2011 was a real chicken-and-egg kind of year in music. Was there really less amazing music or did everything sound a little duller because it was a difficult year for me personally? Was there less sonically interesting music in 2011 or was it because I cut way back on listening to music with headphones? Was [...]

My guesses about the future are almost always wrong, and here’s one of them: I always thought that digital music would lead to big changes in how albums were constructed. I figured that bands that stuck to a pop or rock sound would go mostly with singles and more frequent, smaller releases, and that full [...]

click here to skip the intro & go straight to the list >> When you’re a highly self-conscious person like me, compiling a year-end list means that you have to shrug off a lot of nagging thoughts: whether the ranking’s exactly right and how dumb it is to rank art anyway; whether there was a [...]

If you’re anything like me, as the calendar comes to its yearly close, productivity has a way of screeching to a grinding halt. Sure, the holiday season can have that kind of effect on us all. But I have to admit to another culprit: the year-end list craze. I may not be the most committed [...]

The audio’s been removed, but there’s plenty more where that came from coming up. Subscribe to our RSS feed, follow us on Hype Machine, or follow us on Twitter. 100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1 20. Sufjan Stevens, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (2002) As much as we all want to [...]

The audio’s been removed, but there’s plenty more where that came from coming up. Subscribe to our RSS feed, follow us on Hype Machine, or follow us on Twitter. 100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1 40. TV On The Radio, “Halfway Home” (2008) This song feels so deliberately and fussily constructed that [...]

The audio’s been removed, but there’s plenty more where that came from coming up. Subscribe to our RSS feed, follow us on Hype Machine, or follow us on Twitter. 100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1 60. Peter Bjorn and John, “Young Folks” (2006) The standard writeup of “Young Folks” starts and ends [...]

The audio’s been removed, but there’s plenty more where that came from coming up. Subscribe to our RSS feed, follow us on Hype Machine, or follow us on Twitter. 100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1 80. The Postal Service, “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” Ben Gibbard’s pretentions and wimpiness make Death Cab [...]

The audio’s been removed, but there’s plenty more where that came from coming up. Subscribe to our RSS feed, follow us on Hype Machine, or follow us on Twitter. 100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1 100. Tahiti 80, “Heartbeat” (2000) “Heartbeat” is both the kind of precious pop that I loved in [...]

Thanks for the visit. We’re not just here at the end of the decade; we’re here all year, sharing our songs of the week and other loves. Subscribe to our RSS feed, follow us on Hype Machine, or follow us on Twitter. Top 100 Songs of the 00′s: 100-81 100. Tahiti 80, “Heartbeat” (2000) 99. [...]