10. Another Sunny Day - Belle & Sebastian
My second favorite song by Belle & Sebastian (number one is "Lazy Line Painter Jane). The opening chords of this song always put me in a good mood when they come on my iPod. It starts out a nice song about new love and ends up a song about that love going completely to shit, but it does it in such an upbeat-sounding way that I want to roll down the windows, drive around and blare it on the stereo every time it comes on. Although that may be because there is something wrong with me.
9. Stuck Between Stations - The Hold Steady
I have written about this band before, but I can't say enough about how cool they are. Every song of theirs manages to tell a story while coming from a band that looks (except for keyboardist Franz Nicolay - that dude is something else) and sounds like your local bar band (only light years better). The best live show around...
8. Good Fortune - PJ Harvey
This song was always one of my go-to's on the jukebox at the st. James Tavern (best jukebox in the city of Columbus... its not even close). PJ Harvey is one of my favorite female singers. she can sound so raw and terrifying (like in "50 ft. Queenie" or at the end of "Down By The Water") or she can belt out some beautiful tunes like this one, my favorite song of hers.
7. Neighborhood #3 - The Arcade Fire
This band came out of nowhere in 2004 (well, technically they came from Canada, but that might as well be nowhere) and blew everyone (including David Bowie) away based on the strength of this song. They had a sound unlike just about every other band around - sort of a baroque pop sound, but (as this song shows) they can rock it out too when they want to...
6. Banquet - Bloc Party
This is another band that sort of came out of nowhere in 2004 with a sound that, at least for bands that got airplay on alternative radio at the time, wasn't like anything else. In this case though, it was dance rock. This song is great for kicking off a party or getting you keyed up for a night of going out (this song and on of their other songs from this same disc - "Helicopter" are two of my favorite party songs).
5. National Anthem - Radiohead
This is a song that I never hear anyone else mention on their list of favorite Radiohead songs, except for me. Too bad, this is my list. I love everything about this song from the grinding bassline that appears throughout the whole song to the crazy, jazz-like brass section in the middle. Wikipedia says that Thom Yorke wrote this bass riff when he was sixteen. SIGH...
4. PDA - Interpol
Interpol may not be the best band to come out of the 2000's, but they were certainly the coolest looking (as long as you ignore bassist Carlos D's silly mustache that he was sporting for a while). When I saw them in 2004, they all had on black suits and they all smoked like fiends (back when you could still do that indoors here) and just gave off the vibe that they were the coolest guys in the place, without also giving off the "we're the biggest douchebags in the place, too" vibe. Don't go trying to find any meanings in the lyrics of this song (or in any other Interpol song) - I once read an interview with lead singer Paul Banks and he said he doesn't even know what his lyrics mean (he just picks words that sound good together).
3. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart - Wilco
My favorite song from one of my top 5 favorite albums of all time. Much like Interpol, I think Jeff Tweedy sometimes just picks lyrics for his songs because they sound good, but don't really mean anything, like "Take off your band-aid 'cause I don't believe in touchdowns" (although, with all the migraine problems he has had over the years, maybe that meant something to his scrambled brain at the time). This song is about someone who regrets ending a relationship and then regrets starting it up again, hence the title.
2. Idioteque - Radiohead
This song epitomizes Radiohead's transformation from a straight alt-rock band to one that was willing to push the boundaries of their music in every direction possible and show everyone that there was no limit to the innovative music of which they were capable. This album pushed Radiohead to the level of top band in the alternative music world (they won a Grammy for this album, not that doing that means anything, but still...).
1. Wolf Like Me - TV On The Radio
The coolest song ever written about a werewolf (knocking off the former champion in this category, "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon). This song epitomizes what TV on the Radio is all about - it combines rock and funk into a blistering song that's, as the song says "gonna teach you tricks that'll blow your mongrel mind." They absolutely kill this song live, too. There aren't a whole lot of indie rock songs (that aren't considered "dance rock") that will make you want to dance like this one. I think that I am going to blare this on a continual loop this Halloween while giving out candy (my first year in my new neighborhood) to see what kind of reaction I get...
i actually thought about "another sunny day" (we've talked about how much we both love this song) but i didn't know if it was too bouncy and sunny to be a real solidly great song. but i like your list!!!!!
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