And So It Ends...

Here are links to zip files containing my favorite songs of 2009. Enjoy!

Best of 2009 Part 1
http://www.mediafire.com/?qytngmmyzrh

Best of 2009 Part 2
http://www.mediafire.com/?ozyaztyijmm

The Best Records of 2009

#10: Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young
http://www.myspace.com/juliancasablancas



















#9: Drake - So Far Gone Mixtape & EP
http://www.myspace.com/thisisdrake



















#8: Silversun Pickups - Swoon
http://www.myspace.com/silversunpickups



















#7: Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
http://www.myspace.com/grizzlybear



















#6: A.A. Bondy - When The Devil's Loose
http://www.myspace.com/aabondy



















#5: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
http://www.myspace.com/animalcollective



















#4: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
http://www.myspace.com/yeahyeahyeahs



















#3: Passion Pit - Manners
http://www.myspace.com/passionpitjams



















#2: Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health
http://www.myspace.com/harlemshakes



















#1: Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
http://www.myspace.com/mumfordandsons

Best Rock Songs of 2009

#10: Mew - Introducing Palace Players
This song's rhythm limps along like a man with his shoelaces tied together, then somehow a fluidity and grace creeps up on you. Eventually you realize it was there the whole time.


#9: King Khan & The BBQ Show - I'll Be Loving You
Raw and rambunctious and rambling and shambling. Sounds can be deceiving though, as you find yourself humming this song the rest of the day. What appeared to be a quickly slapped together amped up soul song ends up being well crafted parasite of sonic design.


#8: We Were Promised Jetpacks - It's Thunder And It's Lightning
Another one of those bands where it's probably better to let your mind create a set of sleek and good-looking individuals who play every note effortlessly. But now that I know what they look like, they come across as a more sincere bunch of dudes who you'd just as well get a drink with or play some Halo 3.


#7: White Rabbits - Percussion Gun
Dual drummers, circular guitar lines, and a great vocalist. They pummel you over and over again with the rhythm, and just when you can't take any more, it all opens up, becoming something soothing. Soothing punches to face.


#6: Twilight Sad - I Became A Prostitute
2nd Glasgowian band on the list (We Were Promised Jetpacks is the other), and twice as much Scottish accent. It's a good thing. My Bloody Valentine meets Slowdive turned up to 11 meets Secret Machines meets Cyann & Ben meets awesomeness.


#5: Ida Maria - Oh My God
Sometimes it really bothers me when singers repeat the same word or phrase over and over again. Accents make everything better. This band may also be the second coming of Pretty Girls Make Graves, which wins them major points.


#4:Silversun Pickups - Growing Old Is Getting Old
The pacing on this song is truly amazing. They take their time establishing a relationship with the way the song moves. It's comfortable and you think you have it all under control and you might as well just flip to the next song because you're not going to miss anything. And then...


#3: Them Crooked Vultures - Dead End Friend
Any band that Josh Homme touches becomes a Josh Homme band and sounds like Queens of the Stone Age. Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones have surely left indelible marks on music, but they can't even begin to break out of the mold that Homme puts in place with his guitar and voice. And it's one of the best records of the year because of that fact.


#2: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Dull Life
On an album full of great songs, Dull Life shines through with propulsive drums and guitar, and Karen is fully on point from beginning to end. It shimmers and scrapes and explodes and reverberates and has more plays than any other songs on my iPod this year.


#1: The Doves - Kingdom of Rust
Immaculate. Sometimes there is nothing left to say.

The Best Pop/Rap/R&B Songs of 2009

#10: Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
A vice grip on the Top 40 charts doesn't sway Gaga into bland videos. She is a true artist with an imagination that reaches a place where boob-zapping attire is commonplace.


#9: Busta Rhymes - Respect My Conglomerate Ft. Lil' Wayne & Jadakiss
Busta made a big comeback this year with "Back On My B.S.". Packed with a ton of really fun songs like World Goes 'Round, Hustler's Anthem, and Don't Believe 'Em, it takes Weezy to pull a Stalone and go over the top on this song.


#8: Gucci Mane - Spotlight Ft. Usher
Late-breaking addition to the best of, Gucci Mane comes with a December New Release that is the culmination of a year of very hard work and literally hundreds of guest spots and mixtape tracks. "The State vs. Radric Davis" has something for everyone, yet it's unmistakeably BRRR!


#7: Birdman - Always Strapped Remix Ft. Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, and Lil' Wayne
My top 4 rappers all on the same song. They've done it before, they'll do it again, and they'll all laugh all the way to the bank.


