Trainspotting the Decade: Music

Verb
1. hobby of collecting railroad locomotive numbers: a hobby that consists of collecting the numbers of railroad locomotives
2. looking for vein: the search for a vein that is prominent enough to inject drugs into (slang)

Connotation: Obsessively compiling lists of pop culture minutiae....Which is what I was born to do.

I think I'd secretly been waiting for the end of the decade just so I could do shit like this. Go ahead and tell me what you'd put instead or what a goddamned idiot I am for thinking this, etc. They're music related (save one) and relate to everything outside of my best album/song posts. Just add 'of the decade' to all of them.

Best Stand-Up Comedians

1. David Cross
2. Maria Bamford
3. Zach Galifianakis
4. Patton Oswalt
5. Louis C.K.
6. Dave Attell
7. Eugene Mirman
8. Michael Ian Black
9. Jim Gaffigan
10. Dimitri Martin

Top Twenty Live Acts I've Seen (by definition of the decade) (No Order)

1. Ambulance Ltd.
2. Echo & The Bunnymen
3. Metric
4. Radiohead
5. Broken Social Scene
6. Sonic Youth
7. Arcade Fire
8. LCD Soundsystem
9. Rage Against The Machine
10. Rufus Wainwright
11. Wolf Parade
12. TV On The Radio
13. Sam Roberts Band
14. Phosphorescent
15. David Byrne
16. MSTRKRFT
17. Handsome Furs
18. Ladyhawk
19. Julie Doiron
20. Bahamas

Twenty-Two Voices to Melt Your Heart And Shake Your Bones (No Order)
Or: ...no, I like Bjork, too, but she's been around for almost thirty years. What? Well, yeah Rufus Wainwright technically released his first album in 1998, but he himself said no one really knew him until after 2002, otherwise he wouldn't have done that song for Moulin Rouge. What? It's my list, bugger off!

1. Matthew Houck
2. Amy Millan
3. Tunde Adebimpe & Kyp Malone
4. Regina Spektor
5. Fyfe Dangerfield
6. Leslie Feist
7. Rufus Wainwright
8. Neko Case
9. Spencer Krug
10. Regine Chassigner
11. Nick Stumpf
12. Shara Worden
13. Sufjan Stevens
14. Sharon Jones
15. Ed Droste
16. Lisa Lobsinger
17. Matt Bellamy
18. Theo Blasko
19. Robin Pecknold
20. Larissa & Shilough Hopwood

Favorite Lyricists/Songwriters/Arrangers

1. Colin Meloy
2. John Roderick
3. Spencer Krug
4. Rufus Wainwright
5. Win Butler & Regine Chassigner
6. Sufjan Stevens
7. TV On The Radio
8. Eirik Glambek Bøe & Erlend Øye
9. Matt Bellamy
10. Kevin Drew & Brendan Canning

10 Bands With Members (Frontmen especially) Who Seem Culled From The 70s

1. Parlour Mob
2. Of Montreal
3. Besnard Lakes
4. Metric
5. Mars Volta
6. Phosphorescent 
7. Franz Ferdinand
8. Gentleman Reg
9. Eagles of Death Metal
10. Handsome Furs

Five Best Original Soundtracks

1. There Will Be Blood - Jonny Greenwood
2. The Road - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
3. Brokeback Mountain - Gustavo Santaolalla
4. Amélie - Yann Tiersen
5. Dracula - Philip Glass

Five Great Live Albums That Remind Me I Don't Have Many Live Albums

1. Wilco - Kicking Television
2. My Morning Jacket - Okonokos 
3. Richard Thompson - 1000 Years of Popular Music
4. The New Pornographers - Live From The Future
5. The Decemberists - Live At The Theatre Of Living Arts, also that live DVD they put out is pretty amazing, I don't know why they didn't release a proper live album from the master of that show.

