What will be the most acclaimed songs of this year? Anyone have any guesses. I really hope "You Are All I Need" by Radiohead and "Icky Thump" by the White Stripes make the list. I also think Paper Plans by M.I.A. will be in the top 20.
My favourite songs would be No Cars Go by Arcade Fire, I want to make it wit' Chu (even if it is not totally new) by Queens of the Stone Age and Heart it Races by Architecture in Helsinki which really is an awesome song !
Really like Someone Great by LCD Soundsystem too, and 4 or 5 songs in New Moon but i'm too many an Elliott Smith fan to remain objective.
For a few years, until some other song bubbles up and starts showing up on all-time lists, it's likely to be some insanely catchy pop or R&B song that is listed somewhere on the majority of critics'year-end lists. One song from 2007 fits the bill: Rhinanna's "Umbrella."
My favorite songs this year are "Someone Great" by LCD Soundsystem (probably the finest song I've ever heard about reacting to someone's death) and the Arcade Fire's "Intervention" and "Windowsill" (which are both better than any single track on FUNERAL except "Rebellion (Lies)", even if I still ever-so-slightly prefer the debut as a whole). IN RAINBOWS seems like such an all-of-a-piece masterwork, even in the form of 10 separate MP3's, that it's impossible to isolate any single song as a highlight.
Well, my favorite song of the year is another LCD Soundsystem song: "All My Friends." I know James Murphy is older than I am, but I think regardless of your age, it's about the most eloquent statement on getting older that I've ever heard. "North American Scum" is probably my #2 as well.
Other favs are Spoon "The Underdog," The National "Fake Empire," Bruce Springsteen "Girls in Their Summer Clothes," Grinderman "No Pussy Blues," Wilco "Hate It Here" and !!! "Must By The Moon"
The National's "Fake Empire" and "Ada", as well as Springsteen's "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" and "Radio Nowhere" should make it. And I also kinda hope to see Timberlake's "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around Interlude", what a great song. And let's not forget "Bros" by Panda Bear, the closest thing anyone can come to the Beach Boys sound without stealing their actual songs. In a good way.
I have to say, I think BOXER is growing on me, especially "Ada", whose opening lines ("Ada, don't talk about reasons why you don't want to talk about reasons why you don't want to talk") are among the best I've ever heard.
That's exactly what Boxer is, an album that has to grow on you. Pitchfork, who I usually don't agree with too much, worded it very nicely: "Like those on their last album, these songs reveal themselves gradually but surely, building to the inevitable moment when they hit you in the gut. It's the rare album that gives back whatever you put into it."
That first sentence is great indeed. I also like "Tiptoe through our shiny city, with our diamond slippers on" in "Fake Empire".
Here are some of my faves that I hope make the list:
the News-Carbon/Silicone
Tonight I Have to Leave it- the Shout Out Louds
When Your Minds Made Up -Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
Valerie- Amy Whinehoue and Mike Ronson (might be from 06)
the Magic Position- Patrick Worf
Energy- Apples in Stereo
Same Old Drag -Apples in Stereo
Icky Thump -the White Stripes
the Underdog- Spoon
Silently - Blonde Redhead
Sheena is a Parasite- the Horrors
Switches- Drama Queen
May not be on the acclaimed lists but the ones I've been liking the most from this year thus far:
Fountains of Wayne "Traffic and Weather"
Kaiser Chiefs "The Angry Mob"
Derek Webb "A Savior on Capitol Hill"
Lucinda Williams "Fancy Funeral"
Britt Nicole "Sunshine Girl"
Paul McCartney "Vintage Clothes"
Richard Swift - "The ballad of you know who"
The Coral - "Cobwebs"
Jens Lekman - "Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig"
Super Furry Animals - "Show your hand"
Josh Rouse - "Sweetie"
Lucky Soul - "My darling, anything"
Candie Payne - "I Wish I Could Have Loved You More"
The most acclaimed songs often include a lot of hit singles that I didn't hear because they're by bands that are overall lame.
Singles lists seem to get compiled differently from album lists in that songs aren't rewarded for being eclectic the way albums are.
So, my guesses, just from the songs I've heard.
Feist - 1234
M.I.A. - Paper Planes
Something from Jay Z's album (Critics never leave rap out of their lists, because if they do they worry they'll seem biased against it, and they usually agree what the best few rap songs and albums are, so they all pick the same ones).
Just remember another song I loved from this year called "Can't Believe A Single Word" by VHS or Beta. I used to get them confused with TV on the Radio but this single stands out as a classic rocker.
I didn't really like Stronger. I thought Homecoming was a great track though and I'm kind of surprised it isn't a single seeing as Chris Martin is featured.
There weren't that many great pop singles this year but I might have missed some. Umbrella was pretty good, the Britney album had some good songs but that's all I can think of in terms of radio pop. I'm probably not thinking far enough back though or forgetting something.
Caribou - Meloday Day
It's a wonderful album that this man did, with magnificent melodies. She's the one might be my favourite track, but it's not a single yet.