How 2009 sounded in my world

First thing I have to do is fess up that this list is heavily edited. You see, when I went to look at the last 12 months of music, I saw this:

Which, while accurate, is also very boring. This was definitely the year of Florence + The Machine in my world, however it’s skewed my list because I actually didn’t start listening to her until November, and then listened to her so exclusively that she blew everything else off the chart. So that’s not an actual reflection of what I was listening to this year, and as such I have edited all F+TM songs from my list. Suffice it to say that I think that album is made of magic and wonderment, and you should have a copy of it. But I will focus on other things.

So, discounting the Florence, my number one song of the year was a surprise:

1. Tactical Sekt – Bring Me Violence – I do love this song, I was just surprised it came in quite so high. Not a lot to say about this one, other than that this was a year of violent emotions for me, and this song spoke to that. It also helped me turn my brain off, and made me speed frequently. Favorite line: “I saw the rage rising in the morning sky.”

2. The Rosebuds – Life Like – This is such a spooky, hollow-sounding song. I got this album free from Paste, and I didn’t really respond to all of it. But I do love this song. It’s about taxidermy. Favorite line: “Consider my life, I’m wild but I’m not free.”

3. The Ting Tings – That’s Not My Name -  The Ting Tings are another band to whose music I don’t respond evenly. I like some of their stuff, some I am “meh” about, and some – like this song – I adore. This was an awesome driving song this year. Favorite line “They call me quiet, But I’m a riot”

4. Maria Taylor – One for the Shareholder – Maria Taylor is one of those sneaky artists, whose music you listen to sort of in the background, and then you suddenly realize it’s crept into your subconscious and you passionately love quite a bit of it. Not a first-listen artist, but something that grows on you until you can’t do without it. This song is about emotionally vacuous fuckwits. Favorite lines:

“There’s no burden that will agonize you
No worry that will weigh you down.
Not the memories that hypnotize you.
You won’t turn around.
You can’t love me ”

5. The Stills – Still in Love Song - I dunno, I think this is just another song about being involved with people when you know you shouldn’t. I sense a theme.

“We were lovers
we were kissers
we were holders of hands
we were make believers”

6. Damien Rice – Woman Like a Man – Jessica gave me this song on a mix CD, and I immediately fell in love with it. I like some other Damien Rice too, but this song I love. It’s so angry and desperate and hostile. It’s about wanting, and how wanting sucks. Favorite line, very sneakily wrapped into the chorus “I’ll get a cheaper ticket next time – ’cause it really wasn’t worth the ride.”

7. Ladytron – Ghosts – I feel like I spent a lot of this year trying to make myself understood by people who are very different from me. And while that’s a good exercise to undertake, and helps me grow in some way (right?) it’s also frustrating. Sometimes you really just want to be around people who get it, and don’t need so much hand-holding. Careening around unintentionally offending people, or feeling as if you are, is exhausting. This one actually turned out to be rather prophetic.

“Now I see you
from the corner
clock strikes
and I know you will be drinking alone

There’s a ghost in me
who wants to say “I’m sorry”
Doesn’t mean I’m sorry.“

8. Anya Marina – Move You – this is another one from a Paste CD. I do like several songs of hers but this one has this wonderful “Where do you where do you where do you where do you where do you get off?” line in it, and that’s basically the subtitling in my brain when I am talking to a lot of people. I love it so.

9. The Shins – Black Wave - You know those hollow, lonely songs that are bigger on the inside than they are on the outside? This is my favorite of those. (Well, except for My Morning Jacket’s Wordless Chorus.) Seriously – they had me at “black breeze.”

In the meadow where the black breeze blows,
Where underneath the waves, you were most alone,
Can you hear a subtle, aching tone?
Through the water, through the Earth, chill the bones.

10. Lucky Soul – Lips Are Unhappy – Shake, shake shimmy, this is just pure perky fluffy love song.

Pretending that everything’s cool,
When I’m twenty seven shades of blue,
And my lips are unhappy without you.

So those were the top 10 songs in my world last year. In some ways they don’t seem to reflect what I was really listening to, because there was a lot of angry industrial stompy music going on most of the time. However, I obviously didn’t listen to any of those songs often enough to get them in the top 10 list – the above are the songs I kept coming back to. I included my top 35 songs in the list below, so if you want some stompy angry industrial, it will be there.

It’s always strange to look back at these lists and think about listening to these songs at different times of the year. What I was doing, how I was feeling, how these songs reflected or enhanced that. It’s been a hell of a year. I really hope that less stuff happens this year. I need a break from emotional overload. Guess we will find out next year at this time how that turned out, huh?