Best Songs of 2009

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51. French Horn Rebellion – Beaches and Friends
50. King Khan & BBQ Show – Invisible Girl
49. Discovery – Osaka Loop Line
48. The XX – Basic Space
47. Volcano Choir – Island, Is
46. Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire
45. The Avett Brothers – Ten Thousand Words
44. M Ward – Never Had Nobody Like You
43. MSTRKRFT – Heartbreaker
42. Miike Snow – Animal
41. the knux – bang bang
40. Grizzly bear – Fine for now
39. Julian Casablancas – 11th dimension
38. Neon Indian – Dead Beat Summer
37. Toro Y Moi – Blessa
36. Bon Iver – Woods
35. Love Language – Lalita
34. Black Lips – Drugs
33. Atlas Sound – Walkabout
32. Lilly Allen – Fuck You
31. Karen o and the kids – Hidaway
30. Bon iver & St Vincent – Roslyn
29. Animal Collective – Brother Sport
28. Lil Wayne – D.O.A.
27. Family Portrait – Mega Secrets
26. Camera Obscura – French Navy
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25. Geographer – Kites
The Wiz and I are suckers for bloops and bleeps. That’s obvs, you’ve heard it all year. Geographer flew under the radar a bit this year but ‘Kites’ is one of those songs that can stop a conversation. At the :45 mark the bottom falls out and the sega-genisis 16-bit synth demands your head to start bobbing. – Madano

24. The Antlers – Two
“Two,” is a perfect example of the gentle insanity that only The Antlers can pull off. As the track opens you are unsure if Peter Silberman is actually playing guitar or just looping one strum over and over again as the vocals begin and you swirl slowly deeper into pop psychedelia. This track is adeptly produced, bright with minimal reverb, and a slow ambient build up, finishing in a denouement of deathly tones and feedback. Only masters of their craft could make the public want to listen to such a contrasting style of music, soft spoken, but most likely bat-shit crazy, pop songs. – Mad Chef

23. Dirty Projectors – Temecula Sunrise
The knockout punch on Bitte Orca for me encapsulates and punctuates everything that makes that album quite possibly my favorite of the year.  The multiple changes and textures of the track build a luxurious landscape ripe with imagery that acts as an open call to create a music video to it in your head or construct your own interpretation.  But to be honest the lyrics to this song nearly always fail to reach me.  It’s not that they aren’t good, it’s just that there is such intricate building around them that the words merely accentuate instead of define the song.  But I suppose that’s either the price you pay or intention dividends with the inclusion of multiple voices that are just as good or better than any playable instrument. – Avanhizzle

22. St Vincent – Actor out of work
I heard somewhere that when Annie Clark set out to leave the Polyphonic Spree and make her own solo music, she said that she wanted to make Disney music for adults. I dug that. As a kid Disney music was killer but, like most things with value, not without a bit of danger. Actor is very very pretty and its also… not. In a year where a lot of music was beautiful, melodic, and ethereal, St. Vincent laid grimy guitar tones, that are synonymous with Brooklyn pavement, next to orchestral melody and some sporadic brass for good. – Bobby Solo

21. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero
The first single off the much anticipated It’s Blitz was a surprise to be sure. Karen O and the crew doing synth pop? Yeah, and better than everybody else. Zero seemed to enigmatically state something clearly. Every time I listened to the track I felt like I was right on the cusp of figuring out exactly what Karen was saying about a scene that she basically created, except, I was having to much fun to concentrate. This track has like three major hooks, fuzz, glitter in the streets, and the mysteriously inspiring phrase “get your leather on.” Karen O’s crystal clear vocals shine like a beacon for all the little indie darlings simultaneously illuminating them and reminding them who their Queen is. – Bobby Solo

20. Pheonix – 1901
Phoenix’s 2009 Wolfgang Amadeus was the album that defined the summer of 2K9 as the summer of electro-pop (in my very humblest opinion). From the screaming J-6 at the onset of the track through the asymmetric drum beat of the latter halves of each verse and Thomas Mars’ rather unique vocal delivery this track definitely builds some tension through the pre-chorus that explodes into a feel-good pop-anthem chorus. It seems that society has recognized it too; as the music for new Cadillac commercials, CSI: Miami, movie trailers, the sincerity with which Phoenix composed 1901 and all the other tracks on Wolfgang Amadeus has been severely compromised but I assure you, it is still there. WA is an album about coming of age and making some self-realizations that don’t involve the purchase of automobiles and 1901 is a prime example of that. This track blew me away when it was first launched and, though I don’t listen through WA as often as I did when it dropped at the beginning of the summer, every time I turn it on I remember why this album and 1901 in particular is near the top of my list for 2009. – Chazzbot

