So Close . . .

The D Man struggled winnowing down his Best Songs of the Decade to just thirty songs. The following are all great songs from artists that came ever so close to making the cut. Do yourself a favor and click on the links below to enjoy the best the decade had to offer. You may just discover a song or a band that you won't be able to live without. For the sake of full disclosure, I can tell you that Beck, Bon Iver, Doves, Jens Lekman, Junior Boys, Phoenix, Wilco, and Vampire Weekend came closest to cracking the glass ceiling.

• "Twenty Two Fourteen" by The Album Leaf. From the most sublime ambient album of the decade.
• "Plasticities" by Andrew Bird. Get loopy with this violin-pop maestro and world-class whistler.
• "Brother" by Annuals. One of the best album openers turns into something fiercely exciting.
• "Wires" by Athlete. The birth of singer Joel Pott's son will break your heart.
• "Daniel" by Bat for Lashes. A flawless, atmospheric pop recording from Peter Gabriel's daemon.
• "Guess I'm Doing Fine" by Beck. I'm not sure I believe you.
• "Rocky Took A Lover" by Bell XI. Because this is about music for the people. And Mr. Reese said so.
• "I'm A Cuckoo" by Belle & Sebastian. Plenty more where this ditty came from.
• "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds. Sentimental and superb. But now in too many wedding videos.
• "You're Quiet" by Brendan Benson. "I'm Brendan. What's your name?"
• "Out of Sight" by The Brother Kite. How is this song not on the interweb? "Get On, Me" will have to do.
• "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver. Just about any song from his debut will do.
• "Jacknuggeted" by Caribou. Makes me feel good just thinking about it.
• "Hearts on Fire" by Cut Copy. Smooth electro-pop from Down Under.
• "A Movie Script Ending" by Death Cab For Cutie. The highway. The highway. The highway.
• "Pounding" by Doves. Two killer climaxes. The D Man apologizes for leaving this one off.
• "1234" by Feist. This song was everywhere. And deservedly so.
• "Be Good Or Be Gone" by Fionn Regan. One of the best videos of the decade too.
• "Stacey's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne. "You missed a spot over there."
• "Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake" by Grandaddy. Supervisor guy turns off the factory lights so the robots have to work in the dark.
• "Stuck Between Stations" by The Hold Steady. A great rock'n'roll song, plain and simple.
• "In Front of the House" by Human Television. You should own this effortless pop record.
• "The Lakes of Canada" by Innocence Mission. Exquisite.
• "The Opposite of Hallelujah" by Jens Lekman. Broke my heart to leave Jens off. I'm so sorry.
• "In The Morning" by Junior Boys. One of the decade's crowning electro-pop achievements.
• "My Love" by Justin Timberlake. He's smooth so get over it haters.
• "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers. Hey, Brandon grew up in Nephi, Utah.
• "Someone Great" by LCD Soundsystem. You can run forever to this funky electro groove.
• "I Am John" by Loney Dear. Bet you can't sing this high.
• "Pushover" by The Long Winters. The most underrated band of the decade.
• "So Much Trouble" by Matt Pond PA. What I wished the college band I never had sounded like.
• "This Woman's Work" by Maxwell. Only Maxwell could make Kate Bush better.
• "The Zookeeper's Boy" by Mew. Fighting for the best falsetto rock song of all time.
• "My Young Bride" by Midlake. Great American band that needs to be celebrated.
• "Get Ur Freak On" by Missy Elliot. Saw this performed live and in person on Letterman. Supa dupa fly.
• "Starlight" by Muse. Lil' D's favorite song because it talks about black holes.
• "Blizzard of '77" by Nada Surf. Sweet first track to a great collection of songs.
• "Silver & Gold" by Neil Young. Apparently only people who cover Neil Young are on the web.
• "In Need of A Miracle" by New Radicals. The D Man's desperation circa summer of 2000.
• "One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand" by Notwist. Still love when the sticks come in.
• "Little Secrets" by Passion Pit. This song will get you higher and higher and higher.
• "On Your Side" by Pete Yorn. A late-night burner from a phenomenal debut.
• "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John. Stay cool and keep whistling.
• "1901" by Phoenix. Maybe the decade's best three minutes of pop music. Why did The D Man leave this off?
• "Samson" by Regina Spektor. Original, lovely, and spellbinding.
• "By Your Side" Sade. With that voice and those words you can stay by me forever.
• "Lazy Eye" by Silversun Pickups. The best "alternative" song in years. The pay-off is totally is worth the wait.
• "Chocolate" by Snow Patrol. Came out when I was 25. Still makes sense. Still taking those steps.
• "The Underdog" by Spoon. Forget about the underdog and you will not survive.
• "Ageless Beauty" by Stars. Dreamy shoe-gaze pop doesn't get much better.
• "Jenny & The Ess-Dog" by Stephen Malkmus. He's the son of a Coca-Cola middleman.
• "Of Montreal" by The Stills. The sexiest guitar song you've ever heard.
• "Love Don't Owe You Anything" by Strays Don't Sleep. This will catch your attention while driving in the middle of the night.
• "Someday" by The Strokes. The garage band that took over the world for a little while.
• "Juxtaposed With U" by The Super Furry Animals. Zany Welsh band: "You've got to tolerate all those people that you hate."
• "Big Sur" by The Thrills. Ireland does California. And it sounds good.
• "Wolf Like Me" by TV On The Radio. Wolves are cool.
• "Oxford Comma" by Vampire Weekend. If they're good enough for Shakespeare, they're good enough for me.
• "The Rat" by The Walkmen. Seriously intense torcher.
• "Golden Cage" by The Whitest Boy Alive. Funky guitar minimalism will play tricks on your brain.
• "Jesus, Etc" by Wilco. Great band. Great album. Great song.
• "Maps" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It's hard to see a rock chick cry.

