Cudi - "Day 'N' Nite"
7. Pitbull - "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) (Extended Mix)"
8. Seether - "Careless Whisper"
9. Eminem - "Crack A Bottle"
10. Flo Rida - "Sugar [feat. Wynter]"
11. Keri Hilson - "Knock You Down"
12. Linkin Park - "New Divide"
13. Keri Hilson - "Turnin Me On"
14. Black Eyed Peas - "I Gotta Feeling"
15. Sean Kingston - "Fire Burning"
16. Brad Paisley - "Then (Single Edit)"
17. Jeremih - "Birthday Sex"
18. Ciara featuring Justin Timberlake - "Love Sex Magic"
19. Green Day - "Know Your Enemy"
20. The Lonely Island - "I'm On A Boat"
21. Jason Aldean - "She's Country"
22. Asher Roth - "I Love College"
23. Carrie Underwood - "I Told You So (Featuring Randy Travis)"
24. Keith Urban - "Sweet Thing"
25. U2 - "Get On Your Boots"
26. Madcon - "Beggin'"
27. Lily Allen - "The Fear"
28. Keith Urban - "Kiss A Girl"
29. Rob Thomas - "Her Diamonds"
30. Rascal Flatts - "Here Comes Goodbye"
31. Maino - "All The Above [feat. T-Pain]"
32. Maxwell - "Pretty Wings (uncut)"
33. Lil Wayne - "Prom Queen"
34. Kenny Chesney - "Out Last Night"
35. Silversun Pickups - "Panic Switch"
36. Kelly Clarkson - "I Do Not Hook Up"
37. Ciara featuring Young Jeezy - "Never Ever"
38. John Rich - "Shuttin' Detroit Down"
39. K'jon - "On The Ocean"
40. U2 - "Magnificent"
41. Rodney Atkins - "It's America"
42. Depeche Mode - "Wrong"
43. Gloriana - "Wild At Heart"
44. Dierks Bentley - "Feel That Fire"
45. The-Dream - "Rockin' That Thang"
46. The Lonely Island - "Jizz In My Pants"
47. The Fray - "Never Say Never"
48. Phillips, Craig And Dean - "Revelation Song"
49. Pleasure P - "Boyfriend #2"
50. Colbie Caillat - "Fallin' For You"

-- Jeff Reguilon

SASQUATCH! MUSIC FESTIVAL Official Line-up Announced

 

Festivals have been all the rage for ages now, but Washington State's own Sasquatch! Music Festival at the beautiful Gorge Amphitheatre is a mind-bending three-day music celebration that gets more massive by the year. Tickets aren't cheap, but one look at this year's line-up and you'll find yourself babbling "recession? what recession?"

Memorial Day Weekend | May 23, 24, 25, 2009
The Gorge | Quincy, WA

Music line-up includes Jane's Addiction (feat. all four original members), Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erykah Badu, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio, Animal Collective, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Santigold, Of Montreal, Explosions In The Sky, Devotchka, Peter Bjorn & John, Gogol Bordello, M. Ward, The Avett Brothers, Doves, Calexico, Grizzly Bear, M83, Girl Talk, The Gaslight Anthem, The Walkmen, Chromeo (dj set), Deadmau5, Mugison, Sun Kil Moon, Airborne Toxic Event, Blitzen Trapper, Shearwater, BLK JKS, The Wrens, Tobacco, Monotonix, King Khan & The Shrines, St. Vincent, Passion Pit, John Vanderslice, Bishop Allen, Blind Pilot, AA Bondy, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Knux, Ra Ra Riot, The Dodos, Beach House, Arthur & Yu, The Submarines, Owl City, Viva Voce, James Pants, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, The Builders & The Butchers, The Dutchess & The Duke, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele, Fences, School of Seven Bells, Death Vessel, Horse Feathers, Hockey, Point Juncture, WA, The Pica Beats, Loch Lomond, Vince Mira & more to come.

Comedy line up includes Zach Galifiankas, Demetri Martin, Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Todd Barry, Jon Benjamin, God's Pottery, People's Republic of Komedy & more.

Tickets go on sale Saturday February 28th at 10AM and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com, sasquatchfestival.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, or charge by phone in Seattle (206) 628-0888, in Oregon (503) 224-4400, and in Eastern Washington (509) 735-0500

--Shelby Earl

The 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time

Music nerds, let's get ready to argue.

