日志

This list consists of my favorite songs of the decade and nothing else. I generally made no attempt to account for how significant or influential the song was. I didn't care if a particular song captured how the 2000's "felt." I did take some consideration of how many songs each artist had, but not that much. Some of my favorite artists have many songs on this list. I think there are something around 100 artists on this list so each artist averages 2 songs or so. Also don't pay that much attention to the ordering of the list until you get to the top 50. It is hard to distinguish between my 120th and 153rd favorite song of the decade, so while I did make an effort for them to roughly be in order the order is not set in stone.

There are certainly tons of songs that got left off this list that could have made it, including a few that probably would be pretty high but I just forgot about. For the write ups I usually include a favorite lyric(if applicable) and a sentance or two about the song. …

Wed 20 Aug – Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, DJ Big Wiz

It’s rather amusing that anytime Ian Matthias Bavitz, aka Aesop Rock is on YouTube or on stage, he appears to have just rolled out of bed. This appearance makes sense of his lyrics like, ‘I show up late looking project grizzly,’ but it doesn’t give a good indication of what his performances will be like. Despite his sometimes inaccessibly Dadaistic lyrics and incomprehensibly fast flows Aesop Rock brought the crowd at DC’s 9:30 club to frenzied levels of energy last night (even more than earlier this year at Coachella).

With the energy Rock and his partners in crime, Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz emanated, the crowd was able to amp the performance of the Def Jux crew with shear excitement and well…wylin’ out. It’s this exchange of enthusiasm that separates the good hip-hop shows from the average and Aesop Rock and co. were definitely above par. That is not to say, however, the performance was without its flaws.

…

Tue 18 Sep – Aesop Rock

Things started kind of slow. We got there at around time doors were supposed to open (8PM) there was a confusing mess of people outside and downstairs and the doors were still closed. No matter, we found the line and waited a few more minutes. The doors opened and we set up shop at a table and had some pizza while waiting for the show to start.

Blockhead and DJ Signified were first up. They just threw down some beats and did some cool mash-ups. It was interesting, but nothing worth standing up for. Sorry, Block! Your new album rules anyway!

After a short set, people were still piling in. So we decided to stake our claim near the front of the stage. The biggest surprise of the night was setting up: The Octopus Project. Frankly, these guys were fucking awesome. I'd never heard them before Tuesday night. It was one of the most fun performances I've ever seen -- they had amazing energy and, get this, a theremin. It was awesome. Hindsight, I liked it a lot more than I was showing it at the time. …

Artist: Aesop Rock
Album: Labor Days
Release Date: September 18, 2001
Label(s): Def Jux
Standout Track(s): Battery, Daylight, No Regrets

How I heard about it: Ryan Wert.

Where I bought it: Vertigo.


Another Ryan Wert suggestion. This is one of my favorite hip hop albums, probably could be considered one of my favorite albums overall as well. You can pretty much ignore the standout tracks here, I gave this album a good listen the other day and gave every song on the album at least 4 out 5 stars, not a bad one in the bunch.

Aesop's latest albums have contained a lot of really bad beats in my opinion. According to Ryan Wert he started making his own beats and they are just lousy, for those of you that don't know, Ryan Wert is a hip hop producer. As you can tell by the album's title, this album is loosely based around your average run of the mill person with your average run of the mill sort of job. Last I read, Aesop still works a "day job" himself. The album is pretty easy to listen to.
…

I decided to make a mix for a friend of some of my favorite hip-hop tracks (and in my opinion some of the best hip-hop tracks ever recorded). Some are classics, some are fairly recent, but still great. not everyones going to agree with these, but as long as you enjoy the mix, then everyone will be happy. the tracklist:

1. Ahmad - Back In The Day (Remix)
2. The Pharcyde - Passing Me By
3. A Tribe Called Quest - Excursions
4. Black Star - Respiration
5. Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.
6. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)
7. Notorious BIG - Big Poppa
8. Jedi Mind Tricks - Speech Cobras (feat. Mr. Lif)
9. Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day
10. Digable Planets - Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
11. Binary Star - Reality Check
12. Souls of Mischief - 93 'Til Infinity
13. Hieroglyphics - You Never Knew
14. Aesop Rock - Daylight
15. dead prez - Hip-Hop
16. Madvillain - Meat Grinder
17. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Notorious Thugs (Notorious B.I.G. featuring Bone Thugs N Harmony)
…

A simple format here. My top tune from my current top ten artists that occupy my charts.

Atmosphere: The Woman with the Tattooed arms
A tough choice, but I find the complex characters described in such an abstract and surreal way leads to a real winner. I didn't get turned on, I got turned...

Outkast: SpottieOttieDopalicious
An epic track by an epic group, despite coming from the one album that did not spawn a hit single, Aquemini is my favourite album from the duo and this, my favourite tune.

Buck 65: The Centaur
The beat got me hooked, the lyrics intrigued, it just pips Craftmanship for me purely because of the relation it has to my own life. ;-)

Aesop Rock: Daylight
I heard this before I had got Labor Days and thus, it left an immediate impression. I'm a fan of the whole album, especially 'No Regret' and '9-5er Anthem' but this still reigns supreme. "Life's not a bitch, it's a beautiful woman..."

Cunninlynguists: The Gates
…

So another Bonnaroo has come and gone and I am happy to say this experience was much more enjoyable than last year's. Although I was at first worried nothing could top last year's line-up (Radiohead, Beck, Atmosphere, DeVotchka, Claps your hands and say yeah) with fewer bands I was interested in seeing it made my daily schedule much easier to sort out. Our trip down was smooth and uneventful so I'll just skip to gloating about shows.
Thursday, I didn't watch anything, just sleep and set up camp.
Friday, I started my day with Brazilian Girls, who although I don't know much of their material, were quite sensational. Next on the itinerary was Hot Chip who blew the roof off. If you haven't heard them yet, I highly recommend them. After that we watched Lily Allen who was alright. The highlight of her show were the covers of "Gangsters" by The Specials and "Heart Of Glass" by Blondie. Next was Tool, and as an avid fan I must say I was some what disappointed with their performance. …

13. Kings of Leon (Friday, 3:45pm, What Stage)
Although I have been a fairly big fan of Kings of Leon since Youth And Young Manhood, I found it hard to really get into The Kings' set, maybe because of the nearly unbearable heat during their show. Although there were some songs that I was glad I was able to hear, I was really expecting more from them.
--Highlights: Knocked Up, King Of The Rodeo, The Bucket.

12. The Police (Saturday, 9:00pm, What Stage)
An interesting show to say the least. We ended up being late by about 3 songs, but were able to hear everything from our campsite. I wish I could've been more into this show, but with the Lips coming up, My mind was in a different place.
--Highlights: Can't Stand Losing You, Walking On The Moon, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

11. The Black Keys (Friday, 6:15pm, That Tent)
Only stayed at this show for about 5 or 6 songs at the behest of my friends, but definitely saw enough to know that these guys rock. …