animal collective

Top 100 Songs of 2009 (50-26)

50. White Rabbits – Percussion Gun

The best song that Cold War Kids didn’t release this year. The drumming is cool and the vocal is tight and urgent.

49. Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker – Laces Out

They can do buck wild with the best of them. This song attests to their wicked strong pop instincts.

48. In-Flight Safety – Model Homes

They are not re-inventing the wheel with this one, but they are patently honest and believable. I haven’t rooted for Maritimers this much since the Trailer Park Boys.

47. The Maine – Ho Ho Hopefully

The best Christmas song of the year, by far. I heard Santa cried when he first heard this song, then Mrs. Claus told him to stop being so Emo, then he cut his wrists, then she patched it up with love and candied tears, then they made sweet, cherubic love.

46. Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

A band in their prime, brimming with melodies and musical ideas to spare. I feel really warm when I listen to this song, warm like my body is layered in longjohns wrapped in longstockings covered in leopard-skin leotards. This song is luscious to its very core. Bonus points for probably my favourite video of the year, an amazing visual trip.

45. Backstreet Boys – Bigger

Far and away the best song on their mostly forgettable new record, this tune proves they can fit Adult Contemporary bliss in their back pocket. Max Martin was, is and will forever remain an indomitable Swedish treasure.

44. Muse – Undisclosed Desires

They cannot top the catchiness of “Starlight”, but they come close here. This is “Starlight’s” dirtier, younger, troublemaking cousin. For such a gitchy tune, designed to make people raise hands and give in, that is some pretty grimey bass-slapping action going on in the chorus. An underrated and sneaky part of the song comes in at 3:06, with some low level background crooning from Mr. Bellamy. Slyer than Stallone and slicker than Rick.

43. Hot Chip – Take It In

This song hasn’t been out long, but the chorus soars so high it renders its late year release moot. The chorus is baby-powdered with pure lilac and doused with the serenity of sage. A chorus like this comes around once a career for most bands. Simply breathtaking.

42. Silversun Pickups – There’s No Secrets This Year

There are no secrets and there are no explanations worthy of a song that froths with so much vigour, intensity, and excitement. The bravado of this album-opener is unparalleled. (“I’ll tell you a secret, let’s make this perfectly clear, we’ve got roofies in here” Those who know will know.) Bonus points for the minute lead into “The Royal We”.

41. Placebo – Julien

Probably Placebo’s most club-ready song, and probably their buck-nastiest track to date. A foot-tapper of epic proportions; I’m confounded as to why this song has yet to be released as a single. “Julien, you’re being taken, for a ride…” So are we, and rarely has it been so much fun.

40. Metric – Waves

I can’t believe this song didn’t make Fantasies. The absolute opposite of a B-side. This song is sweet, light and unfathomably catchy.

39. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Scattered Pearls

It was a fait a compli, this song is as pure as a white lilly. The most innocent song of the year and undoubtedly one of the best.

38. Tiesto f. Tegan & Sara – Feel It In My Bones

The best electronic song of the year. Clearly the best song on his bloated and not so good Kaleidoscope. Should have been the first single, but will settle for being the biggest hit. A really concise instrumental aided by an awesome vocal turn by Tegan & Sara. The tune gets particularly massive at 3:00. What dance/trance/pop should aspire to be, though it rarely hits like this.

37. Animal Collective – Brother Sport

“Open up your throat,” open up your mind, open up your heart, and there will be no stopping the force of nature that is “Brother Sport”. When I listen to this song, I hear celebration, all-encompassing and glorious from the first second to the last.

36. The Stills – I’m With You

Just your classic pop-rock perfection, no more and no less.

35. M83 – Kim & Jessie

This song came out in early 2008, and I liked it then and for the rest of that year. It became the most beautiful explosion of hope, promise, and relaxation this year. Anthony Gonzalez layers so much in this tune, it seems impossible to get sick of. The nearly incomprehensible lyric adds to the charm of this marvelous song. If you were an animal being built from scratch, this song is the sound of your exoskeleton fusing with your muscular and nervous systems to make you feel…alive.

