Saturday, January 23, 2010

2009 Best Moments in Song

Well, here we are again. Later than ever. The last week of January? I was traveling, and you were sick of lists anyway. Now you've gone all of three weeks without reading a list and I pop in to satisfy your withdrawal.

These are my favorite moments (read: best) in song from the year of 2009, a really great year for music. As always, these don't necessarily come from my favorite albums or favorite songs, but just something that grabbed me, an instant or a riff or a bridge or a chorus, an intro or an outro. The moments that make you rewind (read: click, scroll counter-clockwise, click again) to catch another brief glimpse of sonic perfection. Or imperfection.


The following is not in any ranked order, but the order in which they appear in the mash-up track, which you should download
here. And all the tracks are collected here.


Cymbals Eat Guitars - "And the Hazy Sea", 00:00-00:12,
Why There Are Mountains

The best intro of the year and quite a way to kick off your debut album. "Wake the fuck up kids. We're here and we're new. I mean, we're familiar, too. Don't be too scared. We'll definitely quiet down after this bit."


Dan Deacon - "Of the Mountains", 02:40-02:47,
Bromst

I ruin a lot of tracks for myself by choosing to edit videos to them. I did that with this song on the
2010 Trollbäck Montage.


Destroyer - "Bay of Pigs", 01:47-01:52, Bay of Pigs EP


Dan Bejar dropped a 14-minute track on his two-song EP this year, and it's fantastic. This is the first line after a minute and a half of outer space ambience. Maybe it's over the top, but prefacing a song with, "Listen, I've been drinking," sounds earnest coming from Dan Bejar.


Mountain Goats - "1 John 4:16", 02:20-02:27, Life of the World to Come


I say basically the same thing about John Darnielle every year. A total badass and a total pussy, all wrapped up into a perfect human being. This is the reprise of this line in the track, but it's 10-15% better than the first reading.


Animal Collective - "In the Flowers", 02:26-03:07, Merriweather Post-Pavillion


Probably the best moment in any song this year, when it kicks in I knew I was being swept away on some sort of twisted pop mind-fuck of a ride. And I ended up taking the same ride every morning into Manhattan for three cold months.


Cass McCombs - "You Saved My Life", 01:07-01:26, Catacombs


Jasper and Adam always talk about the time-signature in this song, and how strange it is. "7/4"? "But then it switches"? I just think it's catchy!


Grizzly Bear - "Fine for Now", 04:56-05:09, Veckatimest


"Two Weeks" is great. "While You Wait for the Others" is my favorite. But this moment single-handedly saves the album. Lush can only last so long before it becomes a snoozer. Sometimes you gotta play big guitar riffs. I don't think that Ed Droste believes this, but Dan Rossen know what's up.


Why? - "Into the Shadows of My Embrace", 02:26-02:40, Eskimo Snow


Yoni Wolf delivers a classic monologue on getting caught masturbating by neighbors and kissing his therapist before basically bringing the song to a screeching halt here, a brief pause before busting into a catchy bridge. It's the scream. It's the kick drum right at the end that announces the tempo will be turning up a notch.


Clues - "Ledmonton", 03:26-03:36, Clues


The Clues album is basically the soft-loud dynamic album of the year. It's filled with equal parts whispers and smashes. This is the best smash.


Jay-Z - "Run This Town", 03:05-03:08, The Blueprint 3


Kanye gets the dopest verse on the entire album, and it's unfortunate that I have to list the artist as Jay-Z. This line cracks me up, as does "Have you ever worn shoes without shoestrings?"


Dirty Projectors - "Useful Chamber", 02:42-02:54, Bitte Orca


These are the best Dirty Projectors lyrics!


Julian Casablancas - "11th Dimension", 01:25-01:42, Phrazes for the Young


Best Strokes chorus since Room on Fire.


Sleigh Bells - "Crown on the Ground", 00:23-00:34, Unreleased


This is some dirty, dirty Brooklyn shit.


North Highlands - "Collar Bones", 03:44-03:50, Sugar Lips EP


This is some clean, clean Brooklyn shit. (I know the drummer!)


Bill Callahan - "Too Many Birds", 03:11-04:26, Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle


"Let's just pause for a moment to consider the ongoing magnitude of Bill Callahan's accomplishment. Someday you will brag that you were around when stuff this good was being written."
- John Darnielle on "Too Many Birds"

Kid Cudi - "Day N Nite", 00:15-00:16, Man on the Moon


Whoa, whoa.


Phoenix - "Love Like a Sunset, pt. 2", 00:32-01:24, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix


I had my
Wolfgang tracklist ordered incorrectly, so Jasper and I would talk a lot about how this was such a perfect way to end a record; what with the dramatic, sweeping guitar strums. (So fun for air guitaring!) And then I found out it was supposed to be smack dab in the middle. But, it should be at the end, and I'll keep my album ordered the way it was. Once you create art, don't tell me how to interpret it, you pretentious French pop douchebags.

1 comment:

noslouch said...

how thrilling to see north highlands on the list!

also, sweet trollback montage. I like how the Janus logo doesn't quite finish, so in the last sweep of clients, the viewer gets a brief glimpse of ANUS unscrolled on their screen. Bravo!