2005 : 54 "Dirty Mind" by The Pipettes

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I was the last person on Earth who figured out that apparently you get music for free on the internet. I missed the whole Blog thing, which I'm pretty sad about. I know a lot of people complained about the "flavor of the week" bands that popped up around that time. Who can complain about the music being disposable when it's a tribute to one of the most disposable genres of music (I mean this in a good way), the girl group. I wish more groups took advantage of being internet flotsam by just tossing out singles like messages in bottles. I downloaded this song thinking it was going to be a girly cover of a Prince song, but I was wrong in a great way. This is a fucking amazing catchy tune. This is the best song to drink and bake cookies to. Did we need a full Pipettes album? Hell no, but that's not a bad thing. —James Specht Listen: The Pipettes >> "Dirty Mind"

2005 : 46 "Entertain" by Sleater-Kinney

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You can always tell a song is amazing if you can hear it first during a live show and remember it years later when it actually hits the album. Sleater-Kinney had been throwing this gem around in live shows for a while before it showed up on their last album. I remember this song vividly, which is amazing considering when I saw them live I was tripping balls and the music was just a huge blur of awesomeness. Janet Weiss was doing her precise robotic drumming thing while Carrie Brownstein was windmilling her guitar like it ain't no thing. Fucking perfect. This song is a perfect capstone to end a beautiful run. After a rager like this it is kind of hard to imagine where you go from here. No wonder Brownstein now works for NPR, after the war that is this song I'd want to work some place soft and quiet too. —James Specht Listen: Sleater-Kinney >> "Entertain"

2005 : 07 "You're Gonna Lose Us" by The Cribs

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It's fitting I first heard this song on Philebrity, a blog about being a douche bag in Philly. This is a song in celebration of being a drunken asshole. Sometimes the worst thing in the world is talk about feelings. I used to be one of those "Are these people REALLY my friends?" kind of pussies. Alcohol and losing your virginity can do wonders for your ego, that’s why I'm late to the party of being "one of the dudes." Listening to this song makes me feel like I'm in a Guy Ritchie movie when people actually gave a shit about Guy Ritchie movies. This song is best heard on your music listening device while waiting for the Night Owl bus after the bar but before you get the spins. —James Specht Listen: The Cribs >> "You're Gonna Lose Us"

2004 : 38 "Giga Dance" by Deerhoof

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I tend to see things in bad sci-fi terminology; so when I say this song would be great theme music for a villain, take it with a grain of salt. Deerhoof is very often loud and noisy, but rarely as HEAVY as this. This music makes me wanna walk around like a tornado, kicking garbage up and down the street, like I should go to a bar and poison the drinks. If I ever get the chance to tie damsels in distress to railroad tracks while twirling my mustache, this will be my exit music as I'm kicking the hero in the throat. Not music for a bad mood per se, but for a mood to act rotten accordingly. —James Specht Listen: Deerhoof >> "Giga Dance"

2004 : 15 "Bottle Rocket" by The Go! Team

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If you had told me I'd love a song with a harmonica solo I'd call you a fucking liar. But here we are! Anyway, this song is such an aggressive sugar shock that it's like a chlamydia test with a candy cane. It's straight up Saturday Morning cartoon theme music. I used to love to walk home from work blasting this on my iPod. When I crossed the Walnut Street bridge and this would come on I'd feel like a super hero on a victory lap. It's totally the aural equivalent of a high-five, and you're supposed to take that as corny and unironically as possible. —James Specht Listen: The Go! Team >> "Bottle Rocket"

2002 : 41 "Six Days" by DJ Shadow

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Although lyrically inappropriate, this song goes great on a "let's get high and fuck" mix. But, when you hear that spine tingling loop and the marching band drums, who is going to notice? Actually, I kind of hate that when I've been going through my list of songs I've liked in the early Aughts so far, there has been a long cloud of pot smoke hovering over it. But truth be told, that is the state I was in during my early 20s. Now that I’m fast approaching 30, I can't remember the last time I felt the urge to listen to Ween live albums. This DJ Shadow track holds up really well—proof that beautiful usage of samples with strong, heartbreaking vocals trumps any substance you ingest to alter your mind. —James Specht Listen: DJ Shadow >> "Six Days"

