By: Tony

This is a list of the top songs that I have listened to for hours. I’m not talking about songs that I listen to a lot. I’m not saying I put on an album and looped it (Which I also do, of course). I’m talking about songs that I have hit the little loop icon until there was a ‘1’ next to it, and then just let it ride. This list goes all over the place, and maybe there is some cognitive loop that I consistently get stuck in, but I do this. I also listen to a ton of music in general, but sometimes a song just gets stuck, and I just go with it until the feeling passes.

10. A$AP Rocky – Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2

I listen to a lot of rap and hip hop. Sometimes I listen to it for fun, and sometimes I listen to it so that I amp myself up before doing something I don’t want to do. For instance, I listened to the album “Pretty Girls Like Trap Music” by 2 Chainz every day for months while I rode the bus to a job that was tearing at my soul. For the record, that album is amazing and definitely deserves a playthrough if you get a chance.

Anyway, I play Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye when I get off work. I play it driving home, getting ready for the night, and then driving to the other side of town to tear it up with my fellow trashhumans. Numerous times I have chanted “Flacko. Jodye. Flacko. Jodye…” under my breath while mopping at the end of a closing shift. The song just gets me bouncing, and I think that’s an important feeling to be able to evoke on command.

Recommended for: The last hour of a closing shift, or when you want to turn up and the party isn’t quite there.

9. Grandaddy – Jed’s Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)

This is a bit of a weird one. The lyrics just burned into my brain, and the dissonant synth sounds haunt me. I forget about Grandaddy for months, then this song floats up from the depths of the bubbling tar pit that is my memory, and I find myself imagining waking up dead drunk, alone in the park, and all of the other bleak imagery that the song contains. Then I’m sitting on the floor of my room, writing some dark shit in a journal that will hopefully never be seen by another human. The song describes a hopeless, slate-gray world with no hope of escape. I think we should all be at least a little fearful of being trapped in a place like that. Sometimes I get fixated on that fear of being trapped, and it leads to some poor decision making. That’s not the song’s fault, though.

Recommended for: Driving home after a really bad day, or when the depression is hitting extra hard and you can’t get out of bed.

8. The Microphones – The Gleam

The Microphones are amazing. I realize that some people will hear this song and then rant to the nearest person about how it’s just noise. Yes, it is. All songs are just noise, stay woke. The Gleam has a mezmerizingly head bobbing thrum to it. The name fits the sound in a bizarre put-an-image-in-your-head sort of way, and I find that fascinating. Their songs usually remind me of Fallout. There is a place in the first game called The Glow, for reasons you can imagine. I know that isn’t really their lyrical intent, but just read some of the lyrics and picture some Ghouls acting out the scenes in a wasted landscape. It is a fun daydream adventure.

Recommended for: Drowning out all of the noise in your brain, or when you are feeling extra wistful, like the narrator from a Kurt Vonnegut novel.

7. Bright Eyes – Laura Laurent

Like all flawed, sentient, earth-dwelling mammals, I get sad. It is probably more than half of the time about interactions with other flawed, sentient, earth-dwelling mammals. This isn’t something groundbreaking. Bright Eyes has gotten me through some dark times, and usually I put a themesong to a moment or a situation. I run that song until I can’t think any more, and then I keep running it. I play it so much that just listening isn’t enough and I learn the song and then play it until my fingers hurt. This song has specifically stuck around because of the line at the end: “We don’t take to arguing, and we’re quick to surrender.” Granted, I have a penchant for arguing, I blame my schooling. But I give up a lot, and in sad moments, it is comforting to know that I’m not the only person that pulls away at the first sign of trouble (or before).

Recommended for: When that special someone isn’t talking to you, or it’s 2 am and you feel like a total wreck.

6. Dandy Warhols – Sleep

Sometimes my brain won’t let me sleep. It runs Diagnostic Mode on every micro-interaction I have ever had, and tortures me with the findings. Now that I think about it, there is a very strong correlation between my count-cards-to-see-if-I-can level of memory and my I-think-the-world-is-ending-right-now-and-it’s-because-I-said-that-one-thing-last-month level of anxiety. That would make sense. I don’t know if I have that type of memory because of decades of training myself to remember every little detail so that I can dissect it later and lament over my inadequacies. I don’t know if I have that level of anxiety because I can’t forget a single thing I have done, and all the bad moments stick out like a conga-line or sore thumbs. Probably both, a sort of oroboros of neurotic tendencies.

So when my brain gets like this, I find that having music can sometimes turn down my internal squabbling. This process doesn’t last until the end of one song. It usually lasts several hours for the chance at a solid 3-hour nap.

Recommended for: Getting some respite from the demons that live in your skull so you can get a little sleep, or when the sads have you and won’t let go.

