At Bachmann campaign HQ
Saturday, December 31, 2011
The 25 Best Singles of 2011 (5-1)
5. Elbow -- Lippy Kids
Youth, friendship, longing and just a hint of regret made up Elbow's stunning tale of wistful nostalgia, and when frontman Guy Garvey asked about kids, "Do they know those days are golden? Build a rocket, boys!" it brought a knowing smile to your face and warmed your heart.
4. Wye Oak -- Civilian
It started off simply enough, with a little guitar, a droning drum-line and Jenn Wasner's haunting vocals -- but as the song began its build to a ferocious, near-biblical crescendo, it grabbed you by the throat and would not let go.
3. Adele -- Someone Like You
There's just no denying the force of nature that is Adele -- and her ode to resignation in the aftermath of a painful break-up was the most emotionally devastating song of the year. We've all been there.
2. Manchester Orchestra -- Simple Math
The linchpin of a concept album about a young man questioning everything in his life, Simple Math as a single perfectly encapsulated the epic scope of what singer-songwriter Andy Hull was going for across ten songs. It was powerful, it was passionate, it was heartbreaking, and when Hull desperately belted out, "Believe me, everything is brilliant," you knew it was that too.
1. Bon Iver -- Holocene
Plaintive, lovely and moving in ways that can't be properly described in mere words -- at least ones not set to music -- the second single from Bon Iver's miraculous self-titled 2011 album was something more than special. It was a song you felt from start to finish, and the year's best musical creation.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Quote of the Day, Jr.
"She is certainly one of the people you would look at. I am a great admirer of hers, and she was a remarkable reform governor of Alaska. She's somebody who I think brings a great deal to the possibility of helping in government and that would be one of the possibilities. There are also some very important cabinet positions that she could fill very, very well. I can't imagine anybody that would do a better job of driving us to an energy solution than Gov. Palin, for example. Tell her that she would certainly be on the list of one of the people we would consider."
-- Newt Gingrich on the possibility of naming Sarah Palin as a running-mate or to a cabinet position
I'm really not sure there's a way for these people to become any more of a joke.
Picture of the Day
For those who thought Bloomberg had run out of things to tax. By the way, this is why Mario Cantone always wound up paying just a little more than the women on Sex and the City.
The 25 Best Singles of 2011 (10-6)
10. The Beastie Boys w/Santigold -- Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win
They may be elder statesmen in hip-hop, but the Beastie Boys' decision to team up with Lower East Side alt-art idol Santigold proved to be a stroke of inspirational genius -- injecting funky life into a single that was one of many tracks on an album which proved the Beasties are doing anything but going gently into that good night.
9. TV on the Radio -- Will Do
They've been fierce and they've been wonderfully bewildering, but it was when TV on the Radio slowed their groove and added sensuality and just a hint of haunting melancholy that they produced their best song yet.
8. The Black Keys -- Lonely Boy
How good are the Black Keys? So good that they could release a song in late October that would push almost all the other great singles of the year aside. Lonely Boy didn't have the surprise or whimsy of Tighten Up, but what it had going for it was a driving beat and a kick-ass, bluesy guitar riff right out of a 70s road picture -- and that was more than enough.
7. Frank Ocean -- Novacane
Much like his role in one of the coolest songs of the year, Jay-Z and Kanye's lead-off track on Watch the Throne, No Church in the Wild, the mood on Frank Ocean's big single this year was pitch black. But unlike Church, Novacane found Frank not reveling in his imperial depravity but questioning it, and it's that "How the hell did I get here and is this really all there is?" humanity that made this song hit home. Plus, it's just damn sexy.
6. M83 -- Midnight City
Instantly memorable, slyly retro and flat-out great, French electronic maestro Anthony Gonzalez -- AKA M83 -- rode the chill-wave to something much more profound than many of his contemporaries, producing not just one of the best songs but one of the best full-length albums of the year.
Tomorrow: 5-1
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