Decade End Mix: 25 Songs from 2005

Decade End Mix: 25 Songs from 2005

1. 4th of July - Shooter Jennings

2. Last Night in Town - Lucero

3. Joy - Bettye Lavette

4. I'm In the Band - The Hellacopters

5. I Wanna Holler (But the Town's Too Small) - The Detroit Cobras

6. Little Sister - Queens of the Stone Age

7. Your Little Hoodrat Friend - The Hold Steady

8. Til' The Bleeding Stops - Deadstring Brothers

9. Walt Whitman Bridge - Marah

10. Celtic New Year - Van Morrison

11. Prairie Wind - Neil Young

12. Let It Ride - Ryan Adams & the Cardinals

13. I Burn Today - Frank Black

14. Mornings Eleven - The Magic Numbers

15. What A Wonderful Man - My Morning Jacket

16. Jackie, Dressed in Cobras - New Pornographers

17. 7/4 (Shoreline) - Broken Social Scene

18. The Fallen - Franz Ferdinand

19. Spit It Out - Brenden Benson

20. Like Eating Glass - Bloc Party

21. 32nd of December - Babyshambles

22. I Turn My Camera On - Spoon

23. The Denial Twist - The White Stripes

24. Your Ex-Lover is Dead - Stars

25. I'll Believe in Anything - Wolf Parade

1. As I've mentioned it several times already, clearly driving across the country by yourself affords one the luxury of spending some quality time with a lot of albums, and given the emotional intensity one may (or may not be feeling), these songs are gonna get bound to that particular space-time event. I picked up a few albums in the weeks before I left on this trip, one of them being Shooter Jennings' unfortunately named Let's Put the 'O' Back in Country (unfortunate because it's stupid). Fortunately, it's got some pretty great Southern Rock songs and Shooter's got a deep baritone like his daddy, enough to make the album good but not great. However in that car it sounded like the best goddamn thing in the world, in particular, '4th of July' featuring George Jones himself. 'Wh-when we all gon' get paid for this?'

2. Lucero have definitely gotten progressively more interesting over the decade. They just started writing better songs. This is a great example, 'Last Night in Town' from Nobody's Darlings. Speaking of good country-rawk, or Southern rock or alt-country or Americana or whatever genre this fits into. It's just goooood shit. And this song segues so perfectly into the next one, it's almost like 'No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature'.

3. I love hearing old soul singers come back and, not reinvent themselves, but re-emerge as themselves into a new musical terrain. Solomon Burke is a great example of this, as is Bettye Lavette. The voice is the showcase, and here is no exception. This is kind of scary, dark funk with a heavy groove. They took her 'Joy', she wants it back, from I've Got My Own Hell to Raise.

4. More Swedish garage rock. 'I'm in the Band', a jaunty tune about..well, being in a band. It's not hard to understand. From Rock & Roll Is Dead.

5. Another great rock & roll song from The Detroit Cobras, 'I Wanna Holler (But the Town's Too Small)'. Originally a song by Gary 'US' Bonds, this swings and stomps with the sentiment that everyone who's ever grown up in a small town can identify with. If they haven't already, they need to cover 'Quarter to Three'. From Baby..

6. I remember playing the hell out of Queens of the Stone Age's Lullabies to Paralyze while writing my thesis, particularly cranking out 'Little Sister' at ear bleeding volume.

7. Man, I'm glad I came around on The Hold Steady and the first album I'd heard from them, Separation Sunday. At first it seemed so stupid in terms of delivery. The music was heavily Sprinsgteen by way of bar band, the kind I like over almost all else. But the vocals were half-spoken, where too many words seemed crammed into an inadequate temporal frame and delivered in an awkward cadence. I remember walking around the University of Saskatchewan campus listening to this and occasionally wondering 'WHY I am listening to this?' and then I'd come back to it after awhile and think it was okay but after they got magnificently awesome in 2006, I'd come to appreciate it a bit more. One standout from that album is here, 'Your Little Hoodrat Friend'.

8. Another favourite band and album for 2005 was the Deadstring Brother's Starving Winter Report, again with the alt-country/Americana in the style of the Band, right down to a decent cover of 'Get Up Jake'. They do it well here with 'Til The Bleeding Stops'.