19. Reakwon – House of flying daggers
“House of Flying Daggers,” is the standout track of OB4CL2, replete with sword clangs, violin hits, and snare hits that sound more like .45 bullets spraying out of your speakers. When “House of Flying Daggers,” was first leaked it let the whole world know that OB4CL2 was going to be a worthy predecessor; it also reminded all 6 billion of us of how scared we used to be of the Wu-Tang Clan. These guys are not making cameos in “Are We There Yet,” or playing happy sambos in any Tyler Perry travesty, they are out there scaring the shit out of lesser m.c.s and autotune fools. – Mad Chef

18. Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
It’s hard to contemplate the future these days without trying to reconcile the idea of the artificial meeting the organic, maybe at some point even becoming the same thing. Animal Collective‘s Summertime Clothes is the sound that greets you when you open up the window to the future. You can actually hear the earth’s elements in this track, and it sounds fluid and gorgeous in way some of us might have thought impossible, like a macbook being washed into the ocean. And speaking of the beach, Brian Wilson would be proud. With Rock n roll, as with so many other things, you wanna see what the future looks like? Take a close look at the present. – Bobby Solo

17. Passion Pit – Moths wings
As the first single released as a teaser to 2009’s Manners, Moth’s Wings floored me the first time I heard it and continues to do so every time it comes on in a playlist. After a brief guitar-driven intro our ears and minds are bodyslammed by one of the biggest choruses of the year. Orchestral drums, HUGE synths, straight-eighth drum tracks and shimmering arpeggios take over and really help us understand that this is something special. The imagery in the lyrics is absolutely phenomenal throughout and expresses to us all the desire, sadness, hope and disappointment of a failed relationship (romantic, platonic or otherwise). This track is unique amongst the tunes that make up Manners; indeed I feel that Moth’s Wings is an emotional statement more than any other Manners offerings. Stunning arrangement, great writing and an unbelievable, unique performance put Moth’s Wings on the map for this year’s best of. – Chazzbot

16. Dirty Projectors – Stillness is the move
The first single off of Bitte Orca sounded more R&B and non abrasive than what we’d come to expect from the experimental Brooklynites.  It starts with a simple breakbeat that soon gets accompanied by a blues loop that snakes around and underneath the vocals for remainder of the track.  Never veering too far into complexity and staying fairly straightforward, the song then keeps pace and turns into a head bobbing hum-along that even allows for a little hip shake.  And I say hum-along simply because the vocal beauty and range of Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian’s is unmatchable.  At least by this fella. – Avanhizzle

15. Los campisanos!– the sea is a good place to look to the future
TSIAGPTTOTF (I think this track wins the award for 2009’s longest song-title-acronym) is one of those tracks (and the list is very small) that I can put on repeat-one and take in over and over again and never get sick of it. Comprised of two distinct sections (an intense, almost spoken-word verse and a full-on rockin’ chorus) I envisioned lead singer and lyricist Gareth to be relating the story of Ann Quin (a British novelist who drowned herself in 1973—Gareth’s inspiration for this track) as alternately contemplative and active (potential turning into kinetic). Directly after the track’s release, however, a video came around directed by LC!’s bassist, Ellen, that describes a similar yet opposite scene. During the comparatively quiet verses we are introduced to a series of generally happy, contemplative young adults amassing on a beach, conversing and looking generally very British. When the chorus comes around (at which point I expected to see a person-floating-in-the-ocean-in-the-middle-of-a-storm type scene) the potential energy amassed on the beach explodes into the kinetic energy of a raging beach party during which everyone seems to be having a good time. Though it is a proper realization of the energy stored up during the verses I expected the imagery to go the other way based on the general thrust of the lyrics; the video really helped me understand that this is, indeed, a properly uplifting track that helps us all realize that there is always potential to work towards the good no matter what’s on the horizon.

14. Them Darlins – Wild one
When you hear “Wild One,” you are immediately aware of the sincerity of the Tennessee trio, Those Darlins. This isn’t a country group who are making a living off of a dead aesthetic in the hopes that it sells records or makes them look good, these girls are the real deal. The song has got all the hooks, guitar lines, and harmonies of any 1970′s Nashville hit, but it always feels modern and genuine.

