Thursday, December 27, 2012

Hot Mix 2012: #100 to 91

OCD wins again. The Hot Mix had to get done.

Since Soundcloud changed their embed code, "Hot Mix 2011" and "2010's Greatest Hits" now look a lot uglier than they did a year ago. So instead, we might only post URL's, which is probably better because it won't tremendously slow down anyone's computer.

Do you love Spotify as much as we do? Our sick playlist will also be unveiling the results in real time: http://open.spotify.com/user/mfalc/playlist/3EcgbOnRnTBP1Of7mg4war

So let's do this...

| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

100. Young Jeezy featuring Jay-Z & Andre 3000 “I Do”
Strangely fascinating despite its numerous shortcomings, we wouldn’t be surprised if “I Do” were dropped from the last 3 or 4 Young Jeezy releases before finally earning a spot on his 2011 LP: The sped-up samples sound very 2004. Phoned-in Jay-Z and Andre verses are both exhausted, although Andre throws around a few inspired moments before completely weirding-out everyone with an awkward description of how hot his unborn daughter’s going to look when she’s a teenager. Also, “I Do” was recently nominated for a Grammy, unsurprisingly, since older (white) musician types usually prefer “safe” family-friendly behind-the-curve hiphop. #toothfairy
| Soundcloud | Youtube | Hype Machine |

99. Black Pus “Neurotic Knife”
The Blob meets The Creature From The Black Lagoon at a bar one night. They fall in love and fuck for 9000 years. These are the noises they make while they’re fucking.


98. Silversun Pickups “Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)”
Ultimately, only “Bloody Mary” and “Mean Spirits” came close to matching the “big-bang expanding universe” shoegaze-y grunge-y awesomeness of the first 2 half-brilliant/half-okay records, with “Bloody Mary” benefiting from their newest album’s only instantly catchy chorus.
| Soundcloud | Youtube | Hype Machine |

97. Pinback “Denslow, You Idiot!”
Call us dummies if you’d like, but we’ll admit it took us nearly two years of returning to 2007’s Autumn of the Seraphs before realizing its place among the very best of the 2000’s. Upon its release, only the quirky and playful “Good To Sea” immediately revealed itself as “instant classic" (which is not very helpful for "end of the year lists" but as long as nobody else minds waiting, neither do we). As for their most recent batch, “Denslow” is the quirk-ball we grew to love first.
| Soundcloud |

96. Here We Go Magic “Make Up Your Mind”
Their normally non-Devo elements made it all the more surprising when they decided to drastically turn up the Devo knob for one song. We kinda wish more indie-rock bands would do this.
| Soundcloud | Youtube | Hype Machine |

95. Lil B “California Boy”
Who would've thought Lil B's first attempt at a "rock" song would sound like acoustic J Mascis + The Fog fronted by Wesley Willis? Nice example of awesome-song-disguised-as-shitty-song (or possibly the other way around, we’re not exactly sure) which seems to be the (#BASED) basis underlining Lil B’s entire catalog and rock-star image. Karaoke DJ’s, take notice: Very fun to (badly) sing along (in the car or otherwise). (P.S. BasedGod also released an outstanding #rare "classical" album last Spring. Also of note is the I'ma Eat Her Ass *Video* EXCLUSIVE.)
| Youtube |

94. Pussy Riot “Putin Lights Up The Fires”
This appears to be their last release to date, which we incorrectly assumed was the jam they played at the Orthodox Church in Moscow, resulting in their worldwide infamy and incarceration. Outside of political context, its blistering rawness caught our attention. Better than we expected. No idea what words they're singing, but the song clearly packs just as much anger, urgency and sarcasm (assuming sarcasm exists in Russia) as “Rise Above” or “Anarchy In The UK.” Keep fighting the good fight.
| Youtube | Hype Machine |

93. Guided By Voices “Roll of the Dice, Kick in the Head”
Forever drunk and still completely fucking with pop structure, somehow placing three key modulations in under 42 seconds (although we might be hearing that wrong). Also remarkable, it completely rules despite being one of those songs that feels like it took 42 seconds to write.
| MySpace |

92. Grass Is Green “Dance Punk Revival School For Kids”
A fairly intense two minute balls-trip: arms reach out of the walls although they don’t actually grab anything; whispers creep from behind. Two minutes later they all disappear. While the majority of Ronson shows Grass Is Green progressing into unfamiliar territory beyond their first two releases, we hear “Dance Punk” as accumulating all of their best early moments into one enormous exclamation point.


91. A Place To Bury Strangers “So Far Away”
These guys build their own guitar pedals deep in a haunted abandoned mental institution, so it’s no surprise they’re able to easily pull-off such authentic sounding “wall of amps in a church” noise. Of course, none of this would matter if they didn’t also have great songs, with “So Far Away” among their 2012 highlights. (We possibly lied about the mental institution part.) Also they receive an A+ for the cool fadeout.
| Youtube | Hype Machine |

| Continue to Page 2 |

Hot Mix 2012 on Spotify

| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

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