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Here is Mathieu’s look back on the best 100 tracks 2017 had to offer

There are no ways around it, globally, 2017 was an awful pit of despair in which we managed to sink in deeper with each passing months. Luckily, desperate times usually result in the best creative boosts which in turn leads to great music. At this point, there isn't much that hasn't been said about the catastrophic year we just survived (yes, survived). 

Granted, I am late to the game by publishing this on the 5th of January. I could lie and say I have been extremely busy or had been through a severe shit storm the last few weeks, but I am not gonna lie. 2017 was unapologetic, and so am I. Last year has been unapologetic in reminding everyone just how bad a leader of the free world the angry cheeto is. Some - me lowkey included - even feared a third world war thanks to powerful men's deeply rooted desire to prove themselves via nuclear weapons. 

Beyond politics, terrible weather, violence and the end of Vine, our previous lap around the sun was unapologetic by granting us a closer, untainted look at Hollywood and the music industry. Accusations started pouring in one at a time and finally, the truth came out. Turns out La La Land is not all glitz and glam and some of the people we collectively idolized were actually total scum. Hopefully, society will retain the impact of the #MeToo movement for future generations. Standing tall against the enemy is no easy task and it requires courage. So does moving on. And so does focusing on the brightside. 

Therefore, it is with hope, courage, and a kickass playlist that I glance at 2017 in the rearview mirror and move on. Without further ado, here are the 100 songs that got me through this mess. 

100: Great Grandpa - Fade 99: Father John Misty - Pure Comedy 98: Thundercat - Friend Zone 97: Kelly Lee Owens ft. Jenny Hval - Anxi. 96: Fleet Foxes - Third of May / Odaigahara 95: Katy Perry ft. Skip Marley - Chained To The Rhythm 94: Tyler, the Creator ft. Frank Ocean & Steve Lacy - 911/Mr. Lonely 93: Oliver Tree - All I Got 92: DJ Khaled ft. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller - Wild Thoughts 91: Julien Bakers - Appointments 90: CCFX - The One To Wait 89: Slowdive - Slomo 88: Lorde - Liability 87: The Drums - Blood Under My Belt 86: Fever Ray - To the Moon And Back 85: Paramore - Hard Times 84: Miya Folick - Give It To Me 83: Maggie Rogers - On + Off 82: Japanese Breakfast - Road Head 81: The War On Drugs - Holding On 80: Frank Ocean ft. Jay-Z & Tyler, the Creator - Biking 79: HAIM - Want You Back 78: St. Vincent - Los Ageless 77: Kesha - Praying 76: LCD Soundsystem - tonite

75: Charly Bliss - Percolator 74: Jay Som - The Bus Song 73: George Fitzgerald - Burns (Edit) 72: Mount Eerie - Real Death 71: Vince Staples - Big Fish 70: Wolf Alice - Heavenward 69: Broken Social Scene - Hug Of Thunder 68: French Montana ft. Swae Lee - Unforgettable 67: Mr Jukes ft. Alexandria - Tears 66: Beach Fossils - Down The Line 65: Sorority Noise - No Halo 64: Quicksand - Cosmonauts 63: Kelela - Frontline 62: Real Estate - Darling 61: Carly Rae Jepsen - Cut To The Feeling 60: Grizzly Bear - Mourning Sound 59: MGMT - Little Dark Age 58: Lana Del Rey - Love 57: King Krule - Dum Surfer 56: Mac Demarco - My Old Man 55: Young Fathers - Only God Knows 54: Young Thug ft. Carnage - Liger 53: The National - The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness 52: Pale Waves - There's A Honey 51: SZA ft. Travis Scott - Love Galore

50: Alvvays - Dreams Tonite 49: Slowdive - Star Roving 48: Arca - Desafio 47: Nilufer Yanya - Baby Luv 46: The War On Drugs - Thinking Of A Place 45: Khalid - Young, Dumb & Broke 44: Arcade Fire - Creature Comfort 43: Charlotte Gainsbourg - Deadly Valentine 42: DVSN - Think About Me 41: Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE. 40: Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Over Everything 39: Tara Carosielli - Halloway Road 38: Miguel ft. Travis Scott - Sky Walker 37: BC Unidos ft. Carly Rae Jepsen - Trouble In The Streets 36: LCD Soundsystem - how do you sleep? 35: Yaeji - Raingurl 34: Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness 33: Japandroids - No Known Drink Or Drug 32: Charly Bliss - Glitter 31: Selena Gomez - Bad Liar 30: Frank Ocean - Chanel 29: Superorganism - Something For Your M.I.N.D. 28: A$AP Ferg - Plain Jane 27: SZA - Drew Barrymore 26: Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights

25: The National - Carin At The Liquor Store 24: Lorde - Supercut 23: Cardi B - Bodak Yellow 22: Mount Eerie - Toothbrush / Trash 21: KWAYE - Cool Kids 20: BROCKHAMPTON - GUMMY 19: St. Vincent - New York 18: Daniel Ceasar - We Find Love 17: Slowdive - Sugar For The Pill 16: kamasi Washington - truth 15: Vince Staples - Yeah Right 14: Sampha - (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano 13: Yaeji - Drink I'm Sippin On 12: Perfume Genius - Slip Away 11: Calvin Harris ft. Frank Ocean & Migos - Slide

10: LCD Soundsystem - Call The Police

9: Future - Mask Off

8: Charli XCX - Boys

7: (Sandy) Alex G - Bobby

6: Lorde - Green Light

5: Charly Bliss - DQ

4: Julien Baker - Sour Breath

3: Kendrick Lamar - DNA

2: Kelela - LMK

1: Arcade Fire - Everything Now

My boyfriend will judge me to infinity and beyond for not having The Cure by Lady Gaga in there, but it is what it is. However, to be fair, it is a great pop track. The truth is, there was too many to chose from. Which is exactly why here, at Sound of Awesome, we do not limit ourselves to simply one list. Hence, you can also browse through both Estelle and Léa's top 100 best songs of 2017. Neat, right?

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To me, 2017 was a very tough and busy year, but also a year full of surprises. I passed through this year with those songs in my head and I wish for 2018 to be even better. 

2017 was a turbulent year, a year of change. I started to follow new music releases with a special attention, but I also reconnected with old classics that I had left out. 2017 was also a year when bands like Ride or Slowdive released new albums after years of absence.

When I decided to join the team of Ma Tasse de Thé on CHOQ.ca this fall, it was a revelation for me. One of the best decisions I made this year. I had a so much fun working with Mathieu, and I had the chance to discover a ton of talented British artists. It was definitely an experience that influenced a lot my list this year, the very first Top 100. I hope you will like it.

For more great music, you can also read my list of the 50 best songs of 2016. Estelle’s picks of the 100 best songs of 2017 are also available and so are Mathieu’s choices.

100. Charli XCX - Boys 99. DJ Khaled, Rihanna, Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts 98. Gorillaz, Kali Uchis – She’s My Collar 97. Beach House – Baseball Diamond 96. The xx - I Dare You 95. Syzzors - First 94. Calvin Harris, Pharrell Willliams, Katy Perry, Big Sean - Feels 93. Avelino, Stormzy, Skepta - Energy   92. Cardi B – Bodak Yellow 91. The War On Drugs – Thinking Of A Place 90. King Krule – Dum Surfer 89. Drake – Madiba Riddim 88. Loïc April - Mes Ruines Sur Tes Décombres 87. Childhood – Don’t Have Me Back 86. Girlpool – 123 85. Arcade Fire – Everything Now 84. Quick Sand - Cosmonauts 83. Gleemer – Soothe Me 82. Basement – Promise Everything 81. Jorja Smith, Preditah – On My Mind 80. Tennis – Diamond Ring 79. Future Island – Beauty Of The Road 78. Beck – Up All Night 77. Sundara Karma – Happy Family 76. Knox Fortune – Lil Thing

75. The Orielles - Jobin 74. Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Statuette 73. Yaeji – Raingurl 72. Real Estate - Darling 71. Brooke Bentham – Loosing, Baby 70. Julien Baker – Appointments 69. Japandroids – No Known Drink Or Drug 68. Migos – T-Shirt 67. Ride – Lannoy Point 66. Shakey Graves - The Donor Blues 65. Roosevelt - Teardrops 64. SZA, Travis Scott– Love Galore 63. Jaden Smith – Icon 62. ODEZSA, Naomi Wild – Higher Ground 61. Goat Girl – Cracker Drool 60. Beach Fossils - Down The Line 59. Valery Vaughn – Pablo Placard 58. Wolf Alice – Planet Hunter 57. Kendrick Lamar – ELEMENT. 56. The Horrors – Something To Remember Me By 55. Caswell – Dance Sober 54. George Fitzgerald - Burns 53. Vanille - Tangerine 52. TOPS - Petals 51. SZA – The Weekend

50. Drake – Fake Love 49. Loud – 56K 48. Rina Sawayama – Cyber Stockholm Syndrome 47. Myth Syzer, Bonnie Banane, Ichon, Muddy Monk – Le code 46. HOMESHAKE - Every Single Thing 45. Cults - Offering 44. Pure Violet - Garden 43. EERA - Living 42. Alvvays – Plimsoll Punks 41. INHEAVEN – Baby’s Alright 40. Kendrick Lamar – HUMBLE. 39. LCD Soundsystem – I used to 38. MGMT – When You Die 37. Cigarette After Sex – K. 36. Charly Bliss - DQ 35. Khalid - Location 34. The Drums – Blood Under My Belt 33. Mac DeMarco – My Old Man 32. TOPS – Dayglow Bimbo 31. Ride – Pulsar 30. Nick Mulvey – Mountain To Move 29. Methyl Ethel – Ubu 28. Biig Piig – Vice City 27. Slowdive - Slomo 26. Superorganism – Something For Your M.I.N.D

25. The Greeting Committee - She’s A Gun 24. Loud – Nouveaux Riches 23. Rich Chigga – Glow Like That 22. No Vacation - Mind Fields 21. Vince Staples - Yeah Right 20. Wolf Alice – Space & Time   19. Masego, FKJ - Tadow 18. Jaden Smith - Batman 17. Tyler, The Creator - Glitter 16. Cults – Clear from Far Away 15. Alvvays – In Undertow 14. Gorillaz, DRAM – Andromeda 13. Aminé- Spice Girl 12. Headclouds – Flowers 11. ODESZA – A Moment Apart

10. Vanille - Phonème

9. Poppy Ajudha, Kojey Radical - Spillin into You

8. The Ninth Wave - Liars 

7. Oliver Tree – All I Got 

6. Charly Bliss - Glitter

5. INHEAVEN - Drift 

4. GoldLink, Jazmine Sullivan, KAYTRANADA – Meditation

3. MGMT - Little Dark Age 

2. The Orielles – Let Your Dogtooth Grow 

1. Slowdive - Star Roving

[soundofawesomeblog]

100 songs for the ultimate 2017 playlist: this is Estelle’s picks for the best DAMN. tracks of the year.

2017 is the year when everyone is tired of all the bullshit. It is the year when you can’t just be a silent witness. It is the year when whistleblowers brought horrible people down, some of which managed to keep a shiny facade for decades all while being pieces of crap behind closed doors. It is the year (Afro-)American football athletes acted like heroes. It is the year Australia voted in favour of same-sex marriage and realized that love was the answer.

Don’t get me wrong: 2017 was horrible in an awful lot of ways. But we need to look at the positive if we want to be able to advance in 2018. Many artists felt the need to address the state of the world as it is right now and managed to make diamonds from the coal. Some were confrontational, some were loving and caring. But all of the artists behind the 100 songs on this list helped on their own scale to make our lives more bearable. 

As usual, this is my personal list of the best jams of 2017; Léa's list of 100 songs and Mathieu’s choices are also available now. If you want more music, you can revisit my lists of 2014, 2015 and 2016. This time, however, the top 50 tracks will come with a short description so you can know what to expect from them.

