The 11 Best Songs By Tegan and Sara

Twin sisters. Lesbian twin sisters. Hot-looking lesbian twin sisters. Hot-looking lesbian twin sister rock stars! It really doesn't get any better.

And yes...I am aware of their early releases but was never impressed by their Ani difranco years.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Tegan and Sara:

1. Take Me Anywhere (So Jealous)
2. I Know I Know I Know (So Jealous)
3. The Con (The Con)
4. Nineteen (The Con)
5. Walking With A Ghost (So Jealous)
6. Monday Monday Monday (If It Was You)
7. Back In Your Head (The Con)
8. Living Room (If It Was You)
9. You Wouldn't Like Me (So Jealous)
10. Burn Your Life Down (The Con)
11. Rebel Rebel (Spiders From Venus)

Buy Tegan & Sara's new album, Sainthood.

The 11 Best Song By Assemblage 23

Stumbling upon a new a great band that's been out there for years is like discovering a pot of gold in your backyard. I am a huge Depeche Mode fan...and have loved much of the dark brooding 80s electronic resurgence. But only recently have I discovered a band called Assemblage 23, who is now going on fifteen years strong. When I try to describe them to my friends, I call them an "angry Depeche Mode." But despite some harder industrial tones...this band is making some of the best electronic ballads I've ever heard. It's good to hear that this band has a rabid following of devoted fans that would put Fall Out Boy fans to shame...but I would love to see Tom Shear (Assemblage 23's only member) to finally get the respect he deserves. All I can say...if you love Mode...then they're worth a listen.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Assemblage 23:

1. Dirt (Binary EP)
2. Cocoon (Defiance)
3. Damaged (Meta)
4. Human (Storm)
5. Drive (Defiance)
6. Madman's Dream (Meta)
7. I Am The Rain (Failure)
8. Skin (Storm)
9. Love My Way (Early, Rare, Unreleased v2)
10. You Haven't Earned It (Storm)
11. Opened (Defiance)

Buy Assemblage 23's new album, Compass now.

The 11 Best Songs By The Editors

The story of Anvil is that persistance can be stronger than talent. When the Editors came out...they were blasted as an Interpol knock-off. And on the their sophomore albums...Interpol received critical praise while Editors didn't even receive a call back. But on the 3rd outing, things begin to change...Interpol's album was...well...just okay. Meanwhile Editors, after being dumped from their label, took a little longer. They challenged their traditional sound...and went darker (which IMO is always better). Their newest release is a gothy dripped electro trip through the Euro club scene stuck somewhere between 1983-1984. If Martin Gore hears this, he might cover one of the songs on his next EP. If Robert Smith hears this, he might cry. And if Interpol hears this...they're going to be racking their brains to figure out how to catch up.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By The Editors:

1. Munich (The Back Room)
2. Bones (An End Has A Start)
3. An End Has A Start (An End Has A Start)
4. Fingers in the Factories (The Back Room)
5. Racing Rats (An End Has A Start)
6. Lullaby (B-Side)
7. Camera (The Back Room)
8. Open Your Arms (The Back Room)
9. Orange Crush (B-Side)
10. Fall (The Back Room)
11. All Sparks (The Back Room)

Buy the Editors new album, In This Light and On this Evening.

The 11 Best Songs By Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Starting tomorrow and over the next month, we're about to be introduced to all the big final releases of the year. So before the craziness is unleashed, I wanted to shortly stop and mention a couple of releases that have slid by unnoticed. Both releases feature Alec Ounsworth (singer of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah). First up is a full on solo release (Mo Beauty) on the Anti- label. Which is ironic considering that CYHSY is "anti-label."

But that's not all. Alec has also formed his own indie supergroup called Flashy Pyhton, featuring members of Dr. Dog, Man Man, and the Walkmen. Like CYHSY, Alec has chosen the label-less route...so...you can pick up their first release from their website.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Clap Your Hands Say Yeah:

1. Upon The Tidal Wave of Young Blood (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
2. My Yellow Country Teeth (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
3. Is This Love? (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
4. The Sword Song (Some Loud Thunder)
5. Over and Over Again (Lost and Found) - (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
6. Some Loud Thunder (Tour EP)
7. Mama, Won't You Keep Them Castles in the Air Burning? (Some Loud Thunder)
8. Heavy Metal (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
9. Satan Said Dance (Some Loud Thunder)
10. In This Home On Ice (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
11. Cigarettes (In This Home On Ice)

Buy Alec Ounsworth's new solo album, Mo Beauty. Also buy Alec's new supergroup, Flashy Python.

