I'm Just Sayin Is All...

Great Songs of 2008: 131-140

2009-07-10T21:43:00.001-05:00

And so it's the end of the Great Songs of 2008 list at last. I've rounded to an even 140 songs because, for some reason, an even multiple of ten seemed important. That's a lot of notable albums in one year. So many that I've been incredibly, and hopefully not inextricably, distracted from the moments of 2009. I have, for a moment, become that uncle of yours who listens only to music from 1967, when the experience of Jimi Hendix in Strawberry Fields with The Velvet Underground and quadaphonic sound just stopped music forever for him. Only I'm that for 2008... a strange year of pop hip hop and electro dance rock and pretentiously fragile indie choruses and punky psychedelia. Flash forward to me still sitting on a lawnchair today mumbling about how there couldn't have been more amazing Mount Eerie songs packed into 2008. Yeah, it's time to move on.

So here's the rest, the end, the sounds of my sentence trailing off. We finish with songs that should've been much higher in the list... mmhm... oooahh... hey... nuff said.

131) Erykah Badu - Soldier (mp3)

132) Ponytail - Celebrate The Body Electric (mp3)

133) The Gaslight Anthem - Great Expectations (mp3)

134) South San Gabriel - Emma Jane (mp3)

135) Sun Kil Moon - Like The River (mp3)

136) Jentri Colello - Daisies (mp3)

137) Death Cab for Cutie - Grapevine Fires (mp3)

138) Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (mp3)

139) Violens - Violent Sensation Descends (mp3)

140) Young Jeezy (ft. Jay-Z) - Put On (mp3)

Download 131-140 as a zip file.

What did I miss? Feel free to add your additions to the list in the comments.

Great Songs of 2008: 121-130

2009-07-07T18:20:00.000-05:00

Tunga - Peine [Capillary Xiphopagus Between Us]

I'm sorry and all that. And also I miss you. And I'm asking you to never mention this again, if that's OK, so we'll never have to come back here. Don't make me explain how I doubted you. And list all my justifications. Just hold me really tight for one second and I'll reciprocate for a second. And then I'm asking that - please - we just hug the same, nothing more and nothing less. Always.

Here is the start of the end of the Great Songs of 2008 series... including the latest Iowa corn field rave anthem, the beef jerky vocals of one of the most popular rappers of last year, a Dear John letter, a blatant glamorization of domestic violence, a hypey British cover of Notorious B.I.G., and construction-paper indie single from Iceland.

121) Goldfrapp - Happiness (mp3)

122) Leslie Hall - Blame The Booty (mp3)

123) Lil Wayne (ft Bobby Valentino) - Mrs. Officer (mp3)

124) Noah & The Whale - 5 Years Time (mp3)

125) Dan Black - HYPNTZ (mp3)

126) Florence and the Machine - Kiss With a Fist (mp3)

127) Sin Fang Bous - Clangour And Flutes (mp3)

128) Authur Russell - I Couldn't Say It To Your Face (mp3)

129) Lambchop - Sharing A Gibson with Martin Luther King Jr. (mp3)

130) Plants and Animals - A New Kind of Love (mp3)

Download 121-130 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 111-120

2009-05-26T20:44:00.005-05:00

Venetia Dearden - Arri

Sorry I've slowed nearing the end of this huge list of Great Songs of 2008, but there are just so many... including a broken heart singing for itself, the unexplainable age of a 28-year-old's debut vocal, a song I included purely because I'm addicted to the way the singer re-pronounces "HE-E-EA-ED" (he tried to warn you), a genuine serenade to the resilience of the pinky toe, and a pale Portland woman who swallows her high-pitch deep and dull to quiet it for bed.

111) Shelley Short - Swimming (mp3)

112) Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul (mp3)

113) My Brightest Diamond - Inside A Boy (mp3)

114) Aron Wright - To the Country (mp3)

115) Sia - Soon We'll Be Found (mp3)

116) Why? - The Hollows (mp3)

117) Mason Proper - Fog (mp3)

118) A Weather - Pinky Toe (mp3)

119) Damien Jurado - Caskets (mp3)

120) Dr. Dog - The Old Days (mp3)

Download 111-120 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 101-110

2009-05-16T21:44:00.004-05:00

Tom Stone - Motherless (2006)

My list of Great Songs of 2008 expands past the 100 mark... including the amazing Zoey Deschanel debut, two UK nominees for the 2008 Mercury Prize, the side project of one of my favorite voices of Super Furry Animals, an alternative country singer my sister Kate hooked me on, and an awesome microbiology metaphor.

