While I professed in my albums post that perhaps this wasn't the greatest year for albums, or at least it didn't have too many true classics, 2009 has been an incredible year for songs. I really had trouble culling this list down to only 100, which is definitely a lot of songs. Of course, when Spencer Krug's various bands take up over a dozen slots, it leaves little room for other things, but this was a really wonderful year. Even more shocking is the staggering list of great new albums expected out in 2010, but we'll save that for next week. On to my final list of 2009.
1. "Silver Moons" Sunset Rubdown (173 plays)
2. "You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)" Sunset Rubdown (151 plays)
3. "Dragon's Lair" Sunset Rubdown (137 plays)
Well we certainly start with a theme. And for the second time in the past three years, Sunset Rubdown has the top 3 songs on my year-end chart. There's not much else to say about my love for the band that I haven't already said, but I did struggle mightily to order these three songs. They are so different -- really, staggeringly different -- and yet they all appear on the same incredible album by the same incredible band. The first one, the lead track, is a midtempo ballad, or as close as Spencer gets to a ballad, while the second one is a classic Sunset Rubdown slow burner to fast explosion and the third one, the final track, well -- I could spend days just describing the sonic template that the band achieves on that song alone. On simple merit, "Dragon's Lair" should be #1. On excitement, "You Go On Ahead" is the best. But in the quieter moments, in my final contemplation, nothing this year surpassed "Silver Moons". Congratulations, Spencer. Again.
4. "Blinders (fast version)" Superchunk (116 plays)
5. "Familiar Light" Asobi Seksu (98 plays)
6. "Learned to Surf" Superchunk (95 plays)
7. "The Whale Song" Modest Mouse (98 plays)
Superchunk returned from an 8 year absence with two songs that made the top 6, two songs that belong right up there with any of their classics from the 1990s, a stunning return to form. The glorious rush of energy of "Blinders", from the very first chords through to the end, not 2 1/2 minutes later, is just perfect. "Baby I've got blinders, and if you don't mind there's nothing strange about what I want to do, I only want to see you there."
8. "Radio Kaliningrad" Handsome Furs (69 plays)
9. "Idiot Heart" Sunset Rubdown (131 plays)
10. "Nightengale/December Song" Sunset Rubdown (120 plays)
My top 10 closes with two more tracks from Dragonslayer along with a song from Spencer's Wolf Parade bandmate, Dan Boeckner, from his second album as Handsome Furs. Yeah, I guess there's a definite theme going here. I know that most year-end song lists typically pick a single song from an album or artist, or at most a couple, but me, I'm not ashamed to say I fucking loved Dragonslayer so much more than any other album that 5 of the songs on it were among my 10 favorite. Does make it difficult to post too many songs from the album without giving it away of course.
11. "Transparence" Asobi Seksu (77 plays)
12. "Warlock Psychologist" Swan Lake (92 plays)
Asobi Seksu appear with another wonderful track from an album that was released last January but held up against a slew of great competition to make a strong statement in my year-end list. Both songs are just pure pop delights, which is not how you would describe Swan Lake's song, or anything by the band, but it's still a musical delight, and means Spencer continues to contribute half of the songs on my list so far.
13. "Wood Trumpet" The Octopus Project (97 plays)
14. "Nothing Changes" Saxon Shore (64 plays)
Spencer's reign ends, finally, as he didn't have anything to do with either of these tracks, as far as I know. It is curious that these are the first two instrumental tracks on my list this year. As a huge post-rock fan, there's usually at least a couple in my top ten (last year's #2 was post-rock), but I think that's just because of the strength of the tracks above these two on the list, not any slight against them. When is a new full-length for Octopus Project coming out, by the way? I really, really love just about everything they do.
15. "Planting Seeds" Built to Spill (89 plays)
16. "All We Want, Baby, Is Everything" Handsome Furs (68 plays)
17. "The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid" The Decemberists (53 plays)
Built to Spill had a hugely impressive return to form with this song, one of their best ever, and the entire album (my 3rd favorite of the year). Another Handsome Furs song appears in the top 20, and the first of several songs from the critically panned but Vague Space-loved Hazards of Love appears.