100. Cardi B – Bodak Yellow 99. Nilufer Yanya – Golden Cage 98. Wolf Alice – Don’t Delete The Kisses 97. Priests – Nothing Feels Natural 96. Tove Lo – Disco Tits 95. Vince Staples – Crabs In A Bucket 94. Sampha – (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano 93. Future – Mask Off 92. Tops – Petals 91. Cuesta Loeb – Grass It Grows 90. Sleigh Bells – Rainmaker 89. Kesha – Praying 88. Tyler, The Creator feat. ASAP Rocky – Who Dat Boy 87. Father John Misty – Pure Comedy 86. Remo Drive – Art School 85. French Montana feat. Sae Lee – Unforgettable 84. Miguel – Told You So 83. MØ – Nights With You 82. SZA feat. Travis Scott – Love Galore 81. Methyl Ethel – Ubu 80. Carly Rae Jepsen – Cut To The Feeling 79. Alex Lahey – I Haven’t Been Taking Care Of Myself 78. Paramore – Hard Times 77. Jay-Z - The Story of O.J. 76. Charly Bliss – Westermarck

75. King Krule - Dum Surfer 74. The Courtneys - Minnesota 73. LCD Soundsystem – tonite 72. Jay Som – Baybee 71. Slowdive – Don’t Know Why 70. Charli XCX feat. Uffie – Babygirl 69. Lorde – Perfect Places 68. Kelly Lee Owens feat. Jenny Hval – Anxi. 67. Haim – Want You Back 66. Naomi Elizabeth – When You Got The Best You’re Like Wow 65. Japandroids – North East South West 64. Hannah Diamond - Never Again 63. Washed Out – Get Lost 62. BROCKHAMPTON – GUMMY 61. Mura Masa feat. Charli XCX – 1 Night 60. Lana Del Rey feat. The Weeknd – Lust For Life 59. Tkay Maidza & Danny L Harle - Bom Bom 58. Phoebe Bridgers – Motion Sickness 57. St. Vincent – Los Ageless 56. Charly Bliss – Percolator 55. Haim – Right Now 54. Real Estate – Darling 53. Pale Waves – There’s A Honey 52. Makthaverskan – In My Dreams 51. Julien Baker – Appointments

50. Saya - Cold Fire

Canadian newcomer Saya proves that the coolest pop happens North of the border with Cold Fire, the sonic equivalent to a dark thick and sexy cloud of smoke. And it feels just as dangerous as the title implies it.

49, Beach Fossils – Down The Line

Driven by a bouncy bass line worthy of Joy Division, Down the Line sees Beach Fossils revealing a 4am indie text message of a track, a low-key anthem to living a slacker life and trying to find someone to share it with.

48. Calvin Harris feat. Frank Ocean & Migos – Slide

Calvin Harris created with Slide the dancefloor number we always knew Frank Ocean had in him, with inspiration from Thinking 'Bout You's echoed handclaps and Nikes' pitched up vocal hook. More important, Ocean sounds fun in a way we rarely see in his solo work. Migos' verses only add more spice.

47. The Drums – Blood Under My Belt

One of the best songs of the summer, Blood Under My Belt is a catchy slice of effortless indie pop that should stand the test of time like The Drums' best material for decades to come.

46. Lorde – Supercut

Lorde embodies the millennial generation through one of our best guilty pleasures: supercut videos. The song feels as dizzying as the lyrics, with various moving parts stitched together better than any supercut you'll find on YouTube.

45. Kendrick Lamar – DNA.

Kendrick Lamar's attack mode is something to behold. On DNA. he raps about his blackness and attacks FOX News' divisive and clueless stances, all while riding one of the hardest beat of the year on the track's back end.

44. Selena Gomez – Bad Liar

Selena Gomez gets serious indie cred for sampling Psycho Killer's bass line, and the fact that it's pretty much all that backs her up on Bad Liar showcases her talent as a charismatic interpret for this year's best low-key pop moment.

43. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Over Everything

Two of the greatest slack-rock icons of today pair up for some serious hammock soundtrack as Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile stop time together in the chilliest of ways on Over Everything.

42. Björk - The Gate

"It’s about rediscovering love", said Björk to Dazed about her latest album, Utopia. Lead single The Gate showcases the veteran artist surrounded by reverb and deep love, pleading for the unnamed "you" to care for her until Arca's production finally takes over.

41. LCD Soundsystem - call the police

James Murphy and his friends have lost nothing of their dance-punk instincts and LCD Soundsystem builds another snowballing number with call the police, a track that becomes so manic you might as well text the cops.

40. Colour Of Spring - Love

Leeds' best-kept secret, Colour of Spring is yet to release a full album, but Love sounds like it came from a classic shoegaze band with years of experience, all while keeping the urgency of someone trying to break out into the scene.

39. Kelela - LMK

Kelela came of age on Take Me Apart, her first full-length album and LMK is the sound of an artist finding her own, unique lane. Here, Kelela mixes Smooth R&B vocals to a bass-heavy beat from the future.

38. (Sandy) Alex G - Bobby

(Sandy) Alex G's latest album was a little less lo-fi than his earlier works, but Bobby proves that he can still make charming and honest folk music when he wants. Emily Yacina's voice only adds more warmth to a track as comfortable as a blanket.

37. The War On Drugs - Holding On

Channeling the gods of classic rock and indie, The War On Drugs deliver one of the band's most immediate and blown up song of its catalogue with the urgent Holding On.

36. Mac Demarco - My Old Man

Freak folk icon Mac DeMarco realizes he is becoming like his father in the worst ways on My Old Man, but his trademark no fuss delivery renders his uh-ohs as charming as he can be.

35. Lil Uzi Vert - XO TOUR Llif3

The exact moment where grunge, SoundCloud, hip-hop and mainstream collided together, XO TOUR Llif3 is one of the most depressing but also fascinating singles to make it to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

34. Kevin Morby - City Music

Even with a limited set of lyrics, folk rock artist Kevin Morby channels his inner Marquee Moon on the ambitious City Music, a musical trip that starts with a soothing guitar riff and turns into a damn fine jam.

33. Miguel feat. Travis Scott - Sky Walker

It's no news that Miguel can do sexy, but with Sky Walker, he injects a whole dose of fun and raunchy one-liners to his music for a smooth party number.

32. Alvvays - In Undertow

On In Undertow, indie pop darlings Alvvays' comeback single, the Canadian band sounds more direct and confident than ever. With its waves of guitar wooshes and Molly Rankins’ unique voice, it’s a real heartthrob. 

31. Frank Ocean - Chanel

Frank Ocean is on a streak; after releasing the outstanding Blonde in 2016, he came back with several singles in 2017. On Chanel, he blurs the lines between rapping and crooning, carrying the sparse production all the way over the high expectations he now has to deal with.

30. Alice Glass - Without Love

God bless Alice Glass and her comeback. There was no better way to start the next chapter of her career than with such a devastating electropop single, one where she channels a mix of the darkest parts of Samus from Metroid and Grimes for unique results.

29. SZA - Drew Barrymore

Perhaps the biggest revelation of 2017, SZA exposes all of her flaws and insecurities on Drew Barrymore, an honest R&B ballad set to a gin-fuelled backbeat. Her skilful flow in the verses is only a bonus.

28. Miya Folick - Give It To Me

Miya Folick showcases a sweet voice over a sparse guitar riff until she really, really wants you to give it to her. Then, her voice launches into the stratosphere as goosebumps emerge from your entire body.

27. Slowdive - Sugar For The Pill

Sugar for the Pill is quite the ballad, but it is still the most pop Slowdive has ever been with Neil Halstead's voice front and center over the dreamy guitars.

26. Vince Staples - Big FIsh

Don't let the banging beat or an uncredited Juicy J fool you with its club-ready hook; Vince Staples is not praising partying, money and booze on Big Fish. He instead reflects on his past misfortunes and how he can try to leave it behind him.

25. Thundercat - Friend Zone

No one did groovy in 2017 the way Thundercat did. Friend Zone is the best example of this, with its dizzying synths, bouncy bass line and Thundercat's unique voice.

24. Jay Som - The Bus Song

Jay Som is a low-key girl. She makes bedroom pop and likes the bus. Yet on The Bus Song, she hints at bigger ambitions with her rich arrangements and undeniable sense of melody. 

23. Jay-Z - 4:44

One year after Beyoncé called him out for cheating on Lemonade, Jay-Z takes the blame and faces how he fucked up on 4:44. And unlike the wave of apologies that came out in the last few months, this one feels sincere. Oh, and it's got quite the beat too.

22, Waxahatchee - Never Been Wrong

Katie Crutchfield opens her fourth album as Waxahatchee with a solid rock single, ready to defeat someone who wronged her badly - and who is definitely going to regret it.

21. Screaming Females - Glass House

This post-punk number is driven by an incessant bassline and start-stops from the rest of the band while Marissa Paternoster gives an unforgettable vocal performance.

20. The xx - I Dare You

Oliver Sim and Romy's voices intertwine perfectly on I Dare You, pleading to fall in love over a Jamie xx beat that recalls the band’s early days.

19. Charly Bliss - Glitter

Real glitter is apparently as toxic to the environment than the relationship Eva Hendricks details in this track, one that matches powerpop and indie aspirations with melody, fun and one hell of a hook.

18. Pierre Kwenders - Sexus Plexus Nexus

Polyglot, Montréal-based Pierre Kwenders offers a smooth as hell mix of world music on Sexus Plexus Nexus, a track that should bring bodies closer to each other on any dancefloor.

17. Tyler, The Creator feat. Frank Ocean & Steve Lacy - 911/Mr. Lonely

Tyler, The Creator enlists Steve Lacy and Frank Ocean for a breezy complaint about being lonely on 911, a trend he flips on the Mr. Lonely part of the song. There, he quits playing games and admits that he can't even lie, he's been lonely as fuck.

16. Mount Eerie - Real Death

Death became a common theme in music lately, and Mount Eerie's mourning of his wife on Real Death might be the most honest, direct and arresting testament of grief yet.

15. The War On Drugs - Thinking Of A Place

It's not the first trick in the book to release a comeback single that runs for eleven minutes. But The War On Drugs pulls it off with Thinking Of A Place, a song that embraces classic and indie rock in a laidback way. After all, we've got all our time.

14. Slowdive - Slomo

Slowdive's Slomo is seven minutes of pure bliss. Three decades in the scene, the British band manages to bring a track that already sits up there as one of the best shoegaze anthems.

13. Khalid - Young Dumb & Broke

"Yeah we're just young, dumb and broke, but we still got love to give" sings the newly Grammy nominated Khalid. Here, he delivers a laidback anthem for a generation that has nothing else to do but get high and live its life like there are still plenty of tomorrows.

12. St. Vincent - New York

St. Vincent is now an insane BDSM lord, but her most powerful single in 2017 was still a tender ballad called New York. Is it a love letter to the city? To David Bowie? To her ex? No answer can be as satisfying as the way she says "motherfucker" in the track.

11. Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights

Julien Baker knows how to strip naked her emotions in her songs. In Turn Out the Lights' finale, she lets it all out as she realizes she needs to get out of her lowest point on her own.

10. Julie Byrne - Natural Blue

Singer-songwriter Julie Byrne looks as peaceful as ever on the cover of her latest indie folk album Not Even Happiness, and highlight ballad Natural Blue feels just as comforting.

9. Japandroids - No Known Drink Or Drug

All Japandroids songs are propelled by a crunchy riff and a big rush of passion. No Known Drink Or Drug just happens to pack an unmatched level of it all, as rock and love triumphs in a truly life-affirming anthem.

8. Alvvays - Dreams Tonite

Dreams Tonite unfolds like a flower in Spring, with Molly Rankin's voice as sweet as a late-night milkshake for a soothing and timeless twee pop number.

7. Perfume Genius - Slip Away

The single most uplifting moment in a song this year comes exactly 49 seconds into Slip Away. Perfume Genius opens the curtains wide to show his love to the world in the loudest chamber pop number.

6. Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE.

Kendrick never really left, but HUMBLE. hits harder than any comeback. Kung Fu Kenny's first solo #1 saw him take the throne and shut down all pretenders as hip-hop biggest force.

5. Lorde - Green Light

Lorde is all grown up now and she knows how to build a memorable, if quirkily constructed, hit single. Green Light is the sound of a popstar hitting her zeitgeist, a dance song that feels vital.

4. Charli XCX - Boys

My favorite emoji lately has hearts in lieu of eyes and Boys sounds like its favorite song. Here, Charli gets lost in her pretty boys' fantasies, laying in a bed full of heart-shaped pillows, and forgets about her problems, one game coin sound at a time.

