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Thread: 75 Days, 2 Lists, 1 Giant Waste of Time

  1. #51
    ^^
    Too low! :lol: Great pick though, that is probably my favorite song, ever.

  2. #52
    62. "Eventide Fire a Disaster" - Barrington Levy

    [youtube]SjXwOs3iYRs[/youtube]

    Sounds like the emotional peak of the saddest protest jam ever. Shame and disgrace.

  3. #53
    61. "Tears In the Typing Pool" - Broadcast

    [youtube]0WVVWXcbBJs[/youtube]

    Such delicacy, and just the right amount of reverb. Why can't all harmonies glisten so?

  4. #54
    60. "Milk It" - Nirvana

    [youtube]qCZ1-TD2oyc[/youtube]

    Where grunge reaches sublimity: meandering, noisy, frightening, like a drunk lumbering down a crowded city street.

  5. #55

    56 & 57

    56)



    Dark Parts by Perfume Genius :

    There's a kid I sometimes see riding the A-train downtown. He is kind of well put together, but he has this vague expression on his face. I've talked to him once. Sounds like he's in serious pain. But, he told me that it's all OK because he's making it. I told him to listen to Dark Parts.



    55)



    Da Mystery of Chessboxin' by Wu-Tang Clan:

    Here is the plan of assault for one of the most aggressive, vitriolic and cathartic songs in the last couple of decades: have two body hits in the first two verses, have Raekwon slap you, ODB soothe you and Ghostface rearrange your brain. Get your ass on the ground, walk away and open a 40.




    Note: Idioteque, it is your turn like three turns ago.
    Stuff I've Watched out of *****

    The Last Duel - ***
    Only Murders in the Building: **
    Squid Games: **.5

  6. #56

    54

    54)


    Look at Me by John Lennon :

    I've started singing this to my daughter, lately. She's our first, so I'm trying to find suitable lullabies. This is plaintive, sincere and beautiful. It's full of disquieting thoughts and painful questions, yet it's strangely reassuring. It's just pretty enough to belie the unsettling material. My guess: she's telling her shrink in 21 years.





    Stuff I've Watched out of *****

    The Last Duel - ***
    Only Murders in the Building: **
    Squid Games: **.5

  7. #57
    Bark! Go away Russ's Avatar
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    Do a YouTube search for Ian Dury's Lullaby For Franci/es. If I had a young daughter, I'd be singing that to her every night.
    "We eventually managed to find them near Biskupin, where demonstrations of prehistoric farming are organized. These oxen couldn't be transported to anywhere else, so we had to built the entire studio around them. A scene that lasted twenty-something seconds took us a year and a half to prepare."

  8. #58
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    Nov 2007
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    Quote Quoting Russ (view post)
    Do a YouTube search for Ian Dury's Lullaby For Franci/es. If I had a young daughter, I'd be singing that to her every night.
    What a great track!

    If I had young (any) kids, it'd be a steady stream of the Lullatones.

    https://lullatone.bandcamp.com/

  9. #59
    Quote Quoting Russ (view post)
    Do a YouTube search for Ian Dury's Lullaby For Franci/es. If I had a young daughter, I'd be singing that to her every night.
    Hell yeah. Don't know if I'll be able to play the actual track because that whole "don't wake the baby shit" is for real. When she's going to sleep, if she hears a sweet reggae beat... that's it.
    Stuff I've Watched out of *****

    The Last Duel - ***
    Only Murders in the Building: **
    Squid Games: **.5

  10. #60

    53-50

    53) Get Me Away from Here I'm Dyin' by Belle and Sebastian
    You know we don't stand a chance. The sensitive people, the hopeless romantics, the people who take Motown for gospel, the ones who find redemption in stories. Whether we really are special or we're just teenagers. It doesn't matter. We really are dying here and, sad fact, we always will be.

    52) The Weight by The Band
    My dad used to get drunk and listen to this with me when I was ten. A metaphor so on-the-nose it's unbelievable. Yet, it's true. What lends The Weight particular power is the eternal, circular nature of it's message. Stated with Amazing Grace simplicity, it nails addiction at its most base, pleasurable and corrosive.