34. The Killers – A White Demon Love Song

An intriguing departure for The Killers. This doesn’t necessarily sound like them, but as usual, it is one super bad-ass tune. The chorus, in particular, slithers along at its own deliberate pace, led by that lazy bassline. The chorus is cacophonic, like a bear choking on malaise and tonic. I don’t think they’ve ever double-tracked a vocal with such disparate octaves. It’s the pace, it’s the chorus, it’s the trumpet add-on in the last section, it’s the question, “White demon, open your heart skull, white demon, who let your friend…go?”.

33. The Boxer Rebellion – Evacuate

The best free iTunes “song of the week” of the year–by miles and miles and days and days. This song is so energetic it couldn’t be further from rigormortis than prime-era Clinton Portis.

32. Noah & The Whale – Blue Skies

A song about heartbreak and reflection that can’t help but feel cathartic and transcendent. Such a pretty, precious song. Having shown a knack for writing the sweetest new-folk/indie/pop around, Noah & The Whale have settled comfortably and beautifully into their own collective skin.

31. Maximo Park – Let’s Get Clinical

I’m still not even sure this is the best song on the album, because top to bottom, Quicken The Heart is consistently strong. This tune has been my favourite for the longest period of time, if only because of her, if only because “I’d like to map your body out, inch by inch, north to south…”.

30. JJ – Things Will Never Be The Same Again

The best jungle-prancing song of the year. Somehow Max & Carol are having a rumpus to this song, somehow two people are falling in love to this song, and somehow, this is the sound of summer in all its sun-kissed glory.

29. Placebo – Kings of Medicine

The epic album-closer. My favourite tune on the record. The song with the grandest aspirations, musically and lyrically. It has the bright sheen that Placebo have recently discovered, but it also carries a heft of Meds’ doldrums-focused attitude. I preferred Placebo when they were revelling in dirt and passed out on the floor, but knowing they can sound this good when they step out of the darkness gives me hope. It’s the gorgeous piano melody and the soaring brass that goes regal at 3:40. It’s funny that the word “kings” is in the title, as pretty clearly, this song is the sound of a coronation. “Don’t leave me here, to pass through time, without a map or road sign,” Brian croons. With Placebo doubling as the newly crowned “Kings of Medicine”, I don’t fear for the direction of the dominion. Placebites rejoice, the reign continues.

28. Neko Case – This Tornado Loves You

This tune is equipollent to her balladry, a swirling concoction of sounds and images. There is not much more to say than Neko Case is the best female singer-songwriter on the planet right now and that I love everything she stands for and makes me feel. I can penetrate her songs with a depth and appreciation that is pretty much an impossibility with anyone else. Strength, power, and beauty incarnate.

27. Julian Casablancas – Out of the Blue

I wonder what seeing his fellow Strokes’ brethren release sturdy record after sturdy record did to him? It sure as hell didn’t slow him down, that much is apparent. The Stroke with the most obvious pop instincts, Casablancas lets loose on this song, the album-opener from his generally strong Phrazes For The Young. There are hooks left, right, and centre. There are synths galore. There are inspired vocals. There is pop magic at its core. “How could you be, so perfect for me?”. You are “Out of the Blue”, you are. Bonus points for making me think of her when I hear it.

26. Alexisonfire – The Northern

They specialize in anthems and have had oodles in their young and so far spectacular career, and this track will surely come to be revered alongside the best of them. This song is their pop masterstroke to date. Everybody is hitting on all cylinders here. It’s Dallas’ double-tracked vocals to begin the song and George breaking down not only the door at the 2:40 mark, but pretty much demolishing an entire skyscraper with hundreds of sticks of dynamite. “I want to go…to heaven…roll Jordan, rolllllllllll Jordan.” Well, at least you’ve got St. Pete’s attention now. That beginning riff is OMG-crunchy. Buck Nasty is the name of what’s going on here.

Top 100 Songs of 2009 (100-51)

100. Sum 41 – Always

Their best offering in years. A send off?

99. Dragonette – Pick Up The Phone

Ms. Sorbara knows her way around a tight outfit and a tight melody. Bonus points for the really catchy dance remix.

