obsesso-songs 2005
Happy birthday to coffeeandink and sisabet! I offer this post not only as a present in and of itself but as a promise of mixes to come.
Last year's list of obsesso-songs is here.
This is a list of the songs that took over my head in 2005, presented more or less in order. It is not a representative list of everything I listened to, or even of the CDs I acquired. It is not an exhaustive list of songs that I would call favorites; I have a lot of favorite songs, because I'm easy like that. These are the songs that burrowed into my brain and wouldn't come out for weeks at a time. They're the songs I heard constantly in my head, the ones I worked out elaborate harmonies for, the ones I'd listen to a dozen or more times on repeat. These are all songs whose sound I love, but in most cases they're also songs with lyrics that not only struck but stuck.
It is also an unusually short list, compared to years past; 2005 was a good year for music but a bad year for me listening to music. It's really pathetic how far behind and out of touch I've gotten in the last twelve to eighteen months. Here's to fixing that in 2006.
For the most part, I'm not linking to band sites or other information, for lo, I am lazy. If you need further information, google is your friend.
The Frames, "Right Road (Wrong Road)" (Another Love Song)
"And I know you said you needed time / but I never thought you had the balls to leave / And there's a right road / and there's a wrong, wrong road." I love the way this song just explodes into the second verse. And the beat is perfect for walking.
The Frames, "Fake" (Burn the Maps)
"Come on, the guy's a fake, what do you love him for? / And it was my mistake just kicking in his door / And if it's just a game, then what are we crying for?" I love the contrasts in this song, the crescendos and sudden drops, the anger and vulnerability. And the fact that it sounds like Glen Hansard is channelling David Gedge (specifically The Wedding Present-style DG rather than Cinerama-era DG), which is bizarre and appealing in about equal measure.
Bettie Serveert, "Attagirl" (Attagirl)
"Don't get stuck somewhere in the middle / you paid all your dues and you're not a second fiddle / don't say luck is something like a riddle / you paid for your place in this world / attagirl." After the disaster that was Log-22, this song is a beautiful representation of the Betties' return to form. The a cappella bit at the end gives me chills.
The Mendoza Line, "Let's Not Talk About It" (Fortune)
"You make everybody feel like a guest / in the intermission of your broadcast / telling anecdotes and stories all the day / while outside the windows rattle and shake / So let's not talk about it / or try to fight it / 'cause you don't wanna hear what you can't see." The production on this one just slays me - it's really a very simple song, but the layers and layers of vocals and instrumental noodlings around the edges give this one aural intricacy as well as emotional grip.
Benefits of Being Paranoid, "New Frontier" (Hello/NoiRo?)
"There's a man looking over his shoulder / getting ready to take that first step..." There are kind of not words for how much I love this song, and vidding it just made me love it more. It killed me to cut out an entire minute of the song, especially the repeated chorus with the murmured backing vocals and the repeated verse where the singer sounds like he's in total anguish. And oh, that shimmer of sound at the end...
The Streets, "It's Too Late" (Original Pirate Material)
"I walk in a trance / got a wounded soldier stance... / now nothing holds significance / and nothing holds relevance / 'cause all I can see is her elegance." Hip-hop seldom gets stuck in my head; that usually requires melody, which is usually in short supply in hip-hop. With this CD, and in particular this song, The Streets join the ranks of Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, and the few other hip-hop artists whose work I can actually hum. Heartbreaking narrative, gorgeous washes of sound, and drum rolls like I can hardly believe.
Coldplay, "Square One" (X&Y)
"Under the surface trying to break through / deciphering the codes in you / I need a compass, draw me a map / I'm on the top, I can't get back." I love the different textures to this one, the different sounds, the way the song just keeps unfolding and adding layers and... yum. It also hits my kink for first-track-on-a-CD songs that start relatively simple and then bloom into something huge and complex.
Coldplay, "Speed of Sound" (X&Y)
"All that noise and all that sound / all those places I got found / And thoughts go flying at the speed of sound / to show you how it all began / birds came flying from the underground / if you could see it then you'd understand." The sheer soaring sound of this one just about knocked me over the first time I listened to it. I fell in love with it at that moment and never fell back out.
