2011: Top Songs

1. M83- Midnight City
2. Depeche Mode- Puppets (Röyksopp Remix)
3. Foster The People- Helena Beat
4. The Drums- Money
5. The Rapture- How Deep Is Your Love?

30 Day Song Challenge - Index

Index
Day 01: Your Favorite Song Depeche Mode "Enjoy The Silence" 1990
Day 02: Your Least Favorite Song Deep Blue Something "Breakfast At Tiffany's" 1995
Day 03: A Song That Makes You Happy Bad Manners "Bang On The Drum All Day" 1985
Day 04: A Song That Makes You Sad Robyn "Call Your Girlfriend" 2010
Day 05: A Song That Reminds You Of Someone The Smiths "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" 1984
Day 06: A Song That Reminds You Of Somewhere The Wiseguys "Start The Commotion" 1999
Day 07: A Song That Reminds You Of A Certain Event Client "Radio" 2004
Day 08: A Song You Know All The Words To Oliva Theme Song 2009
Day 09: A Song You Can Dance To Kings Of Convenience "I'd Rather Dance With You" 2004
Day 10: A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep New Order "Video 5 8 6" 1982
Day 11: A Song From Your Favorite Band New Order "Every Little Counts" 1986
Day 12: A Song From A Band You Hate Dave Mathews Band "You & Me" 2009
Day 13: A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure Ace Of Base "The Sign" 1993
Day 14: A Song That No One Would Expect You To Love ODB "Got Your Money" 1999
Day 15: A Song That Describes You Pet Shop Boys "Too Many People" 1993
Day 16: A Song That You Used To Love But Now Hate The Bravery "An Honest Mistake" 2005
Day 17: A Song That You Hear Often On The Radio Adele "Rolling In The Deep" 2010
Day 18: A Song You Wish You Heard On The Radio The Auteurs "Lenny Valentino" 1994
Day 19: A Song From Your Favorite Album Pet Shop Boys "It's Only The Wind" 1990
Day 20: A Song That You Listen To When You're Angry Nine Inch Nails "Wish" 1992
Day 21: A Song That You Listen To When You're Happy Junior Senior "Move Your Feet" 2002
Day 22: A Song That You Listen To When You're Sad Moby "Natural Blues" 1999
Day 23: A Song That You Want To Play At Your Wedding Freelance Hellraiser "A Stroke Of Genius" 2002
Day 24: A Song That You Want To Play At Your Funeral Fake Tupac "I Wrote This Song In '94" 2006
Day 25: A Song That Makes You Laugh R. Kelly "Trapped In A Closet" 2005
Day 26: A Song That You Play On An Instrument Edvard Grieg "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" 1876
Day 27: A Song That You Wish You Could Play The Killers "Human" 2008
Day 28: A Song That Makes You Feel Guilty Harry Chapin "Cat's In The Cradle" 1974
Day 29: A Song From Your Childhood Lionel Richie "Say You, Say Me" 1985
Day 30: Your Favorite Song At This Time Last Year Brandon Flowers "Crossfire" 2010

Postscript
Having completed the 30 Day Song Challenge I feel compelled to comment on it.  I'm pleased that it forced me to "write" 30 entries, more than I did in the past year and half, because I had a deadline and I appreciate that it approached music at a different angle than I take. However, I can't but feel I failed because about halfway through, which is about how far I had written in advance, my entries became distinctly shorter and less interesting. Were the questions less inspiring? Perhaps, but it had more to do with fatigue creeping in while I found myself very busy with work which left the challenge on the back burner. I certainly failed at my original vision which was to tweet the challenge with links. I only managed to tweet 4 days of the challenge.
It came as a surprise that, as someone who is their mid 30's, my pics did indeed span my lifetime rather than just becoming a snapshot of my teen years.

Discovering that both of my favorite song and album were released in 1990 must be some sort of cosmic coincidence. I'm sure the same wouldn't happen to you, were you to attempt such a challenge.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 30: Your Favorite Song At This Time Last Year

Brandon Flower's "Crossfire" was my summer jam of 2010.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 29: A Song From Your Childhood

In my elementary school days I was convinced that every contemporary song on the radio was sung by the same person. I was wrong, there were actually two people. Phil Collins and Lionel Richie. Richie's "Say You, Say Me" takes me back...

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 28: A Song That Makes You Feel Guilty

I have an amazing relationship with my father and my kids receive all my attention as they are the most important thing in my life but still Harry Chapin's "Cat's In The Cradle" leaves me wracked with guilt every time I hear it. No link, so you're on your own if you feel the need to listen to this one...

