My top 10 albums of 2009

Each year, I write my list of the best albums of the year as part of Treble Zine's annual feature. This year was a bit different. Normally the list is of 50 albums, but as I revealed in my entry on Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks" (my favorite track of the year), I hardly listened to any albums this year. I eventually turned in a list of 25 and even so, I felt that I had only really enjoyed, lived in a few of them. Here then, are those 10.

10. Atlas Sound - Logos
I'd love to be able to see Bradford Cox play live, whether it's with Deerhunter or as Atlas Sound. But you see, the sight of him makes me nervous. Diagnosed with Marfane syndrome, Cox's body is thin, tall and fragile looking. Though I know he is otherwise healthy, I'm still afraid that something could happen. The cover of Logos depicts Cox's bare concave chest, with his face lit up, a flash of blinding light. The duality of radiance and frailty is made also through the music Cox composes. Sugary pop confection in "Sheila" attracts yet reveals to be a romantic tale of an elderly couple burying themselves together. The music throughout is swathed in reverb, loops, samples, atmosphere but still lay bare the wounds Cox writes of. In "Quick Canal," Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier sings, wisdom is learned and Cox seems determined to make his journey transparent. His songs of revelation and redemption highlight process and as Noah Lennox sings in "Walkabout": Forget the things you've left behind / Through looking back you may go blind.

9. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
I can see how The Decemberists can be an incredibly polarizing band. They're nerdy. They like Prog rock. They create concept albums that aren't so much albums as they are narratives, stories. So it was only a matter of time that they created an opera of sorts. And that's what The Hazards of Love is, you see, it's really an opera disguised as a rock album. It's not quite a leap of faith as Colin Meloy's songs had always been thinly veiled short stories. With that, The Hazards of Love is Meloy's tale of love and jealousy. The music is not exactly revelatory - it's pretty much what The Decemberists have always done only bigger. In fact, I wouldn't even call it the best Decemberists albums, so why is it on my list? Simply put, I loved listening to it. The bookworm in me relished the language Meloy uses. Most of all, it was the dual showstopping performances by Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden that propels the album into my top ten. It was Worden's powerhouse vocals in particular that won my heart. She pounds, she commands, she pretty much blows everyone else out of the water.

8. St. Vincent - Actor
Recently I was talking about St. Vincent and what it was that I liked to much. After some false starts and altogether empty statements, I said that I loved her voice - how beautiful it was, angelic even - and how she contrasted that beauty with harsh guitars, with noise, fuzz. Annie Clark's confident vision was brought to attention on Marry Me, but truly came into fruition on Actor. Dominated by contrast - the meticulous arrangements are disrupted by a crunch of the guitar or squirm of a saxophone. Clark's complex and fully realized sound sometimes obscure her knowing and acute character studies. Her cool demeanor and delivery underplay the inventiveness of her compositions and her writing. Actor is an album that is truly singular - from the biting "Actor Out of Work" to the seductive "Save Me From What I Want" - with a vision that is truly unique, that it's difficult to guess what Clark will do next but whatever it may be, it will be her own.

7. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Inhabiting the persona of Pearl (inspired by Patricia Arquette's blonde femme fatale in David Lynch's Lost Highway), Natasha Kahn sings, my name is Pearl and I love you the best way I know how. Devastating yet toxic words, this line encompasses all that Two Suns is about: impossible desire, frustrated love, and dark romance. Swathed in evocative atmosphere and shadows, Kahn's theatrical compositions are rich with layers of synths, harpsichords, guitars, drum machines, and perhaps best of all, Kahn's own voice. Her performance is expressive, shifting to fit the tone of each song, of each character - at times passionate, feral, melancholy, haunting and cold, her range is truly stunning. It's Kahn's performance that keeps these songs from veering to absurd theatrics or overwrought tragedy. Rather through her performance and her keen sense of melody, Two Suns is rich with mystery and romance - never over the top and always a pleasure to listen to.

6. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
After 25 years together, would it now be appropriate to call Hoboken's own Yo La Tengo old timers? Their albums are so consistently good that it's a given that I'll be picking up a copy with each new release. Popular Songs sees the trio fine-tuning their eclectic sound—everything from funk to '60s fuzz pop to noisy epics, they're all here. There aren't any huge shockers here – no massive game changers in the Yo La Tengo oeuvre but at this point in their career, that's not even the point anymore. What is the point is to make great music that is singularly Yo La Tengo, and Popular Songs more than fills that requirement.
Written for Treble Zine's Top 50 Albums of 2009.



5. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Phoenix had been slapped with the "soft rock" label before - is that fair? Maybe, but is that so wrong? With songs like "Lisztomania" and "1901," I'll take the soft rock, please. Phoenix's songs are so tightly, meticulously crafted but manage to sound so easy, so effortless, you almost have a hard time believing Thomas Mars' diaristic struggle with writer's block in "Lisztomania." In any case, like on It's Never Been Like That, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix proves that tried and true indie rock tropes have a place on the dance floor and the pop charts. Tight, angular guitars can easily blend with sleek synths, introspective lyrics can become sing-along pop anthems to dance to. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is about Phoenix crafting beautifully infectious songs, giving in to the pleasure of pop, the romance of dance and at the end of the day, it isn't about soft rock or whatever label you try to affix on them. It's about really good songs to nod your head to.

4. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
I couldn't possibly articulate what a relief and joy it is to be writing about a Mos Def album as one of the best of the year. After years of false starts, disappointments, and bizarre tangents, Mos Def delivers a return to form with The Ecstatic. While in no way equal to the amazing Black on Both Sides (and considering my own obsession with that album, I doubt there ever could be), The Ecstatic was the album so many Mos Def fans have been waiting for. While on The New Danger and True Magic he seemed to be phoning it in, Mos Def brings in a tangible hunger and ferocity that we haven't seen since, well since Black on Both Sides. Had The Ecstatic just been about Mos Def's sharp, wordy flow, it would have still been great, but coupling that with great Stones Throw samples, rich with the crackles of the record was a genius move. Embedded in beats by Madlib and Oh No, Mos Def sounds perfectly at home in everything from Middle Eastern inflections to J Dilla soul samples to Brazilian funk. The Ecstatic isn't just a return to form, it's a whole new and engrossing chapter in Mos Def's career.

3. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
On the cover for Middle Cyclone, Neko Case is perched on top of her own bitchin' car (natch), brandishing a sword – subtle, this is not. Yet I can't think of a more fitting cover image. Her red hair blown back by the wind, Case looks gorgeous, powerful and even a little dangerous. The image matches the stunning physicality of her voice and Middle Cyclone takes full advantage of that. In Middle Cyclone, Case embodies a killer whale, an elephant, and a tornado – brazen and fervid, the tracks are darkly romantic, wildly evocative and more troubled than those on Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Beyond the powerhouse tracks like "This Tornado Loves You" and "People Got A Lot of Nerve," Middle Cyclone is a grower – each track slowly revealing its gifts at each listen. "Vengeance Is Sleeping" and "Polar Nettles" are mysterious and beautifully descriptive. Middle Cyclone is a work that couldn't have been made by any other artist – Case's voice, writing, and personality reverberate through, crafting an album that is cloaked in shadows and nature and likely the most gorgeous I've heard all year.
Written for Treble Zine's Top 50 Albums of 2009.

2. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
If Yellow House was like a meandering walk through a desolate country field, then Veckatimest is like walking through busy city streets - brimming with little details that come together to form a dazzling collage of imagery and sounds. Grizzly Bear was always noted for their intricate compositions and Veckatimest takes that to another level. Their elegant arrangements sounds more immediate, there is a stunning clarity in their sound that while they still meander and flow, there's more presence, more oomph to these songs. From the dreamy stomp of "Two Weeks" to the fantastic acoustic guitar breakdown of "Southern Point" and the off-kilter bounce of "Cheerleader," Veckatimest has a looseness and comfort to it; the sound of band completely at ease with each other. Each member contributes to the glowing interlocking sound, creating a dense, rich collage - easy to get lost in, but one that is worth it.

