Artist	Song
Arctic Monkeys	I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor
from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)
Badly Drawn Boy	The Shining
from The Hour of Bewilderbeast (2000)
The Postal Service	Such Great Heights
from Give Up (2003)
TV On the Radio	Staring at the Sun
from Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004)
Franz Ferdinand	Take Me Out
from Franz Ferdinand (2003)
The National	Mistaken for Strangers
from Boxer (2007)
My Chemical Romance	Welcome to the Black Parade
from The Black Parade (2006)
Panic! At the Disco	I Write Sins Not Tragedies
from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (2005)
Vampire Weekend	A-Punk
from Vampire Weekend (2008)
Nada Surf	Inside of Love
from Let Go (2003)
M.I.A.	Paper Planes
from Kala (2007)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs	Maps
from Fever to Tell (2004)
The New Pornographers	Use It
from Twin Cinema (2005)
The Killers	When You Were Young
from Sam's Town (2006)
Broken Social Scene	Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl
from You Forgot It in People (2003)
Animal Collective	Fireworks
from Strawberry Jam (2007)
The Libertines	Can't Stand Me Now
from The Libertines (2004)
Bloc Party	Banquet
from Silent Alarm (2005)
The Raveonettes	Love In a Trashcan
from Pretty In Black (2005)
Guster	Satellite
from Ganging Up On the Sun (2006)
Devendra Banhart	I Feel Just Like a Child
from Cripple Crow (2005)
Wolf Parade	Shine a Light
from Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)
The Hold Steady	Stuck Between Stations
from Boys and Girls In America (2006)
Wolfmother	Woman
from Wolfmother (2006)
Super Furry Animals	Juxtaposed With U
from Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1 (2005)
Band of Horses	The Funeral
from Everything All the Time (2006)
Fleet Foxes	White Winter Hymnal
from Fleet Foxes (2008)
Silversun Pickups	Lazy Eye
from Carnavas (2006)
Ray LaMontagne	Trouble
from Trouble (2004)

Comment:

Part of rock's messy charm is that not everything fits into a neatly organized slot, so we've rolled up our sleeves and filled up the musical grab bag for yet [i]another[/i] helping of this decade's best . . . so far. The U.K. press is notorious for anointing pop icons fortnightly, but the Arctic Monkeys sent scribes into superlative-spewing vapor lock. And not without reason: Monkey king (and Last Shadow Puppets founder) Alex Turner is a genuine musical whiz kid, as established in the Buzzcockian manic rush of his pogo- friendly "I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor." Vampire Weekend's culture-vulture Afropop fusion may comprise three parts Manhattan for every part Madagascar, but when their "A-Punk" lays a King Sunny Ade-style guitar on top of a Tommy Ramone beat, genius ensues. And indie supergroup the Postal Service spins out a cotton-candy web of electro-poppy splendor in "Such Great Heights" — post-postmodern trip-hop poetry with a refreshing splash of danceability. From Franz Ferdinand to TV On the Radio, we've got a handpicked playlist of stars, scenes, and sounds that may or may not wind up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . . . but they sure sound great right now.

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