Generator (First Floor)
2010
Queens kids who met on Craigslist and busked subway platforms, then made banjo and glockenspiel sound euphoric.
★ 2.0
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Let Her Go
2012
Rosenberg cut it in a Sydney studio with Australian session players, and a Dutch fan's email set it loose.
★ 2.8
Amsterdam (Peter, Bjorn and John)
2006
Track four on Writer's Block, self-produced by the trio, and its plainest study of being left behind.
★ 2.8
If I Could Change Your Mind
2014
James Ford produced it, all three sisters wrote it, and the harmonies turn a plea into a groove.
★ 3.3
Call It What You Want
2011
Paul Epworth produced it, and Foster points the synth hook at everyone too eager to conform.
★ 3.5
Up Against the Wall
2006
Seven minutes long, never a single, self-produced by the trio, and the longest slow burn on Writer's Block.
★ 3.7
Hero (Family of the Year)
2012
Richard Linklater put it in Boyhood and its trailer, and the Keefe brothers' harmony now sounds like growing up.
★ 3.7
Sea of Love (Cat Power)
2000
Voice, guitar, and a 1959 Phil Phillips hit slowed to a whisper; Juno carried it to a new audience.
★ 4.1
Some Nights
2012
Ruess wanted a hip hop producer and Paul Simon's harmonies; the sleeper took seven months to reach number three.
★ 4.3
Revival
2010 · From Halcyon Digest
Two minutes long, given away to fans who posted flyers, and jangling its way toward something like salvation.
★ 4.4
Take a Walk
2012
Angelakos built each verse from a man in his own family who immigrated, then set financial ruin to synths.
★ 4.5
Other PeopleBeach House
Other People
2012 · From Bloom
Cut to 24-track analog tape at Sonic Ranch in Texas, gauzy organ, Legrand singing a relationship dissolving.
★ 4.5
I Can't Make You Love Me (Bon Iver)
2011
Vernon strips Reid and Shamblin's Nashville ballad to falsetto, then slips into Raitt's "Nick of Time" at the end.
★ 4.5
Soul Meets Body
2005 · From Plans
Gibbard wrote it for his girlfriend, Walla produced at a Massachusetts farm studio, ten weeks atop Adult Alternative.
★ 4.7
Sleeping InThe Postal Service
Sleeping In
2003
Tamborello mailed beats from Los Angeles; Gibbard answered with a dream he would rather not wake from.
★ 4.9
Kissing the Lipless
2003 · From Chutes Too Narrow
Cut in the basement of Mercer's Portland house, a breakup song that starts at a whisper and detonates.
★ 5.2
Archie, Marry Me
2014
Snowed into a Prince Edward Island farmhouse, Rankin wrote a proposal song; VanGaalen cut it in Calgary.
★ 5.7