2009: The Songs

As far as my favorite songs go, this seems to be the year for the grand epic. I don't know what it is, but the longer progressive numbers were the ones that seemed to have the biggest impact on me, which you'll notice as you start perusing through the following list. On top of that, if you want to get technical, the entire Decemberists album is basically arranged as one lengthy 55 minute song and should actually be my number one song of the year, but that would just be a little too redundant, what with it already sitting atop my Top Albums of '09 list. So, having said that, here is my annual list of the songs that have warranted necessary use of the repeat button on my iPod throughout the year. As per usual, the tunes are not listed in any particular order, since basically all of these songs are tied for first place, in the sense that I listened to them all with great repetition.

Bay Of Pigs by Destroyer (from Bay of Pigs EP)

At 13 minutes in length, this one is a moody little number that is as epic sounding as the plans for the attempted 1961 Cuban invasion upon which the title of the tune is based most likely was at the time, although unlike that CIA trained endeavor, the song is actually quite successful. Beginning as an ambient mix of controlled synths and opportunities for Bejar to share confounding lyrics such as "Magnolia's a girl. Her heart's made of wood. As apocalypses go, that's pretty good. Sha-la-la, wouldn't you say?" the song shifts partway through into an upbeat disco thump before culminating in two minutes of white noise that is nothing short of mesmerizing.

Stream: Bay of Pigs at Stereogum

And The Glitter Is Gone by Yo La Tengo (from Popular Songs)

Although by and large the latest release by everyone's favourite Hobokeners has them sounding more poppy than ever before, it's the album's closing 16 minute instrumental psychedelic rocker that had me begging for more. Though many might disagree, YLT are at their best when they just let loose on their improvisational selves.

Video: And The Glitter Is Gone Pt 1 on youtube
Video: And The Glitter Is Gone Pt 2 on youtube

Siren Song by Bat For Lashes (from Two Suns)

Natasha Khan's voice pierces right through me on this hauntingly beautiful number. I know that comparing her to Kate Bush is a little bit redundant at this point (of course, so is using the word 'redundant' twice in the same article) but the fact that the song would not be out of place on Bush's The Dreaming is part of its wonderful appeal for me.

Video: Siren Song (live at Morning Become Eclectic) on youtube

Lemons (aka Big Fish Little Pond) by Amos The Transparent
(from My What Big Teeth You Have)

Skilled songwriting matched with a simple yet unforgettable melody makes this song an infectious slice of perfection as Jonathan Chandler and company prove that even amidst a year of grand orchestral experimentation, there is a lot to be said for the charms of a subtle, acoustic pop song.

Download: Lemons (aka Big Fish Little Pond) mp3
Video: Lemons (aka Big Fish, Little Pond) on youtube

Little Secrets by Passion Pit (from Manners)

Overall, this has been a moderately successful year for me as far as listening to dancier music goes, with bands like Green Go, Handsome Furs, Friendly Fires and Woodhands receiving at least some minimal iPod airplay from me, although getting through an entire album in one sitting by any of those artists is a bit of a tall order for my anti-disco soul. Still, there was one number that achieved 'press, play, repeat' status for me, and it was this retrofied number by the Massachusetts five piece. The songs Sleepyhead and The Reeling may have received a little bit more blogger love but trust me, Little Secrets is by far the standout.

Video: Little Secrets (live on KCRW) on youtube

Doom by Hut (from Hut EP)

There are some songs that lend themselves to pristine production by nature of their incredible hooks and infectious melodies. However, when that's been done a million times before already then there's something refreshing about hearing that dynamic within the confines of a rough and delightfully real, lo-fi sound. Daniel Lee (of Hooded Fang) has coined a masterpiece with this song, and I hope that when he makes it rich in the future, he chooses to keep this song just the way it is, because it's the roughness that gives this song its charm.

Download: Doom mp3

It's Not Your Birthday Anymore by Morrissey (from Years of Refusal)

I figured that the days of Morrissey sitting in a personal year end list was gone forever, but lo and behold, here he is with a song that ranks among some of the best work of his entire career. This song is classic Moz, with that tongue in cheek misanthropic lyricism in full force and a chorus that is as large as it gets. A twisted anthem for sure, and the type of song that wannabe bombasts (like Snow Patrol) could only dream of penning.

Video: It's Not Your Birthday Anymore on youtube
(It's basically just the song streaming over a still of a half eaten piece of cake, but that's the only place where I could find the song streaming)

Synastry / New Beginning by Dog Day (from Elder Schoolhouse EP)

You knew that the combination of Halifax shoegazers Dog Day and prolific studio mastermind Rick White was going to be pretty spectacular, and the limited edition Elder Schoolhouse EP (vinyl only, and only 400 copies made) has produced the band's most expansive material so far. It may be cheating a bit to include all of side 2 as one song, but these two tracks should never be pulled apart for any reason whatsoever. The second part is a massive wall of psychedelic feedback that'll have you seeing double. I can only provide an mp3 of the first part of the song, but you really need to track down the whole thing for the full impact.

Download: Synastry mp3

Venus Rising by Blue Rodeo (from The Things We Left Behind)

Like the aforementioned Morrissey, I was pretty sure that the days of including Blue Rodeo on best of the year lists were long behind us, but the Keelor / Cuddy combo have proven that they still have the chops to pull it off when they want to. The new album still contains quite a bit of filler, but there is enough gold on it to make it their best album since Five Days In July, and this may be their best song since Diamond Mine. An epic slowburner with some blistering guitar work.

