Fishpork’s 100 Favorite Tracks of the 2000s

This is an attempt at the impossible. Here are our 100 favorite songs of the past decade (featuring multiple tracks from Animal Collective, The Knife, Radiohead, and Elliott Smith). Our top two choices are more like 1a and 1b. Be patient, as the page needs to load the embedded songs.

1. Panda Bear - “Bros” (2007)

2. The Knife - “We Share Our Mother’s Health” (2006)

3. Animal Collective - “For Reverend Green” (2007)

4. Grizzly Bear - “While You Wait For The Others” (2009)

5. The Knife - “Heartbeats” (2003)

6. Grizzly Bear - “The Knife” (2005)

7. LCD Soundsystem - “Someone Great” (2007)

8. TV on the Radio - “Staring at the Sun” (2003)

9. Crystal Castles - “Crimewave” (2008)

10. Beirut - “Ciloqut” (2007)

11. Thom Yorke - “Harrowdown Hill

12. Animal Collective - “Derek” (2007)

13. Nine Inch Nails - “Me, I’m Not” (2007)

14. Beck - “Lonesome Tears” (2002)

15. At The Drive-in - “One Armed Scissor” (2004)

16. Animal Collective - “Grass” (2005)

17. Deerhunter - “Nothing Ever Happened” (2008)

18. Atlas Sound - “Recent Bedroom” (2008)

19. Panda Bear - “Comfy in Nautica” (2007)

20. System of a Down - “Chop Suey” (2001)

21. Animal Collective - “Peacebone” (2007)

22. Battles - “Atlas” (2007)

23. Error - “Jack the Ripper” (2004)

24. Enon - “Pleasure and the Privilege”

25. Elliott Smith - “Son of Sam” (2000)

26. Animal Collective - “Did You See the Words” (2005)

27. The Knife - “Marble House” (2006)

28. LCD Soundsystem - “All My Friends” (2007)

29. Thom Yorke - “Analyse” (2006)

30. The Flaming Lips - “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell” (2002)

31. Girl Talk - “Smash Your Head” (2006)
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32. A Perfect Circle - “Judith” (2000)

33. Radiohead - “Idioteque” (2000)

34. Tapes N’ Tapes - “Manitoba” (2006)

35. TV On The Radio - “I Was A Lover” (2006)

36. Radiohead - “Reckoner” (2007)

37. Fever Ray - “Coconut” (2009)

38. Animal Collective - “My Girls” (2009)

39. Built to Spill - “Things Fall Apart” (2009)

40. Wilco - “I’m Trying to Break Your Heart” (2002)

41. Modest Mouse - “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes” (2000)

42. Animal Collective - “Leaf House” (2004)

43. Modeselektor - “Happy Birthday” (2007)

44. Arcade Fire - “Wake Up” (2004)

45. Autolux - “Blanket” (2004)

46. MGMT - “Time to Pretend” (2007)

47.  Built to Spill - “Conventional Wisdom” (2006)

48. Wilco - “Side With the Seeds” (2007)

49. Elliott Smith - “Happiness/The Gondola Man” (2000)

50. Avey Tare - “I’m Your Eagle Kisser” (2007)

51. Department of Eagles - “Waves of Rye” (2008)

52. Animal Collective - “Summertime Clothes” (2009)

53. Radiohead - “2+2 = 5″ (2003)

54. Dredg - “Sang Real” (2005)

55. While Lies - “Farewell to the Fairground” (2009)

56. Grizzly Bear - “Ready, Able” (2009)

57. Matisyahu - “King Without a Crown” (2005)

58. Modest Mouse - “Paper Thin Walls” (2000)

59. Dillinger Escape Plan - “When Good Dogs Do Bad Things” (2002)

60. Elliott Smith - “Twilight” (2004)

61. Deerhunter - “Flourescent Grey” (2007)

62. Holy Fuck - “Lovely Allen” (2007)

63. LCD Soundsystem - “Never As Tired As When I’m Waking Up” (2006)

64. The Notwist - “Boneless (Panda Bear Remix)” (2008)

65. Liars - “Nothing Is Ever Lost or Can Be Lost My Science Friend” (2004)

66. The Mars Volta - “Inertiatic E.S.P.” (2003)

67. The Notwist - “Solitaire” (2002)

68. Of Montreal - “The Past is a Grotesque Animal” (2007)

69. Queens of the Stone Age - “Tangled Up in Plaid” (2005)

70. Radiohead - “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” (2007)

71. Saul Williams - “Raised To Be Lowered” (2007)

72. Autolux - “Great Days for the Passenger Element” (2004)

73. Sigur Ros - “Untitled 8″ (2002)

74. Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs - “Maps” (2003)

