For those of you unaware, my wife had a baby four hours after the new year rang in on the East Coast. I have been away from the blog since that time, thus the incredible lateness of this particular post topic. For this post, the difficulty was not in fact regarding writing, but instead the actual compiling of my list. That shit takes time. While I’m certainly under no illusions that I’ve heard every song this year that is worthy of mention on a ‘best of’ list, it is the reason I am once again compiling a list of the songs I’ve come across in this year that I deemed my favorites. Once again I have included 111, because that was a number I was comfortable with last year, and 113 this year seemed silly. This order is also semi-ridiculous, meaning it has already changed its order since I wrote it initially, but as long as these tracks are included it’s fine. Due to my lack of time this is also not stylized to my content, so I apologize for its bland appearance.

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes regarding the new addition to my family, either here, on Facebook or on Twitter, I appreciate it. I’ve chosen a few various mp3′s to include, so let’s get into it.

111. Young Adults :: Impression
110. Cowboy Indian Bear :: Mathematicians/Colour
109. Faded Paper Figures :: Invent It All Again
108. Beach Fossils :: Youth
107. Surfer Blood :: Anchorage
106. Young the Giant :: My Body
105. Marina & The Diamonds :: I Am Not A Robot (Clock Opera Remix)
104. Wild Nothing :: Chinatown
103. Junior Low :: Smokes
102. Josiah Wolf :: The Trailer and the Truck
101. Tennis :: Marathon
100. Weekend :: Coma Summer
99. Thee Oh Sees :: I Was Denied
98. Wise Blood :: STRT SRNS
97. Here We Go Magic :: Collector
96. Local Natives :: Shape Shifter
95. Hooray For Earth vs. Twin Shadow :: A Place We Like
94. Jukebox the Ghost :: Empire (Freelance Whales Remix) [mp3]
93. DOM :: Living In America [mp3]
92. Gypsy and the Cat :: The Piper’s Song (Aeroplane Tape Remix)
91. Tabi Bonney :: Nuthin But A Hero
90. Skybox :: In A Dream
89. Lights On :: Red Lights Flashing
88. Pastel Group :: Mistreated
87. Teen Daze :: Let’s Fall Asleep Together
86. Tapes ‘n Tapes :: Freak Out
85. Kordan :: Closer
84. Japandroids :: Younger Us [mp3]
83. Cold Cave :: Life Magazine (Delorean Remix)
82. Family :: Mother Benita
81. The Young Veins :: Cape Town
80. Male Bonding :: Years Not Long
79. Beach House :: Walk In The Park
78. Yeasayer :: O.N.E.
77. Gorillaz :: On Melancholy Hill
76. Crystal Castles :: Baptism
75. Crocodiles :: Stoned To Death
74. Arcade Fire :: We Used To Wait
73. Wolf Parade :: Cave-o-sapien
72. Band of Horses :: On My Way Back Home
71. Warpaint :: Shadows
70. Cold War Kids :: Coffee Spoon
69. The Walkmen :: Angela Surf City
68. Beach House :: 10 Mile Stereo
67. Wise Blood :: Solo (’4′ Claire)
66. Starfucker :: Julius
65. Reporter :: Click Shaw
64. LCD Soundsystem :: Home
63. Miami Horror :: Holidays [mp3]
62. Glasser :: Home
61. Male Bonding :: Nothing Remains
60. Gauntlet Hair :: Out, Don’t..
59. El Guincho :: Bombay
58. Department of Eagles :: While We’re Young
57. Bear Hands :: What A Drag
56. Ancient Crux :: Wing Walker
55. Abe Vigoda :: Throwing Shade
54. Yeasayer :: Ambling Alp
53. Young Empires :: Rain Of Gold [mp3]
52. Vampire Weekend :: Run
51. Deerhunter :: Coronado
50. Two Door Cinema Club :: Something Good Can Work
49. Two Door Cinema Club :: Come Back Home
48. Tokyo Police Club :: Bambi
47. Male Bonding :: All Things This Way [mp3]
46. Harlem :: Gay Human Bones
45. Best Coast :: Boyfriend
44. Gamble House :: Second to None
43. Frightened Rabbit :: Living in Colour
42. Freelance Whales :: Generator ^ First Floor
41. Guards :: Long Time [mp3]
40. Wavves :: Post Acid
39. Tokyo Police Club :: Breakneck Speed
38. Minus the Bear :: Secret Country
37. The Morning Benders :: Hand Me Downs
36. Frankie Rose and the Outs :: Little Brown Haired Girls
35. Perfume Genius :: Mr. Peterson
34. His Clancyness :: Ottawa Backfired Soon [mp3]
33. The National :: Anyone’s Ghost
32. Harlem :: Friendly Ghost [mp3]
31. Dakotafish :: Jitter
30. Local Natives :: Sun Hands
29. Deerhunter :: He Would Have Laughed
28. Suckers :: Martha [mp3]
27. SAFE :: Twenty Years On [mp3]
26. Wolf Parade :: Pobody’s Nerfect
25. Avi Buffalo :: What’s In It For?
24. Cloud Nothings :: My Little Raygun
23. Cloud Nothings :: Morgan
22. Hot Chip :: I Feel Better
21. Freelance Whales :: Generator ^ Second Floor
20. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti :: Round and Round
19. Bear Hands :: Julien
18. Bear Hands :: Can’t Stick Em
17. The Walkmen :: All Black And White
16. Tame Impala :: Alter Ego
15. Polarsets :: Leave Argentina [mp3]
14. Kisses :: Bermuda
13. Arcade Fire :: Ready to Start
12. Guards :: See It Coming [mp3]
11. Keith Canisius :: The Beach House [mp3]
10. Vampire Weekend :: Giving Up The Gun
9. Marina & the Diamonds :: I Am Not a Robot Flex’d Rework [Passion Pit Remix]
8. Cold War Kids :: Santa Ana Winds
7. Crystal Castles :: Celestica
6. The Morning Benders :: Stitches
5. Slow Animal :: Sitting Here [mp3]
4. Women :: Eyesore [mp3]
3. Deerhunter :: Fountain Stairs
2. Deerhunter :: Desire Lines
1. Gauntlet Hair :: I Was Thinking… [mp3]

