Songs That Made 2009 Alright

In no particular order, and by no means a comprehensive list:



Lady Gaga - Speechless: To paraphrase Rich, if you like pop and aren't listening to Lady Gaga, what the fuck is wrong with you? As if The Fame wasn't a disgustingly strong album (full of disgustingly ubiquitous singles) the 'Ga embraced one of the most stupid-brilliant marketing tactics / gimmicks by re-releasing the entire album with an all-new EP as a bonus. (Extra bonus for including the Lady of the 00's, Beyowulf herself, while one-upping her own re-release tactic.) Speechless stands out as one of the more honest, traditional songs on the seven track Fame Monster EP, and it only serves to highlight the more cutting edge pop of other tracks. Don't call me Gaga. She ate my heart.



Drake - Best I Ever Had: Too bad this song was played every six minutes on every other radio station - the chorus is the most romantic I've heard in a long time. The entire So Far Gone mixtape garnered such scary buzz, made even scarier by the fact that it deserves it. Beats that sound like what music would've been tomorrow if Drake hadn't done it today, lyrics that easily hold their own, if not surpass lyrical greats Drake openly admires, and a romantic honesty that doesn't sacrifice image, sex appeal or artistic quality. And yet still, he's always Wheelchair Jimmy to me.



Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Skeletons: The lyrics are kind of a bunch of bullshit, but Karen O uses her pretty soaring vocals in a way I've missed since Fever to Tell. It's Blitz, while not an amazing album overall, felt more like the scattered-yet-cohesive explosion of experimentation that was Fever to Tell, with Skeletons playing the role of Maps. One repeated line - "love, don't cry" - sells the vocals beautifully. I can't help but imagine standing in a barren suburban field, just after sunset, watching distant street lights blink on under a sky fading from impossibly silver to salt and pepper stars.



Eminem - Insane: One of Eminem's most fucked up songs ever, with an equally insane beat. Dr. Dre was in top form for Eminem's entire comeback album, and this track displays one of his more impressive creative efforts. I can't even begin to explain how I feel about Eminem. Best. Lyricist. Ever.



Regina Spektor - One More Time With Feeling: Soaring, inspiring, and interesting, everything I could ask for from Regina Spektor.



La Roux - As If By Magic: La Roux's debut album caught me off guard entirely, and every track seems to speak to a specific time, emotion and experience in my specific life, while still being a grandiose enough concept to be universally applicable - the basis for an incredible pop album. This lower-key number near the end of their album spins me off into a bittersweet - melancholy - part of my brain, the part responsible for remembering the outlines on someone's face when you know you can never see them again.



Placebo - Kings of Medicine: Can Placebo not write a song that isn't about bitter jaded lovers, drugs, and... bitter, jaded lovers?



The Dead Weather - Treat Me Like Your Mother: I love seeing Jack White play around with an evolved guitar similar to the crunch of the White Stripes' Blue Orchid.



Matt and Kim - Daylight: It's so rare to see a song, a band, an entire album with such a distinct and defining drum sound, especially one as sparse and loud as on much of Matt and Kim's debut. "Matt's" semi-monotone drawl somehow sounds like the polar opposite of other drone-vocals of recent years - Interpol, Raveonettes, I'm looking at some of your junk - they're upbeat, full of hope, a welcome, come in, sign, not the depressing dull ache I'm used to from similar vocals.



Fagget Fairys - Roll the Dice: The bassline on this song - and many of the songs on this debut - are insane. Give me more thwhub-whub-whub-whub-whub-whub, please.



Say Anything - Crush'd: I hesitated to list Crush'd over their more loveable and honest Mara and Me, a confessional about singer Max's sardonic attitude that evolves into a love song for his favorite girl. This one is just another silly love song - the follow-up to Mara and Me. Gets stuck in my head for weeks at a time, still.



Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers: Dizzee Rascal's insanity anthem was one of the defining moments for me at this year's Electric Daisy Carnival. I already loved the song, and Benny Benasi spun it while we were making our way towards the stage at the center of the L.A. Colisseum, through the jam-packed tunnels of rolling teenagers, frolicking stoners and half-naked love-prepared pure-hormone dancers. The bass rumbled through the concrete above and below me, the sharp snare cracked the air, and I knew I was about to go apeshit. Then I did. Fantastic.



AFI - End Transmission: God help me, I love AFI, and Crashlove is one of their best albums to date. Moving even further towards pop seems to be their strength.



Dethklok - Dethsupport: "Say. Your Good. Byes. / That. Was. Your. Life." Maybe my favorite lyric of the year. Dethklok is so fucking brutal I can hardly stand it. I am the future Mrs. Nathan Explosion. (Or the future Mrs. #22, for the record.)



Peaches - Talk to Me: Peaches' howl was exactly what this album needed to open with, and a brilliant choice for first single.



Major Lazor - Mary Jane: Otherwise a somewhat ho-hum album, which was a true disappointment coming from the all-star hip-hop / dancehall DJ tag-team of Diplo and Switch, this track stands out. And not just because I got that purp fired up. (Or that Patron in my cup.)



Imogen Heap - Half Life: A fantastic album and one of the more powerful songs I've heard out of the lovely Immi. An honest exploration of modern communication and love, and what of each is enough.



Bjork - Declare Independence (Ghostdigital 12" Mix): Bjork's Voltaic remixes album presented some unexpected surprises, though the tracklist was somewhat disappointingly unvaried - a handful of remixes of a handful of songs. I get sick of hearing Declare Independence and Earth Intruders when listening to the album as a whole; it clearly seems to be presented as a "find your favorites" listening experience, instead of anything with cohesive flow. That's okay - everything here is pretty good, and some of it seems more like Bjork than the originals. Girl needs to get some of her weirdness back and quit relying on guest spots and kooky vocals!



Wale - 90210: The best of what seems to be a trend in rappers seeing girls for what they are, The Best Kept Secret both coddles and annihalates the Hollywood slut stereotype without glorifying any of the vulgar bits.



Miley Cyrus - Party in the U.S.A.: The oblivious little strumpet had one of the damn hottest singles of the year, despite essentially not knowing what the song was about. (That and her being a Monarch mind control slave.)



Two Tongues - Tremors: Max Beemis' second song on this list, from a surprising album - Chris, the singer from Saves the Day, and Max, the singer from Say Anything, sing a bunch of love songs in the form of a duet, without it sounding blatantly gay. Or maybe it's the kind of gay I love, where they don't have to outright state they're singing to each other? Or maybe I'm reading into it because I love Max Beemis too much? (Sorry, Mr. Boyle, I know I may be your future wife, but I gotta flirt around, doll.)



The Lonely Island - Like a Boss: Suck my own dick, like a boss.



Rihanna - Rude Boy: The only good track off of a muddle, uninteresting album. I love chicks who love rough sex.



30 Seconds to Mars - Vox Populi: Epic. A perfect representation of the general voice and intention of This is War, finally being released after almost five years of touring and recording and legal bullshit. A surprising amount of "brothers and sisters in arms" are present in the form of a sporadic but ever-present chorus of voices used as a brilliantly flowing battle cry.