For the first in an ongoing series of the "100 Greatest *fillintheblank* of All Time" lists, we decided to use our collective knowledge to run down the best ever debut albums. Dig our picks below and let us know where we went horribly, horribly wrong in the comments.

1. U2 - Boy
2. Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool
3. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
4. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
5. Joy Division - Unkown Pleasures
6. Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn
7. Nirvana - Bleach
8. Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan
9. Metallica - Kill 'em all
10. Arcade Fire - Funeral
11. Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt
12. The Smiths - The Smiths
13. Jeff Buckley - Grace
14. Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
15. Patti Smith - Horses
16. Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets
17. Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley
18. Guns 'n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
19. The Who - The Who Sings My Generation
20. New Order - Movement
21. Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
22. Bob Marley - Catch a Fire
23. Kanye West - The College Dropout
24. Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
25. The Rolling Stones - England's Newest Hitmakers
26. Radiohead - Pablo Honey
27. R.E.M. - Murmur
28. Talking Heads - 77
29. John Coltrane - Coltrane
30. Pearl Jam - Ten
31. Eric B. and Rakim - Paid in Full
32. the Doors - The Doors
33. Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?
34. Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
35. Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of…
36. Van Halen - Van Halen
37. Buddy Holly - The Chirping Crickets
38. The Clash - The Clash
39. Wu Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang
40. Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill
41. Sex Pistols - Nevermind the Bollocks
42. Madonna - Madonna
43. Dr. Dre - The Chronic
44. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle
45. Vicente Fernandez - A Pesar De Todo
46. A Tribe Called Quest - Peoples' Instinctive Travels & the Paths of Rhythm
47. Nas - Illmatic
48. Television - Marquee Moon
49. Wire - Pink Flag
50. Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
51. Modern Lovers - Modern Lovers
52. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
53. Coldplay - Parachutes
54. Gang of Four - Entertainment!
55. Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
56. Portishead - Dummy
57. Smashing Pumpkins - Gish
58. The Band - Music from Big Pink
59. The Stooges - The Stooges
60. The Pretenders - The Pretenders
61. Santana - Santana
62. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Creedence Clearwater Revival
63. Heart - Dreamboat Annie
64. The New York Dolls - The New York Dolls
65. The Police - Outlandos d'Amour
66. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
67. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
68. D'Angelo - Brown Sugar
69. Funkadelic - Funkadelic
70. Run-DMC - Run-DMC
71. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
72. Postal Service - Give Up
73. Ludacris - Incognegro
74. Calle 13 - Calle 13
75. Alejandro Fernandez - Alejandro Fernanadez
76. 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin'
77. Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.
78. Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff
79. Mana - Falta Amor
80. Lee Ann Womack - Lee Ann Womack
81. Herbie Hancock - Takin' Off
82. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
83. The Strokes - Is This It?
84. Weezer - blue album
85. Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
86. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
87. Massive Attack - Blue Lines
88. B-52s - B-52s
89. Can - Monster Movie
90. Sonic Youth - Confusion Is Sex
91. Bjork - Debut
92. Randy Travis - Storms of Life
93. Morrissey - Viva Hate
94. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced…
95. Shins - Oh, Inverted World
96. Roxy Music - Roxy Music
97. Daft Punk - Homework
98. Sade - Diamond Life
99. Boyz II Men - Cooleyhighharmony
100. Big Star - #1 Record

[The 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time at Amazon MP3]

-- Jeff Reguilon

The Best Songs of 2008

Most music dorks, whether professional or amateur, love end-of-the-year listmaking time. Clearly, your friendly neighborhood editors are nothing if not music dorks.

As such, we've put our heads together and nailed down our list of the best songs of 2008. It includes some ultra-familar tracks, like our chart-topper "American Boy," but we also fell in love with some less-well-known jams like the bluesy ramble of José James' "Spirits Up Above" and the slinky throwback funk of Menahan Street Band's "Make the Road by Walking," which Jay-Z sampled on one of our favorite songs of last year, "Roc Boys."

We let our customers vote with their wallets, and they overwhelmingly chose Katy Perry's summer-dominating ode to fashionable sexuality experiments, "I Kissed a Girl," as their favorite song of 2008. Some surprises on their list include "I'm Yours," the slow-starting, exceedingly pleasant single by Jason Mraz, and the sassy anachronistic soul of Duffy's "Mercy," both of which managed to edge out Idol-winner David Cook's coronation song, "The Time of My Life."