5. The Secret Machines – Money (That’s What I Want)

I stumbled upon this song while studying. Ten Silver Drops by The Secret Machines will definitely be in my follow-up article, “Albums I Have Listened To On Loop For Weeks.” It is an album from a band that is basically unheard of, and they just cruise through some beautiful moments. So I was listening to Ten Silver Drops, and I wanted some more, so I found an album that I realized while listening to “Money (That’s What I Want),” was actually all covers. I still remember hearing “…the birds and bees” and sitting there puzzled where I knew that line from.

It makes the original version sound like a cover. I am not a big fan of the Beatles, or any of the weird stratta that surrounds them. I’m just not into it. “Money (That’s What I want)” seemed like a cheap jab at low-hanging fruit. Yeah, we get it, people are materialistic.

But this song, the melody, the backing vocals, the glacial pace. It slows me down as I wait for every line. The pace is hypnotizing, and at the end I want to hear it again, and keep riding that airy feeling. So then I’m sitting in the library, trying to study for a Property Law final, but I’m just staring at the ceiling and my thoughts are a million miles away.

Recommended for: Studying, sparking conversations about covers that are better than the original, when you want a little sleep, or when you have that deep dark blue feeling that you just can’t shake.

4. Deerhunter – Sailing

The ambient noises instantly draw me in. The slow meandering guitar and the solemn vocals just put everything at ease. When I listened to Sleep too much and it lost its magic, I had to wait a few years for this song to get released and have the same hypnotic, “everything’s gonna be ok for the next few hours while you get a little sleep” vibe. In the meantime, I listened to Massive Attack’s album, Mezzanine and gave myself some nightmares that I would best describe as being very cinematic.

This song has the tone of an indie rock lullaby, and I mean that in the best way possible. I love chill music, and if can dampen the constant stream of self analysis, I think anybody would be thankful. Just maybe don’t listen to it when you’re trying to stay awake.

Recommended for: Chill afternoons when you are wayyy too hungover to deal, when the nostalgia gets overwhelming, or when you want to take a nice nap in the afternoon instead of cleaning your room.

3. Mike Krol – Fifteen Minutes

Steven Universe is an amazing show. I know some people don’t like cartoons, but they are really missing out. That show is very forward-thinking, and tackles some amazing and difficult concepts with a profound grace.

My favorite episode is “Last One Out Of Beach City” from season 4. It follows Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl going on a road trip to see a band at a house show. They engage in the classic road trip hijinks. Pearl (usually known as the uptight one), in a moment of impulsiveness, cuts loose, and this song is playing. through the scene.

I love road trips, I love the nostalgic, freeing feeling of being on the road to something fun and exciting. The episode does a great job of capturing that feeling, and “Fifteen Minutes” perfectly compliments it. The song is sadly only about a minute and a half long, so in order to keep that feeling going, I’ve had to listen to it a lot. A lot a lot.

Recommended for: Road trips (especially on the way to someone special), or on the way home from work on your Friday.

2. Architecture In Helsinki – Lazy (Lazy)

I don’t exactly know what a mean-talking, beanstalking, icy man is, but it has such a catchy sound to it. The song’s lyrics ramble about some things that… honestly I’m not really sure what. maybe put something in the comments if you want. I like it when songs don’t need to take themselves too seriously.

The sound is a bouncy disco beat that breaks into a stompy wall-of-noise bridge, then goes back to the playful bounce. This is the signature style of Architecture In Helsinki, and the moving, whimsical feeling is very infectious. When you listen to it, you can’t help but bounce and nod along with the sound. Honestly, I could probably just listen to the last “Ah-ya-ya-woo-woo” part on loop for hours. It smooths over any manner of concerns and lets you just go along with the sound.

Recommended for: The soul-crushing morning commute to the job that is slowly draining away the last shreds of what makes you an interesting person.

1. LCD Soundsystem – Dance Yrself Clean

This song is 9 minutes long. When it pops of at minute 3, you’re going to start thrashing everything within arms reach. I put this in party playlists, because sometimes you need to have that lull to remind you that you must rage. Trash your small, shitty apartment. Throw bottles in the street. Wave your arms like a Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tubeman and pass it off as dancing

If this song doesn’t get you moving, then you are as dead as “Change My Mind” memes and there is no hope for you.

LCD Soundsystem knows how to make a song that slaps, and this is their magnum opus. The soft, quite build, and then the irresistable crunchy dance beats are like a dance party metaphor for life. The ups and downs, the rollercoaster rises and falls of the day-to-day can get at you, and this song is here to get you through it.

Recommended for: Really, you can listen to this song whenever. Songs this universally amazing are hard to come by, so be careful with it. When you’re like me and just blast it on loop, it can lose its magic. I wouldn’t recommend going all-in on this song, it is a treasure and deserves to be treated as such. Learn from my mistakes, learn and be better for it.

Or join me in this state of constant arm-flailing and spastic full-body jerks like a kid at a high school dance. Live your best life.