Available - The National - Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers - 2002

I keep waiting for the The National to release an album that sounds like they do on this song. Every National album has 2-3 tracks like this that prove to the world that they know how to rock. These songs are invariably the singles and the songs that produce the most excitement when played live, but a deep dive into any National album will also show you that surrounding these 2-3 songs are usually 10 other songs that drift on through a fog of red wine and the inherent disappointment of adult relationships. These songs are often quite good, and at worst are just dull...but taken in total can make an album drag and drag. Much as loved 2007's The Boxer, it could have easily cut 3-4 of it's dirges, and replaced even one of them with another rocker in this vein and they would have had a perfect album on their hands.

Instead we must make due with the little bits of adrenaline that The National deign to serve to us between bouts of melancholia. Not that this song is without its share of darkness, in fact the bitter tale the lyrics spins is one of the uglier tales in band rife with them. A familiar tale for anyone acquainted with The National's catalog or single life in NYC, it tells of the story of man consistently compelled by liquor and sex to keep coming back to the same hopeless dysfunctional relationship...punctuated by Matt Beringer's wonderful parlour trick scream.

He uses that scream twice on this album (the other time on the equally great Slipping Husband), but since has seemed reluctant to pull it out again...but the effect that occurs when Beringer goes from his deep, honeyed baritone to a throat shredding screech of frustration is jaw dropping. Coupled with the lyrics "Why do you dress me down and liquor me up?!?" it presents the picture of a man who hates this woman for using such low methods to manipulate him, and hates himself more for allowing himself to be manipulated by them. Damn near note perfect.

Atlas - Battles - Mirrored - 2007

Not to ride in on the coat tails of Pitchfork too much, but this probably was the best song of 2007. The rest of the Battles album has it's charms, but this was the clear winner with it's absolutely propulsive drum beats, piston engine guitars and nonsense vocorder singing that somehow doesn't get annoying after 7 minutes.

As usual, it's always harder to write about a song I really like than one I totally hate. This song rocks, and it's great for driving in the summer or taking the subway home at night. Cheers!

Atlantic City - Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska - 1982

Well, I'm going to take a small detour before giving you all the third punched in the face story, mostly because I need to talk about this song...

Springsteen, when he is at his best (Which he unquestionably is in this song), captures the frustration of being stuck in a working class life while tormented by bigger ambitions. He's most remembered for his moments of triumphant catharsis through escape ("Tramps like us, baby we were born to run!" "This town's full of losers, and I'm pulling out of here to win!") but the real drama comes from the sense that those escapes are false hopes and dead ends. His characters are doomed Calvinist, already damned from birth and the protagonist of this song is no different.

If anything his plight is worse, he holds no false hope of redemption. He knows the choice he makes when says "last night I met this guy and I'm going to do a little favor for him" will bring no redemption, only temporary relief before a greater hell.

Springsteen was always a great admirer of Dylan, and the entirety of the Nebraska is an attempt to wed the sonic sensibilities of a pre-electric Dylan to the Jersey Shore narratives (along with a healthy dose of Charlie Starkweather) for which the Boss was already quite famous by 82. The strategy doesn't always work, some of the songs can seem overly sparse, and other meandering...but when it does work, it is amazing...

Apartment Story - The National - Boxer - 2007

Despite my vote for Boxer as the best album of 2007, The National remain a band that I wish were better. The problem is, songs like this prove they are capable of being more than a maudlin band full of existiental urban angst...songs like this prove they can actually rock and still keep their philosophical bent.

I will need a little more time before I decide if this song is really worthy of being called perfect, but...between the hypnotic, all snare, drumming, the churning bassline, the haunting organ, and the restrained, buzz-saw guitars, the song manages to mix whimsy and dread in equal parts, while Matt Beringer's lyrics tell a tale that could be about a couple riding out a blizzard trapped in their apartment, or perhaps it's the apocalypse, who can say?

Not to try and be the "I was with this band way back then" guy...but honestly, the parrallels between this band and me are rather noteworthy and lead to me getting into them around the time of their first album. Like me Beringer is from relatively small town Indiana, came to Cincinnati to try to do things better...found that place woefully inadequate and came to New York during the dotcom boom. Now they, like me, call Brooklyn their home. Honestly, I love this band...I just wish their gloomy world view wasn't always so mirred in lethargic rhythms.

Anything You Want - Spoon - Girls Can Tell - 2000

Ok, so I have a category for perfect songs, and I can hardly think of a better entry for it than this little gem from Spoon. At a spry 2:17 it is unbelievably short, but still seems to pack the same punch as a longer song all the while managing to be both remarkably laid back and heartbreakingly romantic.

In terms of sound, this song prefigures the musical choices that would become more quintessentially Spoon on later albums, primarily in the use of sonic vacuums to suggest the space in which other instruments would later appear. Take the piano riff that serves as the songs primary bass line (There is a bass part, but it's pretty innocuous). The first measure is played at regular volume whereas the second measure is played in hushed and subdued manner...once you are somewhat familiar with the song this space in the second measure is identifiable as the place in which the guitar will appear in the second pass through. Spoon want you to see how their songs are put together, so they show you the place in between the instruments.

Beyond that...the lyrics are...that wonderful mix of nonchalant and lovelorn. Somehow, the line "I'll be in the back room drinking my half of the beer" ends up sounding like the sexiest come on line ever, and the amazing one-breath delivery of "You know you're the one and that that hasn't changed since you were 19 and still in school waiting on the light at the corner by Sound Exchange" becomes a pledge of eternal devotion.

Like I said, perfect song.

Anthems for Seventeen Year Old Girls - Broken Social Scene - You Forget It In People - 2002

It was probably this song that really cemented the idea that Broken Social Scene was more than a weird Canadian hippy collective. It shouldn't work on any level, all of the elements should be terrible. Emily Haines effects an appropriately girly voice to chant the sing-songy lyrics with their hypnotic rhythm, while the backing track consists almost entirely of a banjo and violin until the end when the drum and guitar kick in. Girly voice! Strings! BANJO! This sounds terrible, right?

But it's absolutely hypnotic and nearly perfect. And beyond that, without being salacious or judgemental, it actually paints a fairly realistic portrait of whatever the hell goes on in the minds of teenage girls, by simply chanting a few phrases over and over. By the time she reaches "Park that car/Drop that phone/Sleep on the floor/Dream about me" you totally get it.

American Girl - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - 1976

Frankly, The Silence of the Lambs very nearly ruined this song for me. And what that didn't do The Strokes "Last Night" did the rest.

But I guess I can't really blame the messenger. And at the end of the day, this is still one of the finest examples of the mid 70's jangle pop ressurgance. And honestly, despite massive overexposure, this song is still just about note perfect. It's syncopated drum rhythm (which, as I mentioned, The Strokes would ride for dear life), it's half reggea bassline, Mike Campbell's 12 string jangle and the dreamy background vocals (always the Heartbreaker's secret weapon) make the song ideal from driving down country roads with the windows down on a muggy summer night. Stuff like this almost makes me miss Indiana.