So, maybe one of these songs was released this year, and most of them weren’t released this decade, but because I err on the side of anachronism anyhow, I don’t really care.  These were the songs that I listened to a lot this year.  And they’re all fucking awesome.

The Shangri-Las – Never Again

This year will go down in history as the year I really, truly discovered The Shangri-Las.  There is just something about them.  Something indescribably epic.  Being a teenage girl in love has never been so tragic and important.

Robyn – With Every Heartbeat

This entire album was my driving around rural Ontario soundtrack this summer.  This song is probably what would happen if the Wall of Sound was invented at a rave.

Amy Winehouse – Me and Mr. Jones

I spent a lot of my summer listening to and writing about this particular Winehouse track – it’s kind of amazing.  It’s a such a carefully antiqued reconstruction that it’s an absolutely fascinating listen.  I love how on the album recording (not the version below, sorry) Amy sings backup for herself and manages to sound all vaguely-out-of-tuney like early Shirelles recordings do.

Adele – Chasing Pavements

I like singing along with this song, in the kitchen, while emptying the dishwasher.  There you go – domestic bliss in singletown.

The Marvelettes – Please, Mr. Postman

I’m fascinated by how unpolished a lot of early girl group recordings sound – the voices are often breathy and unfocused, things are obviously out of tune, and you can just hear a lot of the singers’ bodies and the physical practices of singing captured in the recording process.  I think it’s really interesting  and sounds so foreign and different now that we’re used to our pop songs sounding much more polished.

The Gits – Second Skin

Who knew that my heart could be broken so many times and in so many differently agonizing ways over the course of one single year? Thank you, Mia Zapata, for crystallizing my angst.

Spoon – You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb

I was late to the Spoon party, but, honestly, this album is the sexiest thing.

Kathleen Edwards – Scared at Night

Sad Canadian cowgirls!  I love sad Canadian cowgirls.


Delta 5 – Mind Your Own Business

I love how hilariously belligerent this song is.  And also, shouty postpunky singing rulez.

B-52s – Mesopotamia

Do I need to justify myself?  No, I do not need to justify anything.  Suffice it to say that my career plan, if I fail as an academic, is to become Kate Pierson. Also, Fred Schneider says something very important in this song, a phrase I would like all of my students to hear and assimilate: “Before I talk, I should read a book.”

The Burning Hell – It Happens in Florida

Everyone I play this song for tells me the lead singer sounds like the guy from the Magnetic Fields, and I have been given two Magnetic Fields mix cds on two separate occasions by two different people as a result of these conversations, but have not actually managed to get around to listening to either of them so I still don’t know what people are talking about.  Good story, yeah?  Anyhow, this song is probably the first song in all of the history of all of music (yes, I WENT THERE), to actually tell the truth (and I went THERE, too – what am I, a freshman writing a shitty paper for a History of Rock class?) about love.  “Love:  it’s like an interstate.  Gets you from place to place, but it’s littered with dead raccoons.”

The Gossip – Lily White Hands

Beth sings lullabies to soothe my fat girl heart.

M.I.A. – Paper Planes

Why can’t I stop listening to this song?  It’s too good.  I’m afraid I’ll listen to it too much and then get sick of it and not like it anymore.  It pulls you with sing-songy poppiness and then shoots you in the chest and steals your purse.  And I really can’t get enough.

M.C. Lyte – Ruffneck

This song is hilariously politically incorrect and I love it so, for lo, I have an epic ladycrush on M.C. Lyte, for she is so kickass.

Sleater-Kinney – Good Things

I think Sleater-Kinney will always and forever be my favourites.