Snow Patrol

Oscar Wilde said all bad poetry is sincere. But sometimes when sincerity is coupled with obvious talent and refreshing earnestness, much can be forgiven. The D Man and his lovely wife went to the Snow Patrol concert on Saturday night at the McKay Events Center and reveled in the warmth, humor, and genuineness of Gary Lightbody and his bandmates. The band's performance was good and left The D Man and his wife feeling good. Sometimes you just need a few heart-on-your-sleeve anthems to dust off the cynicism and start loving anew. The highlights included the following:

• Lightbody can flat-out sing. His voice never strains and possesses a strong crystalline resonance that makes everything he sings pleasing to the ears. Lightbody may have the best voice out of any of his so-called Brit-pop peers, including the frontmen for Coldplay, Elbow, and Keane.
• Lightbody bantered with the crowd the entire night and may be the most affable frontman The D Man has ever seen in concert. He joked with the crowd about the band's failed attempts to play tennis that afternoon at UVU, poked fun at the school's designation as "BYU West," and marveled at Utah's beauty. Lightbody said it was the biggest sky he'd ever seen and our home was "flipping beautiful," emphasizing his curse-word restraint much to the crowd's appreciation. Not bad for an Irishman.
• The band opened with "If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It," the first track from the recent album A Hundred Million Suns.
• "Chocolate" made Mrs. D Man bounce in delight. She claims it is the best running song of all time.
• "Hands Open" name-dropped Sufjan Stevens and "How To Be Dead" reminded The D Man why the band's 2003 album Final Straw is one of the best Brit-pop records of the last ten years.
• With the rhythm section prominently on display, new song "The Golden Floor" was more striking than the album version. Snow Patrol is extremely polished and its accessible sheen was apparent on every number they played. Case in point: the band played a smooth, melodic, albeit huge version of "Run," with Lightbody singing and playing solo for the song's first half and then the band joining him for a massive finish.
• Lightbody divided the crowd into groups and had us singing in round for a groove-laden version of "Shut Your Eyes."
• Hearts were melted with back-to-back versions of "Chasing Cars" and "Crack the Shutters." The D Man knows he's in for a good week on the homefront. (28 million happy ladies can't be wrong, right?)
• The band got all synthy on new single "Just Say Yes." The D Man was digging it, his weaknesses exposed and exploited. "Open Your Eyes" left the venue ringing as the band exited the stage.
• The encore consisted of the closing three-song suite from A Hundred Million Suns titled "The Lightning Strike." A large-screen multimedia presentation accompanied the music, complete with mesmerizing origami animation of suns, planets, and our tiny place among it all. "Daybreak" sounded downright hypnotic.
• Snow Patrol closed the night with "All I Have." You can't convince The D Man that this song won't have you singing in your car. Quit being such a man and let it out.

Song of the Week

Kings of Convenience are back and more nonchalant cool than ever. The D Man wishes he could be the third wheel in the video for "Boat Behind" from the duo's forthcoming album, Declaration of Dependence. The Kings recorded some of their new material on the coast of Mexico (in addition to Norway) and this song reflects that laid-back vibe. As always, Erlend and Eirek hit all the right notes in every aspect of their pitch-perfect performance.


BONUS: Check out another video for new track "Mrs. Cold." About a minute into this video The D Man decided for the hundredth time that he is in love. These guys can do no wrong.

Passion Pit

Rip, Rizzo, Lindsay, G-Reese, and The D Man had a great time at the Passion Pit concert last night. Thanks to E-670, the DJ who warmed things up complete with his hoodie, John Stockton Ocean Pacific shorts circa 1988, and white high-top sneakers. He brought his A game and so did we. The highlights included:

• Rip forgot his state-issued I.D. but with some bob-and-weave subterfuge he still managed to get into the club, buy a concert t-shirt, and talk with keyboardist Ayad Al Adhamy about Boston living and the economic logistics of the band performing at his birthday party. Once again Rip proved he can do more damage in thirty-minutes than George Costanza.
• G-Reese and The D Man held our own in the sorority mosh pit. We will be pledging Delta Sigma Theta sometime next week.
• Passion Pit's performance was pure brain candy. Nothing quite like it. The Boston-based band's buoyant synth-dance-pop lifted spirits, changed lives, and had The D Man crushing all comers with his cat-like spin moves.
• Opening number "Better Things" from the Chunk of Change EP was right on the money.
• A killer combo followed: "Little Secrets" and "To Kingdom Come" demonstrated that no band this year delivered more enjoyable hooks. Higher and higher and higher.
• The in-between musical moments were just as satisfying as the band's buildups and choruses. The band sounded tight, funky, and groovy.
• Singer and songwriter Michael Angelakos' falsetto revved up during the course of the show and was used as more of a heady musical instrument than a lead vocal.
• "Sleepyhead" broke things down with its swervy electronica. Ten times better than the album version.
• Other standouts were "Smile Upon Me," "Moth Wings," and "I've Got Your Number."
• The band's final song was a rock-tinged version of "The Reeling" that had the entire house jumping. Great send-off.

The Best Song of the Decade: "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!" by Sufjan Stevens (2005)

Now that we have a proper list (and a very good one, I might add), The D Man can at last share the best song of the decade. No strings attached. No numbers or rankings. Indeed, no list can contain the following song's triumphant musical and lyrical perfection. Did you really think The D Man would leave his loyal readers on such a downer? For heaven's sake, The D Man cried three times during church meetings this past weekend.

This song gives me chills. There was nothing like it conceived, written, or produced this decade. Lennon couldn't have imagined it. McCartney couldn't have written it. Dylan couldn't have arranged it. There is no other songwriter or musician likely to approach Sufjan Stevens' masterful "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!"

The song, track fifteen from Stevens' to-date masterwork Illinois, is a watershed of musical wonder and poetic faith, its intimate grandiosity (or grandiose intimacy) swept up in an exquisite and staggering orchestral and choral arrangement. Soaring oboes, heavenly violas, plucked banjos, chorus hallelujahs, and a pitch-perfect trumpet solo that Miles Davis would beg to play.

