Sunday, December 11, 2005

JTM's Best of 2005, Part II

Part I of JTM's Best of 2005 was dedicated to new music released this year but in making said list I realized that my absolute favorite single of 2005 was not from any of my top 10 albums. Unacceptable. So for Part II, I'm keeping it brief. In fact, you will not even find a list, just a single definitive choice for the best song of the year.

But first, in order to build some sense of community, which is sort of the idea behind blogs, I kindly ask that any readers out there post back with their own picks for best song of the year. If you can't pick just one, list several, I don't care. I'm just curious to hear some of your opinions. Don't be shy. I know of at least 3 people who read this somewhat regularly, so I hope to god that I get at least 3 postings out of this. If not? Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I'll keep blogging away.

So back to the task at hand.
JTM's Best Song of 2005 goes to...



"Grass" - Animal Collective (from Feels LP)
Listen to mp3 or watch the Quicktime video

I could try to describe this song and why I love it so...but I'll just leave it to Stylus Magazine's Ryan Potts, who explains it perfectly below...
For a slight moment, it’s completely predictable: the chiming guitars sound like faceless indie rock and the vocals are sweet and smooth. It sounds like, well, a real single. But before long the pop façade is stripped away to reveal four eccentrics frantically beating drum kits, shrieking erratic harmonies, layering birdcalls, and sticking a chorus of wordless yelping and shouting in the middle of everything. With “Grass” they play tug of war between typical pop dynamics and the skewed perspective of experimental music, and start a fight with messy, absurd musical ideas and the guise of conventional formulas. Which side wins? We do.

4 comments:

JayFlyer said...

off the top of my head I could say that I immediately think of Ted Leo's cover of Since U Been Gone/Maps. I will shamefully say that I had no arguement with Stylus' pick of Ms. Clarkson's hit and truthfully enjoy Ted's purely indie rock vocals ripping through his cover.

Anonymous said...

Neko Case's "Favorite" off The Tigers Have Spoken.

~miah said...

i'm not really a 'greatest song' person, but i can give you some of my newly acquired artists of the year. definetly, clap your hands say yeah, and a few others would be: the arcade fire, bloc party, editors, great lake swimmers, bright eyes, the national. now i know that these are not all this years crop, but i have just acquired them this year. i suppose if you made me choose my favorite song of the year, it would have to go to clap your hands say yeah ~ details of the war.

Anonymous said...

having a hard time singling out a favorite song. maybe "Subtraction" by Cass McCombs, "Ghetto" by Leela James or "Classic Mode" from Nudge, the album I've listened to the most all year.

here's albums- I'm sure I'm forgetting many. no order. I still like these…

Primitive Calculators “Primitive Calculators” (Chapter Music)
Low “The Great Destroyer” (Sub Pop)
Stephen Malkmus “Face The Truth” (Matador)
Nudge “Cached” (Kranky)
Antony Milton “Sirens” (Last Visible Dog)
Amadou & Mariam “Dimanche A Bamako” (Nonesuch)
Leela James “A Change Is Gonna Come” (Warner Bros.)
The Fall “Fall Heads Roll” (Narnack)
Cass McCombs “PREfection” [Monitor]
Samara Lubelski “Spectacular of Passages” (Social Registry)
The Clientele “Strange Geometry” [Merge]
Jennifer Gentle “Valende” [Sub Pop]
Destroyer “Notorious Lightning And Other Works” [Merge]

Animal Collective "Grass" is a great choice. the album didn't make my list, only because I like Sung Tongs more. likely the best live show I saw this year.