9. Only one more Marah to go after this track, from probably my favourite album of theirs, If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry. Crazily, this record reminds me a LOT of an Canadian band's, The Lowest of The Low, specifically their album Shakespeare My Butt, lyrically they're kind of similar, lots of songs about white people drinking their troubles away, but the Low were kind of goofy and Marah isn't, a bit maudlin and cliched but that's what's good about it. But musically, it's rousing pub music for Thursday nights. This is the 'Walt Whitman Bridge', which totally could be a title from the Low.

10. Van Morrison has managed to churn out some great albums during this decade, his 2009 Astral Weeks live album notwithstanding. His original material has been pretty great actually though I doubt anyone will compare this favourably to his greatest work in the 60s and 70s, and really, how could you? It's a goddamn insane benchmark that anyone, let alone someone who's been performing in five decades and has more than a few classic albums under his rather significant belt. But Van's Magic Time in 2005 is damn good, particularly his 'Celtic New Year', which seems like it's tailor made for December.

11. In contrast to Van Morrison, Neil Young has been kind of hit or miss when delivering albums this decade. Overall, in terms of the greater whole, they're clearly not in the same league as his earlier albums, even from the 90s. BUT, when he's on the mark he's still peerless. Prairie Wind is almost all hit no miss. For myself, there's not a clunker on the album and it was hard to choose what to put on here, but I went with the title track.

12. Another album from the cross-country trip, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals Cold Roses, I picked up as I left London. I hit HMV, Petro-Canada and was gone. This was my Grateful Dead album before I was really into the Grateful Dead. 'Let it Ride' is toe and finger tappin' driving tune.

13. Frank Black friggin' dominated this decade for the indie music fan. He was all over the place, with excellent, rockabilly surf rock or more to his more countryish leanings here on Honeycomb. I was lucky enough to see him in 2006 (more on that later). This is one of his more memorable songs 'I Burn Today'.

14. The Magic Numbers are some 60s-70s influenced folk- pop-throwback with a splash of Belle & Sebastian. I confess, this is another album I haven't played in awhile so it speaks somewhat to it's essential listening, but sometimes I do forget about albums when I get caught up in whatever. Anyway, I got a refresher and damn do I love the song 'Mornings Eleven' from their self-titled debut.

15. This is a bit of a transitional album for My Morning Jacket. While still firmly in the southern rock/jam, they started to get a bit of the Princely funk that we would see more of later on Evil Urges. Admittedly, Z was a bit tougher to get into for me as I'm emotionally attached to the previous work, but it's grown on me over time more so after being so horrified by their changes on Evil Urges and then embracing it. Anyway, this is 'What A Wonderful Man', from Z.

16. Putting these mixes together, most of the time I don't need a refresher to see if there's a standout song as most of the albums in my collection have been spun enough times for me to recall, but others get a few plays and then sit idle for sometimes quite awhile. New Pornographers' Twin Cinema was one I hadn't played in awhile, as when I need my New Pornographers' itch scratched I typically grab for their first two albums. YET, sometimes as I've just noted, I'm just forgetful. This is another case. There were so many great tunes to pick from on this record. I ended up picking 'Jackie, Dressed in Cobras' because the title is great and Neko sounds likewise. Also since I've played it, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. It's been three days. Jackie's dressed in cobras, Jackie's dressed in cobras...

17. Broken Social Scene's self-titled release in 2005 was practically a double album if you count the bonus EP that came with it. Now I stress, practically because it wasn't a double, just a really, really long regular LP. Now, that's the fucking problem. If you're going to go long, go the whole way and release a double album. I love getting a 30 min single LP from an artist, because it's usually a tight listen that leaves me wanting more, but at the same time, I also love big ol' double albums because I'm also interested in hearing if the artist's vision can actually deliver that much music (Wilco, Frank Black, Blue Rodeo have done this, effectively giving us two 'single' albums spread over two discs). But for some reason sitting down and listening to a single LP over 60 min is just excessive and I end up resenting the artist's inability to edit themselves because they're so enamoured with all the weight of their genius. Why on earth do I listen to Broken Social Scene then? I don't. It's too fucking long and not good enough, but I do like '7/4 (Shoreline).

18. For two years in a row, we got a couple of Franz Ferdinand albums, 2004 and 2005 and then...nothing until 2009, it was a long break. 2005's You Could Have It So Much Betterwas as good, if not slightly better than the debut, with loads of great pop tunes like 'The Fallen'. Music for Saturday night.