Two of Stevens' favorite themes thread their way through this metaphorical masterpiece: a tangible description of childhood wonder and bewilderment takes flight with an elliptical, almost hermetic knowledge of the awesomeness of the Divine. The spiritual transcendence of "trusting things beyond mistake" can be understood and experienced by every true seeker, musical, spiritual, or otherwise.

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

Thinking outrageously I write in cursive

I hide in my bed with the lights on the floor

Wearing three layers of coats and leg warmers

I see my own breath on the face of the door

Oh I am not quite sleeping

Oh I am fast in bed

There on the wall in the bedroom creeping

I see a wasp with her wings outstretched

North of Savanna we swim in the palisades

I come out wearing my brother's red hat

There on his shoulder my best friend is bit seven times

He runs washing his face in his hands

Oh how I meant to tease him

Oh how I meant no harm

Touching his back with my hand I kiss him

I see the wasp on the length of my arm

Oh great sights upon this state! Hallelu-

Wonders bright, and rivers, lake. Hallelu-

Trail of Tears and Horseshoe Lake. Hallelu-

trusting things beyond mistake. Hallelu-

We were in love. We were in love.

Palisades! Palisades! Palisades

I can wait. I can wait.

Lamb of God, we sound the horn.

Hallelujah!

To us your ghost is born.

Hallelu-

I can't explain the state that I'm in

The state of my heart, he was my best friend

Into the car, from the back seat

Oh admiration in falling asleep

All of my powers, day after day

I can tell you, we swaggered and swayed

Deep in the tower, the prairies below

I can tell you, the telling gets old

Terrible sting and terrible storm

I can tell you the day we were born

My friend is gone, he ran away

I can tell you, I love him each day

Though we have sparred, wrestled and raged

I can tell you I love him each day

Terrible sting, terrible storm

I can tell you...

Why listen? "Palisades" elicited the greatest pleasure of any song this decade. The song lifted listener's spirits to unreachable heights and its power and poignancy has remained undiminished over time. The song allows listeners to come back, again and again, seeking solace and understanding, and will unfold meaning and musical discovery listen after listen. "Palisades" is the decade's finest achievement of chamber-pop and may be the ultimate expression of the form. In short, the song's language embraces the poetic sublime. And its arrangement, musicianship, and lyrics are worthy of our greatest songwriters and pop masters.

Something else? "Chicago," "Come On! Feel The Illinoise! Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition / Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream," "Decatur," "He Woke Me Up Again," "No Man's Land," "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," "Sister," "Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)"

Pearl Jam

The D Man remembers rebounding for Brent Barry in a near-empty Marriott Center before Oregon State played a game in the Cougar Classic. Brent shot his free throws underhanded and as a young ball boy I thought he was some kind of skinny genius savant with a basketball. Brent shot 80% from the stripe in college but abandoned his father's signature style once he hit the NBA. The D Man believes Brent was forced to give it up by David Stern in exchange for an eventual spot in the slam dunk contest. Stern was concerned the old-school style would tarnish the league's progressive global appeal and used the dunk contest as bait. Brent fell for it and became the first "caucasian" to win the slam dunk contest, according to Wikipedia. The D Man still cries conspiracy and sell out.

Nevertheless, Brent totally redeemed himself for hooking Randy, Robbie, The D Man, and Greg Jacobsen up with tickets to the Pearl Jam show in Salt Lake City. I can now say that Brent got screwed and they should have called a foul on Derek Fisher. (Shut up, Charles.) And a special thanks to Jeff Ament, Pearl Jam's killer bassist and Brent's good friend, for being so gracious to provide the tickets and backstage passes. Jeff spent a few minutes with us before heading out to the stage and ripping it up. Many happy waves to both of you.

Backstage was more Scrabble than Motley Crue. But it was still awesome. Thanks to Nicole for being so lovely and informative and hanging out with us on the couch. Nicole is a member of the band's management group and was kind enough to answer all of Randy's inquiries concerning Pearl Jam's Target displays, album sales, and ticket price points. (Rip is always on his game). She also deserves a special mention for writing up "city reports" for the band and being a fan of Bon Iver and Grizzly Bear.

Legendary guitarist Stone Gossard wandered into our backstage room, opened a bottle of wine, and was gracious enough to chill with us for twenty minutes as we fawned over him. The D Man told Stone that Pearl Jam was the soundtrack to his entire hometown's junior high and high school years; the school even tried to use the band's songs for slow dances to mixed-results. (Now that's scope and relevance). Jeff came in next and we chatted about his love of basketball, the band's early days as Mookie Blaylock, and his home in Montana. Jeff was as cool as it gets.

Two other backstage highlights: Greg found the only Dr. Pepper deep in the ice chest. We are pretty certain that was Eddie Vedder's DP, cold and hidden and waiting to be opened after the performance. Later, when Greg left his cell phone backstage, he ran back and collided with Eddie as a few security guards made sure Greg wasn't going to pull a fast one. Thankfully, Greg didn't shake up Mr. Vedder and the frontman still put on a fantastic show.

Eddie Vedder was born to sing. And his bandmates were born to play heavy rock'n'roll. Eddie has one of the most distinctive voices in rock history (spawning a thousand imitators) and Pearl Jam is one of the greatest American rock bands of all time. It appears that Eddie is enjoying the ride more than ever; he was gracious, affable, and even allowed a local restaurant owner to take the mic and propose to his girlfriend. The genuine connection with his audience was palpable throughout the entire night.

The band really ripped things open with the "Fixer," a standout from the new album Backspacer. "Lowlight," from the highly underrated Yield, transported The D Man back to his senior year of high school and the band's concert at Wolf Mountain in Park City. Some of my same friends who were there over a decade ago were also at last night's show. (Again, that's scope and relevance). While backstage, we caught a glimpse of the holy of holies--the setlist--and knew that "Evenflow" was somewhere in the middle. (We just took a peek, as Nicole reminded us it would be like opening a Christmas gift early). When those recognizable buzzsaw guitars rang out, the place went appropriately apoplectic.

