Best Songs of 2009

While there have been a number of albums that have been absolutely incredible, music is remembered by the songs that top everything else that you go back to time and time again. This year has been no exception.

Runner Up, 11 - Empire State Of Mind (Part II) Broken Down - Alicia Keys
This was a song that I hadn't heard up until a couple days ago. Keys is not an artist who usually pops up on my radar, but I suspect that I'll start paying more attention to her as I drift somewhat more into the Soul/R&B scene. What caught my ears with this track is Keys incredible vocals, which just flow over the song as it builds with energy. I know that had I heard this earlier, it would have been on my Best, New playlist for a while.

10 - Taller Children - Elizabeth & The Catapult
Taller Children was my first introduction to Elizabeth & The Catapult, off of their first album by the same name. What caught me at first was its quirky beat and fun lyrics, and it kept me listening through the entire album. Easily the best song off the album, it's still refreshing, even after all of these listens. In particular, I love the groove and energy that is spread out through the entire album.

9 - Quiet Highway Road - The Alternate Routes
Quiet Highway Road is just as it sounds. While I've extolled the virtues of The Alternate Routes numerous times for their energy at their live shows and with several songs off of this album, this song stuck with me every time that I listened through the album. Stuck at the end of A Sucker's Dream, it's the perfect epilogue for a fantastic album. Coupled with the amount of driving that I do, the song has become somewhat of an anthem for me while speeding along the back highways of Vermont. Listening over the album, I get such a fantastic feeling of freedom and liberation that I get from getting on the road, and I'm reminded that once the days get a bit longer, I'll take a couple of weekends and get back on them, with this song blaring on the radio.

8 - Travelling Woman - Bat for Lashes
I'm not overly aware of Bat for Lashes, but this song caught me while listening to Joss Whedon's TV show Dollhouse. This song was perfectly placed at the end of one of the best episodes (Belonging), in a sort of montage scene. The scene struck me as being particularly important and part of that was the song. Natasha Khan's voice is haunting over the lyrics, and end result is a beautiful, resounding song that remains with me.

7 - The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone) - The Decemberists
While there's a prologue to the album, this album kicks off the album in grand style. The first of four 'Hazards of Love' songs, this one introduces the main, epic story, setting events into motion that carries over. While the album as a whole really can't be picked apart and listened to in its component parts (apart from The Rake's Song), this song does a decent job of it, and in a way, can be listened to as its own story. The best thing about this song is that unlike the rest in the album, it won't leave you hanging for more when it's finished, if that's all that you really want to listen to. Furthermore, Colin Meloy is at his best sound for this entire album, and the song as a whole is a strong one, bringing out the album's unique theme right off the bat in grand style.

6 - Getaway Girl - Sarah Siskind
Sarah Siskind was an artist that I came across last year, but it was 2009 when she introduced her new album, Say It Louder. Getaway Girl was one of the songs that stuck out for me as the best song of the album. It feels strong, resilient, and Siskind's fantastic voice hovers along with the guitar work here in a really good way. The song just feels right through and through, and as with others on this list; it's been a song that I've gone back to numerous times without tiring of it. Getaway Girl just flows in a very chilled, laidback fashion that seems perfect for winter here in Vermont.

5 - Nothing But A Miracle - Diane Birch
Nothing But A Miracle is my favorite track off of Diane Birch's fantastic album Bible Belt, one that features a wonderful R&B/Soul feel throughout. The album is an examination of the 5 stages of grief, and the song is a fantastic look at a breakup and the recovery afterwards. This, to me, is something that anybody can really relate to. Birch sounds absolutely incredible in this song, and the rest of the album really has to struggle to keep up with the vocals and emotion wrapped up in this song.

4 - So It Goes - Myra Flynn
Yesterday, Myra Flynn got my pick for the best album of the year, and it was an incredible struggle to pick just one of her songs for this list. I ended up with So It Goes, although there are a couple of other songs off of the album that would have fit this nicely. The tipping point was recalling this song at her release show in Burlington over the summer. Like Ordinary Man, this song is an incredible effort when it comes to songwriting, merging mixed songs, fantastic lyrics and musical skill to present an incredible sound. I think this song is at the crux of the album, and one that certainly holds quite a bit of meaning to me.

3 - Ordinary Man - Gregory Douglass & Grace Potter
I got an early copy of Gregory Douglass's fantastic album Battler last year, and thought it was fantastic, but when I listened to it, I was floored by Ordinary Man, a duet between Douglass and Grace Potter, of the Nocturnals. For me, the song is very relatable, and it's one that I've attached quite a bit of sentimental value to right off the bat. Looking back over last year's Best Albums of 2008, I see that this should have been on there, or at least, it should have made it onto this year's - it certainly falls on that list. This song is romantic, emotional, and smooth and features an utterly perfect balance between Gregory and Grace's lyrics.

2 - Born Again - Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons
Born Again was the first song off of Death Won't Send A Letter, and is a rich blend of Baptist gospel and folk/country rock with a rich sound and wonderful lyrics. The song feels powerful, with a heavy beat coupled with guitar and bass work that just drives the song along. Chisel's voice provides the next component to the song, and the overall tone and feel is one of inspiration, happiness, and it has such a feel that the title doesn't feel ironic or out of place. I dare you to listen to the lyrics and find yourself not moving to the beat, clapping your hands together.