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 27: A Song That You Wish You Could Play

If I could play The Killers "Human" like the fellow in this video my life would be complete.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 26: A Song That You Play On An Instrument

As a live musician my technique is limited at best and so is my repertoire but the teacher of my high school electronic music class gave me the task of learning Edvard Grieg's "In The Hall Of The Mountain King". To this day I can play the piece by memory with both hands on the piano.  I programmed two versions of the song for the class creating a traditional orchestral arrangement and a "rock" arrangement.  This version is better than both of my takes.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 25: A Song That Makes You Laugh

R Kelly's "Trapped In A Closet" is a full exploration of one of the most original song concepts ever.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 24: A Song That You Want To Play At Your Funeral

I can not approach this question with any sort of seriousness because I'm just not built that way but the topic is still an interesting one.  L7's "Pretend We're Dead" immediately springs to mind as do a couple of songs from The Smiths.  "Cemetery Gates" would be a nice choice and "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" would be amazing if I died in a very specific manner.  The over top emo thing to do would to drop John Cage's "4'33"" so everyone has to drink in the silence, but ultimately I would have to go with the fake Tupac song from Chapelle's Show.  It was the dopest song I ever wrote.



Chappelle's Show - Tupac is Alive from Dundy on Vimeo.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 23: A Song That You Want To Play At Your Wedding

I've been married for ages and didn't pay much attention to the music at our wedding. However, if I were to go back in time I would slip Freelance Hellraiser's "A Stroke Of Genius" on the soundsystem because marriage brings together two different people to create something better than they are alone.  Also this would rock a dance floor.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 22: A Song That You Listen To When You're Sad

Drink in the sadness listening to Moby's "Natural Blues".

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 21: A Song That You Listen To When You're Happy

Junior Senior "Move Your Feet" is fantastic when I am happy and not nearly as good when I am moody.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 20: A Song That You Listen To When You're Angry

Nine Inch Nails "Wish" is a great way to release some anger.  Actually, the he whole Broken EP is a cathartic experience.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 19: A Song From Your Favorite Album

Pet Shop Boys Behavior is my favorite album.  It's "Only The Wind".

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 18: A Song You Wish You Heard On The Radio

The year is 1993 and I am faithfully listening, as I did most Saturday mornings, to Rock Over London on Live 105 when I first heard this amazing blast of a song. Having listened to the show for some years at this point I knew that it often took awhile for the songs featured on the show to make it to the station's playlist. I waited patiently to hear The Auteurs "Lenny Valentino" on the radio again but that time never came.  Was this due to the increasingly US-centric content of the Modern Rock station as grunge took over?  I don't know, but I do know that I am still wishing this song received more than one spin on air nearly 20 years later. Listen and then tell me that I'm wrong.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 17: A Song That You Hear Often On The Radio

Is there any other song so popular across the radio dial in 2011 than Adele's "Rolling In The Deep"?  You can hear it playing on one station flip the dial and finish the song on another frequency. I can't knock the song's success even though it's not my cup of tea if only because some of my favorite bloggers proclaimed the genius of the song a year ago.  Sometimes the public does get it right.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 16: A Song That You Used To Love But Now Hate

Was there a time when I liked The Bravery's "An Honest Mistake"?  Embarrassingly, the answer is yes.  Picking up their album after I bought into the hype, strong write-ups in NME and the familiarity of the music what I discovered was the work of uninspired bandwagon jumpers.  I'm not a fan of the former Skabba The Hut.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 15: A Song That Describes You

There are times when I think that Pet Shop Boys "Too Many People" describes me well.  Not all the time though.



Just as an afterthought, if you do not own Alternative then you should do yourself a favor and buy it today.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 14: A Song That No One Would Expect You To Love

Do people expect me not to love ODB's "Got Your Money"? I do.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 13: A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

Remember when Ace Of Base were huge? Chartrigger does, but I was against them from the start. They are musically close to so many things that I love in music, but they did it all wrong. They were the kind of band that I was so passionate about disliking that I lectured my friends on why AOB were so wrong as we drove around listening to a cassette copy of their album I had checked out from the local library. Did listening to "The Sign" open up my eyes? Let's just keep that part quiet.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 12: A Song From A Band You Hate

Why do I hate Dave Matthews Band?  As one of the first non-alternative bands to breakthrough in the mid-90s, their rise in popularity marked a conservative streak in music which symbolically ended the dominance of the left-of-center music in the rock world. At that time I described the act as music for admins, in part due to the only DMB fans I knew actually were administrative assistants but mostly because their musical inoffensiveness so defines them that background music for corporate busy work is their natural function.  Over the years I have found that most of their fans only own a handful of albums because they just aren't into music which plays into a mention in The Onion that they are a sales powerhouse who rely "on the musical ignorance of their fans".  "You & Me" is a song that I have the misfortune of hearing often at work.  The chorus is a minefield of things that shouldn't happen in music.  "You and me together, we could do anything" has to be one of the most generic expressions of love ever test-marketed which is paired with a melody so lazy it sounds as if it was created by a child on a playground.  What really tops of the song is the faux jazz coda which adds absolutely nothing to the song but gives fans a reason to champion a very bland piece of pop rock as arty and innovative.  They are so very wrong.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 11: A Song From Your Favorite Band

