Decade End Mix: 25 Songs from 2002

Decade End Mix: 25 Songs from 2002

1. Float Away (All Of The Streets Are Lonely) - Marah
2. A Day At The Races - Jurassic 5
3. Two Months Off - Underworld
4. Weak Become Heroes - The Streets
5. Sacrifice - The Roots
6. Cause = Time - Broken Social Scene
7. Concrete Sky - Beth Orton
8. 7 Months, 39 Days - Hank Williams III
9. Sweet Lullabye - Stewboss
10. The Golden Age - Beck
11. Hard Candy - Counting Crows
12. Black Letter Days - Frank Black & The Catholics
13. N.Y. - Doves
14. NYC - Interpol
15. Back To The Life - Spoon
16. Oh! - Sleater-Kinney
17. No One Knows - Queens Of The Stone Age
18. Alright Alright - Sahara Hotnights
19. This Town - Hot Hot Heat
20. Death On The Stairs - The Libertines
21. Hurt - Johnny Cash
22. The Darkest One - The Tragically Hip
23. War On War - Wilco
24. Summertime Thing - Chuck Prophet
25. The Replacements - Tommy Womack

1. I spent a week in Ottawa with Marah's Float Away With the Friday Night Gods. The opening track 'Float Away (All Of the Streets Are Lonely)' is the first indication that someone replaced Marah with some weird American version of Oasis, which depending on your personal taste, could have you vomiting blood. As a fan of said English group, it was kind of cool to hear Marah reach for the Big Rock Sound and while it's not quite a massive success, it's still an interesting album. It paired well with walking alone around the market in our nation's capitol at night.

2. In a scene straight out of a movie, I bought Jurassic 5's Power in Numbers after hearing 'A Day At the Races' in a record store. Not a bad album, a tad longish which is a common and valid criticism of modern albums. Just because you have about 75 min to fill a CD does not mean you have to. Anyway, I dug the energy of this track and still pop this in occasionally when I feel the need for a more modern groove. One of a handful of hip-hop albums I bought from this decade.

3. 'Two Months Off' from Underworld's A Hundred Days Off. I literally used to loop this song over and over and over when I crunched my EEG data. The energy is great and builds and builds over 9 min. It keeps one going when you're dealing with the tedium of looking at digitized brain electrical activity.

4. Speaking of hip-hop, I've never once considered The Streets' Original Pirate Material to fit in that genre at all. Musically, it doesn't sound like what we think of when the generic term is applied. I've always just called it UK dance music because it's a much easier classification instead of whatever sub-sub-splinter genre it best represents during that point in time. Lyrically it isn't really important either, but that's not to say it isn't enjoyable. I remember the first time I heard 'Turn the Page' and thought "did he just say he's 45th generation Roman?". It's just kind of an odd thing to state, and why 45? This is 'Weak Become Heroes', the name's European Bob, pleased to meetcha, likewise, a pleasure. We all sing.

5. Now I know I played The Roots' Phrenology a lot in 2002, but I'm nearly certain it wasn't in the car very much, occasionally maybe, but not a staple. But strangely it's one album that brings up that ineffable feeling of place memory and for whatever reason when 'Sacrifice' comes on, I'm in my car on Wonderland Ave. in London, near a mall. No emotional connotation, nothing important happened but as clear as a bell I can see the headlights in front of me as I head east. Also it's in the fall, maybe October or November. It's really weird but oddly comforting.

6. I don't honestly understand why Broken Social Scene became popular enough that someone wrote a goddamn book (This Book Is Broken) about them. I mean come on, they've released three fucking albums. If you want to quickly illustrate why people hate the band, there it is. Plus they're from Toronto. And they're a collective, not a band and there's like 43 of them who are all up on stage at some point. If you live in Toronto, you may in fact be a member of Broken Social Scene. You Forgot It in People is a decent album but holy hell it's just indie rock. This, again, is not life changing. So why am I adding a song of theirs to the mix? Because some of the songs like 'Cause=Time' are pretty catchy. Sometimes a song is just a song and not a badge of affiliation.

7. As I've mentioned artists who have gotten better or worse over time, Beth Orton has remained fairly consistent I think. The only slight change would be moving away from the subtle beats on Trailer Park to more traditional singer-songwriter alt-country or folk leanings but she's still maintaining. She always reminds me of a British Mae Moore. From her third album Daybreaker 'Concrete Sky' is a duet with, who else, good ol' Ryan Adams. Who is clearly a consistent variable thus far on all these mixes.

8. How does one become their own man as an artist and human being when their grandfather was Hank Williams Sr. and father is Bocephus himself, Hank Williams Jr? Well, either go off in a different direction and become a Franciscan monk or just go with family tradition and do country the best you can. He went with the latter and while it's not going to significantly shift Music itself like his father and grandfather, it's still worth a listen. This is '7 Months, 39 Days' from Hank Williams III off Lovesick, Broke, Driftin'.

9. The title track of Stewboss Sweet Lullabye is by the numbers "regular" rock in the alt-country/Petty/Replacements kind of vibe. A lovely mid-tempo song, with nothing particularly remarkable about it but neither is every sunset but we'll still take a look at it when it comes by every night.