18. "Harm and Boon" Balmorhea (64 plays)
19. "Bay of Pigs" Destroyer (59 plays)
20. "Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!" Sunset Rubdown (127 plays)
We all know Dan Bejar's a genius. And of course, we're up to 6 tracks from Dragonslayer, 7 from Spencer total (and 9 from members of Wolf Parade in the top 20). But Balmorhea? That's got to be the biggest surprise in the top 20. Unless you consider Bejar's nearly 14-minute disco song about the Cuban missile crisis a surprise. Which, yeah, kind of I do. And if you have a few minutes to spare, just check out the lyrical brilliance of "Bay of Pigs". It really is mind-blowing. Especially if you were 20 years old in 1992.
I was twenty years old in 1992.
I was bathed in golden sunlight, alright?
I was ripped on dope. You were a ray of sunshine.
I was a hopeless romantic. You were swine.
21. "Harmless Lover's Discourse" Odawas (75 plays)
22. "Misfits & Mistakes" Superchunk (78 plays)
23. "Ashes in the Snow" Mono (64 plays)
24. "Settler" Balmorhea (49 plays)
The post-rock tracks are starting to come in droves, along with another Superchunk track (3 in the top 22!), but I wanted to highlight the quiet beauty of the Odawas song, which is both haunting and heartbreaking. Seriously, the line repeated throughout, "Just. This once. I'll stay with you. For the night. This could be our last day on earth" in the way it's sung is absolutely perfect.
25. "More Stars Than There Are in Heaven" Yo La Tengo (58 plays)
26. "Cello Song" Jose Gonzalez and The Books (51 plays)
27. "Nothing To Hide" Yo La Tengo (60 plays)
A cover track for the Dark Was the Night soundtrack, which ends up with a bunch of songs on this list, is bookended by two tracks from Yo La Tengo's Popular Songs, two songs which couldn't be more different, but are both wonderful.
28. "Say" Do Make Say Think (51 plays)
29. "Building All is Love" Karen O and the Kids (69 plays)
30. "Jim Cain" Bill Callahan (62 plays)
31. "So Far Around the Bend" The National (64 plays)
You know, I'm not a huge Yeah Yeah Yeahs fan and I haven't seen the Where the Wild Things Are movie, nor do I fondly remember the book -- I don't remember it at all. But shit, when someone uses The Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" in their trailer, I start to pay attention. And when someone makes a beautiful little soundtrack to a movie I never saw, I don't hold it against them that kids are singing in the background. Thanks, Karen O.
32. "Things Fall Apart" Built to Spill
33. "Summertime Clothes" Animal Collective
34. "Ex-Girl Collection" Will Sheff
35. "Coming to at Dawn" Sunset Rubdown
I think the song might officially be credited to "Moonface," Spencer's solo effort, but I'm just calling it Sunset Rubdown to make it 7 songs on the countdown for Spencer the singer/songwriter so far, even if this is the first not on Dragonslayer. Animal Collective's album didn't do for me quite what it did for Pitchfork, but I do love that song.
36. "Two" The Antlers (58 plays)
37. "Seaside" Kestrels (53 plays)
38. "Northern Lights" Bowerbirds (69 plays)
And here's the part of the countdown where lesser known bands that put out some pretty amazing tracks are starting to appear. The Antlers album ended up being a grower for me. I liked it at first, but not enough to really listen repeatedly, but as the year wore on, and people kept talking about it, I listened some more and fell in love.
39. "Insane Love is Awakening" Sunset Rubdown (105 plays)
40. "The Trapeze Swinger" Iron & Wine (52 plays)
That's 8 for Spencer if you're counting at home. Moving on. The Iron & Wine song was kind of released a couple years ago, but I'm not sure the circumstances and I think this might have been its first official release, as part of his B-sides collection Around the Well. And it's such a beautiful song I had to include it, no matter its age. "Please, remember me"
41. "Harmless Sparks" David Bazan (39 plays)
42. "Gold Rush" Basia Bulat (49 plays)
43. "Settle on Your Skin" Swan Lake (87 plays)
I don't talk much about religion on this blog, for a variety of reasons, but I do have very strong beliefs about it, and I feel very strongly about Bazan's portrayal of his loss of faith through the entirety of his latest album. And this song, well, let's just say I totally get it.
