27 July 2009

Listlessness

I've been using last.fm, a program which logs all the music you listen to on your computer and iPod, for nearly two-and-a-half years. I suppose it's a way to catalogue your listening habits or maybe just to show off or maybe to meet other people... I'm not terribly sure. Though it was only a coincidence, I started using their "loved" tagging feature intermittently around a sort-of significant occurrence in my life a few months ago. I came to the round number of 200 yesterday (correction, today, after realizing I had tagged a Françoise Hardy song twice, once with the wrong spelling). Naturally, I love more than just 200 songs, and more than just THESE 200 songs, but for my own sake, I figured I'd post them on here, though it's more for my own self-curiosity than anything else, as they put into place my mind during the past few months. They're listed in order of when I "loved" (er, tagged) them.

Moonbabies - Ghost of Love
The Knife - We Share Our Mothers' Health
Big Star - Holocaust
Grizzly Bear - Don't Ask
PJ Harvey - Dear Darkness
Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains
José González - Hand on Your Heart
CocoRosie - South 2nd
This Mortal Coil - The Jeweller
The Radio Dept. - The Worst Taste in Music
The Verve - Beautiful Mind
The Radio Dept. - Gibraltar
Misty Roses - Mario and Dario
Dolly Parton - Jolene
Eighth Wonder - I'm Not Scared
The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
Breathless - Stay Beside You
Atlas Sound - Recent Bedroom
Pinback - Versailles
PJ Harvey - Missed

The Verve - On Your Own
Tindersticks - A Night In
PJ Harvey - Liverpool Tide
Roy Orbison - In Dreams
Marianne Faithfull - The Ballad of Lucy Jordan
Tindersticks - Another Night In
The Sugarcubes - Birthday
Benjamin Biolay - Bien avant
The B-52's - Private Idaho
Devo - Mongoloid
The B-52's - Dance This Mess Around
Cyndi Lauper - All Through the Night
Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot - Bonnie and Clyde
Françoise Hardy - J'aurai voulu
Françoise Hardy - Träume
Röyksopp - What Else Is There?
PJ Harvey - Sweeter Than Anything
PJ Harvey - Legs
PJ Harvey - Snake
Röyksopp - This Must Be It

Atlas Sound - Ativan
Fever Ray - Dry and Dusty
PJ Harvey & John Parish - A Woman a Man Walked By / The Crow Knows Where All the Little Children Go
Liz Phair - Fuck and Run
Beirut - Venice
PJ Harvey & John Parish - Pig Will Not
Jacques Dutronc - Les cactus
Jacques Dutronc - Et moi, et moi, et moi
Yo La Tengo - Everyday
The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
The Smiths - Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Peter Bjorn and John - I'm Losing My Mind
Macy Gray - I Try
PJ Harvey & John Parish - April
PJ Harvey & John Parish - Cracks in the Canvas
Bedhead - Beside Table
Le Tigre - Fake French
Pinback - Loro
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The Knife - Heartbeats

Mark Lanegan - Resurrection Song
Animal Collective - My Girls
Animal Collective - Leaf House
Tindersticks - Cherry Blossoms
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Strange Form of Life
The Cardigans - Lovefool
Broadcast - Black Cat
Fugees - Fu-Gee-La
Doveman - Let's Hear It for the Boy
Anna Karina - Sous le soleil exactement
Hole - Retard Girl
Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
Fever Ray - Concrete Walls
ABBA - The Day Before You Came
Primal Scream - Higher Than the Sun
Slint - Good Morning, Captain
DJ Shadow - Midnight in a Perfect World
Daniel Johnson - Some Things Last a Long Time
Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
Sebadoh - Spoiled

ABBA - Summer Night City (Extended Version)
Vitesse - 2nd Thought
J.J. Fad - Supersonic
Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express
Sonic Youth - (I Got a) Catholic Block
Brigitte Fontaine - Kekeland
Kristin Hersh - Your Ghost
Desert Sessions - A Girl Like Me
Piano Magic - Saint Marie
Patti Smith - Pissing in a River
Palace Music - New Partner
The Radio Dept. - The City Limit
Slint - Breadcrumb Trail
The Replacements - I Will Dare
Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater
Architecture in Helsinki - Heart It Races
Mrs. Miller - Downtown
Olivia Newton-John - Magic
The The - The Beat(en) Generation
The The - Love Is Stronger Than Death

