Songs for the New Year, Courtesy of the Old Year

Dear Kristin,

Three for the week:

 

 

 

The Fresh & Onlys don't make an appearance on the year's twenty - but for this week, they're much played.  The other two place.  Or rather, they're on the shortlist.  Different songs (from the same artists) made the cut.  It was not easy playing favorites.  Deerhunter's Halcyon Digest has much to give and Monitor is a darn good CD from start to finish, no?  Yes.  Yes, it is.  With few exceptions, all of the following came from rather wonderful CDs.  The picking was tough.  If I couldn't see an absolute favorite, I went with my most listened (hence Titus's No Future, Part III over the above or A More Perfect Union).

Twenty for the Year:
On Melancholy Hill, Gorillaz
Runaway, Kanye West
Giving Up the Gun, Vampire Weekend
Who Makes Your Money, Spoon
Conversation 16, The National
Excuses, The Morning Benders
No Future, Part III, Titus Andronicus
Sweetest Kill, Broken Social Scene
Stranded, Walkmen
All Yr Songs, Diamond Rings
Helicopter, Deerhunter
We Used to Wait, Arcade Fire
Don't Fuckin Tell Me What to Do, Robyn
Does Not Suffice, Joanna Newsome  (I always imagine Bill Callahan on the other end of this letter)
The Weekenders, Hold Steady
Holiday Road - Walkmen
Last Prom on Earth, Gayngs
Kids on the Run - Tallest Man on Earth
Chinatown, Wild Nothing
Mermaid Parade, Phosphorescent

No album overlap, vaguely arranged from first favorite to twentieth favorite.



Love,
J. Benny