The 11 Best Songs By Ben Gibbard

I've started another site. It's the same post as this one...only it's my own server for when the music industry comes knocking and tries to takedown my posts. I've has some weird ones taken down. I had a Weezer post taken down...even though they were Weezer demos that had been given away for free. And an Eminem post taken down...and I didn't even have an MP3 link on that one. That's a little too much power...now they're editing content.

http://www.goodbadunknown.com/

So...I have my new site...only no one goes there except Russian spammers. Serieoulsy about 80% of my comments are for Russian sex sites. Which begs the question...does my site really bring in the clientele that would also be into Russian sex sites? I didn't know I had it in me.

Join my Twitter page, too...only no Russian porn there.

The 11 Best Songs By Ben Gibbard (excluding DCFC songs):

1. Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
2. Brand New Colony - The Postal Service
3. Handle With Care - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
4. Against All Odds - The Postal Service
5. You Remind Me of Home - Home V
6. Clark Gable - The Postal Service
7. Nothing Better - The Postal Service
8. Train Song - Feist and Ben Gibbard
9. Indian Summer - About a Boy
10. Farmer Chords - Home V
11. Slow and Steady Wins The Race - Pedro The Lion

Buy Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar's new album "One Fast Move or I'm Gone."

The Unknown: Sebadoh's Live at Reading 1997

Solo careers are always measured against an artist's original band. For example, Chester Bennington's new solo band isn't described as a hard rock influenced pop album...it's considered a poppier version of Linkin Park. The Dead Weather isn't a sonic dirgy blues explosion...it's a bluesier version of the White Stripes. And Lou Barlow's new album (Goodnight Unknown) isn't a singer-songwriter hitting his later years stride...it's a mellowed-out version of Sebadoh.

Sebadoh - Live at Reading 1997:

1. Together or Alone
2. Soul and Fire/Not A Friend/Open Ended
3. Beauty of the Ride
4. Sixteen
5. Homemade
6. Skull/Rebound/Magnet's Coil
7. Shit Soup
8. Drama Mine
9. Whole Hog
10. Mind Reader
11. Can't Give Out

Buy Lou Barlow's new solo album, Goodnight Unknown.

The Unknown: The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka

Most bands are happy with being homogenous. Making average songs in the average structure of verse chorus verse. But the Flaming Lips are not one of those bands. For years, they have always tried to push the boundaries of what's normal. Never happy with sounding like everyone else. Sometimes the result is amazing (Yoshimi)...other times you get Zaireeka.

Now don't get me wrong...Zaireeka is a pretty amazing album. But in 12 years...I've only listened to it twice. Why? Because it's extremely difficult to listen to. Zaireeka is actually four CDs...which are all to be played at the exact same time on four different CD players. The theory is that every time you listen...you will never get the same listening experience since you will never be able to push "play" on all four players at the same time. The objective was to create an album where every time you listened...the experience was different. The problem is (especially today) nobody owns four CD players. Before it was difficult to get four friends to bring together their CD players...now it's just plain impossible.

Here are the four channels for the third song from Zaireeka. I've compressed the file as well...to show that even though the listening experience was a bit bizarre...the music itself was still pretty good.

Zaireeks Track 3 - Thirty-Five Thousand Feet of Despair

1. Channel 1
2. Channel 2
3. Channel 3
4. Channel 4
5. Compressed Track

Buy The Flaming Lips new album...Embryonic (with bonus tracks)...now!

The 11 Best Built To Spill Songs

Built To Spill gets no respect. Without BTS...there would be no Modest Mouse. Without Modest Mouse...there would be no 764-HERO...or I mean there would no Against Me!

They were the unsung Pink Floyd of grunge. The King Crimson of Seattle. The ugly Sonic Youth. The were everything but poppy. And when I mean poppy...I don't mean Camera Obscura poppy...I mean Black Eyed Peas post-Fergie poppy. Lesson to be learned...you can't be successful if you don't sound like crap.

Here are the 11 Best Built To Spill Songs:

1. Car (There's Nothing Wrong With Love)
2. Carry The Zero (Keep It Like A Secret)
3. Nowhere Nothin' Fuckup (Ultimate Alternative Wavers)
4. Big Dipper (There's Nothing Wrong With Love)
5. You Were Right (Keep It Like A Secret)
6. Goin' Against Your Mind (You In Reverse)
7. Made-Up Dreams (Perfect From Now On)
8. Get A Life (Ultimate Alternative Wavers)
9. Stab (There's Nothing Wrong With Love)
10. Broken Chairs (Keep It Like A Secret)
11. Out of Site (Perfect From Now On)

Buy the new Built To Spill, There Is No Enemy.