101) She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? (mp3)

102) Grouper - Heavy Water / I'd Rather Be Sleeping (mp3)

103) Laura Marling - New Romantic (mp3)

104) Neon Neon - Luxury Pool (mp3)

105) Goldmund - To (mp3)

106) The Tallest Man on Earth - Where Do My Bluebird Fly (mp3)

107) Kelley Polar - Entropy Reigns (In the Celestial City) (mp3)

108) The Mountain Goats - Autoclave (mp3)

109) Maria Taylor (with Andy LeMaster) - A Good Start (mp3)

110) Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - One More Year (mp3)

Download 101-110 as a zip file.

So Much To Blame

2009-05-13T00:05:00.000-05:00

Brad Porter - So Much To Blame [by Zach Vinson] (2009)

I already wrote about Sheboygan native Zach Vinson during my tour of Wisconsin earlier this spring, but he's just released a beautiful new music video for his song "So Much To Blame". Among puddles, vintage suitcases, walls of loose leaf paper, bare lightbulbs, and plenty of Cream City brick; it features the 23-year-old's impressive prowess on the keys. Check it out.

Zach Vinson - So Much To Blame (mp3)

Great Songs of 2008: 91-100

2009-05-12T19:25:00.003-05:00

Shannon Taggart - Exorcism 2

After a little break, the current of Great Songs of 2008 continues to flow strong... including a fragile voice from Madrid, the single from Antony's latest masterpiece, the bells and whistles of a remixed Canadian summer anthem, a standout track from a huge Australian new wave trio, the awaited return of a shadowy German indie band, and a funky club hook by Pharrell et al.

91) Kristoffer Ragnstam - Swing That Tambourine (mp3)

92) Nico Muhly - The Only Tune III (mp3)

93) Russian Red - Timing Is Crucial (mp3)

94) Antony & The Johnsons - Another World (mp3)

95) The Notwist - Good Lies (mp3)

96) NERD - Everyone Nose (mp3)

97) Anathallo - All The First Pages (mp3)

98) James Yorkston - When The Haar Rolls In (mp3)

99) Born Ruffians - I Need A Life (Four Tet Remix) (mp3)

100) Cut Copy - Lights and Music (mp3)

Download 91-100 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 81-90

2009-05-04T21:20:00.003-05:00

Dietmar Busse - Lynn Yaeger [Fashion Writer] (2008)

There are more Great Songs of 2008 than I know what to do with today... a piece of a powerful album from Belize with deep West African influence, two bookends from an April 08 JustSayin Show, a crooning UK band and folk singer, a stylish badass and totally crazy bible story, a highlight from a hip "indie" release, and it was nearly impossible to do this list without acknowledging Bon Iver (he was kind of a big Wisconsin deal).

81) Umalali - Nibari (My Grandchild) (mp3)

82) Bon Iver - The Wolves (Act I And II) (mp3)

83) Nick Jaina - Power (mp3)

84) Evangelicals - Skeleton Man (mp3)

85) The Roots (ft Mos Def) - Rising Down (mp3)

86) Headlights - Cherry Tulips (mp3)

87) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (mp3)

88) Jim Moray - Three Black Feathers (mp3)

89) Windmill - Plastic Pre Flight Seats (mp3)

90) The Dodos - Jodi (mp3)

Download 81-90 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 71-80

2009-05-02T12:05:00.003-05:00

Jen Davis - Matt and Kate [Madison, WI] (2008)

There is no shortage of Great Songs of 2008 here at JustSayin... an offensively amazing Helen Keller dance prompt, a brilliant Elvis ode and impersonation, a promising debut EP by an 18-year old with a dream, a suprisingly relevant 8-bit Beach Boys reinterpretation, a piece of songwriting by a soulful cellist from Kentucky, and a weird hip-hop Numa Numa reference.

71) Alessi's Ark - The Horse (mp3) [previous post]

72) 3oh!3 - Don't Trust Me (mp3)

73) Jihae - Hide (mp3)

74) T.I. (ft Rihana) - Live Your Life (mp3)

75) Ben Sollee - It's Not Impossible (mp3)

76) Black Kids - Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo) (mp3)

77) Diamonds - The Waking (mp3) [previous post]

78) PWRFL Power - It's Okay (mp3) [previous post]

79) PDF Format - God Only Knows 64 (mp3) [previous post]

80) Peggy Sue And The Pictures - Pupils Blink (mp3)

Download 71-80 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 61-70

2009-04-28T20:00:00.003-05:00

Jenny Holzer - Washinton DC (2007)

We're almost halfway through my list of Great Songs of 2008 today... including a song from a stellar Minneapolis hip hop album, one of my favourite music videos of 2008, the Beyonce phenomenon that I almost left off the list until my mom sang the chorus incessantly over Christmas, an English band's debut, and a cute song about self mutilation.

