20 Favorite Songs of 2009

Musical preferences vary with and without reason from person to person, but given enough time any number of people can find common ground. With that in mind, I'd also like to point out that the following list has no more or less merit than any other that simply states partiality. Hopefully, though, we're able to share an interest in at least one of these songs.

Animal Collective - My Girls
Au Revoir Simone - Shadows
The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
Gui Boratto - Besides
Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move
The Dodos - Fables
Dutchess and The Duke - Let it Die
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
JJ - From Africa to Malaga
Lusine - Baffle
Metric - Help I'm Alive
Modest Mouse - Satellite Skin
The National - So Far Around the Bend
Pariah - Detroit Falls
Portishead - Chase the Tear
Trailer Trash Tracys - Candy Girl
The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa
The XX - Crystalized
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll
Yeasayer - Ambling Alp

Cory's List

The Best Songs I Heard This Year

I don't think there's a need to further introduce or define this bookend year to the musical decade. I'll leave that up to the professionals at Pitchfork, Paste, Rolling Stone, and the amazing amount of quality blogs out there. However, I think its important that I put this list into a personal context. This year opened my ears sonically to music that I would have easily shoved aside a few years ago. There is a mix of nostalgia for the roots rock that I am consistently drawn to but also a pull toward the more complex nature of current electronic/indie trends (see: anything by Animal Collective or Dirty Projectors).

This list is by no means extensive or in any particular order. There are many bands that I am just getting to know (the xx and Fanfarlo to name a few) and bands that I haven't found yet. These are songs that I have simply not been able to put down, songs that seem uncompromisingly honest, and songs/artists that I have recommended in conversations throughout the year.

I hope you found some new and worthwhile music over the past 12 months. There was certainly plenty of good tuneage to go around.

Andrew Bird - Anonanimal

Animal Collective - My Girls

Avett Brothers - I and Love and You (a close second: Laundry Room and really just the whole record)

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

Dave Matthews Band - Seven

Dawes - When My Time Comes

Devendra Banhart - 16th & Valencia Roxy Music

Dirt Projectors - Stillness is the Move (a close second: Cannibal Resource)

Dirt Projectors and David Byrne - Knotty Pine

Elvis Perkins in Dearland - Shampoo

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

J.Tillman - Earthy Bodies

Mason Jennings - The Field

Monsters of Folk - Dear God

The National - So Far Around the Bend

Passion Pit - The Reeling

Pearl Jam - The Fixer

Phoenix - 1901

The Swell Season - Feeling the Pull

Wilco - One Wing

Wild Light - California on My Mind

Ryan's List

Labrador

Loyal Divide follow up their eclectic (and maybe at times a little over ambitious) self titled EP with some cleverly arranged ambient pop on Labrador. While both albums draw from similar influences, the latter brings more cohesion from track to track. Through the right combination of ominous vocals, glitchy and brittle beats, and a wistful synth, the band has established a consistent voice and a foundation for their sound.

Loyal Divide MySpace