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We've Moved

17 Tracks has moved. You can now find us on Rhombus. Hope you keep reading!

The 17 Tracks Summer Mix is an annual tradition, and this, it's third installment, is the best yet. You won't find any gag-worthy trash like "California Gurls" [sic] on it, but you'll find some rocking jams to blast with the windows rolled down and the wind in your hair. Long live summer. If you want a copy, you know who to ask. If you like the artists, support them and buy their album.

See the tracklisting after the jump.

     17 Tracks reached a couple milestones last week. The site published its 500th post as well as shattered the record for number of readers in a single week. My little baby is growing up.

     17 Tracks started in 2005 when I was a freshman in college. My buddy suggested I start a blog and write about music, one of my biggest passions. I hopped on blogger and created the horribly titled "21st Century Musical Musings". I actually only posted on it twice before I left for Northern California for two years to serve a mission for my church. When I got back, I realized that musings is a terrible word that people only use when naming a blog, and I came up with a better name - 17 Tracks.

     My favorite magazine, Rolling Stone, got its name from a song ("Rolling Stone" by Muddy Waters. Also inspired the band the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone") and I wanted to name my site after a song too. I sat with my same friend who told me to start the site in the first place, and mulled over song titles and lyrics, trying to find the perfect one that captured the unique 21s century vibe I wanted for the site.

     I eventually settled on 17 Tracks from the Killer's song "Somebody Told Me". "Breaking my back just to know your name/17 tracks and I've had it with this game," sang Brandon Flowers on his band's 2004 hit. I couldn't have picked a better name.

     17 Tracks has grown from only me to a team of contributors. Its audience has grown from a handful of family and friends in Provo and Gilbert to a worldwide audience with hundreds of views a week. Its content has grown from music only to include culture, sports, religion, and politics.

    We've only just begun at 17 Tracks. I have big plans for the future of this site and I want to thank everyone whose helped along the way. I want to thank everyone who has written for it, commented on it, let me know about a typo, and most importantly, to everyone who as been a reader. I hope you find it compelling.

May the next 500 post be even sweeter than the first,

Hunter

2009: A Year In Rewind

2009 was a great year for 17 Tracks. Contributors added their thoughts, making the site even more eclectic. We got a shout out on the Daily Universe online web site. Our 11-day long special, The Decade: A Retrospective, quadrupled readership. Hopefully the best is yet to come. Here are some of our top stories of the past year:

The Decade: Top 100 Songs of the 2000s

"Music can change the world because music can change people." - Bono

When people ask me what my interests are, I usually feel stupid saying "music". Either their response is one of "um...duh, everyone likes music" or they assume I play an instrument (which i don't). I really love music though. I love to listen to it, I love to read about it, I love to write about it, I love to think about it, I love to talk about it, and I love to sing along to it in my car. I don't know what I would do with my life if Elvis Presley didn't strap on a guitar in 1953 and help create rock n roll. Over 50 years later, popular music has evolved into something I don't think Presley ever imagined it would be.

The 2000s were a decade when genre walls came crashing down as musicians made some of the most inventive songs in the history of popular music even as the record industry collapsed around them. The rise of music blogs and forums provided fans around the world a way to connect and share tunes and artists that would have languished in obscurity. People even consumed music in a whole new way after it went digital, including not paying for it. Despite the massive changes in the industry, consumption, and methods of popular music, its power remained the same.
Bono said music could change the world, and he was right. It's amazing how a three minute and 30 second pop song can affect you. Some of the songs on this list have given me chills. Others have magnified feelings of happiness, love, anger, or sadness that I've had. Some have done nothing but make me feel good and want to dance. However a song makes you feel, its impossible to ignore the impact that 3:30 bit of recorded music has on you.

Enjoy counting down the 100 best songs of the decade with 17 Tracks. I hope you find songs on here that change your life, even if only for a few minutes.

Reader's Poll

I hope all of you enjoyed reading The Decade: A Retrospective. The response has been amazing - views for the blog more than quadrupled last week!

Thanks also to everyone who participated in the reader's poll. The winner of the drawing for a free CD is David Green. To everyone else, if you want, I'll make you a mixtape for participation.

The Decade: A Retrospective Introduction

Author and political scientist Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the "end of history" following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1992. He predicted that a new era of global unity and mind boggling prosperity was upon mankind. Its hard to believe that there was a time when his predictions didn't seem so ridiculous.

