“The Mixes” Series: Green, Yellow and Red, 2009

It’s been forever since I actually made a list of my favorite records of the year. I used to do that every year, even before I made actual mixes. I’d list out no less than 20 records, writing descriptions on each, ordering them carefully so I always had something to look back on to encapsulate the year. As time passed I whittled my list down to 10 records. Then, in 2003, I threw my system out the window, namely because I couldn’t come up with even 10 great records. I knew my favorite album released that year was Songs: Ohia’s Magnolia Electric Co., but that was about it. Placing another nine records in any sort of faux-order just didn’t seem necessary.

So, for the past five years I’ve avoided lists entirely and have stuck only to my mixes. Well, this year I’m back with a pseudo list of 10 records. Records 10 through 6 are all numbered “6,” simply because I’m not really ranking them other than the fact that they didn’t make the top 5. In other words, they all tied for 6^th place. Records 1 through 5, however, are ordered. I feel it necessary to add that 2009 really wasn’t a good year for records. I know many critics argue that the record is dead, but I’m still not convinced. I think there are plenty of albums that work just fine – great, even – in their entirety. To call the record “dead” is, well, overkill.

Now, before I got to my top honors, as well as the contents of my Best of 2009 mixes, I want to add a couple special mentions:

Album Cover of the Year: Neko Case – Middle Cyclone (Anti-)

Favorite Vocal of the Year: Three-way tie between:

The Thermals – “I Called Out Your Name” (the “Woah-oh” at 2:46 in the clip below)

Alec Ounsworth – “Holy, Holy, Holy Moses (Song for New Orleans)” (“Moses” at 2:41 below)

Neko Case – “Middle Cyclone” (the lyrics “They shake me deaf and dumb” at 1:36)

The Five Most Overrated Records Based On the Critics’ Picks:

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic (Warner Bros.)
The xx – The xx (Young Turks)
Girls – Album (True Panther/Matador)
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Loyauté/Glassnote)

And now, records 10 through 6 (or those records all tied for 6^th place):

6. The Thermals – Now We Can See (Kill Rock Stars)
6. Do Make Say Think – Other Truths (Constellation)
6. Florence and the Machine – Lungs (Island)
6. We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls (FatCat)
6. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love (Capitol)

And here, now, are my top five records of 2009, beginning with number five:

5. Alec Ounsworth – Mo Beauty (Anti-)

4. The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You (Columbia/American)

3. The Fiery Furnaces – I’m Going Away (Thrill Jockey)

2. Real Estate – Real Estate (Woodsist)

1. Ida Maria – Fortress Round My Heart (Mercury Records)

Now, then, I opted to put together three CDs worth of music this year as opposed to my usual two. Each disc contains 20 songs. This year’s theme is a bit weak, what with the disc titles representing a traffic light (for example, Green for “go/fast”). Yellow is the biggest hodgepodge of the three, as there is a greater mixture of music thematically. Still, I think it works well from a song-to-song basis. With that, I give you my 2009 mixes…

Green front cover.

Green inside art.

Yellow front cover.

Yellow inside art.

Red front cover.

Red inside art.

Green (The Best “Fast” Tracks of 2009):

1. Animal Collective – “Brothersport”
2. Cymbals Eat Guitars – “Wind Phoenix (Proper Name)”
3. Ida Maria – “Oh My God”
4. Metric – “Stadium Love”
5. The Thermals – “I Called Out Your Name”
6. Jay Reatard – “There Is No Sun”
7. Art Brut – “Am I Normal?”
8. We Were Promised Jetpacks – “Quiet Little Voices”
9. Japandroids – “The Boys Are Leaving Town”
10. Vivian Girls – “When I’m Gone”
11. The Decemberists – “The Rake’s Song”
12. Bishop Allen – “Shanghaied”
13. The Fiery Furnaces – “Lost At Sea”
14. Smothered in Hugs – “Young Flare”
15. Harlem Shakes – “TFO”
16. The Avett Brothers – “And It Spread”
17. Islands – “EOL”
18. Telekinesis! – “Coast of Carolina”
19. Why? – “Against Me”
20. Alec Ounsworth – “Idiots in the Rain”

Yellow (The Best “Other” Tracks of 2009):

1. Florence and the Machine – “Kiss With a Fist”
2. Sunset Rubdown – “Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!”
3. Alec Ounsworth – “Bones in the Grave”
4. St. Vincent – “Actor Out of Work”
5. Art Brut – “DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshakes”
6. Sister Suvi – “Desolation”
7. Ida Maria – “Stella”
8. Pink Mountaintops – “Holiday”
9. Real Estate – “Fake Blues”
10. Woods – “Rain On”
11. The Thermals – “At the Bottom of the Sea”
12. We Were Promised Jetpacks – “An Almighty Thud”
13. Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”
14. Magnolia Electric Co. – “Josephine”
15. The Deep Dark Woods – “The Gallows”
16. The Avett Brothers – “I and Love and You”
17. They Might Be Giants – “Why Does the Sun Really Shine?”
18. A.C. Newman – “Elemental”
19. MeWithoutYou – “Allah, Allah, Allah”
20. Riceboy Sleeps – “Indian Summer”

Red (The Best “Slow” Tracks of 2009):

1. Heartless Bastards – “The Mountain”
2. Florence and the Machine – “Girl With One Eye”
3. Alec Ounsworth – “Holy, Holy, Holy Moses (Song for New Orleans)”
4. Wye Oak – “Take It In”
5. Bill Callahan – “Too Many Birds”
6. The Fiery Furnaces – “Drive to Dallas”
7. John Vanderslice – “Romanian Names”
8. Magnolia Electric Co. – “Shiloh”
9. Neko Case – “Middle Cyclone”
10. Swan Lake – “Ballad of a Swan Lake, or, Daniels Song”
11. Real Estate – “Snow Days”
12. The Thermals – “How We Fade”
13. The Avett Brothers – “Ill With Want”
14. Islands – “Heartbeat”
15. The Mountain Goats – “Genesis 30:3”
16. Ida Maria – “Drive Away My Heart”
17. A.C. Newman – “There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve”
18. Grizzly Bear – “While You Wait For the Others”
19. Bon Iver – “Beach Baby”
20. The Antlers – “Epilogue”

Well, folks, that’ll do it for 2009. A lot of work went into this year’s edition, so I genuinely hope you enjoy it. Now, then, I encourage you to do two things:

1.  In the comments section, let me know your favorite songs and records of 2009. What did I miss that? What do you violently disagree with? What are you wholeheartedly in agreement with?
2. Should you choose to (or if you have already) put together a Best of 2009 disc of your own, by all means send me a copy of the disc, or at the very least a track listing. I’ll do my best to post them on my blog.

Until 2010, have at it, you vultures!

BD