#6: Yuksek - Tonight
A sleeper of a song that inspires much dancing and much rejoicing every time it comes over the speakers.


#5: Ryan Leslie - How It Was Supposed To Be
I don't like R&B. So I'm not sure why this song from the first of 2 records R.Les put out in 2009 stuck to me like it has. It's most likely the insistent "hey...hey..hey's" and vocal harmonies combined with that sweet ass keyboard line.


#4: Phoenix - 1901
This French disco-pop band has officially crossed over from the world of indie pop to true Top 40 jams. I think that's great, as the charts can always use more creativity and originality.


#3: Drake - Successful Ft. Trey Songz
Drizzy Drake walks the line... The line between an R&B crooner and a street smart rapper, between a Top 40 heart throb and a chopped and screwed mixtape trap-a-holic, between a tween TV star and a dealer making it snow in the projects. Drake's career is a shotgun blast - a little over here, a little over there - but those songs that find the mark are downright amazing.


#2: Rihanna - Hard Ft. Young Jeezy
Another late addition to the best of list, Rihanna brings it on this jam. If the rest of the record was as fierce as this song, Rate R would end up on my "Best Albums of 2009" list.


#1: Maino - All The Above Ft. T-Pain
This song proves why rap has been so great for the past few years - soaring anthemic melodies that wouldn't sound out of place on any good electro-pop record, swagger, hooks galore, and interesting beats that change throughout the song. Gone are the days of 2-note baselines and 1 drum part that loops for 4 minutes. This is the present, and it beckons in a bright future.

The Best Indie Pop Songs of 2009

#10: Fever Ray - Triangle Walks
The Knife's singer strikes out on her own with what a friend recently called "The Rainman Soundtrack" as her canvas. On this she paints dark and pulsing soundscapes that seethe with warbling cyborg voices.


#9 - Miike Snow - Animal
Somehow the oompa loompa beat benefits this song and I can't quite figure out how. Everything snakes around the faux reggae beat, smoothing it into a background pulse that propels the song into 4 minutes and 30 seconds of sunshine.


#8: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction
I don't listen to much radio. Over the spring and summer it seemed like every time I turned on our local non-com The Current when my trusty iPod wasnt' along for the ride, they were playing the hell out of this song. Soon it got added to my iPod playlists and now it seems like an old friend.


#7: Animal Collective - Bluish
AnCo are a planet unto themselves in the blackest of space, far away from any other touchstone genre or band. When other band's sounds start to move towards planet AnCo, Panda Bear/Avey Tare/Geologist move to another planet beyond the reach of those who ape their sound.


#6: Metric - Gimme Sympathy
Metric doing what Metric does best = ferocious hooks + dance beats + predictable progressions = summer anthem. It works well when done right.


#5: Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Being on one of the best-selling albums of the year (nope, not Veckatimest... I'm talking about New Moon) has helped move a few staples of the indie rock strata and into a whole new ballgame. Weird and beautiful, discordant, sometimes difficult, and overwhelmingly lush, Grizzly Bear makes music that you have to live with to start to appreciate the intricacies...so it's like the Twilight series in opposite world.


#4: Julian Casablancas - Out Of The Blue
The internet does not agree whether the Strokes singer's solo outing is a triumph or a disaster. Over the 8 songs and 40 minutes, there are severe peaks and valleys to contend with. If your glass is half full, this is an amazing record. If you can't jump over the excess and the genre-hopping issues, it can be hard to listen to.


#3: Wild Light - Heart Attack
Don't let this homemade video deter you from the fact this this song is a doozy. It's like Arcade Fire with a single voice, streamlined and focused on one melody.


#2: Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game
No words. Watch closely!


#1: Passion Pit - The Reeling
Fusing a mid-90s rave with a kid sitting in his bedroom making laptop pop, it's a Polaroid snapshot seen through the lense of a panoramic high-end SLR. The contrast of a small band pushing their music well beyond their means and somehow pulling it off leads to fascinating tension and "did they really just do that? moments" throughout the record.

The Best Folky Songs of 2009

#10: Bowerbirds - Teeth
The chord changes between the verse/chorus grabbed me the first time I heard this song, and it still gives me chills every time it comes across my iPod. When an album has a steady pace, with consistent instrumentation and very little studio magic, it all comes down to the songwriting. This song delivers something special on an album of consistent charm and clever turns.