I’ve taken a bit of a break from these like Andy has, not as much because I was losing interest, but similarly in that I was finding it more difficult to choose songs I felt as passionately about. A bit of a break should assist with that, though defying that particular logic today, I’m posting a few songs that Andy has already included on his list and not employing much passion.

122. DJ Shadow – You Made It feat. Chris James (mp3) from The Outsider (2:47) [Time Remaining: 450:55]

For someone I’ve never heard anything from before or since, Chris James, whomever he may be, has an incredible voice. The vocals in this song are the selling point, the music consisting of a fairly simple parts but for the incredible instrument of his voice. Certainly in symphony with each other the elements increase in effectiveness, but I believe the music would fall a bit flat without James’ involvement.

123. Tricky – Christiansands (mp3) from Pre-Millennium Tension (3:52) [Time Remaining: 447:03]

Another strong vocalist, though entirely on the opposite end of the spectrum, is Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws.   Tricky, as he is professionally known, employs a guttural, altogether unique sprechgesang, as Andy previously mentioned in his 1K post about the song.  The guy has been around a long time.  He was instrumental in the formation of Massive Attack, has been in a few movies and has many other songs I greatly enjoy, though not to the same level as I do “Christiansands.”  As for the why, I suppose I’ve just always really liked the song.  I don’t have a special affinity for the lyrics or any one particular element,  but I love the beat and everything all put together.

One more song and I’ll go past the midway point of this exercise. I have a pretty excellent playlist thus far, but still the impending end of this project has me somewhat sad. What will I write about on Fridays?

118. God Lives Underwater – All Wrong (mp3) from Empty (4:53) [Time Remaining: 507:55]

I was just a kid when this song began getting play on WBER here in Rochester. There are so many songs over the many years of my listenership of the station that I’ve enjoyed that I probably don’t even remember a good deal of them. I suppose I never forgot this song, but my memory was recently prompted and I knew I had my first subject for this week’s 1K. The song may not hold up quite as I remember it, but it is still damn good and worthy of inclusion here.

119. The Helio Sequence – Keep Your Eyes Ahead (mp3) from Keep Your Eyes Ahead (4:25) [Time Remaining: 503:30]

If this wasn’t my favorite track of 2008, it was quite close to being so. This, for all intents and purposes, is close to being a perfect song. There are few elements that don’t hit home-runs on their own merit, and when you put all of them together you get one smash-bang hell of a hit.