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
There must be something special about an album that was released in January of 2009 to become unanimously praised and top year end lists, almost across the board. Indeed, Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion is beautifully bizarre - it's arguably their most accessible album to date, yet it's still rooted in their experimentation and flights of fancy. It's an album that stays absolutely true to their sound but also managed to end up in the Billboard Top 20, and outsell popular label-mates Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys' most recent albums. Just how did this happen?

It could be safe to say that everyone just happened to catch up to what Animal Collective fans have known already: their music is unequivocally unlike any other band, always interesting and always arresting. With Merriweather Post Pavilion, there was no change to their sound - maybe a sharper focus on the twin harmonies of Avey Tare and Panda Bear - but nothing that would be deemed mainstream by any means. Each song here is reminiscent of prior Animal Collective songs - the yelps, the psychedelic washes, the West African beats - treading the line between accessibility and experimentation, the songs on Merriweather Post Pavilion are wonderfully listenable and create full and livable atmospheres that envelop you. Couple that with some of the most emotionally honest Animal Collective lyrics they have ever written, and you have an album of cacophonous sounds, intricate compositions, and heartfelt and poetic lyrics. After writing all of this, I can't help but think, 'of course it was this album. How could it not be?' And there it is.

1. Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks"

Would you always / maybe sometimes

I've been obsessed with my fair share of songs this year. I pressed repeat on songs by artists ranging from Lady Gaga to Animal Collective to Neko Case to Drake to Girls, etc. etc. 2009 was the year where I felt I gave the album a short shrift - I hardly listened to any albums this year. When I say listen, I mean live inside them, know them inside and out, know the album tracks as much as I do the singles. 2009 will be the year of the single or the track for me and no song dominated my year more than Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks."

It's safe to say that I had a bit of a love affair with "Two Weeks." I played it near constantly, my mood brightened each time I heard it, it made it's way onto nearly every mix I made this year, in short: it was my jam. I loved the simple, plinking piano chords, the slumping guitars, the lurching drums, but most of all I loved the way the voices of Ed Droste and his cohorts wove together creating beautiful, blissful harmonies that made my heart swell. Each time I listened to "Two Weeks" I felt enveloped by the dreamy, angelic melodies - like being swathed in soft fabric. If it all sounds a bit cheesy or overblown, then it is. "Two Weeks" puts me in a mood that I can barely describe - it's not just happy, not just comforted, not just anything. Each time I try to put my finger on it, it slips away just as their voices do. But it's precisely that indescribable feeling that made me put "Two Weeks" as my favorite song of 2009. The slippery nature of the song, the way I can never place what it does to me but I know it's good - though to a lesser scale, it's the same things I feel when I like someone: transported, ebullient, and utterly transfixed.

2. Animal Collective "My Girls"

I just want four walls and adobe slats for my girls

The centerpiece of Animal Collective's outstanding Merriweather Post Pavilion is undoubtedly "My Girls." Buoyant, infectious, and inviting, "My Girls" is thick with atmosphere; pitter-pattering with synths, awash with hand claps and synchronized "ooohs" and gorgeous harmonies by Panda Bear (a.k.a. Noah Lennox) and Avey Tare (a.k.a. David Portner). The song's cycle completely envelop you and there is something so warm, so comforting that's hard to resist.

Had the song just been about the music, it would have been enough. Yet "My Girls" is more than pretty melodies, it also gives us some of the most honest and earnest lyrics of the year and certainly the most open Animal Collective song written. Lennox's wish for a home for his wife and daughter is so basic yet revelatory. In the wake of his father's death, Lennox found himself thinking about his life, his priorities, his family and his desire to provide for them: I don't mean to seem like I care about material things / like our social status / I just want four walls and adobe slats for my girls. Four walls and adobe slats are modest but that's not the point - the point is to provide, to house. "My Girls" is a song about someone coming to terms with their adulthood and while Lennox hedges, his ultimate expression is to care for his family and with that, he grows up.