19. I grabbed this Brenden Benson album, The Alternative to Love a few years ago, perhaps precognitively sensing his future Jack White connection for their band, The Raconteurs. This has a truly spectacular power-pop opener in 'Spit it Out'. Goooood stuff.

20. Bloc Party are another band who were destined to disappoint because there's no way that they could possibly meet the expectations of those who truly believed that they were really that good. Silent Alarm was an impressive debut, and 'Like Eating Glass' is one of my favourite singles of the year, but it really was just Britpop in the end, and the expiration date already set for a year after the debut. When they finally released their follow-up (which I like more) Weekend in the City in 2007, the decline was set in motion.

21. When Libertines finally dissolved in a druggy, mess courtesy of Pete Doherty who was breaking in to his bandmates' houses to feed his drug habit one probably could not have expected him to bounce back some brilliantly with Babyshambles. I know some think this album is too goddamn long, and technically this violates my early remarks about Broken Social Scene but it's one of those records that I feel aren't long enough. It could be that one sensed that this guy could literally die anytime and you just want him to hang on a little while longer. This is the 'The 32nd Of December' from Down in Albion.

22. If there's one thing putting these mixes together has solidified in my mind, is that I am a Fan of Spoon. There's I've said it. I've had a psychic block about being a fan I think. Gimme Fiction continued their winning ways. This is the ever slinky 'I Put My Camera On'.

23. I love me some White Stripes. They keep doing Do No Wrong (in my mind anyway) with Get Behind Me Satan, which is not quite as perfect as Elephant but it's up there. So many great songs on the album, one of my favourites is 'The Denial Twist'.

24. It's funny how live music can put a band or album you merely thought was okay into one you really quite like a lot. When I saw them in Saskatoon, they put on a really great show in a small club at the university and I grew pretty fond of their album Set Yourself on Fire. Technically this was an '04 release in Canada but the album is '05 in the US and since my iTunes has the '05 date and since I saw them in '05, here they be. This is 'Your Ex-Lover is Dead''.

25. And speaking once again of live acts improving an otherwise mild impression of an album, Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary was pretty much all right with me until I saw them open for the Arcade Fire. And then it was one of my favourite records of the year. When they played 'I'll Believe in Anything' for their final number it was staggeringly great, loud and intense.

Decade End Mix: 25 Songs from 2004

Decade End Mix: 25 Songs from 2004

1. King of The Rodeo - Kings of Leon

2. Vaccination Scar - The Tragically Hip

3. C'mon C'mon - The Von Bondies

4. #1 Summer Jam - Butch Walker

5. Me and Mia - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists

6. But Julian, I'm a Little Bit Older Than You - Courtney Love

7. Can't Stand Me Now - The Libertines

8. Mr. Brightside - The Killers

9. Rebellion (Lies) - The Arcade Fire

10. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand

11. Tame the Tiger - Marah

12. (I Believe In) Travelling Light - Belle & Sebastian

13. One Evening - Feist

14. Tears All Over Town - A Girl Named Eddy

15. Portions for Foxes - Rilo Kiley

16. Carl Perkin's Cadillac - Drive-By Truckers

17. You Did (Bomp Shobby Dooby Bomb) - Chuck Prophet

18. The Good Times Are Killing Me - Modest Mouse

19. Portland Oregon - Lorretta Lynn

20. The Furnace Sun - Preston School of Industry

21. Let's Make History - The (International) Noise Conspiracy

22. Empty Heart - Sahara Hotnights

23. Blinded By the Lights - The Streets

24. Unmade Bed - Sonic Youth

25. Spiders (Kidsmoke) - Wilco

1. The day I left on the Big Road Trip of '05, saying goodbye to London and Ontario, the album I put on first was Aha Shake Heartbreak because it's a fantastic road album and one of my favourites of the decade. For this, it was either 'Rememo' with the awesome refrain "drippin' beards, cold as hell and the motherfucker's gonna go to jail, this rememo is set for home, it's personal, but they need to know" or 'King of the Rodeo'. 'Me and your cold, drivin' in the snow, let the good times roll, let the good times roll.' It was a good time to roll on.

2. The Tragically Hip have continued to put out consistently good to great albums during this decade, save for Music@Work, which I can honestly say is a dud. In Between Evolution has some dynamite tracks, and choosing them was a difficult choice as I'd rank a few of these up with my all time favourites from the band. I went with 'Vaccination Scar' by a hair over 'It Can't Be Nashville Every Night'. Both of these songs absolutely kill live, best found during their 2005 live dvd That Night in Toronto.

