The idea here is that American and British music largely transcends borders as these are the dominant popular cultures. However as a music fan, you may appreciate hearing what other countries are doing. So today I’m linking the top four Australian songs for 2009 as voted by people that listen to the national independent radio station Triple J. To get a sense of what you’re in for, the six international singles to make the top ten in the same poll were: [Continue...]
Welcome to the NPP Summer Mixtape. The concept is simple, we asked the NPP posters to name their top summer tunes, they replied, and we gathered them in youtube form here.
What would we choose? Would there be more pop or rock or dance? How many videos of the wrong songs would Taff post? Well you can find out by clicking more!
Just like last year (my Top 10 Albums of 2007 here), I’ve compiled my Top 10 Albums of the Year List for you to enjoy, mock, or respond to. If you’re like Rolling Stone, you climax every time you hear a Bob Dylan album and whether or not it’s actually good or anything, you will name it somewhere on your Top List. Fuck that noise. Fuck Rolling Stone, and also, fuck Bob Dylan and all his songs sounding the same. Same goes for AC/DC, Guns ‘N Roses, and many other album events that didn’t even register on my musical radar.
Honourable Mentions: The Trews – No Time For Later; Jem – Down to Earth; Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns; The Killers – Day & Age; Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue
10. Sam Roberts – Love at the End of the World
I’m sure most Canadians are actually sick of the track “Them Kids”, but all around, Sam Roberts’ third full-length album finally managed to crack my stony exterior. I’d previously enjoyed a couple of Sam Roberts’ past singles, and was somewhat looking forward to this album. I’m not too sure how available it is worldwide, but if you have the chance to pick it up, you shan’t be sorry.
Favourite Track: Lions of the Kalahari
9. Serena Ryder – Is It O.K.
This tiny Canadian girl with the big black woman’s voice released her newest album in Canada in November. I’m so much a fan of her work and the lead single “Little Bit of Red” that the album was on repeat for a couple weeks in my car. No official video yet, probably waiting for the International release of the album in January. I wish she was a little more Neko Case, but Serena’s still pretty young. I also wish her stuff wasn’t so middle of the road, but ah what can you do.
Favourite Track: Little Bit of Red
8. Jack Johnson – Sleep Through the Static
Jack Johnson will never be a critical darling. Nor will he ever be considered “cool” by today’s kids. Here’s a newsflash: today’s kids suck. As Boner put it best, Jack Johnson’s music is considered “panty-dropping”. My love of Jack Johnson’s music just confirms the fact of my advancing years. I like my music to be more of the laid-back, introspective variety, and if it results in a girl dropping her kit, well so be it. Sleep Through the Static wasn’t as good for me as “In Between Dreams” was, but it still rates high with me.
Favourite Track: Same Girl
7. Counting Crows – Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings
After six years, my favourite band of all time finally released a new album of originals. FUN SKOOCH FACT: “August & Everything After” was the first CD I ever owned. Much like many of my favourite things, this band has tried my patience for years, and yet I foolishly keep coming back to them because they always release enjoyable music for me.
Favourite Track: 1492
6. Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
This album seemed to come absolutely out of nowhere and was one of my favourite surprises of the music year. ”St. Elsewhere” had just come out in 2006, and BAM, this album dropped in March, rushed to retail due to the album being leaked across the Interwebs. It’s a darker sound than their first album, but the amazing collaboration between Cee-Lo Green and Danger Mouse keeps delivering solid and enjoyable music. Sorry that there’s no official video. Fucking stupid self-destructing music industry thinks it’s a better idea to remove the actual music videos than the hundreds of stupid kids doing shitty covers of songs.
Favourite Track: A Little Better
5. Alkaline Trio – Agony and Irony
2008 was a good year for familiar music to me. Three of my longest-tenured favourite artists released albums this year, and this is the third to place on my list. Yeah a lot of Alkaline Trio’s songs sound similar, either theme-wise, music-wise, whatever-wise, but at least they’re not like AC/DC, releasing the absolute same album every “new” release. Well, some may argue the other side, but I think Agony & Irony was a fresh-sound, better than “Crimson”, the band’s last release.
