A Mirror Floating in Water

Ugh, the title itself makes me feel pretentious. What do I know about contemporary music? What authority do I have in stating what I think are among the best songs and albums of the decade? That said, I have strong opinions and something to say, so I guess that makes up for lack of authority and experience. Here it goes.

IMHO the greatest song of the 2000's is M.I.A.'s Paper Planes. Not only is it a mirror of the 2000's, but it is also a testament to everything which has somewhat bombarded us in this age of globalization and postmodernity.

Somehow Maya's song about life in the third world and the immigrant experience, somehow is universal and sums up the experience of this age, in both the West and the Third World.

The chorus's unforgettable sampling of a shotgun firing and the clinking opening of a cash-register is so ironic and yet serves as a reflection of this entire decade in which the chorus's ironic chants have not only been a rule of life for some people, but a political policy.

It is even more shown in the tone of the song, a new sound which is unique from all previous pop. One that makes a skillful use of sampling and yet is not really rap, is political but not really punk, and whose singer is British but also Indian.

If we are to look at Maya's intentions in the song, it is clearly about Third World life and the nihilistic results of late capitalism. And yet from the point-of-view of the speaker of the song, it's ones means of survival, and thus giving one reminders of films like City of God or Chop Shop.

And yet at a deeper level this song somehow sums up in both tone and highly condensed and open lyrics our experience of the last ten years in a rather up-beat irony. To explain how Maya goes about this is unexplainable with words, as all great works of art are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXVRlB_As9M

Runners up:

Stan by Eminem: A great majority of rap has in the past ten years been degraded into songs about money, violence and sex. The profound lyrics of Public Enemy and 2Pac are virtually erased from the radio. Even the best rap artists such as Jay-Z or Eminem indulge in this degradation of women and the black community itself. That said rap is not without its moments of pure and raw emotion and power. Eminem's Stan is one of them which screams from an abyss the vile hells of the human psyche and obsession.

Done in the form of an obsessed fan writing to the songwriter, Eminem uses this cliche to his advantage in expressing his own struggles and dark thoughts. Eminem is brutally honest in using the relation between the fan and the musician in admitting that he's not a good role model and lacks many positive things to offer, besides honesty. And sometimes, that's all we need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x2-7_1gkNw

Crazy by Gnarles Barkley: Totally funky stuff, but not just traditionalist nostaliga for the age of James Brown. Completely modern in both sound and lyrics and yet still perfect, smooth and cool funk. One of the most memorable songs of the decade and one that a jazz-man such as myself can really dig. (I also really dig the neo-surreal cover art)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe500eIK1oA

Best Album: Radiohead did it in the 90's with OK Computer, and they're done it again with Kid A, reaching even higher, ambitious and totally original heights. This is the band's, and rock's for that matter, *****es Brew. It is totally avant-garde and yet utterly poetic. Despairingly postmodern and yet beautifully hopeful (in a very very melancholy sense). The lyrics are at their most poetic, having more in common with the works of Mueller or the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets than The Rolling Stones or Elvis.

When we thought that perfect ring ending the OK Computer album could never be topped or equaled by the same band, here they prove logic wrong with their music at its most dream-like, most melancholy and most lyrical. If this doesn't change rock forever, it will certainly be an artifact of history, telling our future selves how ****ed up we were.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onRk0sjSgFU&NR=1