WRR's Favorite Songs of 2009 Part I

Joining in on the glut of best of lists, here is the first part of the first list we've cooked up here at WRR. More coming soon.

40. Tanya Morgan - Alleye Need
For those of you non-OKP's, Tanya Morgan is a rap group, not a person. Once the joyous horns and bouncing low-end beat kicks in, you can't help but snap your neck. (Sorry, but the youtube version is poor quality.)

39. Wild Light - California On My Mind
With a jangley guitar, full backing band and harmonica, the music is catchy enough. But with a sing-song opening line "Give me a lake that I can dive into/ Bury my head in the shit in the bottom/ Fuck today, fuck San Francisco, fuck California," you know you have to keep listening.

38. Raekwon - Canal Street
After nearly a minute of hiding underneath some Wu-Tang slang, 'Canal Street' unleashes one of the hardest Wu-Tang beats of all time. The threatening horns ooze danger, taking you into the middle of The Chef's gritty crime tales.

37. Dirty Projectors - Cannibal Resource
So many interesting factors are at play in this song, but the unique guitar work and arrhythmic rhythm (?!) are only supporting cast members to the real star here: the singing. Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian's voices are instruments in the truest sense of the word and are orchastrated with genius by David Longstreth. Listen to this song with headphones, people.

36. Telepathe - Chrome's On It
Anthemic' would be a good word to describe this trunk-rattler from Brooklyn's Telepathe. Hipster would be another. With possibly the hardest hitting beat of any song this year, it begs to be blasted with volume up and windows down.

35. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Contender
The opening track from the Pains' debut album, 'Contender' is a fuzzed up, jangley tune full of emotion that sets the tone for one of the more cohesive albums of the year. The song almost serves as an intro to the album, rather than it's own song, but the lament in Kip Berman's repeated delivery of "you never were a contender" allows this track to stand on its own. Check out this awesome cover set to the penultimate scene of the greatest movie of the 1980's.

34. Jay-Z - D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)
With a beat bananas enough to make me commit felonies misdemeanors, I thought D.O.A. had a good chance of living up it its intentions. Despite the irony of this song coming from the biggest crossover rap artist of all time, Jigga drops gems that illustrate why he's loved from Hot 97 to Hot 99.

33. Matt & Kim - Daylight
Duo Matt & Kim found some mainstream success with their buoyant single 'Daylight.' A happy piano riff and clackety drums carry one of the catchier songs of the year. These guys are fans. I've never seen this video, but it's definitely worth a peep.

32. BrakesBrakesBrakes - Don't Take Me To Space (Man)
Two double-o nine may have been the year that 'indie' broke through, but there's still some bands out there making good arena rock. Brakes is one of them and 'Don't Take Me To Space (Man),' with its chorus begging out for thousands to sing-along with, shows why.

31. jj - Ecstacy
Flipping the beat to Lil' Wayne's promiscuous 'Lollipop' to create an ambient ode to a different kind of vice was a pretty ingenious move. Ignoring the title, the subtlety of the song and haziness of the lyrics somewhat obscure the message; what isn't hidden is how good this song is.

30. The Guggenheim Grotto - Fe Da Da Dee
Since the advent of rock n' roll, la la's and doo doo's have always been an easy fall back for pop-leaning bands. Some use it to good effect, while others don't. On their electro-ish ditty, the GG catch lightening in a bottle, which is more than I can say for the rest of their album.

29. Mirah - Generosity
Over Eleanor Rigby-esque strings and a sparse piano baseline, Mirah weaves a beautiful tale of love gone mutually bad. But her loss is our gain with this stunning ballad.

28. Bell X-1 - The Great Defector
With lyrics straight out of a novel, music inspired by the Talking Heads and a chorus that demands to be sung along with, Bell X-1 penned one hell of a catchy and danceable song. But despite its overt pop-ness, a critical listen reveals a clear attention to the details of song-craft, but screw that; Turn it up and have fun.

27. The New Pornographers - Hey Snow White
One of the highlights off of the uber-indie compilation Dark Was The Night, 'Hey Snow White' (actually a cover of a Destroyer song) delivers the power-pop that these Canadiens are known and loved for. Even with a decent showing on his solo album, Get Guilty, A.C. Newman shows what he's capable when he has his full band in tow.

26. Ida Maria - I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked
This raucus, rocking ode to carnal pleasure is as fun as its title implies, but Sweedish Finnish Norwegian Maria also reveals a girlish nervousness when around the object of her desires. Fun Fact: Ida Maria is said to have Synesthesia. I think Jimi Hendrix had that too.

25. The Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill
With a song titled 'I Wanna Kill' off of an album titled Summer of Hate, you'd be excused for thinking that this is the newest Sweedish Finnish Norwegian death metal band. You would be wrong. And while the lyrics certainly aren't on the positive tip, the band channels the fuzz-rock of The Jesus Mary Chain at their most accessible.

24. Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart
Hands down the most ominous song of the year. A dark, lurking beat accompanies Karin Dreijer Andersson's sparse lyrics. An effect that doubles her vocals to sound strangely man-like adds to the creepiness. Definitely watch the artful and just as eery video which appears to be about a surreal party/kidnapping/murder. Strange but beautiful.

23. Mayer Hawthorne - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out
I'm a little late to the the Mayer's party, but I'm glad I came. As on his whole album, this soulful song combines Motown-era singing with A Tribe Called Quest drums all wrapped in a bedroom recording aesthetic. Amazingly, Hawthorne recorded this whole album himself, playing all instruments and singing all of the vocals. And yeah, that's him in the video.

22. Phoenix - Lizstomania
A play on the name of classical composer Franz Lizst who was apparently the rock star of his day. With songs like this, Phoenix are showing why they are deserving of the title themselves.

21. Apes & Androids - Make Forever Last Forever
When apes and androids are battling for control of future-earth, they will surely be getting pumped up by this song. Synths galore, a 'riders on the storm' refrain and a bongo breakdown surely portend the sounds of future destruction, right?

Part II coming next week... As always, feel free to leave your comments

Pass the Grand Duchy on the Left Hand Side

Grand Duchy - Petit Fours

The inimitable Frank Black. The man is truly an under-appreciated icon of American rock music. Whether it was with the Pixies shaping the face of modern rock, his early solo-work using synthesizers to great effect way before the current 80's fetish, or his later Americana/ alt-rock work which is as good as anything from Ryan Adams or Conor Oberst, Black Francis has put out consistent, quality rock music. For a primer on his post-Pixies work get his first, self-titled album and 2003's Show Me Your Tears. These two albums wonderfully highlight the range of Black's musical talents.

But to the topic at hand: 2009's Petit Fours, recorded with his wife, Violet Clark, under the moniker Grand Duchy. I know nothing of Clark, but she certainly holds her own. Album opener, 'Come On Over To My House' is a solid, but unspectacular song which ends up sounding nothing like its intro implies. Following that, Clark gets her turn at the helm with on the excellent 'Lovesick' which, backed by a steady beat, solid guitar riff and synths, is a solid little pop gem.

Not until the third song 'Fort Wayne' do we get to hear husband and wife share the stage. One could be excused if hey heard this song and thought it was some lost Pixies b-side. A Black acoustic riff with his falsetto (seriously, this guy has so many singing voices) and backing "La-La-La's" from the Mrs. sounds like it could easily be Black and Kim Deal. But Clark lets you know its her, transitioning from the vague, airy la-la's to a speak sing to a whispery en francaise delivery.

From there we move onto the chilled out 'Seeing Stars' which contrasts nicely with the contained aggression of what is probably my favorite song of the album, 'Black Suit.' Next up is 'Long Song' followed by 'Break the Angels' with a baseline easily reminiscent of 'Gigantic.' The solid 'Ermesinde' sees Clark dipping into the mainstream bucket with a splash of autotune.

On the terrific album closer 'Volcano,' Mr. Black, very gentleman-like, allows his wife to have the stage last and she delivers. The song builds intensely with thundering tom-toms and metronome snare culminating in Clark's cries of 'It's gonna blow!'

Over the summer I was privileged to see Frank Black at a very small solo show. It was an amazing experience to see a person whose voice and music has been with me for half of my life. Do yourself a favor and see him in whatever form you can: solo, with the Pixies or, in order to see his freshest work, Grand Duchy.

Under New MGMT

On Sunday night, I was one of the lucky few 500 people to get tickets to the Kia-sponsored free MGMT show. It was my third time seeing the band and, once again, they did not disappoint. In a tight, hourlong set they managed to squeeze in all of the best songs from Oracular Spectacular along with four new songs from the upcoming album 'Congratulations.' This rumor mill provides more detail on that, and the youtube dot com has some medium quality live footage of the new jams which I shall lank below.

The band opened with a what I think is Flash Delirium (no youtube video), one of my favorites from the new songs. I could have sworn that the steady wall of noise opening was going to lead into this classic. 'Song For Dan Treacy' has a strong Smiths feel to it. My least favorite was the progish 'It's Working.' It doesn't really come through in the clip, but I kind of felt a weird Charlie Daniels inspired by Kashmir/early Beatles vibe. They encored with the title track 'Congratulations.' As you can hear, it's a bit of a departure for the band. I felt it's pacing and melody to be kind of Lennon-esque. The final song of the encore was 'The Handshake' which is absolutely stunning live. Their guitar player adds so much to this band live and really puts on a show when it's his turn. If you haven't yet seen the MGMT, be sure to nab some tickets the next time they come through. Even if it's not free.

P.S. As promised in my last entry, I promise to post some new reviews soon. And as always, commentary is strongly encouraged.

The British Are Coming!!!

Perhaps you've heard some of the hubbub about the remastering and re-release of the entire Beatles catalogue. Personally, I hadn't paid too much attention as I'm pretty familiar with their catalogue, but this article caught my attention. Enjoy.

New reviews will be up shortly. Thanks for your continued patience and patronage.