Stream: Venus Rising on youtube

Cat Tail Legs by Megan Hamilton
(from See Your Midnight Breath In The Shipyard)

The award for best vocal performance of the year goes to Megan Hamilton for the incendiary throat shred that she pulls of throughout the course of this barn busting number. Everything about this track is straightforward and immediate and although she pulls off abstract just fine at other points on the CD, this quality rocker gets the job done with perfection.

Download: Cat Tail Legs mp3

Honorable Mentions:
Drunkard's Prayer by The Schomberg Fair
Black Bull Nova by Wilco
I Can't Be Normal by Shelby Lamb
Grew Up On The Seeds by The Hoa Hoa's
Saturna by Son Volt
Love's On The Run by The Space Between Things
Come Saturday by The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
Dené Sled by Pick A Piper
Tightrope by Yeasayer
Faults by The Paint Movement

Morrissey - Years Of Refusal

A new Morrissey review? Anybody who knows me is likely surprised to see this since if I'm blogging about it, it means that I probably like it. And the truth is, to be honest, I had written off Morrissey many years ago.

The Smiths are easily one of my top ten favourite bands of all time, and I stayed loyal to his solo work for a few years as well. In fact, I stayed loyal longer than many of my peers in the sense that I rather enjoyed his mild foray into prog with 1995's Southpaw Grammar. However, I thought that 1997's Malajusted was just plain bad, and ever since then I found it hard to succumb to any of the 'comeback' assertions of his post-2000 material. I gave both 2004's You Are The Quarry and 2006's Ringleader Of The Tormentors a brief perfunctory listen, but nothing really grabbed my attention in the way that Morrissey once did, so I moved on to other things.

Now here we are in 2009, and I'm exposed to so much music these days that a new Morrissey album hardly even registers on my listening radar. But I happened to catch this performance of Black Cloud, a song off the new album, on the Jimmy Fallon show and I was really impressed. I continued hunting and also found this performance of Something Is Squeezing My Skull on Jimmy Kimmel, and I continued to be impressed. His voice sounded good, the lyrics seemed witty and unforced, and the melody was pure Morrissey. This led me to obtaining Years Of Refusal and what can I say? Once again, I'm impressed, as this album proves to be worthy of its praise. In my opinion, this is probably his best album since Your Arsenal.

It's not a perfect album and, as once could expect, there are a couple of moments where Moz reuses and recycles a bit, but hey, what would you expect from a man on the verge of turning 50? Overall, the songs are very strong, containing some of his best lyrics in years. For example, Black Cloud contains the line, "I can choke myself to please you and I can sink much lower than usual but there is nothing I can do to make you mine." Classic! Add to that the fact that the tune boasts a powerful bassline and killer chords (courtesy of Jeff Beck) and it becomes pretty obvious that what I heard in Fallon's studio was much more than just an unusually good performance. I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris, the first single, proves that Morrissey is still very good at writing a decent pop song with a strong hook. Because his lyrics remain slightly left of centre, people never really acknowedge him as a pop song craftsman, at least not on this side of the Atlantic. But there's about five or six songs on this album that are sure to stick in your head once you've heard them. Besides the three I've already mentioned, All You Need Is Me also falls into this category. Apparently this song, (along with a lesser tune called That's How People Grow Up) were already featured on last year's Greatest Hits album, but the song was still new to me and I found it to be rather hillarious. Lines like "There's so much destruction all over the world and all you can do is complain about me," aptly conveys the idea of a lover who knows that his significant other needs him more than she loves him, but unlike earlier Moz hits like I Know It's Over, he actually sounds as if he finds the situation mildly humourous this time. By far though, the undeniable standout on this album is It's Not Your Birthday Anymore, one of the best songs that he has ever written. The lyrics are quite personal, as his hypnotic croon acknowledges that "your voice it might say no, but the heart has a heart of its own," before a huge bombass of a chorus blasts the question, "do you really think we meant all of those syrupy sentimental things that we said?" This song is energized and epic, and it climbs to levels that most modern day stadium bands should really strive to reach one day. If there has ever been any doubt as to whether or not Morrissey is still relevant (which, as I admitted earlier, there sorta was,) this song should shut us all up. In fact, the whole album is strong enough to do this, and I, for one, am glad to welcome him back to his rightful throne.

Above photo is from myspace.

Myspace: Morrissey
Video: I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris on youtube

Other stuff:

A few posts ago I was swelling with anticipation over the new Son Volt album, although my info was somewhat limited. Well, Billboard has all of the deets including the album name (American Central Dust), as well as its date of release (July 7th.) Exciting. [Myspace: Son Volt]

Junior Boys, who just played The Mod Club at the end of March, have just released their third album, entitled Begone Dull Care. You can hear a full stream of the album here. Their Mod Club show was reviewed at For The Records. [Myspace: Junior Boys]

Dead Leaf Echo also have a new record ready for release this month, entitled Truth. The song Act Of Truth is being streamed on their myspace page right now, and it's all kinds of shoegazey awesomeness. [Myspace: Dead Leaf Echo]

I have openly admitted to a handful of my closest friends that I don't think Britney Spears' Womanizer is all that terrible in a "I'll never put it on my ipod but I do tend to tap my feet when I overhear it elsewhere" sort of way. Well, obviously Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos shares my thoughts. More info as well as Franz Ferdinand's cover of the song is on Stereogum. [Myspace: Franz Ferdinand]

And the lineup for this year's Pitter Patter Festival looks pretty cool. It runs from May 28th-31st, takes place in 10 different Ontario cities and it's a pay-what-you-can affair which is undeniably cool. You can take a gander at the bandlist over here.