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  • PAUL’S TOP 100 OF 2010 – PART 3: #80-71 “You’re a big old wuss if you don’t jump in…””

    Huzzah! The third installment!

    #80
    #80: “WATER” by BRAD PAISLEY.
    “Grab your swimming trunks, ice up that old Igloo, and drive until the map turns blue…” All I really need, this time of year, is to not be driving home in an ugly snowstorm with this Brad Paisley song stuck in my head. Don’t get me wrong – I love this song. But in the middle of this Wisconsin blizzard, it hurts.

    #79
    #79: “FOR THE SUMMER” by RAY LaMONTAGNE & THE PARIAH DOGS.
    This is the point in the road trip where it dawns on you that you’re never going to actually get to your where you’re going no matter how long you keep driving, so you pull off to the shoulder and have yourself a good cry. Until that State Trooper stops by and tells you to move along. At which point you, y’know, move along.

    #78
    #78: “LITTLE WHITE CHURCH” by LITTLE BIG TOWN.
    This is exactly what I would expect an Alabama weddin’ would look like. Huzzah for the gleeful perpetuation of stereotypes by the stereotyped. (Did I mention my huge collection of Broadway cast albums? It’s HUGE. It’s bigger than Cher, even.) Also: If you squint your eyes real hard, Little Big Town looks exactly like ABBA.

    #77
    #77: “SHINE A LIGHT” by McFLY featuring TAIO CRUZ.
    Still teenagers when their debut album hit #1 in the UK in 2004, McFly were a boy band more Bay City Rollers than Backstreet Boys, their songs owing more to Big Star and the Beatles than Max Martin and Dr. Luke. Things have changed. Their latest, co-written with reigning king of android pop Taio Cruz (who guests here on vocals) sounds more like a bid to become the UK’s answer to Maroon 5. And it’s awesome. And the video has lots of shiny stuff.

    #76
    #76: “DO-WAH-DOO” by KATE NASH.
    The retro-pop lament of the nice girl. Literate and lonely, she holds no illusions about that “other” girl that all the boys think is so sweet. “Everybody thinks that she’s a lady. But I don’t. I think that girl’s shady.” Boys can be so dumb. First of all: Hurray for in-flight choreography! But wait – so Kate’s crushing on a boy who’s a flight attendant? Err… okay.

    #75
    #75: “ONE LIFE STAND” by HOT CHIP.
    This is a band I should have loved from the start – five dorky British guys with synthesizers and an abiding devotion to the music of Devo – but they didn’t win me over until the release of their 5th album earlier this year. This is the title track from that album One Life Stand. And of all the LPs I picked up this year, it’s probably the one that’s logged the most mileage on my turntable: a collection of sincerely dorky and supremely dance-able songs about marriage and family.

    Hot Chip – One Life Stand
    Uploaded by EMI_Music. – See the latest featured music videos.

    #74
    #74: “PRAYIN’” by PLAN B.
    The provocative British rapper transformed himself into an old-school soul singer for his latest album, an operatic R&B concept record about love, betrayal, crime and punishment. And he put some amazing visuals out to go along with it. The album’s called The Defamation of Strickland Banks, and Plan B has talked about putting together a feature film around it, building it out of the videos for the album’s songs. And from what I’ve seen so far, Plan B’s videos kick the asses of Ne-Yo’s and Kanye’s latest excursions into grandiose short-filmmaking.

    #73
    #73: “THE HOUSE THAT BUILT ME” by MIRANDA LAMBERT.
    “If I could just come in, I swear I’ll leave… won’t take nothing but a memory from the house that built me.” Another fine country tearjerker.

    #72
    #72: “NIGHT & DAY” by CHIEF.
    The sound of the band Chief falls roughly halfway between Eagles and the Church (just down the block from Fleet Foxes), 70s-style arena rock melodies, layers upon layers of guitars and other strings, and gorgeous four-part harmonies. The video’s great too, a sort of baroque dinner theater cabaret (with stylized stage violence!)

    #71
    #71: “BETTER THAN TODAY” by KYLIE MINOGUE.
    For the third single from her awesome latest album Aphrodite, the international superstar songstress comes down with a severe case of Pac Man Fever. And it’s drivin’ me crazy. Also, I’m going out of my mind. (In a good way.)

    Next time around: The recession comes to hip-hop. And R&B. And indie rock.