"Elderly Woman Behind A Counter In A Small Town" soared under the spell of Vedder's interpretation. "Given To Fly" sounded downright Zeppelin-esque as the band's sinewy and heavy build-up hit epic. "Amongst the Waves" was another new song that really stood out due to its strong melody. And "Do the Evolution" displayed, like several songs, the band's recent penchant for a kind of post-punk speed-core.

The D Man sang every obligatory word to "Daughter." During the second encore, the house lights came on and the band finished with a massive version of "Alive" and a communal jam of "Yellow Leadbetter." It was as if we were all just hanging out with the band as they played in their garage. Best part of the night.

Good company. Good tunes. Good times.

The Best Thirty Songs of the Decade

A great song can reverberate in our consciousness upon demand; we can not only recall the lyrics, but we can hear the song during the business or silence of our lives. In that same spirt, the following songs represent the finest achievements in popular music during the past decade; many of these songs will likely remain canonical, even among the shards from the collapse of our listening monoculture, and will be enjoyed for years to come, listen after listen. Over the next month, The D Man will unveil the Best Thirty Songs of the Decade, as the Aughts, or whatever we decide to call this decade, comes to a close.

Words. Stories. Refrains. Instruments and voices. Melodies and arrangements. The following are songs in their most basic sense, and all are well worth listening to on their own merits, their own tangible sense of being. Nevertheless, some songs on this list have been imbued with greater cultural resonance due to their interaction with the listening public in a wide variety of ways. Indeed, certain songs took flight by means the artist never imagined. As a result, they have thrust their way into inclusion by the shear force of their relevance.

The D Man attempted to be objective and democratic, but is also aware of the limitations of this type of exercise. Despite these difficulties, the following songs (and artists) must be included in any legitimate discussion of the decade's great music, lyrics, and songcraft. No artist is featured more than once, except for Sufjan Stevens and Radiohead, which is an intentional liberty taken by the list's curator, as they are arguably the two preeminent artists of the decade, and, admittedly, constantly vying for The D Man's fondest affection. Furthermore, some songs come in pairs, another liberty that seemed necessary at the time, and, presumably, will serve its intended purpose.

Please let The D Man know which songs you love, which songs you hate (although, hopefully, appreciate), and which songs should have been included. Before you do, please consider this: we have but one life, and cannot listen to everything. If we choose to listen, and I believe we must, as it allows us to enjoy or contemplate our mortality and prepares us for that final change that is universal, what shall we listen to? The songs on my list represent an attempt to answer this question. And since you value life and what you listen to enough to take part in this undertaking, that ultimately can expand your consciousness in ways that perhaps only reading can rival (and even trump), I thank you for your participation.

Indeed, perhaps music's prime concern, like reading, is to, in the words of Samuel Johnson, discover "what comes near to ourself, what we can put to use." We may likewise apply Sir Francis Bacon's solemn recommendation for reading to the realm of music: "[Listen] to not contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk or discourse, but to weigh and consider." Finally, we may say as Emerson did of the best books, that the best songs "impress us with the conviction, that one nature wrote and the same nature [listens]." Pragmatically, all of this means the following: learn to listen deeply, not to believe, not to accept, not to contradict, but to learn to share in that one nature that sings and listens.

1. "Idioteque" by Radiohead (2000)

The sound of the world running, falling, cascading into the twenty-first century. A millenial masterpiece. There is no artist or group of artists that could replicate this song, let alone approach the strangeness of its aesthetic. Fill a room with the world's greatest lyricists, musicians, and beatmakers, and rest assured they would not come out with a song so exciting, so depressing, so listenable, so danceable, so devastating.

No other song united (and divided) throngs of musicheads more than "Idioteque." For many listeners between the ages of say 21-38, they haven't lived until they've heard this song performed live (yours truly included). Live, you say? Yes, it can be done. The song's spectral power is like watching human mediums channel sounds from some other world. Or maybe the future. Potent, strange, and altogether brilliant.

To this day, The D Man is still trying to figure out how the best guitar band of the Nineties was capable of conceiving and producing this song (and many others for that matter). The only answer: genius. Not genius like "That Star Trek film was genius," or genius like "That funny Youtube clip is genius." But bona-fide, of-the-ages genius. Like Shakespeare. Monet. Mozart. The kind of genius that demands a cognitive power greater than our own.

Women and children first. I laugh until my head comes off. Ice age coming. Let me hear both sides. Take the money and run. Never have such perfectly oblique non-sequiturs been set to such a chilling and moving musical backdrop. The pulsating lynchpin to the decade's most important album, "Idioteque" just may be the sound of the twenty-second century if we ever get there.

Album version:


Studio version:


Live version:


Why listen? We listen, if not frequently and often unknowingly, to find a mind more original than our own. Radiohead is that musical consciousness. This decade the band deconstructed the ego on Kid A and then reinvented the human on In Rainbows. Because "Idioteque" will expand your consciousness by the shear force of its apocalyptic sound and vision, you should listen. To not recognize the astonishing inventiveness of this song is a complete failure to participate in that one nature that sings and listens.

Something else? "There, There," "15 Step," "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," "All I Need," "Videotape."

2. "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes (2003)

Since 2000, no one has reinvigorated the tired notion of rock'n'roll more than Jack White. Our favorite Stripe has given us more authentic, steeped-in-blues, gut-busting rock'n'roll songs than any other artist this decade. Don't believe The D Man? Check out the following starter kit:

• "Fell In Love With A Girl"
• "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground"
• "Ball and Biscuit"
• "The Hardest Button to Button"
• "Blue Orchid"
• "My Doorbell"
• "Icky Thump"
• "Bone Broke"
• "Rag and Bone"

No song personifies The White Stripe's prolific downpour more than "Seven Nation Army." Equipped with the best guitar shred of the past ten years, this song battles with rock'n'roll gods, be it in Witchita or at Hells Gate.