61) Architecture in Helsinki - That Beep (mp3)

62) Atmosphere - Yesterday (mp3)

63) Chester French - She Loves Everybody (mp3) [previous post]

64) My Morning Jacket - Highly Suspicious (mp3)

65) Chairlift - Bruises (mp3)

66) Does It Offend You, Yeah? - We Are Rockstars (mp3)

67) Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) (mp3)

68) Department of Eagles - No One Does It Like You (mp3)

69) Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (mp3)

70) Friendly Fires - Jump In The Pool (mp3) [previous post]

Download 61-70 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 51-60

2009-04-27T20:56:00.003-05:00

Jen Davis - What Was Left (2007)

There are tons more Great Songs of 2008 to list today... including a Japanese multi-instrumentalist's pop collage, a fascinating new-wave breakthrough, an anthem that changed a country, a commercial for Apple Bottom Jeans and boots with the fur, an emotive rock debut and the unorthodox layered vocals of a little UK singer.

51) Animal Collective - Water Curses (mp3) [previous post]

52) Shugo Tokumaru - Parachute (mp3) [previous post]

53) Ghostland Observatory - Heavy Heart (mp3) [previous post]

54) Will.I.Am - Yes We Can (mp3) [previous post]

55) Benji Hughes - You Stood Me Up (mp3) [previous post]

56) Flo Rida (ft. T Pain) - Get Low (mp3)

57) Max Tundra - Will Get Fooled Again (mp3)

58) One Little Plane - Lotus Flower (mp3) [previous post]

59) The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight (mp3)

60) Santigold - L.E.S Artistes (mp3) [previous post]

Download 51-60 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 41-50

2009-04-25T14:09:00.011-05:00

Paul Shambroom - Missile [First Baptist Church in Covington, OH] (2008)

More Great Songs of 2008 continue through the weekend... including a cultural cornerstone covered by the Rock-afire Explosion, a breath of fresh air from a young Nashville country singer, a song I heard everywhere I went in 2008, the new sounds of a classic indie favourite, an experimental highlight from last year's Forward Music Fest, and a tragically underplayed portrait of loneliness.

41) Bonnie "Prince" Billy - You Remind Me of Something (mp3) [previous post]

42) Connor Oberst - Milk Thistle (mp3) [previous post]

43) Joan As Police Woman - To Be Lonely (mp3)

44) TV on the Radio - Halfway Home (mp3)

45) Usher (ft Young Jeezy) - Love in This Club (mp3)

46) Kathleen Edwards - Sure As Shit (mp3)

47) Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love (mp3)

48) Eef Barzelay - True Freedom (mp3)

49) Stars Like Fleas - I Was Only Dancing (mp3) [previous post]

50) Caitlin Rose - Dead Flowers (mp3) [previous post]

Download 41-50 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 31-40

2009-04-23T21:56:00.005-05:00

Kate Hutchinson - Irish Grandmother

As the Great Songs of 2008 list progresses... we add a hit from one of Madison's own, a Russian-born and Brooklyn-bred Bjork, a characteristically patient K-records spirit, another artist from last year's JustSayin show series, a few ballads, and a folk pop song from Paris that makes a childhood death sound cute.

31) Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal (mp3)

32) Bell - Housefire (mp3) [previous post]

33) Festival - Bind Us All (mp3)

34) Karl Blau - Before Telling Dragons (mp3) [previous post]

35) Pale Young Gentlemen - Kettle Drum (I Left A Note) (mp3)

36) Landon Pigg - Great Companion (mp3)

37) Peter Broderick - Games Again (mp3) [previous post]

38) Orouni (ft Mina Tindle) - The Perfume Conspiracy (mp3) [previous post]

39) Civil Twilight - Human (mp3)

40) Parenthetical Girls - A Song For Elle Greenwich (mp3)

Download 31-40 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 21-30

2009-04-22T20:38:00.004-05:00

Beeple - subprime
(brand new and BLOWING UP on vimeo)

The Great Songs of 2008 countdown barrels along... with selections from two of the best JustSayin shows last year, an R&B dance pop obsession, a new classic from one of the best bands in the world (and other worlds), and the winner of 2008's Best New Artist grammy - just to name a few.

Download 21-30 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 11-20

2009-04-21T19:05:00.010-05:00

Shannon Taggart - Korena

My countdown of 130ish Great Songs of 2008 continues... with an aggressive anthem from our sexy nerd party at Project Lodge last year, a French electro number from West Africa, an incredible piece of songwriting from Wisconsin, my favorite Montreal voice, and a strange peek at the loneliness of one of the biggest men in music.

11) Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (mp3)

12) Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor (mp3) [previous posts]

13) Woodhands - I Wasn't Made For Fighting (mp3) [previous post]

14) Tune Yards - HATARI (mp3) [previous post]

15) Amadou & Miriam - Sabali (mp3)

16) Hercules & The Love Affair (ft. Antony Hegarty) - Blind (mp3)

17) Alphabeat - Fascination (mp3)

18) The Very Best - Dinosaur On The Ark (mp3)

19) The Daredevil Christopher Wright - The East Coast (mp3) [previous post]

20) Kanye West - Say You Will (mp3)

Download 11-20 as a zip file.

Great Songs of 2008: 1-10

2009-04-20T20:21:00.003-05:00

Tine Casper [from Westerland]

With three rich months of 2009 already in the rear-view, I'm a little embarrassed that I haven't yet formally reflected on what a great year last year was for music. Like all of you, I regularly hear things like "they just don't make music like they used to" or "I didn't really listen to anything new this year" or "last year was so much better" or "throw me the what?" or "everything new sounds like its from a resale shop without the vintage." And I couldn't disagree more. There was so much amazing music during 2008, that I had trouble limiting my annual Great Songs list to only 100 great songs... it totals around 130 here as I begin.

You know the drill - 10 songs a day, lightly ordered only because you'll assume I've ordered from top to bottom, left to right anway... though all were great for usually incomparable reasons. Most were released or made big impact from Jan 1-Dec 31 2008. The list as a whole tastes a little like DIY dance exhaustion settling to hush folk. There are a bunch of songs about winter, some new songs by classic bands, some classic songs by new bands, a few by cute indie girls, some experimental new directions, a bunch of cool things painstakingly plucked from powerful albums, some catchy remains from trips to the top of the pops. Whatever the reason, all were meaningful to me last year - what about to you?

1) MGMT - Time To Pretend (mp3)

2) M83 - Kim & Jesse (mp3)

3) Lykke Li - Little Bit (mp3)

4) Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Swimming Pools (mp3)

5) Shearwater - Leviathan Bound (mp3)

6) Deastro - Michael, The Lone Archer of the North Shore (mp3)

7) Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper (mp3)

8) Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree (mp3)

9) Janelle Monae - Many Moons (mp3)

10) Throw Me The Statue - About to Walk (mp3)

Download 1-10 as a zip file.

Frostbite Heart

2009-04-11T22:42:00.004-05:00

Love Rhombus - Frostbite Heart

Finally, a dance party in an ice-fishing shanty. Yes, even the tundra has its fair share of neon sunglasses and male falsettos. Also, Madison has more love for Rhombi per capita than any other city. As a general rule, there should be more mannequins in music videos.

Love Rhombus Water Walk (mp3)

Spiritualist Medium

2009-04-09T16:53:00.008-05:00

Shannon Taggart - After Anne's Metal Bending Session (Lily Dale, NY)

I asked these spirit figures if I was seeing them or if I was seeing what was in my own brain. They answered "both". - Eileen Garrett

Deastro Spritle (mp3)

Public Service Announcement: Vote YES for Garver Arts Incubator TODAY

2009-04-07T09:05:00.009-05:00

Tyler Peterson & Kristof Wickman - Makeover (2004)

A city like Madison, with fiercely local visual artists and arts enthusasts, needs an arts incubator more than an Overture Center. Common Wealth Development (already champions of such valuable community projects as the Willy Street Fair, Madison Enterprise Center, youth employment and mentoring programs, and my favorite CWD gallery) has waded through years of public input to produce detailed plans of the concept. At this point, they must have asked all of us for our thoughts. And on the minds of most voters -- it will not be funded by city taxpayer dollars!

A community space like this is critical to the mission of this blog: supporting Madison artists and a broader arts dialogue. It will help bring creative minds out of their basements and into a historic landmark, facilitate a community of working artists and ideas, and allow the arts to flourish and contribute to the economy.

You can directly impact the future of the local arts today with a vote YES at your local polling place.

Read more about the project here.

Larry the Logroller

2009-03-28T19:51:00.000-05:00

Waubeno, WI

Most of the things you admire are stoic, so I wasn't surprised when you showed up last night with Larry the Logroller on your arm. He stood thirty feet tall and hollow with a whiskey sour, seemingly unaffected by the entire bar attempting a Taylor Swift chorus in unison. Around his fiberglass wrists were the bracelets of snow you once used to keep me cold and praying and I recognized your bird shit on his shoulders. And still, as I watched you press your lips against his face and walk to the restroom, I stayed quiet and far like you prefered. I stayed in my spot, standing along your highway across the countryside like the others, waiting for your return.

