Current Personal Top Ten Favorite Songs

The following selections of mine are not from the pool of songs on the current music charts and I have never heard any of them on my radio. As a matter of fact, I'm doubtful that any one of these songs made any chart, unless it was indirectly as a track on a charted album. But they do represent my own personal favorites at this point of time in September, 2009. By the way, all of them belong to the genre of independent/alternative music and have come out within the past six years.

#10: Flint by Sufjan Stevens
I have already written in this blog my praises for Stevens, who grew up in Michigan, lived for a time in Illinois, and then moved to New York (where he now resides). And who then composed works relating to each of his "states" (New York's was a commissioned work specifically about a bridge). Flint (the full title is Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid) is about that Michigan city and the despair and hopelessness that descended on it when the auto manufacturing industry there began to decline. The tune is sad and simple, ... and very heartwrenching.

#9: Neighborhood #2 (Laika) by Arcade Fire
In 2007 I heard Arcade Fire's Black Mirror, which was the first song that I (thought I) had heard from this exciting band. But I never went further with them until my sister, whose musical tastes I have respected since early childhood (she's the one who introduced me to the Beatles in early 1964) one day raved to me about how great they were. So I obtained their albums Funeral and Neon Bible. And she's right: they ARE great. To me, a lot of their music has a mysterious, almost sinister, doomsday slant to it. Neighborhood #2, which I usually just call Laika, is an excellent example. But their music is uniformly good, so you probably couldn't miss with anything of theirs.

#8: A Sunday Smile by Beirut
Beirut reminds me a bit of that opening funeral scene in Godfather Part II when very young Vito Corleone and his mother are in the funeral march for his father, accompanied by a very rough-sounding band. Beirut's founder and creative force Zach Condon runs a much more disciplined and virtuoso band, but the genre is similar: Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle East, and French traditional music dominates Beirut. A Sunday Smile is a sweet, compelling tune that inspired me to explore other songs from this singular band.

#7: Cause=Time by Broken Social Scene
The first album of Broken Social Scene, a Canadian band founded and creatively dominated by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, was simply instrumental ambient alternative rock. Subsequently, the two decided to bring in other talent and make vocal albums. And then their popularity soared. From their acclaimed second album You Forgot it in People, the track Cause=Time is definitely not for anyone overly sensitive to profanity, especially to the use of the "f" word. But unlike the case with others songs I've heard sprinkled unnecessarily with profanity, "f#$&" figures strongly in its message, especially with how it is used in this great song's final line. One of the great cynical songs that I've heard recently.

#6: Merchants of Soul by Spoon
One of may favorite songs from 2006 was Spoon's hit I Turn My Camera On, but I haven't investigated this group until just recently. And now I can report that I haven't heard anything of theirs that I don't like! Merchants of Soul is a track that is marked by its relentless beat, gradually progressing to a crescendo reminiscent of Ravel's Bolero (but much shorter and simpler). Probably the most danceable tune on this list, it epitomizes most of Spoon's music, which is difficult to listen to without wanting to get up and dance to it.

#5: Pittsfield by Sufjan Stevens
The Pittsfield in this song is in Illinois, not Massachusetts. Stevens paints a poignant, sad lyrical picture of someone looking back at his childhood and the ghosts inhabiting his sometimes very bitter family memories. It is a very emotional and tender piece.

#4: Fiery Crash by Andrew Bird
Andrew Bird is quite a musician, both at creating and performing. He is an accomplished violinist and whistler. Imagine someone with the musical songwriting ability of Lennon and McCartney, the lyrical creativity of Dylan, the production skill of George Martin, and the voice of ... Ringo Starr! That's quite a mix (so maybe I exaggerate a little), but I think that Bird is terribly underrated. Fiery Crash is a scary and sad piece tackling human fate head on, with the "fiery crash" as the ultimate payoff. To me, it carries great undertones about 9/11 and the sometimes unexplainable circumstances and decisions that people experience and make which either put them in the center of a tragedy or fortuitously cause them to avoid it altogether.

#3: Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head by Sufjan Stevens
Some of Sufjan Stevens' tracks are showcases of his extraordinary ability to weave long, complex pieces around syncopated rhythms. I think Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head (from his Michigan album, duh) is the best of this type. Although I liked every part of this eight-minute-plus song, there is a part toward its end that sounds like a dying, off-key horn section, possibly a metaphor for the artist's feelings about his former hometown's decline. Incredible!

#2: Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens is also pursuing a career in writing. He already works as a literary critic and is reportedly soon to come out with a collection of his own short stories. But Casimir Pulaski Day is already one of his short stories, albeit in song form. The song's title, an Illinois state holiday falling on the first week of March, is only a point of departure from which Stevens presents his tale. This is one of the supreme tearjerker songs of all time, and I say that as a high compliment to Stevens.

#1: Calculation (Theme) by Metric
Metric is a Canadian group fronted by singer/songwriter Emily Haines. It reminds me a lot of the old new wave band Blondie (I like that: old new). I first heard of them through their 2005 hit track Combat Baby. I investigated them on YouTube earlier this spring and came across a very bizarre unofficial video to their song Calculation (Theme). Although this video actually had nothing to do with the song (as far as I could tell), it was so peculiar that when I got the album that it was on and listened to it, those images kept floating through my mind. Until I began to listen to the lyrics in earnest, that is. And I discovered that Calculation (Theme) is a treasure unto itself, with an especially mystical and ambiguous final line. As a matter of fact, it is that closing line, along with Haines' beautiful, personal singing style, that has made this my favorite.