I see this project really as really having hit its stride in 2009, for some reason. Maybe as the third, charm-like time around, or maybe due to my having listened to a lot more new music in that year than previous years, I think the album as a whole feels cohesive, despite featuring 13 different artists, and to some extent accurately reflects my experience of 2009. Midway through the year, I created a short playlist on the best of 2009 up to June. Not as good, but in retrospect, it was probably good practice, and helped me to weed out some songs that didn’t belong here. The keepers are below, and also on Spotify.
1. “Seattle (feat. Emmy the Great)” — Brighton Port Authority
Video included because it’s too good not to. Two years later, this is still one of my favorite songs, and Emmy the Great’s most-recent solo album, Virtue (read my review on PM here), is one of my favorite albums of 2011. In fact, saying one of my favorites probably doesn’t do it justice, as this song touches me deeply on an emotional level. I don’t know whether to give more credit to Emmy the Great or to Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim), but I’m grateful I found this song.
2. “Peacebone” — Animal Collective
On a formal level, I liked having the relative approachability and calming “Seattle” lead the listener directly into the proverbial lions’ den — the abrasive, broken Nintendo-like electronic textures that open this song before eventually resolving into rhythm. This song also has a terrific music video:
3. “California Dreamer” — Wolf Parade
I discovered Wolf Parade in ’09, and they grew to be one of my favorite bands by the next year. The album that features “California Dreamer,” 2008′s At Mount Zoomer is the rare album with no mediocre, or even merely good, tracks. It seems like most critics out there prefer Wolf Parade’s debut album Apologies to the Queen Mary, but I (and my friend Zack) stand by Mount Zoomer as near-perfect.
4. “Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl” — Broken Social Scene
I’ve never been as into BSS as my Playground Misnomer cohort TJ, but for some reason I got really into this song over the summer of 2009.
5. “Love Vigilantes” — Iron & Wine
Lisa introduced this one to me, I think having heard it on The Current. From Iron & Wine’s 2009 B-sides album, this is a cover of a 1985 New Order song — we both agree that Iron & Wine’s stripped-down, acoustic version is much, much better.
6. “While You Wait for the Others” — Grizzly Bear
While “Two Weeks” was a hit out of the gate for me with this album, “While You Wait for the Others” became the one that stuck with me. My former roommate Peter, Lisa, drove up to Minneapolis and I saw Grizzly Bear perform at First Avenue that fall.
7. “Tangled Up in Headphone Lead” — The Servant
A strange song, probably the strangest one I’ve ever included in this series. But also one that hits me hard at its climactic key change, following the relatively soft two verses and choruses. Something about the lyrics captures me as well — not often that those stick with me as much as the music, but both are powerful here. Like “Seattle,” I still listen to this song on occasion and feel something close to sublime.
8. “White Winter Hymnal” — Fleet Foxes
This one is nice. I like Fleet Foxes (via The Current), though I don’t feel as strong a personal tie to this song, perhaps based on its radio (over)play in ’09. It’s true that I feel more ‘ownership’ as a listener over tracks 1. and 7. on this mix, and that they’re also the least widely known songs here.
9. “Sunset Gates” — Gomez
Sadly, likely the last track by Gomez you’ll hear on these mixes. “Sweet Virginia,” on Songs of 2007, was from their pretty good 2004 album Split the Difference. That was followed up by decent 2006 album How We Operate, then mediocre 2009 album A New Tide (which features “Sunset Gates”), and finally awful 2011 album Whatever’s On Your Mind. This track does have a nice horn- and sax-filled climax.
10. “Fight Test” — The Flaming Lips
Whether or not Wayne Coyne purposefully stole this song from Cat Stevens, it’s great, speaks volumes on regret and shame (which were big in ’09). In 2010 I brought it back to my one semester of drum lessons at Carleton to try to learn it.
11. “Fools” — The Dodos
I’ll readily admit that TJ gave me two CDs by The Dodos in 2008 but that I didn’t start listening to them until the next year, and this track especially due to its placement on a Pitchfork list. I’m still not very familiar with their entire body of work… Maybe someday.
12. “Walcott” — Vampire Weekend
I loved this one at the time, but it’s the one track on Songs of 2008 that kind of grates on me now. My reasons for digging it were pretty closely related to Cape Cod being so prominently featured in the chorus (my Grandma has a house there; I go there nearly every summer). But it’s a little insufferable now.
13. “Snookered” — Dan Deacon
True story: Last weekend I was in Baltimore, and was 100% sure I saw Dan Deacon on the street (he's from, and lives in Baltimore). I tried to take a picture over my shoulder but was holding the camera the wrong way, and got this picture instead (Bedrich and Lisa).
True story: Last weekend I was in Baltimore, and was 100% sure I saw Dan Deacon on the street (he’s from, and lives in Baltimore). I tried to take a picture over my shoulder but was holding the camera the wrong way, and got this picture instead (Bedrich and Lisa). Anyway, I think this song is pretty great, and for some reason I have a vivid memory of biking near the old middle school in Northfield (now Carleton College’s Arts Union Weitz Center for Creativity) and listening to this. The album, Bromst, was also my #2 album of 2009. Right behind…
14. “Brother Sport” — Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavilion was my #1 album of 2009, and this closing track is just about perfect. I had some hesitation in picking two Animal Collective tracks for Songs of 2009, but as they had skyrocketed to the top of my favorite bands in the course of just a few months, it seemed appropriate, and at least I chose two different albums (2007′s Strawberry Jam and the above MPP). I wrote a fair amount on it in my recap of 2009′s best albums, and I encourage you to check that out.
Up next: Songs of 2010 — the first of the new decade.