98. Muse – The Resistance

A solid addition to the Muse pantheon, soaring ozone-layer high at the 4:18 mark, at which point it doesn’t look back. “We must ruuuuuuuuuuuuh-uuuuhhhhhh-uhhhhhhh-unnnnnnn.” Yes Mr. Bellamy, I’m right behind you.

97. Jordin Sparks – Battlefield

Pop often strives to be this big, but very rarely does it succeed like this.

96. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – Zero

I was late to this party. I thought it wasn’t as strong as the rest of It’s Blitz!, but I was wrong–big time. “Zero” is bloody mega.

95. Alberta Cross – Low Man

94. Alexisonfire – Young Cardinals

They swing for the fences and sing to the rafters on this one. This song cannot be contained. An anthem for anthems. It’s crazy how great they’ve become at writing songs.

93. Mumford & Sons – The Cave

“I will hold on hope, and I won’t let you choke on the noose around your neck…I’ll find strength in pain.” As for me, I’ll find a cathartic hymn in this song. Extraordinary.

92. Black Kids – Look at Me (When I Rock Wichoo)

91. The Sounds – My Lover

Throwing the kitchen sink into this track. Hard to pin down. It’s poppy and it’s fun. Really like the electronic bridge at 2:31.

90. 3OH!3 – Don’t Trust Me

As catchy as Jim Edmond’s glove in his prime.

89. Dragonette – Easy

The slickest song on their underrated pop offering, Fixin’ to Thrill.

88. Neko Case – Prison Girls

The first of three from Indie’s 7th Wonder of the World. A movie put to song. What a vocalist. What a lyricist. “I love your long shadows, and your gun powder eyes,” and “Prison girls are not impressed, they’re the ones who have to clean this mess” being prime examples of the latter.

87. The Mission District – So Over You

86. Silversun Pickups – Growing Old is Getting Old

That bassline and what sounds like the sprinkling of well thought out twinkles, making baby-soft skin out of worn out wrinkles.

85. Spinnerette – Sex Bomb

Electro-grunge? A Halloween orgy soundtrack? Sick.

84. Jay-Z f. Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind

A tune so big any metropolis can rep it as its own.

83. Woodhands – Dancer (CFCF Remix)

Completely different than the original, and reminiscent of prime, 90’s era Sex’n’B with a hint of new school flavouring. This song oozes sex.

82. Bombay Bicycle Club – Always Like This

81. Green Day – The Static Age

The most immediate, if not best, song from their latest, 21st Century Breakdown. A rousing affair. They can write catchy tunes in their sleep.

80. John Frusciante – Unreachable

From The Empyrean, his sometimes-stunning latest solo record. The main cog behind the Chili’s awesomeness over the past two decades has decided to go solo for good. I’m sad because the Chili’s won’t be nearly as good without him, but excited because this man is one of the greatest guitarists of his generation, period.

79. Fever Ray – If I Had a Heart (Familjen Remix)

A completely different song than the original, but in my opinion, a better one. The original flashes gang signs of desperation and disguise, whereas this mix offers the tiniest glimmer of hope and light into the darkest of places. A sick beat.

78. Maximo Park – Calm

They write the catchiest pop-rock songs ever and I love pretty much all of it.

77. Owl City – Umbrella Beach

Cheesy, breezy, and a little redundant. I’m on board for all of it.

76. Noah & The Whale – The First Days of Spring

It takes a while to reach full throttle, but when it does, the gorgeous strings carry the melody into the outer regions of the atmosphere.

75. Manic Street Preachers – This Joke Sport Severed

The exultant hymn from their amazing Journal For Plague Lovers.

74. La Roux – Quicksand

Probably should be much, much higher on the list. The steel drums seal the deal on this piece of pop magic. Not sure which of the two subtly different versions (album vs. single mix) I like better.

73. Fever Ray – Seven

“I’ve got a friend, who I’ve known since I was seven” begins the catchiest and maybe best song from the irrepressible eponymous record from the Queen of the Swedes, The Lady of Dark Magic, The Heiress of the Haunted House, Karen Dreijer Andersson. She is one of the coolest chicks on the planet, hands down.