3. Lana Del Rey - Love

After years of dark and bleak songs, Lana Del Rey decided in 2017 to look out for us. For the first time, she sounds happy and bubbly: Love was the unexpected rush of hope we so desperately needed this year. "Don't worry baby..."

2. Vince Staples - Yeah Right

With boundaries-pushing production from SOPHIE and Flume, Vince Staples provides the most forward-thinking rap song of the year. Add Kendrick flexing one of his best flows in a guest verse and you've got the biggest banger you haven't heard yet on Yeah Right.

1. Sorority Noise - No Halo

Written by Cameron Boucher as he pulled off in front of his friend's house, forgetting he passed away a year ago, No Halo is emo's most essential single in this decade. An arresting number, the song reaches a whole new level on its gut-wrenching chorus.In a year when our heads spun out of control in all directions, No Halo is a reminder that life is short and that you should tell your close ones that you love them before it’s too late.

This is it for this year, one in which I found myself toying with the top 10 up until the very last minute. If you want to listen to these songs, I encourage you to check the Spotify playlist at the bottom that should contain almost all of the tracks you’ve seen here.

[soundofawesomeblog]

Our faves were problematic and we decided to soak them in gasoline and set them on fire. We also took the occasion to update the countdown of the best singles of the 2000s to make it less disgusting.

In 2011, I started working on a list of the best rock songs of the 2000s. Long story short, this leads, six years later, to the publication of the list of the 100 best songs of that decade. Serious work on it started around last April and it is fair to say that I have spent several hundreds of hours on the project since. The goal was to celebrate the music of the 2000s. I wanted to celebrate the music that came out as I was growing up as I felt it was unfairly taken into consideration compared to the music from earlier decades. On a simpler scale, I also simply believe that there is a lot of amazing music to celebrate in this eclectic decade.

As you can see, the important word here is “celebrate”.

After ranking the tracks, I took over writing every single description over the summer and although I only posted 10 positions each week, the entire bulk of the job was finished before I made the very first post, in September. Since then, many events unfolded and simply put, some bands do not deserve to be celebrated the way they were. I do not want to celebrate Brand New and Crystal Castles anymore. Not in a project in which I poured so much time and heart and devotion. Jesse Lacey and Ethan Khan are human thrash and I never want to encourage them ever again.

Other news outlets already explained each situation so I will not go into detail. If you need to learn more about the gruesome details, I encourage you to read the stories of Crystal Castles and Brand New at the source. To put it in broad, simple terms for the sake of this article, Alice Glass alleges that Ethan Khan, with whom she formed Crystal Castles, has been sexually, physically and psychologically abusing her from when she was still only 15 up to when she left the band in 2014. Meanwhile, Jesse Lacey of Brand New is tangled in a case of child grooming, where he kept contact for several years with two women, asking them for sexually explicit photos and more through relations that started when they were both still underage.

There is a case for separating the art from the artist. After all, many members of institutions like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been said to have done horrible acts in the past. Just type the name of about any superstars of the 20th Century on Google, followed by the word “problematic”, and it might ruin a lot of them for you. But I am having an extremely hard time dealing with this theory here. I can’t listen to these two bands without hearing the abuse these two men have perpetrated.

Especially when Alice Glass explains how the rage she throws in her lyrics comes directly from the way Ethan Khan treats her. How she was abused in the studio as she recorded her vocals. 

Especially when, in retrospect, so many of Jesse Lacey’s lyrics in Brand New seem to deal directly with the abuse he perpetrated. It’s unbelievable that I, like many others I should add, never connected the dots on a song like 2004’s Me Vs Maradona Vs Elvis, where he basically glamorizes date rape. The lyrics are quite a disgusting read now. It is important to note that Jesse Lacey acted as the leader of the band and as the main lyricist and songwriter through most of Brand New’s discography, especially when that last song was released. Also, it is very important to add that the other three members of the band have not been linked to the controversy. At this point, we do not know if they were implicated in any way or if they were aware of the situation before it became public.

This comes from someone who has called themselves a fan of both artists for years. Everyone who has known me knows how much Brand New meant to me. I routinely wore my Brand New t-shirts. I had posters and vinyl hanging on my walls. I introduced the band to other people with the passion of someone going door-to-door to talk to you about Jesus. I also paid beaucoup money to see them live in Glasgow this month; the show got “postponed” after the allegations. When the scandal first broke, I must admit that I did not know what to do; I decided to wait until the band would give a proper response. Then Jesse Lacey basically sucked his own dick in the entirety of his official statement and I gave up on them forever.

My love for Crystal Castles may have not been as deep, but I still owned the band’s début CD and enjoyed their other two records with Glass. I decided to mostly ignore the band after she left as I felt Alice was the soul of the band and Ethan Khan was a huge jerk in the breakup.

This leads back to the countdown. A party in which I curated 100 songs. It’s my party, I invite who I want to and the three tracks - Jesus, Alice Practice and Sink - are not invited anymore. These are tracks that I do not want to worship and hold in high regards anymore. The timing of the allegations was tricky: the Crystal Castles story blew up mere days before I was to post the portion of the countdown that included Alice Practice, so I could not simply replace the track. Instead, I added a clear update on the situation. Brand New’s scandal, however, unfolded after both their entries in the countdown had already been revealed.

This is why I am only now making changes. Had these allegations hit earlier this year, this countdown would have been slightly different and had included three other tracks. Here are the ones that I decided to include this time around:

Kelis - Milkshake

Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is In The Move

Annie - Heartbeat

All three of these songs are very deserving of being part of the top 100 and it was really hard to let each of them go through the initial process. They are also three songs that grew quite a lot on me in the last few weeks and on some days, I genuinely regretted not including them. They will therefore not be simply logged as numbers 100 to 98 on the countdown. Consider this an “update” on the list. After all, I did specifically say that this was “a completely incomplete, ludicrous, but also very passionate and thoughtful countdown of the 100 best singles of the 2000s” right in the very first article presenting this list. I also took the occasion to tinker a bit with the list and I moved some songs up and down a little.

I also included Men’s Needs by The Cribs and Move Your Feet by Major Senior to the first article in the “honorable mentions” section to replace the last two songs mentioned.

The articles have all already been updated with the new songs. I also took over the duty of creating updated graphics for the countdown to get rid of any reference to either band.

As for Crystal Castles and Brand New, this is the last time that I will write their names on this blog. I have also deleted all their songs from my computer and phone and slowly but surely, I am deleting them from my own personal memory. If there is anything that this update on my list can teach me, it’s that there is simply too much good music out there, too many acts that deserve recognition more than these sad excuses of human beings who created such a commotion.

[soundofawesomeblog]

This Fall, we are counting down the 100 best tracks of the 2000s with a new article every Monday. To learn more about the project and why the 2000s were amazing for music, click here.

After what felt like forever, we finally made it to the end: this week, we present the top 10 positions of the countdown. To listen to every single track listed in our top 100, you can head to the Spotify playlist we created at the bottom of the page.

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10. The Strokes - Hard to Explain

True, it is a little easy and inaccurate to say that The Strokes single-handily saved rock music in 2001. But during the summer of that year, the new band felt like a breath of fresh air, no matter how much they smelled like cigarette. Hard to Explain sounds easier than it is with a metronome-like drum beat and an endless stream of downstrokes. The track keeps moving forwards and forwards until it reaches its climax two minutes in and, just like that, disappears completely. The band then reels it right back and goes for the ride a second time, as exciting as the first. It is the track that rightfully set the expectations rocket high for the band’s first album Is This It and it’s a miracle they managed to reach them.

9. Amy Winehouse - Rehab

If America wasn’t already sold to Amy Winehouse yet by the time Rehab was released, it took only about 30 seconds to get it all hooked. On the biggest single of her cruelly short career, Amy wastes no time belting out the chorus in the opening seconds, backed by soul band the Dap-Kings and immaculate production from Mark Ronson. Don’t get it twisted though; it truly is Amy’s presence at the center stage that infuses the song its magnetism, with her defiant and relentless personality, giving it enough character to live long after she’s gone. With Rehab, Amy Winehouse kicked the door wide open for women to sing their imperfections with sass and break from the picture perfect plastic mold.

8. Radiohead - Idioteque

Radiohead truly became immortals in the 2000s, thanks in no small part to key tracks like Idioteque. After all, only a rock band in full grace mode could ditch its guitars for 1970’s computer music samples and end up with such a compelling piece of music. Thom Yorke’s falsetto, which ranges from delicate to plain manic as the song progresses, clashes with the robotic and cold background provided by a highly compressed drum machine and a Paul Lansky chord progression. The result sounds both like a virtual nightmare Yorke tries to wake up from, and a real dream to IDM-trained ears.

7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps

As punk as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were on their début album, no track they would ever release would reach the height of the tender ballad of Maps. Propelled by Nick Zinner’s rapid strum and secret weapon drummer Brian Chase’s thoughtful performance, the Fever To Tell highlight remains a love song for the ages. Meanwhile, Karen O’s feelings can’t help but burst out the iconic track, helped by its iconic “Wait, they don’t love you like I love you” line.

6. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

By the end of the decade, indie pop was still interested in bedroom aspirations, making delicate, intimate pieces of music. Grizzly Bear, however, was ready to make the most grandiose track they could with Two Weeks, and it sure feels like they reached both the moon and the stars. Starting with a bouncy piano motif and cartoonish whoa-ohs, Two Weeks builds upon a drum loop that would make Vampire Weekend jealous before crashing into a confetti convention in the chorus. The dizzying layers of synths and celestial backing vocals elevate the track to outer space for the band’s finest hour.

5. The Knife - Heartbeats

In the 2000s, few choruses felt as vital as the one The Knife cranked out on their synthpop masterpiece Heartbeats: “To call for hands from above to lean on/Wouldn’t be good enough/For Me, oh”. What is magical about the track, however, is the way Karin Dreijer Andersson sings. Channelling her inner Björk, she injects a duality of emotions in her delivery as she tiptoes between pure joy and pure nostalgia. Instead of “hands up above” though, she leans on a colourful yet robotic wall of synths and steel drums, one that is trying to rationalize her confused feelings. Heartbeats might not have been exactly a hit when it first came out, but such an ageless track can only win in notoriety through the years.

4. Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)

With its first album Funerals, Arcade Fire launched nothing less than an indie revolution in the mid-2000s. This rings especially true with Rebellion (Lies). The cathartic single is a deep journey to the grandiose. The real tour-de-force here is how natural it sounds; how Win Butler and his friends manage to create such a resonating piece, such an emotionally heavy track without ever sounding fake, forced or cheesy. Instead, the band wears its feelings right on its sleeve with an attitude that would inspire thousands of alternative rock bands for generations to come. Sung from the point of view of a child, Rebellion (Lies) pleas for the listener to stop hiding underneath the covers and to be who they want to be and to dream outside of their bed, an advice that isn’t as naive as it sounds.

3. M.I.A. - Paper Planes

The Clash started as a punk band but quickly incorporated elements of funk, reggae, hip-hop and world music to its core. It is therefore fitting that an artist like rapper M.I.A., one who was born from DIY and punk ethos, would end up sampling a song of them. On Paper Planes, the Londonian celebrates globalization one cash register noise at a time. Migrants, refugees or stoners, there was something for everyone on this global track, even if the visa trouble that inspired the song come from M.I.A.’s very own personal experience. In a decade with so many male rappers using girls as props in their videos while literally calling themselves P.I.M.P. in the process, it is telling that the most essential rap single of the 2000s came from a woman.

2. The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers

If you can scream the title of this track and count to 8, you can already sing 90% of House Of Jealous Lovers. The Rapture forms here the tightest rock unit making the nastiest, sweatiest, slickest disco song possible, one that could make CBGB and Studio 54 burn simultaneously. The quintessential dance-punk number gets its power from a groovy bass for the ages, funky drumming, an incisive guitar sound, epileptic vibratos and a stupid amount of cowbell. In the 2000s, there was simply no other song that managed to channel such frenzy as effectively as House Of Jealous Lovers.

1. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends

Growing old is scary as fuck, which is why our culture is so obsessed with staying young. Pop stars rarely survive long after they reach 30 years old, either because newer stars replace them, either because they literally die before they get old. James Murphy was, therefore, a bit of an oddity when he first came out of the New York scene with his début single Losing My Edge at 32 years old. Sure, his indie dance tales are a little too weird for him to truly become a star; he only got a number one album in the USA on his comeback album in 2017 on an especially slow chart week. But for a generation of well-informed music fans, he was the best-kept secret of the 2000s.