    51) The Rat by The Walkmen
    The Rat doesn't pretend to be anything it's not. From the first burst of drums, guitar, and strung-out vocals one thing is clear: this is a mothafuckin' breakup song. Replete with fluctuating volumes and taciturn vocals, it's the kind of romantic breakdown we all inevitably have, piped through the uninhibited voices of something else.


    50) Party Life by Jay-Z:
    I recently compared Jay to Frank Sinatra and realized there isn't a competition. As Hov points out, he really is in a different league. Only a joint this smooth could match Jay's unique braggadocio. He's talking shit and it's the truth. Crass, confident and smooth: welcome the party life.
    Stuff I've Watched out of *****

    The Last Duel - ***
    Only Murders in the Building: **
    Squid Games: **.5

  11. #61

    49-45

    49
    People II 2: Still Peoplin'? by Andrew Jackson Jihad
    Let's get one thing out of the way from jump: I am a huge believer in the innate evil of human nature. Doesn't mean we can't be good, but it does mean we have to try a little bit. Jackson Jihad somehow conveys this bleak assessment with a crooked smile and an awkward wink. The entirety of 2011's cynical and hilarious Knife Man works better as a piece; however, this song will probably be a good lipmnus test for the album.

    Using the darkest of humor, Sean Bonnette and Ben Gallaty make their point obtuse and confrontational. Here's a sample of the truth they lay down:

    But when your Hustler subscription and your Xanax prescription make you feel lonelier instead
    You don't want to hear about all the starving children.
    You don't want to be told it's all in your head.
    'Cause if it's all in your head, that's terrible.


    And it gets better, trust me. Paired with a euphonious strum and sing-a-long melody, the entire song seethes with social disgust and valid criticism. It's the kind of song that is NSFW because it'll make your co-workers feel bad about themselves. Which they should, because (remember the whole preternatural evil thing?) we should all feel bad.

    Yet, I don't want to nail this down as an insensitive or uncaring song in any way. The final message is probably optimistic. No one has it any better and no has it any worse, you're your own irreplaceable human soul with your own understanding of what it means to suffer. And that's a huge bummer.

    48
    Fistful of Love by Antony and the Johsons
    With each passing year, this song collects additional weight and importance. Beyond the operatic virtuosity of Hegarty's voice, the saccharine pain in every syllable and the masterly arrangement, Fistful of Love is a statement of defiance. How often do brass and wood winds sound this lovely, defiant and exultant? This song represents everything there is to love and mourn in Antony's oeuvre, the optimistic realist relaying lines so honest they might as well be sarcastic.

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgwp-iQenn4

    47
    Two Blue Lights by Songs: Ohia

    There's always something lurking in the corners of Jason Molina's music. Here, though, it's not the dark and unknown that's unsettling, but what's starkly lit by spotlights. Two spotlights, to be more precise.

    The song is a study in duality: the headlights of a bus and the dim light of the moon, diesel fuel and the damn taste of the earth, and then there's this:

    There's a dead archer in the tower/ you can't hear it/ but you can tell.
    When the bells ring twelve times in hell/ the bells ring twelve times in this town as well.


    This may be Chicago or it may be Casterly Rock, doesn't matter, the real struggle isn't bothered by exterior context, but what's within.

    46
    Shook Ones Pt. II by Mobb Deep
    Before production became an idle in hip-hop, artists relied on straight-foward elegance. Shook Ones Pt. II , the cornerstone of Mobb Deep's brutal and unflinching masterpiece The Infamous, is a study in verbal assault. It's casually intimidating, walking through all the reasons one should most certainly not fuck with Mobb Deep, while providing a particularly ominous backing track that is equally influenced by Herbie Handcock and John Carpenter. Like the message of the album, the hook of Shook Ones is simple: no flash, no bullshit and no flourish; just fair warning.