75. Portishead - “Threads” (2008)

76. Sufjan Stevens - “Chicago” (2005)

77. Ugly Casanova - “Things I Don’t Remember” (2002)

78. Animal Collective - “Brothersport” (2009)

79. Radiohead - “Pyramid Song” (2001)

80. Nine Inch Nails - “Only” (2005)

81. El-P - “Flyentology” (2007)

82. Queens of the Stone Age - “No One Knows” (2002)

83. Ghostface Killah - “Shakey Dog” (2006)

84. Modest Mouse - “Missed the Boat” (2007)

85. UNKLE - “Persons and Machinery” (2007)

86. Amon Tobin - “Verbal” (2002)

87. The White Stripes - “Denial Twist” (2005)
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88. Tomahawk - “Captain Midnight” (2003)

89. Modest Mouse - “Bukowski” (2004)

90. Sigur Ros - “Hoppipolia” (2005)

92. Fuck Buttons - “Sweet Love For Planet Earth” (2008)

93. Bon Iver - “Skinny Love” (2008)

94. Built to Spill - “In Your Mind” (2001)

95. The White Stripes - “Icky Thump” (2007)

96. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - “We Are Rockstars” (2008)

97. Dub Trio - “Not Alone” (2006)

98. Modest Mouse - “The World At Large”

99. The Walkmen - “In the New Year” (2008)

100. Nine Inch Nails - “The Great Destroyer (Modwheelmood Remix)” (2007)

Album Review: Dark Was The Night

Compilation releases rarely get much consideration on end-of-year lists, but this year’s Dark Was The Night will defy that logic. Produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner from The National, the album’s proceeds go to the Red Hot Organization, a charity that raises money for HIV and AIDS. The double-length effort will not engage all the way through, as there are some snoozers mixed throughout. It’s obvious that many of the artists appearing on the album saved their best work for their own records (see Arcade Fire’s “Lenin”). However, the standout tracks make the album somewhat worthy of all the praise it has received so far this year.

Standout songs include the epic “You Are The Blood” by Sufjan Stevens. The 10-minute track is a reworking (and improvement) of a song by the Castanets, who appear on Steven’s Asthmatic Kitty label. An additional remix of the song appears on disc two, titled “Blood Pt. 2.” The track features a reworking of Steven’s song by Canadian hip hop artist, Buck 65. 2009 seems to belong to Brooklyn-based indie favorites Grizzly Bear, who appear on disc one twice. The band’s “Deep Blue Sea” is a whispery, melodic gem, and “Service Bell” is a haunting collaboration with ex-tourmate Feist. The most surprising track is a solo effort by TV On The Radio mastermind David Sitek. “With A Girl Like You” is a Trogg’s cover highlighted by Sitek’s usual tight production, an anthemic horn section, and baritone vocals. Although the album does not provide the grandiose indie rock statement that many bloggers have written about, there is enough good stuff here to keep listeners engaged for weeks.

A live performance of several songs on the album took place this past Sunday at Radio City Music Hall. Check out three of the better tracks from the album here:

http://www.myspace.com/darkwasthenight

Album Review: Merriweather Post Pavilion

Does the most anticipated album in recent memory live up to the hype? With unfair expectations, Animal Collective may have just pulled it off. Yes, it’s the favorite for album of the year on day six of 2009, but we won’t rush into any sort of ceremonial crowning just yet. Last time I checked, Autolux and Arcade Fire were in the studio recording new material. And Panda Bear could still upstage his bandmates once more with a release later this year. However, it will take an undeniable masterwork from any band to compete with the divine Merriweather Post Pavilion (or score more tracks on our summer 2009 BBQ playlist).

The album was officially released today on vinyl after leaking to the Internet on Christmas Day. Some are arguing that Domino Records was behind the leak. If that’s true, it’s an interesting turn of events, especially in light of all the Web Sheriff antics over the last few weeks. Many believe that it was all part of a marketing scam (with Grizzly Bear and Bradford Cox in cahoots). Whether or not it was an elaborate ploy to get fans excited about the release is not important anymore. The album is here! The vinyl release shipped early from many online retailers and includes some pretty amazing artwork, as well as an explanation of the record’s title.

