David Emery Online2009 Top 20
3 January 2010
Happy New Year, then. I always thought 2010 sounded particularly futuristic, but I guess we all have to get used to it now and we still don’t have any damn flying cars. I thought I’d ring in the new year by doing the obligatory and traditional countdown of the last 12 months best music. In previous years its taken the obvious form of a ‘Best Albums’ list but this year is a bit different.
I started off compiling the best albums list as per normal but it quickly became obvious that 2009 was simply not an albums year. Sure, their were a few really good ones, and coming up with a list of 20 was pretty easy (and left a fair few by the wayside) but when it came to the top 5 it became really hard to pick something ahead of everything else. Lots of great albums, but certainly nothing perfect.
In contrast, there’s been a lot of practically perfect songs so that’s what I’m going to focus on instead: the top 20 tracks of the year. I think this may also reflect the general trends of the industry as well; while obviously the focus on single tracks has been growing ever since the inception of the MP3, music blogs and digital download stores it feels like that’s really starting to bed in with music consumers. The rise of things like Spotify and shared playlists certainly helps as well.
So, without further ado…
#20 Harold T Wilkins – Fanfarlo
Ah, the lovely Fanfarlo – hopefully destined to have a really great 2010 (even though their 2009 wasn’t too shabby). Some of the tracks on this list are real standouts from the rest of that artists material but not this one – I could have gone for almost any of the tracks on their debut album ‘Reservoir’ as they’re all special. ‘Harold T Wilkins’ won in the end as I love the shout-y bit at the end, especially live.
#19 Shelter – The xx
In a list of albums of the year their’s no doubt that The xx would feature much higher (top 3 at least) but weirdly on their own the songs aren’t quite so powerful; still brilliant, but better as part of a whole. A case in point is that I almost went for ‘Intro’ instead of ‘Shelter’ for this list, even though it’s only 2 minutes long and has no lyrics. ‘Shelter’ is ultimately more representative though, and so atmospheric.
#18 No Kind Words – The Maccabees
I’ll make no bones about it – the second Maccabees album was pretty disappointing, lacking the naive fun that made ‘Colour It In’ so charming. That said, the first single ‘No Kind Words’ was brilliant – head and shoulders above the rest of the album and carrying a real edge and darkness to it.
#17 Powa – Tune-Yards
One of the great things about doing a tracks list is that they don’t even need to be released, like this one. This is me being a bit contrary of course – Bird-Brains, the debut album by Tune-Yards that was released this year has an abundance of great tracks on, but their’s something about ‘Powa’ that really grabs me, and it’s a great demonstration of the power (no pun intended) of her voice.
You can hear it by going over to the 4AD Sessions site and selecting it from the drop down menu. To complete the ‘video per entry’ thing I seem to be doing though, here’s ‘Real Live Flesh’ from the same session:
UPDATE: As it happens, Fluxblog have posted up ‘Powa’ as an MP3 today so you can download it here:
#16 Marrow – St Vincent
Everyone loves St Vincent, don’t they? On her second album she ramped up the theatricalness to great effect, and this is the best of a great bunch off it. My only mild gripe is that I rather she hadn’t bothered with the ethereal bit at the start before the guitar kicks in, but other then that it’s perfect.
#15 Arming Eritrea – Future of the Left
It seems like the phrase ‘criminally overlooked’ is forever destined to follow Future of the Left about, as their latest album is brilliant but also absent from almost all of the end of year lists I’ve seen. Arming Eritrea is the standout track in an album full of standout tracks.
#14 In For The Kill (Skream Remix) – La Roux
La Roux is one of those perennial marmite bands; I’m firmly in the ‘love’ camp but I won’t judge you if you’re not. The album is great (80s video game backing track + interesting female vocal = sign me up) but this remix in particular is even better, and I’m not generally a remix fan.
#13 Island IS – Volcano Choir
Volcano Choir for the uninitiated is Justin Vernon (i.e. Bon Iver) and a bunch of mates; the resulting album is – in the long tradition of sideprojects – not as good as his previous work as Bon Iver but still very interesting. It’s a bit hit and miss to be honest, but when it hits like it does on ‘Island IS’ it’s very special indeed.
#12 Knotty Pine – Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
This isn’t the only track off the wonderful ‘Dark Was The Night’ compilation on this list, and to be honest you could make a very nice list using tracks from that alone. This is the first song from it and it serves as a great introduction – Dirty Projectors (who also feature again on this list) singing David Byrne’s lyrics. Wonderful stuff.