Fifteen Favorite Electric Guitar Players Who Emerged after the year 2000
or The Devil's Hands Redux

Michael and Jordan if you're reading this, Dragonslayer is awesome and I can't wait to see you guys play some of it live. Thanks for the interview.
-Dave

1. Michael Doerksen & Jordan Robson-Cramer - Sunset Rubdown
2. Andrew Whiteman - Apostle of Hustle/Broken Social Scene
3. Jack White - The White Stripes/The Raconteurs
4. David Andrew Sitek & Kyp Malone - TV On The Radio
5. Jimmy Shaw - Metric
6. Nick Zinner - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
7. Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez - Mars Volta/At The Drive-In
8. Tim Kratz - Honeychurch
9. Russell Lissack - Bloc Party
10. Erin Sullivan - The A-Frames/The Dipers
11. Dan Auerbach - The Black Keys
12. Kato Ådland - Sondre Lerche/House of Hiss
13. Dan Boeckner - Handsome Furs/Wolf Parade
14. Marissa Paternoster - Screaming Females

10 Fantastic Bass Players

1. Brendan Canning - Broken Social Scene
2. Carlos D. - Interpol
3. Andy Nicholson - Arctic Monkeys
4. Gordon Moakes - Bloc Party
5. Jared Fallowell - Kings of Leon
6. Jesse F. Keeler - Death From Above 1979
7. Julian Brown - Apostle of Hustle
8. Charlie Spearin - Do Make Say Think/Broken Social Scene
9. Bobby Kildea - Belle & Sebastian
10. The Arcade Fire (they all kinda take turns at bat)

12 Absurdly Talented Drummers (No Order)

1. Matt Tong - Bloc Party
2/3. Thom Pridgen/Jon Theodore - Mars Volta
4. Brann Dailor - Mastodon
5. Justin Peroff - Broken Social Scene
6/7.  James Payment & Dave Mitchell - Do Make Say Think
8. Sebastian Grainger - Death From Above 1979
9. Matt Schulz - Holy Fuck 
10. Rachel Blumberg - Decemberists/Norfolk & Western/M. Ward
11. Glenn Kotche - Wilco/Loose Fur
12. Jason Tait - Weakerthans/Bahamas

Ten Best Radiohead Songs From Their Last Four Albums

1. "Optimistic"
2. "Like Spinning Plates"
3. "In Limbo"
4. "Knives Out"
5. "Where I End And You Begin"
6. "Kid A"
7. "Life In A Glass House"
8. "Myxomatosis"
9. "Bodysnatchers"
10. "Sail To The Moon"

10 Christmas Albums That Are In No Way Christmas Albums
Albums that just put me in the holiday mood. I also used to watch Alien every year on Christmas Eve. 

1. Punches - World Leader Pretend
2. In Our Bedroom After The War - Stars
3. Two Thousand - French Kicks
4. Funeral - Arcade Fire
5. Dear Catastrophe Waitress - Belle & Sebastian
6. Asleep At Heaven's Gate - Rogue Wave
7. Without Feathers - The Stills
8. Gang Of Losers - The Dears 
9. Takk... - Sigur Rós
10. Want One/Want Two - Rufus Wainwright

Ten Favorite Hip-Hop Songs That Illustrate How White I Am

Incidentally in answer to your question (it was "you haven't heard much hip-hop, have you?", in case you don't remember asking), no, I haven't heard a lot of hip-hop, so these are basic and sheltered choices. What does it say that four of these tracks were made at least in part by white people and that four of the rest are by artists who are closely connected? I'll leave that to you. It's a cheat to put tracks by both Doom and Madvillain but...I don't care. I'm not a hip-hop connoisseur and so could only pick from the few things that have entered my periphery. So while I'm not at all the best person to ask, these songs are pretty goddamn great.

