So here comes my big Decade End project, trying to fit 25 songs from each year into something reasonably coherent and listenable. The latter quality is not necessarily a guarantee. In the context of music fandom, this is a decidedly “mainstream” kind of mix, but it’s not purposely so. It’s just the songs I happen to like best and also fit well together out of the 76 songs from 2000 I chose to distill into a final 25. A good many of these songs have strong nostalgic associations for me, as it represented a huge transition period personally (moving from Sudbury ON to London ON) and professional (MSc to PhD).Not surprisingly, just hearing these songs calls up more than a few episodic memory engrams.
1. After - dZihan & Kamien
2. Everything in Its Right Place - Radiohead
3. The Shining - Badly Drawn Boy
4. Beautiful Day - U2
5. Dancing In The Moonlight -Toploader
6. Gravity Rides Everything - Modest Mouse
7. Catch The Sun - Doves
8. Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols
9. Black Book - Stephen Malkmus
10. Lake Fever - The Tragically Hip
11. Star Power - The Makers
12. Barstool Boys - Marah
13. Radio Havana - Rancid
14. Kathy Fong Is The Bomb - Tsar
15. Aside - The Weakerthans
16. Letter From An Occupant - The New Pornographers
17. B.O.B. - Outkast
18. Last Night - The Strokes
19. To Be Young - Ryan Adams
20. All Hands On The Bad One - Sleater-Kinney
21. Too Young - Phoenix
22. Saturday - Yo La Tengo
23. Didn't Cha Know - Erykah Badu
24. Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life - The Avalanches
25. New - No Doubt
1. While I have mainly trafficked in the "classics" around here (Bruce, Stones etc.) or shared those that aspire to such terrible ideals (Four Horsemen, Quireboys), I have somehow decided to kick off the year 2000 mix with a nearly 8 min downtempo acid/jazz tune, 'After' by dZihan & Kamien from their 2000 debutFreaks & Icons. I'm not sure why, but it seemed that it had to be the leadoff track. I’ve never really been a huge electronic(a) music fan and with few exceptions I usually stay on the straight and narrow of basic rock & roll. A few albums can grab me in the right spot (Underworld, DJ Shadow, Chemical Brothers etc) but they're few and far between. I know I snagged this off a usenet group back in the day (a constant theme), and I for the life of me, cannot understand why I decided to download it but I’m glad I did. When I do data analysis, I enjoy this kind of music and so this became a staple of my PhD years.
2. Radiohead’s 'Everything In Its Right Place' from Kid is probably one of my favourite opening tracks of the last 10 years. In fact, it’s one of my favourite albums of the last 10 years. Like I said above, I'm really not a huge fan of the strange and electrostylings of some modern pop bands, the artistic experimentation, the exploring the boundaries, etc. but this appealed to me immediately, but really turned a lot of folks off and understandably so considering how far away they’ve turned from their traditional sound.This song (and album) is kind of chilly and strange but oddly comforting despite its supposed apocalyptic them. If it’s supposed to be pretentious nonsense, I’ve succumbed to its heightened artistry but was basically lost with all their other albums, save for a moment here and there.
3. Badly Drawn Boy's 'The Shining' from The Hour of Bewilderbeast was another usenet find I downloaded because of the British Beck comparisons and also on the recommendation from a friend in the UK who saw him live in a club said I would really enjoy it.I did enjoy about the first quarter of his debut album and I still like this song a whole lot.It’s a nice end of the year, AM kind of song. I like the cello.
4. U2's'Beautiful Day', from All That You Can't Leave Behind, is probably the most overplayed track on the mix, so feel free to skip it but when it comes on, I always turn it up because it still does it for me. Their return to the Big Rock sound after their electostylings in Pop. While I never really got into the album a whole lot (it’s all right, but the overall gestalt didn’t hit me), they definitely soar on this song.
5. 'Dancing in the Moonlight' is Toploader's version of the 1973 King Harvest classic. I really fucking love this song, as anyone who's spent time with me would be hard pressed not to hear this at least once over the course of an evening in the early ‘00s. A really fun song that appears on a really terrible album Onka’s Big Monka.
