best music of the year

the second annual top ten list of my favorite music of the past year...

10. The Kills--No Wow.
I got to see these guys twice this past year, once in Cinci. and once in Royal Oak, and they, err, killed both times. Har. Their second album, recorded in two weeks in Benton Harbor, Michigan, has a remarkable consistency. Thanks to the drum machines and electronic flourishes that complement the band's punky guitar sound, the Kills sound a bit like Suicide or Joy Division, but with a closer eye on catchy melodies. Their debut two years ago had some good songs ("Cat Claw" and "Fried My Little Brains"), but No Wow please from start to finish, lacking even a single weak link. They even pull off a ballad of sorts, with the bitter, country-ish "Rodeo Town," which wound up being my favorite tune on the album.

9. Death Cab for Cutie--"When Soul Meets Body"
When I lived in Ohio, the local indie station used to play a lot of Death Cab and I could never really get into their whole sad-sack vibe, though I appreciated them lyrically. And for the past three years, I've had a boatload of students who would absolutely rave about everything they (along with Bright Eyes) released. This, the lead-off single from their newest record, finally caught my attention though. Beautiful melody, very Beach Boys-ish.

8. Kanye West--"Diamonds from Sierra Leone"
Another brilliant single from the preppy, Bush-bashing hip hop star Kanye West. To funny, catchy, and provocative effect, Kanye samples the Shirley Bassey-sung theme to the James Bond movie Diamonds are Forever. The lyrics are mostly nonsense. One verse recounts Alicia Keys trying to talk Kanye down from his bitterness after failing to win a Grammy. Elsewhere he offers some generic boasting. Elsewhere a non-sequitur about a stripper and her overweight pal. Lyrically rather goofy, but, again, that's not the point. It's all about the awesome sample, which barely edges out "Gold Digger" as Kanye's coolest track.

7. Missy Elliot--"Lose Control"
Missy Elliot has created a bizarre, accessible, left-field, and poppy run of singles in the past five years or so. And "Lose Control" sounds every bit as slamming as "Work It" or "Get Ur Freak On." Fast, fun, funky. What's not to love here?

6. New Pornographers--Twin Cinema
The New Pornographers don’t really do anything new musically. They take a little 60s power pop, toss in a little 70s power pop, and integrate singer Neko Case’s brand of alt-country and 21st century indie rock. The result is a sound that keeps listeners interested, as each song brings in a different style, a different genre, a different influence. This album is FULL of catchy melodies, a very good CD for your commute home from work. Music to unwind by. Music to make you tap the steering wheel and forget about the jerk at the next desk. The fast, upbeat songs work best: "Sing Me Spanish Techno," "The Bleeding Heart Show," and the title track are three standouts.

5. Hard Lessons--Gasoline
This Detroit three-piece references timeless soul and '60s r&b, foregrounding a Hammond organ and a co-ed pair of lead singers who belt out punked-up love songs. They'd go over big at (what I imagine based on "Animal House" to be the atmosphere of) an early '60s frat party. "Feedback Loop" echoes the riff of The Stooges' "1969," and serves as a kind-of Bo Diddley-sound-a-like centerpiece for the album. And that anthem's flanked by garage rock anthems like "Feel Alright" and bluegrass-y ballads like "All Over This Town." How come they're not touring the country (or at least Metro Detroit) with the Detroit Cobras?

4. Coldplay--"Talk"
Alright, it's easy to rag on Coldplay. Too easy. Yes, they're way too earnest. Yes, they crib Unforgettable Fire-era U2 with their pseudo-Christian, arena-friendly, politically moderate optimism. But they also write good songs, and this is the standout of their X&Y record from this past year. I love the image of a conversation as an artifact: "I'm so scared about the future and I want to talk to you/I wanna talk to you/You can take a picture of something you see/In the future, where will I be?" Human interaction becomes a kind-of technology. No wonder the song samples "Computer Love" by Kraftwerk, a band whose entire aesthetic broke down the human-machine duality.

3. Bloc Party
Hyperactive art rock from a gang of four multi-culti British kids. Politically charged dance music with lyrics about poverty, empire-building, and the price of gasoline. The first four tracks ("Like Eating Glass," "Helicopter," "Positive Tension," and "Banquet") are outstanding. Talk about a strong debut.

2. M.I.A.--"Galang"
Electronic meets hip hop meets girl power meets grime meets dub meets reggae meets world music meets pop. This is in part a late-90s collage of sorts: Missy Elliot's debut/Spice Girls/Elastica, all filtered through a very 21st century, very cool radical Sri Lankan named "MIA." Pretty damn groovy, no? This got lots of (well-earned) internet buzz last Spring and, while I never heard the whole record, I enjoyed this upbeat single very much. One of the catchiest songs of the year. A kind of companion--in terms of politics, internet buzz, and genre co-opting--to the Bloc Party record.

1. Dirtbombs--If You Don't Already Have a Look
Hands down, best record of the year. This two-record compilation has something for everyone. Like the eclectic New Pornographers record, it's an LP for the I-Pod age. Speed-metal rockers. Ballads. Dance tracks. A Yoko Ono cover. It's become cliche, but I'll repeat the sentiment that listening to the Dirtbombs is like thumbing through a good record collection. Eclecticism at its finest. Each Dirtbombs studio album adopts a different genre--garage rock, soul, pop--but this compilation, since it spans the last eight years or so, is messier, jumping all over the musical map. I like the version of Lou Rawls' "Natural Man" and the straight-ahead-rock originals "Stuck Under My Shoe" and "The Sharpest Claws." Peruse the whopping 52 songs (this makes Sandanista look like an EP) yourself and find your own favorites.

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***a few selections that didn't make the cut, with commentary***

White Stripes--Get Behind Me Satan
It's an enjoyable piece of work, but sort of uneven compared to their other records. A little too much marimba and xylophone. "My Doorbell" has that friendly White Stripes hook and "Blue Orchid" repeats the LedZep-ish "Seven Nation Army" vibe, and it's musically an interesting progression from their mega-popular mid-period, but this just isn't up there with De Stijl and White Blood Cells.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Talking Heads for the new milennium. Or at least Arcade Fire for 2005. This almost made the top ten. I like the twee whimsy, the tracks that include calliope and run the vocals through what sounds like an echo chamber. Like Belle&Sebastian, CYHSY sometimes makes you feel like a little kid whistling along to a folk song. At times the lyrics get bogged down in over-the-top abstraction, but this surely is one of the most interesting releases of the year.

Annie--"Chewing Gum," and Sleater-Kinney, "Entertain"
Two more great singles well worth downloading. Like so much of this year's best music, Annie is fun and never pretentious. If you're going to make a bubblegum-pop song, why not call it "Chewing Gum." Sleater-Kinney keep it simple (wailing guitar, and vocals too match), and pound out a track that would have felt at home on their Call the Doctor record.