10. I like the first four songs on Beck's Sea Change. I included 'The Golden Age' here, and only because of those first songs do I still own this. I believe I've played the record a handful of times since I bought it. I think because Beck always slipped in a couple of slow numbers per album it was all right here and there because you knew he'd eventually pick up the tempo. However, a whole album is just too much for this guy. Also his Scientological leanings started to get on my nerves. I'm not even going to even pretend that I can overlook it. I'd respect him more if he just made up his own belief system called Beckology or Odelayism instead of following someone else's made up religion. Oh well, it's a pretty song.

11. Counting Crows, I did not think I would hang here with you over all these years. And even though you released only Hard Candy and Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings in 10 long years, I'm still with you. Frankly I'm surprised as you are. I like Duritz's lyrics, because he seems like a overly sentimental drunk who really believes what he's saying. Here's 'Hard Candy'.

12. Frank Black & The Catholics kept cranking them out this decade, consistently good to great in my opinion. This is the title track from Black Letter Days.

13. 'N.Y.' from Doves' The Last Broadcast. I have just always liked this song.

14. "The subway is a porno, the pavements they are a mess, I know you've supported me for a long time, somehow, I'm not impressed". I used to wonder if he was singing about the sandwich shop being a porno or the train itself. And were the sidewalks supporting him, structurally speaking, but he's not impressed because they're all cracked and broken? And is this why he's not impressed, because like his poor, depressed ass he's falling down because of the lack of support? And is this why he pleads to the world to turn on the bright lights??? These are the New York cares? 'NYC' by Interpol from Turn On the Bright Lights. Baffling as always.

15. There is nothing baffling about this song. 'Back to the Life' from Spoon's Kill the Moonlight album. Simple, delightful goodness. When I mentioned previously my thoughts about Spoon, I need now to add a brief coda. When I actually sat and listening to Kill the Moonlight I wanted to add practically the whole album to my Great Songs of 2002 list before I widdled it down. When I'm not actively listening to Spoon I always think they're less than I think, however whenever I actually hear it, it's much much more. In that way, Spoon are like sushi.

16. 'Oh!' Yes! Sleater-Kinney's One Beat. They channel the Go-Go's here fairly clearly, only if the Go-Go's really, really emulated X instead of merely playing with them. Love this song.

17. It's kind of impossible to not get into Queens of the Stone Age's 'No One Knows' from Songs for the Deaf, probably for biological and anthropological reasons. It's got an incredibly brain entraining beat courtesy of Dave "I'm Always Joking!" Grohl.

18. Somewhere, I think it was 2005 or thereabouts it was clear that I needed to pay attention to whatever was coming out of Sweden in terms of rock & roll. Diamond Dogs and Backyard Babies had been doing it for awhile but then you had these Swedish broads in Sahara Hotnights step up and crank out some fucking awesome tunes like 'Alright Alright' from Jennie Bomb. Play dis von lout.

19. Although decidedly "retro" in the guise of 80s bands like XTC and Joe Jackson and therefore destined to be derided 'Hot Hot Heat's Make Up the Breakdown is a fun, and fortunately brief 30 minute affair so you're wanting to just flip the tape and play it again. Another album chock full of tunes I could have easily mixed in here. Here's 'This Town'.

20. In contrast, we have here a band also channeling a retro vibration courtesy of The Clash et al., yet the Libertines Up the Bracket gets the critical "Important Album" tag. Why? I don't know, this record is no less fun truthfully, but there's that rock & roll danger that courses through it thus adding a certain validity as well. However, it's still a pop album cut by a band emulating other Important Bands. Clearly Pete Doherty is a Real Rock Star, cut from the same dirty, blood cloth as Keith Richards. But, all snarkiness aside, Up the Bracket is a fantastic AND an Important Album that folks will likely reference as a standout from the 00's where the previous selection will most likely be completely forgotten. Once again, I could have literally picked any of the 14 songs on this album, and went with 'Death on the Stairs'.

21. Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt' on American IV: The Man Comes Around is just bleak and depressing, the video even moreso. "I will let you down...I will make you hurt". When he delivers that line, it's like Moses delivering the word from on high. A very disturbing song and powerful cover.

22. "Come in, come in, come in, come in, from thin and wicked prairie winds... come in".. Tough to segue from the last song into this one but the Hip's 'The Darkest One' from In Violet Light is the best choice I think. One of my favourite songs from their latter day era. I love the video which is probably the Canadianist anyone has seen in awhile (Trailer Park Boys, Don Cherry, wintertime, booze, dollar bills, and uh Tragically Hip).

23. It's always seemed kind of weird that this is the decisive Wilco album where one fell on the pre-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot side of things or the other post,-YHF. Still sounds like Wilco to me, and the same kind of thing they started previously on Summerteeth which continues today. 'War on War' could be on their 2009 album in my opinion. Nice, jaunty pop song.

24. If there is a single more delightful pop song on here, I can't find it. 'Summertime Thing' from Chuck Prophet No Other Love album. Slightly painful to hear in November, as the waves roll in as the song begins, unless of course you live way, way down south. Lazy and happy groove throughout.

25. There is no better song to close out the mix than Tommy Womack's 'The Replacements' from Circus Town. This is another artist I feel the need to proselytize about. He's basically a genius, a storyteller extraordinaire in the guise of a mentally disturbed failure musician. I wish there were about 100 failures like him. He is a true credit to the gene pool.