Being a 12-year-old living in 1999, it seemed like we were living on the edge of history. I watched reruns of "The Wonder Years", wondering what it felt like to live in exciting times when history was actually being made. I was shocked my dad wasn't concerned about the Y2K "bug". I assumed that with the coming of the new millennium, my closet would be filled with silver clothes and I would watch 3D television.

Ten years later, my dad ended up being right about the Y2K "bug". I've watched the news knowing that the images I was seeing would end up in my children's history text books. I still wear polo shirts, none of them are silver, and television isn't 3D yet (but HD is quite an improvement, isn't it?).

This decade has been a tumultuous and exhilarating for music. In 1999, we didn't have any notions about the direction music would take in the following ten years. I don't think anyone could have possibly predicted the changes and trends that have come.

How was anyone to know in 1999, holding their clunky CD players, that an even smaller device than that would be able to hold and play all the music they owned?

How was anyone to know that owning music would transform from buying a CD at a record store for $15 to buying a song from the comfort of your bedroom for 99 cents?

How was anyone to know that buying music would eventually become unnecessary and getting any song you wanted for free would be as easy as it is today (and still illegal mind you)?

Despite the travails of the record industry, the 2000s have given birth to some of the most innovative, exciting music. Genres overlapped and collided as a generation refused to be classified in their musical tastes and told the world via social networking sites that they liked "everything".

Yet for all the eclecticism the youth of the 00s has displayed, music and culture in general has fragmented. We listen to what we want to listen to. There is no more Ed Sullivan to tell us which bands to follow. There is no more TRL to show us the hottest new music videos. In the place of the cultural funnel that force feeds music for the masses, there is YouTube, there are thousands of blogs, there are friends posting new finds onto their Facebook pages.

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Join 17 Tracks in the closing days of the 00s as we look back on the decade.

11/30 - Timeline Part I

12/1 - Timeline Part II

12/2 - Top 25 Albums

12/3 - Top 100 Songs (100-86)

12/4 - Top 100 Songs (85-71)

12/5 - Top 100 Songs (70-56)

12/6 - Top 100 Songs (55-41)

12/7 - Top 100 Songs (40-26)

12/8 - Top 100 Songs (25-11)

12/9 - Top 100 Songs (10-1)

12/10 - Reader's Poll

12/11 - Epilogue

td:ar intro

17 Tracks Summer 2009 Mix

The other day I dusted off 17 Tracks Summer 2008 Mix and it was like a time capsule to twelve months ago. Rihanna ruled the world, free promotional downloads were all the rage, trans-Atlantic No. 1 hits dominated the charts and, Barack Obama was just another presidential hopeful.

This year's mix is a lot lighter on "hits for hits sake". Track 1 is the only song that's reached No. 1 in the US or UK and I'm fine with that (I couldn' stomach "I Kissed A Girl" from last year's CD. That was definitley a "hit for hits" sake song). To those of you who only listen to Top 40 radio, fear not, there's plenty of songs from big name acts but there's also plenty of new music to sink your teeth into.

Hope you guys enjoy the mix and this last month of summer.

01. "I Gotta Feelin'"
Artist: Black Eyed Peas
Album: The End
Why: Summer 2009 is the summer of the Black Eyed Peas whether we like 'em or not. President Obama commissioned Will.I.Am to create an album that would help Americans forget that they were in a recession and part of the bailout money went to buying the most expensive synthesizers money can buy. Between "Boom Boom Pow" and "Feelin", the Peas have had a lockdown on the No. 1 spot for 16 weeks and I'm beginning to think they'll outlast the recession.

02. "I Talk Too Much"
Artist: Just Jack feat. Kylie Minogue
Album: Overtones
Why: Because its a cool song. How can you say no to a hipster pop ditty from an indie electronic artist featuring one of the biggest pop stars in the world? It pleases Pitchfork and Popjustice readers alike.

03. "Fireflies"
Artist: Owl City
Album: Ocean Eyes
Why: This song was iTune's free single of the week a week ago and it sounds like a Postal Service reject. Maybe a few years ago it wouldn't have many a blip on my radar but after Ben Gibbard announced there would be no follow up to 2003's Give Up, I'll take whatever I can get.

04. "Hold The Line"
Artist: Major Lazer feat. Santigold
Album: Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do
Why: Nothing says summer like a cartoon musician. Like the Archies and Gorillaz before "him", Major Lazer is a collaborative musical project fronted by a cartoon character. Diplo is the mastermind behind the Jamaican commando and he team's up with summer mix favorite Santogold who landed two songs on last year's mix. I just love the part about "fresh from California".

