And now, presenting, the Top 11 Songs of 2009.
11- Live Alone - Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand had its moment, but the band is still alive doing what indy bands do now, experimenting with both new and old sounds and this song is just a testament of that disco sound they been emulating since their debut CD... When I hear this song, I just feel I'm in a retro-futuristic spaceship whizzing through multicolored neon lines.
10- Bat for Lashes - Pearl's Dream
Angelic, ethereal, chill, enchanting, haunting.
9- Devandra Banhart - 16th & Valencia Roxy Music
At the beginning it sounds like a song that could be used for a Coca-Cola ad. The song then gives in to a series of toe tapping changes. It's not the usual "freak folk" music that comes from Banhart but a cool rock song nevertheless.
8- Shinedown - Sound of Madness
The most hard rock song (with vocals) from my list and the only song I like from Shinedown. I just love the hard thumpin' drums and the dirty distorted guitar riff. Then it all transforms into a powerful chorus where you can almost visualize a light emanating from the band. It's the sort of song you put on a video collage of your favorite superhero.
7- Ting Tings - Fruit Machine (Bimbo Jones Radio Edit)
This is the kind of song I'd dance to in a nightclub, every time I hear it I can almost feel the green lasers, the smoke machine, the strobe lights. But only this version, I don't really like the original version.
6- Rodrigo y Gabriela - Atman
This is the hard rock song without vocals I was kinda referencing on #8, my fellow compatriots Rodrigo & Gabriela sure now how to strum, beat and wail on those guitars. I can almost see their fingers bleeding, it's like those folk stories, I just feel they made a pact with the devil and now they collect souls via their song. They have set aside their cover songs to do an original album and it's awesome, like this song, especially with the acoustic guitars which sound great and then for a moment it goes a little dub and then bamm it hits you with the electric solo. Awesome.
5- Psapp - Parker
(Side Note: This was the only song I couldn't find on youtube, but I found an alternative so that's why the embedded player is different)
Just the artist name by itself -Psapp- is something to talk about. The song in itself is all sorts of strange, just the way I like it. Like a 30s cigarrete ad. It gives you melodies, a cartoonish piano, and some Andrew Sisters' style back up vocals and then it goes all kazoo on your ass! It won me over.
4- Depeche Mode - Wrong
Did Depeche Mode stop being relevant? WRONG! In some ways, DM is revisiting their glory days, even when they release just one BIG hit from their new album, it feels as if they'll never stop. Even when "wrong", after 20 years Depeche Mode still feels oh so right. The strong vocals from Dave Gahan and the whole dark synths that distinguish Depeche Mode are very present in this song and you just can't help but keep repeating WRONG even after its over... WRONG!
3- Muse - United States of Eurasia
Leave it to Muse to infuse one of its songs with a Queen flavor. Imagine if a "reboot" of the Higlander movie was being made, if Queen were still present and they were asked to do another song for this new movie, it would sound something like "United States of Eurasia". "There could be only one", belts out Matthew Bellamy and then it transforms into something John Williams would do for an Indiana Jones movie, we definitely feel the "epicness" when we feel like we are traveling somewhere in the orient. Like a lot of Muse songs it is just so powerful and it ends so softly with a Chopin-like piano solo.
2- Mando Diao - Gloria
This song makes me move like no other rock song can. It also helps that it bears the name of my girlfriend even though it's not a song I would dedicate to her. I love this song for the energy it gives you especially in the chorus. It totally makes me feel like I'm in a 70s upscale nightclub filled with mobsters and the singer is suffering for the love of one of the mistresses of the head mafia boss.
1 - Panic Switch - Silversun Pickups
Powerful, from the start. We hear the distorted guitar transform into the super cool bass that holds the whole song together, the drums and guitar keep on making a lot of beautiful noise together. Everything just sounds great with all the members getting a chance to shine and as each second passes it keeps getting better and better, louder and louder. Silversun Pickups manages to take a lot of noise and a weird voice and make something so harmonious, so powerful, you get totally engulfed by the energy it creates. One of those songs that I don't care how overplayed it has gotten, I can listen to it over and over again. Definitely the best of 2009
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