  • PAUL’S TOP 100 OF 2010 – PART 2: #90-81 “Ich will noch ‘n bischen tanzen…”

    And the countdown continues…

    #90
    #90: “THE GHOST INSIDE” by BROKEN BELLS.
    Broken Bells are the non-singing guy (Danger Mouse) from Gnarls Barkley, and the singing guy (James Mercer) from The Shins. Here’s the second single from their self-titled debut album. The video, starring Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks is a sci-fi movie on the dangers of deficit spending. In order to get herself to a fabulous resort planet, space traveling hottie Hendricks pawns all her limbs (and probably compromises her position on the repeal of DADT) and still ends up on a deserted island planet in an intergalactic middle-of-nowhere.

    #89
    #89: “HARD TIMES” by JOHN LEGEND & THE ROOTS.
    There are only two covers included on my list this year, and this is the second of them, from one of my favorite records of the year. For Wake Up!, John Legend and the Roots, inspired by the political engagement they saw during the 2008 elections, recorded a passionate set of socially conscious soul songs from the late 60s and 70s, many of them long forgotten like this one originally performed by Baby Huey and the Babysitters.

    #88
    #88: “HIGHWAY 20 RIDE” by ZAC BROWN BAND.
    Tearjerker alert! Tearjerker alert! Are they a jam band? Are they outlaw country? Are they southern rock? Are they sentimental cornballs? They’re a little bit of all of the above. With a great big beard!

    Although they’d already scored a few big country hits (which also had some mild crossover pop success) from their 2008 major label debut The Foundation, it was with their performance at this year’s Grammy Awards that made the band not just the latest country thang, but actually a previously implausible contender for greatest band in the world. This, the fourth single from The Foundation showed up shortly thereafter and became the band’s third Country #1, and fourth Top 40 hit a year and a half after the album’s release.

    #87
    #87: “MORNING SUN” by ROBBIE WILLIAMS.
    “After a long and sleepless night, how many stars would you give to the moon…” The third single from Robbie’s latest solo album Reality Killed the Video Star (he’s since re-joined his former bandmates in the British boy-band Take That), this weepy ballad follows Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road all the way to Strawberry Fields and back again.

    #86
    #86: “NEIN, MANN!” by LASERKRAFT 3D.
    a.k.a. The German theme song for Paul Lorentz at any given wedding reception. Don’t be daunted by the language barrier – the video provides black-lit hand-drawings as “subtitles” over the actors’ faces. It goes roughly along these lines:

    Verse 1: A friend says “Hey, let’s get out of here. The DJ sucks and he’s just playing electro music and not even David Guetta”

    German Paul Lorentz reply: “No man. I don’t want to go yet. I want to stay and dance.”

    Verse 2: A hottie approaches: “Grab your coat and say goodbye to your friends. I want to take you where the night never ends. You and me, we should be dancing in the sheets.”

    German Paul Lorentz reply: “No man. I don’t want to go yet. I want to stay and dance.”

    Verse 3: Bouncer: “Really, dude, you should go. The bartender wants to go home. The dj’s falling asleep at the decks. Seriously, go.”

    German Paul Lorentz reply: See above.

    I like that German Paul Lorentz in the video has a belly like real-life Paul Lorentz. I also like that tick-tock-with-the-tie dance move that he does. I need to use that at my next wedding reception.

    #85
    #85: “MADDER RED” by YEASAYER.
    “Never gave a thought to an honorable living, always had sense enough to lie. It’s getting hard to keep pretending I’m worth your time…” Yeasayer’s neo-psychedelic ode to justifiable feelings of family man inadequacy is appropriately doleful, but not especially apologetic. It’s a domestic drama done up in exotic, futuristic colors. It’s hipster ear candy that sounds a lot like something the Thompson Twins would have done in 1982. It’s also got a real music video, but the video’s really gross and it’s, frankly, distracting from the song – which really is lovely. Thus this live version.

    #84
    #84: “SOMEONE ELSE CALLING YOU BABY” by LUKE BRYAN.
    If we were living in the 1970s, we’d call this pop/rock and it’d be a song by Eddie Rabbitt or Firefall or England Dan and John Ford Coley… But it’s 2010, so we call it country and it’s by a guy who was likened to a cross between Elvis Presley and Gomer Pyle when he appeared at the center of a challenge of the Donald Trump reality show Celebrity Apprentice. That appearance would help push his single “Rain Is a Good Thing” to #1 on the country charts. This song – an inducement to just break-up with the poor guy already – was the follow-up to “Rain”.

