Favorite songs of 2009

[u2popmofo]

We're a quarter of the way through 2009, what have been your favorite tracks released so far this year? Feel free to provide thoughts, streams, legal downloads, or video. Or you can feel free to say no good music has been released in 2009 and get punched right in the throat by me. Which ever you prefer.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Throat punching

So far my 2009 listening has been pretty slim but:

-House Of Mirrors by Doves
-Magpie To The Morning by Neko Case
-Magnificent by U2

look up your own damn clips

 

[impy13]

The correct answer for best song

 

[corianderstem]

My Girls - Animal Collective
Breathe - U2
Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

 

[impy13]

Yeah, "Zero" probably goes too. As do "Soft Shock," "Skeletons," and "Little Shadow." It's Blitz! might be knocking Merriweather Post Pavilion off its pedestal. Only time will tell.

But MPP has "Bluish." Hmm...

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - ZERO, Hysteric, Soft Shock
The Decemberists - The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid, The Rake's Song
Lily Allen - The Fear
Boss Springsteen - Tomorrow Never Knows, Last Carnival
Taylor Swift - Crazier
Shuttlecock - Moment of Service

I'm forgetting some stuff. And I'll post YouTubes later. But a baseball game is about to start. Great thread, Scumbo. Love is in the air.

 

[onebloodonelife]

In no particular order:

1. Akron/Family - "Everyone is Guilty"
It's now been released as a single, and their new album, Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free comes out on May 5th. Fantastic song that goes from Sly and the Family Stone to classic rock riffs and back again without missing a beat.
Lala - Where music plays

2. Dirty Projectors - "Stillness is the Move"
Awesome, just awesome.

Here's the Pitchfork review of the track: "The first single from the forthcoming Bitte Orca is also the first Dirty Projectors song that actually sounds like a single. I know what you're thinking: Another blowhard straining his powers of pretension to compare experimental rock bands to random bursts of commercial radio. What I'll say is that Dave Longstreth, the band's guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter, is a very talented musician whose creative restlessness has made most of his albums fascinating but difficult to listen to. Here, though, there's much-needed breathing room. His and Amber Coffman's fractal guitar blasts are streamlined into a tidy West African–style blues loop; the backbeat is sturdy and midtempo (i.e., you can dance-- even grind [really]-- to it); and Amber and bassist Angel Deradoorian's vocals flutter with the weird verve of a robotic Mariah Carey (herself not convincingly human to begin with). All this and a massive, melodic chorus! One you can sing along with!

But the biggest revelation here is the lyric. After years of inscrutable, self-effacing narratives, Dirty Projectors recorded a love song-- about, to my ears, the scary, mature realization that "settling down" doesn't mean you stop growing. I mention it in part because it moves me, and in part because it's a compact metaphor for both song and album: a band realizing that slowing their role doesn't mean giving up-- and might even mean making leaps they couldn't have made before."
Lala - Where music plays

3. P.O.S. - "Optimist (We Are Not For Them)"
Minneapolis-native P.O.S. mixes punk rock and rap (in a good way). This is from Never Better.
YouTube - P.O.S - Optimist (HD Version)

4. Animal Collective - "My Girls," "Bluish," and "Summertime Clothes"
MPP is just too damn good to pick one.


I'm sure I'll be back with more later...

 

[LemonMelon]

U2 - Breathe
Doves - Winter Hill
Super Furry Animals - Cardiff In The Sun
P.O.S. - Optimist (We Are Not For Them)
Animal Collective - My Girls
Bob Dylan - If You Ever Go To Houston
Franz Ferdinand - Lucid Dreams
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Soft Shock
Metric - Collect Call

 

[intedomine]

U2 - Magnificent

Morrissey's I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris and Something Is Squeezing My Skull - even though both were written and first performed live way back early to mid last year...but both released on the brilliant Years Of Refusal....

 

[onebloodonelife]

No idea how I forgot this one earlier...

Wavves - "So Bored"
Hummable distorted surf-punk...probably the best way I'll be able to describe it.
YouTube - Wavves - So Bored

 

[lazarus]

Yeah, "Zero" probably goes too. As do "Soft Shock," "Skeletons," and "Little Shadow." It's Blitz! might be knocking Merriweather Post Pavilion off its pedestal. Only time will tell.
.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - ZERO, Hysteric, Soft Shock

Yeah, I could easily list five songs off that album, but my favorite at this point has got to be Skeletons, followed by Dragon Queen.

Not a big singles guy, so I only know stuff off the albums I have.

Shuttlecock, Moment of Service
Shuttlecock, No Net on the Horizon
Shuttlecock, Unknown Partner
Phoenix, Lisztomania
Phoenix, Love is Like a Sunset
Phoenix, 1901
Bob Dylan, I Feel A Change Comin' On
Depeche Mode, Wrong
Prince, Ol' Skool Company

Something from the new Super Furries album, though I don't know it well enough yet.

