8. Denali, "Real Heat" (Jade Tree) Wickedness has never been so beautiful. Granted, Maura Davis' lyrics bob in and out of audibility, but the way "Take a spot/Here among/Those who taste/Anything they want" oozes honeylike past Davis's starry tonsils is worth 20,000 times its weight in Marilyn Manson albums. Guitarist Cam DiNunzio drives the bacchanal home with the sort of slash-and-burn solo Robert Smith might have dreamt about 20 years ago, just before waking up with an erection.
9. Cex, "The Wayback Machine" (Jade Tree) Ryjan Kidwell's ongoing case of lyrical Munchausen syndrome finds its finest moment to date in his tale of accidental death and reduction to decaying roadside attraction status, but it's the song's sinister laptop fandango and sneak acoustic guitar attack that put the cake under the frosting, with a synth-saturated break toward the end that's like menthol ice cream for the ear holes.
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10. The Desert Sessions Vol. 9 & 10, "In My Head . . . or Something" (Ipecac) The lyrics come nowhere near those of "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" in the overtness department, which doesn't diminish their spectral luster in the leasteverybody needs a good succubus song from time to time. The chugging, guitar-driven hooks that bristle around Josh Homme's limpid vocals pretty much assure that this hummer will end up being a Queens of the Stone Age hit next summer. Good, because it'll be nice to hear a blown-up mix on car radios. Bad, because Homme is almost always more spectacular when those other fuckers aren't in the way.
11. The New Pornographers, "It's Only Divine Right" (Matador) "It's an epic!" chief pornmonger Carl Newman told me over the phone about this lighthearted jab at the daughters Bush a few months ago. "That song is like a Frankenstein monster. I built it out of a bunch of crazy shit, including a riff I'd been messing around with for years. I think it was a little influenced by 'Remake/Remodel,' by Roxy Music, where it's divided into sections that escalate as the song progresses." But even during their Eno-in-feathers phase, Roxy couldn't have mustered the geeky abandon that propels "Divine Right" into its closing spazzmodelic frenzy.
12. Basement Jaxx ft. Lisa Kekaula, "Good Luck" (Astralwerks) One day, God looked down at Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe and said "Lo! I've been looking at this Kish Kash proposal you e-mailed me. I'd have Lisa from the Bellrays sing on 'Good Luck.' You don't want to divafy her on the track. Forget about house music. Go for soul power. Make the track enormous. Fill up the mix. Make it dirty and fast. And most of all, make it rock." "Gotcha," said they. "Anything else?" "Yes," God answered. "The drums should clip a little every once in a while."
13. Year of the Rabbit: "Say Goodbye" (Elektra) People can piss and moan about the continually Cobainian predilections of top bun Ken Andrews, best known for his post-grunge work in Failure, till the cows come home to roost. So what if they're right? All the hand wringing in the world does nothing to make "Say Goodbye" any less rich or any less stately. And a year or so hence, when the herd decides to start partying like its 1991, guess who's gonna be sitting in the catbird seat with a wad of 50s fat enough to choke a hippo? Meanwhile, "Say goodbye/Accept this fate without any anger/Say goodnight/Turn off the light and close the door on your way out" makes for better bar-closing fare than anything in Semisonic's most lucrative dreams.
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