http://newmusicnation.com Music Advice for the '00s Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:04:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Except for the songs that made my Top 20 Songs of 2009, these are the rest of the best indie and indie-minded rock tracks of 2009 (Volume 1 of 3). To be eligible, a song needed to be included on an album released in the United States between December 1, 2008 and November 30, 2009...]]> http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/05/indie-indie-minded-rock-of-2009-vol-1/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/05/indie-and-indie-minded-rock-of-2009-vol-2/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/05/indie-and-indie-minded-rock-tracks-of-2009-vol-3/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/05/lightermellow-rock-of-2009-vol-1/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/05/lightermellow-rock-of-2009-vol-2/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/05/lightermellow-rock-of-2009-vol-3/ Except for the songs that made my Top 20 Songs of 2009, these are the rest of the best Brit and Brit-sounding pop/rock/punk tracks of 2009. To be eligible, a song needed to be included on an album released in the United States between December 1, 2008 and November 30, 2009...]]> http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/03/brit-and-brit-sounding-poprockpunk-of-2009/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/03/alt-countryroots-rockblues-rock-of-2009/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/03/aggressive-rock-of-2009/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/03/mainstream-rock-of-2009/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/03/metal-of-2009/ Except for the songs that made my Top 20 Songs of 2009, these are the rest of the best indie and indie-minded hip hop tracks of 2009 (Volume 1 of 2). To be eligible, a song needed to be included on an album released in the United States between December 1, 2008 and November 30, 2009...]]> http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/01/indie-and-indie-minded-hip-hop-of-2009-vol-1/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/01/indie-and-indie-minded-hip-hop-of-2009-vol-2/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/01/mainstream-hip-hop-of-2009-vol-1/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/01/mainstream-hip-hop-of-2009-vol-2/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/01/electro-funkhip-hopmodern-caribbean-and-soulrb-of-2009/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/01/pop-of-2009-vol-1/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/01/pop-of-2009-vol-2/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2010/02/01/electronicsynth-pop-of-2009/ No artist appears on this list (four times) more than Conor Oberst, the mastermind behind Bright Eyes and Desaparecidos. With stunning lyrics and expert pop songcraft, he relentlessly released one classic album after another—both with his bands and as a solo artist—throughout the decade. No musician was more consistent or prolific, so I’m left with no choice but to declare him the Artist of the Decade. Mr. Oberst didn’t release the #1 album of the ‘00s, however...]]> http://newmusicnation.com/elite-albums/2009/12/30/top-100-albums-of-the-00s/ Several of the songs listed below were massive popular hits. Others reached much smaller, niche audiences. Regardless, the commercial success of these tracks was a non-factor when considering their stature as the decade’s elite recordings. Instead, as always, I factored in originality, composition/arrangement/production, lyrics, catchiness/memorability, energy and emotion. And I focused primarily on rock, hip-hop, metal, pop, electro/dance, r&b and alternative country. Here are my picks for the Top 100 Songs of the ‘00s...]]> http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2009/12/30/top-100-songs-of-the-00s/ As the decade draws to a close, the future of the album is as iffy as it’s been since the early ‘60s. Commercially, album sales dropped another 13% in 2009 (after declinining steadily each of the last several years) while digital single song sales continue to rise...]]> http://newmusicnation.com/elite-albums/2009/12/22/top-20-albums-of-2009-plus-20-more/ http://newmusicnation.com/news-notes/2009/12/22/top-20-songs-of-2009/ Note: Them Crooked Vultures is Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss) on vocals/guitar, John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) on bass and Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) on drums. Sound: Riff-heavy, rhythm-driven, hard-hitting rock with progressive, psychedelic and stoner tendencies and falsetto, hooky melodies. At times, their mix of psychedelic blues and falsetto vocals are reminiscent of Cream...]]> http://newmusicnation.com/reviews/2009/12/06/review-them-crooked-vultures-them-crooked-vultures-interscope/ Sound: American electro pop with flavors from around the world (Latin, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, Indian) created by some of this decade’s biggest hitmakers (Pharell Williams produces 4 tracks, while Wyclef Jean and Timbaland contributed a track each...]]> http://newmusicnation.com/reviews/2009/12/06/review-shakira-she-wolf-epic/