Best Songs of 2009: #10-1

10. The Big Pink "Dominos"
Take Beck's "E-Pro". Add a ounce of MGMT's "Time to Pretend". Shake vigorously and presto change-o!

Fave line: "As soon I love her it's been too long/And I really love breaking your heart"





9. The Dirty Projectors "Stillness is the Move"
I don't know what else to say about this song that hasn't already been said, but here's what I think. It's a pop song. It's an R&B song. It's a hip-hop song. It's about life. It's about the after-life. It's about longing. It's about a lack of want. It's about me. It's about you.

Fave line: "On top of every mountain, there was a longing for an even higher mountain"



8. Phoenix "1901"
Smooth and spirited and dementedly catchy, the French band drowns everything in layers and layers of sexy synths. The best pop-rock hybrid of the year. Kudos to the Grammys for recognizing their talent.

Fave line: "It's 20 seconds til the last call/Going hey hey hey hey hey"



7. Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind"
The very best ode to New York ever written, and that's saying a lot. Even people who've never been to New York (myself included) love this song. It transcends generations, nationalities and geographies. No wonder it's such a big hit.

Fave line: "And Jesus can't save you/life starts when the Church ends"



6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Zero"
"Maps" aside, this is, hands down, the best song the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have ever done. Yea, I said it. Possibly the most remarkable aspect of the song is how natural it sounds, especially when you consider that this is supposedly the band’s (as one press release put it) “all-new & more experimental sound.” As the song plummets deeper and deeper into a sonic disco, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that this is the same band that once peeled a layer of skin off of us with the line “Boy you’re just a stupid bitch and girl you’re just a no good dick.”

Fave line: "Shake it like a ladder to the sun/Makes me feel like a madman on the run"

 

5. Antony and the Johnsons "Aeon"
I didn't like the album, but I love this song. Pitchfork describes it as "depicting eternity as a baby boy born to take care of his father, as time melts generations together". Um. Right. *scratches head* I like it for the utter longing Antony Hegarty evokes, whatever the hell he's warbling about.

Fave line: "Let's do something differently/let's take our power back"




4. Lady GaGa "Paparazzi"
Where the hell did this girl/guy/person come from?? 2009 was the year of the GaGa, and pop music is all the better for it. As great as all her singles were this year, in my opinion, her greatest is "Paparazzi". Bathed in warm chords that communicate a swirl of emotion, the song is a tribute of sorts to the symbiotic but ultimately fake and "plastic" relationship between stars and their trailing paparazzi, and the accompanying music video takes the song to another level entirely.

Fave line: "You're my rock star in between the sets/Eye-liner and cigarettes"


 

3. Jay-Z "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"
So according to Jay, auto-tune is dead. Thank God for that.

Fave line: "I know we facing a recession, but the music y’all making going make it the Great Depression"




2. Animal Collective "My Girls"
As a promise to take care of one's loved ones, to provide for them self-lessly, it's the most universal thing heard all year. And to think it came from these weirdo's.

Fave line: "I don't mean to seem like I care about material things like a social status"




1. Major Lazer feat. Mr. Lexx and Santigold "Hold the Line"
Lemme just express my sentiments when I first heard this song- BLOODCLAWT!!!!! Now, with said, this may not have been the best dancehall song of the year. But the elements of this track work so much better than anything you may have heard from Vybz Kartel or Mavado- Santigold sounds like a reggae-robot lost somewhere between "Galang" and "A Milli", while the surf lick that boils over every few seconds could be the opening stutter from "Pulp Fiction". There's also a girlish giggle, some dial tones, some horses running and even an elephant. (Hey, if Missy can do the elephant thing, why not Diplo and Switch?) Yes, Lexx's rhymes about fucking the hottest girls dem are hardly revelatory, but if you can ignore that, you'll hear the singularly most creative thing all year.