"Every second counts when I am with you" and "I think you are a pig" don't belong in the same song.  This didn't occur to Bernard Sumner and the world is a better place for it.  I'm not suggesting that "Every Second Counts", the closing track on 1986's Brotherhood, is the greatest New Order song, but it does help explain their charm.  The lyrics may be be bonkers but the band acknowledges it on this self-produced track by leaving Sumner laughing at his own words on the record because the song is much bigger than the lyrics.  Little more than halfway through the running time the singing ends and the instruments take the melody soaring into a place that is almost too precious before the band's punk instincts take things down a notch.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 10: A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep

New Order's "Video 5 8 6" was created for the opening of The Hacienda in 1982 and contains the raw DNA of "Blue Monday". However, it is really long and repetitive...

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 09: A Song You Can Dance To

It wasn't so long ago that Erlend Øye and Kings Of Convenience taught the indie kids to dance. As for me, I'd rather dance with you.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 08: A Song You Know All The Words To

Easy.  My kids like the Olivia theme song.  This plays into my theory that kids shows are as successful as their theme songs.  Beware: The video loops!

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 07: A Song That Reminds You Of A Certain Event

Client's "Radio", released in 2004, takes me back a few years earlier to a time when there was no music on the radio.

We begin the song with the vocalist in such a state that she “can’t be bothered to try to survive” because television news informs her of a world that is entirely a mess. There are no signs of light and she has no hope for comfort when even the solace found in workings of a great song is missing because there is no music on the radio. All this brings to mind the immediate aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks and emotional numbness of those, such as myself, who experienced the events of the day through a repeating media filter and directly echoes the experience of those who looked to music as source of consolation but could not find it on most US radio stations as many stopped playing music temporarily instead broadcasting news. It is remarkable, given that the lyrical content, that the song is not a dirge but the apparent contradiction between the music and the lyrics gives the song a more hopeful message that makes it even more effective emotionally.

(excerpt from an old review)

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 06: A Song That Reminds You Of Somewhere

The Wiseguy's "Start The Commotion" is forever linked with Disneyland in my mind.  First coming to my attention with "Ooh La La" on the Wall Of Sound compilation Bustin' Loose, which I played often during my college radio show, I had to come to think of The Wiseguys as being a strictly underground act in the US.  However, in 2001 when "Start The Commotion" was featured in the Zoolander soundtrack and re-released as a single something changed.  Maybe it was memories of Derek Zoolander performing a walk off or maybe it was a car commercial that shifted the climate but suddenly the song was an American top 40 hit.  On vacation in the happiest place on earth, where "Who Let The Dogs Out" was heard many times, I was exiting the park into Downtown Disney when the song played over the PA.  It suddenly sank in that they weren't just my underground band anymore.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 05: A Song That Reminds You Of Someone

In high school my buddy, who helped turn me on to some great music, complained about not finding his dream part-time job at a pet shop.  A few long months later he got the gig which led to some self-aware complaining about his job where he quoted a great line from The Smiths "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now".  Looking back on it now he was a bit of a miserablist. No wonder we got along so well.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 04: A Song That Makes You Sad

Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend" makes me very uncomfortable.  Breakup songs have been a staple of pop music since it began and Robyn found a unique angle, one I don't recall being used before, taking the point of view of the new girlfriend.  The start of this new relationship is not a place of pure joy, but something that will wound the girlfriend no matter how well the situation is handled.  How sad.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 03: A Song That Makes You Happy

How could Bad Manner's take on Todd Rundgren's  "Bang On The Drum All Day" not make you smile?  Poking around the internet I discovered that Allmusic claims it is "downright awful" but they are completely missing the point.  You see they don't want to work, they just want to bang on the drum all day.  That makes me happy.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 02: Your Least Favorite Song

There are so many popular songs out there that I have had the misfortune of being forced to listen to over the years that truly deserve spite.  Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast At Tiffany's" is right at the top of my list.  I didn't care for the song when it first a hit in the mid-90s and I can't stand it now. Why would I hate such a sweet little song with a catchy guitar riff?  Because there is nothing there.  All this song is the damn stupid chorus repeated over and over and over and over and over.  Let's look at the structure for a moment.  A verse, followed by the chorus, followed by a verse, followed by the chorus, followed be the first verse repeated, followed by the chorus, followed by the chorus before ending in the chorus.