#9: Thomas Dybdahl - Cecilia
The pedal steel guitar has the ability to take over songs subtly, like a sunset you don’t realize is there until it’s all you can see. Throughout this song, you hear much more of the voice and the acoustic guitar than the pedal steel, yet when the song is over all you remember is the haunting, sliding melody of the pedal steel.


#8: First Aid Kit - Hard Believer
This is a new Swedish sister duo, and their full length debut comes out in the first part of 2010. If this song indicates their direction, these girls have a strong career ahead of them. I'll admit that their lyrics are fairly cheesy, but then I think of the poetry that I was writing at their age, and I have to give them some leeway.


#7: Bon Iver - Beach Baby
I feel like Bon Iver's best work is still out there in the future, waiting to be tapped into with a proper studio set-up and a budget that equals Justin's genius. For now, we have a self-produced full length and EP full of spaces. Spaces where tension intertwines with tape hiss and heartache. Spaces that set up every change in a song to be more impactful and meaningful. Maybe Justin should keep making records on his own in a cabin in the snowy winter. If he keeps churning out songs like this, there's no reason to go high tech.


#6: Sparklehorse - Revenge Ft. Wayne Coyne
This record is a collaboration between Sparklehorse, Danger Mouse, and David Lynch, with guest vocalists ranging from Iggy Pop to Gruff Rhys to Suzanne Vega. Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne’s song “Revenge” is how I had hoped the new proper Flaming Lips record would sound – all chiming bells, harmonies, and slow plodding sadness. Great for the early morning or the late night.


#5: Fanfarlo - Comets
For being a top 5 folk song of the year, and in the top 25 overall, I should know more about Fanfarlo. But sometimes it’s best for a song to be an enigma. The song takes on a life of its own, and memories attach themselves to the melody, as opposed to live performances, album artwork, or videos of singers wearing sunglasses and bowties.


#4: Dan Mangan - Robots
Those who know me well can attest to my love for songs about robots. Somehow the video for this song makes the whole thing even more awesome. Dan Mangan fills the void left wide open since Adem stopped making amazing records (sorry Adem), with gravely folky tunes that float from part to part without notice of transition. Mangan uses brass perfectly to help weave the parts into a tapestry of joy for our robot friends.


#3: Low Anthem - Charlie Darwin
This song sounds nothing like the rest of the Low Anthem record. I’ve never understood how a band can create a sound that runs all the way through an album, and then somehow a song ends up on the album that you would swear was written and played by a different band. It’s like someone along the way in the mastering or manufacturing process played a joke on the band. This version of Low Anthem is like Sufjan meeting Bon Iver and Iron & Wine. Expansive and beautiful, everywhere and nowhere all at once.


#2: A.A. Bondy - I Can See The Pines Are Dancing
Scott Bondy was the singer of Merge Records band Verbena. I consider myself a connoisseur of Merge bands, but I’ve never heard Verbena, and I kind of want to keep it that way. A.A. Bondy’s 2009 release “When The Devil’s Loose” is one of my most consistently highest rated (by song) albums of the year, and I don’t really want to taint the immaculate songs on this release by hearing the singer’s previous band. I want to live in a bubble with this record… is that so wrong? For fans of Ryan Adams, early Wilco, and Jim James sans echo voice.


#1: Mumford & Sons - White Blank Page
Favorite release/song/artist of the year! Mumford & Sons are part of a new British folk revival along with Jay Jay Pistolet, Laura Marling and others, that are moving forward and backwards at the same time, creating something new along the way. There is definitely a bold and brash indie rock swagger heard in these songs, but bluegrass and traditional Celtic folk elements keep everything grounded in the earthy pubs of old Ireland and Northern England. 4 part harmonies, melodic craftsmanship, and a sincerity that grabs your ear/heart – nothing sounds better to me this year.

And So It Begins...

Over the next month I plan to compile my favorite songs of the year, group them by genre, and convey them through Youtube. I wish my html skills were at a level where I could add a music player and link to MP3s for everyone to peruse, but unfortunately I’m not there yet so I’m going rudimentary. The songs speak for themselves though, so there isn’t really a need for fancy blogger wizardry. After I compile songs by genre, I’ll move along to my top 10 albums of the year, and finally a special treat for anyone who is still paying attention. Feel free to comment here or on Facebook - let me know what your favorite songs/albums are this year.

If a song grabs you and you feel compelled to listen to it over and over as I have throughout the year, there's always iTunes or Amazon, or blog aggregators like http://hypem.com/ and http://elbo.ws/ to find these songs.

Hope you enjoy and discover some new tunes.