3. Neko Case "This Tornado Loves You"

My love, I am the speed of sound

When Neko Case sings, "My love, I am the speed of sound," my heart was won. A force of nature, Case has a voice that knocks you down with its gorgeous clarity, emotion, and physicality. In "This Tornado Loves You," she sings from the point of view of a tornado but it's so much more. The torrential force of love is beautifully captured in the whirling guitars and pattering snare drums. Singing of tearing up trailer parks, cutting through 65 miles of land in search of her love, Case's lyrics have never made destruction sound so romantic. The aching longing brought to lines like "I carved your name across three counties" and "come out to meet me / run out to meet me," are clear evidence as to why Case is one of the best singers around. While likely not the kind of love for everyone, I identified with Case here. "This Tornado Loves You" is about a love that is unrelenting, unwavering and yes, maybe a little dangerous, but it's precisely that wild passion that makes the song so soulful and gorgeous. If only all love could have that passion.



Written for Treble Zine's Top 50 Songs of 2009.

4. Yo La Tengo "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven"

We'll walk hand in hand

This past summer my boyfriend and I broke up. Just edging the two-year mark, the relationship disintegrated and I was heartbroken. Mind you, it was all for the best and I'm a better person, in a better place for it but at the time, it certainly didn't feel like it. I'm a bit of a romantic at heart and through I'm often loath to say it, I am happiest when I'm in a partnership of some sort. Now, this entry isn't going to be about my romantic trials and tribulations, rather I use this to preface why Yo La Tengo's "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven" is so high on this list, where it might not even get a mention elsewhere.

Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubely have been married for as long as I can remember. Like Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, they're low-key and there's something so stable and loving about their relationship. Perhaps I'm projecting, but the idea of a couple that can create together, tour together and be seemingly sane human beings just tugs at my heartstrings. When I reviewed their latest album, Popular Songs, it was two months after my break-up and I was absolutely disinterested in any sort of committed relationship. Yet when I listened to "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven," my heart just fell to pieces. When Kaplan sings we'll walk hand in hand, I got a little misty and I longed for such a simple gesture. It hit home: I wanted a love, a romance like Kaplan and Hubely, like Gordon and Moore. Part of the reason why my relationship ended was that we couldn't be the partners we each wanted, no matter how much we loved each other, no matter how much we wanted it to work - it couldn't. Listening to Kaplan and Hubely sing, in hushed tones as percussion steadily progresses and the guitars swirl around them:

We'll walk hand in hand
Never as we planned
And even those we never knew
Fast they disappear from view
Fading world without a price
Right before our very eyes
Melts before our very eyes
Dies before our very eyes

Yes, there's something morbid about it, but also so romantic about wanting to spend your moments, even as the world disappears, with your spouse, your partner, your significant other. That bare and simple desire that Kaplan lays out is more profound than anything I had heard this year. The more I listened to "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven," the more secure I felt in what I wanted in a partner, the more I felt ready to be committed to someone. It feels a bit cheesy to admit that a song had that much of an affect on me, but it did and it still does.

5. Camera Obscura "French Navy"

I wanted to control it / But love, I couldn't hold it

When Camera Obscura first emerged, Tracyanne Campbell was a bit of a wallflower, even taking a backseat in a few tracks to John Henderson. But something really lovely happened with Henderson's departure - Camera Obscura's songs got bolder, Campbell's writing became more secure and confident and the music became more than bookish romances, but beautifully crafted pop songs. On 2006's Let's Get Out of This Country, their first album without Henderson, the songs had a lovely Motown swing that was far and away more assured than 2003's Underachievers Please Try Harder.

Yet still with two drum beats, "French Navy" is a showstopper that bests them all. Yes, it's still bookish - it does take place in a library after all - but here, Campbell indulges in fantasy, a daydream about the titular military man. Complete with string flourishes and stomps that are reminiscent of The Ronettes, "French Navy" is urgent and giddy, full of the rush one feels in the wake of a romance. Yet ever the sensible student, there is a tinge of pessimism - I wanted to control it / but love, I couldn't hold it - as Campbell lets this fleeting love get the better of her. Even so, Campbell gives in and her sweet and confident performance makes the song - a wallflower no more.