05. "Lisztomania"
Artist: Phoenix
Album: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Why: Any song that references a movie in which Ringo Starr plays the Pope deserves a spot on a mix. Plus, Phoenix is the shiz.

06. "Awesome"
Artist: The Bloody Beetroots
Album: Romborama
Why: Because this song is AWESOME!!! Seriously, this track is so hot.

07. "She Wolf"
Artist: Shakira
Album: To Be Announced
Why: Shakira pronounces words like Alanis and she makes disco like the Bee Gees. Props to her for being the first artist to use the word lycanthropy in a pop song.

08. "Paranoid"
Artist: Kanye West
Album: 808s & Heartbreak
Why: Kanye is a perennial 17 Tracks favorite and "Paranoid" is one of 808s highlights. The new single mix makes the song about distrust and paranoia in a relationship gone haywire that much catchier.

09. "The Loving Kind"

Artist: Absent Elk

Album: None

Why: Originally a UK No. 10 hit by Girls Aloud, this Pep Shop Boys penned track shines no matter who sings it and Absent Elk's low key take on the track proves it.

10. "Already Gone"

Artist: Kelly Clarkson

Album: All I Ever Wanted

Why: Sure Kelly hates it but Ryan Tedder didn't become the songwriter of the moment for nothing. It's a breakup song but its a happy breakup song. Those are far and few between.

11. "Sweet Dreams"

Artist: Beyonce

Album: I Am...Sasha Fierce

Why: You didn't think we'd put "Halo" on here did you?

12. "1901"

Artist: Phoenix

Album: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Why: Lucky Phoenix, they get two songs on the mix! "1901" is their best song. There is absolutely nothing French about it, actually, it sounds very Strokes-ey. Mark my words, this will end up as one of the year's most critically acclaimed songs.

13. "One More Chance"

Artist: Bloc Party

Album: None

Why: "One More Chance" is the healing balm to Intimacy's scars. Kele's desperate pleas for "one more chance to love you" and "don't say another word about the other boy" amid the swirling house beats and insistent driving guitar make for another Bloc Party classic.

14. "Obsessed"

Artist: Mariah Carey

Album: Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
Why: This song and its travails have provided so many rich story lines that it would be a crime to not put it on here. It has gone from the moment Mimi "jumped the shark" and used auto-tune to the first shot in a massive blog fueled war of superstars.

15. "Raindrops"

Artist: Basement Jaxx

Album: Scars

Why: It's like an Amazonian rainstorm...from the future! The raindrops equals moisture dripping from your lips is...interesting...and its dramatic build is euphoric. Always on the cutting edge of electronia, the Basement Jaxx deliver another hit.

16. "Run This Town"

Artist: Jay-Z feat. Kanye West & Rihanna

Album: The Blueprint III
Why: It would have been just another cocky song by Jay-Z but Rihanna adds the same attitude that she showed on "Live Your Life" minus the cumbersome Numa Numa sample and then you have Kanye's rapping. It's good to hear him do that again, isn't it?

17. "Box N Locks"
Artist: MPHO
Album: Pop Art
Why: I predict that this song will end up one of critic's favorite songs of the year. Like the lovechild of Prince and the Cars, "Box N Locks" is a hipster surf-guitar pop declaration of independence. MPHO's sentiments are similar to those of Santogold last year, challenging the notion that black artists have to make "black" music. Even their voices are two peas in a pod.

17 Tracks Highlighted in Daily Universe Blog

We seem to talk a lot about President Obama in the interview and we are pictured with Sarah Palin. It's not that political an interview and we aren't that militantly conservative even though our parents wish we were.

Read it here

2008: The Year In Rewind

I began 2008 in Redding, California playing Bible Challenge and wondering what the next twelve months held for me. I ended it back in Phoenix watching the video clip for "I Seen Beyonce At Burger King". What a year.

We only have one year left in this decade and I'm not sure that we've come to a consensus about what to call it yet. Regardless, 2008 was monumental in more ways than one. Billboard turned 50. So did Michael Jackson and Madonna. TRL finally died. Lil Wayne sold a million copies of Tha Carter III in a week. A few years ago that would be nothing, but today, that's huge. Britney Spears started her year off in rehab but ended up smashing the (week old) record for biggest jump to #1 when "Womanizer" soared from #96 to the top in a single week. Mariah Carey scored her 18th chart topper, the most for any solo artist ever and behind only the Beatles for the all time number. Her uber-campy "Touch My Body" did the trick before she disappeared into irrelevance once again. 67 year old Neil Diamond proved that age ain't nothing but a number when his Home Before Dark debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 making him the oldest person to have a #1 album.