1. "All Caps" - Madvillain
2. "List of Demands" - Saul Williams
3. "National Disgrace" - Atmosphere
4. "Fig Leaf Bi-Carbonate" - MF Doom
5. "Save Me Dear" - Ghostface
6. "Gravel Pit" - Wu Tang Clan
7. "Let's Push Things Forward" - The Streets
8. "Fix Up, Look Sharp" - Dizzee Rascal
9. "Valhalla" - K-Os featuring Sam Roberts
10. "Bounce" - MSTRKRFT Featuring N.O.R.E. and Isis

Metal/Industrial/Noise Bands I've Had The Most Fun Listening To

1. Mastodon
2. Mars Volta
3. Pelican
4. Lebanon
5. Boris
6. A Life Once Lost
7. Electric Wizard
8. Baroness
9. Probot
10. Dimmu Borgir (these guys are a fucking riot!)

And because I'm looking for honorary citizenship...Eleven Reasons Canada's Better Than America

1. Arcade Fire
2. Holy Fuck
3. Constellation Records
4. Sappyfest
5. Wolf Parade and family
6. New Pornographers and family
7. Sam Roberts Band
8. Arts & Crafts Records
9. Rufus Wainwright
10. The people are nice (especially Jo-Ann Goldsmith)
11. Healthcare

Bands Whose Music Thankfully Refuse To Age

1. Sonic Youth
2. Tom Waits
3. Richard Thompson
4. David Byrne
5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
6. The Pixies
7. Björk
8. John Cale
9. Morrissey
10. New Order (respective members)

Bands I Liked Before They Were Cool

I mean like first EP, saw them open for Metric, was hurt by lineup changes, major label debuts, TV appearances, hate the new fans, etc. If you liked The Decemberists before blogs foundPicaresque or DeVotchKa before Little Miss Sunshine then you know what I'm talking about. I still listen to and love most of them, too. 

1. Kings Of Leon
2. Sondre Lerche
3. Iron & Wine
4. Interpol
5. Grizzly Bear
6. Feist
7. Wolf Parade
8. Langhorne Slim
9. The Black Keys
10. Múm
 
Criminally Underappreciated Bands Better Than Most Everything On The Radio
There are more, but I don't want them to wind up on MTV; These bands seem inaudible to the ears of the Twilight set.
  1. matt pond PA
  2. Cass McCombs
  3. Blood On The wall
  4. Tulsa
  5. Clues
  6. The A-Frames
  7. Land Of Talk
  8. Nat Baldwin
  9. Julie Fader
  10. The Besnard Lakes
50 Songs To Give, Receive and Remember Hugs By

Ok, assembled here is a list of my 50 favorite songs of the decade that do a certain thing for me. Mostly whenever I hear them I want a hug and/or think of times when I got hugs from people and then remember those times fondly. Their sense memory songs, if that makes sense. You remember intimate things about yourself and your closet friends and loved ones that are hidden inside these songs. Mostly what these songs share in common is that typically when I fall in love, I listen to them for mental encouragement the same way people play Dutch Courage before asking someone to marry them. These songs are like the alcohol I'd consult if I weren't such a pussy. They've been there when I've had to keep my feelings to myself. Now I kept it to one song per artist and they all come from proper albums, so everyone got their fair share at play, with the exception of the two tunes by Guillemots which I kept because they're two sides of the same coin; they both mention Brazil, too, so it seemed to make sense. For example "Neighborhood #1" and "Parachutes" are both beautiful songs, some of the best ever written in my opinion, but they were shorn simply because the songs I used by their creators happen to have made me feel smaller in their presence. "My Body Is A Cage", which is the Arcade Fire song I did pick, has the single greatest ending of any song ever written; again, this is my opinion, but I'll defend my choice in the thunderdome if need be. Mostly they speak for themselves but I've added a sentence where I needed to indicate a particularly poignant memory or something I feel like sharing. Play them in descending order and you have my perfect mix-tape.