The 11 Best Hair Metal Albums You've Forgotten:

There was a time when people scoffed at Hair Metal. But now with bands like Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and Daughtry being the popular rock bands of the day...I think everyone wishes for a return to that craziness that was the 80s. Everyone thinks Adam Lambert is ground-breaking for his androgynous style. Seriously? Have you seen a Poison video? Kings of Leon are "cutting edge" because they have a song called "Sex On Fire." What about Warrant's "Cherry Pie," Faster Pussycat's "Bathroom Wall," Winger's "Seventeen?" I mean seriously...they may not have been the best bands to ever rock our worlds...but they at least knew how to rock.

Steel Panther (the world's greatest metal cover band) releases their first album of all new material this week, called Feel The Steel. And even as tongue-in-cheek as their material is...it's still far more rocking that anything else that's out there.

Before you run out and buy the album (which you should absolutely do)...here's a look back at some of the great hidden gems of the glam metal years. Everyone knows about the Hysterias...the Slippery When Wets...the Dr. Feelgoods...but what else was there when you peeled back the top layer?

The 11 Best Hair Metal Albums You've Forgotten About:

1. Def Leppard - On Through the Night (1980)
- It Don't Matter
2. Bon Jovi - 7800 Fahrenheit (1980)
3. L.A. Guns - Cocked and Loaded (1989)
- Never Enough
4. Motley Crue - Too Fast For Love (1981)
5. Tesla - The Great Radio Controversy (1989)
- Paradise
6. Whitesnake - Whitesnake (1987)
7. Cinderella - Long Cold Winter (1988)
- Gypsy Road
8. Skid Row - Skid Row (1989)
9. Faster Pussycat - Faster Pussycat (1987)
10. Dokken - Tooth and Nail (1984)
- Alone Again
11. Ratt - Invasion of Your Privacy (1985)

Buy Steel Panther's new album, Feel The Steel, now!!

The 11 Best Songs By The Avett Brothers

Last week, my computer went down, preventing me from doing work, blogging and keeping tabs on the happenings in the NFL. I literally felt like I had a limb torn from my body. I didn't know what to do with myself. I tried reading a book to pass the time...and it oddly felt like I was cheating. But now that I have my computer up and running again, all I want is to go find something else to do.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By The Avett Brothers:

1. November Blue (Country Was)
2. Talk on Indolence (Four Thieves Gone)
3. If It's The Beaches (Glean EP)
4. Bella Donna (Second Gleam)
5. Paranoia in B Major (Emotionalism)
6. Colorshow (Four Thieves Gone)
7. Pretty Girl From San Diego (Emotionalism)
8. At The Beach (Mignonette)
9. Offering (Carolina Jubilee)
10. Swept Away (Mignonette)
11. My Last Song To Jenny (Carolina Jubilee)

Buy the new album by the Avett Brothers, I and Love and You.

The 11 Best Songs By Alice in Chains

Denver, San Francisco, Cincy, and the Jets are kicking ass...meanwhile, Arizona, Carolina, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh are struggling. I guess all things change.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Alice in Chains:

1. Would? (Dirt)
2. Right Turn (Sap)
3. Man in the Box (Facelift)
4. Nutshell (Jar of Flies)
5. Brother (Sap)
6. Rooster (Dirt)
7. A Little Bitter (Last Action Hero)
8. Heaven Beside You (AIC)
9. Down in A Hole (Dirt)
10. Sea of Sorrow (Facelift)
11. Sludge Factory (AIC)

Buy the new Alice in Chains, Black Gives Way To Blue now!

The 11 Best Bands Who Replaced Their Singer:

It's tough to accept a new Alice in Chains album is in stores. And it's not really because it's hard to accept that Layne has been replaced...what is hardest to accept is that it's finally official that he's really gone. He will be missed...but that's no reason for the band not to go on. Jerry Cantrell wrote most of the music...and sang on a lot of the songs...so there's not a very radical departure from their earlier material. The new singer does a decent job...and the album is overall very respectable to the Layne AIC legacy.

AIC isn't the first to continue on after replacing their lead singer...here are some of the best...

The 11 Best Bands Who Replaced Their Singer:

1. AC/DC (Bon Scott replaced by Brian Johnson)
2. Van Halen (David Lee Roth replaced by Sammy Hagar)
3. Genesis (Peter Gabriel replaced by Phil collins)
4. Iron Maiden (Dianno replaced by Bruce Dickinson)
5. Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green replaced "eventually" by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks)
6. Deep Purple (Ian Gilliam replaced by David Coverdale)
7. Faith No More (Chuck Mosley replaced by Mike Patton)
8. Judas Priest (Rob Halford replaced by Ripper Ownes)
9. Black Sabbath (Ozzy Osbourne replaced by Ronnie James Dio)
10. lush (Emma Anderson replaced by Miki Berenyi)
11. Killswitch Engage (Jesse Leach replaced by Howard Jones)

Buy the new Alice in Chains now. Black Gives Way To Blue.