2000s Single Songs ================== This is the decade with the most albums, and by far the most favorite songs. - "Lifelines" by **A-ha** - Another stunning bit of soft art-rock by the Norwegian masters. The chorus of this thing is something else. - "Summer Moved On" by **A-ha** - And they proved they could big bombastic pop songs for the new millennium on their big comeback single. - "Jessica" by **Adam Green** - I don't know that anything summarizes the break between mainstream pop and the indie creatives than this satire of Jessica Simpson. - "Save Me" by **Aimee Mann** - I've still never seen "Magnolia" but I really like this song. - "Lisa" by **Albert Hammond Jr** - I feel like this guy is wasting away in **The Strokes**. What a genius pop song. - "Everyone Gets a Star" by **Albert Hammond Jr** - ditto, see above - "Flip!" by **Apollo Sunshine** - There was a time when it looked like Philly was going to become an indie stronghold. We got this song and a few others. - "Do the Whirlwind" by **Architecture In Helsinki** - Goofy childlike indie that I can't take for an entire album, but this song is great. - "Again" by **Archive** - It is so strange how these guys had exactly one great song and it is a 16 minute art rock epic. - "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" by **Arctic Monkeys** - The single that started it all for one of the greatest bands of the last 20 years. - "Half Light" by **Athlete** - It is now trendy to call this kind of thing landfill indie, and I get it. There were some pretty good landfill indie songs though. - "Elephant Gun" by **Beirut** - Their best song appears on an otherwise unspectacular EP. Gorgeous stuff. - "The Model" by **Belle and Sebastian** - An amazing track off a generally mediocre record, with great shared vocals by Stuart and Stevie. - "Your Cover's Blown" by **Belle and Sebastian** - Continuing the tradition of EP greatness, this is a look at the retro pop future for these guys. - "The Hole in Me - Remastered" by **Blackfield** - The only high point from the three album output of this **Steven Wilson** light touch side project. - "Red World" by **Blank Dogs** - I will always remember hearing this play at the gone but not forgotten Aquarius records in San Francisco, and walking out with a copy of the EP. The exact right kind of record to buy at that shop. - "No Compass" by **Blank Dogs** - A delightful deconstruction of the **New Order** sound. - "First Day of My Life" by **Bright Eyes** - At this point, he co-uldn't make a great album anymore, but there were always great songs. - "Gold Mine Gutted" by **Bright Eyes** - see above - "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" by **Broken Social Scene** - An extremely simple vocoder heavy vocal melody over a dense interesting instrumental background. - "Liar" by **Built To Spill** - The later albums end up sounds more than a little like **Death Cab of Cutie** in a good way. - "It Dawned on Me" by **Calla** - The kings of one great song per album, this was the first one I heard. - "Fear Of Fireflies" by **Calla** - Why is the good song always the first one? - "Tarantula" by **Calla** - Such a wonderful mysterious instrumental to start with, unfortunately they couldn't maintain this level. - "The Greatest" by **Cat Power** - It is strange to see someone I used to love represented by only one song. - "Signal Morning" by **Circulatory System** - I was so excited for a new album from these guys, but it only produced one great track. - "I Believe" by **"Conjure One, Rhys Fulber"** - A very unexpected cover, and it is weird to hear the king of ambient industrial and world music fusion sing. - "Pour Le Monde" by **Crowded House** - The best song you will ever hear play the background at CVS. - "Tail & Mane" by **Cryptacize** - I saw them open for **St. Vincent** at Noise pop 2009 and the positive experience made me get very into them for a while. I'm left only with a lasting interest in this song. - "Alice Practice" by **Crystal Castles** - So abrasive. I hated it at first, but wow did it grow on me. - ""Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"" by **Daft Punk** - I discoverd these guys from an Apple commercial and this song. Still really like this track, but I've never seen the record as the classic it is popularly thought to be. - "Strange Overtones" by **David Byrne** - It was jarring for this duo who previously made wildly experimental music, to make such a stunning pop song. Those Eno backing vocals really complete the song. - "College Town Boy" by **Dent May** - I can't abide this phase of his career anymore, but this is very funny enjoyable track. He should make a new version. - "Precious" by **Depeche Mode** - Around this time I tended to assume they were going to be over the hill, but they kept making great tracks that sounded surprisingly modern. - "White Flag" by **Dido** - I felt a bit silly at the time (less so now) about how much I like this syrupy adult contemporary track. - "Brand New Day" by **Dizzee Rascal** - One of the more off genre things that Sirius Left of Center played was UK Hip Hop. This is a classic of that scene. - "My Old Ways" by **Dr. Dog** - Another group I'm bored with at this point, but I still really like this one track. - "Home" by **Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros** - Not as charming as it once was, but still a fun little pop song. - "It's A Motherfucker" by **Eels** - I'm a huge fan of this guys lyrics and voice, and both are on