40 Favorites of ’09: The runners-up
Blog: Give It a Spin
December 15, 2009
I have terrible taste in music. I know this because I haven't seen much from my list of favorite 2009 songs on any other such list. That's why I'm not calling my 2009 year-end list a "Best of," but a "My favorite." These are the songs that stand out as something special above the rest. While practically impossible to hear every single song from any given year, I suppose it could perhaps be missing something great, but I work with what I've got. And frankly, what I've got is not too shabby.
While I appreciate albums — and do have favorites — I like to compose my lists of songs rather than whole records, because that way you don't miss out on any of those hidden gems that live within an otherwise mediocre (or even awful) album. This week, I share my 40 favorite songs of ’09, in order of the 10 runners-up, 10 third favorites, 10 second favorites and 10 overall favorites.
Here are the runners-up that I feel deserve a mention:
10) "You Got Us Into This Mess" by Immaculate Machine
9) "A Song for Milton Feher" by Richard Swift
8) "Devils in Boston" by Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers
7) "Dead End Driving (2009)" by Ari Hest
6) "Any Fun" by Coconut Records
From "Davy," the sophomore album of Jason Scwartzman's latest project, "Any Fun" is a melodic and poppy little number befitting expectations founded in his film career of quirk and his former role in the band Phantom Planet.
5) "Optimist vs. the Silent Alarm (When the Saints Go Marching In)" by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
4) "Dead Can't Testify" by Billy Talent
3) "You and the Rest" by Razorlight
2) "Coffin Factory" by The Mumlers
Quite interestingly, the Mumlers' September release, "Don't Throw Me Away," is one of my favorite albums of the year. However, none of the songs themselves blew me away enough to make it to the top of my list. A dusty organ drives this song, giving it that macabre edge that makes it so delectable.
1) "Too Much Time" by John Vanderslice
You'll hear more about Vanderslice in a future blog, but for now I'll just say that the man is a brilliant songwriter, making smart music with smart lyrics that can't easily be compared to much else. His incredible uniqueness is what rewards him a spot on my list, even if this year's record, "Romanian Names," doesn't quite measure up to the albums that came before.
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holmes 2 years, 1 month ago
40 Favorites of ’09: The runners-up
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Shorte 2 years, 1 month ago
40 Favorites of ’09: The runners-up
You say you have terrible taste in music because you haven't seen much from your list on other lists? Have you seen some of the bands I cover on my blog? Most people I know have never heard of my bands so your in good company. We don't have "terrible" taste, just "unique".
I do like Billy Talent from what I've heard of his stuff and I'm going to have to check out Razorlite and Any Fun a bit more in depth.
Waiting for the next ten.
alex39 2 years, 1 month ago
40 Favorites of ’09: The runners-up
Amy, Interesting list and I'm amused to note I've never heard of any of these performers.
Talk about a generation gap...this makes me think it's more a chasm than a mere gap.
And Shorte is correct I've never heard of any of the bands he speaks of either, so it isn't a matter of terrible taste. It's more a matter of we have different tastes in music, just as we do in favorite foods and friends.
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