The eight hundred seventh-fifth song: Save Me - Aimee Mann
This is a simple (post-)love song, sweet and pleasantly accessible. It's nothing complicated, but it works well.
The eight hundred seventh-sixth song: No One Will Ever Love You - The Magnetic Fields
While the vocals of this song are for a fairly simple and straightforward pop song, the heavy electronic instruments gives it that nineties feeling that adds pressure to it. It's not heavy, but it's much more present than you otherwise would, combining two straightforward but distinct elements in something that makes it more unsettling sounding.
The eight hundred seventh-seventh song: Surfacing - Slipknot
Slipknot's heavy metal is, for me, too far into the other side, where it becomes a bit too much. With that said, it does what it does quite well, The percussion is incredibly heavy through the track, while the melody is in there sporadically.It's aggressive lyrically as well, and there's something really effective about the entire track.
The eight hundred seventh-eighth song: Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chili Peppers
I quite enjoy RHCP, even though they've never really been my favourite, and Scar Tissue is pretty good. It's light and simple, the track being quite melodic and sweet even as Kiedis' rougher vocals contrast with it. It's mostly just so sweet and caring in a weird way, something that works well here.
The eight hundred seventh-ninth song: Ms. Fat Booty - Mos Def
There's a nice, gentle flow to this rap song. Both the gangster rap and the looser styles that are more common these days are rap styles that don't suit me as much, but this older style is that much nicer and accessible and the various additions are as nice.
The eight hundred eightieth song: Caught Out There - Kelis
As a nice hip R&B track, the verses of this song are pretty sweet and nice. The shouted chorus, on the other hand, really stands out with their shouting anger that really bring out a lot more of the emotion. It's really engaging and what really makes the song a standout.
The eight hundred eighty-first song: Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? - Moby
It feels like there's a real pull going on. While on the whole, this song has a fair bit going on, there's a sparseness in the simple vocals and the high, dreamy, music adds to a sense of weightlessness of the entire song. It's engaging and feels tuned to the right level, with an impressive amount of emotion in it.
The eight hundred eighty-second song: I Try - Macy Gray
While I Try is a strong soul song - there's nothing bad to say about it, it hits all the notes and is really good that way - Macy Gray's vocals are what really stand out. They're raw and dark rather than the mellow, flowing sound that you usually get from soul performers, but it's that sound that actually builds on everything else.
The eight hundred eighty-third song: U Don’t Know Me - Armand Van Helden
Seemingly the only dance track for this year - I think we can contribute the dearth of these to the comparative lack of attention given to this era in music - this is a strong candidate. The beat is strong throughout, but what makes it stand out above and beyond that is the track's vocal performance. It's a good song, giving a lot of room in the mix to add more meaning to the track. It might not matter in the club, but threading it through as both a music and text gives it a lot of context outside that as well.
The eight hundred eighty-fourth song: Race for the Prize - The Flaming Lips
The initial lyrics of this song sets it up as being about something different from most songs - especially as the title could easily imply a love song anyway. Instead, it covers a race for a cure between two scientists, something as lofty but not something you tend to see explored like that. It's all layered through a poppy rock song, with some loud drums for part of it and a heavy synth use, which again contrasts with the text of the song. It's a neat combination, and something nice and different to listen to - while creating more room for future indie bands to experiment with their songs.