They might have burned
But the priests were all taking turns
Showing nuns what they had discerned about their bodies,
In the dark
They carried on,
from the evening until the dawn
Like they should have been all along
Making harmless sparks
Instead of breaking little boys hearts
God knows, if you noticed the millions of small holes
And ponder the weight of an apple
Compared to the trouble we're in
Then a grown man might,
be tempted to question his birthright
In front of his kids and devout wife
Causing the doubt to begin, to
Spread like original sin
44. "Guenevere" The Crown Vandals (47 plays)
45. "The Rake's Song" The Decemberists (56 plays)
46. "Hey Snow White" The New Pornographers (41 plays)
47. "Heartswarm" Swan Lake (60 plays)
Dan Bejar's main band is called Destroyer. Destroyer once put out a song called "Hey Snow White," off an album called This Night, back in 2002. He was also a part of a supergroup of sorts called The New Pornographers and in 2009 on a charity album called Dark Was The Night, they covered Dan's "Hey Snow White". But he didn't take part. The other singers in the band sung the song. Dan was busy with another band, another supergroup of sorts called Swan Lake, which put out a great album in 2009 that included the song "Heartswarm," written and sung by Mr. Dan Bejar. Long story short, Dan Bejar is a god.
48. "The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise)" The Decemberists (32 plays)
49. "It's Made Me Cry" Magnolia Electric Co. (45 plays)
50. "Robots" Dan Mangan (34 plays)
51. "Genesis 3:23" The Mountain Goats (40 plays)
52. "Kettering" The Antlers (39 plays)
Both The Mountain Goats and David Bazan made highly religious-themed records this year and both were quite different, but good. The Decemberists made an album that no one really could follow, not even me, and I liked it. And The Antlers made an album about dying -- not death, not life after death, but about dying, the moments and the pain of someone dying in a Hospice. Really powerful stuff. And one of the reasons why indie rock music was so amazingly strong yet again this year. I really don't know what Taylor Swift or Jay-Z or whoever is at the top of the mainstream charts sings about (is Jay-Z still around?), but I do know that these artists are putting their hearts and their spirits on the line in every song, and I applaud their efforts. Even if some of them are simply singing about "Robots".
53. "The Hazards of Love (Wager All)" The Decemberists (41 plays)
54. "Make" Do Make Say Think (26 plays)
55. "Hard to Be" David Bazan (25 plays)
56. "Barnesyard" The Rural Alberta Advantage (56 plays)
The RAA stormed the charts at the end of 2008, as pretty much the last eligible album for my year-end list, and although they did quite well on that list, they still received a ton of plays in 2009. In fact, "Four Night Rider" was my 14th most played track of this year, coming between heavy hitters "Planting Seeds" and "Settle on Your Skin". But only "Barnesyard," a new song only released in a Daytrotter session was eligible for this year's list.
57. "Nowhere Lullaby" Built to Spill (46 plays)
58. "Young Adult Friction" The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (35 plays)
59. "Someone Loves You" Pants Yell! (36 plays)
60. "Screw it Up" Superchunk (22 plays)
That's four tracks from Superchunk and three from Built to Spill if you're counting venerable indie rock legends who made my top 60 in 2009. Impressive.
61. "Bar Clearing Good Times" Saxon Shore (33 plays)
62. "Say Please" Monsters of Folk (50 plays)
63. "Sunday St" Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (36 plays)
I remember when Conor Oberst could cough into a microphone and I'd put it in my top 40 of the year. But either I've grown tired of his music or his music has grown tired of me because despite a full-length solo album and his Monsters of Folk collaboration with Jim James and Mike Mogis and M. Ward, only this song appears in my top 100.
64. "Guilty Cocker Spaniels" Modest Mouse (45 plays)
65. "I Let it Go" The Thermals (35 plays)
66. "This Tornado Loves You" Neko Case (36 plays)
67. "Destroyer" Young Galaxy (28 plays)
68. "A Hand at Dusk" Swan Lake (60 plays)
That's either 10 or 11 Spencer songs, on the chart so far, depending on whether or not Swan Lake's "Warlock Psychologist" is included (he's not the main singer on the track so I assume he didn't write it). But in either case, it's pretty impressive. And no, there is no truth to the rumor that Young Galaxy named their song Destroyer just so I could add another tally to Dan Bejar's growing list.
