Following up on our Album of the Year award to R.E.M. for their swan song Collapse Into Now, here is the first in a series of additional but equally prestigious year-end awards, celebrating the brilliant, wild and thewacky in the world o' music.
Best R.E.M. Tribute/Rip-off: The Decemberists' "Calamity Song"
The King is Dead was one of the year's best records, and the whole record felt like a well-timed R.E.M. homage. "Calamity Song," however, was the R.E.M.iest, featuring Peter Buck playing a variation on his part from "Talk About the Passion." The video alludes to a fictional sport played in Infinite Jest, the magum opus by the late great author David Foster Wallace, or so I've heard; I've never read the book.
Buy on iTunes here
Best Use of Autoharp: PJ Harvey, Let England Shake
Polly Jean Harvey might be the greatest musical chameleon since David Bowie. For this record, a song cycle about the ravages of war, she changed her voice and started rocking the autoharp. Somehow she made it work, delivering her best record since 2001's incredible Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea.
Buy on iTunes here
Best Driving Song: Death Cab for Cutie, "Doors Unlocked and Open"
This deep cut from their excellent Codes and Keys has the propulsive drive of classic road tunes like "L.A. Woman," "Radar Love" and "Blue Monday." This version recorded for KCRW shows that DCC is a pretty excellent live band, too. Step on it.
Buy on iTunes here
Best Opening Track: Wilco, "Art of Almost"
I still haven't decided where The Whole Love resides in the Wilco canon, but "Art of Almost" is almost definitely their best opening track ever. From its Radiohead-esque intro to the Mahavishnu Orchestra-like guitar coda by Nels Cline, "Art of Almost" instantly takes its place in the top rung of Wilco fan favorites alongside "Jesus, Etc.," "The Late Greats," "Impossible Germany" and "California Stars."
Buy on iTunes here
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