Why listen? Real simple. The best guitar line + the best rock vocal = the best rock song of the decade. Can anyone really argue with this? "Seven Nation Army" overcomes the anxiety of tired rock tropes by reformulating the same rock tropes into something potent, thanks to the imaginative consciousness of a master of the genre.

Something else? I suppose you could listen to your old man's Foghat collection.

3. "Carry Me Ohio" by Sun Kil Moon (2003)

Mark Kozelek, formerly of the Red House Painters, explored the haunting, the beautiful, and the elegiac on his magnificent album Ghosts of the Great Highway. His music with Sun Kil Moon is rich, lyrical, evocative, and nostalgic, the shimmering tapestries of an Ohio fall. Kozelek moves listeners to contemplate their own solitude, even if later revelations take them to another time, another place.

Ghosts of the Great Highway weaves through several songs about deceased boxers: gone-too-soon featherweight champion Salvador Sanchez, legendary flyweight Pancho Villa, and the tragic Duk Koo Kim. (That song is a breathtaking 14 minutes, the number of rounds Kim lasted in his final bout). Moon Sung Kil is a Korean bantamweight (hence the name) and the album's opening song begins with a confession of boxers, Judas Priest guitarists, and old actors and singers:

Cassius Clay was hated

More than Sonny Liston

Some like K.K. Downing

More than Glenn Tipton

Some like Jim Nabors

Some Bobby Vinton

I like'em all

That same magnanimity is present throughout Kozelek's distinctive catalog, albeit in an oft-melancholy form; indeed, Kozelek has recorded several fantastic covers albums, including releases devoted entirely to the songs of AC/DC and Modest Mouse.

One of the fathers of so-called slowcore, Kozelek's love of music's raw and poetic power finds its way into his deep introspection and gorgeously rendered guitarwork. His singular songcraft is worthy of our affection and his status as one of our finest songwriters is all but assured. (Cameron Crowe is such a huge fan, not only did he include the songs in his movies, he put Kozelek in the movies as well, with roles in Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky.

On Ghosts of the Great Highway's second track, "Carry Me Ohio" recalls former loves: a person and a place. The song marries the two memories and reinforces its powerful ambiguity as the listener is never certain whether the narrator longs for lover or home. (Our singer grew up in Ohio). Kozelek's signature voice, singing over layered and intricate classical-guitar and open-tuned arrangements, rises and falls with the penultimate plea: "Heal her soul, carry her, my little Ohio." The words, half-way submerged in the music's dense soundscape, slowly reveal themselves, mimicking the fleeting, hazy nature of memory.

Why listen? Mark Kozelek is the most sublime traditionalist of the decade. Kozelek's patient, nuanced, and introspective arrangements allow his poetic voice to resonate in the profound. His music, and "Carry Me Ohio" in particular, compels listeners to consider their mortality, and in some small way, moves us to become more wholly ourselves.

Something else? "Glenn Tipton," "Gentle Moon," "Salvador Sanchez," "The Last Tide," "Pancho Villa," "Lost Verses," "Moorestown," "Blue Orchids."

4. "Olsen Olsen" by Sigur Ros (2001)

One of this decade's most original voices, Iceland's Sigur Ros established their near-mythic status with their second album, Agaetis Byrjun. Released in the United States in 2001, the album introduced listeners to sounds they could not have imagined: lush, ambient post-rock orchestration helmed by lead singer Jonsi Birgisson's otherworldly vocals and cello-bowed guitarwork. The band further moved listeners' conception of music and language on third album ( ) when every song was recorded in Vonlenska or "Hopelandic," a form of gibberish focusing on the melodic and rhythmic elements of music without the content of understandable language.

With songs that seem to reinvent the natural world, how does one distinguish between Sigur Ros' best musical moments? The task is nearly impossible. It's like asking someone if he likes dawn better than twilight, trees better than flowers, air better than water. Nonetheless, The D Man will attempt to offer some guidance, and ultimately, choose his personal favorite, despite the fact that this list has attempted to showcase the best in popular music, rather than be a mere love letter from yours truly. But when Mother Nature herself is sending the sweet-nothings, it's difficult to stay focused.

A listener might rightfully consider "Staralfur" or "Svefn-g-englar" as the band's finest songs. Indeed, both are from Agaetis Byrjun, both are unlike anything we've heard before, and both were used to great affect in movies and videos. Of course, one would have a hard time arguing over your choice of the title track too.

Perhaps you speak in tongues and the beauty of "Untitled #1" and "Untitled #4" from ( ) are your favored choice. Or maybe you prefer the band's full-bodied efforts on Takk, the band's somewhat underrated fourth album. Indeed, it's hard to complain about the mesmerizing second and third tracks, respectively "Glosoli" and "Hoppipolla." Then again, the band's most recent release might suit your fancy. The verdant "Gobbledigook" or the heavenly "Festival" would not be out of the question.

For The D Man, "Olsen Olsen" typifies all that a great Sigur Ros song is supposed to be: otherwordly, beautiful, forlorn, epic. Birgisson's ethereal voice unfurls over a dreamy bass line and conjures up untold ages of men, ghosts, summers, winters, suns. The song transitions to a fully orchestrated conclusion, complete with swelling choirs, as if to say, "the first five minutes of this song were so good, we need to immediately celebrate it now." And so we should.

The album version (and fan video):

And a stunning live version in Iceland from the film Heima:

Why listen? "Olsen Olsen," like many Sigur Ros' songs, allows the Self to be augmented by the musical contemplation of Nature. No band created authentic soundscapes like Sigur Ros this decade (or in any other decade for that matter); the band collectively tapped into something elemental in our understanding of the way the planet is supposed to sound. The music's beauty, cognitive power, originality, and timelessness, will enhance every sincere listener's consciousness.

5. "Apartment Story" by The National (2007)

We're half awake in a fake empire. Somewhat chilling, thus begins the masterful Boxer. On opener "Fake Empire," a stark piano line moves into perfectly-timed drum fills and the song expands, like the rest of the album, into dark, groovy territory. Boxer is a masterpiece of early twenty-first century musical narrative--loosely-tied threads of love, loss, and dislocation. Lyrically and musically, Boxer's urban elegance shimmers in the streetlights, rewarding listen after listen with a rich, world-weary texture that can leave one bewildered and breathless. The album's sophisticated back-alley mix of chamber-pop, folk, and post-punk captures the perfect tone of modern city dreams.

"Mistaken For Strangers" reveals the sobering, friendless streets that we walk as adults; there was not a better song this decade (or album, for that matter) depicting the vagaries of the white-collar world.

You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends

when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights

arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under

oh you you wouldn't want an angel watching over

surprise, surprise they wouldn't wanna watch

another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults

Given the decade of Enron, bear markets, and executive excess, The National's songs were timely and prescient. But if navigating the workplace was difficult, maintaining monogamous harmony was equally perilous.

"Start A War" details the quiet, earnest please of a broken relationship:

Whatever went away, I'll get it over again

I'll get money, I'll get funny again

Walk away now and you're gonna start a war

As one critic noted, Matt Berninger's characters toy with adulthood and dress for success, but they also grapple with near-paralyzing insecurity. Fortunately, it is the music's sublime assuredness, played in a deceptively subdued manner, that both underscores and alleviates the difficulties of the workplace and the bedroom. Strangely enough, it's out of this heavy context that the finest pop song of the decade was produced.

With its rolling drums and luxurious layer of guitars, "Apartment Story" sweeps up Berninger's perfect image of urban escape:

We'll stay inside till somebody finds us

Do whatever the TV tells us

Stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz for days

Like many of the band's songs, the narrative reflects the struggles of adult relationships.

Be still for a second while I try and try to pin your flowers on

Can you carry my drink I have everything else

I can tie my tie all by myself

I'm getting tied, I'm forgetting why

Yet it's the song's willingness to allow for the possibility of escape and connection that transcends into something universal.

Hold ourselves together with our arms around the stereo for hours

While it sings to itself or whatever it does

when it sings to itself of its long lost lost loves

I'm getting tied, I'm forgetting why

Tired and wired we ruin too easy

Sleep in our and clothes and wait for winter to leave

but I'll be with you behind the couch when they come

on a different day just like this one

Sophisticated, subtle, and beguiling, the song's vulnerable optimism builds to the splendid and repeated bridge-chorus. "Apartment Story" is proof that a four-minute pop song can resonate well beyond your living room walls. "So worry not / all things are well / we'll be alright / we have our looks and our perfume on."

Then there is the video, so wonderfully sweet and good-natured and, consistent with this list, one of the decade's best.

Why listen? "Apartment Story" actually gets better after dozens of listens. If the Beatles had written this song we would have been hearing incessantly about how great it is for the past forty years. But The D Man doubts that the Fab Four could have; unlike many bands, The National finally hit their creative stride well after growing up, working in real professions, and experiencing real relationships. "Apartment Story" is a product of having been part of the Establishment and then allowing that experience to color the song's imaginative (and escapist) power. Indeed, not everyone has to be a penniless, narrow-rounded vagabond on the way to making inspired music. The National's real-world experience, narratives, and musicianship is refreshing--and worthy of our appreciation.

Something else? "Slow Show," "Abel," "Secret Meeting," "All The Wine," "About Today."

BONUS: The band features two sets of brothers: Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Scott and Bryan Devendorf. That's pretty cool in The D Man's book. And Berninger and the Dessners played high school basketball together in Cincinnatti, Ohio. Ditto.

6. "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire (2004)

Four songs from Arcade Fire's debut Funeral have a legitimate claim on this spot: the strange apocalyptic snow-bound vision of "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," the singular tenacity of "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)," the majestic call of "Wake Up," or the effervescent pulse of "Rebellion (Lies)." Given each song's worthy merits and the difficult task in choosing just one, the final considerations included acknowledging the Mrs.' favorite ("Rebellion") and pointing out that a new recording of "Wake Up" was used in one of the best movie trailers in recent years. So it goes.

Combining the earnestness of Springsteen, the pageantry of Bowie, and the lyrical thrust of T.S. Eliot, Arcade Fire is that rare band that came on to the stage fully formed and actualized. Led by Win Butler's songwriting and its collective musicianship, the band's 2004 masterwork Funeral, an elegy of sorts to loved ones who passed away during its recording, is likely never to be approached again.

The four songs all share the same basic themes: youth overcoming the disenchantment of adulthood, truth shining through the lies of the world, love dispelling the dark heart of man, and the spirit overcoming the terrestrial restraints of the body. All four songs powerfully achieve their intended results with fierce lyrical prose, inventive chamber art-rock, and an overwhelming need to connect with the audience or something beyond the music. Ultimately, for the purposes of this list, The D Man kept coming back to one song and therefore will discuss the immense pleasures of the band's anthemic "Wake Up."

With its sweeping call to disregard the lies that are passed down by each generation, the song's narrative reaches an unparalleled climax.

If the children don't grow up,

our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.

We're just a million little gods causin' rain storms turnin' every good thing to rust.

I guess we'll just have to adjust.

The song then moves toward a mesmerizing shift into an exquisite coda, where we may consider the realization of our untapped potential in the face of death.

With my lightnin' bolts a glowin'

I can see where I am goin' to be

When the reaper he reaches and touches my hand.

With my lightnin' bolts a glowin'

I can see where I am goin'.

You better look out below.

"Wake Up" is essentially a more imaginative vision of Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run." Influenced by Butler's religious upbringing about the untold possibilities of the spirit (he was raised in a part-Mormon family), Arcade Fire's song is a potent portrayal of our ability to love and evolve even in the throes of darkness.

Why listen? Arcade Fire is a serious band for serious listeners who seek, both lyrically and sonically, the weighing and considering that comes from music's communal contemplation. "Wake Up" does all this without sacrificing the primal elements of a great rock song.

Something else? "Keep the Car Running," "Laika," "Haiti," "Intervention," "No Cars Go."

7. "Everything In Its Right Place" by Radiohead (2000)

The first few notes will seduce and haunt listeners for years. As the opening track on Radiohead's 2000 album Kid A, "Everything In Its Right Place" is the deconstruction of rock music incarnate. Eschewing guitars and drums for an electric piano and drum machine, Thom Yorke manipulated his voice and changed the history of his band and the possibilities of post-modern music forever.

Struggling in the wake of the the band's worldwide success and the burden of the seminal rock album OK Computer, Thom Yorke and company finally made headway in the studio with the experimental recording of a series of songs that would ultimately become Kid A. "Everything In Its Right Place" represented the band's utter disregard for its previous work and an expansion into a musical consciousness that few have ever contemplated, let alone realized. Written late one night by Yorke on a piano at home and recorded the following day, "Everything In Its Right Place" allowed the band to leave behind their collective frustrations and grievances and move in an entirely new direction.

The song feels like the soundtrack to the opening lines of Yeats' poem "The Second Coming":

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Indeed, Yorke's repeated refrain is never believable. And his strange incantation--"Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon"--perfectly describes and obscures an impending collapse signaled by the music's strange time signature and memorable, eerie keyboards.

One of the few songs consistently featured in Radiohead's set-lists, "Everything In Its Right Place" is a bellweather for not only Radiohead's future creative ouput, but all other serious bands that follow in the new millenium. In Radiohead's own impressive musical story, the song serves as a sonic cantilever of the band's willingness to build further and further away from the edge.


Why listen? "Everything In Its Right Place" is the opening track of the greatest post-rock record of all time. Rarely, if ever, has a band changed so drastically due to self-overhearing. Radiohead's evolution from OK Computer to Kid A represents the force of a band's self-augmentation due to overhearing its own musical dialogue with its peers and the public, but primarily, its previous creative ouput and internal conversations and expectations. This self-augmentation gave way to a creative consciousness that expanded into unheard of realms and altered the very essence of popular music. By deconstructing the rock album, favoring rhythm over melody, and experimenting with electronica, jazz, 20th Century classicism, Krautrock, and ambient music, Radiohead produced music and atmosphere that, while difficult to embrace initially (according to some), has resulted in an undiminished power with every passing year. "Everything In Its Right Place" is everything that is right with music, the creative mind, and their boundless possibilities.

Something else? "How to Disappear Completely," "Reckoner," "The National Anthem," "Bodysnatchers," "Jigsaw Falling Into Place."

8. "Heartbeats" by The Knife / Jose Gonzalez (2003)

Rarely does a song allow for two incomparable interpretations within such a short span of time. "Heartbeats" is a superb exception. The original is an icy, ominous recollection of love; the cover is a quiet, wistful rumination. The Knife's live version (below) is enveloped in metallic, hollowed-out electronic beats, a mysterious musical creation befitting the band's masked personas and cold Scandinavian influences. Jose Gonzalez's rendition, while played against his warmer acoustic backdrop, still elicits something forlorn and time-weary similar to its darker companion. Both songs make it clear that something intimate was shared: "we were in love."

To call for hands of above to lean on

Wouldn't be good enough for me, oh

And you, you knew the hand of a devil

And you kept us awake with wolves teeth

Sharing different heartbeats in one night

Why listen? "Heartbeats" is devastatingly original. The Knife's version uses its sonic framework and Karin Dreijer Andersson's striking (and almost alien) vocal performance to enlarge the song's cryptic lyrics into some sort of timeless love-rune. Jose Gonzalez's version settles on those same lyrics with an achingly insular portrayal of love and memory. The fact that so many argue the virtues of their preferred version is a testament that the song(s) is/are to be reckoned with. "Heartbeats" possesses an authentic and timeless quality matched by few other songs this decade.

9. "Fight Test" / "Do You Realize???" by The Flaming Lips (2002)

Essentially the bookends for The Flaming Lips' 2002 quasi-concept album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, there was no better starter/closer combination this decade. As overproduced, overdramatic psyche-pop bliss-outs, "Fight Test" and "Do You Realize???" sealed The Flaming Lips popular canonization after the band's euphoria-inducing 1999 album, The Soft Bulletin. To hear these songs performed live during the growing legend of a Lips show became a vital musical experience. Even if it meant dressing up as a pink bunny.

It's hard to think of any recent band that has had a five-album run like The Flaming Lips, a run that is so evolved and varied, so unhesitant and adventurous. From alternative music touchstone Transmissions from the Satellite Heart to the fuzzed-guitar splendor of Clouds Taste Metallic; from the transcendental, psychedelic musings of The Soft Bulletin to the four-part player experiment Zaireeka to the bleeping drones of cosmic weary Yoshimi, The Flaming Lips developed into an authentic life-force all their own.

"Fight Test" is a universal call to arms. Or not. Walking the fine line between justice and mercy, even when it applies to evil robots, requires an introspective, hopeful, and sometimes regrettable self-evaluation. Indeed, the song's star-gazed soliloquy became a mantra of sorts for The D Man as he contemplated his own individual battles during the early part of this decade. The song seems to ask and (almost) answer all the right questions. And in a strange way, the song provides comfort to those who truly seek to know what's right for their own life. But it also reminds us that, ultimately, there are things you can't avoid--you have to face them when you're not prepared to face them. The test begins now.

A fount of humanistic triumphalism, "Do You Realize???" is the happiest, most celebratory song-of-death of all time. Voted into law as Oklahoma's official rock song, the song's sobering message is quite simple: all we have is now. So in the face of death, whether it be at the hands of pink robots or plain-old cancer, treat people right, live right, and let them know you realize.