69. "Walkabout (w/Noah Lennox)" Atlas Sound (40 plays)
70. "Ghost of My Old Dog" Jason Lytle (35 plays)
71. "Air Lines / Land Lines" Bell Orchestre (34 plays)
72. "Paper Lace" Sunset Rubdown (79 plays)
That's 9 for Sunset Rubdown, let's say 11 for Spencer, and 13 for bands he was in this year. Now it's getting ridiculous. Next thing you know I'll be repeating the same song by him by a different band that he's also in.
73. "I'm a Pilot" Fanfarlo (32 plays)
74. "Lust for Life" Girls (46 plays)
75. "Eid Ma Clack Shaw" Bill Callahan (33 plays)
76. "I Have Nothing" Noah and the Whale (41 plays)
77. "Paper Lace" Swan Lake (79 plays)
Let's just move on.
78. "Daniel" Bat for Lashes (31 plays)
79. "Thanks for Being Away" Saxon Shore (30 plays)
80. "Conductor" We Were Promised Jetpacks (22 plays)
81. "Something is Squeezing My Skull" Morrissey (36 plays)
Wow. I'd almost forgotten that Morrissey had a new album out this year until I ran into this song. I really loved it back in January, but it's been a long year. And there's just been a slew of great tracks to come out since.
82. "Psalms 40:2" The Mountain Goats (28 plays)
83. "My Halo" Atlas Sound (24 plays)
84. "Between Two Mysteries" Mount Eerie (19 plays)
85. "May You Never" Land of Talk (26 plays)
86. "Precision Auto" Les Savy Fav (58 plays)
I just bought Land of Talk's last album for a friend for Christmas, because I think she'd like it. Somehow I didn't have a copy of it, though, even as I really loved this song. I could have opened the CD and ripped myself a copy before I gifted, but that would have been tacky. I think I'll just find the album online instead. Illegal, maybe, but not as tacky.
87. "People Got a Lotta Nerve" Neko Case (32 plays)
88. "Little Shadow" Yeah Yeah Yeahs (27 plays)
89. "Everything With You" The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (22 plays)
90. "Sing Along" Mum (40 plays)
I was going to say Chick Fest! in this grouping but then Mum snuck in there. And that would probably be sexist anyway. So I'll just mention that Neko Case is in the New Pornographers with Dan Bejar. And so that band is all over the charts, even if AC Newman's album didn't produce any that made it.
91. "It's Thunder and It's Lightning" We Were Promised Jetpacks (29 plays)
92. "Yours Truly, the Commuter" Jason Lytle (41 plays)
93. "When I Died" The Thermals (28 plays)
94. "Young Hearts Spark Fire" Japandroids (23 plays)
95. "Road Regrets" Dan Mangan (28 plays)
96. "Sleep All Summer" St. Vincent and The National (47 plays)
We've got Canadians, Californians, St. Vincents, and wherever Les Savy Fav is from. I really shouldn't have tried to write this entire list in one sitting.
97. "The Sea is a Good Place to Think Of the Future" Los Campesinos! (34 plays)
98. "Old Panda Days (w/Nick Krgovich)" Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (50 plays)
99. "Avalon or Somewhere Very Similar" Yo La Tengo (33 plays)
100. "Oberkampf" Woodpigeon (39 plays)
Woodpigeon and Los Campesinos! are both having new albums released in January 2010, so I think that's as good a place to stop as any.
Final Spencer tally: 9 Sunset Rubdown tracks (only "Black Swan" didn't make it from Drayonslayer), 5 from Swan Lake. He's already released a 20-minute EP this month as "Moonface" to kick off his 2010 efforts, and there's a very, very strong chance that Wolf Parade will have a new album out next year (they are currently recording). So. Wow.
Final Dan Bejar tally: Just 1 Destroyer track. 5 Swan Lake. 1 New Pornographers that he wrote. 1 song called "Destroyer" by a different band.
And that will be the final total for 2009. A great year in music.
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