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.