#11 Two Weeks – Grizzly Bear
What end of year list would be complete without Grizzly Bear? I will admit that I’m not their biggest fan – good, yes, but hardly deserving of the ridiculous amounts of praise that gets heaped upon them. ‘Veckatimest’ is good to my ears but not great – it just lollops along without a huge amount of interest.
Except, of course, for this song which is brilliant – everything I assume they’re aiming for normally they hit on this song.
#10 U Got The Look – JEFF The Brotherhood
Please ignore the krazy spelling and capitalisation present in both the song title and band name; these are just two kids having fun and the music is all the better for it. Unashamed rock. Awesome. Far out. Tubular. Etc.
#9 Curly Teeth – Micachu
Another album where choosing a particular track was pretty difficult; it was a close call between this, ‘Calculator’ and ‘Golden Phone’ but ‘Curly Teeth’ just about won out in the end. As previous noted by anyone else who’s ever written a word about her, Micachu doesn’t quite sound like anything else melding all sorts of influences together into a glorious piece of work.
Not only was it a travesty that the album ‘Jewellery’ wasn’t nominated for the Mercury prize, it should have won as well.
#8 Empire State of Mind – Jay-Z
And now for something completely different. I’m a fan of Jay-Z, but to be honest I can never really get on too well with his albums in full – it all gets a bit too rappy for want of a better word (that actually exists). However the singles are always worth listening to and this one is no exception – it just has such a great beat to it, and a brilliant hook in the chorus.
#7 All For The Best – Thom Yorke
This track is a good enough reason in of itself to have a tracks countdown as opposed to albums; a single track that’s in my opinion one of the best Thom Yorke has done, full stop. Sure, not the best by any stretch but still up there – it’s one of those rare occasions (probably because it’s a cover) where Thom sings a fairly straight up alt. pop song. That the backing vocals are by his brother Andy (from the Unbelievable Truth if you remember them) make it all the sweeter.
#6 Hellhole Ratrace – Girls
Ah, the SEO wonder that is the album ‘Album’ by Girls. There’s actually 3 properly great songs on ‘Album’; other then this one there’s also the sublime ‘Lust For Life’ and the completely-different-to-the-rest-of-the-album-in-a-good-way ‘Morning Light’ which both deserve places in this list, but I decided it best to focus just on the one track. And what a track it is – one of those instant classics that sound like you’ve always known them and they’ve always existed.
#5 You Are The Blood – Sufjan Stevens
The second track in this list from the Dark Was The Night compilation (which – again – is brilliant and you should buy it; it’s for charity don’t you know?) and sits in the middle of a ‘long songs’ trio as we enter the top 5. In fact, as we get near the end of this run down I’m finding it harder and harder to write anything even approaching coherent; basically, it’s bloody brilliant – especially the classical piano solo (yes, really) in the middle.
#4 Freak Train – Kurt Vile
I’ve already written in some depth about this track and the album it comes from, ‘Childish Prodigy’. Needless to say, this track is practically perfect and I could listen to it again and again and again.
#3 Stillness is a Move – Dirty Projectors
Top 3 now, which means we’re firmly in the ‘will never skip ever’ territory. Up until hearing this song I hadn’t given much time to Dirty Projectors, but this changed all that in a big way. The album Bitte Orca doesn’t hit the heights that this one track does but I don’t really care; this song is good enough that it doesn’t need another 11 backing it up.
What’s most interesting about this track is that it’s basically at its core a R’n‘B Pop song, but done by an indie band. You get the pop hooks and soaring vocals, but with a depth you rarely get at the same time. Wonderful.
#2 Sea Within A Sea – The Horrors
I think the complete turn around in general opinion we’ve witnessed of The Horrors can be almost completely put down to this song, and the accompanying video. Completely different to what they’d done before, and as far away from the fashion-before-music cred that they’d built up as you could get. And such an interesting song as well; no chorus, and 2 distinct bits that are quite different but work really well together. Great stuff.
#1 Velvet – The Big Pink
So, to the number one track of 2009. In a way it was easy – a glance at my Last.fm will show you this track has well over double the amount of plays of any other track this year (and fyi, those plays for ‘Jesus’ by The Horrors are for ‘Sea Within A Sea’, as it changed names at the last minute). However, on the flip side there’s no getting away from the fact the album that The Big Pink delivered was disappointing; some great (nay brilliant) moments but just that bit too much filler.
‘Velvet’ though, is really not filler. The way it builds and builds into the moment the extra guitars kick in for the last chorus sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it, and what more could you ask for in a song?
So, that’s it for another year – here’s to a good 2010! Also, I’ve put these into a playlist on Spotify so you can have a proper listen, although a few were missing so you get to see what was numbers 21-23 as well…