#40
Artist: Justin Timberlake feat. T.I.
Song: “My Love”
Album: Futuresex/Lovesounds
Year: 2006
Don’t even bother trying to resist the awesomeness of this entire album. There is nothing guilty about this pleasure. It’s just really great hip hop influenced pop music with slammin beats and great vocals by a sexy, impeccably dressed white man. This song makes me want to break it the fuck down on the dance floor. Especially because the dancing in the video is some of the best choreography I’ve ever seen.
#39
Artist: Fever Ray
Song: “Triangle Walks”
Album: Fever Ray
Year: 2009
As I mentioned earlier in this series of postings, Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife fame is a serious bad ass. She is easily one of my favorite vocalists that I’ve discovered this decade. Her solo release under the name Fever Ray invokes the pagan sensibility present in the music of The Knife but takes it to a whole new level. This track has some really exciting voice modulation on backup vocals and I really enjoy the celeste sounding bell parts that make up the melodic backbeat.
#38
Artist: Air
Song: “Cherry Blossom Girl”
Album: Talkie Walkie
Year: 2004
This song is another track that brings me to an exact place, time, and landscape in my life that I will never forget. I saw Air at Coachella the year that Talkie Walkie came out and they played right as the sun was setting. The combination of their transcendent electronic ethereal sound with the brightest pink, orange, and purple desert sky will forever be burned into my memory along with a feeling of overwhelming connectedness to the Earth and the people around me. This was the closest thing to a religious experience that I had in this hippie, acid-taking Mecca. “Cherry Blossom Girl” features vocals by Françoise Cactus of Stereo Total who were featured earlier on my list.
#37
Artist: Amy Winehouse
Song: “Tears Dry on Their Own”
Album: Back to Black
Year: 2006
I am still so pumped on this song. It hearkens back to the best aspects of 50’s and 60’s girl groups, a sound I was desperately needing more of when this album was released.
#36
Artist: Radiohead
Song: “How to Disappear Completely”
Album: Kid A
Year: 2000
Look out, depression ahead. This song is so incredibly melancholy that it almost sounds like Thom Yorke is ready to just give it all up and die after he’s done recording. It’s also one of the most beautiful and emotion evoking songs ever written. Kid A is a straight-up masterpiece. This song especially stands out to me because of the haunting swelling of guitars that almost sound like crying and the seemingly improvised horn parts in the background. Not to mention Thom Yorke is one of the best male vocalists of all time.
#35
Artist: M.I.A.
Song: “10 Dollar”
Album: Arular
Year: 2005
Hey, I have an idea. Let’s just decide that we’re going to make everyone dance harder than they’ve ever danced before. Oh wait, that’s exactly what happens at an M.I.A. concert. The beats in this song are out of control. I remember at one point during this song when I went to see M.I.A. in San Diego, looking over at $unny Katz and her double peace-ing so hard I thought her arms were going to fly off.
#34
Artist: Annie
Song: “Chewing Gum (Mylo Remix)”
Album: Chewing Gum UK Single
Year: 2004
I almost put both the original version of this song as well as the Mylo remix on my list. This is another song that I think I’ve played upwards of 500 times. Annie’s sweet vocals and super suggestive lyrics remain quite the same in both versions of the song, however the power in the beats and synths that Mylo adds in this remix take it to a place that makes it even more amazing than the original.
#33
Artist: Neko Case
Song: “Star Witness”
Album: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Year: 2006
What it comes down to is that I just really want to be Neko Case. She is just so damn awesome. Fox Confessor is one of my absolute favorite albums of all time. Neko paints a picture with her lyrics that may be quite obscure, but no matter what, you absolutely understand exactly what she is talking about. The other part that is amazing about her lyrics is they are often really morbid and dark, even though her voice is like a soulful country angel sent from the imaginary place called heaven.
#32
Artist: The Magnetic Fields
Song: “Drive On Driver”
Album: Distortion
Year: 2007
This entire album takes a new turn for The Magnetic Fields but still maintains their signature vocals. All of the songs feature the distorted noisey guitar sounds you might hear from My Bloody Valentine or Mazzy Star. I really like the harmonies in this song. It’s a sad love song about a woman whose fiancee has left her and she needs to get out of town so she can forget about the woman she’s leaving behind.
