75. “Everything Evil” – Coheed & Cambria
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.
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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.
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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”.
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72. “Neuschnee” – Hauschka
A modern composer experimenting with “prepared piano”. This is a beautiful, striking song to listen to on a rainy day.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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64. “The Ballad of Love and Hate” – The Avett Brothers
More modern American folk. Just give it a whirl.
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63. “Backwards” -Crosstide
Some of that early 2000′s Pacific Northwest emo sound I love so much.
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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”.
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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.
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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.
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59. “Ten Speed Flying Racing Bike” – Ash Koley
This song is plain fun. Bouncy, infectious pop music done right.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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54. “Let Your Light Shine” – Keb’ Mo’
Blues music with a great message.
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53. “Fern” – Zoe Keating
Powerful and marvelous Cello work here.
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52. “Winter” – Joshua Radin
More acoustic singer/songwriter style music. This will not disappoint.
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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.
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.
Nice, man. Love that you put Iron and Wine’s version, I’m also a fan of that over the original!
Kudos for going Europop too! I don’t know much non-English stuff, other than Japanese and the occasional Icelandic stuff. Good to get out of the box for sure.
P.S. did you check out my list’s end?
I’ll support any list that features Cary Brothers. Also Boy Least Likely To. And thanks for introducing me to Styrofoam.
Chris, you have introduced me to the world of J-pop. I may never look back. And your list blew me away, I was amazed not only by how much music we had in common but how much it rocked. I’m seriously impressed.
Heidi, I am sorta shocked you know Boy Least Likely To. I’ve never met someone that knew them in anyway, shape, or form. And you can’t go wrong with Styrofoam. The two best albums are “Nothing’s Lost” and “A Thousand Words”. You can also hear a remix he did of The Postal Service’s “Nothing Better” by clicking HERE.