1. "My Body Is A Cage" - Arcade Fire
⁃ This songs wins because it is specifically about and communicates through its very structure the ecstasy involved in being close to someone physically. Thus the ending is not only the single greatest thing I've ever heard, it is also about becoming close to someone.
2. "The Mother" - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
3. "Trains To Brazil"/"Sao Paolo" - Guillemots
⁃ Fyfe Dangerfield's voice is perfectly suited for declarations of love. It's beautiful.
4. "Be Dark Night" - Phosphorescent
5. "Casimir Pulaski Day" - Sufjan Stevens
6. "Ultimatum" - The Long Winters
⁃ John Roderick has more than once shown me how to express myself. When I'm stuck he's always there with the words I'd been looking for.
7. "Middle Cyclone" - Neko Case
⁃ What it's like to be alone looking at two people holding hands.
8. "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" - Iron & Wine
9. "Human of the Year" - Regina Spektor
⁃ Hearing this was like hearing my friends Theo and Sarah's voices recorded for the first time; all three times I thought in stunned silence "I had no idea you could do that!"
10. "Deep Blue Sea" - Grizzly Bear
11. "So Sorry" - Feist
12. "England Will Just Not Let You Recover" - French Kicks
13. ("Fewer Words") "On The Bus Mall" - (Badly Drawn Boy) Decemberists
⁃ I can only listen to these two together ever since I wrote my first real screenplay wherein they follow each other.
14. "Sky Starts Falling" - Doves
15. "Handjobs For The Holidays" - Broken Social Scene
16. "Shiver" - Coldplay
17. "14th Street" - Rufus Wainwright
18. "Chancery Lane" - Honeychurch
19. "Window Bird" - Stars
⁃ Dear Amy,
⁃ If we were kids on a playground I'd give you a flower. Thanks for signing that post-card and I sincerely hope you're well.
-Dave
p.s. This song is awesome. You've never sounded lovelier.
20. "Hummingbird" - Wilco
21. "Hysteric" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
⁃ Have you read my screenplay?
22. "Lions Of The Kalahari" - Sam Roberts
⁃ Sam doesn't write love songs so much as he writes "thrilled to be alive" songs; he's a bit too plugged into the world to do anything but the latter, which makes him an incredible human being. This might be the best of those songs.
23. "Blue Hour" - Turin Brakes
24. "Wordless Chorus" - My Morning Jacket
⁃ So many rides to school spent wishing while Jim James sang to me.
25. "Bang Theory" - World Leader Pretend
⁃ Best played with snow on the ground...also helps if you're obsessed with someone.
26. "Burnt" - The Futureheads
27. "Family Tree" - TV On The Radio
28. "Mike Mills" - Air
29. "We Do Not Fuck Around" - Viva Voce
30. ""Yeah" Is What We Had" - Grandaddy
31. "Young Urban" - Ambulance Ltd.
⁃ The ending of this song is falling in love.
32. "I'll Believe In Anything" - Wolf Parade
33. "PDA" - Interpol
⁃ This one didn't particularly work out, but at least I got to keep the songs. Intoxicating.
34. "Like Eating Glass" - Bloc Party
35. "Quiet Houses" - Fleet Foxes
36. "Slow Night, So Long" - Kings of Leon
37. "The South Sound" - British Sea Power
38. "You Love Me" - DeVotchka
⁃ I cried the first time I heard this alone. To this day I don't know why. I wasn't particularly upset or anything. Oh well...
39. "Nice To Come Home" - Julie Doiron
40. "Know How" - Kings of Convenience
41. "Music Is My Boyfriend" - Hidden Cameras
⁃ A song about the extremes we'll go to prove our love that I absolutely identify with.
42. "Geraldine" - Glasvegas
43. "You Can't Hurry Love" - The Concretes
44. "Stadiums and Shrines II" - Sunset Rubdown
45. "All My Friends" - LCD Soundsystem
46. "Lately" - Helio Sequence
⁃ Deliciously ironic romantic sentiment; I've been there with him.
47. "Up Against The Wall" - Peter, Bjorn and John
⁃ If I didn't have this song, I'd likely not have made it through my first semester of college
48. "Your Lips Are Red" - St. Vincent
49. "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" - Bright Eyes
50. "Saviour" - The Dears