“Wild One,” challenges men to be man enough for these presumably hard living, hard drinking women, but I think that most of us would be under the table, weeping or vomiting, long before these girls had even started their nights. – Mad Chef

13. Delorean – Seasun
Full of phase-sweeps, open-fifths on the piano and ethereal, reverb drenched vocal samples, Seasun, the first track from DeLorean’s Ayrton Senna EP, is sure to become a perennial favorite at clubs with their ears tuned to the indie dial for years to come. Both coming and going this track oozes the triumphant happiness that we all want to have so much of in our lives. Seasun kicks off rather sparsely and builds slyly without letting anyone realize what’s going on before breaking out into a full-on dance party when we finally hit anything resembling a chorus (over 3 minutes in). The well-timed and perfectly-executed build takes the emotional high that the track gives us immediately at the onset and blows it up like we’re attached to helium tanks. Perfect for a ride through the city in the middle of the summer, Seasun is a perfect example of what made 2K9 the year of indie-electro. – Chazzbot

12. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Home
When Seizure Chicken had the pleasure of interviewing Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero‘s, lead singer Alex Ebert, said that when he writes songs he considers them to be a “blueprint for his future life.” He describes “large landscapes and riding horses and freedom,” and that is exactly what he and his band manage to capture on the track Home. The crack of the whip, the call and response vocals, even the jangle of spurs in the dirt, all are indicative of the fact that Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros were planning a journey. The sound is new and instantly familiar at the same time. If Moses and his peeps had to spend their forty days and forty nights in the desert, I hope they had tunes this good. – Bobby Solo

11. Animal Collective – My Girls
I would like to take one of the two number ones out of this track rating. Confused? I mean this is, arguably, the best song this year. Merriweather Post Pavillion was released in January. That seems like a world away at this point. After a very fertile year of great music, this album and this track has seen the most spins in my pretty little existence. ‘My Girls’ sounds like a pop song from the future. – Madano

10. Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
The song that launched a thousand blog posts and also acted as the lead single off of the highly anticipated third album from Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear is quite a pleasant experience. Sure to have soundtracked spring love & thawing gardens, “Two Weeks” is grounded by a playful & toy-ish sounding piano. And while the simple nature of that piano spans the track, melting vocal harmonies and the beauty of Edward Droste’s voice punctuate and add a wonderful complexity to it. – Avanhizzle

9. YACHT – Ring the bells
“It became clear, there is no one else here.” True for YACHT’s blend of electro-dance-pop this year. Royksopp? hahaha. Miike Snow? bitch please. With a live show (party) to boot, YACHT is DFA’s new crowned jewel. Which, for a year relatively devoid of LCD Soundsystem is an important thing. “Accordingly, YACHT is and always will be what YACHT is when YACHT is standing before you” To me, YACHT are the most under-rated artists of the year.

8. Lykke Li – Possibility
Honestly, I know very little about the Twilight Saga. And. I kind of like it that way. But this track, from the much hyped soundtrack to the second installment, absolutely blew my mind upon first listen. Surrounded by the likes of Death Cab For Cutie, Thom Yorke, and The Killers; this Swedish syren shatters them all. The haunting piano, beautifully dark lyrics and a cannabalistic vocal track that couldn’t echo or reverb better in my best dream, make this sometimes choir-like number a real burner. It’s hard to deny such a pretty voice. Its even harder when that voice is multiplied and placed in harmony with itself. – Avanhizzle

7. Girls – Lust For Life
For myself and the rest of the misguided youth of 90′s America “Lust For Life,” is an anthem. We are products of single-parent households, four hours of daily television, rampant commercialism, and pills to help us concentrate. Few tracks have the immediacy that “Lust For Life,” sums up with it’s blurry guitar work and its once-a-measure slap, eight beat pattern. Behind the simple bones of the song there is a constant tambourine, a chorus of oohs, ahhs, obscure moans, a lot of feedback, and of course, hands clapping on time. In two minutes and twenty-five seconds Girls’ front man Christopher Owens sums up our generations’ vanity, familial histories, pre-existing medical conditions, drug habits, and psychoses. – Mad Chef

6. Memory Tapes – Bicycle
‘Bicycle ‘, a seemingly lazy/vibe jam at start, erupts at the 1:18 mark into a full on delirium of woozy synth parts, thickly fuzzed bass lines, and ohhhs and ahhhhs. Soon after, the tracks rolls back into a sparse verse and pre-chorus, until the 3:30 mark when a choir of vocal chants brings the energy level back up. Memory Tapes’ Seek Magic is one of those albums that picks you up and drop you on your ass, leaving you confused and wanting more. – Madano

5. Washed Out – Feel it all around
Georgia (via South Carolina)’s Washed Out, or Ernest Greene, bursted onto the scene mid-summer. ‘Feel It All Around’ was on blast at everyone’s bbq’s, beach party, and spliff-sponsored cruises with the top down. Ethereal synthesizer lines, laid-back porno drum beats, dripping with re-verb and tape echo, this track vibes for days. – Madano