    45
    96 Tear Drops by ? & the Mysterians
    Oh come on, what can anyone write about this song that isn't implied by that impossibly cool organ and barely-there vocal performance? This is the fucking 60's and did you see the band's name? Yeah, that's right, makes almost too much sense, right? So, if that's our starting point and it's understood that everyone in the band was dropping acid and rocking bowl-cuts then we can safely assume this song was created in no less than two takes at the end of a prolonged break up with a British model who, if it's not Twiggy, could totally be Twiggy.

    And, thus, this perennial break up song that can't be bothered to make sense and doesn't have the time to be subtle. Shit's going down, just ask ? & the Mysterians .

  12. #62

    44-42

    44
    Light Up My Room by Barenaked Ladies

    Listen, if we're going to drift down memory lane and get all sentimental and what not, why not do it to the most crisp and velvety soft-rock ever made? Look, most of us grew up in the 90s and Barenaked Ladies really meant something. In retrospect, the guitar sweeps are ridiculous and the lyrics are (like most 90s rock) ambiguous; however, there's that wonderful sense of misty adolescence that can't be denied. Irredescent and unique, Light Up My Room is some dystopian Zanadoo where we're all penniless and content sitting with our family and loving one another.

    43
    Sad Skinhead by Faust
    Disorienting in the best kind of way.

    42
    Hey Mama by Kanye West

    Picking one song for Kanye West is the problem with making lists. The most consistent artist of the last decade*, West is as prolific as he claims to be. Which, as we all know, is saying something. Yet, for all his grandstanding, my favorite track remains this wonderfully humble and sentimental piece from his poppiest album.

    Hey Mama isn't meant to be flashy, it's designed as a simple thank you note to the most important person in Mr. West's life: Donda West. Gratitude for both the good and bad times is communicated with equal parts love and appreciation. What's more, there are few West tracks that attain the heights of production excellence (sorry, Kanye, but Jon Brion produced the shit out of this album), complementing the simplistic honesty of the lyrics reflected in an opulent and ebullient composition.

    If nothing else, any time one chooses to send this song to their much beloved and inevitably neglected-feeling mother, major points will occur. Another outcome may be tears-of-joy at this verse:

    Seven years old, caught you with tears in your eyes
    Cuz a *#%# cheatin, telling you lies, then I started to cry
    As we knelt on the kitchen floor
    I said mommy Imma love you till you don't hurt no more
    And when I'm older, you aint gotta work no more
    And Imma get you that mansion that we couldn't afford


    I mean, c'mon. Sheer tears.

    * IMO. Although, if you disagree, please take a moment to reflect on the following:

    We Don't Care (2004)
    Jesus Walks (2004)
    Slow Jamz (2004)
    Through the Wire (2004)
    Heard 'Em Say (2005)**
    Touch the Sky (2005)**
    Gold Digger (2005)**
    Good Life (2007)
    Flashing Lights (2007)
    Everything I Am (2007)
    Robocop (2008)
    The Joy (2010)
    Power (2010)
    All of the Lights (2010)
    Devil in a New Dress (2010)
    Runaway (2010)
    *%#**s in Paris (2011)
    Clique (2012)
    New Slaves (2013)
    Blood on the Leaves (2013)
    Bound 2 (2013)

    ** All concurrent on the album.
    Stuff I've Watched out of *****

    The Last Duel - ***
    Only Murders in the Building: **
    Squid Games: **.5

  13. #63

    41-40

    41

    Damage by Yo La Tengo
    Separating. Breaking up. Divorcing. Who the hell knows the extent of emotional investment Ira Kaplan has in this song's relationship, it doesn't really matter. The frankness of his delivery, the shimmering stabs of feedback and, most devastating for me, this line:

    Feeling like a kid again, my eyes are glued to the floor/
    I say mumbled goodbye as you walked out the door.


    It's one of the most arrestingly sad songs I've ever heard. Expressing itself sonorously to help make the bitter pill easier to swallow, Yo La Tengo slowly unpack the events, capturing the sense of melancholy that is unavoidably experienced in a separation. If it weren't such a pleasant song to listen to, it'd be really difficult to listen to. As it is, the sweet spot at the nexus of pain and love is something that we need in sad songs.

    So crank that motherfucker.

