top five albums of the last decade, part four: 2006 & 2007

2006

5. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys

I know lots of English people got annoyed when this album came out because of all the hype about a band that wasn't really all that great. But since I was safely in my American bubble, I didn't get any of that, and I just enjoyed it for what it is: a fun record about boring teenage life sung in a very strong Yorkshire accent. And you all know how I love the northerners!

4. Robbers & Cowards - Cold War Kids

This is an awesome video for an amazing song. This album is a very cool blend of west coast quirky rock and folksy-bluesy undertones.

3. Yours To Keep - Albert Hammond, Jr.

While browsing youtube for a video to link to, I noticed that a lot of comments had to do with the Jonas Brothers. Apparently they wrote a song about a pizza girl (?) that sounds a lot like "Call An Ambulance". So I had to look it up and it does sound really similar, and now I'm getting Jonas Brothers youtube recommendations. Fuck them. Anyways, this guy is awesome. The guitars still sound very Strokesy, but without Casablancas' voice the overall sound is a lot less rock with a little more pop.

2. Ganging Up On The Sun - Guster

Like Phantom Planet, Guster have been one of my favorite bands for a very long time, and I think they will always be up there. I'm pretty sure we have three copies of this CD floating around our house, because my brother and sister and I were all in different places during the summer that it was released, and we all bought it. It's that good.

1. Bring It Back - Mates of State

(I'm not sure what's going on in this video. You can ignore it.) I really like male-female vocals, and this husband and wife duo is one of the best around. Neither of them have particularly incredible voices, but the harmonies and especially the rhythms are really great.

2007

5. The Good, The Bad, and The Queen - The Good, The Bad, and The Queen

This album was a collaboration between singer Damon Albarn (of Blur and Gorillaz fame), guitarist Simon Tong (The Verve), bassist Paul Simonon (The Clash), and drummer Tony Allen (Feta Kuli). It's not an album that really pops out at you, but rather one that grows on you. It's one of my studying records: not too loud or upbeat that it will distract me, but interesting enough to keep me awake.

4. Night Falls Over Kortedala - Jens Lekman

The sophomore album from everyone's favorite Swedish crooner, Night Falls Over Kortedala is happy, romantic, sometimes melancholic, and always witty. I totally see why my best friend is a little bit in love with him.

3. I'll Be Lightning - Liam Finn

Liam Finn is one of those people that are born into rock royalty (weird fact: I have a cousin named Neil Finn), but he's not hiding in his father's shadow. I'll Be Lightning is a hauntingly beautiful debut album from a talented young musician. This is another one of my study-at-Starbucks records.

2. Neon Bible - Arcade Fire

In my opinion, Neon Bible isn't as good as Funeral, but it's still great (especially the first four songs). Again, the mix of French and English lyrics make me geekily happy, especially when I can understand them, i.e. "le miroir casse / the mirror casts mon reflet partout" from Black Mirror.

1. In Rainbows - Radiohead

I remember the day this album came out. It was the infamous "pay what you want" deal, and their website crashed because so many people were trying to download it. After I finally got it, I didn't stop listening to it for about two months. And then I saw them in concert and it was uh-mazing.

top five albums of the last decade, part three: 2004 & 2005

2004

5. So Jealous - Tegan and Sara

I love Canadians. And I love twin sister duos (see Exit Clov). So yeah, I love Tegan and Sara. I first heard of them through Phantom Planet's old blog, when Darren and Jeff played around with a cover of "Walking With A Ghost". I loved the song so I looked it up and found this gem of an album.

4. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

The beginning bit of "Take Me Out" was my first musical phone ringtone ever. I actually thought it was so weird when I first heard it, but I couldn't get it out of my head.

3. Futures - Jimmy Eat World

I bought this CD for my brother for his birthday the year it came out, and then promptly stole it. I may be a bad sister but I do have cracking good taste in music! Jimmy Eat World are often lumped in with other random pop-punk or emo bands from the era, but they are really so much better than that.