Here's a look at the top stories of the past year:

17 Tracks Top 15 Albums of 2008

1. Intimacy - Bloc Party

Beating out the biggest band and biggest rapper of the year for the album of 2008 is Bloc Party with their ambitious Intimacy. It's an album about the heartbreak that comes from both love gone awry and death. Judging from the declaration of war that is opener "Ares" and the frantic drive of lead single "Mercury", it would seem that Kele Okereke doesn't handle loss so well. Juxtapose the record's more aggressive songs with the likes of "Biko" and "Signs", both highly moving tracks, and the entire gamut of human emotion is captured.

2. 808s & Heartbreak - Kanye West

808s is the year's most controversial record. Combine that with its extremely late release date, and 808s & Heartbreak probably isn't going to score very high on Acclaimed Music despite deserving it more than any of his releases since Late Registration. No rapping, no parental guidance warning, no unusual collaborations -- this is new ground for Kanye. "Welcome To The Heartbreak" gives you the chills while "Heartless" and "Robocop" bring the thrills. You've put out another classic Mr. West. Well done.

3. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay

It's 2008's great American rock album made by a British band with a Spanish title and a French lady too busy saving the world to cover her breasts. I'm not one for songs without words, but "Life In Technicolor" is absolutely gorgeous. Then of course you have the album's first three singles which all made the list for top 25 songs of the year. Viva La Vida is the most epic record Coldplay has ever crafted.

4. Santogold - Santogold

5. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT

6. Sam Sparro - Sam Sparro

7. The Fame - Lady Gaga

8. Out Of Control - Girls Aloud

9. Day & Age - The Killers

10. Fearless - Taylor Swift

11. Narrow Stairs - Death Cab For Cutie

12. Only By The Night - Kings of Leon

13. Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams - Solange

14. Fasciinatiion - The Faint

15. Perfect Symmetry - Keane

Congratulations Kelsey

Thanks to everyone who submitted their top ten favorite songs of 2008. I wrote all your names on slips of paper made from a self portrait my sister made (Don't worry, she's made plenty of them) and picked one out at random. Congratulations to Kelsey Hansen. You are the winner. Tell me what CD from 2008 you want and your wish is my command.

Readers' Choice Singles of the Year

Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll. 17 Tracks readers have voted Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" the song of the year. "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz came in second followed by Britney Spears' "Womanizer". Perhaps the most intersting song to make the top ten is "Hillary" by local Provo band and winners of Muse Music's 2008 Battle of the Bands. Well done boys -- you should have beat David Archuleta, and you nearly did. The winner of the free CD will be announced...shortly. I'm on vacation now, can you blame me for taking forever?
1. "Viva La Vida" - Coldplay
2. "I'm Yours" - Jason Mraz
3. "Womanizer" - Britney Spears
4. "Pork & Beans" - Weezer
5. "Low" - Flo Rida
6. "Forever" - Chris Brown
7. "Love Story" - Taylor Swift
8. "I Kissed A Girl" - Katy Perry
9. "Crush" - David Archuleta
10. "Hillary" - The Yaks

17 Tracks Readers' Choice Poll + Win A Free CD
With the end of the year comes the inevitable flood of lists detailing critics favorite albums and singles of 2008. Naturally, 17 Tracks will be have a list of its own, but what do the readers think? Send in your list of top ten favorite songs of 2008 to be a part of the readers' choice poll and you'll be entered in for a chance to win a free CD! Let's be honest, 2008 is probably going to be one of the worst years in the history of record industry. All of you are to blame. You got Tha Carter III from a bit torrent site and your room mate let you burn Viva La Vida. The Capital Records employee who just got laid off is now begging for money on the streets of LA and his kids are going to have the worst Christmas ever, but at least you filled up your iPod. Shame on you. Anyways, I figure that 17 Tracks can do its part by awarding a lucky reader with whatever album released in 2008 they want. If you don't live in Provo, you'll get it in the mail.

E-mail your list of top ten favorite songs of 2008 to 17Track@gmail.com by December 23.