 

[LemonMelon]

I'll throw this one out there as well:

YouTube - Dan Deacon - Snookered (new album Bromst drops March 24th)

Definitely a highlight from Bromst.

 

[bono_212]

Just off the top of my head so far:

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Hysteric
U2 - Unknown Caller
Bruce Springsteen - Life Itself
Bell X1 - The Great Defector.

That's all for now, but that's mostly because I haven't really listened to a lot of albums from this year multiple times yet.

 

[Mr. V]

U2 - NLOTH, Breathe, White as Snow, F-BB etc...
Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game, Nothing But Change Part II
Phoenix - Love Like a Sunset, 1901, Lisztomania
Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses, Lucid Dreams
Animal Collective - Bluish, Summertime Clothes

They're the songs from the albums I've really digested. I've got some more to go so that list will grow, no question. But they're standouts so far.

 

[onebloodonelife]

A few more of my favorites from the Dark Was the Night comp:

The National - "So Far Around the Bend"
YouTube - The National - So Far Around The Bend

Yeasayer - "Tightrope"
YouTube - Yeasayer - Tightrope

Dirty Projectors and David Byrne - "Knotty Pine"
YouTube - Dirty Projectors David Byrne - Knotty Pine - (1 of 31)

 

[impy13]

I completely forgot about "So Far Around the Bend." Put their cover of "Sleep All Summer" with St. Vincent up there, too.

 

[Mr. V]

Oh, and all of The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules.

 

[If you shout...]

Future of the Left: "Lapsed Catholics"

Mclusky is dead. Long live Mclusky.

 

[u2popmofo]

A number of these have already been mentioned, but are worth mentioning again:

Animal Collective - 'Summertime Clothes'
Animal Collective - 'Girls'
Beirut - 'Mimizan'
Realpeople - 'The Concubine'
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 'Zero'
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 'Hysteric'
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 'Heads Will Roll'
Andrew Bird - 'Anonanimal'
Bat For Lashes - 'Daniel'
The Thermals - 'Now We Can See'
Dan Deacon - 'Snookered'
The Decemberists - 'The Rake's Song'
The Decemberists - 'The Wanting Comes In Waves / Repaid'
Peter Bjorn and John - 'Living Thing'
The Decemberists - 'Sleepless'
Doves - 'Kingdom of Rust'
U2 - 'Magnificent'
U2 - 'No Line on the Horizon'
U2 - 'Breath'
Silversun Pickups - 'There's No Secrets This Year'
Silversun Pickups - 'Panic Switch'
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - 'Stay Alive'
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - 'Young Adult Friction'
Morrissey - 'Throwing My Arms Around Paris'
Royksopp - 'Happy Up Here'
Flight of the Conchords - 'Hurt Feelings'
Flight of the Conchords - 'Sugalumps'

And this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y-3aPi-cvg

 

[If you shout...]

Dan Deacon - 'Snookered'

No. You meant "Get Older."

YouTube - Get Older - Dan Deacon

Turn it up. Unbelievable composition.

 

[u2popmofo]

Nope, I meant Snookered.

 

[onebloodonelife]

Hadn't heard anything of Dan Deacon's before, and I'm definitely intrigued now. Is Bromst a good starting place?

 

[u2popmofo]

Hadn't heard anything of Dan Deacon's before, and I'm definitely intrigued now. Is Bromst a good starting place?

Start here:

YouTube - Dan Deacon - CRYSTAL CAT

 

[onebloodonelife]

What the hell did I just watch?

The song was great though.

 

[If you shout...]

Spiderman of the Rings is a more representative piece than is Bromst, warts and all. Both are stellar, though.

 

[onebloodonelife]

Spiderman of the Rings is a more representative piece than is Bromst, warts and all. Both are stellar, though.

Cool, I'll start with Spiderman then, since that cracked-out song above was from it too.

 

[Salome]

YouTube - Emiliana Torrini - "Jungle Drum"

 

[mad1]

My top ten favs so far, from the Charts, and in NO order are:

Calvin Harris – Im Not Alone
Get On Your Boots – U2
Greatest Day – Take That
Broken Stings – James and Nelly
If I Were A Boy – Beyonce
Shake It – Metro Station
So What – P!nk
Beautiful – Akon
Whatcha Think About That – PCD
The Loving Kind – Girls Aloud

I know, I know, wacky choice I have there, folks, but you know what, pelt me later with those water balloons, okay?

 

[Saracene]

U2 - Magnificent
PJ Harvey & John Parish - Black Hearted Love
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
Doves - Kingdom of Rust
Lily Allen - The Fear
Fever Ray - If I Had a Heart

 

[u2popmofo]

Fever Ray

I love this album, but I couldn't really choose a specific song from it for some reason. I need to listen to it more.

I forgot to mention:

Franz Ferdinand - 'Ulysses'