Grant Lee Buffalo, "Honey Don't Think" (Mighty Joe Moon)
"It's the luck of the draw / how you wound up with me / I don't know how at all / but I beg you to stay / crawl around on this earth where the world's still small." I love the weariness to this one. I first fell in love with it several years ago, but I re-listened to it a lot this year after falling for Gilmore Girls - I'd put it on a mix for sisabet a while back, which in mid-2005 we agreed is really a mix Lorelai makes about Luke. (I've thought about vidding this song, but I think it probably works better in my head than it would for real.)
Death Cab for Cutie, "Marching Bands of Manhattan" (Plans)
"Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole / just like a faucet that leaks / and there is comfort in the sound / but while you debate half-empty or half-full / it slowly rises / your love is gonna drown." And really, Death Cab is one of the very few bands that could set lyrics like that to music so uplifting it makes me want to open my arms to the whole world.
Nada Surf, "Your Legs Grow" (The Weight is a Gift)
"There's a light that rises up / from the bottom of the lake / and its beam has hit me hard / now I'm wide awake / where it's cold but not that deep / 'cause your legs grow." This is another one of those Nada Surf songs that's faintly ridiculous and yet utterly compelling. The deep thrumming sound at the start of the second verse just gets me every time.
Nada Surf, "Do It Again" (The Weight is a Gift)
"When I accelerate I remember why it's good to be alive." Really, I don't think I can say more about my relationship with this song than I already did.
Son Volt, "Bandages and Scars" (Okemah and the Melody of Riot)
"Blame it on the system / or those that came before / Updated consciousness / knocking on doors / Piecemeal solutions / will only leave scars / Bandages for nosebleeds / in this city of artificial stars / The words of Woody Guthrie ringing in my head." Jay's still pissed off. I still love him. I mean, listen to the crunch of that guitar; how could I not fall for that?
Matt Pond PA, "So Much Trouble" (Several Arrows Later)
"I don't think I want to think about it / how the fall is coming down / The light is leaving and it's hard to breathe / buried in a pile of leaves / We don't want to make mistakes / we don't want to be the same / I hand the finger to my fate." This was a really good year for songs about pain and denial mixed with crazy, improbable hope. One of mpPA's catchiest songs ever. ::loves::
I have nearly-but-not-quite completed posts about CD acquisitions for both 2004 and 2005, which I hope to finish sometime before 2007. I'm in no rush; I figure whichever ones you haven't heard of you probably still won't have heard of regardless of when I get around to posting about them, and the ones you've already heard of you don't need me to tell you about. Heh.
Last year's list of obsesso-songs is here.
This is a list of the songs that took over my head in 2005, presented more or less in order. It is not a representative list of everything I listened to, or even of the CDs I acquired. It is not an exhaustive list of songs that I would call favorites; I have a lot of favorite songs, because I'm easy like that. These are the songs that burrowed into my brain and wouldn't come out for weeks at a time. They're the songs I heard constantly in my head, the ones I worked out elaborate harmonies for, the ones I'd listen to a dozen or more times on repeat. These are all songs whose sound I love, but in most cases they're also songs with lyrics that not only struck but stuck.
It is also an unusually short list, compared to years past; 2005 was a good year for music but a bad year for me listening to music. It's really pathetic how far behind and out of touch I've gotten in the last twelve to eighteen months. Here's to fixing that in 2006.
For the most part, I'm not linking to band sites or other information, for lo, I am lazy. If you need further information, google is your friend.
The Frames, "Right Road (Wrong Road)" (Another Love Song)
"And I know you said you needed time / but I never thought you had the balls to leave / And there's a right road / and there's a wrong, wrong road." I love the way this song just explodes into the second verse. And the beat is perfect for walking.
The Frames, "Fake" (Burn the Maps)
"Come on, the guy's a fake, what do you love him for? / And it was my mistake just kicking in his door / And if it's just a game, then what are we crying for?" I love the contrasts in this song, the crescendos and sudden drops, the anger and vulnerability. And the fact that it sounds like Glen Hansard is channelling David Gedge (specifically The Wedding Present-style DG rather than Cinerama-era DG), which is bizarre and appealing in about equal measure.
Bettie Serveert, "Attagirl" (Attagirl)
"Don't get stuck somewhere in the middle / you paid all your dues and you're not a second fiddle / don't say luck is something like a riddle / you paid for your place in this world / attagirl." After the disaster that was Log-22, this song is a beautiful representation of the Betties' return to form. The a cappella bit at the end gives me chills.