6. Mos Def feat. Slick Rick "Auditorium"

Chop a small axe and knock a giant lopsided

I loved Black Star. Black on Both Sides is a record that profoundly changed my relationship with hip-hop. Mos Def was always an important figure for me and I waited, ever faithful, for a follow-up that would do his talents justice. When I first heard "Auditorium," I felt relief and excitement – finally, a track that could live up to everything Black on Both Sides delivered. The gorgeous sample from Madlib's Beat Konducta in India provides a lush, meditative backdrop for Mos Def and Slick Rick's complex flow. The two emcees touch upon everything from the Iraq War to writing. Ever the wordsmith, the best aspects of Mos Def's songs have always been in his lyrics and "Auditorium" is no exception. Mos Def's turns are stunning and it's a pleasure to hear the words, the rhythms fly off his tongue. Lines like "Soul is the lion's roar, voice is the siren / I swing `round, wring out and bring down the tyrant / Chop a small axe and knock a giant lopsided" are refreshing in their complexity but made all the better in Mos Def's ease in the delivery. While "Auditorium" might not quite reach the heights of a track like "Mathematics," nonetheless, it was worth the wait.



Written for Treble Zine's Top 50 Songs of 2009.

7. Phoenix "1901"

And I'll be anything you ask and more

If The Strokes still existed, it would be a safe bet that they would simply be blown out of the water by Phoenix. Hell, any band working in the disheveled indie rock mode is outdone by these charming French lads. Proving that all those cliche indie tropes don't have to be about snobby posturing but can be turned, so easily into pop gold, Phoenix crafted songs so exquisitely catchy and ebullient that I can't imagine anyone disliking them. As with "Lisztomania," "1901" is so effervescent, so seemingly effortless it's almost jealousy inducing. Heavy on the beats with a synth line that just cuts through, "1901" is glitzy, glamorous and impeccable in its execution. The romance of the lyrics - who doesn't melt a little when Thomas Mars sings, and I'll be anything you ask and more? - of a love that has drifted away, there's beautiful ache amidst the cheery pop. There is something so euphoric as the snyths soar and the guitars shimmer. As I listen to "1901" I want to dance with a special someone, I want the fleeting romances to never end, I want the joy of the track to never stop. If the worst thing I can say about the song is that it ends, then I think they've done their job.

8. Grizzly Bear "While You Wait for the Others"

So I'll ask you kindly to make your way

Lurching forward with a crunch and slump of a heavily reverbed guitar, "While You Wait for the Others" countered the flowy, dreamy piano chords of "Two Weeks." Brash, aggressive, "While You Wait for the Others" was still polite (so I'll ask you kindly to make your way), but Daniel Rossen's unusually direct vocals made it clear that it is not a suggestion, but a demand. Instead of giving way to a chorus that soars dreamily to euphoria, the harmonies are bracketed by terse, ragged guitars beautifully contrasting the angelic vocals. Rossen's matter-of-fact performance lend a wonderful shrugging off to any melancholia, leading to a song that is unmistakenly resolute in its kiss off and cut off.

9. Lady Gaga "Paparazzi"

I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me

For her companion album to The Fame, Lady Gaga appropriately titled it The Fame Monster. Indeed her performance has centered on our obsession with fame, with celebrity - the notorious Lady Gaga, if you will. Yet it was on The Fame's fifth single that her scrutiny on celebrity and obsession came to stunning clarity.

Straight off, I will say that "Paparazzi" is one incredibly good pop song. It's the song Madonna should have released. The slinky melodies, dominating beats, alternately sensual and snappy lyrics - "Paparazzi" took all the best elements of Euro-dance and blended them into a song of perfect hooks and was just inescapable. Coupled with a video that was a spectacular pastiche of Noir, Hitchcock and Matthew Barney excess, "Paparazzi" mined the comparisons between celebrity obsession and romantic ones cleverly and shrewdly. If it's over the top, then it's meant to be - one gets the sense that Gaga is in on the joke. In the chorus, Gaga sings baby, there's no other superstar, you know that I'll be and it's really hard to argue with that.

