Well here it finally is. The top 15 songs of last year. It’s what, March? Took me long enough – sorry. But this list just had to be finished, as it is still my go-to playlist on my iPod.
Look for some actual 2010 content coming soon (so many new albums to talk about!), and enjoy the excellent and long-awaited conclusion:
15. Owl City – “Fireflies”
Favorite radio song of the year
14. Discovery – “Orange Shirt” Ra Ra Riot + Vampire Weekend =
13. Julian Casablancas – “11th Dimension”
Makes me look forward to anything and everything by TheStrokes
12. Chiddy Bang – “The Opposite Of Adults (KIDS)”
Best sample of another song this year
11. Animal Collective – “My Girls”
An almost 6 minute sprawling epic. Like the Return of the King (of songs)
10. Owl City – “Hello Seattle” Postal Service ripoff? Maybe. Excellent song? Definitely
9. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – “Home”
Out of nowhere band/song that resonates with me for whatever reason and shot up the list
8. Swimming With Dolphins – “Everything’s A Miracle”
The type of song I would make if I had any talent
7. Kid Cudi – “Pursuit Of Happiness”
Best collaboration of the year with MGMT and Ratatat
6. Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead”
Song I’ve listened to the most this year…not surprising
5. Matt And Kim – “Daylight”
So infectious and catchy – even more so in person
4. Phoenix – “Lisztomania”
Best French import since the Statue of Liberty; Phoenix is legit
3. Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”
About as perfect a song as can be written
2. fun. – “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)”
Best played live song I saw this year; fantastically sung by Nate
1. Passion Pit – “The Reeling”
Not the best song I’ve seen live or the best sung or the best from a purely musical standpoint. Feel like it has a little bit of everything making it stand out as my favorite song of the year
We all really want to finish this list out for a number of reasons (time to move on in earnest to 2010, several of you have told me need to find out what’s next, etc.), but I thought posting the final 55 songs all at once was too much. Look for the final posting later this week.
Enjoy the rest of the Top 115 list/playlist, and now you have more new stuff to listen to at work!
55. The Asteroids Galaxy Tour – “Around The Bend”
Best song used in an Apple commercial
54. Regina Spektor – “The Calculation”
Distinct voice makes for refreshingly good songs
53. Karen O And The Kids – “All Is Love”
Sweetest song of the year
52. Kid Cudi – “Dat New New (Viking Remix)”
Random song not on the album, but found it on Hypem.com
51. Swimming With Dolphins – “Sunset, 1989”
Synthesizer? Check. Autotune? Check. Still awesome.
50. The Very Best – “Warm Heart Of Africa”
Basically a Vampire Weekend song on someone else’s album
49. Thao And The Get Down Stay Down – “Cool Yourself”
High school friend continues blow up – great live show
48. Miley Cyrus – “Party In The USA”
Guilty pleasure of the year. Don’t hate.
47. Cobra Starship – “Good Girls Go Bad”
Soft spot for both Gabe and Leighton
46. Chiddy Bang – “Truth”
Anything featuring Passion Pit is bound to be catchy
45. La Roux – “Bulletproof (Redial Remix)”
Excellent beat somehow improved by the remix makes this a fun listen
44. Camera Obscura – “French Navy”
Late on the bandwagon, but recently shot up my list. Lead singer’s voice reminds me of Zooey D.
43. Discovery – “Osaka Loop Line”
Best duo side project song of the year
42. Flight Of The Conchords – “Hurt Feelings”
Funny, yet sad…hence, sad clown song of the year
41. The Lonely Island – “Motherlovers”
Could not get enough of this song – Justin and Andy need their own album.
40. The Hood Internet – “Good Ol Fashion Rump Shaker”
Favorite mashup of the year….and I like my mashups
39. Florence And The Machine – “Kiss With A Fist”
Shortest song on the list, but sure does pack a punch (haha…get it?)
38. Ingrid Michaelson – “Everybody”
With respect to Karen O, Regina, and others – Ingrid is my indie sweetheart of the year
37. Metric – “Sick Muse”
Sound a little like Stars. They more than hold their own, however.
36. Passion Pit – “Little Secrets”
Could have put the entire Manners album on here (and I almost do – keep reading)
35. Snob Scrilla – “Chasing Ghosts”
Sweet drums, good rapping in this random one
34. Weezer – “I Want You To”
While Weezer has gone downhill, they’re still catchy and I still like this song
33. Matt And Kim – “Good Ol Fashion Nightmare”
Biggest, Longest Continuous Smile Award goes to…Kim
32. fun. – “All The Pretty Girls”
Ex-Format member, Nate Ruess, excels with his new band
31. Vampire Weekend – “Horchata”
If the new songs are any indication their sophomore effort coming out in January that came out in January will live up to the large expectations
30. Passion Pit – “Moth’s Wings”
Hello again Passion Pit. Sit down, stay awhile.
29. Chromeo – “Night By Night”
More Canadians on the list make some electrofunk magic with this one
28. Kid Cudi – “Day N Nite”
My most played rap song this year
27. Empire Of The Sun – “Standing On The Shore (Dirty Disco Youth Remix)”
Favorite remix of the year – which is saying something
26. Animal Collective – “Summertime Clothes”
Second best song on the album still beats most everything else
25. Phoenix – “1901”
Ditto
24. Thao And The Get Down Stay Down – “Know Better Learn Faster”
Maybe I’m biased, but song is undeniably good. Expect big things.