Here are our respective top-10 lists for your judging pleasure:

Top 10 Editor Favorites:

1. "American Boy," Estelle (feat. Kanye West)
2. "Love Lockdown," Kanye West
3. "The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room," Flight of the Conchords
4. "White Winter Hymnal," Fleet Foxes
5. "Make The Road By Walking," Menahan Street Band
6. "Swimming Pools," Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down
7. "Swagga Like Us," T.I., Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Lil' Wayne
8. "Spirits Up Above," José James
9. "Skinny Love," Bon Iver
10. "Rej (Peter Kruder Remix)," Christian Prommer's Drumlesson
    (See the rest of our top 100 Editor Favorites)

Top Ten Customer Favorites:

1. "I Kissed a Girl," Katy Perry
2. "Low," Flo Rida
3. "Viva la Vida," Coldplay
4. "Bleeding Love," Leona Lewis
5. "4 Minutes," Madonna (feat. Timbaland and Justin Timberlake)
6. "Pocketful of Sunshine," Natasha Bedingfield
7. "I'm Yours," Jason Mraz
8. "Disturbia," Rihanna
9. "Mercy," Duffy
10. "The Time of My Life," David Cook
    (See the rest of our top 100 Customer Favorites)

You can see both our top 100 editor picks or top 100 customer picks lists in their entirety, along with top-10 lists broken out by genre over at Amazon MP3's Best Songs of 2008 store. You can also click the play button on either of the below sample players to hear sample clips from all songs included on both lists.

And, of course, please tell us where we went horribly awry with our picks in the comments. Please note, though, we will have no truck with any talk about how we're bad editors because our tastes don't line up perfectly with our bestsellers. We like what we like!

-- Jeff Reguilon

Best Album of 2008: Only by the Night by Kings of Leon

Why it's significant: Despite a wave of criticism asserting that Kings of Leon's fourth full-length is "too commercial," Only by the Night may be the closest thing to a pitch-perfect album to drop in 2008. Granted, Tennessee's band of brothers (and one first cousin) takes a turn for the heavily polished here, but what the album lacks in rough-edged raunch, it more than makes up for in earnestness and--yes--stunning beauty. From the opening notes of "Closer" to the listing balladry of "Cold Desert," Only by the Night hardly misses a beat. Highlights abound, particularly in the trading off of melodic lines between instruments, and in this regard, bassist Jared Followill is the album's quiet MVP. Above these gorgeous instrumentals, singer Caleb emotes with a dramatic grit that never loses its command. A model of melodic rock composition, arranged and produced with a warm, inviting veneer, and performed with aching sincerity, these 11 tracks coalesce into a sanguine whole that eclipses the band's much-discussed rock posturing and yields more with every play. A good band's great album, Only by the Night (finally) establishes Kings of Leon as a rock act that worthy of seriously sustained attention.

So just how good is it? Well, Amazon editors and writers voted, and Only by the Night came out as our collective favorite album of the year. Check out our Best Music of 2008 for the rest of our Top 100, customer favorites, and Top 10s by genre.

--Jason Kirk

Milestones: 10 Best Soundtracks Since 1998, Minus Garden State

As we continue to roll back the clocks, celebrating the best moments of the last 10 years we've been open for business, our thoughts turn to soundtracks. Once for collectors only, soundtracks now stack up high on the charts, an outcome of the popularity of Hannah Montana, High School Musical, and well, Zach Braff. Take the scene in Braff's movie Garden State where Natalie Portman's character utters what is, depending at how you view the world, the most damning or most celebratory thing that can be said about a pop band:

And the rest is history. The Garden State soundtrack went on to dominate charts and year-end lists, sold tens of thousands, increased the audience for the Shins, earned Braff a Grammy, and (if you pretend Hans Zimmer never got his hands on a piano) changed the niche soundtrack section into a mega-selling enterprise.

But, enough about Garden State. Here are my picks for the 10 most-important soundtracks of the last 10 years:

1999: The setting of Rushmore, the movie about the kid with all the right ambition directed in all the wrong places, wouldn't be as complete without Wes Anderson's hand-curated soundtrack that created a new audience for vintage Cat Stevens, the Kinks, and the instrumental works of Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh.

