NPR Music: 16 Number One Songs From Our First 16 Years

http://www.niemanlab.org/images/iheartnpr_web_250x250_stacked.jpg

hrm boring list, can't believe i'm about to vote for moby

hidden place/gold digger/king kunta the only three with any merit at all here (but they are all 10/10 classics and i've no idea which to pick)

kinda proud that I've never knowingly heard four of these

actually, five!

2000: "Porcelain" - Moby
2006: "Fidelity" - Regina Spektor
2012: "Tessellate" - Alt-J
2013: "Retrograde" - James Blake
2014: "Coffee" - Sylvan Esso

I've heard 5 of these

oh my god, sleigh bells? really? why does anybody take them more seriously than, say, witch house?

Weirdly, I just heard Vespertine for the first time over Christmas. Voted "Hidden Place," as I can't stop thinking about it.

I like the first Sleigh Bells album a lot but that is probably the most inconsequential, ignorable song on it; I'd get it if they had picked "Run the Heart"

Going with "Fidelity," which gets better the further we get from the Juno era where it was spawned.

I actually involuntarily winced when I first glanced at this list

voting for bon iver

shoot me with guns and bullets

bon iver should do another log cabin album. call it "SEND SNACKS"

maybe he could camp out on the construction site of his new hotel until it opens??

this list is so.....beige. "i am trying to break your heart" over "two weeks" for the excellent jim o'rourke mixing

that Sylvan Esso song is actually pretty good but I can't really get over how much better it was in their live set at Eaux Claires, which is where I first heard it

alt-j is the worst

like... why

Skinny Love is p good honestly, although it launched an armada of faux-tender garbage.

Other than that I'd probably vote King Kunta or Gold Digger, but it feels sort of arbitrary, like "here are two (more-or-less) mainstream hip-hop songs deemed smart enough for NPR". Two Weeks is not even one of the best songs on that record imo, although obviously the single.

lex otm

Bon Iver quickly became insufferable, but that first record is pretty great. I always hated "Skinny Love" but I'd pick "Flume" if it was on here. ah, still can't believe there's a fucking band named after that song now.

These are all "songs by album artists", rather than "singles" or "radio songs", right?
Therefore the essence of NPR, whose audience listens to NPR and to digitally owned/streamed music.

"Sylvan Esso combines the organic, folk-like qualities of Meath’s vocals with electronic beats and found sounds engineered by Sanborn. It,"embraces saccharine synths, bright xylophone tones, and dance beats". The resulting songs are a satisfying stew that is both rich and sparse." The two accomplish a wide span of tone to their music as well. The songs can range from "...moody and dark, and at others bright and bouncy, grounded by dense, hypnotic beats." One reviewer, Hazel Cills, said, " Nick Sanborn’s synth-driven songs merge the traditional structures and vocal harmonies of folk with ethereal and sultry electronica" The messages in the songs also have a wide span from dealing with being cat called to heart breaking love stories. Meath says, "These songs were meant very specifically to be catchy, to appeal to a wide audience..."

I have never knowingly heard a Sylvan Esso song, but I caught some echoes when they played an outdoor show here last year for 4500 people -- easily the second-biggest musical event of the year (after Future Islands' 1000th show, a few months later in the same space)

*should note that said space is in Carrboro NC which is 1) prime NPR listener territory 2) right in SylvEss's backyard

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

what a bizarre sleigh bells selection

i mean like i like them and the track is fine but that's your song of the year?

it's obviously Wilco guys

postal service, but in another sixteen years i'd probably vote king kunta

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.