2. Antics - Interpol

"I'm timeless like a broken watch / I make money like Fred Astaire" Awesome. I still regularly listen to this album.

1. Funeral - Arcade Fire

This is another band that I didn't love until recently. I thought they were okay for years, but never really tried to listen to a whole album. But last summer and this past semester I have become obsessed. I love the mixture of singing in French and English; it creates a beautiful, if strange, sound.

2005

5. Has A Good Home - Final Fantasy

I just found this video when I was searching for a song to link to, and it made me so happy. I love Owen Pallett. He was one of the collaborators on Arcade Fire's first album, but he is amazing on his own too. The electric violin fascinates me; it's so cool how he is like a one man orchestra, creating the melodies and harmonies live at the same time.

4. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party

Bloc Party aren't one of my favorite bands exactly, but the type of music they make is the reason I love British music. The British have a history of blending rock and dance music to create something that is much more fun to dance to than rap or techno. Of course it isn't limited to the UK; bands like MGMT and The Strokes and We Are Scientists do it too, which is probably why they're more popular in the UK than they are over here.

3. The Sunlandic Twins - Of Montreal

Despite the misleading name, Of Montreal is an American band. They're very quirky and I love them. Good to work out to and good to clean to because they put me in a good mood.

2. Illinois - Sufjan Stevens

There are some artists that are better live than in studio, and I think Sufjan is one of them. Not that I've ever seen him live unforch, but all of his live youtube videos are fantastic (Owen Pallett also falls under this category). Plus, of course I love the U 0f I-like gear.

1. Twin Cinema - The New Pornographers

I've talked about this album before so I'm not going to go into detail about why I love it. Suffice it to say that I really do.

top five albums of the last decade, part two: 2002 & 2003

2002

5. Un Día Normal - Juanes

I just discovered Juanes a few summers ago (I never took high school Spanish, so I didn't get to translate his lyrics - we just got MC Solaar in French class), but Latino pop has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, and this is some fantastic stuff. The Black Eyed Peas actually did a remix of La Paga that I like a lot, although the original is better.

4. Turn On The Bright Lights - Interpol

I actually didn't get this album until last year, and I don't like it as much as Antics, but it's still great.

3. Songs About Jane - Maroon 5

My sister got this album from a friend of hers right when it came out, and we both quickly became obsessed. Maroon 5 was the first band I ever saw in concert, when they were opening for John Mayer. They didn't get popular until like two or three years after they released their debut, and it was my first real experience with discovering awesome music before everyone else and being able to say I told you so. Hee, I still love that feeling.

2. O - Damien Rice

There are certain albums that bring me back to a very specific place and time when I listen to them. This album reminds me of summer camp in 2006. I had heard Damien Rice before that and didn't pay much attention, but my friend played "The Blower's Daughter" in one of the talent shows and I fell in love with it.

1. A Rush Of Blood To The Head - Coldplay

Like I said earlier, I don't listen to Coldplay all that much anymore, and I hadn't listened to this album in years until I started making this list. Then I re-listened and remembered how amazing it is.

2003

5. Keep It Together - Guster

This was such a great year for music that it was really hard to narrow this list down. But this album definitely deserves a place. Guster's best in my opinion, with "Amsterdam", "Homecoming King", "Keep It Together", and "Come Downstairs and Say Hello".

4. The Guest - Phantom Planet

This album--and band--is famous for "that OC song!" but there's much more to it than "California", which isn't even my favorite on the CD. Their first album was classic Cali pop rock, but this one is great because it has so many different sounding songs.

3. Absolution - Muse

This is the album that made me a Muse fangirl. I love the Rachmaninov influenced piano solo in "Butterflies & Hurricanes", "Hysteria" is my favorite road trip song, and "Time Is Running Out" is still one of the best songs ever.

