Thursday, July 22, 2010

Halfway Point 2010: 41-46

Gaslight Anthem in San Jose tonight!

41. Gaslight Anthem – "Boxer"

See? See how good they are? Come to the show tonight! In a related story, this is one of those songs that Ilana mockingly sings along with in her sarcastic "Adam Sandler doing Bruce Springsteen" voice, yet I think she actually likes it. She's hard to read sometimes.

42. Tallest Man on Earth – “King of Spain”

I think I'm out of Sweden Fun Facts. The internet seems somewhat sparse in this category. Also, we've previously discussed this song here. You may remember that, back then, Curt commented: You've lost all credibility. This song is horrible. It's so bad it makes me want to unfriend you on facebook.

We'll see if his opinion has changed at all.

43. Morning Benders – “Promises”

Of the two Morning Benders singles, "Excuses" gets most of the critical love, but I think "Promises" is the better song. Better riff, poppier, shorter ... it's good for all the reasons you can't really admit you like a song. I don't always have six minutes to listen to you, Morning Benders. Sometimes I just want a three-minute pop song.

44. The Very Best – "Mulomo"

The only Very Best song released so far this year, a re-working of Yeasayer's "Ambling Alp." If I never get back to doing concert reviews, let me just state here that the Very Best was the, um, very best concert I've been to so far this year. I wish there was a less awkward way to phrase that, but it's true.

45. Titus Andronicus – "Four Score and Seven"

"It's still us against them / It's still us against them ..." This song is roughly the same (in terms of quality, style, length, lyrical content, etc.) as "A More Perfect Union," which is going to land about twenty spots higher on this list. I guess what I'm saying is that my methodology here is somewhat arbitrary.

2 comments:

  1. Four Score and Seven- First off I think this song is brilliant-now I am going to rip it appart b/c after hearing these guys talent I think they may have a historically brilliant album in them if they make some better choices. The only thing that connects the second half of the song to the first is the lyrics (I assume, I don't pay attention to lyrics as much on first listen unless they are utterly terrible). They have a real talent for arangements in the first half, but abandon it in the second half for a more traditional 4 peice set up. This baffles me. If you they could have included some dmusical call backs to the earlier part of the song with either the horns or harmonica or whatever. Also the first half has some down time that doesn't seem to be goign anywhere. Overall really good.

    Mulomo- I prefer this to the yeasayer song.

    Promises- I love bands use synchopation well. I love all the interesting things they do with time and beat.

    King of Spain- I think the song is succussful, but I really want to punch that guy in the face and I don't know why. Since I can't articulate a reason for wanting to inflict physical harm to this man I can't really argue with your liking this song.

    Boxer- here is why I don't usually give Gaslight Anthem a second thought. They make perfect pop rock songs. Each time I hear a Gaslight Anthem song I feel like I have heard it before. I am never suprised or wowed. They seem to have their styule of music down to a science. I enjoy listening to them, but they don't challenge me.

    Lastly, I need a motion to write or something. I just wasted way too much time on this.

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  2. I'm so tempted to unfriend you, but I'd forget to come back and check daily without the facebook reminders...

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