Friday, December 31, 2010

Year-end retrospective in music... of sorts.

Here, for your enlightenment, are the 25 songs that have received the most play on itunes, on my desk computer.

to view the whole playlist instead of just starting to listen, go here.

I claim no responsibility for the imagery you might encounter on these videos - for example on the mash-up post, when the only video I could find that used the mash-up song I liked, included a lot of anime panty shots.  Minimize the window while it plays if you must... but the walkmen video's quite cool.



Feel free to judge the entirety of my character on whether you like or dislike one, several, or all of the artists or songs on this list.  I think it gives a pretty fair sample of the variety of music I listen to, though it doesn't include any of the classical I like.  The list biases towards the more mellow stuff that I like when I'm working (desk computer, you know?)  When I'm out and about on my mp3 player or in the car, the stuff I choose tends to be louder, and when I'm really focusing on my work, I tend to play classical music on the mp3 player with speakers instead of having it on my desktop iTunes, so that I can't distract myself by playing around with the music selections.  (White Stripes, and Sleigh Bells in particular this year, make me happy when I'm away from my desk.)




Songs (in order of listens)
Holy Holy Holy - Sufjan Stevens
4 Minute Warning - Radiohead
Lover's Day - TV on the Radio
Buriedfed - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Arcade Fire
Keep Yourself Warm - Frightened Rabbit
Slow With Horns - Dan Deacon
Kids - MGMT
I Want to Live in a Wigwam - Cat Stevens
White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
Tytto Tanssil - Paavoharju
Donde Esta la Playa - Walkmen
In the Flowers - Animal Collective
Portland, Oregon - Loretta Lynn and Jack White
Make Everyone Happy/Mechanical Birds - Modest Mouse
1901 - Phoenix
Convinced of the Hex - Flaming Lips
Festival - Sigur Ros
Dragon's Lair - Sunset Rubdown
Scythian Empire - Andrew Bird (played on the video I made for my wife on our wedding day)
A with Living - Do Make Say Think
Once Again - Girl Talk
On the Radio - Regina Spektor
Everything is Free Now - The Tiny
Rococo Zephyr - Bill Callahan
A Case of You - Joni Mitchell (I cheated and added a 26th, because either Joni or Stan Rogers NEEDED to be on the list)

Not available on youtube: Music in her eyes - by Stan Rogers, a Canadian singer-songwriter who would have been named with Gordon Lightfoot in the Canadian folk pantheon if he hadn't died early in a crash.

So, readers, what does my list say about me, other than that I'm not much into top 40, and that I'm friggin' awesome?

4 comments:

TWEffect said...

Thanks for the link on your sidebar!

Traveling Hawk said...

Thank you for sharing these in a retrospective!

Happy New Year, 2011!

JLR said...

I'm disappointed in myself that I don't know most of these songs, even some of the ones by artists I like. But based on the fact that three of my favorite songs are on this list (1901, White Winter Hymnal, and Neighborhood #1), I think I need to check out the rest. Thanks for putting out the word on music some of us might be missing out on!k

Roboseyo said...

Thanks for the words, JLR; my brother says that out of ten recommendations I make for him, six are somewhere between not for him and totally not for him, two are pretty good, and two, he really likes... but to get to those two, it's worth wading through the others... or so he says.

Happy hunting!