The Listomania » 2009 Songs

85. Phoenix – 1901

Drew — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:24:38 +0000

Not every rise is meteoric. We hear the story so much that I think people assume it's a much more common careeer trajectory than it is. The One-ders are the exception, not the reality. Most bands wallow around in a middling ground for years, mired by an inability to take that next step, cross over and become a nationally recognized band. The percentage of bands that take that step is miniscule. But this year, Phoenix didn't just take the step. They made a giant leap, a vault, a daredevil-over-the-Caeser's-fountains flight from that middling state to the Next Big Thing.

Phoenix released their debut album in 2000 after playing together for half a decade in France, and existed in the European music underground for 9 years, releasing three albums and consistently staying at the bottom end of a heap of foreign dance-pop dopplegangers. No matter that they were one of the best of the group, they were still a part of the dogpile. And although Pitchfork wrote about them and metacritic recognized them as a good to very good band, no one really cared. They were never going to really go anyplace. That is, until Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

The 2009 album dominates everything they've ever done. Dominates. Like, not even close. I'm not really even sure how this happened. You hear the same sounds, the same musical ideas, it's all the same members. But something is just different. The songs were always catchy, but these are insane, stick-in-your-brain until your last breath melodies, refrains that are meant to be screamed at the top of ones lungs, the licks are fresher, the beats are bouncier. This is like 'roids in baseball. Think of those pictures you've seen of young Barry Bonds vs. older Barry Bonds. Same thing.

And "1901" is the best of this new crop of songs. I don't feel like I need to talk about this at all. Maybe more so than any other song on this list, this track is instantly and insatiably catchy. I will point out, though, that I feel the real brilliance of the song lies in the seemless melding of classic '70s guitar strokes and 2025 electronics swooshes. The best part of any piece of music from 2009 is the upward synth push at 1:24. Seriously, put that at the beginning of any uptempo chorus ever written and you have the catchiest song of the year. Give any other band these sounds and these toe-tapping, head bobbing hooks, and you have their next step. And Phoenix's giant leap to one of the biggest indie bands in the world.

Drew’s Grooves – The Best of 2009 Mixtape

Drew — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:55:01 +0000

You know I can't help making lists. So yeah, as a special treat for the first Friday back to work/school/despair, I took a break from the Top 150 to work on my list of the best tracks of 2009. Normally I would write up a traditional ordered list, but I'm trying something different this year. I don't want to spoil the big list (there are more songs from 2009 on it) and I like the interactivity idea. Thus, the Drew's Grooves Mixtape.

If you want to groove on what I've been grooving on this year, just grab the songs by any (legal...haha) means necessary and organize them on a CD. Watch them on youtube, grab some torrents, buy them off iTunes, I don't care. But here, for your listening pleasure, is my mixtape comprised of the 20 greatest songs of 2009. Only one song by each artist to give variety, and organized in alphabetical order. Enjoy. Let me know what you think, what's missing, what doesn't belong. Just an FYI though, it's perfect how it is.

Best of 2009 Mix

Animal Collective - My Girls
Basement Jaxx - Raindrops
Bat for Lashes - Daniel
Big Pink - Dominos
Bon Iver - Blood Bank
Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move
Fever Ray - When I Grow Up
Flaming Lips - Watching the Planets
Girls - Hellhole Ratrace
Grizzly Bear - Ready, Able
Hockey - Song Away
Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind
Miike Snow - Burial
Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction
Passion Pit - Little Secrets
Phoenix - 1901
Royksopp - The Girl and the Robot
White Rabbits - Percussion Gun
The xx - Crystalised
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

98. The xx – Crystalised

Drew — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:55:01 +0000

I’m sorry, this is turning into Dark Music Week. But two days ago was Dark Epic, and yesterday was Dark Sincerity. And today is Dark Sexy as Hell. Seriously, the first time I listened to The xx was in a car, the song was “Infinity,” and the only thing I said was “This sounds like Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game.’” Which it still does. But how can four pasty kids from London with a drum machine and barely-there guitar skills make what is easily the hottest song of 2009? It’s like Interpol, ripped to the bare bones and given a youthful, feminine makeover. It’s the one goth girl you knew in high school who could’ve been a hot commodity if she wanted, but she would rather slink around in ripped tights and draw on her knuckles in pen. Like my buddy Adam said to me in a brief blast of concise brilliance: sexy music, unsexy people.

I could make this song right now. I could call three of my friends, they would bring over their instruments, and we could work through it in one try. But none of us could ever come up with something so simply, slithery white-hot, so effortlessly sexy and cool and calm and unassuming. Like the Ramones, anyone could do it, but no one thought to, and once this shit is on the table it can’t be replicated.

The interplay between the male and female vocals are really what make this Barry White for Pavement fans, let’s be honest. The guitar lines are slick and melodic and emotive, the drums are inorganic and tinny and perfect, but at 2:40 when the guy and the girl sing to each other, different lyrics, different melodies, but one heaving desire and intention, it’s pretty much impossible to not get pulled into your own thoughts of dark, dirty things. It’s one of the best of 2009, one of the sexiest of the decade, and a promising beginning for a band releasing a true debut album. And if I had my druthers, this would help shape the sound of the next ten years.

149. Dirty Projectors – Cannibal Resource

Drew — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:59:27 +0000

Can you hear that? It’s the sound of potential coming to fruition. Dave Longstreth has been releasing quirky, meticulously arranged material since 2002, but it has always remained in that foreboding intelligentsia stable: material. Conceptually interesting art, like Dirty Projectors Rise Above, an entire album based around the singer’s memory of a Black Flag album. Contributed arrangements for David Byrne and Bjork. A concept album about, yes, Don Henley.

But on Dirty Projectors 2009 album, Bitte Orca, Longstreth and his band finally make the jump that interested parties have been awaiting for years – this album has SONGS. Not material, or concepts, or arrangements. Beautifully orchestrated, well-executed, enjoyable songs. And although the single is “Stillness is the Move”, for me (and thus for you too) “Cannibal Resource” is the segment of the album that finally introduces the band, and lets us know that, well, they actually WANT us to enjoy them now.

Hear that badass guitar intro? That’s my favorite six-stringed welcome mat since Jonny plugged in his guitar on 2+2=5. What follows is gorgeous, confounding harmony and rhythmically challenging hand claps. No one said it would be easy, just accessible. But to people that have been waiting for 7 years now, this is the sound of a band settling down, getting a real job, leasing a Prius, and deciding to stick around at the top of the indie game, at least for now.