display here. - "1234" by **Feist** - Was that Ipod Video commercial when indie broke into the mainstream? - "My Moon My Man" by **Feist** - A terrific little jazzy pop song on an album that I otherwise mostly find boring. - "Emerge" by **Fischerspooner** - Was there ever another artist in the genre of electroclash? - "Mykonos" by **Fleet Foxes** - They are so overrated in my opinion, but each album has had one great song. - "He Doesn't Know Why" by **Fleet Foxes** - ...and this is the best of them all. - "Play the Hits" by **Hal** - The only other band that was doing anything like the delightful little pop of **The Thrills**. - "Cinders" by **Holopaw** - A latter day slowcore act spices things up with a little brass. - "Losing Light" by **Holopaw** - Really nice mellow mood on this one. - "Boy From School" by **Hot Chip** - I much prefer their later work, but this is my favorite from the early records. - "Bandages" by **Hot Hot Heat** - I've liked this song since 2003 and I'm not sure I have ever heard the album. - "Nice to Know You" by **Incubus** - An early indie band that made it big with this one. - "Pioneer To The Falls" by **Interpol** - Their best song on an otherwise unremarkable record. - "Such Great Heights" by **Iron & Wine** - A song so good, it was an indie hit twice in two years. - "Ruby" by **Kaiser Chiefs** - After their first record, these guys went very pop. It worked really well at times, like here. - "Like It Too Much" by **Kaiser Chiefs** - My favorite of their later poppier records. Such a fun, interesting track. - "A.D.I.D.A.S. (feat. Big Boi)" by **"Killer Mike, Big Boi"** - The best song from the electro-funk era of southern rap. - "I'd Rather Dance With You" by **Kings of Convenience** - I don't know that I would need to read the bio to know these guys are Scandinavian. - "Stutter" by **Lake Trout** - This band has so much potential, and their jazz influenced alt rock does a great job staying out of jam band territory. - "Angelica" by **Lamb** - Yes I know this is mostly "Clair De Lune", but they do such a great job making it into a cool trip hop song. - "Ain't Never Been Cool" by **Lucky Soul** - For a second it seemed like there was going to be an indie-pop revival of the early 60s sound, but this is one of the few interesting things to come out of it. - "Sneffels Yokul" by **Make A Rising** - Every now and then NPR Music highlights something obscure and fascinating, and this is one of those. - "Like U Crazy" by **Mates of State** - I saw these guys open for **Death Cab for Cutie** and came home with this, there most recent release. This goofy over the top love song is the only thing I still connect with from this silly husband/wife pop act. - "Daylight" by **Matt and Kim** - This song was everywhere in 2009 and for good reason, it is a pop gem that combines an amazing piano hook with really interesting hip hop inspired drumming. - "Golden Phone" by **Micachu & The Shapes** - This band was going to be the next big thing, but they really only left us with this great little eccentric pop song. - "I can't Get You Out of My Head" by **Kylie Minogue** - I had a poster of the cover to her 2001 album *Fever* on my wall in undergrad. I could never convince anyone that it was because of my interest in the music contained within. - "Study War" by **Moby** - A cool little latter day song by this guy, but at this point he was mostly mining his own past. - "Dancefloors" by **My Morning Jacket** - A great little country rocker off a nearly great album. - "Star Witness" by **Neko Case** - A great little dark country song that feels made for the NPR airwaves. - "Aurora Borealis" by **Nesey Gallons** - An obscure Elephant6 gem from the height of my interest in the collective. - "Every Day Is Exactly the Same" by **Nine Inch Nails** - This could be an outtake from *The Fragile* and that is why I like it so much more than most of the latter day **NIN** material. - "Right Where It Belongs" by **Nine Inch Nails** - I have never been able to get into their work after the 1990s, but this is the best of their later day songs. Perhaps because it sounds the most like something off of the 90s records. - "Teen Creeps" by **No Age** - I'll never forget seeing them play this song at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco at noise pop 2009. - "I Was Never Young" by **of Montreal** - How I discovered them, when this was used in a TV commercial. - "Breakfast in NYC" by **Oppenheimer** - Somehow these guys were super popular in State College, PA for a short period. This is a great little electronic indie-pop song. - "Illuminate" by **Orbital** - The first CD I got from these guys was an early 2000s compilation (found at a CD and Tape exchange in Cleveland) and a gravitated to this fairly straightforward pop song that doesn't really fit into the rest of their catalog. This really seems to anticipate the sound that **Daft Punk** was about to make big. - "The Whole World (feat. Killer Mike)" by **"Outkast, Killer Mike"** - I didn't really take hip hop seriously and thought of it mostly as party music until I heard this amazing track. - "This Is The Dream Of Win & Regine" by **Owen Pallett** - A terrific track of of his first record that gives indications of the brilliance to come. - "Sleepyhead" by **Passion Pit** - What in the hell happened to the Pashy Pit? This song was so huge and they quickly disappeared. - "Big Black Coffin" by **Peter Bjorn and John** - I love these stunning little sad pop songs these guys