6. I'm a fan of latter day Modest Mouse, not caring as much for the tuneless meandering of their earlier albums and preferring actual songs like 'Gravity Rides Everything' from The Moon and Antarctica. They’ve progressively gotten more interesting and probably bland in the opinion of their real fans.
7. In contrast to my Modest Mouse opinion, while I don't mind the albums Doves have released over the last decade, none still hold a candle to songs like 'Catch the Sun' from their debut Lost Souls. This always reminds me of a conference in St. Paul.
8. Similarly it's hard to believe when I listen to the current songs from the Dandy Warhols that they could still write a catchy pop song like 'Bohemian Like You' from Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia.Compared to how much I enjoy their first three albums, I can’t fathom how they’ve become so horrible. I hope it’s calculated because I could almost respect a conscious decision to destroy themselves one album at a time.
9. Actually as I write this, I wonder if I could separate out into groups, those artists that I think have 'gotten better' and those who have 'gotten worse' over time. Stephen Malkmus' 'Black Book' is from his self-titled debut album and seems to be his most Pavementy track (and album in my opinion, it's the only one I own) and I've grown considerably weary of everything he's released since. I really like this song and a few more from this album.
10. 'Lake Fever' from the Tragically Hip's Music At Workis probably my favourite song on what I think is there weakest album, which is to say I like it a great deal but don't love it. I’m not a big ‘lyric’ guy, where the words can make or break a song. The words to 'Lake Fever' I really like though:
We can skip to the practical part
We can skip to the time of neither
When we're together, even when we're apart
Tell you a story about the Lake Fever
or we can skip to the coital fury
You didn't say yes or no neither
You whispered...hurry
We can take it a little bit further
We can skip to the after-effects part
Not trying to make you a believer
Don't want a little piece of your heart
Just telling you a story about the Lake Fever
or we can skip to a neutral fury
You didn't say yes or no neither
You whispered...hurry
Wanna be a nobody without peer
Wanna be a thought that's never done
Wanna shake your faith in human nature
Wanna break the hearts of everyone
Wanna be your wheezing screen door
Wanna be your stars Algonquin
Wanna be your roaring floorboard
Wanna break the hearts of everyone
and cause discontent
Until they, ceasing their investigation
bring back the days' events,
good citizens and time well-spent
Till we're talking in whispers again
You whispered...hurry
11. One listen to this Marah’sKids in Philly and you wonder why it never caught on with people who like regular old Pettyesque rock & roll. Of the many songs one could select (Faraway You was another)I like ‘Barstool Boys’ a lot, "It’s a time clock/With a late block/Screamin’ walk that walk/Or else you’re all talk/And it’s eavesdrop/And it’s hard luck/Put ‘er in fast/And never don’t stop/Up in a weightless sky/(ooh baby) where no one flies…". I think Marah has gotten better or at least maintained the static (except for their mainstream grab Float Away with the Friday Night Gods which is weirdly awesome).
12. The Maker's 'Star Power' from their album Rock Star God is some kickin' glammy rawk and roll. Since hearing this album I've grabbed more of their albums but none hit as hard as this song (or perhaps '(I’m Just Lookin’ for a) Supergirl') from that album.
13. Rancid's 'Radio Havana' is just another excellent tune from a band that to me is impossible not to like, unless you’re one of those purists with exaggerated ideals who feel that this type of music should never be practiced outside of a certain era. Remarkably unremarkable and still hangs with you after it's gone.
14. But for hanging with you after its gone, almost nothing on this list can even remotely compare to the truly awesome power of 'Kathy Fong is The Bomb' from Tsar's self-titled debut. It's like they decided to just go for broke and cram as many hooks into a 10 three min pop songs. If you're not smiling during this song or at least semi-content with the world after hearing it, then I don't know what to tell you.
15. I think I was ignorant of the existence of the Weakerthans until 2003 or so, but better a few years late than never (thank you Janet…), I do love ‘Aside’ from Left and Leaving a lot especially the line about alcohol and irony. Also I think it's odd that this was over the closing credits of ‘The Wedding Crashers’.