The The - Slow Emotion Replay
Kelis - Trick Me
The Knife - You Take My Breath Away
Sally Shapiro - I Know
Tom Waits - The Ocean Doesn't Want Me
The Sea and Cake - Parasol
Slowdive - Slowdive
Erykah Badu - Bag Lady
Portishead - It's a Fire
Broadcast - You Can Fall
The Magnetic Fields - Strange Powers
R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home on Ice
Feist - Let It Die
Shellac - Prayer to God
Boris - Farewell
CocoRosie - Beautiful Boyz (White Session)
PJ Harvey - Reeling
M83 - You, Appearing
Blondie - Hanging on the Telephone

Auburn Lull - Old Mission
PJ Harvey - Kick It to the Ground
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Stop
LCD Soundsystem - Get Innocuous!
Broken Social Scene - Shampoo Suicide
Tom Waits - Big in Japan
Tom Waits - Make It Rain
Bat for Lashes - Sleep Alone
Breathless - Is It Good News Today?
John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey - Taut
The Verve - Grey Skies
Gang of Four - Love Like Anthrax
Divine - T-shirts and Tight Blue Jeans
Kylie Minogue - Love at First Sight
Japandroids - I Quit Girls
Kelis featuring Nas - In Public
Elvis Perkins - Moon Woman II
Bat for Lashes - Good Love
PJ Harvey - Catherine
Lauryn Hill - Ex-Factor

The Knife - Silent Shout
Grizzly Bear - Particular to What?
Boris - Just Abandoned My-Self
Kylie Minogue - Secret (Take You Home)
The B-52's - Rock Lobster
Émilie Simon featuring Perry Blake - Graines d'étoiles
The Magnetic Fields - All My Little Words
Madonna - Everybody
Madonna - Lucky Star
Kelis - Good Stuff
The B-52's - 52 Girls
Michael Jackson - Rock with You
The Magnetic Fields - The Desperate Things You Made Me Do
The Magnetic Fields - When You're Old and Lonely
Yo La Tengo - Saturday
This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren
Justin Timberlake - Last Night
Serge Gainsbourg - L'hôtel particulier
April March - Chick Habit
Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot - Comic Strip

Yo La Tengo - Our Way to Fall
Sonic Youth - 'Cross the Breeze
Hot Chip - And I Was a Boy from School
Grizzly Bear - Ready
Phoenix - Fences
Neil Young - Harvest Moon
Duran Duran - Save a Prayer
Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait
The Hidden Cameras - Shame
LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
Bat for Lashes - What's a Girl to Do?
Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem pour un con
Lil Mama - Lip Gloss
Róisín Murphy - Overpowered
Pet Shop Boys - Domino Dancing
Busta Rhymes featuring Kelis & will.i.am - I Love My Bitch
Madonna - Causing a Commotion
Blonde Redhead - 23
Montag - Dormir sur les villes
Beirut - Nantes

Breathless - Pride
Neutral Milk Hotel - April 8th
Goldfrapp - White Soft Rope
Cocteau Twins - Pink Orange Red
The Knife - Neverland
Mark Lanegan featuring PJ Harvey - Hit the City
The Radio Dept. - We Climb the Wire Fences
Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
Antony and the Johnsons - Another World
Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone with You
The Smiths - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Stereolab - Super Falling Star
INXS - Don't Change
The Microphones - The Mansion
Kylie Minogue - I Believe in You
Electreland - To the East
of Montreal - The Past Is a Grotesque Animal
Dizzee Rascal - Pussyole (Oldskool)
Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - Je t'aime moi non plus
Crystal Castles - Crimewave

4 comments:

Darren said...

Given my deep love for so many of the songs on this list, I'm now curious to check out a few of the names I don't know -- especially The Radio Dept., Atlas Sound, and The Knife, who get multiple mentions. Any recommendations for starting points?

reassurance said...

With Atlas Sound, I suggest Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel from last year. In case you weren't familiar, Atlas Sound is the solo project Bradford Cox, lead singer of Deerhunter.

The Knife? Oh boy! I think Deep Cuts is probably the best place to start, but Silent Shout is really where it's at (for lack of a better phrase).

And for The Radio Dept., I started out with Lesser Matters, then Pet Grief; but two of my absolute favorite songs by them come off the Pulling Our Weight EP, so maybe you could start there.

Hope that helps!

Yaeli said...

That's a very nice list. I like seeing Kelis there. Also intersting to see the emotional range between "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" and Madonna's "Lucky Star" (a great song btw)

Darren said...

Thanks for the tips. All of your suggestions are available on Napster, so I'm shuffling through them this morning at work. I'm already hoping my local record store has Radio Dept. in stock.