2. Dear Catastrophe Waitress - Belle and Sebastian

I discovered Belle and Sebastian far too late. I had heard how good they were for years but I never got around to getting an album until pretty recently. Silly me. This album is freaking awesome. Go listen to it if you haven't.

1. Chutes Too Narrow - The Shins

I don't even know how to describe how much I love Chutes Too Narrow. When I try to think of my favorite song, I can't choose. For every time I think "Saint Simon", I remember "Gone for Good" and "Pink Bullets" and "So Says I" and I give up and go listen to the CD over and over.

top five albums of the last decade, part one: 2000 & 2001

This will be a five-part series to celebrate the musical awesomeness that was the naughties, now that they're just about over. The new millenium has become a tween, how exciting! I originally divided this up into country of origin, but decided to do a top five list by year instead because it was easier. It's also good this way because I can include both nostalgia albums and great albums that I didn't discover until years after their release.

2000

5. Country Grammar - Nelly

First rap album I ever had, and I still rock out to it when my itunes shuffles it on. Andale, andale, mama EI, EI! Don't judge.

4. The Moon And Antarctica - Modest Mouse

I've never been a huge Modest Mouse fan, but this was the album that everyone always told me to get if I wanted to try to get into them. So I finally got it and realized that yeah, its actually pretty good! I still don't love the band exactly (although I did get-and like-We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank because of Johnny Marr), but this is one of those CDs that should be in any music fan's collection.

3. Parachutes - Coldplay

I've gone through several stages with Coldplay. I actually remember hating the band around this time. They played "Yellow" on DC101 radio all the time, and I thought it was whiny and dull. It wasn't until A Rush Of Blood To The Head came out and my sister played it over and over again that I started to like them and rediscovered this album. Since then, they have both grown and...shrunk on me, but this is still a fantastic debut album from an iconic band of the 00s.

2. Mass Romantic - The New Pornographers

The debut album from one of my favorite bands. It's not as good as Twin Cinema, but I still love it. The title track is one of the best on the CD, and I also love "Jackie", which is slightly strange but fun.

1. Kid A - Radiohead

First Radiohead album of the decade, and it was certainly a good one. It was definitely boundary-pushing with it's weird electronic feel, which is one of the reasons it is so memorable. Another reason is that it produced one of the best songs to be performed live in "Idioteque". The crowd turns into a giant rave dance floor and Thom Yorke does his crazy dance.


2001

5. Room For Squares - John Mayer

I don't listen to this album much anymore, but whenever I do, I get serious flashbacks to ninth grade. Katie and Alex, my two gym/health class buddies, introduced me to it when we were supposed to be watching a Kevin Costner baseball movie. It wasn't one of the good ones, so we were bored. So I spent a few months listening to it through Alex's headphones, then got it for Christmas and it didn't leave my CD player for ages.

4. Rockin' The Suburbs - Ben Folds

I was introduced to Ben Folds by my best friend from high school, who is a pianist so gets excited when any artist uses the piano in their music. We saw him in concert at the beginning of junior year during his Songs For Silverman tour, and it was amazing. Only the second concert I ever went to but it was still one of the best because he is such a great performer. I love this album because it is a mix of silly Ben Folds Five-esque songs and more mature songs, like the father's anthem "Still Fighting It".

3. Up The Bracket - The Libertines

I didn't know about The Libertines until right about the time that they broke up, but this was one of the first British indie bands that I heard that really sparked the whole obsession. I like this album better than their second, because it's kind of rough and loud and weird, like how The Clash would sound today. Pete Doherty grosses me out a little, but he and Carl Barat really were a great songwriting team and I miss them together.

2. Oh, Inverted World - The Shins

I also got this album from Emily, right around the time when we were discovering good music. The Shins became one of my favorite bands then, and they remain so now. I now like Chutes Too Narrow a bit better, but this holds a special place in my heart because it was my introduction to a fantastic band, and it was my favorite CD for a very long time. "New Slang" is of course a gorgeous song and probably their most well known, but the whole album is full of great songs.

