My Friend Erik’s Musical Taste

In the long, long ago–back before this blog had a gimmick, if one can imagine–I succumbed to itemizing the best music over the last decade.  Because all the cool kids all do it it’s always fun to find out what ten songs hit people the most over the previous decade; “the best” is impossible.  And in doing so, you figure out if you’ve missed something vitally important along the way.  Yeah, for a publication like Rolling Stone it’s some sort of coronation but when you have friends with similar tastes, it’s essentially a gimmick that leads you to good music in the end.  Either songs of haven’t before or haven’t heard in a while, it’ll affect you in some way.  Or to turn your nose up to them from that point forward.  Y’know, whatever.

You can find the lists here.  But one list that was never posted came from my friend Erik, who is contributing to tomorrow’s edition of Mixtape Weekend.  No big deal…if it wasn’t probably the best written of the group.  You, dear readers, who have no one to blame but myself.  I got lazy and kept pushing it off until it was February, and then kind of besides the point.  But now, in the interest of sharing music (and in October), here is his list.  It rules.  Tune in for his equally-awesome mixtape tomorrow.  Without further ado, here’s my pal Erik’s Top Ten of the Decade:

Top Ten of the Two Thousands: Me

Hipster music authority Pitchfork recently unveiled their list of the top 500 tracks of the last decade.  Naturally, I’d never heard 400 of the songs.  So I figured instead of crying about it, I’d get a few of the most fanatical music lovers I know to do their own Top Tens of the decade that still is.  Every day this week you get a new list (with 5 honorable mentions).  The list is in no specific order; the best ten songs out of ten years of recorded music is enough of an honor (and enough new stuff for you, dear reader, to devour).

Now it’s my turn.  I’m Mike Anton.  Onto the list….

Top Ten of the Two Thousands: Rich

Hipster music authority Pitchfork recently unveiled their list of the top 500 tracks of the last decade.  Naturally, I’d never heard 400 of the songs.  So I figured instead of crying about it, I’d get a few of the most fanatical music lovers I know to do their own Top Tens of the decade that still is.  Every day this week you get a new list (with 5 honorable mentions).  The list is in no specific order; the best ten songs out of ten years of recorded music is enough of an honor (and enough new stuff for you, dear reader, to devour).

Today’s list comes from Rich, who is British, making him European, therefore granting him better taste than all of us.  He’s a supporter of stupid Aston Villa and DJs for an indie rock bar in the surrounding Midlands, wherever the hell that is.  I’ve heard him seamlessly go from Animal Collective to Hot Chip to The Bug in an hour.  That’s enough musical knowledge for me.  Here are his Top Ten

Top Ten of the Two Thousands: Ryan

Hipster music authority Pitchfork recently unveiled their list of the top 500 tracks of the last decade.  Naturally, I’d never heard 400 of the songs.  So I figured instead of crying about it, I’d get a few of the most fanatical music lovers I know to do their own Top Tens of the decade that still is.  Every day this week you get a new list (with 5 honorable mentions).  The list is in no specific order; the best ten songs out of ten years of recorded music is enough of an honor (and enough new stuff for you, dear reader, to devour).

Today’s list comes from my good pal Ryan Lambert.  He dresses like a hipster to get girls and listens to Swedish death metal.  Go fig.  Ryan writes a weekly column on Yahoo! Sport’s hockey blog Puck Daddy, contributes to FlamesNation, and on the rare occasion, his own site, The Two Line Pass.  Here are his Top Ten (in alphabetical order, no less)

Top Ten of the Two Thousands: nate

Hipster music authority Pitchfork recently unveiled their list of the top 500 tracks of the last decade.  Naturally, I’d never heard 400 of the songs.  So I figured instead of crying about it, I’d get a few of the most fanatical music lovers I know to do their own Top Tens of the decade that still is.  Every day this week you get a new list (with 5 honorable mentions).  The list is in no specific order; the best ten songs out of ten years of recorded music is enough of an honor (and enough new stuff for you, dear reader, to devour).

Today’s list comes from nate, a recent journalism grad student at Syracuse who happens to run one of the finest LiverpoolFC blogs on the internet (and believe me, I don’t like complimenting him in public, so it’s really quite good), Oh You Beauty.  He also got me into Blackstar, Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, and countless other bands, so that was nice of him.  Here are his Top Ten