1. When They Fight, They Fight: Oh, how I love the Motown-esque riff/bass line. This song is quite literally the Oxford dictionary definition of the word catchy. There are some woos, a tambourine, a trumpet, group singing, etc. I could write a college thesis on how perfect this song is.
2. Psychic City (Voodoo City): Ay ya ya yah! Very Talking Heads-esque when it’s just Claire singing with the bass. Excellent song. In fact, it’s so excellent that I’m only a tad bitter about Jona leaving The Blow for this band.
3. Beautiful, Dirty, Rich: You can all give me as much shit as you want, but I love this song. I even love her when she isn't doing that atrocious Telephone video. Everyone thinks she’s the next Madonna, and I see that, but this song is so clearly Prince with the piano, drum beat, and synth.
4. Ambling Amp: This song could make a 90 year old woman with severe osteoporosis before the invention of Cortisone dance like crazy. And for the record, the lyrics are: Stick up for yourself, son.
5. Yalira: I have absolutely no idea what they are saying, but I like it. The beginning sound so triumphant. Like if I win the Super Bowl, I so want my life to go into slow motion while this song plays in the stadium.
6. World Sick: Proving once again that no one can touch them. Not even you, Animal Collective. I nearly died of happiness when they released this song. The song is a little less jumbled and chaotic, but it has the same spirit and enthusiasm that BSS is known for. Seeing them live on May 1st at The Fillmore will be the teenager equivalent of this amazing video.
7. Excuses: Berkeley band!!! Phil Spector would love love love this song. And it all starts with a needle drop. So vintage.
8. Used to Be: I could be mistaken, but Teen Dream is the Merriweather Post Pavilion of 2010. I’ve loved Beach House since the moment I heard Victoria sing, but this album took it to another level. I cannot put into words how perfect his song is. Kelly, my love, this is our new song in case you forgot all of our karaoke-ing second period.
9. IRM: Before you ask. Yes, Charlotte is the daughter of the infamous Serge Gainsbourg, and yes she is unfairly gorgeous. To make you feel even more inferior, she has teamed up with indie legend Beck, who wrote and produced the entire album. Even worse, she’s actually talented, and will be huge when she finally grows some balls and releases an album in French.
10. Scissor: I definitely hear the TV on the Radio influence everyone is preoccupied with, but this is so clearly the work of Liars frontman Angus Andrew. He is one big bundle of brilliance and craziness. Almost died of shock when I first heard this song.
11. It Ain’t Gonna Save Me: RIP, Jay Reatard. The indie world will miss you dearly. Seriously, he was banned in many European countries because his live shows were so legendarily crazy. This is the last single he released before he died.
12. Pop Chart: Okay, so this is essentially Kidz Bop Does Punk, but I’m a sucker for a good gimmick. The music might be obscenely simple and the lyrics might be pretty much terrible. But, the song is catchy. The kids are cute. Come on. they are a brother/sister duo and the girl was only 11 when they started the band. Brooklyn wins again.
13. Shelia: Epic memories of dancing awkwardly while squished in between a guy who appeared to be sleeping while standing up, a group of potheads who were in fact smoking up next to us, and a giant of a man in front of me. Good concert.
14. Let’s Go Surfing: I love The Drums. I love that they are from Palm Beach, Florida. I love that they are so obviously gay. I love their whistling and clapping. I love that they convinced the indie world that the lyrics to this song were: Obama, I want to go surfing. Obama, I don’t care about nothing. They aren’t, but it was cool anyway.