It also helped that, with LCD Soundsystem, Murphy wasn’t especially singing about being young. He preferred to sing about inviting an A-list electronic band to play in his basement, about death or about being the fat guy in a t-shirt doing all the singing. Losing my Edge, in fact, addressed this very situation, exposing a narrator who was starting to lag behind the cool kids, but who wanted to show he was still cooler because he “was there” when it started.

This all leads to All My Friends, without a doubt the greatest single track of the 2000s. Starting with a shivering piano riff, the song builds on as Murphy adds years to his odometer. All My Friends isn’t exactly a party track as much as it’s a song about trying to live the life of the party, about doing everything to get as much from our younger years, surviving the tomorrows and ruining our bodies just trying to fit in and live. Soon, the piano riff becomes drilling, it feels more and more urgent. The rapid-fire hi-hats open more and more often. The guitars and the synths are more and more present, leading to a mid-thirties James Murphy pleading to “see all my friends tonight”. As LCD Soundsystem reformed itself in 2016 after a five-year hiatus, Murphy’s words bear more and more weight, with the idea that each stupid decision, each thrill could be the last. All My Friends is more than a song about the midlife crisis: it touches themes of nostalgia, friendship, growing old and trying to make it work out in the end. And just like a lifestyle of partying, the song never puts the breaks on, drifting at 140 beats per minute before crashing seven minutes and a half later. 

In the end, All My Friends is scary. It’s frenetic, it’s wise, but it’s also so brutally honest in its statement and subject matter that it ends up intimidating. In a decade that saw the increase of the influence of the internet, of social media, of phones and of everything else that would make our parents cringe, All My Friends arcs back to the universal idea that you are probably missing out, that you are missing your friends more than you think, that your life is getting empty and that your youth is slipping away. Goddammit, do something with it before it’s too late. Check the charts, figure it out and go out there. 

(Note that Jay-Z’s 99 Problems and Primal Scream’s Kill All Hippies are not available on Spotify)

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[soundofawesomeblog]

This Fall, we are counting down the 100 best tracks of the 2000s with a new article every Monday. To learn more about the project and why the 2000s were amazing for music, click here.

We almost reached the top of the list as we reveal positions 20 to 11 this week As always, you will be able to listen to almost every single track of the countdown so far in a Spotify playlist at the end of the post.

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20. Phoenix - 1901

Indie rock got into an exciting new wave phase in the late 00s and it felt like the best of times, thanks in no small parts to France’s Phoenix. 1901 is a postcard from Paris at its peak, a peak the band estimates ended right as the 20th Century kicked in. The breezy single was on every cool kids’ iPod thanks to its avalanche of lighthearted guitars and the perfect amount of electronic flourishes.

19. Sigur Rós - Svefn-G-Englar

Nothing screams “hit” like a ten-minute experimental song with lyrics in Icelandic. Yet, Sigur Rós managed to make its way to listeners across the world with the sheer beauty of its very first single, Svefn-G-Englar. The slow-burning track emulates the feeling of a baby about to be born, bowed guitars included. The result is a cosmic piece of post-rock that could be the national anthem of such a country filled with auroras borealis and dreamlike landscapes.

18. Amerie - 1 Thing

Building a track around vocals, drums and a single guitar strum every few bars is a crazy idea. An idea so crazy in fact that executives at Columbia did everything they could to stop Amerie from releasing such a single. But with a vocal performance as big as hers on 1 Thing, there truly was no need to add many flourishes to such a hit. The mix of her cascading vocals and the waterfall of percussion provided by Rich Harrison - most of which sampled from funk drummer Ziggy Modeliste - was enough to catapult the track in the top 10 of the Billboard and to a well-deserved Grammy nomination.

17. The Avalanches - Since I Left You

The concept of sampling was no new thing in 2000, but The Avalanches took the idea many steps further with the plunderphonic single Since I Left You. Here, the various samples take the front seat, from Latin guitars to 60’s doo-wop vocal groups to funk, to create a completely new work outside of the barrier of genres.The homogeneous collage is unlike anything the sum of its parts could aim to; a rich, exotic and lighthearted journey to the warmest beaches of the Australian coast.

16. Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone

It’s easy to underestimate the importance of rock music in the 2000s. Sure, there were far fewer rock acts having chart success than in previous decades, but the fact remains that for a lot of pop stars, heavy guitars was the way to go. Kelly Clarkson’s career path - one which started on American Idol - wins her zero punk points, but on Since U Been Gone, she proves that she made her homework. While the opening verse borrows from the too-cool-for-school vibe of NYC bands like The Strokes, the chorus catapults her voice - and a few distortion pedals - to the stratosphere with passion and a few goosebumps.

15. The Walkmen - The Rat

The Rat is a real tour-de-force; here is a track that relies on a drum pattern so crazy, it sounds on the edge of falling apart at every turn. On top of this percussive performance, one will find guitars strummed with reckless urgency and Hamilton Leithauser trying his best to sound bored and over with his past flame, only to scream and cry for a second chance on every occasion. A painful breakup track if there’s ever been one, The Rat channels all the confusion and rage of a heartbreaking rupture and packs it tightly.

14. Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z - Crazy In Love

Beyoncé was already the biggest star in Destiny’s Child, but it was with Crazy In Love that she started her reign has one of the biggest stars on the planet. The track here samples 1970 funk track "Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)" in exemplary fashion, helping to channel the sexy and unbreakable side of Ms Knowles with its incessant horns and energetic drum beat. It’s no wonder Jay-Z feels the need to ad-lib “History in the making!” in the song’s intro.

13. Bon Iver - Skinny Love

A singer-songwriter with a guitar isn’t the most original concept in sight, but when it’s done correctly, it’s one that never feels out of time. Inspired by a break-up and a mid-twenties crisis, Justin Vernon created his Bon Iver project in a North Wisconsin, and it’s easy to feel his voice on Skinny Love as the only source of heat in the cold cabin. Still, thanks to some hand claps and multiple overdubbed vocal takes, he manages to make the song feel bigger than just himself.

12. Daft Punk feat. Romanthony - One More Time

If their video for Around the World saw few astronauts dancing around goofily with skeletons and swimmers, Daft Punk truly reached outer space grace with One More Time. A dancefloor filler for the ages, the lead single from Discovery features the late Romanthony as some kind of partybot who dances until the long breakdown lets him showcase his soul. Even if the song bases itself of some cleverly chopped and unrecognizable retro disco samples, the track feels futuristic, even years removed from it.

11. Girls - Lust For Life

Girls’ second single, Lust For Life, steals its title from a famous song and album from the godfather of punk himself, Iggy Pop. Sure, the band doesn’t sound as visceral as Iggy and his friends back in the days, but at the same time, few things feel as punk as opening a track by slamming the D chord over and over again for 13 fucking seconds like there was no tomorrow. Christopher Owens then spends half of the song reflecting on his shitty past and how it made him the shitty person he is now before letting the instruments speak for themselves, with a sweet melodica solo foreshadowing that he might end up alright after all. In the end, Lust For Life became the manifesto for the short-lived indie band, one with an indie facade hiding a pure punk rock heart. 

(Note that Jay-Z’s 99 Problems and Primal Scream’s Kill All Hippies are not available on Spotify)

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[soundofawesomeblog]

This Fall, we are counting down the 100 best tracks of the 2000s with a new article every Monday. To learn more about the project and why the 2000s were amazing for music, click here.

This week, we get closer to the top spot with positions 30 to 21. At the bottom of the post, you will find a playlist with every single track of the countdown that is available through Spotify, which is to say, pretty much all of them.

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30. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero

Sure, you could dance to several Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs if you wanted to, but it wasn’t until Zero that the band explicitly asked every single muscle of your body to shake to its rhythm. The lead single to the new wave heavy album It’s Blitz builds up, again and again, keeping all the steam it creates along the way until Karen O has to scream to be heard.

29. The xx - VCR

The xx’s eponymous album altered the musical landscape like few débuts can. Here was a fully formed band with its own sound, a minimalistic one built on empty spaces, icy guitars and warm voices. xx is full of highlights, but it’s VCR’s groove and its sweet xylophone that ends up being the most memorable of the bunch, a defiantly simple pop tour de force that showed the way for indie, pop and R&B artists for years to come.

28. Missy Elliott - Work It

Missy Elliott is the best-selling female rapper on the planet thanks to her inventiveness, and Work It helped confirm that status. Here, she makes elephant noises and “rat-at-at-at” gibberish sound dirty, brags about how she can “put it down, flip it and reverse it” before literally putting her song down, flipping it and reversing it, and almost keeps a straight face raising the bar for her male counterparts with cranking wordplay. Meanwhile, super producer Timbaland proves again to be the perfect match to Missy’s cartoonish flow.

27. Radiohead - Everything In Its Right Place

Kid A was one of the most stunning reinventions for a band in rock’s history because, unlike Ok Computer, it wasn’t rock at all. Opener Everything In Its Right Place was a slap in the face for anyone who still considered Radiohead to be the new saviors of rock n’ roll. Through cold textures, dizzying samples and electronic manipulations, Thom Yorke becomes half man, half machine, embodying the computer nightmare Ok Computer was trying to fight three years prior.

26. Friendly Fires - Paris

Friendly Fires’ Ed Macfarlane voice sounds understated and full of hope when he promises the listener of better days in the band’s breakthrough single Paris. Still, the real star here is the avalanche of percussions, carefully assembled to create a stunning escape to France, where you’ll bust out your best moves until the city lights dim out.

25. Primal Scream - Kill All Hippies

Nothing pisses off hippies like technology, and barely a month in the year 2000, Primal Scream was ready to exterminate every single one of them with its sixth album, XTRMNTR. On its technological freakout of an opener, Bobby Gillespie experiments successfully with various loops, distorted samples and more, all while showing up how he still got both the money and the soul.

24. Dizzee Rascal - I Luv U

At just 18 years old, Dizzee Rascal helped usher a new era of hip-hop in the United Kingdom, one that had more to do with UK garage, rave culture and punk than whatever American rappers had been doing since the late seventies. With I Luv U’s rapid-fire tempo, ADHD electronic sounds and razor-sharp delivery, grime became the new hot genre and Rascal, the new hot act in his home country.

23. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

Sometimes, a single riff can make a song. With a single seven note sequence, Jack White created one of the most memorable rock tracks ever. No need for complicated drum work - or even for lyrics in its chorus for that instance - Seven Nation Army’s appeal comes from the interplay between its moody verses and its explosive chorus, activated with nothing more than a foot on a guitar effect pedal.

22. Animal Collective - My Girls

Most house songs are about love or sex. So was Jamie Principle and Frankie Knuckles' 1986 track Your Love, one of the genre’s first hit song. Twenty-three years later, however, the arpeggiated synth line finds a spot in the front row of Animal Collective’s Girls, less a house song about love than a love song about a (literal) house. The danciest song about wanting less material things you’ll find, Girls sounds full of hope and out of this world, despite the crushingly down-to-earth pleas of the lyrics.

21. Outkast - B.O.B

The hip-hop equivalent to turning an amp to eleven, B.O.B finds André 3000 at his peak, riding an insane beat with a logorrhea of a flow, only to be matched by Big Boi on the second verse. The inhuman versatility of both rappers culminates in a frenzy of guitar solos, record scratching and impossible drumming, heading to a gospel finish without ever taking a moment to catch your breath.

(Please note that Jay-Z’s 99 Problems and Primal Scream’s Kill All Hippies are not available on Spotify.)

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[soundofawesomeblog]

This Fall, we are counting down the 100 best tracks of the 2000s with a new article every Monday. To learn more about the project and why the 2000s were amazing for music, click here.

This week, we keep the countdown going strong with positions 40 to 31. This means that 70 tracks have been revealed from the list so far, 69 of which are available at the bottom of the article in a Spotify playlist.

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40. Radiohead - Reckoner

Like many songs released by Radiohead in its later era, Reckoner started as a completely different song, years before being first put down on wax. The single, which helped to cement In Rainbows as yet another masterpiece in the grand family of Radiohead albums, mixes a freezing cold performance by drummer Phil Selway with gentle guitar strums and Thom Yorke’s velvet-like delivery to create one of the band’s most quietly danceable tracks.

