Top Songs of the Year (So Far)

Using a highly scientific song selection methodology (way too complicated and convoluted for most people to fathom) I came up with a playlist of my favorite songs of the year so far and played them during the noon hour of "480 Minutes" last Friday. The feature was a big success, listeners loved it and there were many who responded with "me too!" to every song played during the set. Of course there were malcontents (there are always malcontents, aren't there? ah, the downside of free willl) -- I got complaints from folks wondering how Thom Yorke, Belle & Sebastian, Destroyer, Gnarls Barkley, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Prototypes, Raconteurs, Rainer Maria, Robert Pollard, and TV on the Radio had all failed to make the list. My answer to them? I don't know, but read the aforementioned methodology, which I've included below the list of songs. The answer may be hidden in there.

And now, the songs:

1-Frightened Rabbit-Be Less Rude-3:00
2-Silversun Pickups-Lazy Eye-5:54
3-Cold War Kids-Hospitalbeds-4:38
4-Cabin-Because It Wasn't Perfect-3:03
5-Band Of Horses-Wicked Gil-2:57
6-Bound Stems-Risking Life And Limb For The Coupon-4:23
6-Ex-Boyfriends-Him For Me-3:06
6-White Rose Movement-Love Is A Number-4:04
6-Archie Bronson Outfit-Dart For My Sweetheart-4:30
6-Get Set Go-Ordinary World-4:56
6-The Flaming Lips-Haven't Got A Clue-3:26
6-Film School-Breet-4:24
6-The Living Blue-Tell Me Leza-3:21
6-Birdmonster-'Cause You Can-3:01
6-Arctic Monkeys-The View From The Afternoon-3:38
6-Candy Bars-Violets-4:21
6-Tilly & The Wall-Bad Education-4:07

Highly scientific song selection methodology: I whittled down my favorite albums of the year in part by consulting my CMJ charts, in part by checking out my Last.fm charts, and in part from memory. I placed a couple of favorite songs from each of those albums into a playlist. Then I grabbed a few songs from other albums (singles, EPs) and added those to the playlist. Then I deleted the bottom 20% (the songs that were really good but didn't give me the chills were cut) before paring the playlist down to one song by each artist. This left me with a 17-song playlist. Deciding against ranking the entire list of 17, which would have taken a mind like mine hours, I chose instead to play 12 of the tracks in an order that made musical, rather than ranking, sense, then play the top 5 songs on the list in reverse order: #5 of the year (so far) to #1. I finished up by dividing by pi, then multiplying that result by the square root of Sonic Youth, then shaking, not stirring.
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"480 Minutes" 8/11/06