23. The Lonely Island – “I’m On A Boat”
Funniest song of the year. Hands down. Previously never thought I would want to own a nautical themed pashmina afghan
In the final throes of this Friday-posting-blitzkrieg, I’m just going to share a few songs/links/band updates/etc. that I found recently, but can’t really classify into the typical WJM format.
Additionally, I read at I Guess I’m Floating that fun. has a little concert/live webcast (starts around 2 min 30 sec) floating around. I listened to part of it, and it’s pretty good stuff, but the video’s not great and I got annoyed with it haha.
Finally, here are just a few random songs I found that needed to be shared.
The first one is a song I found on some blog somewhere, and I just love it. I tried some of The Very Best’s other stuff, and couldn’t get into it, but this one featuring Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig is just fantastic:
The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa (ft Ezra Koenig)
(Approachability: Very High)
I found this remix while reading about and listening to Yes Giantess. Bo Flex is the producer/studio of Passion Pit…or something like that. I don’t entirely understand the relationship, but Passion Pit, Yes Giantess, and Bo Flex are all very closely tied. Whatever, the song is awesome:
US Royalty – Keep it Cool (Bo Flex Remix)
(App: High)
Another random remix of Passion Pit that I found, and it certainly fits with the other stuff I’ve posted today. Kind of a clubbed-up version of The Reeling:
Passion Pit – The Reeling (Shuttles Super Club Mega Mix)
(App: Medium/Low)
And that’s all I’ve got from this week – phew! Hope you enjoyed all the different posts today, and have a great weekend.
I’m not sure why it was easier for me to post more frequently when I was more busy, but for some reason it was. There’s a ton to post about, so I’ll get right into it.
Discovery – LP
Approachability: High/Medium
So the Discovery (Ra Ra Riot’s Wed Miles and Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij side project) album LP is finally about to come out (July 7th). More importantly, this means that it has finally been leaked to the interwebs.Although clocking in at a disappointingly-short 30 minutes, those 30 minutes are almost certainly going to be in my top 10 albums of 2009. It’s like an indie-r&b-electo-remix-fest. At times they sound like Daft Punk, other times almost like Lil’ Wayne. Definitely a top this year. I can only dream of a Discovery, Ra Ra Riot, Vampire Weekend tour…
After RP3′s die hard search for Dirty Projector’s new Bitte Orca album, turns out we found another winner. My personal favorite track is “Stillness Is The Move,” but there’s also a great acoustic tune called “Two Doves,” and a more upbeat jam called “Useful Chamber.” And of course the opening track, “Cannibal Resource,” rocks out more classically.Find all these jams on hypem.com, and obviously the album on iTunes.
Finally, they’re coming to The Black Cat in DC later this year. Get ready.
Pony Pony Run Run
Approachability: Medium
RP3 also ran into this band when he found their blow-you-away single “Hey You.” If you like your typical electo-pop-rock band, then you’ll love Pony Pony Run Run. Their song “First Date Mullet,” besides having a hilarious name, is quite good.Since hypem is almost entirely remixes of Hey You, go check them out on their space: http://www.myspace.com/ponyponyrunrun
Ronald Jenkees
Approachability: High
This guy is totally insane, but he’s also so fun to listen to. He plays various keyboards to a pre-made beat in the background, and mixes it up and has fun. I personally think that his stuff on youtube is way better than the album itself, but you may disagree. My favorite song is definitely “Throwing Fire,”but you can hear him do everything from Led Zepplin to Canon in D.You can find all his stuff live on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ronaldjenkees?blend=1&ob=4
Passion Pit & Harlem Shakes Concert
Approachability: Medium
(Dance-ability: Super High)
RP3, Galkin, Julie, and I (among others) went to see Passion Pit last week at The Black Cat in DC. Wow what a show. Cale Parks opened it up – who we all decided would be the best drummer for a cool electro-pop-rock band ever. Pretty good, but kinda tough to watch alone. Amazing drummer though.Harlem Shakes (as you know, one of my favorites) was next in line, and were also great, as expected. They apparently had a bunch of gear stolen the night before in Richmond, so they had to improvise about half their set. I felt kinda bad for them, but they still put a great show – even though half of it was basically performed acoustic. And then finally: Passion Pit.
The audience was already pretty lively, and by the time they were 2 songs in the whole place was jumping. They played most of my favorites, even though the set was really only about 45 minutes long. My only issue with the whole thing was that the lead singer, Michael Angelakos’s mic was way too low. You could hardly hear most of his vocals. Otherwise, great show.
And Julie even showed us how to have a dance party when packed up against a bunch of hipsters. Turns out it’s not even that hard!
And finally, Ra Ra Riot has announced another tour, and they’re headlining at the 930 Club in DC on October 1. I guess I know where I’ll be on October 1st haha. http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=1127572
I’m still trying to figure out how to get back to posting the actual songs so you can download without Blogger pulling my posts off. I might switch to wordpress or something, we’ll see.
I do not own any of the music here, and I do not claim to. All music and images belong to their respective bands. All music here is for promotion and sampling use only.
If you are the owner of a song, or any other content posted here, and would like it removed, contact me and I will immediately remove it from the site.
Posted by Weird Jim 