39. Interpol - Obstacle 1

With interlocking guitars reminiscent of Marquee Moon, Interpol tore its way out of post-9/11 New York into the rock stardom world with Obstacle 1. All dressed in black, the band’s members had a dark, yet grand single in their hands that would shake alternative rock and push it into a new direction. Yet, no matter how angular and mathematics the instruments worked, the emotions conveyed were pure, thanks in no small part to Paul Banks’ irresistible presence.

38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great

Written after the death of his therapist, Someone Great showed that James Murphy was more than ready to slack off the self-conscious centric lyrics of his début and to open up about other people. Here, LCD Soundsystem gives a touching attention to details both with the light glockenspiel-like touches that help sweeten the pill of the tragic story of the lyrics. And somehow, the whole number is still easily danceable. Go figure.

37. Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger

Arguably his biggest hit, Gold Digger made Kanye West a reference for party music in the 2000’s and helped to show that he was not gonna suffer the sophomore album slump. As always with Ye, the track is built upon a vocal sample, this time by Jamie Foxx soulfully covering Ray Charles. Add to the mix some seriously bouncing production from A-Trak and a handful of humorous wordplay from West and you’ve got a guaranteed dancefloor filler.

36. Jimmy Eat World - The Middle

The Middle sends a message of hope in its chorus to confused teenagers. But, after being dropped by their label two years before its release, no one needed it more than the members of Jimmy Eat World themselves. With a hook as big as the house party in its music video, The Middle became an anthem to grasp on when on the edge of falling apart. In 2001, no other band could give a better advice to teenagers than “Live right now/Just be yourself/It doesn’t matter if it’s good enough for someone else”.

35. Bat For Lashes - Daniel

On her most straightforward pop moment ever, Natasha Khan goes back to her early teenage years and sings to her first crush - who also happens to be a fictional character from Karate Kid. But with her velvety voice and ghost-like presence, Bat For Lashes seems to be taken from an even more fantastic world, creating with Daniel a dreamlike landscape of innocence that she can call home.

34. Sufjan Stevens - Chicago

The city of Chicago offered Sufjan Stevens many breaks from his hometown in his youth, which is the main inspiration to this road trip essential single. Chicago finds Sufjan reflecting on his past trips and adventures that found him leaving for Illinois and New York with peace and serenity, helped by a folk orchestra for a joyous six minutes runtime.

33. Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes

It’s easy to be pretentious when you’re trying to be an indie artist, something Santigold vowed to never do as early as on her second single. With L.E.S. Artistes, the singer then known as “Santogold” blasts the Lower East Side gang of New York and its wannabe hipsters, all while being hip as fuck. By crushing those who tried too hard to be cool, Santigold ended up reigning as the coolest chick in New York for a hot minute.

32. Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control

Alternating between funky bass lines in its verses and aggressive, discordant chords in its chorus, Standing In The Way Of Control shares as much with disco than with punk. The mix makes sense after all: the song was written in reaction to an amendment the Bush administration tried to pass that could render same-sex marriage unconstitutional. With one style being iconic in gay communities and another being a symbol of defiance and anti-establishment, Gossip had every right to be proud of the bomb they were holding in their hands.

31. The Killers - Mr Brightside

The Killers were more than ready to shake shit up when they came to the music scene in 2003 with their timeless Mr Brightside. The band’s début single introduced them with an emotional buildup of a verse filled with regrets and frustration, leading to one of the catchiest, biggest choruses of the century. More than a decade later, it remains a go-to crowd pleaser, as exemplified by the fact the song is still charting in the UK in 2017.

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[soundofawesomeblog]

This Fall, we are counting down the 100 best tracks of the 2000s with a new article every Monday. To learn more about the project and why the 2000s were amazing for music, click here.

This week, we enter the second half of our countdown with positions 50 to 41. To better keep track of the picks we’ve revealed so far, you will find a neat playlist of the 59 songs that are available on Spotify. 

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50. Deftones - Change (In the House Of Flies)

If Deftones started out as a nu-metal band, it quickly evolved through the 90′s to something far more noble and interesting. Influenced by dream pop and shoegaze, Deftones dropped the landmark album White Pony in 2000, led by the magnificent slow-burner of Change (In The House Of Flies). With a dedicated attention to create compelling sonic textures and the right amount of layers of Chino Moreno’s hypnotizing vocals, the song helped to gracefully raise the band high above the rest of the hard rock scene of the turn of the millennium.

49. Kylie Minogue - Can’t Get You Out Of My Head

For some reasons, the United States was perfectly comfortable leaving Kylie Minogue as a one-hit wonder after The Loco-Motion ruled the airwaves in 1989. Meanwhile, by the time 2001 kicked in, she had 17 top 5 singles in the UK and was getting the superstar treatment in her native Australia. It all finally changed with Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, a pop track so perfect, so futuristic and so goddamn catchy that absolutely no one could’ve resisted. With a chic electronic beat serving as a foundation, Minogue lends a laid-back and sexy delivery for a track that stays true to its title.

48. M83 - Don’t Save Us From The Flames

After a glam-rock worthy drum fill, Don’t Save Us From The Flames takes no time to ignite and induce a rush of adrenaline. On this M83 masterpiece, time freezes on every verse before the avalanche of guitars and synths fumbles all over again. Loud-quiet-loud is a formula as old as rock music, but when it is used as expertly as in this new wave freakout, it makes for a dynamic and rewarding experience.

47. Rihanna feat. Jay-Z - Umbrella

Rihanna was already a big deal by the time Umbrella was released, with two albums worth of hits and a solo number-one smash in SOS. But it was with this 2007 track that it became clear Riri was going to stay in the long run. Umbrella connects one of the decade’s most stupidly catchy hook with a funky as hell drum beat and a synthesizer that goes harder than you might remember. With Umbrella, Rihanna claimed the throne to become the new queen of pop, and she yet has to lose it.

46. Xiu Xiu - I luv The Valley OH!

I Luv The Valley OH! isn’t even close to being Xiu Xiu’s most difficult song, but it might be the one that describes pain the best, thanks to its deeply pounding drums and its scorching distortion. It is Jamie Stewart’s poignant vocal delivery though that hits the hardest. Few moments have the potential to give goosebumps as much as the scream coming out on the second verse: “Je t’aime the valley, OOOOOOHHHH!!!!!”

45. Sleater-Kinney - Jumpers

With a grainy, distorted production, Sleater-Kinney’s seventh album The Woods was the band’s darkest, loudest and most fearful record. Jumpers tackles the themes of depression and suicide, with the protagonist standing on the edge of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Between the softly spoken verses, the hard rock chorus and urgent middle-eight, the track serpentines through the different moods of the main character. It all tragically culminates in her fall, one she calls “the longest wait”.

44. Doves - There Goes The Fear

Dripping in genres as diverse as indie, folk, country and alternative, There Goes The Fear encapsulate an equal amount of emotions for almost seven minutes. With a caressing guitar riff, keyboard flourishes and dynamic percussions, Doves created an emotional masterpiece that more than held its ground next to The Smiths on the soundtrack to 2009’s film (500) Days of Summer.

43. Peter, Bjorn & John featuring Victoria Bergsman - Young Folks

Whistling has been quite a plague in popular music, but at least one song managed to do it right. With the right amount of reverb, Young Folks seems to be played from an empty building. This works wonders, as Peter Morén and guest Victoria Bergsman spend the entire track hiding away from trends and titular young folks so they can be “talking only me and you”. Add some neat percussions and you’ve got a hit that really isn’t as innocent as it sounds.

42. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

An expertly crafted tune, Take Me Out spends its first minute keeping you on your toes. It then launches into what is basically just a giant hook repeating itself over and over again. With the help of a riff so catchy it shouldn’t be legal, Franz Ferdinand created the perfect song for everyone to dance to, from the pop aficionados to the rockers who are usually too cool to bust a move.

41. Jay-Z - 99 Problems

With 99 Problems, Rick Rubin came back to his trademark hip-hop/hard rock, Beastie Boys production to complement Jay-Z’s delivery, where he boasts about how he ain’t got problems with no bitches. Whether he is rapping about critics, police or saccharine troublemakers, Hova rises above all with ease - and solid verses - brilliantly tackling racial profiling on his way by the middle of the track.

(Note that Jay-Z’s 99 Problems is not available on Spotify)

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[soundofawesomeblog]

This Fall, we are counting down the 100 best tracks of the 2000s with a new article every Monday. To learn more about the project and why the 2000s were amazing for music, click here.

This week, we reach the halfway mark, presenting positions 60 to 51. All 50 tracks revealed so far from the list will wait for you at the very end of this article in a neat Spotify playlist.

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60. The Shins - New Slang

Sometimes, all it takes for a song to become a hit is for Natalie Portman to look at you say that the track “will change your life, I swear”. The folk ballad New Slang definitely changed The Shins’ life, helping the band’s début album to sell over 500,000 copies. With its light tambourine and dreamy melody, New Slang is the song every 60’s band wishes it would’ve made. It’s also arguably the only song licensed to McDonald’s to feature a line about having “dirt in your fries”.

59. Estelle feat. Kanye West - American Boy

On American Boy, London singer Estelle muses about exploring the USA with the boy of her dream. It’s not clear just how great of a fit Kanye West would be for her romantically speaking, but she sure holds more than her ground in the collaboration. Hell, she even invites herself to ad-lib all over his verse. A genuinely fun collaboration, American Boy stood the test of time extremely well and frankly,  you can hardly find better in terms of one-hit wonders in the 2000s.

58. The Streets - Has It Come To This

Hip-hop’s history in the United Kingdom was a troubled one up until the turn of the century. Three years after Roots Manuva’s seminal Brand New Second Hand, The Streets planted a new point of reference with début album Original Pirate Material to lead the scene. The first single Has It Come To This encapsulates the best of what the album has to offer, informed by a UK garage beat, a soothing piano melody and a collage-like DIY production.

57. TV On The Radio - Staring At The Sun

Starting with light acapella harmonies on the Young Liars version, Staring At The Sun quickly takes a turn for the darkest when the mammoth fuzz of the bass line kicks in. Add rapid-fire hi-hats and guitar strums and you’ve got the foundation for TV On the Radio’s first - and best - single. A track with the consistency of black mud, Staring At The Sun helped the band inject a sinister vibe to New York’s rock explosion of the early millennium.

56. Kanye West - Heartless

Sure, 808 & Heartbreaks might not be Kanye West’s most acclaimed album. But in hindsight, it’s becoming pretty clear that it is his most influential one, the most game-changing one. Lead single Heartless came out as a slap in the face for any long-time fan of the rapper, with its auto-tune overload and robotic beats. Kanye West sings more than he raps, and it’s easy to see how his foray into synthpop and cold production reached a new generation of rappers who aren’t afraid anymore to show their feelings.

55. Modest Mouse - 3rd Planet

Modest Mouse started its career with a three-album winning streak, culminating with 2000’s The Moon & Antarctica. The album opened with 3rd Planet, a combination of all the elements that made Modest Mouse a household name in indie rock. With a vulnerable vibe passing through its shaky guitars and introspective lyrics likely relating to a miscarriage, the track brings the best out of Isaac Brock and co.

54. The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl

It took The White Stripes three albums before they made it to the mainstream, but only 109 seconds to establish their legacy. Fell in Love With A Girl remains one of the most effective songs to come out of the garage rock wave of the early decade, thanks to its crunchy guitar riff, Jack White’s manic delivery and Michel Gondry’s outstanding music video made out of legos.

53. Lil Wayne - A Milli

Using about half a second of a sample from A Tribe Called Quest, Lil Wayne released his most essential track with A Milli. Ironically, this track, which finds Lil Wayne boasting about the money he got (among other things like… goblins?), was recorded before the release of the also excellent Lollipop, arguably the single that landed him his biggest cheques. Still, Lil Wayne’s expert wordplay and flow on A Milli make that song the true standout from his masterpiece Tha Carter III.

52. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

Anchored by a strong bass guitar and organic humming, Crazy acts as an effective showcase of both Cee-Lo Green’s vocal abilities and Danger Mouse’s unique flair in production. The background voices help to bring a sinister touch to the tune, a vibe that gets cranked up to 11 by the time the strings kick in for the chorus. Yet, for all of its dark twists, Crazy remains arguably the most popular song that any of these two men ever touched, and God knows there have been a few other big tracks with them along the way.

51. Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

Opening one of this era’s most seminal début records in Funerals, the song Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) acts as the perfect introduction to Arcade Fire’s grandiose universe. Collecting steam continually through its nearly five minutes duration, the track culminates in a coda you can easily dance to. Win Butler’s passionate delivery of escapism lyrics elevates the song to give you more chills than any snowstorm will ever do to you.

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[soundofawesomeblog]

This Fall, we are counting down the 100 best tracks of the 2000s with a new article every Monday. To learn more about the project and why the 2000s were amazing for music, click here.

This week, we get deeper as we reach positions 70 to 61 in the countdown. To listen to the songs presented here - along with the ones from previous weeks - scroll down to the end of the article.

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70. Against Me! - Thrash Unreal

When Against Me! released Thrash Unreal in 2007, nobody could’ve guessed that Laura Jane Grace could ever identify so much with the protagonist, a 40-something woman who lives her nightlife as if she just started college. Perhaps, through the age-gap malaise and the shame from her mother that surrounds her, the key lyric comes in at the very end of the track. After Against Me!’s tour de force of a singalong chorus, Laura sings: “You know she wouldn’t change anything for the world”. Thrash Unreal is not about age-shaming, but rather about your right to celebrate and get fucked, no matter who you are, or how old you are. Amen.

69. Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up Look Sharp

UK Grime was built from crazy electronic sounds, but one of its pioneers’ greatest hits ignored this trend altogether. This being said, when Dizzee Rascal starts rapping on Fix Up Look Sharp, his flow and accent are unmistakably British. The way he cuts through nothing more than a big, mighty drum beat was virtually unseen in the scene at the time; his presence alone is enough to fill the sparse track and make it sound like a brick wall.

68. Hercules & Love Affair - Blind

Antony Hegarty showed on numerous occasions that she has more than one trick up her sleeve. Three years after Antony and the Johnsons won the Mercury Prize for the delicate and introspective I Am a Bird Now, she was writing and singing on the ecstatic and joyful dance number Blind. A pure disco track, Blind holds up more than it has the right to next to the classics from the 70’s it takes its inspiration from. Ironically, as much as disco has been associated with LGBTQ communities, it feels refreshing to finally find such a solid and successful offering from a trans icon like her become such a hit.

67. Washed Out - Feel It All Around

Chillwave was a weird moment in indie music. In 2009, an entire genre came out of nowhere and hipster blogs were soon stapling words like “soundscape”, “beach”, “summer” and “dreamy” to every track review like it was mandatory. Through the haze, though, came some truly outstanding music. In this sense, Feel It All Around became the national anthem of chillwave, a slow-burning, echo-driven point of reference for the era. And unlike the label of chillwave itself, the song aged pretty darn well.

66. Wilco - I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Opening the band’s most experimental album at this point, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart starts and ends with cacophony, sandwiching in the process a beautiful track. Helped by new drummer Glenn Kotche inventive performance, Jeff Tweedy sounds like he’s tired and had enough of his mistakes, as he wanders around the big city, feeling lonely. A loose, difficult song about a complicated breakup, this track stands as a highlight in Wilco’s already bulletproof catalog.

65. Outkast - Hey Ya!

Hey Ya! belongs to a truly unique and restricted category of “universal songs”. Not only was the track one of the biggest hits of the decade by far - spending nine weeks at the top of the charts - it also became a critical darling. When Speakerboxxx/The Love Below dropped in 2003, we already knew that André 3000 was a hip-hop genius, but this sweet and infinitely repeatable single proved that he was also an unreal pop wizard. Not even a Polaroid reference could keep this track from being truly timeless: Hey Ya! will continue to gracefully spice up wedding parties for decades and decades to come.

64. MGMT - Time To Pretend

Acting as a premonitory manifesto for the success and pitfalls that would happen to them later, Time To Pretend introduced MGMT’s vision of what it would be like to become superstars. Here’s to hope they got everything they wanted, from “models for wives” to “elegant cars”. At least we can presume that they did get the ridiculous amount of drugs they sing about judging by its music video. Thankfully, they’ve yet to “choke on [their] vomit”, which is great.

63. Vampire Weekend - A-Punk

No matter how silly and breezy they try to be, there is always something about Vampire Weekend that feels a little… intellectual? Thankfully, they aren’t the kind to linger on for too long on sharing their wisdom. Instead, A-Punk, the band’s biggest hit from their first album, clocks at just over two minutes. It still manages to cram a delicious, breakneck speed guitar riff, references to Hudson River, hospitals and a 1930 ballad, and two breaks lead by the flute-like sound of a chamberlain, all while being a Master’s lesson in catchy pop.

62. My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade

It’s easy to dismiss My Chemical Romance as yet another faux-emo band capitalising on guyliner trends. But for an entire generation of teenagers, Welcome To The Black Parade was their Stairway To Heaven or, if you think about the opening piano in the intro, their Bohemian Rhapsody. The centerpiece of the equally overlooked concept album The Black Parade, this lead single packed an epic journey to the core of feelings in such a celebratory way that was completely absent from rock radios and billboard charts. Sometimes, the music tastes of high school sad girls deserve more than to be snubbed at.

61. The Strokes - Last Nite

Last Nite is a great song to sing while piss-drunk at a karaoke for two reasons: one, it’s pretty easy to sing and two, you can almost smell Julian Casablancas’ alcohol-soaked breath through his delivery in the original. With a bouncy rhythm section borrowed from the late Tom Petty’s American Girl, the track helped its parent album Is This It to become one of the most celebrated rock débuts of all time.

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[soundofawesomeblog]

This Fall, we are counting down the 100 best tracks of the 2000s with a new article every Monday. To learn more about the project and why the 2000s were amazing for music, click here.

This week, we keep the countdown going, with positions 80 to 71. You will also find the 30 tracks we’ve revealed so far from the list in a neat Spotify playlist at the bottom of the post.

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80. System Of A Down - Toxicity

Safe from a few exceptions like Metallica, metal music in the 90’s had a hard time commercially and its push toward the mainstream by the turn of the century lead to some of the downright worst music to ever make it to MTV. But through shopping malls full of Yankees caps, disgusting hairstyles and obnoxious teenagers, System Of A Down managed to rise as one of the best metal bands of the last twenty years. Toxicity bangs a whole lot, especially towards its final minute. This being said, the band pays close attention to detail, creating sticky, scary landscapes in the song’s verses before going all in for a theatrical take on hardcore punk in its chorus.

79. Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl

If you squeezed a hundred sassy cheerleaders together into a tape recorder, you’d probably end up with a pale approximation of Hollaback Girl. With this single, not only did Gwen Stefani proved she could be more than just the leader of No Doubt, she showed that she was ready to become a pop hit powerhouse. An impudent response to Courtney Love back talking her, Gwen clearly won the fight, laughing her bananas all the way to the top of the charts (and to the bank)

78. Burial - Archangel

Long before dubstep became synonymous with hard-hitting bass drops and in your face wub-wubs, the term was used to describe sparsely produced beats that were generous on the low-end. Even while remaining elusive, Burial became the poster child of the genre in 2007 with his second album Untrue. With the help of an extremely manipulated Ray J sample, lead single Archangel is an extremely inviting door to enter the world of UK’s somber dubstep scene.

77. At The Drive-In - One Armed Scissor

Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodríguez released a handful of complex, grandiose and/or chaotic music in the past, but no track from their joint catalog is as essential as One Armed Scissor. Between its melodic verses and gut-wrenching choruses lies post-hardcore’s definitive rallying cry. In the end, the single would prove too much for the band, who would break up soon after its release.

76. Justice - D.A.N.C.E.

Leave it to French DJs to make highly danceable music. 10 years after Daft Punk’s Homework, Justice’s breakthrough was channelling Michael Jackson more than robots. In D.A.N.C.E., a youth choir drops about 100 references to Jackson’s classics - from P.Y.T. to ABC - on a guitar riff so groovy it will make anyone from 7 to 77 years old, sober or piss drunk, dance its booty off. Add to this the perfect amount of strings and you’ve got what could have been found on Off the Wall’s cutting floor, had it been released three decades later.

75. LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge

Losing My Edge is as self-referential as LCD Soundsystem can get, and boy can James Murphy get self-referential easily. Here we find the tale of a once-cool DJ who has a hard time getting used to the fact the new kids are kicking in and kicking him out of the cool territory. On his project’s début single, James Murphy keeps bragging about how he “was there”, hoping someone would care. This being said, he definitely had the last laugh on those indie kids who threw away their guitars for computers and their computers for guitars, as he would end up enduring a highly successful career.

74. Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights

Rock duos were already quite popular when Death From Above 1979 burst to the scene. But while most of these bands relied heavily on guitar sounds, DFA1979 went with a bassist and drummer combination. On Romantic Rights, the opening riff alone justifies this decision, as not even a chainsaw could come close to the thrilling effect that buzzing intro will do to your bones. By the time Sebastien Grainger starts singing, the two-elephant-headed monster of dance-punk was already on everyone’s radar.

73. Modest Mouse - Float On

For Modest Mouse, there will always be a “before” and “after” Float On, the single that turned them from cult underground heroes to commercially viable, alternative radio-bait. Perhaps, the fact that Isaac Brock decided to sing about making it through instead of sinking down helped the track to make it on the charts. But more than that, the band managed to make an ingenious pop single while still retaining its credibility (and loyal fanbase) along the way. There have been worst ways of selling out.

72. Annie - Heartbeat

There is definitively something special about Scandinavia when it comes to pop music. Sandwiched in history between Sweden’s ABBA’s Dancing Queens and Robyn’s Dancing On My Own, Norvegian jewel Annie provides an effortless pop gem with Heartbeat thanks to its rock-solid melody, airy vocals and an incessant drum track that mimics the pulse of a heart in love. Something also has to be said about the way the song evaporates just as mysteriously as it started.

71. M.I.A. - Galang

M.I.A. is one great rapper so it’s easy to forget how punk she has been at her core from the get-go. Pushed from visual arts to music by Elastica’s Justine Frischmann, Mathangi Arulpragasam based her breakthrough single Galang around Roland beat sequencers and sound advice about how to survive in London. The result was an unlikely hit: a surprising mix of electroclash, dancehall and worldbeat that sounded like a revolution of its own.

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[soundofawesomeblog]

This Fall, we are counting down the 100 best tracks of the 2000s with a new article every Monday. To learn more about the project and why the 2000s were amazing for music, click here.

This week, we continue the countdown, with positions 90 to 81. You will also find every single track we’ve revealed so far in a neat Spotify playlist at the bottom of the post.

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90. Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance

Nothing sounds so 2006 than Alex Turner’s exclamation about how “there’s only music so that there’s new ringtones”, yet his theme of scummy hometown residents is still every bit relevant today. Like most of Arctic Monkeys’ début Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, closer A Certain Romance brings universal ideas about your lively neighbourhood and staples them to a perfectly crafted rock number.

89. Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire

From the start, Japandroids never tried to be cool or clever in their lyrics. Instead of acting all cocky and cynical like most rock bands, Japandroids always wear its big giant heart on its sleeve and assumed its Feelings, with a capital “F”. Through relentless drumming and singing-your-heart-out vocals, the band proves that having worries is ok and that it doesn’t have to ruin the mosh pit, one giant “WHOA OOOOOOOHH!!!!!” at a time.

88. Bloc Party - Banquet

It makes sense for Kele to close Banquet repeating “cause I’m on fire” over and over because this track would ignite anyone in a 10 meter-radius. With equal parts disco and punk, Bloc Party gets its guitars in an interlocking mode for a dizzying masterpiece that’s as hot as her lips.

87. Queens Of The Stone Age - Feel Good Hit Of The Summer

Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol. Add cocaine to the mix and you either end up with death, one hell of a story to tell to your kids, or Queens of the Stone Age’s most effective song. With its limited lyrics, the track stands out through Josh Homme and friends’ aggressive vocal delivery and urgency and some seriously menacing bass guitar work.

86.  CSS - Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above

Let’s get one thing straight: Death From Above 1979 isn’t the most obvious choice for love-making music. This being said, CSS singer Lovefoxxx seems every bit willing to live dangerously on Let’s Make Love. She is both drunk and highly in need of sex on the track, spitting her plea with a unique flow on the dance-punk number. It’s therefore highly possible that furious sex ensues. 

