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. 

Best Songs of 2009: #20-11

20. The Twilight Sad "I Became a Prostitute"
Never was a big fan of this band, but I was blown away by this song. The guitars sound like they could melt your face off if played at full volume.

Fave line: "You are the bearer of a womb without love/you could of had it all"





19. Taylor Swift "You Belong With Me"
I get slightly annoyed when they call this lil girl country. That's like saying the Jonas Brothers is rock, or Adele is soul. She's pop. I'm slightly annoyed by HER too, but this song is just the right amount of sweet without the possibility of a tooth or belly ache after.

Fave line: "You say you're fine, I know you better than that/hey, what you doing with a girl like that?"



18. La Roux "Bulletproof"
The best written song i've heard all year. La Roux is a major new talent, who over time will deliver the whopper of an album everyone wants her to. For now, we're left with this.

Fave line: "Been there, done that, messed around/I'm having fun, don't put me down"



17. Health "Die Slow"
I'll be just as glad as the next guy when Trent Reznor finally emerges out of his own asshole, but for now i'll suffice with this piece of industrial/metal hybrid right here.

Fave line: "If you market yourself for blood, how do you come back?"



16. Girls "Hellhole Ratrace"
The indomitable spirit of mankind. There's nothing else like it. Witness: this song. Made by some guys who went throught literal hell in their lifetime, they make sad music, without it sounding depressing with this song being the perfect example of that.

Fave line: "And i don't want to cry my whole life through, I want to do some laughing too"




15. Animal Collective "Brother Sport"
"You've got to open up your throat and let the all of that time go" advises Panda Bear in the opening of this 6 minute tour de force. It's light on vocals, but the explosive instrumental reverb makes is all the more rewarding. It's a song you never want to end.

Fave line: "You got to weigh what he said, to help shape the way you play"




14. Basement Jaxx "Raindrops"
Tribal drums, Bollywood strings- there's so much happening on this song. It's a confident, sure-footed stomper. Just don't call it a comeback.

Fave line: "Your moisture drips upon my lips/Just like a waterfall straight through the heart of me"



13. Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks"
Don't, for a second, believe that it's anything other than chamber pop, but how beautiful and glorious it is. The vocal arrangements are flaw-less and the instrumentation equally so.

Fave line: "Would you always, maybe sometimes, make it easy?"



12. Dizzee Rascal "Bonkers"
Dizzee Rascal started in grime, now he's ended up in house. How does that work, really? Maybe it's testament to his versatility as an artiste, but whatever. Bottom line- it's a banging song. Bonkers, indeed.

Fave line: "Some people think i'm bonkers, but I just think i'm free/Man, i'm just livin' my life, there's nothin' crazy bout me"



11. Green Day "21 Guns"
On every Green Day record there's one of them- a power ballad of sorts that joins the list as one of their best songs. Here's their latest. Get your lighters up.

Fave line: "Your faith walks on broken glass, and the hangover doesn't pass"

Best Singles of 2009: #50-41

50. La Roux "In For the Kill"
Borrowing heavily from Bjork, this is one propulsive song that should be on every radio and club playlist from now till next year

Fave line: "We can fight our desires, but when we start making fires we get ever so hot"



49. Dragonette "Fixin to Thrill"
The lead singer sounds like Ashlee Simpson, but that twat could never have made something like this. Played this one so many times, my four-year nephew probably knows it by heart by now.

Fave line: "Oh we could do it any way you want/We only like you cause you're cute and young"



48. Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain "Blame It"
I think this track proves more than anything, that if Jamie Foxx really wanted to have a respectable singing career, he could. My fave club track of the year, hands down. It's even better to dance to drunk.

Fave line: "I was unaware how fine you was before my buzz set in"
 



47. Kid Cudi feat. MGMT and and Ratatat "Pursuit of Happiness"
I'm really not a Kid Cudi fan, his flow is a bit too lazy for me, but there's summin about this song... I think it's chorus...

Fave line: "Tell me what you know about night terrors- nothing"



46. Passion Pit "The Reeling"
Reading the lyrics, this is a pretty depressing song. You'd never know though, with how busy and sunny everything else is.

Fave line: "We dug these holes we crawled into now they're my home"



45. Bat for Lashes "Daniel"
A haunting song about who knows what, Natasha Khan's descriptions about cinders and rain, fires, and marble movie skies are as vivid as ever.

Fave line: "And you have set fire to my heart"



44. Friendly Fires "Skeleton Boy"
Apart from their Mercury-Prize nomination, i'm really surprised this band wasn't buzzed about more. Oh well. Love them. Love this song.

Fave line: "Give me your hand, let's face this night and see it through"



43. Shakira "She Wolf"
Here's the most ridiculous song i've heard all year replete with howling, the use of "lycanthropy" and panting. Despite all that though, the song still works, resulting in one of Shakira's most effervescent songs ever.

Fave line: "Eternal creatures are not so prudent/the moon's my teacher and i'm her student"



42. Animal Collective "Summertime Clothes"
More than any other song this year, the importance of a physical connection is expressed wonderfully. The Collective really impressed me this year. Really.

Fave line: "My bones have to move and my skin's gotta breathe/You pick up the phone and i'm so relieved"



41. The Dead Weather "Hang You From the Heavens"
Creepy, pulsating, sexy are just some of the words I can think of to describe this. It also sounds a lot like what the White Stripes would if the lead singer were female.

Fave: "I never know how to treat you/you say I love you, but it aint true"