3. 'C'mon C'mon' may be best known as the theme song to Denis Leary's FX show Rescue Me. It's a good fit I think for the show with it's "With my teeth locked down I can see the blood/Of a thousand men who have come and gone/Now we grieve cause now is gone/Things were good when we were young..." Pawn Shoppe Heart is a decent album of modern Detroit garage worth checking out. They finally followed it up in 2009.

4. There are a handful of artists/producers I feel the need to check out nearly any project that they're associated with (e.g Jack White). Butch Walker fits this criteria, although I tend to be less than interested in his productions (lots of modern pop) and mainly in his own work with Marvelous 3 and solo albums. They all tend to be delicious pop greatness. The guy has an ear for the Big Hooks. Perfect example is '#1 Summer Jam' from Letters.

5. I was a bit of a late comer to Ted Leo & the Pharmacists. Lots of great energy, fantastic songs. This is 'Me and Mia' from Shake the Sheets. Gets dem feet a tappin.

6. Is there a better villain than Courtney Love? She's fake and a fraud (doesn't write songs has other famous men do so, i.e. Cobain and Corgan for Live Through This and Celebrity Skin), a mentally ill drug addict who fucked her way to the middle, just the way we love our villainous females. Evil, vindictive, crazy, corrupting all those around her, a black hole of mediocrity and vicodin. I sometimes wish there was quantifiable proof came out that she was, in fact, the real genius behind Nirvana and the sole songwriter of In Utero just to see what the haters would find to despise about her next. There's no doubt that she's a mentally ill, drug addict but that type has got to be a dime a dozen, I think she's just louder than the rest. I almost wish she could have bagged Julian Casablancas. That would have been sweet. Alas, this is 'But Julian I'm a Little Older Than You' from her thus far only solo album America's Sweetheart. Like the singer, it's short, loud and obnoxious.

7. From their self-titled great and final album (to date) The Libertines' 'Can't Stand Me Now' is fantastic and never fails to put a smile on my face. One of the best songs from 2004.

8. Like 'Hey Ya!' from 2003, it was hard to avoid 'Mr. Brightside' in 2004. From Hot Fuss album, it's pretty damn infectious pop music. I have to say I somewhat admire these guys for their attempts to branch out from the synthy 80s inflected pop that made them friggin' huge and take a chance on the Americana Springsteeny-U2 of Sam's Town in 2006. It hasn't largely been successful, but they're still cranking it out.

9. The Arcade Fire's Funeral is up there as well with my favourites of the 00's. I'd hadn't ranked it that high initially but came around after seeing them live in the fall of 2005. They played nearly the whole album and was hooked after that. It was a spectacular show and the songs really took off live. This is 'Rebellion (Lies)'.

10. Franz Ferdinand's self-titled debut album is chock full of danceable, groovy tunes, possibly none more so than their biggest single 'Take Me Out'. Also pretty damn infectious pop music. Unlike The Killers, they're thankfully still churning this style out in 2009.

11. Marah are probably competing with the Drive-By Truckers, the Hip and good ol' Ryan Adams for most appearances over the decade mixes. I don't understand how anyone can not like these guys. This is 'Tame the Tiger' from 20,000 Streets Under the Sky back to form from their Oasis dalliance, but not quite back to the Springsteenian garage yet. This is a gently funky track with lots of handclaps and acoustic guitar. They also released a surprisingly awesome Christmas album in 2004 that I highly recommend.

12. I actually got the leak of Belle & Sebastian's Dear Catastrophe Waitress far before it's street release and '(I Believe In) Travelling Light' was originally on that album. Much to my chagrin, it was scrubbed from the original release and put on the I'm a Cuckoo EP. It was my favourite song on the album, but since it was released in 2004, it's on here. Good tune.

13. Feist's 'One Evening' from her debut album Let It Die. I have an insane love of this downtempo , bossa nova kind of thing. As someone with a bit of an anger problem, this is like a delightful opiate. I miss Esthero or at least the Esthero of Breath From Another. I don't listen to a lot of this music but around this time of year it sounds great.

14. In a similar vein, A Girl Called Eddy's 'Tears All Over Town' from her self-titled debut, sounds more than a bit like Feist, so what I said about her applies here too. I don't think she's released another album since this one, which is too bad. Good AM listening for late in the year.