85. Spoon - The Way We Get By

Spoon doesn’t waste any time on The Way We Get By: 30 seconds in, Britt Daniel is already starting verse #2. The song also never tries to hide just how fucked the narrator’s relationship is. His life can be resumed to getting high, fucking to Iggy Pop and not speaking much. But no matter what, the narrator seems to feel fine through it all, or to at least accept his fate. It helps that he has such a sweet melody to set his words on, too.

84. Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell Williams - Drop it Like It’s Hot

Snoop Dogg only managed to reach the top of the charts once in his native US as a lead artist, and he managed the feat with his most infectious song: Drop It Like It’s Hot. With precise and sparse production from Pharrell Williams, Doggy Dogg cruises around tongue clicks with his trademark laid-back flow on his way to yet another hit, over a decade after his first glory days.

83. The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize??

The best songs don’t always need to be the most complicated ones. Do You Realize?? does feature bells, key changes and elaborate echo effects. Still, what makes the song so special in the end are the deceptively simple lyrics at its core. Wayne Coyne wants you to realize that life goes fast and we’re all gonna die. But he doesn’t say this to make you feel depressed: instead, he wants you to use the precious time you have around here to do what you love instead of wasting it on your goodbyes. Even after over 200 recorded songs, the Lips don’t get much more grandiose than here.

82. Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is The Move

Music genres are just boxes we, mortals, use to conveniently classify music. Stillness Is The Move is a great track until you need to place it in a box. All answers ranging from art pop to indie to electronic can be good, especially if you talk about the underlying soul influences. But really, this Dirty Projector piece is a fun ride to unexpected places, with a unique groove that could not work anywhere else.

81. Beyoncé - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

A song whose notoriety is only matched by its music video, Single Ladies finds Beyoncé taking control of virtually any dancefloor it ever plays on. With an avalanche of handclaps and synthetic barks, Queen Bey manages to infuse a whole lotta soul into one of her most robotic beats, courtesy of the powerhouse of The-Dream, Tricky Stewart and Kuk Harrell. Single Ladies was a true gift to all ladies tired of waiting for their significant others to make a move, and a good reminder to all the Roy Anderson out there to put a ring on it before it’s too late.

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[soundofawesomeblog]

This Fall, we are counting down the 100 best tracks of the 2000s with a new article every Monday. To learn more about the project and why the 2000s were amazing for music, click here.

This week, we start the countdown for real with positions 100 to 91. As usual, you will find all songs presented here in the Spotify playlist at the bottom of the article.

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100. Andrew W.K. - Party Hard

The sonic equivalent of shotgunning on a Four Loko, Party Hard was created of this unique blend of dumb, one that is so stupid, it might actually be smart. Chances are, Andrew W.K. won’t win a Nobel Prize for the lyrics of his signature hit (or any other of his tracks, really), but no song managed to encapsulate the spirit of doing donuts in an empty grocery store’s parking lot like this one.

99. Eminem - Lose Yourself

Lose Yourself was the exact moment when Eminem was seen as more than just a goofy troublemaker, yet it’s a shame it is now only remembered for being the official White Bros™ anthem at beer pong tournaments and for its infamous “mom’s spaghetti” bit. Put back in context though, it is a textbook demonstration of the “Started from the bottom now we’re here” trope, paired with one of the most famous rap choruses of the decade.

98. Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch

In a decade that saw synthpop reach new heights, Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo reigned as queens for a generation of outcasts. As vocalists for Ladytron, the girls brought a dark twist to the genre, thanks in great part to their biggest hit, Destroy Everything You Touch. Like a cooler version of All The Things She Said, the track helped to bring new wave to a new, younger audience.

97. The Hives - Hate To Say I Told You So

Radio rock in 2000 was becoming a gigantic mess. After the golden years of the 90’s with grunge and alternative, nu metal was now infecting the airwaves. Thankfully, a new rock revolution was about to kick in, and The Hives sure helped to open the door. With a strong garage rock band vibe and a bass breakdown for the ages, Hate To Say I Told You So became a cultural landmark, turning Sweden as the new “it” spot to watch for guitar-driven fun.

96. La Roux - Bulletproof

Pop music by the end of the decade became more and more electronic. While it led the way for some quite generic and annoying radio hits (here’s looking at you, Black Eyed Peas), it did open the door to some brilliant synthetic numbers. Bulletproof sounds like a mad video game and it’s easy to see singer Elly Jackson as the hero, a red-haired Samus defeating whoever tried to give her trouble in a spaceship, or something like that.

95. The Unicorns - I Was Born (A Unicorn)

The fact that the opening riff on I Was Born (A Unicorn) sounds like a sped up version of Spongebob Squarepants’ closing credits is fitting. On their cotton candy manifesto, The Unicorns rise through failures and underachievement to become the undisputed heroes of their own story.

94. Kelis - Milkshake

It’s easy to see whatever you want to see as the true meaning of the titular Milkshake in Kelis’ biggest hit. The New York singer says it stands for female confidence, something she pours all over the track. With the help of a nasty beat from Pharell Williams and Chad Hugo, Milkshake makes for a raunchy dancefloor filler.

93. Battles - Atlas

Driven by a precise and pounding shuffle drum beat, Atlas is the sound of the adrenaline kicking in. It is the sound of your favorite arena jock jam, but with the singalong chorus replaced by some fuzzy gummy bears, and with its melody taking the backseat behind its rhythm, the pulse. Here, Battles works with the precision of an insane surgeon, using its sharp knife to cut exactly where it needs to in order to spill your heart out.

92. Antony And The Johnsons - Hope There’s Someone

Leave it to Antony Hegarty to stop your heartbeat, just like she did on the stunning, Mercury Prize-winning album I Am a Bird Now. Opener Hope There’s Someone introduced her project of Antony And The Johnsons to many, with Antony’s unique soft voice and its gentle piano that crashes in a downward spiral for a melancholic finale.

91. Kanye West - Jesus Walks

Kanye West had his first hit as a rapper with Through The Wire, but it was with Jesus Walks, his fourth single, that he set his eyes on the Throne. Not only did it showed his desire to push boundaries and take risks - who else would be so blunt and open about his faith on a single in 2004’s rap game? - it proved Kanye could be both an effective producer and a brilliant rapper once and for all.

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[soundofawesomeblog]

Starting next Monday, Sound of Awesome will reveal its picks for the 100 best tracks from the 2000s in a new weekly column. Get ready for the countdown as we explore the genesis of the project and how the naughties became the most eclectic decade of the pop era. As a bonus, you will also find out a few honorable mentions from great artists who just couldn’t make the cut.

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The 1950s saw rock n’ roll becoming a major part of the cultural landscape. In the 1960s psychedelic rock was the new craze. The 1970s had disco, the 80s were about new wave, and the 90s saw grunge and hip-hop sell millions of CDs. It’s a flawed, simplistic and incomplete way to describe each decade, sure, but the fact remains that these are the genres most associated with every one of them.

When it comes to the 2000s though, the portrait is a lot harder to decipher. Sure, there were trends, but each time one died, four new ones emerged.

More than a single genre, what truly defined the 2000s was the growing presence of the internet. Slowly but surely, this new found connectivity helped usher a completely new paradigm of how music would find its way from the artists to the masses. Suddenly, radio stations and music television were not the only ones in control, dictating what is hot and what is not. Platforms like Facebook, Soundcloud and Bandcamp had yet to become the go-to destinations for new acts, but MySpace quickly established itself as a major factor in the musical landscape. It gave new, hip artists a platform to reach big audiences and create a massive buzz without having to play in every city or rely on giant label-heads (see: Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, Owl City, etc.) Later in the decade, the arrival of YouTube meant that creative, viral music videos could bring a lot of attention to an otherwise average band with little money (see: Ok Go). A sign of music’s importance to Youtube, ever since Bad Romance reached 178,4 million views in late 2009, the record for most views by a video on the popular website has always belonged to a music video. Meanwhile, programs and sites like Napster and Limewire meant that teenagers didn’t have to rely on pocket money and 20$ CDs to enjoy their favorite songs, as their iPods and computers’ libraries were expanding in both size and diversity. 

Looking back, it’s easy to believe that, even as the music industry was showing its first signs of weakness on a financial level, music fans were listening to more music than ever. It is precisely this trend that made the music so interesting in the 2000s. With so many different artists from different backgrounds just one shuffle away - from bedroom electroclash experimentation à la M.I.A. or Peaches to garage rockers like The White Stripes or The Strokes, to high profile, incredibly rich (and horny) rappers like 50 Cent or Lil Wayne - it was only a matter of time before genre labels became almost useless. In 2007, Rihanna went from R&B on Umbrella to new wave-informed rock on Shut Up And Drive in the span of few months. The same year, hip-hop’s new sensation Kanye West injected glam rock ambition on his third album Graduation before leaving rap almost completely a year later on 808s and Heartbreaks. The DFA label made punk music for the dance floor while dance artists programmed synths with so much distortion you could throw the devil sign in the air. Scenes were no longer limited to a geographical location and artists were more and more influenced by sounds from across the globe.

If the legacy of acts from the 1960′s and 1970′s is well established, the visionaries of the 2000s are yet to find that praise. Discussions about the best songs of all time steer quickly to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin or Michael Jackson, but it’s only a matter of time before the 00 artists get their part of the cake too. It is with this in mind that I am proud to present to you, through the next 10 weeks, a completely incomplete, ludicrous, but also very passionate and thoughtful countdown of the 100 best singles of the 2000s.

This is not necessarily a list of the most popular, influential or groundbreaking tracks of the decade, rather a commentary on the most effective tracks; those who aimed for the moon and landed right on top of it, those who induced goosebumps and those who should still fill dance floors in a few decades without any cringe. It will contain smash hits and underground phenomena. Indie darlings and hard-hitting hip-hop. Loud guitars and quiet electronic flourishes. It will be varied and all over the place, just like the decade that we’re celebrating here. It is not a definitive answer, rather the start of a discussion and a good way to discover some great music you might have been sleeping on, back when it was trending and buzzing.

Each article will present you, in decreasing order, 10 essential songs of the aughts from the countdown, with a quick description to place each track back in context and/or justify its inclusion. In order to keep the countdown as varied as possible, acts were limited to three appearances as lead artists. Each article will also include a Spotify playlist of all the songs revealed so far, when available.

100 tracks might seem like a huge number, but it’s impossible to contain 10 years of music in such a list. This is why, as an appetizer for the series to come, you will find below 10 tracks from artists who, despite leaving their mark on the decade, fell incredibly short of making it to the countdown. These do not necessarily correspond to positions 110 to 101; they are just bands and singers who deserved a quick shout-out so that you cannot act like they have been forgotten later on.

50 Cent - In Da Club

The title of Curtis’ greatest hit reveals exactly in which kingdom he was the ruler in the early to mid-decade.

Aaliyah - Try Again

With the help of mega producer Timbaland, Aaliyah brought R&B to the 22nd Century 100 years early with Try Again and its mix of EDM and hip-hop.

Black Kids - I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

This MySpace gem remains one of the best footprints of the late 2000’s indie pop rush, cheerleaders included. 1! 2! 3!

Britney Spears - Toxic

Thanks to a killer hook built on Bollywood strings and a killer, sexy performance, Britney Spears’ biggest hit was also her best.

The Cribs - Men’s Needs

If a rock song is only as good as its riff, Men’s Needs is a track for the ages. Frantic and moving, the guitar line drives this UK staple of dance-rock.

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal

Sure, it opened the way for tons of half-assed, insipid and useless acapella covers, but Fleet Foxes’ début single also introduced in just 147 seconds the genius flair the band had for crafting amazing melodies, harmonies, and ageless folk.

Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

With its cowbells, horns, bouncing synths and stutter-like verses, Junior Senior never tries to be “cool” in Move Your Feet. Instead, the band decides to focus on having a good time on a track that feels as fresh after 1000 listens than it did on the first time. 

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

The exact moment when we realized that Gaga was a monster that was too big to be contained, Bad Romance features about three different hooks, each more effective than the one before.

Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure

It would be cheap and wrong to reduce Maximo Park as some Strokes/Bloc Party knock-off; as proven by the energy and creativity of this track.

