An End of the Year Music List

I hate lists. I think they're easy, useless, and resent paying for them. It infuriates me to see magazines and newspapers publishing lists of the best games/TV shows/movies/books/comics/plays of the year (or ever). And don't get me started about lists on podcasts. Yes, GeeksOn was the first place I ever heard about the Necronomicon pillow, but I just don't give a crap about what characters readers would cast the writers of TV Guide as in Buffy or Grey's Anatomy.

But here at CF&S, we're writing text for the Internet, where we don't get paid to make lists and you don't have to pay anything to read them. For me, that makes the phenomenon tolerable. And it wouldn't look like the last week of the year on a web site without a list, would it? So here's mine, The Top 5 Songs I First Heard This Year That Still Bliss Me Out.

5. "ReYourBrains" (Thing A Week Two, Jonathan Coulton)

Mmm, brains. Like most of the songs on this list, this was a toss-up. Coulton's better-known single, "Code Monkey," manages to rock and be surprisingly sweet at the same time. But this is the song that I bought the T-shirt for, and I have never bought a music T-shirt in my life.

4. "In This Together" (You and Me Against the World, Apoptygma Berzerk)

Completeing their journey from synthpop to dance to rock, Apop finally fulfilled Mr. Bile's hopes and released a studio album with the same energy as their live one. The whole album makes me feel happy, but this song in particular has a "played over the end credits of a movie with shots of the main characters dancing" feeling that I really dig. Check out the real version yourself, because you'll only hear the dance remix at goth roller-skating night.

3. "Nursehellamentary" (Rhyme Torrents Volume I, Nursehella)

This was the year I was forcibly exposed to nerdcore, and surprisingly, I liked it. With both MC Frontalot and Weird Al in the mix, it was hard to choose just one nerdcore song to put on this list. I picked Nursehella because she embraced the braggadocio popular in non-nerd rap without mocking it or using it as an excuse for white-boy misogyny. The lyrics are actually kind of hot. My decision was cemented when I checked out her My Space profile, where she describes herself like a sexy Tycho Brahe would.

2. "Night of the Vampire" (Gremlins Have Pictures, Roky Erickson)

Sometimes not finding what you put into the search bar on iTunes has its rewards. I don't even know what subgenre this is. What I do know is that gets stuck in your head, evokes a cool mental picture, and has great misheard lyrics. I stand in the darkness with no porn.

1. "The New Kid" (Drag It Up, The Old '97s)

Another toss-up. Slither has an awesome, thematically appropriate soundtrack. But the Yayhoo's "Baby I Love You" seems to strike a nerve with some women, so "The New Kid" it is. And, yes, it is alt-country.

Most of the above are available for sampling and download via iTunes. "ReYourBrains," "Code Monkey," and other Jonathan Coulton songs may still be available there for free if you subscribe to his podcast. "Nursehellamentary" can be heard in full here.

The usual cheating honorary mentions go to Bear McCreary, The NESkimos, The Oddz, the aforementioned MC Frontalot, MC Hawking, and Rappy McRapperson. Oh, and Lordi. They destroy cheerleaders.