Track-by-track analysis:

In the Flowers (Pete): The album opens with a pounding distorted heartbeat that pumps in demented rhythms until fading into a subdued harpsichord arpeggiated melody. This contrasts the voice of David Portner aka Avey Tare as he sings, “Met a dancer, who was high in a field | From her movement, caught my breath on my way home.” As the verse ends, signaled by hand claps and the sound of crickets, Avey Tare sings, “I walk out in the flowers and feel better | If I could just leave my body for the night,” as the songs takes off into a direction 36,000 miles above the earth with a dynamite burst of a full noise marching band orchestra. This culminates with the manta of “To hold you in time.” The running water samples that are prevalent throughout the LP makes the listener fell as if one is floating on a river of clouds.

My Girls (Pete): Formally known as “House” and “Material Things,” this song was my favorite of all the pre-MPP tracks that they played live on the Strawberry Jam tour last year before hitting the studio. The recorded version is mixed to perfection. Beginning with the casino-sounding bells, the off beat rhythms of this song are only outdone by Panda Bear’s vocals and backed up by Avey Tare’s background repeating of his words in his style. Both harmonize the chorus. This begins the theme of personal lyrics for Panda bear, here he sings about the simple things he wants in his life in Portugal for his daughter and wife.

Also Frightened (Pete): Starting with a sort of American Indian chant, the vocals swarm your ears with harmonized vocals, becoming an instrument in itself. This song continues some of the best minimalist lyrics the band has written (“And asking the question: Are you also Frightened? | No one should call you a dreamer”).  The song ends with vocal harmonies that push to disable any labels put on the band after each of their albums. The boundaries that categorize Animal Collective as psyche/freak folk (or whatever they are categorized in a given year) should now be dismissed. 

Summertime Clothes (Mark): This is the best track on the album (fomerly “Bearhug”). It’s the sound you would hear approaching the gate’s of heaven (if believe in that kind of thing); an ethereal soundtrack of the gods. The song starts with a pulsating (and rather mechanical) back beat that quickly turns into an exercise in melodic lyrical exchange between Avery Tare and Panda Bear. The interplay between Animal Collective’s dual lyricists brings the album to its high point, especially when the dual vocals are overlapped, harmonizing during the end of the choruses. It creates an absolutely beautiful effect and sound. The repeating verse, “when the sun goes down, we’ll go out again,” is the most addicting moment on the record.

Daily Routine (Mark): This track sounds like it could fit on Strawberry Jam (and that is a very good thing). The song starts with what sounds like a recording of the manual programming of the song’s repeating samples (similar to that of the live version of NIN’s “Echoplex”). It sounds like you can actually hear Brian “Geologist” Weitz’s fingers turning the knobs on his dual BOSS SP-505s to program the sequence. The sequence repeats faster and faster, until the song hits its final pace and Panda Bear’s vocals begin. The melodic delivery of the lyrics coupled with a techno-like back beat makes the first half of this song a real treat. The song then slows down to the album’s slowest and most drawn out point. The song structure is similar to Strawberry Jam’s “Chores” but never picks up again. “Chores” is a better song, but “Daily Routine” is a welcome retread to the style of the new album. Animal Collective have created their most diverse record yet.

Bluish (Mark): Formerly known as “From a Beach,” this was immediately one of my favorite tracks on the album. We get more water samples! The band seems to be obsessed with them lately. The song starts with a slow repeating drone and a toned-down Avery Tare (this is the antithesis of Strawberry Jam). The track gets all Panda Bear on us when piano samples kick in with Brian Wilson-esque vocals. I think this is what the Beach Boys would sound like if they recorded Pet Sounds under water. This is the prettiest track on the album and maybe the most accessible, especially for someone who writhes at the sound of pretentious masterpieces like “Peacebone” or “Cuckoo Cuckoo.”

Guy’s Eyes (Mark): Another “pop” song? If you say so. This song was formerly called “Song For Ariel,” and fans are relieved that it made the cut. Some prefer the folky version that Panda Bear has played at his live shows, and the addition of grinding synths turns it almost into a dance song. I, too, prefer the minimalist version. The song is still one of my favorites on the record and is further proof that Panda Bear was more of a driving force in the creative process on this record than on Strawberry Jam. I guess he just lost the argument with Geologist over the final version.

Taste (Pete): This song changed the most from the live version that AC played last year and while many fans write how much they miss the old version’s lyrics, the new ones fit perfectly into the album’s form. Again the harmonies are magical and bring the vocals a sonic quality not heard on Strawberry Jam or its predecessors. The lyrics get deep, as they ask the question: “Am I really all the things that are outside of me?”

Lion in a Coma (Pete): From the opening jungle sample the track is one of the strongest on the LP. Avey Tare’s fast spoken lyrics that were more prevalent on tracks from Sung Tongs return here with a chorus full of jarring tones that bounce off the walls. A subtle sample of a Jew’s harp is credited to an artist named Mpahleni Manquin Madosini, from her track titled “Yitileni.” She is even given writing credits on the song. Vocals from Avey Tare are strong here and create a beutiful balance of music and lyrical tones. The outro ends with the clever lyrical pun, “Don’t keep lying in a coma.”