Uffie - Pop The Glock

Part bratty thrash of a white teen, part genius, 17-year-old Uffie builds her own indie rap empire from scratch and rules it on Pop The Glock.

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It’s finally warm outside and you want some new music to reflect how you’re just going to pretend you have no responsibilities? Let Sound of Awesome suggest you a couple of new, sweet, sun-soaked indie jams to slip between the inescapable blockbusters that will plague the airwaves around you all summer long.

Summer officially starts on June 21st on this side of the Equator but it’s already fair to say that this year’s official summer song is going to be Despacito. Not that we would explicitly want that, but the track is well on its way to remain at the top of the charts for at least a few more weeks, and to remain inescapable until the school year starts over again.

But this does not mean that you have to listen to Despacito all season long if you don’t want to. If you care enough to keep your phone, laptop, iPod, etc. with you for these warm months, you can easily shape the soundtrack to your summer with some really great sounds. Sure, you could just throw some charts-generated playlists on Spotify and listen to DJ Khaled and his friends, but you’re going to hear those tunes anyway, so why try to add some variety to your sun-soaked days? With Kendrick Lamar, Future, Lil Uzi Vert and Post Malone all charting in the top 10 as well, we thought we could give you a break of hip-hop to some less chart-friendly indie pop.

With this in mind, Sound of Awesome is ready to deliver you some neat indie suggestions of contenders to be our (and, why not, your) Song of the Summer™ in 2017. As usual, you may scroll down to find a Spotify playlist with all of the tracks.

FAZERDAZE - LUCKY GIRL

As a New Zealand native, Amelia Murray is actually heading into Winter, but this doesn’t stop her from releasing some incredibly warm music. The greatest highlight of her first album Morningside, Lucky Girl is as twee of a track as possible with its sweet melody, jangly guitars, and a mountain of reverb.

THE DRUMS - BLOOD UNDER MY BELT

Mother Nature was still throwing snow like a bitch up North when this single was released, but very few bands sound like summer like The Drums. After getting maybe a little lost for one album or two, the New York band seems ready to get back on top of the blogosphere game with the help of lead single Blood Under My Belt. What sounds like a 3:46 long hook showcases the reasons why we loved the band in the first place, as it just might be the most fun this band has sounded since cult classic Let’s Go Surfing.

CHARLY BLISS - GLITTER

It’s really hard to pick just one track from Charly Bliss’ delicious début for this list. Really, you could just play Guppy in its entirety on loop and have a kickass summer. If there may only be one winner though, Glitter earns our vote. Informed by punk pop and indie, the song is yet another vehicle for Eva Hendricks’ cotton candy voice, which is sweet enough to balance the rather sour lyrics.

TOPS - PETALS

Montréal-based TOPS is a band that always sounds like nostalgia, hipster sunglasses and sunny afternoons, all at once. Petals, the lead single to the band’s first album in three years, seems tailor-made to appear in a commercial for a new grapefruit-flavor beer or to play in the background of some fancy sangria binge-drinking. Smooth, classy and groovy, Petals is yet another standout track from the band, one that will hook you on first listen.

ALVVAYS - IN UNDERTOW

Marry Me, Archie would’ve definitely made this list three years ago. And here is Alvvays again, scoring another summer grand slam with In Undertow. This time, the guitars come in shoegaze-like waves while Molly Rankin deals her breakup in an apparently much more graceful way than her partner.

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - CALL THE POLICE

Sure, it had only been seven years since their last album, but for a moment, the idea of a new LCD Soundsystem record felt like a utopia. But here we are, in 2017, with two new singles that somehow manage to reach the highs of 2007 LCD Soundsystem. Of the two, Call the Police is easily the most anthemic and urgent, even with its (glorious) seven-minute runtime. An indie blogger’s wet dream, the song proves James Murphy can still kick some essential music for the kids, even as he’s leaning in the latter part of his 40’s.

HAIM - WANT YOU BACK

Haim is the quintessential summer band, so it was fitting that the three sisters would release as hot as lead single Want You Back early in May, as the temperature started to rise. The track is everything you wished for in their comeback and a little more. You’ve got killer harmonies and back vocals, emotional verses, a funky slapped bass line and a hook big enough to fit at least half of California in it. The fact that the song is charting in the UK but not in the States is yet another proof that America isn’t ready to be great again just yet. 

SLOWDIVE - DON’T KNOW WHY

Slowdive was one of indie’s finest bands in the 90’s and with the release of its fourth album in May, the band has more to ride than just nostalgia. As a matter of fact, Slowdive might be one of the best albums of the year so far period. While the two singles released before the disc were outstanding on their own, the album ended up giving even more high-quality tracks. Don’t Know Why, in particular, provides an upbeat urgency that feels new to the shoegaze heroes, giving a new energy to both the band’s catalog and your late night bicycle rides.

COLOUR OF SPRING - LOVE

Speaking of shoegaze, it’s cool to see that new dreamy, fuzzy bands are bursting up onto the scene in this sea of old heads. Not that there’s anything wrong with the recent reunions of Slowdive, Ride, Lush or even My Bloody Valentine, but to be able to hear a band like Leeds’ own Colour of Spring bringing its own flavor into the mix is a real treat. The band’s latest single Love plays with your emotions as it alternates between quiet and smooth to loud and smooth, like a velvet rollercoaster. If you plan on getting high this summer, this is the song you want playing in the background.

SHIT GIRLFRIEND - MUMMY’S BOY

For some people, a typical summer evening implies going to a bar terrace to drink a beer or two before heading home. For other, the vibe implies cracking open a few many cold ones with the girls in the back of a church parking lot and smash some shit. If you are more of the latter category, Mummy’s Boy should be queued on your playlist. Just long enough to cover your entire shotgunning of a beer, the noisy rock number is the most fun you will have without taking your clothes off.

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Loved or despised, the PC Music label has confused quite a few neophytes since launching in 2013. Four years later, the project proved to be more than just a bunch of novelty acts and earned the respect of many major publications. Join us now as we unveil the best songs in the quirky electronic vein of the label.

PC Music started as a label, created by A. G. Cook back in 2013. Because of the niche of the sound made by its artists, the term PC Music has been often used to describe both the label and the new genre it was creating. What helped PC Music’s synthetic pop to stand out was its high-fructose electronic beats, experimental approach and cyberculture-inspired and camp-informed aesthetics.

For this list, we will, therefore, stick to both artists on the label and songs that follow that trend. This is in part because one of the greatest pioneers in the style of PC Music, SOPHIE, has never actually released music on the label, although she has remained close to that family ever since her breakthrough. It also means that in this list, we will include songs from other artists that were produced by the PC Music crew and their friends. 

20. Easyfun feat. Noonie Bao – Monopoly

PC Music artists have been working with outside performers more and more and that’s for the best. On Monopoly, Noonie Bao injects heart and emotion to the bouncy and accessible track.

19. Liz – When I Rule the World

Produced by SOPHIE, Liz channels her inner Gwen Stefani for a commanding yet infectious bratty anthem. Both Liz and SOPHIE sound as confident as ever and make the song sound like a prophecy about to turn reality.

18. Felicita – A New Family

A black sheep in a family of outsiders, A New Family is a surprising collision of PC Music and metal, with its heavy synths reminiscent of buzzing guitars and its buried growls. It sounds horrible on paper, but it has a surprisingly high replay value.

17. Charli XCX feat. Hannah Diamond – Paradise

With some perspective, it turns out Paradise was the real highlight of Charli XCX’s SOPHIE-produced EP Vroom Vroom, with its thundering drop as it proves PC Music probably has what it takes to invade pop music’s landscape.

16. Danny L Harle feat. Carly Rae Jepsen – Supernatural

One-hit-wonder-turned-critic-darling Carly Rae Jepsen is one of pop’s most exciting artists right now and her unrelenting charisma and natural joie-de-vivre bring Danny L Harle’s artificial beats to life on Supernatural.

15. SOPHIE – Lemonade

The McDonald’s-approved track plays on a classic schoolyard chant for an awkwardly enjoyable journey. With its liquid sounds, the song alternates between airy and hard, all in just 110 seconds.

14. Hannah Diamond – Fade Away

On Fade Away, Hannah Diamond changes the usually dreamy and innocent plot by actually facing reality, diving headfirst into the emotions of a slow breakup. “Baby please, just stay, don’t fade away” she begs her love on the otherwise bubbly track.

13. Charli XCX – Roll With Me

Charli XCX’s embrace of PC Music is evident in her choice of producers for her latest mixtape Number 1 Angel, yet Roll With Me is the only song that truly fits this list. SOPHIE’s spot-on production gives the banger a vibe that alternates between lighthearted and dark.

12. LE1F – Koi

Heavily unsettling, Koi sees LE1F doing rodeo, as his rap always feels on the edge of falling apart over SOPHIE’s impossible beat. Yet, every listen allows the song to make more sense, thanks in part to its unusually catchy chorus.

11. Life Sim - I.D.L.

I.D.L. feels less crowded and frenetic than pretty much any song on this list. This is because the instrumental single takes its time to expand and breathe through its six glorious minutes for one of PC Music’s most chilling tracks.

10. Hannah Diamond – Hi

Her catchiest single by far, Hi finds Hannah Diamond musing about her internet crush. She doesn’t know if the person on the other side is real, but she doesn’t care. Her love is pure and her excitement is real, in the closest she’s been to creating a millennial anthem.

9. GFOTY – Friday Night

GFOTY loves to make unsettling, auto-destructive music. Friday Night is an oddity in her discography as it sounds like a legit pop banger. What makes the song though are her lyrics, as she plays the worst superficial, drunk, oversexualized whore on a night out. “In the bathroom, sucking dick/Thanks for cumming, that was quick” she sings as she relentlessly and carelessly starts fires left and right.

8. A. G. Cook feat. Hannah Diamond – Keri Baby

One of the earliest collaboration from PC Music’s label, Keri Baby wraps its funhouse world in just over two minutes. Diamond’s ultra-processed vocals bounce over a frenetic beat as she plays the role of a digital music file.

7. SOPHIE – Just Like We Never Said Goodbye

The closest a solo SOPHIE single has been to a pure pop ballad, Goodbye presents a fairytale of a long-lost teenage love who gives an unexpected call years later to catch up. The processed, pitched-up vocals provide a raw feeling of bliss on a number that is as light as it is gigantic.

6. Hannah Diamond – Pink and Blue

Hannah Diamond’s personality and persona were clear from the get-go. On debut single Pink and Blue, she sings without any pretense to her crush. “You love me, maybe it’s true” she muses, impatient to finally get him to hit her up.

5. A. G. Cook – Beautiful

Cook only needs to repeat the same two lines and the title of Beautiful to make his finest solo single. Its beat plays around chopped and processed vocal samples for a pop moment for ages.

4. QT – Hey QT

Produced by SOPHIE and Cook, Hey QT doubles as a metanarrative-informed song and a commercial for energy drink QT. If the context and package are novel, the high-pitched single lived up to expectations, eventually earning Diplo’s approval.

3. Dreamtrak – Odyssey Pt. 2 (A.G. Cook Remix)

Through the years, the PC Music powerhouse released quite a few remixes, but none felt as essential as when A.G. Cook took over Dreamtrak’s Odyssey Pt. 2. While the work on the beat is interesting, the new processed vocal track stapled on the otherwise instrumental song brings it to another level, creating a monster of a feel-good earworm.

2. Hannah Diamond – Make Believe

Hannah Diamond’s evolution through the years has been fascinating and it’s rewarding how her latest single, Make Believe, also happens to be her best. As synthetic as PC Music is, Hannah Diamond manages to bring honest emotions to the song while revising the artificial manipulation on the low. Both melancholic and sweet on the track, Diamond makes it easy for us to root for her, both in her unrequited love story and in her career.

1. SOPHIE – BIPP

If SOPHIE isn’t technically part of PC Music’s label, BIPP was nonetheless the track that made her adoptive family blow up in 2013. Unsettling, confusing yet addictive and worthy of 10,000 repeats, BIPP has often been interpreted as being about drugs, but it might as well be about PC Music itself. “I can make you feel better / If you let me” might be the best way to present its sugar rush-inducing, “sweet like whipped cream” and unique brand of music. Hypnotic, bubbly and exhilarating, BIPP is the quirkiest manifestation of pop perfection to ever grace your headphones.