In a promise that mirrors the one I made about posting every day, I now plan every friday to give you my top five somethings. It will most likely be music, but if every friday was a top 5 songs it might get repetitive fast. Anyway here are my top five songs this week. (Videos linked to where available)
#5 If I Never See Your Face Again, Maroon 5: Apart from lead singer Adam Levine’s obsession with sex Maroon 5 is a fantastic band. I am currently jealous of Rylan and Kaili’s (my siblings) who are going to see them when they come through Toronto in the fall. I will be on the east coast. The best part about their live shows is that Adam Levine will actually play solos, which never (except for kiwi) appear on their records.

#4 Plastic, Rob Mathes: My sister loves this song, which is from the album evening train. Rob Mathes is a lesser known artist but is behind the scenes doing arrangements for everything from rap to rock to pop. I’m not sure where to classify this one, some soft rock, some jazz, and some pop all make their appearance in this tune. I’m trying to figure out an arrangement of this song for my sister.

#3 Umbrella, Rihanna: I have an obsession with pop. I don’t necessarily like hip hop or R&B but I’m a sucker for a great melody and great hooks. Both of which this song has. I don’t really need to say much about it because you’ve already heard it.

#2 Paperthin Hymn, Anberlin: If you don’t already know I’m kind of a big fan of Anberlin. I hadn’t listened to this song in a while but rediscovered it this week. They are excellent songwriters and this song represents a great part of what they do. Heavy Riffs, Stephen Christian’s haunting vocals and lyrics both poetic and slightly incomprehensible (unlike the Tragically Hip, which are just incomprehensible). The video is pretty good too.

#1 The Clincher, Chevelle: This song is another rediscovery of mine. The melody for the chorus popped into my head last week and I put it back on my iPod. This is Chevelle’s greatest song of all time, from my least favorite album of their’s: “This type of thinking (could do us in)”. Heavy riffage, screams, and amazing vocals and two part harmonies are what make this song so good.