Weeks later I finally get back to the best of... I actually started this on 15 December. Enjoy.
What have I learned after perusing countless blogs and endless Best of 2009 lists? That I hate Animal Collective and Bat for Lashes and I kinda hate Phoenix as a whole, but I can't stop playing "Crown on the Ground" by Sleigh Bells no matter how half-assed it is (yes, it's supposed to sound like that).
Overall, 2009 was very bland. Across the board. La Roux and Gaga have to be the highlights. They just are, deal with it.
Despite protestations to the contrary in multiple reviews, most of the top 50 or top 100, etc., have no feeling, no umph, no emotion or power. Most of the music I've sampled has left me bored and despondent. That's actually my normal state of being so the music doubly loses. So many singles are reportedly about heartbreak but I'm not sure either the artists or the reviewers have ever actually had their hearts broken. (I had a ton of examples, I swear, but specifically, regarding Girls' song "Hellhole Ratrace:" That song's not about heartbreak. Boredom, maybe, but not heartbreak.)
If you're just going to repeat the word "Rollerskate" over and over again you really don't need to make the song over six minutes long. Yeah, I'm talking to you Matias Aguayo. Even a 4 minute radio edit is too much... And the surf rock nonsense has got to end! Along with the male falsetto. My only exception being Surfer Blood's "Swim (To Reach the End)," that one's tolerable.
NME, Pitchfork, Spin, Fader (who, thankfully, didn't have a traditional list, but one that still features much of the same; they seem to have a huge hard-on for Girls) it's all the same shit over and over again... And don't think that's the extent, I've plumbed so many depths it's made me dizzy. They all had the same crap listed in their "best of's."
I've learned that it's hard to convince anyone over 30 that The xx is "good." I think they're "good," but doubt that they're terribly familiar with a VCR, despite what they claim.
That being said, I've gathered my own top 38. Yes, 38. Top 38 tracks of 2009. It's an even, if not quite round, number. Too exhausted to try to add streams, use Google if you want to hear them:
1. "Crown On The Ground" Sleigh Bells
2. "Bulletproof" La Roux
3. "Sticks 'n' Stones" Jamie T
4. "Telephone (ft. Beyonce)" Lady Gaga, eh, no, actually it's "Bad Romance"
5. "Northshore" Tegan & Sara
6. "Stone Cold Sober" Paloma Faith
7. "Psychic City" YACHT
8. "Kiss With A Fist" Florence + The Machine
9. "Treat Me Like Your Mother" The Dead Weather
10. "Don't Haunt This Place" The Rural Alberta
11. "Bonkers" Dizzee Rascal
12. "You Need Satan More Than He Needs You" Future Of The Left
13. "No Kind Words" The Maccabees
14. "Islands" The xx
15. "Dominos" The Big Pink
16. "Away With Murder" Camera Obscura
17. "If I Had a Heart" Fever Ray
18. "Nothing Ever Happened" Deerhunter
19. "Lust For Life" Girls
20. "Fixin' to Thrill" Dragonette
21. "Hard (Feat. Young Jeezy)" Rihanna
22. "Heavy Cross" Gossip
23. "Quiet Dog" Mos Def
24. "9x's Outta 10" DJ Quik And Kurupt
25. "Rotten Mind" Jay Reatard
26. "Grocery Robots" Oswalt, Patton
27. "Not Fair" Lily Allen
28. "Burial" Miike Snow
29. "Sleepyhead" Passion Pit
30. "Idiot Heart" Sunset Rubdown
31. "One Life Stand" Hot Chip
32. "Smashed Pennies" Paul F. Tompkins
33. "Swim (To Reach the End)" Surfer Blood
34. "Fuckingsong" Jarvis Cocker
35. "Hey You Guys" Circlesquare
36. "Cousins" Vampire Weekend
37. "Heads Will Roll" Yeah Yeah Yeahs
38. "My Pumps" Erickatoure Aviance