2000: The soundtrack to the inimitable Lars Von Trier musical Dancer in the Dark--a definite must-see about a Czech immigrant mother going blind amid a workaday existence--finds Bjork at her finest. Exuberant, heartbreaking, and at times even uncharacteristically restrained, her post-industrial Broadway reveries outperform all expectations of her acting abilities.

2001: Any movie that includes a subplot about a rabid record collector requires an excellent soundtrack. Ghost World introduced many would-be music addicts to undiscovered 1950s Bollywood gems, New Orleans swing, true Delta blues, and of course the unforgettable send-up in terrible nu-blues bar band, Blueshammer. 

2002: Weaving together the lives of three different women living in different eras, Phillip Glass's driving, haunting compositions for The Hours perfectly matched the tenuous urgency of Michael Cunningham’s narrative. It is as plaintive as it is exquisitely sumptuous, memorable even beyond the construct of the film.

2003: Did people even buy TV soundtracks before The O.C.?  This quintessentially sun-dappled soundtrack no doubt set the scene of many a backyard BBQ well outside the county line of that particularly fascinating Southern California drama hotbed.

2004: By this point, filmgoers knew what to expect with a Wes Anderson film: imaginative plots, hilarious dialogue, Bill Murray, and a soundtrack that featured the Kinks and Mark Mothersbaugh. Musically, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou strayed from that formula, adding Brazilian singer Seu Jorge’s bossa nova covers of the best of Bowie's Life on Mars to the mix.

2005: The first of three soundtracks to the show about some seriously randy Seattle doctors made more new fans of below-the-radar artists like the Postal Service, Tegan & Sara, and Inara George than all the college radio stations, hipster boosters, and indie music blogs put together.

2006: Try as you might, you can't not love Jennifer Hudson's rendition of "You're Gonna Love Me" or nearly period-perfect Berry Gordie-inspired originals like "Love You I Do." Also, lest we forget, this movie and soundtrack redeem Eddie Murphy's former pop-music crimes (see: "Party All the Time (My Girl Wants To)."

2007: Comprising Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, the Swell Season starred in Once--both the movie and the soundtrack--and became one of music's true-life fairy tales when the two unknown, unsung talents took home a Best Song Oscar for "Falling Slowly."

2008: Looking back, it's hard to tell what was more surprising: the success of the little indie movie about a plucky pregnant teen who says the darnedest things, or K-records artist Kimya Dawson's becoming an overnight sensation (we’re talking Moldy Peaches reuniting on TV’s The View).

--Gabi Knight

Great 2008 Songs You May Have Missed

We're already nearing the close of 2008, which means nerds and obsessives like yours truly are thinking about what we're going to include on our year-end best-of lists. While my list of top songs isn't yet ready for public consumption, I thought I'd share some songs that will likely make my final cut, but haven't really been widespread hits. The playlist below includes some of my favorite underexposed 2008 gems:

None of these folks are wildly obscure, but you can hear more from these artists at their respective MySpace pages, which I've handily linked after the jump.

-- Jeff Reguilon

1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die

As music lists go, author Tom Moon's 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die is pretty much the mother lode. And if you hang around music journalists, or music junkies of any stripe, you might expect the writer of such a list to be of the sort who likes to bludgeon you over the head with the encyclopedic breadth of his or her knowledge, before impaling you with his or her tastes. Which is why a conversation with Moon is such a welcome surprise. To wit:

Big thanks to FULL, the Mirror of Simple Souls crew, Jonny Sonic, and Swamp Dylan for song samples...

     --Jason Kirk

Milestones: 10 Years of One-Hit Wonders

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Amazon music store, we're taking a look back at the pop landscape of the last ten years and distilling our reflections the best way we know how: lists. Here, we consider one-hit wonders, picking one from each year of the last decade. It may be premature, but feel free to share your guess at who will be remembered as 2008's most prominent one-hit wonder in the comments

1998, "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals: To give you some context, Amazon started selling music when calling out Marilyn Manson and Hanson in song was a relevant stab at controversy. Producer, singer, and songwriter Gregg Alexander of New Radicals rode that controversy--plus an anthemic piano riff and an uplifting anti-fakery message--to minor success in the late '90s, then promptly ran away from it, never to be heard from again.
• MP3 • CD