No More Runnin’ (Pete): This laid back track has the vibe of “Seal Eyeing” from their Water Curses EP, only upping the bar with subtle tranquility. Again, Avay Tare uses minimalist lyrics to heighten the mood when he pens, “‘No more Runnin’ says my mind.” This track leaves the listener with a lasting impression that Animal Collective may have pushed the psych/experimental limits with Strawberry Jam and blown away any label of their music with this song alone.

Brothersport (Mark): Obviously, this the most danceable track Animal Collective has ever conceived. Imagine yourself at a rave where Bob Marley is the DJ. My 2-year old son loses his mind when I play this song. He immediately stops what he is doing, puts his head down, and bobs up and down like he’s been doing that dance for years. I recorded him doing yesterday without him knowing. Domino has claimed rights over the video recently, stating they can put ads on the YouTube watch page if they want. Although “No More Runnin” feels more like an album closer, “Brothersport” closes the album with an intoxicating track that will likely be one of the first singles released.

Animal Collective is playing a short list of major city shows shortly, including two NYC gigs that Fishpork will attend. The band has also been in the studio recently recording music for a film-project that has limited details so far. Avery Tare was quoted recently by Billboard: “It’s something new for all of us. It’s been a work-as-we-go process.” He calls the project a “visual record.” Animal Collective has released nine albums in less than nine years. Based on that track record, we can expect a release sometime in the near future. As with LPs in the past we might get a 12″ single that perhaps could give us one of the tracks that did not make the cut on MPP. Live favorite “Grace” was one of those that many were hoping would be on MPP, but as “Safer” was a welcomed treat on the Peacebone 12″, we may still get more cut MPP tracks over the next few months. And if that’s not enough for you, Panda Bear is set to release his next solo record sometime this year.

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January’s Fresh Pork Cuts

Marks:

• Animal Collective - Bluish
• Arcade Fire - Burning Bridges
• Morrissey - I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
• Stereolab - Neon Beanbag (Atlas Sound Southern Baptist Remix)
• Sufjan Stevens - Good King Wenceslas
  

Petes:

• Julian Koster - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
• The Breeders - Bang On
• Vivian Girls - Tell The World
• Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Moonland
• Lindstrom -  Where You Go I Go Too

Tapes ‘N Tapes Walk It Off

Tapes ‘N Tapes hit me hard when I discovered their 2004 LP The Loon. At the time, I was discovering a goldmine of great new bands (TV on the Radio, Saul Williams, LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, Autolux), but Tapes ‘N Tapes’ debut album was stuck in my head for months, while all other tracks were deemed unworthy during that time. I listened on the way to work, on my computer, on the iPod, and even at family BBQs with family members giving me bewildered looks because of the awkward music selection. I can easily say that The Loon will certainly rank on my top 10 of the decade. How on Earth do you follow up a masterpiece? This is something I was worried about, as so many artists rarely reach the heights of their debut.

Upon first hearing the April release of their sophomore effort Walk It Off, I wasn’t sure what to think about the new songs. However, knowing that first impressions do not often last with challenging music (see Amnesiac), I continued to listen and wait for the payoff. It took a few weeks to warm up to the record, (partially delayed by my obsession with Animal Collective), but it finally hit me that Walk It Off is an another extraordinary collection of songs. The album’s first single, Hang ‘Em All picks up right where The Loon left off. The catchy guitar and offbeat lyrical delivery of frontman Josh Grier let the listener know they are in for something special. Grier mentioned in a recent  interview that the lyrics on this record were written with a bit of ambiguity as to let the listener interpret their meaning.

The distorted guitars and offbeat rhythms may confuse listeners expecting a pop record, but Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Elf Power, MGMT) has tied the loose edges into a digestible dish of cerebral indie rock. Additional standouts on the record include addicting indie anthem Conquest and the ultra-catchy and equally obnoxious George Michael. The album slows things down at times with the beautifully constructed Time of Songs and Say Back Something. It’s obvious that these guys are growing into their own as talented song writers. Most importantly, they don’t seem to be solely focused on the cash cow and continue to challenge their fans with new and exiting sounds. I really don’t get the comparisons to Pavement and the Pixies. Never being a big fan of either band, it seems to me that Tapes ‘N Tapes is taking indie rock into the next decade with an new and original sound. Whoever wants to come along better get on board before you miss the train.

http://myspace.com/tapesntapes

Video for first single, Hang ‘Em All: