I bought the samsung vibrant on Thursday. This is my first android phone and I’m loving it so far. In fact I’m bogging from the phone right now. Technology is cool!

I blame it all on this:

So, as the Doctor would say: Allons-y!

10.  “Birth and Death of the Day” – Explosions In The Sky

Instrumental rock done to perfection.  They have a way of drawing every emotion out of you that they can, and it’s amazing music.  I got this album a few months before I started at my current job, and when I gave a copy of it to a coworker I said “Birth and Death of the Day is the most epic song.  I nearly drove off the freeway drumming along the other night” (which was 100% true).  The next morning all he said was “I know exactly where you were in that song when you drove off the road.  I did the same thing”.    I will leave it to you to find.

9.  “Indestructable” – Matisyahu

The world needs more music like this: catchy and with solid religious lyrics.  In fact, the LDS music genre needs to get on board with stuff like this.  Matisyahu has been a favourite since I first heard of him (a year or so ago), and it has seen nearly constant play on my ipod.

8.  “Caring is Creepy”  – The Shins

Another Shins song from Garden State, go figure right?  It was a powerful movie to me and was my first introduction to the Shins.  I’ve never fully been able to figure out WHY I like this song so much, so I will just let the music speak for itself.

7.  “Waiting For My Real Life to Begin” – Colin Hay

This originally came out in 1994 but this album (Man @ work) came out in 2003, so it fits into this decade.  Lucky for me because this song is incredible and I urge you to listen to it again even if you know it by heart.

6.  “JCB” – Nizlopi

Sung from the point of view of a 5 year old boy riding with his father on a JCB (a brand of excavator).  This song was quite easy to connect to, and as it was Nizlopi’s most famous song, I assume I am not alone in that feeling.  Any song that mentions: tractors, nun chucks, Bruce Lee, T-Rex, and Transformers is automatically a win in my book.  Listen to this song, you will like it if only for the beauty of the lyrics.

5.  “Another Day” – The Album Leaf

This song, to me, was a fusion of the sparse beauty of IDM music (the glitches, pops and clicks) and the engaging instrumentation of Sigur Rós (who helped record this and can be heard at the end of the song).  This song always reminds me of watching a snow storm, as this was what I was listening during that HUGE snow storm we had 5 years or so ago.

4.  “Sleeping In” – The Postal Service

This was not the first time I had heard a collaboration of Jimmy Tamborello and Ben Gibbard (see song #1 for that), but this was the first time I had heard them under the name “The Postal Service”.  Was there anyone that didn’t like them?  This seemed to be a band that crossed all boundaries and is accessible to nearly anyone, not to mention that they are just fun to listen to.

3. “Archangel” – Burial

“Wow” was all I could think of the first time I heard this.  I don’t think this was my first introduction to Dubstep as a genre, but it was the song that stuck with me the most.  I still listen to it and am blown away at all the layers at work here.  This song constantly astounds me with it’s beauty.

2.  “Starálfur” – Sigur Rós

They were described to me as “Music so beautiful, they had to make up a language to sing it in”.  This song is pure Icelandic (rather than the Hopelandic they use on many other songs), but I will agree that it is simple beautiful.  Chris, who has the best description of their music I have ever seen, says: “I always tell people the easiest way I know to describe Sigur Ros is to imagine what a “rock” band from Rivendell might sound like”.  I can’t think of a better way to put it than that!

1.  “(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan” – DNTEL

This was the first time (to my knowledge) that Ben and Jimmy ever collaborated and to be honest I believe I got this song from the original Napster.  This was also one of my first introductions to IDM (the glitches, cracks, pops, and random sounds).  If I had to guess, I have probably listened to this song well over 500 times, and it has been on countless mix CD’s I’ve made over the years.   Simply amazing work by these two and was the forerunner for The Postal Service.  This will probably remain a favourite for years to come.

In Garden State, Sam (Natalie Portman) hands her headphones to Andrew (Zach Braff) and says “You gotta hear this one song — it’ll change your life; I swear.”  She wasn’t lying.

Listen

19.  “Glósóli” – Sigur Rós

Whilst watching the music video is NOT a prerequisite, it certainly adds a new level of enjoyment to this fabulous song.

Listen

18.  “Let You Go” – Kaskade

This is a fabulous mix of chillout and sexy.  Serious, give it a listen.

Listen

17.  “Silence” – Matisyahu

Hasidic Jewish reggae was how Matisyahu was described to me.  How could I go wrong??  This song opens up with Pslam 19:15 sung in Hebrew:Yih’yu l’ratzon imrei fi v’hegyon libi l’fanecha Adonai tzuri v’go-ali (May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, Adonai, my Rock and my Redeemer).

Listen

16.  “Prelude For Time Feelers” – Eluvium

Bizarre name, amazing song.  Beautiful piano arrangement with strings joining midway.

Listen

15.  “Une année sans lumière” – Arcade Fire

Canadian indie rock in French and English.

Listen

14. “Everyone Gets Shot” – The American Dollar

Epic.

Listen

13.  “Hoppípolla” – Sigur Rós

A song about jumping in puddles with an accompanying music video featuring old people: door bell ditching, getting into a water balloon fight,and a sword fight.  How could you possibly go wrong?

Listen

12.  “30:55″ – Ólafur Arnalds

I have no idea how to he came up with the names for these songs, but they are beautiful and a bit desolate, much like I would imagine Iceland to be like.

Listen

11.  “No One’s Gonna Love You” – Band Of Horses

This is my favourite Band of Horses song of all time.

Listen

I first heard this song outside Jamie’s house after a party or something.  Jordan (formerly of OMJ and currently of The Gorgeous Hussies/Wailing O’Sheas) played it for us on his car radio.  I was hooked immediately and jumped on napster (or possibly limewire) to get the album as soon as I got home.

I have since legally purchased it.

Listen

48.  “Bleeder” – Emiliana Torrini

Another musician from Iceland, which has such a great musical culture.  This is quite simple, relying on only a small smattering of instruments and beautiful lyrics to make it’s point.  If you don’t listen to anything in this round, make sure to listen to this one.

Listen

47.  “Flugeldar” – Johann Johannsson

More Icelandic music.  This is a beautiful piano piece that builds to something spectacular.  I wish I could find the sheet music for this so I could learn to play it.

Listen

46.  “UK” – Burial

A great, short introduction to  the Dubstep genre  and Burial as an artist.  Dark, gritty, sparse, glitch, haunting.  Give it a listen.

Listen

45.  “Stockholm Syndrome” – Muse

This has one of the best guitar intros around. Best to download it and listen to it on the best speakers you have.

Listen

44.  “O’er Frozen Caps” – Johan the Angel

This is a band out of Provo…sorta, and instantly one of my favourites.  I love the instrumentation in this one, especially with the amazing vocal work on top of it.  If there was ever a song for a winters night, this would be it.

Listen

43. “Looking For a Good Place to Land” – Jim Lauderdale

Bluegrass, plain and simple.

Listen

42.  “Casanova, Baby!” – The Gaslight Anthem

More of that Jersey Shore sound done right.

Listen

41.  “The Airway” – Owl City

This was the only song I had ever heard from Owl City for a long time, and has always been my favourite.

Listen

40.  “Comfy in Nautica” – Panda Bear

I can’t even describe this.  Sounds like a mix of experimental electronica and an old 50′s/60′s surf movie soundtrack.

Listen

39.  “Song for a Young Queen” – Chris Thile

More bluegrass, this time done by 1/3 of Nickel Creek.  Rumour has it that this song was inspired for Natalie Portman’s portrayal of Queen Amidala in the Star Wars prequels.

Listen

38.  “Sam Malone” – City and Colour

City and Colour is the alias for Dallas Green (get it?), guitarist from Alexisonfire.  This is definitely sad music, but quite enjoyable.

Listen

37.  “Heads Roll Off” – Frightened Rabbit

More indie rock, this time from Selkirk, Scotland.  Great song about having faith.  The line “while I’m alive I’ll make tiny changes to Earth” is one of the best I have ever heard.  Probably a motto we all need to live by.

Listen

36.  “The Most Beautiful Girl (in the room)” – Flight of the Conchords

This was my first introduction to Flight of the Conchords and had me from the start.  Hilarious!

Listen

35.  “Monster Ballads” – Josh Ritter

If you can’t tell already, I am a big fan of the folk rock scene.  This is a great song that sounds even better in person.

Listen

34.  “Into the Woods” – My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket + M. Ward + Andrew Bird = fantastic music.

Listen

33.  “Sleepyhead (Landau Mix)” – Passion Pit

I know Passion Pit has kinda exploded all over the scene lately, but I have been jamming to this song since 2007.  Highly recommended electropop.

Listen

32.  “Download This Song” – MC Lars

This whole album is amazing, but this song is the icing on the cake.  Yes, I did download it.  “Post-punk laptop rap” is what he calls this genre.

Listen

31.  “Spacewalk” – Lemon Jelly

Downtempo…trip hop…whatever you want to call this, I don’t care.  This is just a beautiful song with samples taken from a NASA recording of an actual spacewalk.

Listen

30.  “Blue Eyes” – Cary Brothers

Another great song from the Garden State soundtrack.  Judging purely from a musical standpoint, Zach Braff and I would get along great.

Listen

29.  “A Comet Appears” – The Shins

I first heard of The Shins from watching Garden State, and I fell in love with this song the first time I ever heard it. “I’ve never worked so long and hard to cement a failure” has been a theme I’ve felt often in the last decade.

Listen

28.  “Arrival in Sydney Harbor” – Port Blue

Port Blue is another project of Adam Young (the man behind Owl City and Swimming with Dolphins).  This is the album I turn to when I need to relax and breathe.

Listen

27.  “Nothing Better” – The Postal Service

I thought this was the perfect collaboration between the IDM music of DNTEL and the indie rock and story telling lyrics of Ben Gibbard.

Listen

26.  “Transatlanticism” – Death Cab for Cutie

Speaking of the story telling lyrics of Ben Gibbard…  This song is quite possibly my favourite DCFC song of all time.  I love the simple chords of the piano which everything else builds upon.

Listen

25.  “Screaming Infidelities” – Dashboard Confessional

I didn’t think this song would even make the list till I thought about it a lot.  This was one of the first DC songs I had ever heard (from the Swiss Army Romance album).  This is what emo used to be about (at least in my world).

Listen

24.  “Heysátan” – Heysátan

Meaning “Haystacks” in Icelandic, this song is about an old farmer looking out as his fields at the end of his life.  You don’t have to speak Icelandic to appreciate the beauty here.

Listen

23.  “Flume” – Bon Iver

This was the first song on the album, and the first song I ever heard.  This is haunting and beautiful at the same time.

Listen

22.  “Get Up, Get Up, Get Up” – Barcelona

This is another song I would love to learn to play on the piano.

Listen

21.  “Black Rain, Black Rain” – A. A. Bondy

More folk rock, this time in the vein of Nick Drake.  In fact, the reason I first really got into A. A. Bondy was he reminded me so much of Nick.

Listen

Progressive rock at it’s finest. My friend Pud had been raving about this album for some time so I decided to purchase it from Smart Punk. Quite glad I did. The Coheed & Cambria albums tell the story of “The Armory Wars”, which is a pretty cool premise for the music.
Listen

74. “Vi Sitter i Ventrilo och Spelar Dota” – Basshunter

Yes. I like Europop or whatever you would like to call it. This song is catchy and is about playing video games, so you can’t go wrong with it.
Don’t judge me.
Listen

73. “Be Gentle With Me” – The Boy Least Likely To

Rolling Stone described them as “if all your childhood stuffed animals got together and started a band” and the band themselves describe the music as “country disco”.
Listen

72. “Neuschnee” – Hauschka

A modern composer experimenting with “prepared piano”. This is a beautiful, striking song to listen to on a rainy day.
Listen

71. “Such Great Heights” – Iron & Wine

I know most people love the Postal Service’s original, but I prefer the Iron & Wine version. I first heard it while watching Garden State and paused the show to go download it immediately.
Listen

70. “Hear You Me” – Jimmy Eat World

I downloaded the “Bleed American” album on the advice from a friend a few weeks before leaving for the MTC. The first time I listened to this, I was driving to pick up a friend to meet the rest of our friends for a late night showing of “The Ring”. Still one of my favourite Jimmy Eat World songs.
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69. “Graffiti” – Maximo Park

Man, the Brits have put out some great music in the last few years. I stumbled upon this one day and haven’t looked back.
Listen

68. “Responsibility” – MxPx

MxPX has always been a favourite and this song is one of their best (to me). I got this CD shortly after graduating high school and we used to blare it as loud as we could stand it while driving in Jeromy’s bronco. It was our summer theme song (which was also the summer I blew up my eye with a bottle rocket coincidently).
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67. “Helicopter” – M. Ward

Folk rock with a touch of the old Johnny Cash style country. This song is just a lot of fun to listen to.

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66. “Honestly” – Cary Brothers

A break up song, but still an amazing song chock full of emotions.
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65. “Passenger Seat” – Death Cab For Cutie

I first heard Death Cab my senior year, but never paid them much attention until “Transatlanticism” came out. Beautiful piano layered over ambient sound, and it works perfectly.
Listen

64. “The Ballad of Love and Hate” – The Avett Brothers

More modern American folk. Just give it a whirl.
Listen

63. “Backwards” -Crosstide

Some of that early 2000′s Pacific Northwest emo sound I love so much.
Listen here

62. “So Impossible” – Dashboard Confessional

This came out when DC was still considered “lame”. In fact, I remember hearing how lame this music was by friends who now own more albums than I do. A lot of people would classify it as emo, but I’ll stick to “singer/songwriter”.
Listen

61. “The 59 Sound” – The Gaslight Anthem

“Jersey shore sound”. This song is off the #1 Best Album of 2008 according to Emusic (where I got the album from). I wish more music sounded this great.
Listen

60. “Fall In” – Esperanza Spalding

I think the Cosby show may have fostered my love of Jazz, but I think this is accessible to those who don’t particularly like jazz. This was another Emusic recommendation, and has seen heavy play on my ipod since it was downloaded.
Listen

59. “Ten Speed Flying Racing Bike” – Ash Koley

This song is plain fun. Bouncy, infectious pop music done right.
Listen here

58. “Braw Sailin on the Sea” – Kris Drever

This is an old Scottish Folk song, but Kris breathes new life into it and it’s always nice to hear Scots.
Listen

57. “Go” – Ash Koley

I’ve only had the album for a month but they have 2 songs in the top 100 so far. I really dig their style.
Listen

56. “Steppin’ out” – Kaskade (Late Night Alumni Remix)

Kaskade makes some great house tunes, but I prefer this LNA Remix of “Steppin’ Out” (He is also a member of LNA). Chillout electronica at it’s best. Kaskade is also LDS which is pretty cool.
Listen

55. “Can’t Stop Now” – Keane

Keane has been popular for a while now. I’ve always enjoyed their brand of piano rock, but this is probably my favourite song they do. I know it isn’t one of the popular ones, but it’s still catchy.
Listen

55. “Couches in Alleys” – Styrofoam ft. Ben Gibbard

Styrofoam is a Belgian glitch pop musician and Ben Gibbard is from The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie. This is a great collaboration between the two.
Listen

54. “Let Your Light Shine” – Keb’ Mo’

Blues music with a great message.
Listen here

53. “Fern” – Zoe Keating

Powerful and marvelous Cello work here.
Listen

52. “Winter” – Joshua Radin

More acoustic singer/songwriter style music. This will not disappoint.
Listen

51. “Wayfarer” – Kavinsky

Modern electronica with a throwback to the 80′s. This reminds me of 80′s movies and old school video games. A real auditory pleasure.

Listen

50. “After Sunset” – Styrofoam

More glitch pop from the Belgian, but with more polished edges this time. A bit like a European version of The Postal Service.

Listen

Anyone who knows me realizes how much music is a part of my life.  I can hear a song and be instantly transported to times when I heard that song.  Nick Drake’s “From The Morning” will always remind me of camping and bonfires and the clear, crisp, Utah mountain air.  Of looking at the expanse of stars in the heavens and great friends.

So, where to start?  A 100 songs is a lot!  Sure, I have over 9000 songs on my ipod, but narrowing it down to 100 that where recorded in the last ten years was quite difficult.  I decided to start with the songs that had the strongest emotions attached to them.  Something that defined me, defined some time or event  in the last 10 years and were featured on heavy rotation in my listening schedule.  It was still difficult to come up with 100, but I made it.

I will say up front that songs 100-11 could pretty much be in any order.  Just because a song is number 22 doesn’t mean it is any less important than song 11, or more important that song 70.  It’s just where it feel into place here.  The top 10, however, are the most significant and meaningful to me, hence their spot on the list.

I will try to include links so you can hear it if you feel so inclined.  You don’t have to listen to everything, or even the whole song but I encourage you to listen to as many as you can.

Right.  So let’s get started.

100.  “Summer’s Gone” – Aberfeldy

I only downloaded this album because they were Scottish.  I am glad I went with just that, as I have enjoyed this album since 2005 when it showed up on my ipod (a measly 4gb one!  How did I manage with that?!)  I was driving down South Weber Drive when I first really heard this song and put it on repeat the whole way home.  Bouncy pop-rock with the nice addition of a xylophone can never go wrong.

Listen

99 .  “Roses and Clover” – Animal Liberation Orchestra

Jam band meets funk groove.  This song still sees heavy rotation on my playlists.

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98. “Plasticities” – Andrew Bird

I’ve heard Andrew Bird’s music called “Baroque Pop” on multiple occasions. I can’t think of a better way to describe it than that.

Listen

97. “All In It” – British Sea Power

Indie Rock from Brighton, England. I’m always a little surprised more people don’t know them and I urge you to check out the full album.

Listen

96. “Cue The Sun!” – Daphne Loves Derby

American Indie Rock band with a great sound. I love the story painted by the lyrics here.

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95. “Stehengeblieben” – Echt

I can thank Frau Sandstrom for lending me my first Echt album. German rock with a catchy tune and beautiful orchestration.

Listen

94. “Orange Sky” – Alexi Murdoch

Singer/songwriter done right. Featured in “The Garden State” yet wasn’t on the soundtrack due to licensing problems. Fabulous song.

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93. “Wires” – Athlete

More British indie rock. Those Brits have had a great decade for music. I love the piano melody in this.

Listen

92. “Happy As Can Be” – Cut Off Your Hands

Pop Rock from New Zealand. This is what I think The Cure would sound like if they had started this decade rather than the late 70′s. I can’t think of higher praise than that!

Listen

91. “I’ll Roll With You” – Eli “Paperboy” Reed

Soul music. From a white boy. A throwback to the old soul/funk/R&B/Motown classics. Lots of fun.

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90. “Jettison” – Eric Hutchinson

Singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar and a penchant for great lyrics.

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89. “The National” – Fake Empire

More indie rock sung in a deep baritone voice that is hard to forget. Stirringly beautiful song with a strong piano melody that should be be on your Mp3 player of choice.

Listen

88. “Tumbleweeds” – Ohbijou

Folk music with a great addition of an old, slightly out of tune and “tin” sounding piano. Beautiful stuff.
Listen: Ohbijou “Tumbleweeds”

87. “Open up ye dark gates!” – Deastro

How to even classify this?? Electronic -shoegaze -psychedelic -soundscape? Whatever you call it, it’s great.

Listen

86. “You Don’t Know What Love Is” – 2000F

Drum ‘n’ Bass/Hyperdub/Dubstep or whatever they are calling it these days. Whilst I generally dislike the heavy use of the auto tune/talk box (I don’t know which one is at play here), but it works for me in this song. A brighter side to the dubstep world.

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85. “Sugar We’re Going Down” – Fall Out Boy

I am not a huge FoB fan, but this pop-punk ballad is always fun to listen to.

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84. “How To Save a Life” – The Fray

I never got much into The Fray, I saw them as a rip off of Keane. Yet, I really did enjoy this song, even though it’s rather depressing.

Listen

83. “Bank Job” – Barenaked Ladies

Another fun song from those crazy Canadians. And it’s about robbing a bank. And nuns.

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82. “In The Mausoleum” – Beirut

“It’s elaborate New World indie pop that tries to touch the Old as best it can.” – Brian Cullman.

Listen

81. “Sounds of the City” – The Bouncing Souls

Punk rock as it should be. Simple, loud and fast.

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80. “Letters To You” – Finch

This was the first Finch song I ever heard and still one of my favourites. I wish post-harcore/screamo would have stayed on this same path.

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79. “Beautiful Life” – Gui Boratto

Brazilian electronica. Happy and colourful are the words that come to mind to describe this.

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78. “Curs in the Weeds” – Horse Feathers

Folk music from Portland. I suspect we will be seeing a bit more of them in the next decade.

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77. “High and Dry” – Jamie Cullum

I know it a cover of an older song, but it was released by Jamie Cullum in 2003 (UK) and 2004 (US). I love this jazz interpretation of a fabulous Radiohead song.

Listen

76. “Heartbeats” – José González

A Swede of Argentinian descent. Acoustic folk with a hauntingly beautiful melody.

Listen

How to prepare for the zombiepocalypse

This is the computer shop from Flight of the Conchords.  Brett and Jermaine’s apt is right above this, and the “owners” join Brett’s gang in one episode after their sign is graffitied.

Jacob and I went by the Great Lawn at Central Park one of the days.  This is a few towards the east or the north or something.  I don’t remember.  But it is facing a direction, I assure you of that.

Mets game again.

I don’t know what this is.  But I took a picture anyway.

Another view of the city from the reservoir.

This is just a cool globe I would see every morning.

View of the city from the Staten Island Ferry

The Temple…and the Tour Guides head

Angel Moroni

This was just a cool boat.  If I knew were they offered tours I would have gotten one.

I didn’t seek out this photo, but once here I felt obliged to take it.

Chrysler Building.  I took this from the bus.

Empire State Building from the bus.

Flat Iron Building, also taken from the bus.

McDonald’s in China Town

A cool place in China Town.

This is a photo of a bridge from another bridge.  That is about as accurate as I can be right now.

Further along the bridge.  You can see the Statue of Liberty.

The Watchtower.  You know you wanted to see this giant building.

This is my tiny hotel room, with my dirty laundry in the corner.  I am backed up against the wall to get this shot.

The statue in front of the Natural History Museum.

This is above one of the doorways of The Cathedral of Saint John Divine.

A zoomed out shot of the the Cathedral.

The Apollo Theatre and the Michael Jackson wall.

This was the mosque that Malcom X used to preach at if I remember right.

Lunch at Max Brenner.  I thought it would be all hype, but it was quite delicious.

I almost bought these at the street market think by Union Square.  This is my Elton John look.

This is a Red-Tail Hawk about half way done with the moult to Haggard feathers.  This was in Union Square Park if I remember right.  Not the best photo but it was the best I could get.

Brett and Jermaine's Apartment from Flight of the Conchords

This is was one of the first stops on the trip.  Flight of the Conchords is one of the best shows on the planet, and the humour got even better when we noticed a sign on the door:

Vacated

I hope this somehow ends up in the show (if it hasn’t already).  I laughed pretty hard at this.

Bullfrogs

After the apartment, we walked through China town (where the apt is).  Didn’t get many photos but this one was a must.  An old lady came up and washed her hands in this water while we were standing there watching.  Bizarre.

Mets Game

Jacob and I got tickets to the Mets game.  Was my first Major League game, and it was a lot of fun, even with the no sleep and jet lag.

Jacob at Citi Field

Jacob at Citi Field.  By this point, I think he had about 15 hot dogs.

Reservoir

Went by the Reservoir in Central Park.

Creme Brulee

Em wanted to eat at Caracas Arepa Bar (which was feature on a Throwdown with Bobby Flay).  It was delicious, at least mine and Jacob’s were good. After, we found the Dessert Truck where I bought a creme brulee.  It was possibly the best dessert I have ever had.

Wilkommen

This is blurry, but I had to get this photo in Times Square.

Times Square

Times Square was a lot of fun.  They shut down the street to traffic a few weeks ago so its all pedestrian traffic anymore.

Statue

This statue is outside Central Park and across from Columbus Circle where I would meet Jacob in the mornings.  Yes, there is a surgical mask on the statue on the right.

City view

This is the view of the city from the Staten Island Ferry.

Lady Liberty

Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry.

More to come later!

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