1999, "Summer Girls" by LFO: Say what you will about Lyte Funky Ones, but their achievements in the field of WTF have gone unmatched in the nearly 10 years since "Summer Girls" charted as the trio's only hit. This barrage of non sequiturs and product placement is mind-boggling in its stupidity, but Jennifer Love Hewitt found her shout-out charming enough to date one LFO-er. That's only slightly less shocking than America's making a success out of a song that includes this couplet: "When you take a sip, you buzz like a hornet / Billy Shakespeare wrote a whole bunch of sonnets."
• MP3 • CD

2000, "Faded" by Soul Decision: "Who Let the Dogs Out" by Baha Men would be the obvious choice here, but this lite-funk, Wham-esque jam is one of the weirdest and greatest songs to come out of the boy-band era. Its message--and remember that most of their audience is 12- to 14-year-old girls--is that your male friends will try to hump you if you dance with them while they're drunk. It's a wonder they never charted again.
• MP3 • CD

2001, "Butterfly" by Crazy Town: When the videos of Crazy Town frontman Shifty Shellshock smoking crack circulated around the Internet to promote his appearance on VH1's Celebrity Rehab, it was apparent that things were not going so well anymore for the tattooed rap-rocker. Back in 2001, though, he surfed a Red Hot Chili Peppers sample presumably far enough to make many a butterfly's legs shake, or at least to make them go crazy.
• MP3 • CD

2002, "Wherever You Will Go" by the Calling: Like Lifehouse and Switchfoot, the Calling had crossover success with clean-cut, quasi-spiritual rock, but that success was limited to mostly just this song. Really, though, it just seemed like one of the kids from 7th Heaven developed a really deep voice and got in cahoots with adult-alternative radio programmers to spin his song about once every 40 minutes in 2002. Needless to say, it was a weak year for one-hit wonders.
• MP3 • CD

2003, "Never Scared" by Bone Crusher: Crunk had just started to bubble up in the mainstream, and who better to usher that guttural southern rap sound into mid-day radio playlists than a totally unhinged 400-pound dude from Atlanta who wanted to rap about escalating a fight outside a club? This song became the theme for the 2003 Atlanta Braves, and it's difficult to imagine a better sound to suit John Smoltz. Bone Crusher never sniffed this sort of success again, though he did perform an extremely crunk version of the Gilligan's Island theme for TBS's reality show. True story!
• MP3 • CD

2004, "F*ck It (I Don't Want You Back)" by Eamon: The foul-mouthed Eamon trafficked in a self-styled genre he called--and this is not a joke--"ho-wop," which is evidently doo-wop sung by a guy who really "love(s) dem hoes." On this novelty single, he edges from tears as he cusses out his ex-lady in what is likely the world's only slow-jam temper tantrum.

 

2005, "Collide" by Howie Day: This song became a hit months and months after the release of the album from which it came, thanks mostly to features in TV shows such as One Tree Hill, Scrubs, and Grey's Anatomy. The ride for the hard-touring Dave Matthews acolyte hasn't been so sweet since then, as he's been arrested twice and bizarrely implicated in the corruption of Britney Spears. Chances of his colliding with the charts anytime soon do not look good.
• MP3 • CD

2006 (TIE), "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt and "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter: This is music that will very likely make some people feel embarrassed for the real emotions these songs inspired before they were overplayed to death, since "You're Beautiful" and "Bad Day" now inspire pretty much only venom or instant LOLs.
• "You're Beautiful" MP3, CD
• "Bad Day" MP3, CD

2007, "A Bay Bay" by Hurricane Chris: The only mystery that this ultra-dumb club banger from youthful MC Hurricane Chris leaves is whether more people will point to it or "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" as rap's official nadir.
• MP3 • CD

Edited To Add: A number of folks have questioned the popularity of these songs, but I assure you they're all legitimate hits. Check the comments, where I list the peak chart position for each of these songs. If for some reason you've never heard these songs, for once you can be thankful for being out of touch.

-- Jeff Reguilon

They’ve Been Hittin’ in Pairs All Year

First, it was Think of One's Camping Shaabi (packaged with a really interesting "making of" video) and K'Naan's re-issue of his 2006 Juno Award-winning The Dusty Foot Philosopher, a pair of albums that hit me rhythmically and harmonically just right. Though the first is a pop album of sorts and the second a straight-up hip-hop joint, they're both multilingual affairs that originate, each in its own way, in Africa. They’re also incredibly ambitious, undeniably flawed works of art that I share with my kids and will return to for years and years.

