2009 has come and gone.. Ups, downs, in betweens, and a BSE to boot. And as always, the music carried it all. I always tell people that music is my primary passion, but I suck at creating it, so I have to do comedy as a consolation. When asked what kind of music I like, I’ve never felt like I had a good answer, but recently, I’ve decided that “Music that moves people” is the best answer I can give.
Here is a list of songs that moved me in 2009 (albums to follow). Go to www.grooveshark.com and search a song and artist to hear it:
20. Cool Knowledge-Volcano Choir
A welcome respite nestled in a beautiful wintertime album, lasts about as long as you can hold your breath on a frigid winter day.
19. Brothersport-Animal Collective
The first taste of this amazing album only added to the intrigue. As I described AC to my mom: “It’s like the Beach Boys…on different drugs.”
18. Worm Mountain-Flaming Lips
A song weird and explosive enough that we marched into Pistol Party 3.0 to it with live drums. Distorted as though it was recorded from the bottom of a bucket.
17. Knotty Pine-Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
A brilliant track off of the brilliant compilation “Dark was the Night” was my introduction to DP and opened the door to David Byrne’s solo career (with a little help from Cappy)
16. Love Vigilantes-Iron & Wine
Heard this on the bus after I dropped the kids off one day, just sat there transfixed, and then the plot twist yanked the rug out from underneath me. I’ve always been a sucker for wartime folk music, but I got out of that bus a different person.
15. Heads Up-Karen O and the Kids
Great happy soundtrack that I can play for the kids. I love the end of this track when the percussion picks up and it ascends off to the heavens.
14. 1901-Phoenix
Made me want a Cadillac. Just smooth music with a beat that white people can move to and not feel too awkward.
13. Walk About-Atlas Sound feat. Noah Lennox
Another kid’s song. Just a simple happy sunshiny day frolic. ‘Walk About’ proves the perfect title.
12. Bull Black Nova-Wilco
Proving they still have an edge, this one is driven and dark. Great one to run to.
11. 11th Dimension-Julian Casablancas
Happy 80’s feel good groove. More stuff white people can get down to…although this one is more fun to get intentionally awkward to.
10. 2 Weeks-Grizzly Bear
From the opening pounding of the keys, just sophisticated pop brilliance. A lilting, head bobbing with your eyes closed, harmonized affair.
9. What You Do to Me-Blakroc
“In the mean time, in the mean time, they don’t bother me…” The perfect amalgamation from this album…Jim Jones is THE SHIT.
8. Gets Your Body Moving-Suckers
Another one Pistol Party marched into, a death march of a number that, after a sweet whistling solo-ed bridge, pounds out a climactic conclusion that demands repeat listens.
7. Crown on the Ground-Sleigh Bells
This is my secret weapon of 2010. We are gonna do big things with this song. Sure it sounds way to trebbed out like it’s gonna blow your speakers, but isn’t that what rock n roll is supposed to do? ###UPDATE###: We DID do big things with this song:
Pistol Party MASH!!! from Think Tank on Vimeo.
6. Temecula Sunrise-Dirty Projectors
Meandering guitars and competing rhythms with an exploding chorus and a truly dirty guitar solo make this the track that epitomizes this album.
5. Dominos-Big Pink
An anthem for hitting the town, similar to what MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” was last year, this is an epic wall of sound built for blasting through barriers.
4. What Would I Want? Sky-Animal Collective
Hypnotic. Soothing. A constant reminder of the sky above you, with a Grateful Dead sample! The first couple of minutes may be a bit abrasive, but it pays off. I promise.
3. Snookered-Dan Deacon
I run a lot to music, and this was one of 2 songs in 09 (more on the other one later), that made me stop my run, question my existence, and recognize that I had just heard something like I had never heard before. This song has an entire arc of a life, from its quiet inception, to its incredible peak, to its quiet escape, you could fit an entire biography into just over eight minutes. At the 4:48 mark when those vocal snippets of nonsense come together and make you want to jump out of your skin, the only thing that can top it is the 5:20 mark when the music decides to join in on the ruckus.
2. Watching the Planets-Flaming Lips
Another one we marched into with live drums for Pistol Party…another one that sounds like people marching to battle. Fuzzy, multilayered, multi-drum kits, just makes me want to dance around in a strobe light shaking glow in the dark maracas. This is the song those IPOD silhouette people should be dancing to all the time.
1. In the Flowers/My Girls-Animal Collective
Early in 2009, on a cold icy day, I received this album, and immediately put it on and went for a run. Based on the hype, I had high expectations, and from the get-go, “In the Flowers” carried me to new speeds. From its ominous inception to the cacophony (I told myself I could only use the word “cacophony” once for this entire project…so there it is) of sounds that build midway through it, it is sheer and utter pop brilliance. The pounding drums in the middle jumped inside my heart, sending it pounding and me running at a tremendous speed, then the vocals kicked in over the top in a beautiful melody that made sense of it all. At the conclusion, I stopped running, realizing I had no idea of the speed I was traveling, no perception of where I was, or the distance I had just traveled, and all I wanted to do was listen again….and then the shimmering “My Girls” started.
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