Why listen? The Flaming Lips imaginative musical abilities are beyond reproach and surpassed most of their peers this decade with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots--the band's first critical and truly commercial success. After three great psyche-rock albums that most bands would kill for, The Lips went even further and at the turn of the century produced one of the best albums of the Nineties (The Soft Bulletin) and one of the most pleasurable albums of this decade (Yoshimi). "Fight Test" and "Do You Realize" are the accessible musical capstones of the Lips' thematic cosmic creations. Their sound is distinctive yet universal, comforting yet soul-wrenching. Basically, these songs are the sound of your existence hurtling through space and time. And that sound is pretty good.
Something else? "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part I," "Ego Tripping At The Gates of Hell," "One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21."

10. "Float On" by Modest Mouse (2004)

With this rollicking existential sing-along, Modest Mouse reconfigured its recurring theme of death-in-life (perfected over several albums) and turned the ragged despair into a populist anthem that dares any listener to disagree or change the station. The song is truly Good News for People Who Love Bad News, as it suggests that, at the very least, "we will float on anyway." Not unlike Robert Frost's three-word summary of life: "it goes on." Yet, for some reason, our reading public generally fails to consider the "sigh" of that narrator remembering the two roads that diverged in the yellow wood. In this song, Modest Mouse just makes that same sigh more explicit.

Comparing Isaac Brock to Frost, you wonder? Well, Brock's lyrical approach in this and other songs can best be described as both the spider and the moth. And the questions Brock poses are no different than those in "Design"-- what of these assorted characters of death and blight? And what of design to govern things so small?

For the video, click here.

Why listen? Isaac Brock, one of the decade's most vital songwriters, discovers the power of populism and writes an arresting song that even people who buy music at Wal-Mart will appreciate and understand. People like you and me.

Something else? "Gravity Rides Everything," "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes," "The World At Large," "The Ocean Breathes Salty."

11. "Casmir Pulaski Day" by Sufjan Stevens (2005)

Casmir Pulaski Day is a holiday observed in Illinois on the first Monday of every March to commemorate the Revolutionary War cavalry officer born in Poland and best known for his contributions to the U.S. military in the American Revolution. In a song with the same name, Stevens sings about a teenager that loses her life to cancer "in the morning, in the winter shade, on the first of March, on the holiday . . . ."

Stevens' graceful song, paced with a gentle guitar line and contemplative horns, is a heartbreaking, moving, and intimate portrait of middle-American faith, belief, and loss. Like many of his songs, Stevens' narrative approaches the poetic sublime in an age when true lyrics are largely banished to the nightstands of enlightened readers. Most contemporary songs that tell stories are trite, manipulative, and unoriginal. Think country radio. Stevens' story, on the other hand, derives its power from the unexpected--the unfolding description of touching scenes are told with whimsy, empathy, and honesty.

Even more affecting, the song's protagonist wrestles with the loss of his friend and what Paul calls the "deep things of God." This internal dialogue between Self and Divine descends into searching introspection. Initially, Stevens sings "Oh the glory that the Lord has made / and the complications you could do without / when I kissed you on the mouth," struggling to accept mortality in the face of a beautiful Creation (hers and ours). Later, grief-stricken, he sings "Oh the glory that the Lord has made / and the complications when I see his face / in the morning in the window." Finally, in a breathtaking paradox, our young believer contemplates the ultimate deep thing: seeking atonement in the wake of great loss.

Oh the glory when he took our place

But he took my shoulders and he shook my face

And he takes and he takes and he takes

Not unintentional, Stevens allows listeners musical space to consider this, with a small choral suite extending the song to its final bar. Not even the saddest song in his catalog (hear the devastating "Romulus" from Michigan), Stevens' characters inhabit realms so real, empathetic, and world-weary. Yet consistent with his best work, Stevens allows his listeners to emerge with a sense of wonder at the paradox of divine faith in the midst of Creation's complexities.

Why listen? An exquisite narrative of poetry-as-music seemingly lifted from a Flannery O'Connor short story. Told with quiet majesty.

Something else? "Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois," "To Be Alone With You,", "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." "The Dress Looks Nice on You," "Abraham," "Holland," "For the Widows in Paradise, For The Fatherless in Ypsilanti"

12. "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley (2006) / "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. (2007)

Two global smashes. Two timely collaborations. Two ingenious uses of samples. And two inventive vocal performances. Both "Crazy" and "Paper Planes" will long be remembered as sonic touchstones of this decade.

On "Crazy," mash-up producer Danger Mouse collaborated with Goodie Mob member Cee-Lo and the duo created a song for the ages. It has been said that Shakespeare will be performed on Mars; likewise, this song will be playing when the house lights go up. From Gnarls Barkley's debut album St. Elsewhere, "Crazy" was inspired by Ennio Morricone's spaghetti Western scores; the song uses a sample from the film Viva Django. Danger Mouse's heady mix of psychedelic rock and hip-hop are only surpassed by Cee-Lo's classic soul vocal work. Word has it that Cee-Lo recorded the entire vocals for the song in one take. Unbelievable.

On "Paper Planes," M.I.A. teamed with producer Diplo for her second album Kala and shook up the Establishment with her gun-shot ringing third-world anthem. "Paper Planes" uses a backing track from The Clash and the chorus is based on that early-nineties ditty "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-n-Effect. But it's the song's recorded gun shots and cash register (ka-ching!) that listeners will remember as the perfect symbols (cymbals?) for the class warfare of the catchy chorus. Little wonder the song was used to such good effect by the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. While it is possible "Paper Planes" will sound dated in years to come (unlike the superior "Crazy"), M.I.A.'s global cross-over hit gloriously captured the sound of disparate peoples flooding over borders in the chaotic global marketplace.

For the video, click here. For the Slumdog Millionaire version, click here.

Why listen? These two songs are striking original outliers that managed to capture worldwide audiences savvy enough to appreciate authentic performances and songcraft. Can you think of any other tracks this decade that have such widespread recognition and massive critical acclaim? Didn't think so.