#31
Artist: Midlake
Song: “In This Camp”
Album: The Trials of Van Occupanther
Year: 2006
I am waiting with baited breath for the next album from this band. As you can probably tell by now I am pretty obsessed with harmonic vocals. This band has perfected them. They are from the same town in Texas where The Eagles were formed, another group that really knows how to blend their voices. Midlake’s sound is definitely quite foresty in my mind. I really like the lead-in to the chorus to this song and the dramatic swell of sound that comes with it.
#30
Artist: Ryan Adams
Song: “Wildflowers”
Album: Gold
Year: 2001
Surprise! He’s back again. On this song, we start out simply with Ryan Adams and an acoustic guitar. Oh, but then the chorus comes in with the powerful addition of piano, drums, and bells. This song almost makes me want to cry its so freaking beautiful.
#29
Artist: Elliott Smith
Song: “Happiness”
Album: Figure 8
Year: 2000
Each one of Elliott Smith’s albums has a special place in my heart. This song stands out among all of them for several reasons. Being such a tortured man, you know that he really means it when he’s singing, “What I used to be will pass away and then you’ll see that all I want now is happiness for you and me.” This became even more clear after he decided he was going to take his own life.
Another reason this song means a lot to me is that only 2 weeks after his death I had tickets to see Elliott play at the ATP festival in Long Beach. His band decided that they would come together for a tribute to him and play his songs for the fans that were to excited to see him. “Happiness” was the final song of the performance in which his family and friends were invited on stage to sing the back up vocals. I don’t think anyone who witnessed this event and loved Elliott’s music will ever forget it.
#28
Artist: Annie
Song: “My Heartbeat”
Album: Anniemal
Year: 2004
The scene that I imagine when hearing this song is a rainy night in Los Angeles, heading home after a late night out, the lights reflecting on the wet streets.
#27
Artist: Gnarls Barkley
Song: “Smiley Faces”
Album: St. Elsewhere
Year: 2006
I remember vividly saying about 6 months before this album came out that I desperately needed someone to come forward to start a mainstream soul revival. Thank fucking god for Gnarls Barkley. Cee Lo’s voice is gospel, soul and funk all in one. I mean, yes it’s irritating that “Crazy” was played to death on the radio and bro’s all over the world rejoiced. However, this album is still really great. “Smiley Faces” is CHURCH.
#26
Artist: Boys Noize
Song: “Oh!”
Album: Oi Oi Oi
Year: 2007
Such a good rave track.
#25
Artist: Interpol
Song: “Leif Erikson”
Album: Turn on the Bright Lights
Year: 2002
Damn this song is sexy. I don’t really think the lyrics are sexy or anything, it just sounds sexy. It’s strange that this album is called Turn on the Bright Lights because I think this is definitely music that needs to be listened to with the lights off.
#24
Artist: First Aid Kit
Song: “Our Own Pretty Ways”
Album: Drunken Trees
Year: 2008
I discovered this duo of sisters after Lauren Clyne sent me a video of them doing a cover of a Fleet Foxes song. I quickly became obsessed with their adorableness and fantastic voices. They’ve only released this short EP so far but this is the stand out track of all their songs. The song highlights their harmonies and uses lots of “la la la’s” which I love of course. They are incredibly mature songwriters for their teenage years and I really can’t wait until they release a full-length.
#23
Artist: Goldfrapp
Song: “Crystalline Green”
Album: Black Cherry
Year: 2003
If you are able to listen to this song without becoming aroused you are probably a robot.
#22
Artist: The Chemical Brothers
Song: “The Salmon Dance (Crookers WOW Remix)”
Album: The Salmon Dance US Single
Year: 2007
This song really shouldn’t be listed as a Chemical Brothers song. Especially since the original version is so god damn awful. Crookers are two of my favorite favorite FAVORITE dj’s around. They are really great at the fidget style and this song was basically transformed because of them. I think if you say the word “Wow!” to anyone who has been even slightly involved with the house music/dance club culture in the last 2 years they will automatically hear this song in their head. This track is out of control hyphy.
#21
Artist: Fleet Foxes
Song: “Your Protector”
Album: Fleet Foxes
Year: 2008
The best album of last year by a landslide. Another album that conjures up a clear vision of a landscape in my mind’s eye. This time it is where I live in the pacific northwest. Fleet Foxes’ music was made to be listened near the rivers of the redwood forest. This song has a bit of influence from indigenous music groups, but just knocks it out of the park with the amazing harmonies. This album also helped me to meet the love of my life, so high five to Fleet Foxes.
Want to give them a listen for yourself? Download 40-21 here.
Missed the previous 20? Click here.
