The current annual holds a vote to determine the top 89 songs of the past year. Here’s the 10 choices I submitted:

  • The High Road - Broken Bells
  • Flash Delirium - MGMT
  • Running With the Wolves - Cloud Cult
  • Audience - Cold War Kids
  • Swim Until You Can’t See Land - Frightened Rabbit
  • Cameras - Matt and Kim
  • GIving Up the Gun - Vampire Weekend
  • Yulia - Wolf Parade
  • Basic Space - The XX
  • O.N.E. Yeasayer
This is how you wear purple loafers

(via stylehunting)

This is how you wear purple loafers

(via stylehunting)

I’ve been using rdio.com, the new subscription based cloud music service, for a little over a week. I’m thoroughly impressed with the concept and the execution of the service’s technology, but it’s lacking the most important thing: a lot of the music I like.

Rdio touts having a collection of 5 million songs, which certainly sounds like a lot. However, if it doesn’t have the music I want, that number could be 50 or 50 million and it wouldn’t matter one bit.

Some of the artists I’ve had trouble finding music for:

  • Local Natives (limited songs)
  • Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
  • Vampire Weekend
  • Dessa
  • The National (latest album)

I’ll admit none of those are “Justin Bieber” mainstream, but they’re not exactly obscure names either. What’s most frustrating is that I already have music from these artists in my iTunes library, but I can’t access it through rdio. To become a killer service, rdio either needs to have everything or let me fill the gaps by uploading my own music files to a private section of their cloud. Until then, I have to stick with old-school iTunes where, one way or another, I can at least get everything I want in once place.

Rdio also needs a free service tier similar to lala.com (RIP). Some of the social features in rdio would be much more useful if I could convince my cheap-ass friends to use the service.

P.S. Invites for rdio are pretty easy to come by at this point, but if you’re still looking for one drop me a note.

At 7th Twins game of season. I’m 6-0 so far, wish me luck.

Phil Dunphy, portrayed by Ty Burrell in ABC’s Modern Family, is the funniest character on TV these days.

These are roughly in order of how much I like each song. I hesitate to attach actual numerical ranks to them, because many could change slightly depending on the day.

I used my last.fm data to get started on the list, but did some editorializing to compile the final list.

  • Home - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
  • Screen Test - The Envy Corps
  • Sleepyhead - Passion Pit
  • 40 Day Dream - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
  • Daylight - Matt & Kim
  • The Rake’s Song - The Decemberists
  • Orange Shirt - Discovery
  • Little Secrets - Passion Pit
  • 1901 - Phoenix
  • Sunlight - Harlem Shakes
  • Dominos - The Big Pink
  • Crying Lightning - Arctic Monkeys
  • Drain the Blood - The Rural Alberta Advantage
  • Lisztomania - Phoenix
  • Got Nuffin - Spoon
  • They Done Wrong / We Done Wrong - White Rabbits
  • Audience - Cold War Kids
  • Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
  • The Calculation - Regina Spektor
  • Autumn Beds - Modest Mouse
  • The Field - Mason Jennings
  • My Girls - Animal Collective
  • Bless This Mess - David Bazan
  • Ulysses - Franz Ferdinand
  • Don’t Haunt This Place - The Rural Alberta Advantage

Obviously a few stand-out artists in this group, with Edward Sharpe, Passion Pit, RAA and Phoenix all getting double mentions.

Phoenix had my favorite album of the year, but unfortunately nothing quite reached the level of 2008’s top album, Oracular Spectacular by MGMT. That album still managed to fill 3 of my top 10 listened to songs for 2009 according to last.fm data.