Favourite Track: Love Love, Kiss Kiss
4. Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs
When this album was released, I was quick to dismiss it and all the DCFC fans as emokids and that it was all “music to cut yourself to”. Then a strange thing happened, in that it began to grow on me, and it moved higher and higher up my playlist all year until it reached this lofty position. It surprised the hell out of me too. Every so often I’ll put the disc back in and just end up more impressed with each of the tracks, and occasionally a different song will become my new favourite of the album.
Favourite Track: Your New Twin-Sized Bed
3. Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords
It’s amazing to me that a band that refers to itself as a “New Zealand novelty band” released an album that delivers great songs and laugh-out-loud comedy, without having to resort to shitty skits or the like. Not to mention that it’s also so good that it would receive numerous awards and make many Year End lists. It’s not just for fans of the amazing HBO series, though you will gain more enjoyment from the album after watching the first season. Check out their numerous YouTube videos to be entertained and amazed even more.
Favourite Track: Leggy Blonde
2. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
This album hasn’t even been physically released (although the Wiki says it was released on November 11, I have never seen it), which goes to show how much the music industry has changed over the years. Feed the Animals is the fourth album by Greg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk. When I first heard a Girl Talk “song”, I thought it was a lot of familiar noise, nothing more. But repeated listens have revealed so much more to me, whether it be through the seemingly hundreds of popular rap songs that I’d never heard, or how awesome Ace of Base or Avril Lavigne can be in the right circumstances. There are no official videos on YouTube, but one user has created several mash-up versions and they’re almost more impressive than Girl Talk’s mash-ups. I never thought a favourite album of mine would include the likes of Avril, Twisted Sister, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Jay-Z, etc. etc.
Favourite Track: Still Here, though the album plays better as an experience
1. Kathleen Edwards – Asking For Flowers
Released way back in March, Kathleen Edwards’ third album has apparently been misconstrued as “country” by several music critics. Yes, there is a country-tinge to it, but to call Asking For Flowers a Country album is an insult on par with calling Miley Cyrus “rock”. Kathleen Edwards’ music transcends genres, with several of the tracks hitting a folk vibe, some straight ahead rock, some country, some pop. Her songs touch on everything from road trips to a guy dodging the draft to the murder of Alicia Ross to comparing herself to Marty McSorley. It was fairly close between the top two albums for me, as both albums served me well on multiple road trips, but Edwards’ just resonates deeper with me.
Perhaps there is no bigger breakout star of 2008 than the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus aka “The Achy Breaky Heart Guy”. Miley Cyrus has become a pop culture icon with millions (nay, billions) of fans around the world. At 16 she already has four number one albums (as of October 2008 almost 13 million sold) and is writing her autobiography. Miley is what’s known as a “triple threat” because she can act, sing and take sexy MySpace photos.
Miley is not only popular with the “tween” girl crowd, but with the adults here on No Pants Provided. In fact, “Hannah Montana” is often in the top Google search results, along with words like “sexy”, “nude”, “pictures”, “underage” and “Randy Orton”. For all the fans out there, let’s take a look at the ten greatest Miley songs of 2008 with my patented “backwards counting” technique!
#10 – Breakout
Sample lyric: Every week’s the same/stuck in school so lame
What better way to start our list than with the opening/title track from Miley’s first album without any affiliation to the Hannah Montana character. A rockin’ way to start a new album, the song works on many levels: she’s breaking out of the PG Disney box, the Hannah Montana cocoon, school and the constraints modern society puts on all of us.
#9 – I Thought I Lost You (with John Travolta)
I told myself I wouldn’t sleep/til I searched the world from sea to sea
The newest MC song is from the soundtrack to the motion picture Bolt, where Miley plays Penny who stars on a hit TV show with the title character, voiced by John Travolta. The combination of two Hollywood heavyweights who are not only great singers, but fantastic actors as well makes this a solid hit.
#8 – Rock Star
Tai Chi practises, no more champions/I can fix the flat on your car/I might even be a rock star
Now I know what you’re thinking, “Ormie, isn’t this from the amazing double album Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus which was released in 2007?” Yes, but this song was released as a digital download in 2008, appears on her 2008 live concert album and is fucking awesome. It was the opening track for her sold-out tour because it rocks your fucking socks off.
#7 – We Got The Party (Duet With Jonas Brothers)
Life is for dreamers/And I’m a believer/That nothing can stand our way today/Let’s find a place to play
Originally a solo from Hannah Montana 2, Miley performs this with her concert tour’s opening act The Jonas Brothers (one of whom was fucking Miley at the time, another was fucking country hottie Taylor Swift) and is available for us the listener on both the Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert album as well as a studio version from Hannah Montana 2: Rock Star Edition.