The Mendoza Line, "Let's Not Talk About It" (Fortune)
"You make everybody feel like a guest / in the intermission of your broadcast / telling anecdotes and stories all the day / while outside the windows rattle and shake / So let's not talk about it / or try to fight it / 'cause you don't wanna hear what you can't see." The production on this one just slays me - it's really a very simple song, but the layers and layers of vocals and instrumental noodlings around the edges give this one aural intricacy as well as emotional grip.
Benefits of Being Paranoid, "New Frontier" (Hello/NoiRo?)
"There's a man looking over his shoulder / getting ready to take that first step..." There are kind of not words for how much I love this song, and vidding it just made me love it more. It killed me to cut out an entire minute of the song, especially the repeated chorus with the murmured backing vocals and the repeated verse where the singer sounds like he's in total anguish. And oh, that shimmer of sound at the end...
The Streets, "It's Too Late" (Original Pirate Material)
"I walk in a trance / got a wounded soldier stance... / now nothing holds significance / and nothing holds relevance / 'cause all I can see is her elegance." Hip-hop seldom gets stuck in my head; that usually requires melody, which is usually in short supply in hip-hop. With this CD, and in particular this song, The Streets join the ranks of Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, and the few other hip-hop artists whose work I can actually hum. Heartbreaking narrative, gorgeous washes of sound, and drum rolls like I can hardly believe.
Coldplay, "Square One" (X&Y)
"Under the surface trying to break through / deciphering the codes in you / I need a compass, draw me a map / I'm on the top, I can't get back." I love the different textures to this one, the different sounds, the way the song just keeps unfolding and adding layers and... yum. It also hits my kink for first-track-on-a-CD songs that start relatively simple and then bloom into something huge and complex.
Coldplay, "Speed of Sound" (X&Y)
"All that noise and all that sound / all those places I got found / And thoughts go flying at the speed of sound / to show you how it all began / birds came flying from the underground / if you could see it then you'd understand." The sheer soaring sound of this one just about knocked me over the first time I listened to it. I fell in love with it at that moment and never fell back out.
Grant Lee Buffalo, "Honey Don't Think" (Mighty Joe Moon)
"It's the luck of the draw / how you wound up with me / I don't know how at all / but I beg you to stay / crawl around on this earth where the world's still small." I love the weariness to this one. I first fell in love with it several years ago, but I re-listened to it a lot this year after falling for Gilmore Girls - I'd put it on a mix for sisabet a while back, which in mid-2005 we agreed is really a mix Lorelai makes about Luke. (I've thought about vidding this song, but I think it probably works better in my head than it would for real.)
Death Cab for Cutie, "Marching Bands of Manhattan" (Plans)
"Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole / just like a faucet that leaks / and there is comfort in the sound / but while you debate half-empty or half-full / it slowly rises / your love is gonna drown." And really, Death Cab is one of the very few bands that could set lyrics like that to music so uplifting it makes me want to open my arms to the whole world.
Nada Surf, "Your Legs Grow" (The Weight is a Gift)
"There's a light that rises up / from the bottom of the lake / and its beam has hit me hard / now I'm wide awake / where it's cold but not that deep / 'cause your legs grow." This is another one of those Nada Surf songs that's faintly ridiculous and yet utterly compelling. The deep thrumming sound at the start of the second verse just gets me every time.
Nada Surf, "Do It Again" (The Weight is a Gift)
"When I accelerate I remember why it's good to be alive." Really, I don't think I can say more about my relationship with this song than I already did.
Son Volt, "Bandages and Scars" (Okemah and the Melody of Riot)
"Blame it on the system / or those that came before / Updated consciousness / knocking on doors / Piecemeal solutions / will only leave scars / Bandages for nosebleeds / in this city of artificial stars / The words of Woody Guthrie ringing in my head." Jay's still pissed off. I still love him. I mean, listen to the crunch of that guitar; how could I not fall for that?
Matt Pond PA, "So Much Trouble" (Several Arrows Later)
"I don't think I want to think about it / how the fall is coming down / The light is leaving and it's hard to breathe / buried in a pile of leaves / We don't want to make mistakes / we don't want to be the same / I hand the finger to my fate." This was a really good year for songs about pain and denial mixed with crazy, improbable hope. One of mpPA's catchiest songs ever. ::loves::
I have nearly-but-not-quite completed posts about CD acquisitions for both 2004 and 2005, which I hope to finish sometime before 2007. I'm in no rush; I figure whichever ones you haven't heard of you probably still won't have heard of regardless of when I get around to posting about them, and the ones you've already heard of you don't need me to tell you about. Heh.