The song has two verses, repeats the chorus five times and then gives the chorus an instrumental reprise. 

Given this is a breakup song where "our" guy expresses just how sad he is there is a huge problem that he has no convincing argument for them as a couple.  She is the only one who knew him yet they have nothing in common except a film she thinks she remembers.  She might not even remember the film.  She might be thinking about something else entirely.  If you, dear reader, ever find yourself in a situation like this you should be filled with joy to be free of a relationship that never stood a chance of lasting. It is never, ever appropriate to write a sad repetitive song about the experience.

  

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 01: Your Favorite Song

The 30 Day Song Challenge, a "popular Facebook meme" that no one I know has attempted, calls upon the challenger to answer 30 questions about how they relate to songs over the course of 30 days.  What a novel way to write about music.  I used to write about music!  Challenge accepted.

The first question is deceivingly simple because at this point in my life I love and have loved too much music too passionately to be tied to any one song's strings. That being said, the challenge demands an answer.
Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" was my favorite song when I was 15 and despite years of radio and myself overplaying the song it still gets to me.
Famously composed by Martin Gore as a ballad and rearranged into a synthpop masterpiece by Alan Wilder the song has so much going for it. The guitar line. The bubbling bass. The touches of synth choir. The deep lazer synth.  That beat. Everything is just perfect from the unusually tense harmonic structure to the melody that is unshakable.  Lyrically the song speaks of violence and pain but centers around the purest distillation of romance ever sung. "All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here in my arms".  We know the dangers of love, but who can resist it when it's what we need.

Late Review: Freebass Two Worlds Collide EP

Frustrated by the lack of progress of their respective projects Peter Hook (New Order) and Gary "Mani" Mounfield (Primal Scream) dreamed up an all bass group as the solution to their problems. Drafting Andy Rourke (The Smiths) the trio formed the core of Freebass, the least conventional supergroup ever convened.

This six track EP, released in 2010, collects the early efforts of the group as they were auditioning vocalists and producers.  Details are difficult to find but the group's line-up was fluid at the point this was recorded, likely around 2005, notably featuring more of Rourke's guitar work than on their proper album and Lionrock's Roger Lyons, at the time handling programming for New Order's live set-up, who takes control of synths and production on three tracks.

Bookended by sound effect tracks that add a touch of atmosphere Two Worlds Collide offers a glimpse of what could have been in a project that easily could have gone a bit Spinal Tap.  The first proper song "You Don't Know This About Me" finds Tim Burgess (The Charlatans) in an uncharacteristically lower register channeling Peter Murphy over a post-punk inspired backing track.  Despite an odd middle-eight key change and a very familiar riff from Hooky the song is a contender as the group's finest moment.  Fittingly it was issued as a single in it's own right.  "The Milky Way Is Our Playground" changes gears to a slower, heavy take that is a bit Madchester-gone-space-rock with Pete Wylie (Wah!) bringing bonkers lyrics to the party.  Things go off the rails with "Dark Starr" as the infamous UK drug dealer Howard Marks attempts to shock with a spoken word performance where he claims to be a pagan and a sinner.  At best he comes across as an aging, rambling stoner which is hardly shocking at all.  It is the longest track of the bunch featuring a riff which the group liked enough to reuse with a new vocal on "She Said", found on their It's A Beautiful Life album, but in this form everything wears thin.  "Live Tomorrow You Go Down" is a different beast, a blast of raw dance music with a shouting Hook taking a turn on lead vocals asking us "which way do you want to go now" when the answer should be obvious to any New Order fan.  More of this dance rock thing, please.    

Freebass: A Family Tree

Freebass, the super-group formed by Manchester bass legends Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order/Revenge/Monaco), Gary "Mani" Mounfield (The Stone Roses/Primal Scream) and Andy Rourke (The Smiths), imploded shortly after the release of their debut album a few months ago.  Curious to see who else was involved a bit research reveals a closely connected group.

The keystone of the project was Peter Hook, their biggest voice in the press as he talked up the group over the past five years, and the membership of the group reflects this.  Hooky considered the similarly indie and Manchester-based The Smiths as New Order's "competition"  and he produced The Stone Roses early single "Elephant Stone".  Freebass keyboardist and programmer Phil Murphy also works with Hooky in the dance project Man Ray and drummer Paul Kehoe was a part of Monaco's live line-up.  Singer Gary Briggs connection to the band stems from Andy Rourke.  Joe Moss, former manager of The Smiths, discovered Briggs first band Haven who had an album produced by Rourke's former band mate Johnny Marr.  It may be a small world, but Manchester stands united.