Less simultaneously, I fell for Hilary Hahn’s Schoenberg Violin Concerto Op.36/Sibelius Violin Concerto Op.47 and Patricia Barber’s The Cole Porter Mix. Both women are among my favorite delvers into what were once referred to as the serious arts. Both women work hard to make musical connections that challenge conventions, the repertoire, and themselves, demanding twin leaps of imagination and faith. Both women came through with albums that I will stick with, and that will stick with me in return.

Next came a hip-hop pairing; first, Saul Williams and, soon after, the Mighty Underdogs, a.k.a. the MCs formerly known as Quannum: Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Lateef the Truth Speaker, Lyrics Born, et al. All command respect as lyricists. And performers. And their albums deliver. If you strive for rhyme, listen up:

        * Saul Williams, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
        * The Mighty Underdogs, Droppin' Science Fiction 

Now, this week, another revelation...

I’ve been paying a distant attention to Brooklyn's Parts & Labor for a couple years now. The band's Stay Afraid (2006) and Mapmaker (2007) immediately grabbed my sustained attention, which flared and then burned away in a few days. Enter Receivers, due out on October 21. Hopefully, at some point you’ve come across an incredible album by some musician you’ve only been loosely acquainted with, and you suddenly feel as if you’ve always known she had it in her. Few feelings equate. Check out Pitchfork's free, full steam of the noise-pop mini-epic “Nowheres Nigh."

Catch your breath yet? Now give it one more go.

Then, in what’s become typical one-two fashion this year, along came Censored Colors. The culprits are called Portugal. The Man, and they got to me in 2005, going 65 on the I-5 a few miles outside of Portland, en route from Seattle, with their song “Chicago.” An gutter-scraping, indie-rock geyser of a tune, it was the first of more than a dozen songs from their 2005 debut, Waiter: You Vultures!!, that left me speechless but for a few gasping hyperboles. I still pimp its praises to anyone who isn’t immediately turned off by volume and rough edges.

Point is, Portugal. The Man (based in Portland, via Alaska) now returns with a mountainous pile of harmonic songs I can't get enough of (except for Parts & Labor breaks). Censored Colors requires a listener who appreciates encountering the fertile accidents that result when a sub-virtuosic composer/performer quite simply can’t be stopped. This is frontman John Gourley. Far better in the studio than on stage, the guy's nevertheless a prolific fountain of song and one of my favorite perennial unsungs.

Oh right, lists.

So this morning I spent an eye-opening, over-caffeinated hour with Tom Moon, author of 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (podcast interview to follow; stay tuned and be patient). I’d picked at the book rather than properly read it, but this is how it goes with reference materials, right? Knowing nothing about Moon personally, I wasn’t sure what to expect of the guy who just published the Mt. Olympus of Music Lists.

Regardless, I was wrong to expect either an encyclopedic bully or someone who’d long since begun believing more in himself than in the music he wrote about. Instead, Tom Moon is unflinchingly approachable, a well-spoken, well-listened, humble guy who loves what he does and laughs reverently at having been blessed to nab a gig that amounts to every music writer’s wet dream, whether or not any of us would admit it.

     --Jason Kirk

P.S. Everything in pairs: I also recently finished The World in Six Songs, by Daniel Levitin (of This is Your Brain on Music fame). The Onion’s A.V. Club  gave it a C+. Such generosity inspires.

What Were the Last Five Songs You Played on Your iPod?

Over on EW's Popwatch Blog, Michael Slezak opened the door for people to either brag or publicly shame themselves by posting the last five songs played on their iPods. Here are mine, which all piped through my earbuds as I walked home from a haircut this weekend:

1. Flight of the Conchords - "A Kiss is Not a Contract"
2. Sam Phillips - "Don't Do Anything"
3. Kanye West - "The Glory"
4. The Stills - "Lola Stars and Stripes"
5. Rhymefest - "Bullet"

Because I'm curious about the listening habits of you, our beloved Chordstrike readers, I'm extending you the same offer. Leave a comment with your five most recently shuffled cuts and what you were doing while you listened to them. No cheating!

-- Jeff Reguilon

Elton John Gets His Own Ice Cream

In honor of Elton John finally performing in their home state of Vermont (he's performed in every other state), ice creamers Ben & Jerry have announced "Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road," a new limited edition flavor named for Elton's famous Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album. This isn't the first time Ben & Jerry's has created a musically influenced flavor--everyone knows "Cherry Garcia" and "Phish Food." This got me thinking--what other musical ice cream flavors should get made? Here's a few to get you started:

• "Pablo Honey" - Radiohead ice cream
• "Blue" - Joni Mitchell-inspired ice cream (perhaps a mixture of blueberries and blue raspberries?)
• "Ne-Yo Politan" - self-explanitory
• "Mike Doughty's Golden Delicious" - a cookie dough/apple ice cream

Ok...so maybe I'm not that clever--what can you come up with?

--Alan Wiley

Even the Most Despicable Bands Have One Song You Like

Since Mondays were practically designed for hatin', I give you my list of my most-detested bands who've somehow managed to make at least one song I sort of really do like, as inspired by both an old Metafilter post and an all-too recent trip to Ed's Kort Haus, a Seattle establishment that might just have the worst jukebox selection ever (for just $.50 you can make the entire bar listen as Disturbed covers Genesis' "Land of Confusion").

1. Chicago, "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is"

2. Phil Collins, "Easy Lover"

3. Rod Stewart, "Young Turks"

4. The Doors, "Peace Frogs"

5. Foreigner, "Waiting for a Girl Like You"

6. Electric Light Orchestra "Mr. Blue Sky"

7. Three Dog Night, "Easy to Be Hard"

8. Vanessa Carlton, "A Thousand Miles" (from the brilliantly titled album, Be Not Nobody. So perfect!)

9. 10cc, "I'm Not in Love" (Seriously, what is going on in the middle of that song?)

10. Boz Scaggs, "Lowdown"

11. Coldplay, "Clocks"

12.  Def Leppard, "Photograph"

13.  Hall & Oates, "Say It Isn't So"

14. Foo Fighters, "Everlong"

15. Big Audio Dynamite, "Just Play Music"

--Gabi Knight, who is not afraid to share these dirty song secrets with you.

Introducing: Lyrics & Liner Notes

In the age of digital downloads, the process of experiencing music has shifted - some say adversely so - to focus squarely on the music itself while other accoutrements that traditionally shadow a release fall by the wayside. CD and Vinyl are still the only formats that offer a full palette for the senses including not only the music, but also art, mixed media, lyrical writing, and production info all in one package.

With that in mind, Chordstrike is launching a new blog category, Lyrics & Liner Notes, to recognize and pay tribute to our favorite lyrics, the unique packaging that they come in, and the venerable tradition of cracking open that new CD or record to behold the complete artistry and background information that goes into a new release.

To launch the new category, I went through my collection and found a few CDs that appealed to me strictly from the perspective of either the lyrics, the studio story, or the graphic design. This list would be radically different if I included special package releases and box sets for all the value-added content that comes with each. For now I'm starting with a few humble releases that are appealing mostly from a lyrical and information design perspective:

1) Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Why: One must be committed to read the lyrics since each song is jumbled into one massive paragraph of 6 point font. Serious time and energy is needed to scroll through at least 50 lines or follow the lyrics in real-time as the album plays in order to find the lyrics for a certain song. There aren't even any song breaks in this tome, emphasizing the album as a whole collective piece of work.

Favorite lyric from Track 9, The Ghost:  "She was born in a bottle-rocket, 1929 / With wings that ringed around a socket right between her spine / All drenched in milk in holy water pouring from the sky / I know that she will live forever, she won't ever die"

2) 16 Horsepower: Secret South

Why: Although they took an approach similar to the one described with Neutral Milk Hotel, the band decided to print the lyrics for each song separately and on their own page. However, they are still jumbled in a text block format with each word appearing in all caps and without any space breaks between each word. The effect is not only to challenge the listener to follow and find the lyrics, but also to give added consideration to the album title, Secret South, since each song looks like a cross word puzzle formed by lyrics in hiding waiting to be revealed like some secret.

Favorite Lyric from Track 7, Praying Arm Lane:  "Well I told it fast and glad / the color of a slow drink / or so they say / so they say by the light of day / hidden beneath their wings of black, brown and gray / the boughs they all will bend for us / and all the earth awaits thee / all the stones they will cry out / and every tongue confess thee"

3) Scarlett Johansson: Anywhere I Lay My Head

Why: Even though this is a cover album of Tom Waits songs, the Liner Notes are worth the scrutiny based on their own merits since the packaging includes rich and interesting fairy tale artwork to accompany a fairy tale-esque story about the making of the album. In addition, Scarlett and primary musician David Sitek (TV on the Radio) wrote a short paragraph about each track and the writing/recording process behind it.