10. Passion Pit "Sleepyhead"

Like stars burning holes right through the dark

When I reviewed Passion Pit's Manners in July, "Sleepyhead" dominated the tone of the review and it's not hard to see why. A spectacular, dizzying arrangement of falsettos, chipmunk-speed soul samples, and hooky synths, "Sleepyhead" is catchy and giddy fun. Sitting with headphones on doesn't do the song justice. The pounding percussions ask – no, demand jumping and clapping among a crowd of other skinny-jean clad kids. Coming to the cathartic climax, you might even start jumping alone in your apartment. Lead Pit Michael Angelakos has crafted a song that is so wildly infectious (even commercials can't escape its grasp) and sublimely melodic that it's hard for any other track to match it.



Written for Treble Zine's Top 50 Songs of 2009.

11. The Dirty Projectors "Stillness is the Move"

Where do you and I begin?

The first time I heard The Dirty Projectors was when I saw them open for TV on the Radio and I could not stand them. I thought, 'this is what the bru-ha-ha is about?' As Bitte Orca gained more and more acclaim, I resisted. It wasn't until a few months ago did I finally relent and gave them another shot. I began with "Stillness is the Move" and my initial resistance gave way listening to what is essentially a love letter to appropriation. Twitchy jam band guitars, Afro pop, slow jams, Top 40 pop - have I missed any others? It's absurd that this song exists. It's absurd that a band like The Dirty Projectors exists and makes music that on paper sounds absolutely ridiculous but somehow works. Amber Coffman's tour de force lead vocals are what won me over; it's hard to deny her beautifully acrobatic performance, so in tune with the song's rhythm and making the absolute best of her limited range. While I'm not totally convinced that The Dirty Projectors are the best thing going, I have conceded that "Stillness is the Move" is a truly exceptional song.

12. Atlas Sound feat. Noah Lennox "Walkabout"

What did you want to be when you grew up?

If only all road trip games resulted in beautiful songs like "Walkabout." Inspired by a game played on the road, Bradford Cox's first foray into looped samples is a gorgeous study of euphoric nostalgia. Working with a sample by The Dovers, "Walkabout" mines sunny '60s California pop with Noah Lennox evoking The Beach Boys (as always), while also remaining fully of and by the Atlas Sound. The round robin harmonies highlight the back and forth struggle of moving forward while also invoking the past: what did you want to see? / what did you want to be when you grew up? Youthful ideals are challenged, we grapple with pragmatism, this struggle of adulthood, of coming into one's own is articulated in such a sunny, astonishingly beautiful fashion. Cox's treatment of this turmoil becomes less a part of the drudgery but a process of growth and change and messy but profound eloquence. To go away and not look back and think of what the others say / to go ahead and change your life without regard to what is said. The Aborigines have a rite of passage called the walkabout. A spiritual journey, Cox uses this to point that growth is essential, to come of age is intrinsic to our being - what did you want to see? / what did you want to be when you grew up?

13. Bat for Lashes "Daniel"

I knew that you had a flame in your heart

There is something about Bat for Lashes' "Daniel" that just set hearts afire this year. Perhaps it was the Ralph Macchio tattoo on the single cover art. Perhaps it was the beautifully misty music video. Or maybe it's the mysterious romanticism that permeates the track. Cloaked in shadow and fog, eerie synths and pulsating drums, "Daniel" is beautifully rich with moody texture. Natasha Kahn's ethereal vocals convey longing beautifully. With a Gothic tinge, "Daniel" can't help but invite comparisons to Kate Bush or even the Concrete Blonde, yet Kahn's romantic yearnings remain fresh and captivating nonetheless.

Bat For Lashes - Daniel (HD) from Peter Pan on Vimeo.

14. Kid Cudi feat. Kanye West & Common "Make Her Say"

I make her say

Cleverly using a sample of Lady Gaga's acoustic version of "Poker Face," Kid Cudi and his cohorts spin an infectious yarn that's less about sex than it is about their own masculinity. Trading mischievous rhymes about all too willing girls, Cudi, Kanye West and Common play a game of one upmanship: from West's I got seniority with the sorority to Cudi's interjections with Gaga's oh's. Amidst the crudeness, there's something so juvenile about their tales as if they were exaggerating, puffing up their chests, proving their sexual prowess, their masculinity. No homo, of course. Instead of using some faceless, nameless breathy studio singer, Cudi chooses someone like Lady Gaga, someone so unapologetically carnal that she not only holds her own among the trio of men, but once she sings the full chorus, she blows them out of the water.

