Champagne Symphony

A few months ago, I made a list of my top 10 songs of the year at that point.  I figure, since 2010 just ended, I'll expand on that and do a list of the top 20 songs of 2011. I've listed them below along with a sentence or two on why I like them.  Also, here's a zip file of all of them. Nicki Minaj - Super Bass : Possibly the greatest pop song of all time.  It was technically released in 2010, but I included it here because no one knew about it until Taylor Swift dug it up in 2011.  Sure, the difficult to understand, rapid fire verses might've prevented this song from hitting #1, but, without them, we would've never gotten this and then this and then this . (Yes, it's basically the same thing, but yes, it's worth watching three times.) The Weeknd - Wicked Games : Abel Tesfaye's uniquely dark, carnal take on R&B has never been more convincing and melodic than it is here. Drake - Marvin's Room : Drake bares his soul in a surprisingly compel...

At the end of the year, every single music publication put out a list of their top albums.  Who am I to buck the trend?  So, here's my list of the ten best albums of 2011.  I also included the score out of 10 for each album.  Here's what those mean: 10 - Top 40 Albums of All Time 9   - Classic 8   - Album of the Year Candidate 7   - Amazing 6   - Excellent 5   - Very Good 4   - Good 3   - Passable 2   - A Few Good Songs 1   - One Good Song 0   - Entirely Unremarkable Also, here's a Spotify playlist of all the good songs from the 6 of the 10 albums below.  Nostalgia, Ultra. and House of Balloons are left out because they were free mixtapes and are thus not out on Spotify.  Just download them, legally and for free, using the links below.  21 and Mylo Xyloto are left out because they're making too much money to be worth putting on Spotify, so I guess you'll have to just buy them...

Over the past few years, Drake has established himself as the most compelling new voice in mainstream rap by perfecting the emo R&B/Rap hybrid Kanye pioneered on 808s and Heartbreak.  He has a unique ability, rivaled only by Taylor Swift, to articulate a specific and intimately personal narrative in a way that is universally relatable.  He is tailor made for this "time where it's recreation/to pull all your skeletons out the closet like Halloween decorations." This album is the culmination of all his artistic development.  For better or for worse, it is exactly the album Drake wanted to make.  On one hand, it is incredibly cohesive and sonically compelling.  It takes hip hop closer to R&B than it has ever gone, mixing contemporary rap, 90's Timbaland, and Marvin Gaye in surprisingly organic fashion.  There are some stunning lyrical moments as well, most notably the 1st verse of "Look What You've Done," which is the worthy followup to Tupac'...

When releasing pop songs, major labels have been surprisingly good.  Sure, they often go with the obvious choices: the songs produced by famous producers and the songs featuring other big name acts.  However, after some bumbling around, they usually do end up releasing all the good songs as singles.  Every once in a while, though, they mess up big time.  Top 10 singles that could make millions of dollars and sometimes change the course of an artist's career are left to languish as album cuts because people are too stupid to comprehend their greatness.  Here's a list of songs that would conquer the world, if only someone would bother releasing them, and their likely peak chart position in the U.S.  There's links to YouTube videos of the songs imbedded below (obviously, there are some quality issues), and here's a Spotify Playlist with all available songs. Katy Perry - Hummingbird Heartbeat : #1 Jennifer Lopez - Hypnotico : #1 (Note: The YouTube video i...

Rap is undoubtedly the hardest genre of popular music to get into.  I've met plenty of people who love music but absolutely hate rap, and I can't say I blame them.  To the uninitiated, who have only heard mainstream rap on the radio, it all seems like nothing more than people throwing around rudimentary rhymes on the tired topics of sex, drugs, and money over a soulless, repetitive electronic beat. To counter this, rap fans consistently suggest a litany of socially conscious, lyrically dense rappers.  (Nas, De La Soul, Immortal Technique, Black Star, and Brother Ali are a few of the most common.)  However, this is a completely incorrect way to approach the issue.  Sure, all these rappers are incredibly technically accomplished, and they talk about interesting topics over soulful beats, but their music is incredibly inaccessible.  Their lyrics are so dense it takes numerous listens to parse them out, and the music is consistently completely devoid of a...

This is basically just a list of my 20 most played songs of all time, with a bit on why I love each.  All the links are to the music videos if they exist.  Otherwise, it's just to a random YouTube video of the song.  Also, here's a Spotify playlist with all songs except Can't Stop & Viðrar vel til loftárása.  Also, I thought I'd note that Viðrar vel til loftárása and Protection have particularly awesome music videos. The Postal Service - Such Great Heights : I love the beat, I love the verses, I love the chorus.  Hell, I just love everything about this song. Michael Buble - Everything : It doesn't sound like anything special on first listen, but Everything gets my vote for the best song of all time.  Every bit of it is just perfect melodically.  That "I'm gonna sing with a lisp because it's cute" thing is just embarrassing though. Coldplay - Viva la Vida : The verses are great and the chorus is even better.  Everything about this song is ...

I was just reading about the Michael Jackson tribute concert that happened like a week ago, and I realized that there has never been a good greatest hits album released for the guy.  The three major ones all have huge flaws; they're either incorrect or just too long.  So, I decided to put together a proper, one disc retrospective for the King of Pop.  Here's the track list, and a link to a spotify playlist .  The songs are ordered by the date they were released as singles. Don't Stop Till You Get Enough Rock With You Off the Wall Billie Jean Beat It Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' Human Nature P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) Thriller Bad The Way You Make Me Feel Man in the Mirror Dirty Diana Smooth Criminal Black or White (Single Edit) Remember the Time Will You Be There (Single Edit) I had to leave out two tracks I originally wanted to include to make the 80 minute time limit: She's Out of My Life and I Just Can't Stop Loving You.  Both are beau...