15. Rilo Kiley's 'Portion for Foxes' from More Adventurous. I can't remember where and when I heard this tune for the first time. I must have read about it somewhere and picked it up. Not a bad record, decent indie pop with the slightest nod towards alt-country at times. Big choruses abound, especially here'. I'm actually surprised this didn't get picked up by the abstinence crowd as an antislut anthem. 'Talking leads to touching and the touching leads to sex and then there is no mystery left....and I'm badnewwwwwwws'. Sex is dirty, cover up.

16. More Drive-By Truckers for y'all. 'Carl Perkin's Cadillac' from The Dirty South. Tells us the story of Sam Philips, famous producer of Sun Records roster of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and of course, Carl Perkins. Great song and hilarious too:

'If Mr. Phillips was the only man that Jerry Lee still would call 'sir'

Then I guess Mr. Phillips did all of y'all about as good as you deserve

He did just what he said he was gonna do and the money came in sacks

New contracts and Carl Perkins' Cadillac'

17. I think I played this record about a billion damn times in 2004, so much that I haven't played it in awhile. Would I have cared as much to hear Loretta Lynn in 2004 if Jack White hadn't produced (and played) on Van Lear Rose? Probably not, although I'd still have heard it anyway just wouldn't have picked it up on the first day of release (see Wagoner, Porter: Wagonmaster). Loretta's duet with Jack White on 'Portland Oregon' is great fun, "Next day we knew last night got drunk, but we loved enough for the both of us, in the morning when the night had sobered up, it was much too late for the both of us in Oregon.'

18. "I got a letter this morning, who put the bomp" in the bomp-shooby-dooby-bomp? Who put the "ram" in the rama-lama-ding-dong?

You did...Chuck Prophet. From Age of Miracles

19. 'The Good Times Are Killing Me'. Great closer from Modest Mouse's Good News for People Who Love Bad News. Love some of the lines from this song, particularly the 'Enough hair of the dog to make myself an entire rug'. That's a lot.

20. Preston School of Industry is the new band from Scott 'Spiral Stairs' Kannberg, formerly of Pavement. I was surprised how much I liked Monsoon, the last album ever released under this moniker. Too bad because it was a hell of a lot of fun. This is 'The Furnace Sun'. Nice and loose.

21. Another entry is the Sweden Produces Great Music would be The (International) Noise Conspiracy, for this 60's garage inspired romp 'Let's Make History' from Armed Love. Produced by (and another entry in The I Always Pay Attention To This Person) Rick Rubin, it was his association that first tipped me towards these guys. These commies know how to rock & roll.

22. More great Swedish New Wave from Sahara Hotnights. This is 'Empty Heart' from Kiss & Tell. Delicious, big hooky choruses.

23. Hard to pick a single track from The Streets' A Grand Don't Come For Free as it really is a "concept" album about the day in the life of this epileptic layabout. All the songs really bleed into each other, but 'Blinded By the Lights' is as close to a standalone there is on the record. Just Mike standing alone in the club waiting for his buzz to kick in, getting impatient and swallowing more booze and drugs. We've all been there, damn no buzz yet, let's double down and push things forward. Uh oh...

24. Sonic Youth's Sonic Nurse album made me sit up and pay attention again. It doesn't make much sense, because everyone continually loves them, the critics and steady fans at least. I counted myself among them but started to find them to be not quite essential when it came to hearing new releases, pretty much since Washing Machine. I think I downloaded this for a taste and was pleasantly surprised to find how much I enjoyed it, reminding much more of their older material circa Evol, particularly this track 'Hidden Bed'.

25. See, it songs like this that should be the dividing line between those who like the old Wilco and those who do not care for their shift in sound quality. 'Spiders (Kidsmoke)' from A Ghost is Born clocks in at nearly 11 minutes and is a cross between Neu! and Crazy Horse. I've never been a huge fan of the album, but I've always liked this song a lot, probably because I do like Neu! (and Stereolab which this song sounds a bit like as well) and Crazy Horse a lot.