1 - Lake of Silver Bells - Carbon Leaf
The best song of the year is Carbon Leaf's Lake of Silver Bells. I really dug Nothing Rhymes With Woman, but Silver Bells just stood far apart from the rest of the album, and I think it's one of the best songs that Carbon Leaf has ever made. The opening couple of bars lull you into this easy, laidback state of mind, but around a minute into the song, it builds and just bursts into a soft energy that grows over the rest of the song. Lead singer Barry Privet's lyrics absolutely shine here, and harkens back to their absolute best songwriting efforts with their album Echo Echo. I listened to this album over and over, and this song never got old. It's warm, invigorating and spring-like. Above all, the song feels like it really represents my mood for the past couple of months, enthusiastic, dreamlike and hopeful. This song will easily remain one of my favorite songs of all time.

Best New Artists of 2009

This was a year of mixed priorities for me, and less of a focus on music than in prior years. Life gets in the way of such things, and as a result, this is a bit of a smaller list than I've presented in other years. That being said, the sound is no less potent, interesting and fun to listen to. Here's who I thought were some of the best new artists of 2009:

Allie Moss - Passerby

Allie Moss was an artist that I came across in October in a large pile of music. In these instances, I tend to throw a bunch of new artists together into a single playlist and listen to them all by album and then shuffling the songs together, and inevitably, Moss was one of the artists that I kept going back to. Her debut EP Passerby was a treat to listen to, with a quiet, unreserved sound that blends a kindly voice with an easygoing guitar that is reminiscent of Ingrid Michaelson. Her song Corner, in particular, is one of my favorites.

Andrew Belle - All Those Pretty Lights

Andrew Bell is another artist who released a debut EP, All Those Pretty Lights, that I first heard this year, and will be releasing his first studio album in February of 2010, entitled The Ladder. He also released a live album, with a diverse range of covers, from Coldplay to the Decemberists, to Death Cab For Cutie, entitled Sundays at Rockit. Belle's sound is fun and laid back, and a good model for indie-pop music.

Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons - Death Won't Send A Letter

Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons burst to my attention earlier this fall with their first album, Death Won't Send A Letter, a followup to their Cabin Ghosts EP released last year. This album absolutely blew me away with it's Baptist, folk-rock and country influences, and starts of with their great song Born Again right off the bat. They balance infectous energy and fantastic lyrics to become a group that is well worth watching out for.

Elizabeth & The Catapult - Taller Children

Elizabeth & The Catapult is a fun outfit out of Brooklyn, who released their first album this year, entitled Taller Children. The album as a whole is breezy and free, reminiscent of Sarah Bareilles, but without a lot of the commercialish-pop vibe that artists like that have. They have a unique sound and tone, one that varies a bit throughout the album. This is a pure summer album, one that recalls sunny, lazy, summer days. That's a good feeling to instill.


Glide & Swerve - Bring Back Love

Shifting from indie-pop and folk, another band that really caught my ears this year was Glide & Swerve, an electronica duo put together their first album, Bring Back Love, that is warm, soothing and interesting throughout. One of the major pitfalls that I've heard with electronica is a tendency to become overly repetative, but Glide & Swerve manages to largely avoid that between songs. The end result is a solid album with a good beat, feel and vibe.

Myra Flynn - Crooked Measures

Indie-Soul/R&B/Folk singer Myra Flynn is someone who's been around for a little while, playing music in the Vermont area. Last year, she was laid off from her job, and decided to go to music full time. The end result was Crooked Measures, one of the best, richest and most dynamic first albums that I've heard in a while. Crooked Measures is an emotional album, raw, refined and absolutely fantastic.

The Wooden Birds - Magnolia

The Wooden Birds is the product of Andrew Kenny, which put out its first album out this year, Magnolia. This album is low, smokey and rhythmic, with a very cool indie-folk sound that is very catchy. The album as a whole feels stripped down, minimalistic and full of a driving beat. Magnolia is an interesting album that kept me coming back for more.

Corner - Allie Moss
All Those Pretty Lights - Andrew Belle
My Heart Would Be There - Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons
Race You - Elizabeth & The Catapult
And I Smile - Glide & Swerve
So It Goes - Myra Flynn
False Alarm - Wooden Birds

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New Artist - Elizabeth & The Catapult

I love iTunes when they introduce me to some fantastic new artist that I've never heard of before. This is the case with Elizabeth & The Catapults. If you're a fan of iTunes on facebook, you can get ten songs for some sort of summer promotion, and the track Taller Children was on there. Very rarely will I have a track really pull me in like this one has. After purchasing the album and giving it a half dozen listens through, I have to say, it's one of the best debut albums that I've listened to in a long time. (Or second album - they've released an indie record through CD Baby)

Elizabeth & The Catapults is a Brooklyn trio composed of Elizabeth Ziman, Pete Lalish and Dan Molad, along with a couple others who collaborated with them on the album. The group seems to have been around for a couple years, since 2005, and with this new major record, they have already been noticed by Rolling Stone and iTunes, who named it to their Next Big Thing list.

It's pretty easy to see why too - Taller Children is a fun, quirky album that is rich in sound and feel, sounding more like an indie record than what might be expected off of a major record label. I've heard this sort of thing with artists who's albums I've liked, but my interest has faded a bit, but I have a feeling that this won't be the case for this album. The 13 tracks are wonderfully varied when it comes to tone and mixes up genres a bit. There's representatives from pop-lounge sounds, indie-rock, and rock, all ranging from fast to playful, to slower, sweeping and grand songs.

Coupled with some insightful lyrics, this new disc really stands out from some of the other albums that I've listened to. Listening through this album again, I think I know why: it's fun, it's playful, and serious where it needs to be, and most importantly, it's not dull, which is one of the most important things when it comes to an album.

Taller Children is out now on iTunes, and will be released on hardcopy on June 9th, 2009.

Taller Children - Elizabeth & The Catapult

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