fresh: new track from The National

Here's a new track from The National, and an old track from Fanfarlo that you should own. I heard The National's track on Sunday in the closing credits of the new (pretty fantastic, actually) film, Win Win. The film, a bittersweet, funny, raw look at the value of transparent morality, was just what I needed. Hearing The National in the closing credits with this beautiful new tune was wonderfully welcome. The Fanfarlo track is used in the trailer below and is one of the more gorgeous songs from one of the most talented indie rock bands on the planet. Can't wait for their next LP. Here you go:

The National "Think You Can Wait" - 1-CLICK-DL

Fanfarlo "These Walls Are Coming Down" - 1-CLICK-DL

3rd Annual Dirty Dozen (2010) - SONGS

Previous top 5's:

2009:

05. "Waves" - Metric

04. "Memoir of a Lightning Bolt" - Beat Radio

03. "Bright Lights" - Placebo

02. "Come Back Clean" - Crystal Method ft. Emily Haines

01. "Freak Out" - Stellastarr*

2008:

05. "Kids" - MGMT

04. "L.E.S. Artistes" - Santogold

03. "Dying Is Fine" - Ra Ra Riot

02. "Ion Square" - Bloc Party

01. "Keep Your Eyes Ahead" - The Helio Sequence

At last the time has come! It's Thursday! Tomorrow's the big holiday. Saturday's the big party. It all comes down to this... and it was really the hardest list I've ever made. I second-guessed myself so much... but feel I have come to a defining list of the BEST OF 2010. Just in case you think a song should be on here but isn't, stay tuned to tomorrow, as I'll list all the honorable mentions of best songs (a shitload of these), albums, and remixes.

The National and Shout Out Louds nearly outdid their best selves with two of my favorite introspective rock songs of the year, Paper Moon and Bloodbuzz Ohio. Definitely worth a listen for those that love such a genre. Invisible Light was so good that it put the rest of the Scissor Sisters' Night Work to shame. It was also their best song live, since they really screwed up the re-working of Filthy/Gorgeous. Kelis sounded her resurgence and her grasp of future pop with a track that entranced me for months, 22nd Century. Duck Sauce made the nonsensical amazing and made me dance like none other this year with (my favorite dance track of 2010) Barbra Streisand. Groove Armada made a track that sounded like it was teleported from the '80s in all the right ways. The Walkmen made one of the more interesting angst-ridden tracks I've ever heard, with the surf-pop-meets-angst-rock Angela Surf City. God I love that song (you may hate it... haha)! Crookers and Martin Solveig took advantage of amazing leading ladies of indie pop, Roisin Murphy and Martina Sorbara, and made two of the best songs of the year. Marina & The Diamonds showed us how it was okay to pick up all the pins. And, Goldfrapp produced her best song in years; one that (when seeing it live) was one of the highlights of my year.

...and then there was Robyn. The Swedish starlet produced not ONE but TWO of the best songs of the year. The first leak I heard was Fembot. Fembot immediately took for me, with its well written sass-infused lyrics, intensely catchy beat, and the perfect ability to not take itself seriously, while also never selling the intelligence of its audience short. I would have been happy with that. But... then came another leak. This one was the killer. A song that, when released on June 1st, crossed an amazing amount of boundaries in music. The hipsters loved it. The club kids danced to it. The gays idolized it. Sorority girls connected over it. Kept wives sang it into their homemade dry martinis (with a splash of tears). Everyone knew it, even if they didn't know Robyn. It was written perfectly. It was Dancing On My Own. And it stood on its own.

It is explosive but vulnerable, angry but innately melancholy, and it is very much an appreciation of the bittersweet aspects of the world in which many of us dwell. I loved it, to say the least. At a time when pop music looked doomed to auto-tune and fake-boob us into artistic submission, Robyn came back and saved the day for a while... Let's appreciate that.

"People get drunk and turn into themselves in a way, and they go to experience some kind of emotion. But it's not always about fun. There's a destructive side to it. But I'm more into the empowerment of going out, because it's always been the place where I could be myself and get inspired. Even if I'm sad, dancing is a way to let stuff out." - Robyn

12 (tie). "Angela Surf City" - The Walkmen

12. "Paper Moon" - Shout Out Louds

11. "Invisible Light" - Scissor Sisters

10. "22nd Century" - Kelis

09. "Barbra Streisand" - Duck Sauce

08. "Rocket" - Goldfrapp

07. "Bloodbuzz Ohio" - The National

06. "I Am Not A Robot" - Marina & The Diamonds

05. "I Won't Kneel" - Groove Armada ft. SaintSaviour

04. "Fembot" - Robyn

03. "Royal T" - Crookers ft. Roisin Murphy

02. "Hello" - Martin Solveig ft. Dragonette

01. "Dancing On My Own" - Robyn

fresh : new videos from stars, kylie, macy, the national

Four fantastic new videos from Stars, Kylie Minogue, Macy Gray, and The National! Enjoy:

three track thursdays 05.20.10 - sadfacefest

I think that today we should celebrate the sad face. There are so many great songs, of varying tempos and tones, that exploit the morose and depressing portions of our existences, that a day must be set aside to celebrate them. So, today's for all the cutters, depressives, excessive escapists, and adroit masochists out there. *cheers*

Who knew sadness could be so diverse in sound?... Well, I did, but that's beside the point. Here are three designations of desolation, dejection, despair, and dolefullness to get your Thursday off to the right start!

Included in this celebration of sadness is my favorite new cuttertastic tune, Sorrow by The National. This song almost made me cry the first time I heard it. Prepare yourself, ye with souls. Also thrown in are Au Revoir Simone's Sad Song, and Hole's Awful. These two tracks are in stark contrast not only to one another (Sad Song is delightfully upbeat in tone but meditative in nature, while Awful is pop-rock with moments of glam-inspired irritation), but when compared to Sorrow, they're completely the selectiveness the psychiatrist ordered.

So, say au revoir to your awful hole and suck on some sorrow.
Awful - Hole
by shiftdc1
Sad Song - Au Revoir Simone
by shiftdc1
Sorrow - The National
by shiftdc1

essential tuesday: a video for today - the national

It has been one of those days that I just needed a pick-me-up. The caffeine isn't working, the self-talk isn't sinking in... finally I remembered this video. From The National (whose new album comes out next week), 2007's Apartment Story is an uplifting song, sans the fluff. It always reminds me that even though life will often tear your heart out, you must remind yourself that everything will be okay- because it will- even if the 'okay' wasn't what you were expecting. Sometimes the sheer power of the goods and bads in life are cause for celebration, despite the tragedy of the latter. To revel in life is to realize that those extremes are both unstoppable and beautifully essential; to realize that to feel is the gift of your role in this grand drama.

I apologize for the volume on the video (just adjust yours). The video captures all the sweet and awkward regularities of our existence (via an obviously painful wedding reception), and then breaks the tension by two things equally as simple: music and dance. It's the most human of conditions to know that sometimes all we need to do to feel better about our direction is to dance ourselves out of our confines.

If you like the song, feel free to download it from the right arrow on the soundcloud.

Apartment Story - The National

tired and wired we ruin too easy

sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave

but I'll be with you behind the couch when they come

on a different day just like this one

we'll stay inside 'til somebody finds us

do whatever the tv tells us

stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz

so worry not

all things are well

we'll be alright

we have our looks and perfume