Lyrics are not included (see Tom Waits' catalog instead), but one thing I learned from the Liner Notes: David Bowie sang on two tracks. His voice is subtle and not immediately apparent within the mix, so I wouldn't have known this without the liner notes.

Other contenders for this list:

Radiohead, both OK Computer and In Rainbows: for their progressive graphic design and full lyrics transcribed and organized on the page in a unique way.
Eminem, The Eminem Show: with a wordsmith like Marshall on the mic, it helps to have the full lyrics in front of you to see and appreciate the range of his lyrical abilities. The photo montage is also intimate (with pictures of Em at work and playing in the pool with Hallie), but also a bit creepy with photos of undercover surveillance footage throughout the package.
Hayes Carll, Trouble in Mind: the CD package is pretty cool and offers complete lyrics, but the Vinyl version cannot be beat with a full-sized comic book story to accompany the album.
Band of Horses, Cease to Begin: no lyrics - just 8 polaroid-sized images of kitschy nature scenes. Okay, it wouldn't be fair not to recognize Pearl Jam as well here for taking the same approach on their No Code release which included polaroid pictures. I just happen to like Band of Horses more, so they get the call out.

There are obviously a ton of other releases out there that could fit the bill here. What albums are in your collection that stand out for their Lyrics or Liner Notes and why?

 

Hating the Bands We Love

What is about some bands and musicians seeming to do all they can to turn fans against them? We've all witnessed moments when we really hate, or at least cringe about, some of the things they do. If you've ever been up-close-and-personal with some stars, you may have had the misfortune of witnessing firsthand how the fine line between rock star god/dess and tepid louse can be all too easily crossed.

I'll never forget the day my bubble was burst when Toni Halliday, aka the lead singer/goddess from Curve, walked into Albums on the Hill in Boulder, CO for an in-store performance/autograph signing and had the gall to proclaim, "Let's hurry up and get this over with" in front of everyone who had been waiting for more than an hour for her to show up. With my young and naive perception of the bands' perfection wasted in tatters, watching them play live that night at the Fox was a major let down.

And so, with that moment of disillusionment forever seared in my brain, I thought that MuchMusic.com's list of 10 Ways Musicians Piss Off Their Fans was missing one item in particular: Being Too Arrogant or Put Off for Autographs. When artists can't stop to recognize and reward the fans who helped make them successful, it only diminishes their already scant time in the limelight and hastens their downfall.

But even though autograph-avoidance didn't appear on their list, there are still a few others that have me nodding in agreement:
- Money Grabbing
- Becoming Uselessly Drunk or High Before a Show
- Becoming Wussies
- Be Metallica (my personal favorite of their list, click to see why)

I could go on and on explaing why these get to me, but really I just want to hear what else pisses people off about bands today. And, going one layer further, is it the band itself behind the misdeeds, or could it be the arsenal of managers, producers, and lawyers around them that are inviting the trouble? Do tell.

Hip Flicks: Musician Cameos

Have you ever been watching a movie when one of your favorite singers or musicians suddenly walks onto the screen? Maybe you already knew ahead of time that they were in the flick, maybe not. Either way, I usually watch a little closer to see if the musician-turned-actor really has the talent to cross over, and whether they reveal another side to their creative talent or not.

I'm not talking about the Mark Wahlbergs or Will Smiths here. Guys like that have crossed so far into movies that I don't even remember their music anymore. And roles from the likes of J-Lo, Cher, Madonna, Courtney Love, and Bette Midler are all too big and, well, Hollywood, for my list here. I'm trying to remember the more obscure/cameo roles and came up with these 12 so far:

Bono: The Million Dollar Hotel
David Bowie: The Hunger, Labyrinth      
David Byrne: True Stories    
Dwight Yoakam: Sling Blade
Iggy Pop: Dead Man
Mark Kozelek: Shopgirl      
Nick Cave (as himself): Wings of Desire      
PJ Harvey: The Book of Life      
Sam Phillips: The End of Violence      
Tom Waits: Down by Law      
Vic Chesnutt: Sling Blade      
Willie Nelson: Wag the Dog    

Can you remember more?

--Lucas Hilbert