50 Songs To Get Into A High Speed Car Chase By

These are the other fifty songs. While they can provoke a strong emotional response, really what their attacking (other than your ears) is your gut. They get you in the mood for action. So I've titled this list songs to get into a high speed car chase by. It could alternately known as music to get into gun fight, Oldboy style brawl with hammer or intense video games to (I don't play video games, so I'll just assume that the latter use applies. Oldboy style hammer fight, though, who hasn't been there?) Mostly they speak for themselves but I'll put a sentence or two where I feel a footnote is necessary. Mostly these are just great songs that do more than make you want to get hugged by....though "Bitches In Tokyo" does that everytime I hear it...come to think of it so do "Superconnected" and "McFearless", but that's it, I swear!

1. "Wolf Like Me" - TV On The Radio
2. "One Armed Scissor" - At The Drive-In
3. "The Good, The Bad And The Queen" - The Good, The Bad And The Queen
4. "Super Inuit" - Holy Fuck
5. "Empire" - Kasabian
6. "Knights of Cydonia" - Muse
7. "Black Math" - The White Stripes
8. "If I Had Changed My Mind" - Tom Vek
9. "Slow Hands" - Interpol
10. "Millionaire" - Queens of the Stone Age
⁃ This was written for Dodge Chargers to get wrecked by
11. "Empty" - Metric
12. "Apostolic" - Loose Fur
⁃ This was actually the catalyst for this list. I thought to myself one day "I would fucking love to get into a high speed car chase to this song."
13. "Superconnected" - Broken Social Scene
14. "Six Barrel Shotgun" - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
15. "Svart Är Himlen" - Dungen
⁃ The modern equivalent of a Lalo Schifrin film cue.
16. "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" - Wilco
⁃ Preferably the live version from Kicking Television
17. "Phantom Punch" - Sondre Lerche
18. "The Universe!" - Do Make Say Think
19. "Justine, Beckoning" - Apostle of Hustle
20. "Single Ladies" - Beyonce
⁃ I know, I know, just trust me on this one...
21. "Remember When (Side B)" - Black Keys
22. "Helicopter" - Bloc Party
23. "Flower Garden" - Chad Vangaalen
24. "Yes" (part 2) - Coldplay
⁃ The latter half of this ONE, when it turns into an old Ride song, that's when the fun begins
25. "McFearless" - Kings of Leon
26. "Romantic Rights" - Death From Above 1979
27. "I Disappear" - The Faint
28. "Redhead" - The Fever
29. "Evil And A Heathen" - Franz Ferdinand
30. "Sacred Trixster" - Sonic Youth
31. "Wax Simulacra" - Mars Volta
32. "Dashboard" - Modest Mouse
33. "Diamond Hoo Ha Man" - Supergrass
⁃ This song has to have been written with this list in mind
34. "Absolute Affirmation" - Radio 4
35. "Radio Kaliningrad" - Handsome Furs
36. "A Life Wasted" - Pearl Jam
37. "Bodysnatchers" - Radiohead
⁃ This would also work if you were to involve speeding trains
38. "Le Ruse" - Tapes 'n Tapes
39. "Death At The Chapel" - The Horrors
40. "Y Control" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
41. "Shine A Light" - Wolf Parade
42. "First Wave Intact" - Secret Machines
43. "Our Trip" - The Thermals
44. "Trumpet, Trumpet" - Sunset Rubdown
45. "Reptilia" - The Strokes
46. "Chicago x 12" - Rogue Wave
⁃ The last few seconds of this song are like a gun fight, car chase and breaking glass at the end of the aforementioned hammer fight. They're that good.
47. "Bitches In Tokyo" - Stars
48. "Actor Out Of Work" - St. Vincent
49. "Guns of Memorial Park" - Sparta
50. "Down On The Street" - Rage Against The Machine

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