    40

    Pilot Jones by Frank Ocean

    It's hard for me to overstate the personal value of this song to me. Coming at a time when a ton of uncertainty was happening in the life of my family (including a death and two baby girls, one for me and the other for my twin brother), there was something utterly comforting in this song. It sounds like we can all use a Pilot Jines and Ocean's nonsensical lyrics are perfectly supported by the immaculate production.

    Somewhat tangentially, I was so rooting for this to be the song my daughter was born to and, as she was crowning, the crescendo receded and Ocean mumble-whispered, "and if I got a condo on the clouds then I guess you can stay at my place." It was pretty fucking special.

  14. #64

    39-37

    39) Jambalaya (On the Bayou) by Hank Williams
    Few things are more charming than a good country ballad. While this song gets instant inclusion for it’s role in The Last Picture Show, it also has redeeming southern qualities that are as ingrained as sweet tea, racism and moonshine. Speaking of moonshine, Jambalaya embodies inebriated memories. With it's deep Cajun roots and blissful instrumentation, the song creates a southern Eden found mostly in sharing meals, gentile dancing and gumbo. Given that all participants must surely be three-sheets by the time this song takes place, the setting Hank Williams creates is equally bucolic and alluring. All hazy strings and twangy vocals, On the Bayou takes a standard tune and endows it with a sense of place through timeless lyrics and good ole’ fashioned charm. That it’s difficult to interpret said lyrics and, yet, still totally understand what Hank’s saying is a testament to the power of Country music.


    38) Touching Something's Hollow/A Eluardian Instance by Of Montreal
    Nothing really begins or ends on Of Montreal's divisive and brilliant Skeletal Lamping . Like Finnegan's Wake it's an unending loop that is enjoyable, albeit in a masochistic fashion. Yet, these songs* offer a little bit of a rallying cry. Beginning with an abrupt existential pause after three relentlessly Dionysian songs, Touching Something's Hollow offers the first glimpse at Kevin Barnes' Apollonian beauty. After hearing about all kinds of sexual deviance, the honesty and desperation of this songs' lyrics are arresting.

    Why am I so damaged, girl?/
    Why am I such poison, girl?
    I don't know how long I can hold on/
    if it's gonna' be like this forever.


    It's the kind of emotionally immature thoughts we don't admit, even to the closest of friends- maybe even to ourselves. It's just at the bottom of the cycle, just before the last key of Touching Something's Hollow has resolved, that the utterly optimistic hook of A Eluardian Instance comes in like a hit of MDMA. Everything returns to neon hues. We're once again young and independent and going to beaches we never did and meeting fucking mountain goats**. The memory reel runs backward and hindsight is 20/20, so everything is coming through like you just got new glasses.

    If Touching Something's Hollow is an ugly portrait of the bottom, A Eluardian Instance is a beautiful fever dream of the clouds.

    * I'm bending the rules a little here because each of these could certainly be considered independent tracks; however, listening these together provides such a wallop that I've always considered them two sides of the same coin.
    ** Which, in that state of youthful idealism, who knows how much any of this song is accurately remembered.


    37) Angel from Montgomery by John Prine (Performed Dave Matthews etc.)
    I could not hate myself more for including this, especially so high. At the same time, I'd be lying if I didn't claim this as a favorite. A particularly personal favorite, in fact.

    I'm not sure how I came upon this live track, performed just before Matthews must have took his last hit and passed out, but it's a lovelorn track that's difficult not to love. Like the surely deadbeat protagonist, Matthews' performance rests on torpid vocals and breezy technical proficiency. While the words coming out of his mouth are venomous ( How can someone go out in the morning/ come home in the evening/ they got nothing to say ), it's delivered with such a thick brogue, with just the right amount of sweetness, that it feels pleasant to forgive the shortcomings.

    Dave Matthews never had anything to say, really. But, when he was covering other people, it played up all of his skills: taste, skill and charm. A generation of bros learned how to manipulate people while listening to DMB for good reason, Dave Matthews knows what he's talking about and is willing to fake-it-till-he-makes-it. In his own music there's a veneer of sentimentality; however, for the man himself, it's bare-bones honesty that works best.

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