The Soundtrack to my Year | December 17, 2007
Every year Rich creates a mix his favourite songs from the last 12 months and hands it out to his mates. Rich has excellent music taste, so the CD is always greatly anticipated. This year Rich had the idea of creating an office mix as well. Each of us would nominate our two favourite tracks and we’d end up with a CD that reflected the year’s soundtrack at Clearleft.
I found it very difficult to pick just two tracks, so it got me thinking about the soundtrack to my year. I don’t know about you, but I tend to associate specific events in my life with specific songs. For instance, “Playing With Knives” by Bizzare Inc reminds me of walking back from the PSV club in Manchester during my university years, while “Wonderwall” reminds me of sitting in a hammock in Thailand with an old girlfriend. So I decided to compile my soundtrack based on the songs I listened to each months and the events surrounding them. It’s a little contrived at times, but you get the picture.
January - “Alala” by CSS
A punkey blast of riot girl power, this track kept me bouncing well into the New Year.
February - “Ice Cream” by New Young Pony Club
Introduced to me by my then girlfriend, NYPC were a natural progression from CSS and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Sexy, sassy and fun, just like her.
March - “Binary Love” by The Rakes
The Rakes provided the backdrop for my post SXSW road trip down the coats from San Francisco to Big Sur. Good times.
April - “Young Folks” by Peter, Bjorn and John
Another introduction by my then girlfriend, this song is beautifully upbeat and is almost impossible not to hum along to.
May - “Hoppípolla” by Sigur Ros
This gently haunting song is the perfect soundtrack to a relaxing night in.
June - “Rock & Roll Queen” by The Subways
Rather sadly I came across this song via a TV advert featuring Kate Moss. Despite that, Rock & Roll Queen is a class act, unlike our Kate.
July - “Season Song” by Blue States
Watching 28 days later reminded me how much I love this track. Perfect music for drifting off to sleep.
August - “The Crane Wife 3” by The Decemberists
The Clearleft office was pumping with the sound of the Decemberists in the run up to dConstruct this year, thanks in no small part to Mr Keith.
September - “It’s Not Over Yet” by the Klaxons
The album is a bit hit or miss, but this floor stomper really kicks butt. Golden Skans is also pretty cool.
October - “It’s a Hit” by We Are Scientists
Spent the autumn rocking out to “We Are Scientists”. It was really tough picking out a single track as they’re all so good.
November - ” Doing It Right” by the Go Team
This high energy track with it’s catchy cheerleader chants is enough to get anybody bouncing rounds the house. And they’re from Brighton to!
December - “When Anger Shows” by Editors
There’s something about the time of year than makes wandering round town listening to the Editors melancholic power ballads feel appropriate.
So that’s my rundown for the year. How about you?
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WARNING: if you’ve heard the PB&J song “Young Folks,” everytime you merely read the name of the song, you will hear a haunting whistle in your head… for about a week.
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Interesting that you have Blue States on your list - I used to be in a band with Andy Dragazis, a.k.a. Blue States, a few years ago.
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The album that really sums up this year for me is “For those about to rock…we salute you” by AC/DC - it’s been a good year, full of rock and roll moments, and that album was also the soundtract to my band’s drive around Europe when we were on tour earlier in the year.
Another album of note is “Apocalypse dudes” by Turbonegro, because they are from Oslo, the home of my new employer Opera ;-)
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I see you have some mighty fine taste. I’m still narrowing down my list. For me, other hits were by Justice, Olympia, The Stars, and Portugal the Man. It was another good year for music, so getting a solid top 10 together will take some work.
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