James's Top Ten!
Be sure to click "read more" at the bottom, because for some reason, the summary version of this is just picking random sentences and putting them as my post. Makes it very odd. The full version seems to work.
Welcome to the most informed James McDonald Top 10 post in history. This is largely thanks to 89.3 The Current, which despite abandoning common sense and leaving the listening area, James is still able to stream online from his office. James misses Minnesota.
10: Ben Folds - Dr. Yang. I miss the 5 (three), but Mr. Folds does just fine by himself. Keep it up, Ben.
9: The Kooks - Always where I need to be. I'm not sure why I don't want to like these guys, but I can't. I can't not like them, and I don't know why not.
8: Michael Franti and Spearhead - Hey World. What can I say. I wear a black suit with a black topcoat, black leather gloves, little designer glasses, black wingtips, and go to court to represent the biggest nameless faceless organizations ever conceived. Banks. Let me live vicariously through Michael Franti for a bit, eh?
7: The Hold Steady - Lord I'm Discouraged. I had absolutely no idea these guys could play like this. I always liked them, but this solo is so insanely over the top that it comes all the way back around and becomes cool again. And not just cool, but rad. And that's hard to do.
6: Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer. Where's my slingblade?
5: MGMT - Time to Pretend. Awesome. This is some of the stuff I always wanted to do with Pictures of Then, but didn't have the talent or the drugs to pull off. Super super super catchy.
4: She and Him - Why do you Let Me Stay Here. Who would have thought the girl from Elf and Almost Famous is ... a part of this? How much of a part is she really? Is the other guy doing 90% of this? Either way, someone's doing good work here.
3: Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal. The recording itself is the best part. I imagine it was recorded in a massive abandoned wooden church that's been snowed in for weeks. They're living by candle light and eating beans over a fire of broken pews. That's the sound I hear. Probably happened in some dude's basement with a laptop.
2: The Ting Tings - That's not my name. Groove music for people that aren't suicidal or medicated. This song gets better and better as it progresses. It's like a happy version of Soul Coughing's stuff. On a sidenote, I heard it acoustically once in studio and it sucked. Don't be something you're not. The album version, like Ron Burgundy, is the balls.
1: Delta Spirit - Trashcan. How did someone not come up with this piano riff before? I love the recording (see Fleet Foxes). Too many songs like this are ruined by being massively overproduced (see Modern Country Music). This is a good example of hands off producing. Short, simple, interesting, catchy. It sounds freaking great. Makes me want to buy a piano.
No Points Awarded To
1: Bon Iver. I do not understand you. Your songs all sound the same. Whiny, and in falsetto. I do not like you.
2: Oasis. Some people like your new stuff because it sounds like your old stuff. It sounds to me as though you took your old stuff and remixed it on a fisher price 4 track.
3: Conner Oberst. A LOT of people like your stuff. I cannot stand you. You sound like you researched Bob Dylan and determined that you absolutely have to sing like crap if you have deep and creative lyrics. Please stop being popular so I can ignore you and don't have to continue wondering what I'm not understanding.
Thanks for reading.
James