4. 40 Day Dream – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
“40 Day Dream,” may turn out to be one the songs in my life that is intrinsically linked to a time, a place, and a smell. Edward Sharpe’s sold-out show out at Club Giribaldi smelt like a room full of sweaty scenesters, and it looked like vintage clothing under a hazy veil of stale smoke, but as soon as the band struck up the rumpus of “40 Day Dream,” I drew as close to the stage, and forgot where the hell I was. To see nine musicians playing their hearts out for a room full of blissful strangers reminded me what music should be. The romp of the piano player made us roll our heads, the drummer did his job so we could dance, the guitar player went crazy so that we wouldn’t feel stupid if we went crazy too, the woman played her violin with contrasting delicacy, and Edward himself channeled the energy of a revivalist preacher to lead us in our musical litany. Even on record “40 Day Dream,” still generates the movement and even, dare I admit, the spirituality of that live performance, and that’s why it’s one of the stand out tracks of the year. – Mad Chef

3. Animal Collective – What Would I Want Sky
This is THE track that many people, including myself, were anxiously awaiting to see the light of day this year. Popping up in live sets and unreleased until late November, “What Would I Want Sky” developed blog hype due to housing the first ever Grateful Dead approved sample. And sure, that’s great if you groove that way, (::hand raise::) but even if Phil Lesh’s vocals didn’t pepper the track with a heady melody, it would still be pure butter.

Looped sounds and vocals open the door and immediately thrust us into a musical gravitron. Layers of cymbal hits and vocal comfort food in the form of signature chants from Panda Bear help hold time and keep out the chaos that the band is more than capable of (but has been channeling for good for the last couple of records). From there the red carpet is rolled out for the rainbow sno-cone of sound created by the voices of Avey Tare and the looped Lesh. A chunky backbeat accompanied by programmed hand claps keeps your head bobbing while sprinkled harmonies make it impossible for the smile to fall off of your face. What a perfect way for Animal Collective to bookend a great year. – Avanhizzle

2. The Antlers – Bear
Arriving at the halfway mark of 2009’s Antlers album offering, Hospice, Bear is a perfect example of what makes this album my favorite of the year. From the opening Clavichord sounds that channel children’s nursery rhymes Bear makes us feel intensely for both people involved in relationship the song describes. I had a chance to sit down with The Antlers earlier this year and talked with them about Hospice as a conceit for any unhealthy relationship, not simply the surface level terminal illness literally described by the album. Bear is truly a perfect example of this idea. The bear, as described, is representative of so much more than physical illness. Anyone who has participated in a relationship that is less than ideal (I’ve never met anyone for whom this isn’t true) can relate to each and every word in this tune and really take some comfort away from it. Hospice is a hauntingly beautiful album and is not just a collection of songs. Bear is a prime example of the highs and lows that this album brings to the table. Outstanding arrangement, production that blends complex layers into seamless vibes, and Silberman’s eerily beautiful vocal style make this track one of my absolute favorites of 2009. – Chazzbot

1. Passion Pit – The Reeling
We at Seizure Chicken unanimously voted Passion Pit’s, the Reeling as our song of 2009.

Let’s be real here. When one is writing, whether working on the next “Gimme Shelter,” or the next “Grapes of Wrath,” one always has an assumed audience. You’re talking to somebody, even if it’s yourself. I’m talking to you and I’m going to make it personal, because that’s where good music gets me, personally.

I thought a great deal about what commonality this track had, what hint of homesick revolution, that made your editors react so strongly to it and perhaps, it is that very lack of description, the intangible melancholy that makes the Reeling so appealing. What I mean to say to you Seizure Chicken reader, is that somehow, five kids from Cambridge, with a few synths and some drums, wrote a track that sounds like why kids leave home and go to the city. It sounds like the fact that neon can make you lonely and comforted at the same time. It sounds like what you find when you go out seeking adventure and come home drunk on cheap beer and flirtation. Like the beautiful wasteland of youth.

Passion Pit is a reference to drive-in movie theaters, that’s what Hollywood execs called them, because of the appeal drive-ins had with teenagers. Kids seeking refuge from the constraints of an adult world. A two hour respite. In these modern times, everything gets shorter, smaller, more efficient. So my friend, listen to our track of 2009, and in these wild times, enjoy, with us, the sweet lonely sanctuary of rock and roll, even if you only get five minutes.

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UPDATE: download part 1 | download part 2 – We’ll keep these up as long as our severs (dork snort) can handle it.