You wasted life...

Does it surprise you when you look at your top tracks in iTunes, last.fm or similar? Can you pinpoint the reason for such repeatedly listening? Most importantly, when it boils down to it, are your top 10 songs 'good/trendy/non-mainstream enough' to reflect positively on the decidedly un-post-modern idea of your 'music taste'? Here I list my top 9 (because I aim to be unconventional) most listened tracks, as compiled by iTunes, and I attempt to answer some of the aforementioned questions.

9)What Ever Happened- The Strokes

The Strokes. As I like them. End of story.

8)The Only Way- Gotye


Whatever I could say about Gotye would pale in comparison to the experience of actually hearing the music. It's suited to an atmospheric outdoor concert, dancing with abandonment and contemplating the possibility of the consumption of mind altering drugs. Alternative it also conjures intimate feelings of an unpopular bar at 3 in the morning, full of misfits and loners, quietly sipping their drink of choice. Sometimes it's a single song that creates this duality, but theres some songs on his album 'Like Drawing Blood' that are devoutly one or the other. The Only Way is most assuredly door number 1. Infectious beat, uplifting harmony, and crazy disjointed drum solo towards the end, this song is the equivalent of an indie kid's party anthem, if, infact they got so far out of their self depreciating rut to acknowledge the fact they do party (full disclosure: I am a self declared, and peer labeled indie kid, from the top of my cropped hair to the tips of my colored-tights-sheathed toes).

7) Float On- Modest Mouse

Anyone who can resist this song defies the formula of hit-making. Memorable riff, sing-alongable chorus, catchy little snare skip at the start, plenty of high hat and a unique element, (can you get much more unique than Isaac Brock's vocal style?) thats fully accepted by the bands loyal fans, but hailed as totally new and unique by those who hurriedly downloaded the single after hearing it on the radio. Including the radio presenters.

6)Over & Over Again (Lost and Found)- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

On first introducing this track to my then boyfriend, I was met with the unenthusiastic comment of 'It sounds like Christmas dying slowly after being shot in the stomach'. While his flair for creative description is to his credit, it was hardly the reaction I was after. I love Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and have from the moment I heard the first track on their first album. Not entirely sure why this particular track has emerged, victorious, into my top nine above all the other (equally good) tracks from both their albums, but it's a decent representation of what I love about them. Creative lyrics ("You look like David Bowie"), unpretentious melodic lines and the fact that their vocals aren't the only unique thing about their sound(Can you get much more unique than Isaac Brock, I asked? enter: Alec Ounsworth.). My top 9 would not be complete without CYHSY. Turns out my relationship can't be complete unless said spouse loves them too :p

5) Local God- Everclear

Come on. Who doesn't love a bit of 90's rock?

4) In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach) - Elliott Smith

Such a pretty, unpretentious sound, yet his charisma holds you right in the centre of the sound. That and the honky piano. So catchy.
When I looked at this list I was actually surprised to see this song so far up, assuming 'Somebody That I used To Know' would be a higher track of his, but as soon as I listen I'm pulled back into soft, yet upbeat sentiments and his voice that makes this track compulsively listen-able.

3) Kissing the Lipless- The Shins

'Called to see if your back was still aligned...'

From the opening line, your intent on listening even to know where the hell the lyrics can go from there. Quiet and tentative, it builds into a strum fest, with the Shins at their best for a good 3 verses, with unexpected melodic lines and creative use of the ride cymbal, then winding quietly back down, leaving you thoughtful, and slightly melancholy, slightly resentful, if only on behalf of the poor bloke in the song.

2) Six Days The Remix- DJ Shadow ft. Mos Def

2 DJ Shadow songs. And Mos Def over the top. All in one very catchy beat fest.

Admittedly a legacy of the boyfriend who didn't like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, this song makes me feel very tough. In reality I'm not very tough at all so maybe thats why I listen to it so much.


1) The Ocean Breathes Salty- Modest Mouse

I must declare it before we go any further. Modest Mouse are my favorite band in the world. Ever. So this position for this particular song may have something to do with the fact they played this (possibly opened with it actually. Everything was a blur, regardless of the fact it was 4 in the afternoon and I was stone cold sober) when I saw them at the Falls Festival in Victoria over New Years, which was literally the gig of my life.
I'm a sucker for catchy drums. Which makes basically every Modest Mouse song a treat beyond belief, but this one so much more so. So atmospheric, so empowering. It's like you're taking part in the bitter tirade being enacted in the lyrics. All while packaging it in a whole lotta bop.

"You wasted life why wouldn't you waste the afterlife?"

Toe tapping stuff people.

So that rounds off my top nine. I assume you have one too. What is it?