Cedarwell Meeting a Friend (mp3) [Sheboygan, WI]

Slow Down at Meatski's

2009-03-24T19:53:00.004-05:00

Meatski's in Pound, WI

Bon Iver The Woods (mp3) [Eau Claire, WI]: Justin sings about going up in the woods because he knows. He knows that towns of 355 people, 149 households, and 89 families sound different. He knows the fun of stopping at a gas station and being greeted by an albino deer on display in a glass case. And that Sierra Mist tastes better when stuffed squirrels are lined across the top of the Pepsi cooler. He knows that his voice can carry for miles over the graceful hills up here. He knows about time slowing down.

Side note: I hung out with a bunch of folks from Eau Claire on Friday who hadn't heard of Bon Iver... I don't know how that is possible. Also, there was apparently a noisecore band in the 1990s called Pound WI.

Reach For Me Through That Dark Tree Line

2009-03-18T05:45:00.007-05:00

Minocqua, WI

My tour of Wisconsin music continues with the sunrise over Lake Minocqua and Corey Chisel. Corey's classic American songwriting is perfect for this morning's still and chilly longing. While outside reviewers seem to want every Wisconsin album to be written in a cabin, this one really does belong in the woods. As I sit outside in my moose pajama pants, wrapped in three blankets and stealing wireless from the nearby hotel, its easy to chuckle at all the reviews of "Cabin Ghosts" that mischaracterize Corey's hometown of Appleton (the sixth largest city in Wisconsin with a population of 70,000) as a "small rural city far from urban society". But I know what they're trying to say. Jonk probably captures it best, that Corey sings about a life of growing up and staying loyal to a small town. Crusing up and down Main Street; marrying a high-school sweetheart; working a full day as a machine technician at an injection molding factory; staking out an early picnic table at the park for the annual summer festival; drinking, over-drinking, and switching to cola at the nearby bar of choice. It's all terribly stereotypical, romantic, and true.

Corey Chisel & The Wandering Suns A Home In The Woods (mp3) [Appleton, WI]

Ark of The Lord

2009-03-17T19:47:00.002-05:00

Town of Evergreen, WI

On rural Highway 64 nearest the town of Evergreen, Wisconsin sits the Ark of the Lord. The weathered building shares a parcel of land with a trailer and no apparent driveway, which would render it completely unassuming without the proud handmade sign in front that proclaims the spot as 'THE ARK OF THE LORD'. The steps to the pale yellow doorway have collapsed. The white wooden siding is cracked with black. The congregation is buried in the unmarked cemetrry out back. In the rainy haze, the surrounding fields extend forever in each direction. It is exactly where I picture Zola Jesus performing a gothic wedding set.

Zola Jesus Somebody to Love (mp3) [Madison, WI]

Swimming in Spring

2009-03-13T19:29:00.001-05:00

Wausau, WI

Laarks All the Words (mp3) [Eau Claire, WI]: The drive around Wisconsin continues as the folk warms, thaws into a puddle, and begins pouring into the front door. This is why March wood is so warped and ripe. It's all the words about how the winter wasn't so bad. And how most people here put on their shorts for a few days and sacrifice their knees to mud and evenings. At Hometown Auto the door mat floats right front of the door. Welcome home.

Business of Evolution

2009-03-10T19:25:00.004-05:00

Portage, WI

Zach Vinson So Much To Blame (mp3) [Sheboygan, WI]: Zach is from Sheboygan, this picture is from Portage (right off Hwy 51). Zach is a young singer and one-man show, Rhyme is a 64-year-old Wisconsin-based supplier of office machines and supplies. Rhyme was founded by William “Punk” Rhyme, Zach was nourished by his mother's noodle casseroles and is not very punk. Rhyme really isn't either. Zach sings about his flaws and running away, Rhyme talks about "integrity and a commitment to always deliver on its promises". Rhyme claims to be in the business of evolution, Zach really is.

Fog Tonight

2009-03-09T19:26:00.001-05:00

Columbus, WI

I am traveling North this week in search of the Wisconsin sound. The first stop is Yellow Ostrich, straight up I-39 and skidded to a stop in a snowy ditch. Dramatic silence except the slow motion pulsing of a blinker. White windows cracked to more white. Buttoning the top button tight against the throat. Falling asleep to the whistling voices of the engine or the wind or hallucinating ears. This is contemplating staying buried until spring.

Yellow Ostrich Fog (mp3)