    #83
    #83: “WHAT PART OF FOREVER” by CEE-LO GREEN.
    Apparently this ran over the closing credits of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen any of the Twilight Movies. But I LOVE their soundtracks (so far). This song was co-written with a group called Oh, Hush, who appropriately enough, have never posted a band photo or identified their band members who, according to their facebook page, are various male and female superheroes. Here’s a live performance of the song from George Lopez, featuring Cee-Lo’s super-awesome all-girl back-up band.

    #82
    #82: “EGO” by THE SATURDAYS.
    Five hotties with superpowers, British accents, and a flair for public revenge. “Don’t tell me that you’re done as far as we go – You need to have a sit-down with your ego.” Did I mention hotties? With superpowers? And British accents?

    The Saturdays “Ego” from Robin van Calcar on Vimeo.

    #81
    #81: “HOLLYWOOD” by MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS.
    Welsh singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis parties it up in a fake White House with cake and cheerleaders, fake Mariylns, fake Elvises, and… wait… is that a fake Barack in there too? At a time when it seems you can’t watch or read the news without hearing some politician talking about things being rammed down throats, it’s sort of refreshing to hear someone sing about “puking” up “American dreams.” And when she confesses she’s “obsessed with the mess that’s America”, it sounds genuine and even sort of affectionate. Sorta like my obsession with the mess that’s European pop music.

    Coming up in the next block: one sad song about the summer and one happy song about the summer, one song about a shotgun wedding, and one about wedded bliss.

  • PAUL’S TOP 100 OF 2010 – PART 1: 100-91 “Who cares if you disagree. You are not me”

    Starting this weekend through to the end of the year, with the help of my Inner Casey Kasem, I will be posting my own personal Top 100 Songs of 2010 on my facebook page (to be followed by summary blocks here on SonicClash.com). These are the songs that have rocked my world (or at least my car stereo) the hardest for the last 12 months.

    My eligibilty rules for the songs are as follows:

    Songs must have been released on an album domestically, or charted as a single domestically or internationally, in 2010. Songs that appeared on a 2009 album are eligible to appear if they were released or spent most of their chart life as a single in 2010.

    Because rules are made to be broken, there are two exceptions to the rules above on my list: Both songs were released on albums in late 2009 (and both those albums were represented in my 2009 list), and probably shoulda-coulda been released as singles this year but never were. One of the songs was licensed prominently for a wireless service commercial (featuring the artist) and also showed up in an episode of a prime time TV series. The other was an album highlight so loved by the artist’s audience as to inspire a couple of facebook groups lobbying for it to be the artist’s next single.

    There is one song on the list from an album released late in 2008, but which charted as a single earlier this year.

    There are two songs that I included in my 2009 list that ended up becoming U.S. Top 20 pop hits in 2010. If I hadn’t already included them on my 2009 list, they’d be here. They are “All the Right Moves” by OneRepublic and “Bulletproof” by La Roux.

    There are a total of 91 artists represented in my Top 100, including artists listed as featured artists on songs.

    One artist is represented 4 times. Two more appear 3 times. The artist who topped my 2009 list is here twice. The artist who tops my list this year is also represented twice.

    53 of the 91 artists are American. 22 are from the UK. 5 from Canada. 3 from Sweden; and there’s one each from Norway, Iceland, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, France and Australia.

    3 of the songs on this list have gone to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 4 of them have topped the Billboard Country Chart. 3 were #1 in Canada. 6 were #1 in the UK.

    And away we go:

    #100
    #100: “LOVER, LOVER” by JERROD NIEMANN
    Singer-songwriter Jerrod Niemann’s career has had a few false starts, but things changed when he became the first act signed to Brad Paisley’s label Sea Gayle, and what a first act! His debut single for the label – a cover of a 1993 single by the Australian folk-rock group Sonia Dada – hit #1 on the country charts and even crossed over to the Pop Top 40. I love the harmonies in this song… and Jerrod sang all of them himself. Just like Billy Joel and “For the Longest Time”.

    #99
    #99: “I DON’T BELIEVE YOU” by THE THERMALS
    Portland, Oregon’s Thermals are better known for writing nerdily incisive, political punk rock rants. Their latest album ‘Personal Life’ is a collection of nerdily incisive songs about, like, relationships and stuff. In other words: Suck it, Dianne Warren. Bite me, Danielle Steele. The video for the album’s first single stars former Sleater-Kinney guitarist and current NPR blogger Carrie Brownstein.