#6 – Wake Up America
I know that you don’t wanna hear it/Especially coming from someone so young/But in the backseats yeah they wanna hear it/So c’mon!
Confession time: Like NPP poster Hole, I used to be a big skeptic that humans caused global warming. But then I heard this track from Breakout where Miley warns us of the problems facing our planet, breaking thru my confusion and forcing me to see the truth. For all the non-believers out there, let me ask you this- why would Miley Cyrus lie to us? Wake Up Planet Earth, we’re all in this together!
#5 – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Some boys take a beautiful girl/And hide her away from the rest of the world/I wanna be the one to walk in the sun/And girls, they wanna have fun
Most teen singers always seem to have a cover song. Britney did several, Hilary Duff and her sister splashed in foam for “Our Lips Are Sealed” and Lindsay Lohan covered both “I Want You To Want Me” and “Edge of Seventeen”. Miley chose this 1980s hit and did such an awesome job I deleted that piece of shit Cyndi Lauper version from my iPod, labelled the genre of Miley’s superior version as “80s” so when I pick that genre for my long drives to see the folks I get to hear it. Since it’s the only 80s song labelled as being on an album, my iPod plays it first every time!
#4 – Hovering (w/ Trace Cyrus)
We go thru the motions like everything’s settled/But it’s inside out/And it makes us uncomfortable/Still holding on while there’s all this doubt
A bonus track from the Platinum Edition of Breakout (fuck yeah that shit went platinum nigga!) along with a Caribbean-sounding song called Someday. For Hovering, Miley joins her brother (who just screams part of the chorus, he knows his place) for this pretty badass tune that’s already becoming one of my favourite Miley tracks.
#3 – See You Again [Rock Mafia Remix]
The last time I freaked out/I just kept looking down/I st-st-stuttered when you asked me what I’m thinking about/Felt like I couldn’t breath/You asked what’s wrong with me/My best friend Lesley said “Oh she’s just being Miley”
The original See You Again was the opening track for the Meet Miley Cyrus portion of the HM2 double album and was her biggest hit to date. That song was completely fucking perfect, yet somehow the Rock Mafia (who make the Main Event Mafia look like a pile of donkey shit on elephant puke) bring a new and interesting spin to one of the few classics of our modern music area. If this was a list of top Miley songs of all time it would be numbah one but since it’s not totally new to ’08 I can’t morally put it any higher than the number three spot.
#2 – Fly On The Wall
Then you’d have the inside scoop/On what to say, what to do/That way when you play the game/Baby you can never lose
I’m so glad Miley chose this as the second single from Breakout, I fell in love with this song from moment I first heard it. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall of Miley’s bedroom? Without, we’re limited to photos like this:
It’s a catchy song with a pretty great music video, no wonder Miley Cyrus is NPP’s favourite musical artist! But what was her best song of 2008?
#1 – 7 Things
You’re vain, your games, you’re insecure/You love me, you like her/You make me laugh, you make me cry/I don’t know which side to buy/Your friends, they’re jerks/When you act like them, just know it hurts
Could there be any doubt? This song is not only awesome in its own right but it reminds me of the movie 10 Things I Hate About You (and thus the late, great Heath Ledger) and also the TV show 8 Simple Rules (and thus the late, great John Ritter). Plus who doesn’t love lists, especially of things they hate??
What will 2009 have in store for Miley? Hopefully more of great songs like the ones mentioned above, and great photos like the ones below. Happy new year, everyone!
Written by Robelgordo
I hear American music all the time. I hear British music all the time. It’s time to return the favour again with some Australian music.
Last week I picked two of the highest selling Australian singles of the year… plus one song that didn’t sell much in comparison. But that was because it had been released in 2006, and then sold some more units in 2007 on the strength of receiving the most votes in the Triple J Hottest 100. Triple J is Australia’s national indie radio station, and every year a lot of cool kids vote for the hottest 100 songs. Like, over 700,000 of them.
Written by Robelgordo
Welcome to the NPP Summer Mixtape. The concept is simple, we asked the NPP posters to name their top summer tunes, they replied, and we gathered them in youtube form here.