15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Zero"

So get your leather on

I can't think of another song released this year that is more about sex but also not about sex than the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Zero." Karen O's seductively invites you to get your leather on, Nick Zinner's guitar tremble with palpable energy, almost with anticipation, then O breathily cries crying, crying, crying, oh oh / can you climb, climb, climb higher? Oh my. Whether the zero O sings to is a would be lover, an outcast, a subculture, what have you, there's no sugarcoating it: you're a zero / what's your name? no one's gonna ask you. The euphoric release of climbing your way to the top is epitomized in the dizzying synths, crunched out glam guitars, and a pulsating beat as O's coos give way to ecstasy. Being a zero never sounded so good.

16. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart "Young Adult Friction"

Don't check me out

There were good reasons to be skeptical about The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: that twee band name and the crush of writers and blogs praising them, chief among them. Yet the effervescent pop of "Young Adult Friction" would win anybody over, and did so for me the first time I heard it on a mix CD. Taking all the best elements of garage pop and girl group melodies, "Young Adult Friction" was at once familiar and utterly awakening. Clearer than the fuzz of the Vivian Girls, less distorted than No Age, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart creates joy out of simple three-chord melodies, effortless and natural – it's a track that seemed custom-made for flirtatious dancing. "Young Adult Friction" is the sum of great pop songs but it never comes off as calculated or studied, rather the jangle of the guitars, the perfect splash of the high-hat and the fantastic vocals (particularly by keyboardist Peggy Wang-East) culminate to a breathtaking anthem. Consider me a skeptic no more.



Written for Treble Zine's Top 50 Songs of 2009.

17. Metric "Help, I'm Alive"

They're gonna eat me alive

Metric's Emily Haines has always been sultry and alluring - that's not new. But as soon as she coos I tremble, there's a stunning vulnerability just revealing itself. Perhaps it was due to Haines' ballad-filled solo effort, Knives Don't Have Your Back that inspired a bit more romance, more aggression, more period. "Help, I'm Alive" has big hooks, pounding drums, more swagger than any previous Metric songs. The rock-disco sheen of "Combat Baby" and "Empty" is still there, barely containing a brazen sexuality. Yet there's also nervousness, anxiety as Haines' heart pounds, displaying vulnerability and humanity under the sheen. She may protest, worry that they'll eat her alive, yet "Help, I'm Alive" is pounding with nervous energy all while performing a sleek sexuality - the cracks in the disco's mirror.

18. Lady Gaga "Bad Romance"

You and me could write a bad romance

Recently I've found myself fiercely defending Lady Gaga and her over the top performance art to more than a few skeptics. 'Those costumes!' I exclaimed, 'they can't just be for show. There's something deeper happening here, something more than pure spectacle.' I can't tell if I've converted those skeptics but I've certainly solidified my stance on her. Her flamboyantly dramatic flair, exposing and satirizing fame, art, femininity and sexuality all while spinning pop gems, it's pop performance art.

All of these elements came of a fabulous head in "Bad Romance," a pop song so deliciously over the top and so earwormingly good that it was hard to ignore, even for the skeptic. The track is epic, telling the tale of a love so bad it's good - a drama that's been told countless times but here there's a dirtiness to it, a savage neediness that makes it unrelenting and fascinating. The best part of Lady Gaga's persona/performance is that she is wholly unapologetic and it's wonderfully carnal, energetic, and completely brave. Simply put, unlike anything else on pop radio.

19. Mos Def "Casa Bey"

Magnetic, the flows are athletic

Inspired by a trip to South America and a track by Banda Black Rio, Mos Def unleashed a whopper of a track, whetting the appetite for the ever faithful who patiently awaited a return to form from the gifted MC. Backed by a superb groove, chopped up and looped dizzying heights, Mos Def unleashes a spitfire of words that easily flow off his tongue and completely astounds you. The pure ease of this delivery, the relaxed cadence, it's clear that while Mos Def has recently found a place as an actor, his home is on the mic. His comfort with words, with rhymes is a joy to listen and it is a profound thing to hear a song to simply be about the beauty of words and flow.