16. Again in the musical geekery world when it is often ponderously debated which artists that have gotten better or worse over time, one polarizing argument is: Have the New Pornographers gotten better or worse since their debut? I tend to prefer the clatter of songs like 'Letter from an Occupant' from Mass Romantic and think the smoothing of their rougher edges over the decade has weakened them slightly but not fatally. This is yet another song I don't know if I can possibly ever get sick of hearing especially the call and response part at the end, with Neko hollering 'fortheloveofagodyousayyyyyyy' and 'notaletterfromanoccupanttttttt'.
17. All I have to say about Outkast’s ‘B.O.B.’ is that it's kind of impossible to hate or perhaps it's a perspective thing.Maybe if you really love hip-hop you're almost obligated to hate this because of the crossover appeal of Stankonia.Not being a real hip-hop fan (at least I’m not post-’95 or whenever that Master P. stuff flooded the market), I don't know. It's just a fun song with massive energy that still sounds incredibly unique at a time when that’s a rare commodity.
18. But if I had to pick an all time favourite here from 2000, it's got to be the Strokes’ 'Last Nite' from Is This It?. The album was supposed to be the biggest thing in the whole goddamn world based on the hype around their first EP (Stop the presses, NME just named it Album of the Decade…). And while it wasn't Nickelback seismic, it was a great, great record. Short, fun, punchy rock and roll.
19. Similarly, one might say the same about Mr. Ryan Adams who hasn't really delivered on his own self-absorbed genius.I'm supposing that because anyone who fires out that many albums in such a short period of time must think they're something special. HisHeartbreaker album is in fact pretty good to great. Similar to the New Pornographers, his anonymity in the real world is hilariously contrasted by his hugeness amongst the geek/hipster set (or at least it was a few years ago, the guy has slowed right down in pace and quality) who can get positively verbal regarding whether he has sucked since the demise of Whiskeytown or justHeartbreaker.
20. Sleater-Kinney were critical darlings who really didn't change stylistically all that much (perhaps why they were so critically beloved, I don’t know) except for their final grungey & Horsey 2005 albumThe Woods. Frankly, I loved 1999's The Hot Rock and their next All Hands on the Bad One. In fact when I put together some of my favourite singles in big slush pile, I had four songs from that latter album. It's good stuff. I went with the title track practically on whim, I like them all equally.
21. I can't recall precisely when I heard Phoenix's United for the first time but it was definitely in 2000 or thereabouts because I remember walking around London playing this French disco-AM pop a lot. 'Too Young' has popped up in a few movies over the years (and they couldn't be more different, 'Shallow Hal' and 'Lost in Translation'). Like that Sleater-Kinney album, I chose more than a few songs off United as my favourites of the decade, 'On Fire' was really, really hard to cut.
22. Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out is a quiet and pretty record, 'Saturday' being one of my favourite songs from it. It's a grown-up album for sure, miles away from some of their past noisy moments. Definitely a very late in the evening or very, very early in the morning kind of album.
23. 'Didn't Cha Know' from Erkyah Badu shares both a mature similarity with the latter Yo La Tengo album, as both it and Mama’s Gun share extremely long 10 min+ closing tracks. Again, I’m not really much of a hip-hop fan but I really liked Baduizm and her work with the Roots (‘You Got Me’) and have continued to enjoy her work through to her latest releases.
24. A lot of people really, really loved the Avalanches’ Since I Left You, I think it was electro-pop album with a mixture of different styles a la Beck and Beastie Boys. The album never really worked as a cohesive whole for me, but I did love a few of the tracks on it, and it was between 'Tonight May Have to Last Me All My Life' or 'Two Hearts in 3/4 Time'. I went with the former, as I really like the Nancy Wilson piano-stylings in it.
25. The final song here is 'New' from No Doubt's 2000 albumReturn to Saturn or from what I typically associate it with, the 1999 soundtrack to Doug Limon's movie Go. I decided that since I associate it with '00 it belongs here. I really dig the song, although the actual album it’s on is a kind of a bloated mess at 15 songs. In general this band’s album are always edited kind of badly because they wear out their welcome over the course of an hour. Still, ‘New’ is good new wave fun. Also the lyrics ‘And you're consuming me violently\And your reverence shamelessly tempting me\Who sent this maniac?\'Cause I never had this taste in the past." Taste?
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