1. Origin of Symmetry - Muse

Oh Muse. I still miss the Muse of this era, even though I have grown to like their new sound. Absolution was the first of theirs that I got, but Origin of Symmetry was always my favorite after I discovered them all. This album wasn't even released in the US until 2005, but my sister's boyfriend at the time had a UK copy of it, so we were in luck. "Citizen Erased" is still my favorite song of theirs (specifically the live version that was on Hullabaloo, but the album version is great too).

crashing the sunset party

I went into London on my own for the first time yesterday, and I didn't get lost! This is an achievement for me because I have a habit of getting lost wherever I go. But London is so easy to get around in that I haven't lost my way once (so far...). I love the tube; it's so much more efficient and user-friendly than Metro back home.

But anyways, I was in the city to meet a few former coworkers/friends of mine, and it was quite an experience! It was great catching up with the Sunset boys because I got to a) reminisce about the good old camp days and b) hear lots of stuff about that summer that I had no idea was going on! It's funny being so far removed from everything, because the three of them are never going back to camp so they had no scruples about dishing all the dirt, whereas a few years ago no one was sure about who they could talk to. I know this is all really vague, but let's just say there was lots of drama that summer, and it's kind of hilarious to look back on it now and know what really happened.

Clockwise from far left: Ben, Bill, David, Mike F, Steve, Luke, Dougie, Tynan, Mike G

So yeah, hanging out with Ben, Luke, and Mike (Ford) was a good time. Mike and I ate lunch at a really cute Italian cafe and then walked around aimlessly for an hour or two while we waited for Ben and Luke to get off work. Then we all went to Kingston to a student bar where Ben was DJing that night, and I got to meet his girlfriend and his twin sister and we all just hung out and chatted. It made me really miss camp! And hopefully this is only the first of many camp reunions I get to have this term.

pharewell phantom planet

The news that the guys of Phantom Planet have decided to go on indefinite hiatus is not all that surprising to me. And actually, it's not all that upsetting either. You know the saying: all good things come to an end...and this good thing had a nice long 15 year lifespan. They brought into the world four fantastic studio albums and two b-side collections, plus various singles, covers, (allegedly) amazing live shows, and overall general happiness. The only thing I'm really sad about is that I never got to see them in concert.

At 4 am this morning my subconscious was doing everything in its power to stop me from writing my paper. Consequently, I had an urge to reacquaint myself with some videos from Phantom Planet's old blog. They are and always will remain one of my favorite bands, and this is due as much to their personalities as their music. Hopefully these videos will give you a clue as to why. Nerdy rockstars FTW.

(BTW, I had a really difficult time picking out my favorite videos. You guys should really just go to their youtube page, because there are so many weird and hilarious things there.)

Opening bit to their live DVD:


Halo with a headset


Sam and Darren drunk in Missouri


Alex plays and talks about Zelda


Alex makes a fort


Darren does blind sonar impression


And finally, Phantom Planet World Tour 2004


Thanks to Alex, Darren, Sam, and Jeff (and Jacques and Jason too!) for making my teenage years a little brighter.

nostalgia

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot.

If you are like me, you are very familiar with those three names. Or at least you were as a child. Animaniacs was serious the best cartoon ever. It was intelligent without being overbearing, sarcastic without passing over into cruelty, and it contained a fair amount of risqué humor. Looking back on it I'm actually surprised with some of the jokes they got away with. But I guess that's the very reason they got away with them; you need a certain level of maturity to get the more mature insinuations. (When you're little you just laugh at the fart jokes.)

Okay, I love Disney movies as much as the next girl, but this is just classic:


Animaniacs helped me pass History of the Americas in eleventh grade...


...and English in twelfth grade.


And finally, one of my absolute faves, the modern day "Who's on first":


Why isn't modern kids programming this good? You'd be surprised at how difficult it was to choose clips to post. I feel like I've missed out on a billion classic episodes. Go youtube them.