can make. - "Nothing To Worry About" by **Peter Bjorn and John** - This albums was as weird departure and it really works on this one track. - "Everything Is Everything" by **Phoenix** - They were more of a singles band for me and it felt like each album had one track that rose above the sameness of the other material. - "Lisztomania" by **Phoenix** - See above - "Bye Bye Bye" by **Plants and Animals** - Another time that NPR music highlighted a great track that would have otherwise not found an audience. This kind of indie folk was going out of style, but felt fresh here. - "Hey Pretty" by **Poe** - An artist that I feel was never able to reach their full potential. A really cool rock song with electronic accents, and outstanding vocals. Not quite trip hop, but it fits in well with the sounds of the early 2000s. - "Drawing the Line" by **Porcupine Tree** - The one great song off of their last album before hiatus. Much more of a straight ahead rock song than what these guys typically make. - "Golden Touch - Full Length" by **Razorlight** - Might be "Landfill Indie" but it is good "Landfill Indie". - "Lights Out" by **Santigold** - Such a great little power-pop gem. - "Tear You Apart" by **She Wants Revenge** - Sirius was hyping the crap out of these guys, but this is really there only good song. - "BlindBlindBlind" by **Silver Mt. Zion** - Bad singing has never sounded so good before or after. - "Two Way Monologue" by **Sondre Lerche** - I was really into this guy back then, but this is about all I care to listen to these days. - "Four to the Floor" by **Starsailor** - These guys take a break from generic slow rock to let Phil Spector make one last classic. - "You Are The Blood" by **Sufjan Stevens** - A wild 10 minute epic that is peak weird Sufjan. - "Punkrocker - feat. Iggy Pop" by **Teddybears** - A really cool Krautrock style song from a band that achieved nothing else. - "A Minha Menina" by **The Bees** - A great cover that is almost to similar to the original, but still does enough new. - "Go Karts" by **The Bees** - Their only weakness is how derivative everything seems. This Sgt. Pepper era Beatles homage works pretty well. - "Velvet" by **The Big Pink** - Amazing song from a very mediocre album. The shoegazzey bridge in the middle is spectacular. - "Cobalt Blue" by **The Church** - This was a very good latter day record, and this was an especially great track from it. Are they trying to make an **Echo and the Bunnymen** song? - "Pass It On" by **The Coral** - Much like **The Bees**, their only weakness is their inability to separate themselves from their influences, but this is pretty great. - "Dreaming of You" by **The Coral** - see above. - "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by **The Darkness** - You couldn't escape this song in 2004, but who would want to avoid this trashy rock fun. - "No Cities Left" by **The Dears** - I generally have little interest in their early music other than this interesting song with a big sound that fits in well with their best work to come. - ""The Gymnast, High Above the Ground"" by **The Decemberists** - Each of the first two records has a great song. - "California One / Youth and Beauty Brigade" by **The Decemberists** - See above - "Modern Moonlight" by **The Dresden Dolls** - The drumming in this song is some of the best punk small kit work I have ever seen or heard. - "Don't Know Why (You Stay)" by **The Essex Green** - An obscure latter day E6 pop gem. - "Agenda Suicide" by **The Faint** - So stupid, but so enjoyable. - "The W.A.N.D." by **The Flaming Lips** - The first song I ever liked by these guys, and probably still my favorite. - "Dynamo" by **The Golden Dogs** - I don't know that another band has ever really sounded so much like **Paul McCarney and Wings** as these guys do here. - "Who's Got The Crack" by **The Moldy Peaches** - A completely ridiculous joke of a song that totally works. - "Girls" by **The Prodigy** - Some really interesting latter day techno that pulls in elements of the bass heavy electronic music of the day. - "Phantom Limb" by **The Shins** - The one amazing track from the weak third album. - "Dry Your Eyes" by **The Streets** - I do still like this jokey concept record though I rarely find myself returning to it, with the exception of this earnestly sincere closing track. - "Seven Nation Army" by **The White Stripes** - Being played at every sporting event of the last 20 years has somehow not ruined this one. - "Fell In Love With a Girl" by **The White Stripes** - Legos. - "Experimental Film" by **They Might Be Giants** - Weirdly this latter day track was the song that got these guys on my radar. - "Sweet the Sting" by **Tori Amos** - A terrific song off a horrible record. - "Flowers In The Window" by **Travis** - Why did I like these guys so much? Well this song is pretty good. - "Staring at the Sun" by **TV On The Radio** - I never liked these guys as much as everyone else, but their first album had some pretty good tracks. - "Ambulance" by **TV On The Radio** - ...and this a capella track was best of all. - "Oxford Comma" by **Vampire Weekend** - A clever little pop song from a band that would rapidly outlast their welcome. - "Maps" by **Yeah Yeah Yeahs** - A very hot and cold band, but their high points are very high, like this stellar post-punk ballad. - "Heads Will Roll" by **Yeah Yeah Yeahs** - One of the first shots fired in the 80s revival, when the punk kids discovered keyboards and drum machines for the second time.