2002 : 19 "Silent Film Star" by Paul Westerberg

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Pretty much out of fucking nowhere Paul Westerberg accidentally released a really good double album. As an "All Shook Down" apologist I might not be the most objective person to talk about Westerberg without resorting to hyperbole. Anyone who has had to explain The Replacements to someone only familiar with "Dyslexic Heart" knows it can be an uphill battle. Just like Frank Black did with "Dog in the Sand" a few years prior to this, out of nowhere some old school college rock dude shows up and puts out a great album in a sea of mediocrity. I'm not saying the Stereo/Mono album is as great as anything off Tim, but it's still damn good. Just proof that sometimes you shouldn't just send your teen idols packing to the retirement home once you've outgrown them. "Silent Film Star" showcases what is so great about what a bitter old man Westerberg filled out to be. Who else can sing "Keep that pretty little trap shut" and make it sound beautiful? Like all great Replacement tracks, it has an great unfinished demo vibe to it. It's him coming full circle, from the garage to the stage then back to garage. This song is less pissy teenager, more cranky dad, still 100% Westerberg. —James Specht Listen: Paul Westerberg >> "Silent Film Star"

2002 : 05 "Time Bomb High School" by The Reigning Sound

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I hate trying to explain what the Reigning Sound sound like. It's straight up rock and roll in the strictest sense. Unfortunately, that's the most vanilla answer, but there really is no better way to respond. You can’t add some prefix like "post-disco punk" or anything else to further elaborate. It's a bunch of old dudes who have been in a million bar bands putting out great rock. They are way too weak-chinned to be mistaken for someone in The Strokes. They have a retro vibe, but they don't use it like some Ian Sevonius-type crutch. "Time Bomb High School" is like revenge of the shop class guys. The ones in the back of the class who liked to get drunk and high on the weekends that no one paid attention to. The Sabbath kids. The kids who took George Thorogood to heart. The Reigning Sound are the musical equivalent of that. In the early Aughts garage rock revival they were the ugly kids in a room full of high-haired, high-cheekbone sons of models. That's all if you really obsess over the lyrics. You really don't have to, which is the beauty of the band. If you want music for hanging out with the guys, drinking beer, and farting, you'll find no better band. —James Specht Listen: The Reigning Sound >> "Time Bomb High School"

2001 : 40 "By Your Side" by Beachwood Sparks

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This is what happens when you take a smooth R&B staple (as heard on "Sex and the City") and entrust it to stoner wannabe cowpokes. How is this cover not a tongue-in-cheek send up? While some blue-eyed soul jokers (cough, cough Flight of the Conchords cough, cough) would toss off a Midnite Vultures-inspired B-side, the Beachwood Sparks dare to rely on sincerity. After hearing this rendition, revisiting Sade's original—in a CVS or Rite Aid, naturally—will make you long for the Beachwood Sparks' marijuana-infused harmonies. By its conclusion, the song is swimming through an ocean of reverb yet elevated to a certain cinematic "a slow dance while the credits roll" type of magic. —James Specht Listen: The Beachwood Sparks >> "By Your Side"

2001 : 24 "Christina" by Gorky's Zygotic Mycni

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A lot of bands in the wake of Belle & Sebastian wore their influences on their foppish sleeves; employing superfluous flugel horns, harpsichords, and references to Free Design to disguise shitty songwriting. Songs like "Christina" separate the real deals from the affectations of sissies wanting to get laid. Very few bands could pull off simple lines like "Christina/I saw you in a magazine-a" and make them melancholy. The song succeeds as an heir to The Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina," but ultimately upends romance for a lonely stalker's obsession. I was lucky enough to see the band before they broke up, in a rare US performance. They were making up a Philadelphia appearance at The Khyber rescheduled due to 9/11, at a time when you could still smoke in bars. They played "Christina." Despite the fact they were not backed live by the studio orchestra the swarms the song's opening, it was compelling. Singer Euros Childs could never be confused for a handsome man—a scrawny Welshman, hunched over a keyboard singing "What's the point of living if we can't be together / I'm coming on to shoot you / the sooner the better." This wasn't a pity party or even cheap misogyny. For every band attempting to ape the chamber pop style—a bunch of beautiful tourists pretending to be nostalgic—there are a few true losers who are too sentimental to let it die. How dare you be so beautiful when I'm so miserable? "Christina" is "Psycho Killer" for the Donovan set. —James Specht Listen: Gorky's Zygotic Mycni >> "Christina"

2001 : 07 "Timorous Me" by Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

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Ted Leo gets a lot of comparisons to canonical "not quite punk, not quite power pop" songwriters, such as Elvis Costello. One point these comparisons miss is just how overwhelmingly positive his music is. Even in the depths of his angriest political songs, hope thwarts the negative. Teddy Rockstar is so full of "just go out there and fucking do something!" tenacity that listeners inevitably walk away with some of his residual energy. "Timorous Me" is not a political song but it excels at what it is, an "ain't life grand" ballad. In Ted Leo's lyrics, an awkward handshake is just about the greatest thing in the world—and without resorting to some Twee bullshit. If you're not grinning when "Timorous Me" breaks into hand claps, you've never had a real friendship in your life. —James Specht Listen: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists >> "Timorous Me"