    #98
    #98: “MIAMI 2 IBIZA” by SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA vs. TINIE TEMPAH
    “I told her ‘wear suspenders and some PVC and then I’ll film it all up on my JVC’.” Probably the best dance song about making naughty home videos since the Andrea True Connection. I’m only slightly ashamed to admit that London rapper Tinie Tempah’s accent makes the song’s trashiness seem more palatable. But I also love the way he strings together initials with the skill of a government agent or military officer.

    #97
    #97: “STOP FOR A MINUTE” by KEANE and K’NAAN
    One of the more unexpected collaborations of the year, Brit-poppers Keane were joined by Somali-Canadian rapper K’Naan for this fine little sing-along duet. And this wasn’t a one-off: K’Naan co-wrote and sang on two tracks from Keane’s latest album Night Train. The other one, “Looking Back” is built around an interpolation of Bill Conti’s theme from Rocky.

    #96
    #96: “FIRE WITH FIRE” by SCISSOR SISTERS
    Four years ago, they were channeling Leo Sayer, but the lead single from the Sisters’ long-awaited third album Night Work sounds like a long lost movie soundtrack power-ballad by Survivor. If I were doing a countdown of my favorite videos of the year, this one would probably be in the Top 10. To me, it’s a just a perfect combination of song and visuals, and I have a weakness for gratuitous public displays of awesomeness.

    #95
    #95: “KING OF ANYTHING” by SARA BAREILLES
    “You’ve got opinions, man. We’re all entitled to ’em. But I never asked. So let me thank you for your time and try not to waste any more of mine…get outta here, fast.” Sara Bareilles makes her toast to the douchebags! Taylor Swift may name the names of the ex-boyfriends she’s writing about, but Sara Bareilles is the girlfriend I would never cross. She’d write a song taking me down with more withering disdain and biting sarcasm than a Sarah Palin speech – only way, way sweeter – and make me love the song enough to sing along with it and share it with everyone on my facebook page.

    #94
    #94: “THE RABBIT” by MIIKE SNOW
    What N*E*R*D is to the Neptunes, Miike Snow is to Bloodshy & Avant, the Swedish production duo behind Britney Spears’s “Toxic”. Miike Snow’s self-titled debut album has been likened to a cross between a-ha and Animal Collective, but this song sounds more like it might have been written for Adam Lambert. And it’s video is so NSFW: A bearded Arnold Jackson, dressed like an early 20th Century colonial governor and flanked by a harem of scantily clad and oh-so-flexible women (who all look like they came out of 80s rap videos), snorts the cartoon essence of 2 Live Crew during a re-enactment of the As Nasty As They Wanna Be cover shoot. Much sand humping ensues.

    #93
    #93: “I WANT THE WORLD TO STOP” by BELLE & SEBASTIAN
    Now that nobody’s paying attention, Stuart Murdoch and his band Belle & Sebastian (which he’d formed with ex-bandmate Stuart David in the mid-90s as a school project) are making some of the best music of their career as demonstrated on the Glaswegian band’s 8th studio album Belle & Sebastian Write About Love. I love the low-key urgency of this song, and it’s heightened in the video by the constantly shifting camera angles that suggest movement while the band members themselves stay planted in their spots. There’s also something endearingly un-rockstar-ish about the band’s stage presence. My facebook buddy Brian says of Stuart Murdoch: “he obviously has a fine sense of rhythm, [but] he looks and moves like someone who doesn’t, at all; he reminds me of my Uncle Gordon (MIT School of Engineering) back when he’d only had his first one or two strokes.”

    #92
    #92: “ON MELANCHOLY HILL” by GORILLAZ
    As romantic, sweet, and sad as its title would suggest. This is one of my favorite Damon Albarn vocals ever, understated, uncharacteristically unironic. I love the line “you are my medicine when you’re close to me”, and I always get strangely choked up when he gets to the part about the manatee.

    #91
    #91: “ANIMAL ARITHMETIC” by JONSI
    In which he lead singer of Iceland’s Sigur Ros demonstrates that he does indeed have a non-falsetto register. Also: percussion. Frenzied layers of booming and clashing percussion. The kick drum is ready for its close-up, Mr. DeMille.

    And that’s it for now. Click here for #90-81.