Decade End Mix: 25 Songs from 2003

Decade End Mix: 25 Songs from 2003

1. Welcome to the Monkey House>We Used to Be Friends - The Dandy Warhols

2. Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

3. Mexican Wine - Fountains of Wayne

4. Good Dancers - The Sleepy Jackson

5. Fools on Parade - The Jayhawks

6. Sinkhole - Drive-By Truckers

7. Joe's Head - Kings of Leon

8. That Much Further West - Lucero

9. Mahgeeta - My Morning Jacket

10. English Girls Approximately - Ryan Adams

11. Santa Cruz (You're Not that Far) - The Thrills

12. James - Josh Rouse

13. Little Eyes - Yo La Tengo

14. Reptilia - The Strokes

15. Seven Days a Week - The Sounds

16. The Rest of My Life - Sloan

17. The Laws Have Changed - The New Pornographers

18. Riot Industry - Cobra Verde

19. Memphis - Rancid

20. Modern Kicks - The Exploding Hearts

21. 99 Problems - Jay-Z

22. Man - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

23. Beat Your Heart Out - The Distillers

24. Danger High Voltage - Electric Six

25. Hey Ya! - Outkast

1. I've always liked the short opening salvo on the Dandy Warhol's Welcome to the Monkey House, "...when Michael Jackson dies, we're covering 'Blackbird'", segueing into 'We Used to Be Friends'. This is the last bit of enjoyment I've managed to squeeze out of the this band as well. The re-release of this album and single in 2009, as The Dandy Warhols Are Sound is a bit grubbier in sound. I kind of prefer the first version. Primacy reigns supreme.

2. Signs of a great album? Out of 14 songs, you still have difficulty choosing a favourite. That is the case with The White Stripes' Elephant, where even Meg's contributions rank high. I nearly put the closing 'It's True that We Love One Another' because the second I hear that song it's rattling around in my head all day long. So 'Seven Nation Army' is a good a choice as any. Such a crackerjack opening song.

3. While I'm not a huge fan of Fountains of Wayne, I really love some of their songs (the practically perfect 'Radiation Vibe' for instance). 'Mexican Wine' has such a great first line 'He was killed by a cellular phone explosion'. Any song that references electromagnetic fields AND wine is clearly going to be a favourite of mine.

4. 'Good Dancers' from the Sleepy Jackson's Lovers is great, lilting kind of song. Feels like a perfect late in the year walk in the park.

5. 'Fools on Parade' is a bit more of a rambunctious tune from the normally low to midtempo Jayhawks. It suits them actually. Too bad they didn't crack this vibe more often. Smoke some cigarettes and have some Jack and coke.

6. I can't choose my favourite song on the mix but if push came to shove I guess I'd pick Drive-By Truckers' 'Sinkhole' from one of the best albums of the decade Decoration Day. There is such a serious and menacing tone in this song, as well it should be. Songs of murder and family retribution should be heavy.

7. Speaking of murder, Kings of Leon's 'Joe's Head' has one too, albeit more of a crime of passion. Kind of the natural response when you catch someone laying with your girlfriend. And yes, people can be so cold when they're dead. The music though is kind of lively and is one of my favourite songs to hear in the truck. When you hear Youth & Young Manhood it's hard to believe how damn HUGE this band has gotten over the last year or so. I wonder if all the folks who love 'Use Somebody' dig on songs like this and 'Red Morning Light'? I suspect no.

8. In the fine tradition of CCR's 'Lodi', the title track from Lucero's That Much Further West is about a band's life on the road, loneliness, guilt, heading farther away from loved ones, geographically and spiritually. "And the west is the only sky that's blue, so Tell Katie that I'll see her soon, until then the only thoughts that I have left, are that much further west..."

9. Up there with the Drive-By Truckers in the favourite song/album category of the 00's is 'Mahgeetah'' from My Morning Jacket's It Still Moves. This album is probably my go-to when I'm driving alone, up there with All Time Best irrespective of decade. When I drove from London to Saskatoon alone, I slapped this in as I peeled out of Sudbury around daybreak, from the first lines of the album opener 'Mahgeetah', 'Sittin' here with me and mine, all wrapped up in a bottle of wine, little we can do...we gon' see it thru somehow...' to the last 'One in the Same':

'Don't think poor of me

It wasn't till I woke up...

That I could hold down a joke

Or a job or a dream

But then all three are one in the same'

10. Again with the Ryan Adams...oy vei. 'English Girls Approximately' is from Love is Hell pt. 2, the second of two EPs (Love is Hell, pt 1) and one LP (the personally loathed Rock N Roll, probably the beginning of my antipathy towards this dude). I actually quite like the EPs or more accurately the LP as Lost Highway quickly re-released it as a single entity. Kind of like Heartbreaker, I think he at first called it his Smiths album. I'm not sure why though, I guess because he got the Smiths' producer. This is a great song with vocal contributions from Marianne Faithful.

11. 'Santa Cruz (You're Not that Far)' from the Thrills' So Much For the City is a sunny song replete with rich harmonies, a 70s throwback right down to the album cover.

12. Speaking of 70s, Josh Rouse's 'James' from his 1972 album has that feeling too. I actually haven't heard much of this guy, only a few albums but this is the only one that kind of stuck with me. It's a nice morning kind of album for when you're not cranky or hungover but are feeling fine and relatively okay with the world around you. I recommend it for Thursday mornings.

13. Yo La Tengo's 'Little Eyes' mines the same vein as the above. From their Summer Sun album, just a nice tune, with maybe a tinge of melancholy about a relationship.

14. I have always been of the opinion that Is This It? from the Strokes has been a superior album to their much awaited follow-up Room on Fire. I was put off enough that I adamantly would not listen to it for the longest time, preferring to get my fix from the debut. After much cajoling by some degenerate colleagues I finally gave in and gave it a proper listen. If anything it's less coherent and focused than the debut, which I give as a compliment. The first album had many songs that really were not that varied (Last Night, Someday, The Modern Age etc). But in contrast, Room on Fire is a short, slap of displaced emotions set to a mid-tempo beat. They better ape the sounds of the first two in 2010.

15. Swedish pop, what is it about that country and their talent for delightful new wave pop? The Sounds' 'Seven Days a Week' from Living in America is a perfect example. They do it well and followed up even better in 2006.

16. Action Pact is not a great Sloan album but it does have 'The Rest of My Life' on it. Love or hate Sloan, they've got the 3 min or less powerpop nailed pretty well. 'One thing I know about the rest of my life, I know that I'll be living here in Canada'. Somewhere, I'm sure unless the call of the South beckons, then I'll venture down during the February-March doldrums. Let's face it, it's cold here. A lot.

17. Man, I friggin' love 'The Laws Have Changed' by the New Pornographers. From Electric Version, it's one song I just can't overplay. I don't know why I don't love Neko more when I hear her solo, because I hang on her every word here. Love those redheads, man.

18. Cobra Verde is another band I don't immediately think of playing when I feel like some straight up 70's inflected rock & roll, but when I hear it I get annoyed with myself for not listening more. 'Riot Industry' is straight up dynamite, all rye no cola. We all need more Cobra Verde in our lives to remind us that we forget the good stuff sometimes.

19. Rancid is another consistently good to great band with little lows to complain about. It was nice to have them back in 2009. 'Memphis' from Indestructible is them doing what they do best.

20. The Exploding Hearts managed to release one excellent album, Guitar Romantic, before a car accident killed practically the whole band. Sad, sad, sad. This is up there with the Libertines two albums for a truly excellent contemporary take on 70s punk. 'Modern Kicks' let's us know they had the goods.

21. I nearly forgot about adding Jay-Z's '99 Problems' on here because I only have the single. One of the best songs of the year and reminds how much I miss this genre sometimes. Rick Rubin, come back to hip-hop please. Like immediately and send Neil Diamond to Vegas or something.

22.' One-Two-Three GO! I gotta man who makes me wanna kill!' Karen O belts out 'Man' is less than two minutes. She's gotta man and we're all gonna burn in hell. She's awesome. From Fever to Tell.

23. I think we're supposed to all hate Brody Dalle from The Distillers but I can't remember why. There was a vague Courtney Love vibe or something. Anyway, I played the hell out of their Cobra Fang record. One of those few albums I immediately pressed play when it finished playing the first time. Always a good sign. 'Beat Your Heart Out' is one of many I could have stuck on here.

24. 'Danger! High Voltage!' is just stupid fun. "FIRE IN THE DISCO! FIRE IN THE TACO BELL!" Jack White should have had a hand in more of Electric Six instead of just this song and 'Gay Bar' but then I'm of the opinion that everything he touchs is awesome, so that's just one man's opinion. From Fire

25. I couldn't not have Outkast's 'Hey Ya!' on a list of 2003 songs. I haven't played Speakerboxx/A Love Below in years and it's still infectious.

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.