72. Basement Jaxx – Raindrops

They’ve still got it after all these years.

71. Built to Spill – Life’s A Dream

From another band rediscovering their form, “Life’s a Dream” features probably my favourite extended guitar solo passage of the year.

70. The Tragically Hip – Coffee Girl

From one of their strongest records ever, this is The Hip saying we can do slick pop just as good as anyone. Sweet and strong lyrically, as always.

69. Julian Casablancas – 11th Dimension

An amazing synth-pop ditty.

68. Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes

I didn’t think they had it in them to be game changers. I thought niche band. I was bloody wrong, and this song is bloody fantabulous.

67. TV on the Radio – Heroes

Really sick cover. Love the dance re-imagining.

66. Lykke Li – Dance, Dance, Dance

Love the sax usage.

65. Franz Ferdinand – Katherine Kiss Me

Beautiful balladry from the normally taut rockers.

64. Metric – Sick Muse

One of the five best songs they’ve ever written. Direct from the jump and filled with so much hookery they could be found guilty of solicitation without a trial.

63. Marianas Trench – Masterpiece Theatre (Pt’s 1, 2, and 3) & Acadia

Yup, I’m cheating. Four songs in one spot, but they all fit and follow each other perfectly. Other songs were more popular on this record, but the singles were not even close to being as good as this concept segment of the record.

62. Lily Allen – Not Fair

Trying her hand at wink-filled country-pop, Ms. Allen succeeds brilliantly on this ode to an underachieving partner.

61. Apocalyptica – Nothing Else Matters

A song from a record I think is over ten-years old that I’ve only this year come to know and appreciate. What a truly emotional take on an already great song. I feel every peak and valley in this song. And all from an instrumental made up solely of strings. Wow. Absolutely breathtaking. They cover other Metallica songs, but to me, this is far and away the Queen Mum of them all. If you liked the original, you NEED to know this version.

60. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – Soft Shock

“Heads Will Roll”, “Dragon Queen” or “Skeletons” could’ve made this spot, which speaks to the strength of the fantastic It’s Blitz! album, but there was something standoutish about this cut, though I can’t quite put my finger on it. Great nevertheless.

59. Andrew Bird – Tenousness

A clear, stands-above-the-rest-of-his-offerings song. Pure and natural and heartfelt to the core.

58. The Tragically Hip – The Depression Suite

I doubt they’ve recorded a longer song. At 9:28 in length, you would expect it to take minutes to get going and leave its mark. Not so. This song is four songs rolled into one.  It never lulls, it never leaves you thinking they could’ve cut it down, and it never ceases to amaze. Those cheeky bastards have the gaul to ask, “What if this song does nothing?”, knowing full well that was never an option. A band going on thirty years with this much still to offer is really, really exciting, and I’m proud to call The Hip Canada’s best band ever–and one of my all-time faves too.

57. Manchester Orchestra – I Can Feel a Hot One

Probably the most heartfelt ballad of the year. Pure class.

56. The Big Pink – Crystal Visions

The Dark Horse. That fuzzed-out guitar slithering. That cocksure bassline. An alarm of mega proportions. A microcosm of the supersized year of 2009.

55. Sunset Rubdown – You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)

The sweetest weird song of the year, like pandering to a panda bear on Pandora, not knowing if it’ll eat you or the bag of herbs you’re offering. The most accessible I’ve ever heard Sunset Rubdown.

54. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

The title track that took me quite a while to get into, though I’m not sure why. Her voice, those wonderful, meaningful lyrics, and that can’t miss music box make this the most angelic ballad of the year and probably most others. Ms. Case can transcend like no other.

53. Great Northern – Houses

The best song they’ve ever done.

52. Manic Street Preachers – Marlon J.D

Wow, did they ever come back super-charged. Seminal.

51. Gossip – Heavy Cross

A heavy cross? More like a round one KO. I love when the mood changes and the tune hits another gear as she yelps “I trust you.” Sounds like an awesome, lady-led Franz Ferdinand song.