Galkin’s Top 115 of 2009, Part 1

January 15, 2010

So Tripp and I made our “Top 10 Albums of 2009″ lists (and a few others which will be posted eventually).  Oh but that Galkin, he went one step further, and created his Top 100 – nay, Top 115 – songs of the year.

So I’m going to publish this list as a four-part piece over the next few weeks, and I’ll be putting every song on here for you to listen to.  Great work Galkin, so everyone reading, enjoy:


Here are my top 115 songs of the year. Why 115 you ask? Well mainly because I just listened to way too much music this year and there were bands/songs that I felt deserved some recognition that I couldn’t bear to cut. So instead of cheating and having 15 ties to include them all, I just expanded the list.

There are a couple more things to keep in mind. First, I only included songs that appeared on albums that were released in 2009 or songs that were singles from upcoming albums being rereleased in 2010. As such, there are things you won’t see on the list even though they were prominent in 2009 (Kings of Leon for example; Only By The Night was released November 2008).  Second this was really hard. Not so much to simply choose all the songs I liked from the year (although that took plenty of time itself), but more so to figure out some way to put them in any meaningful order. I did my best and finally settled on an order I can live with.

If I were to do it again in a week I’m sure I would go back and move things around.

115. Black Eyed Peas – “I Got A Feeling (Mr Vega Dirty NY And Chi-Town House Remix)”
I got a feeling the songs on the list will get much better – I promise…but heard it enough this year during fun times that it stuck.

114. Asher Roth – “I Love College”
Ok, I lied. Not a good song, but who didn’t find themselves singing it in the back of their heads?

113. The Swell Season – “In These Arms”
Real list starts now…Once stars started a band in real life too with positive results

112. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Young Adult Friction”
One of the best song titles of the year

111. Neko Case – “People Got A Lotta Nerve”
New Pornographers singer knows how to do it solo too

110. Girls – “Lust For Life”
“Hell Hole Ratrace” got more end-of-year critical praise, but I enjoyed this one more

109. M. Ward – “Never Had Nobody Like You”
List had to have something with Zooey Deschanel in it. C’mon now, you know me better than that.

108. YACHT – “Psychic City”
Really long, really slow song with almost as much speaking as singing. Somehow it works.

107. Lady Gaga – “Bad Romance”
She just keeps on producing radio hits – pretty impressive

106. Boys Like Girls – “She’s Got A Boyfriend Now”
Pop punk is still very much in the repertoire

105. Dirty Projectors – “Stillness Is The Move”
Found the Dirty Projectors a little overhyped, but they do have a cool sound

104. Cartel – “Let’s Go”
This is the Cartel I’m used to. Let’s just forget the previous album ever existed.

103. Silversun Pickups – “Panic Switch”
Solid first single from their follow-up album – songs are too long though

102. Jay-Z – “Empire State Of Mind”
Got tired of it, but still a very good song…any and all knockoffs for other cities are lame

101. Dashboard Confessional – “Belle Of The Boulevard”
Chris Carraba – still plugging away with his Emo rock that knows how to cut to the core of me

100. Lily Allen – “The Fear”
Definitely keeps it real – that’s why I like her…and she’s cute

99. Just Jack – “Embers”
One of the many songs discovered through Gossip Girl

98. Jason Derulo – “Watcha Say”
Blatant use of another song, but at least he picked a good one

97. Bon Iver – “Blood Bank”
Looking forward to a new album next year

96. Imogen Heap – “First Train Home”
Not as catchy as “Hide and Seek” as featured on “Watcha Say”, but nice little song off the new album

95. Two Tongues – “Wowee Zowee”
Second best duo side project song of the year

94. Miley Vs Notorious – “Party And Bullshit (In The USA) (Hathbanger Mix)”
Opposite ends of the spectrum come together for pure delightfulness

93. Tommy Sparks – “She’s Got Me Dancing”
Second best song used in an Apple commercial

92. The XX – “Shelter (Them Jeans Drum Edit)”
Remix makes a good song better by making it a little faster

91. Tim And Jean – “Come Around”
Passion Pit knockoff which means they’re the next big thing. And they’re only 15 and 18 yeas old, respectively.

90. 3OH!3 – “Don’t Trust Me”
Don’t trust a ho. Never trust a ho.

89. Franz Ferdinand – “No You Girls”
Familiar sound, but nothing wrong with that

88. John Mayer – “Heartbreak Warfare”
Nobody has more “heartbreak” songs for someone who gets so many girls

87. Cage The Elephant – “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked”
Will be seeing them in 5 years on VH1’s One Hit Wonder show of the 2000s

86. White Lies – “Farewell To The Fairground”
Just a solid rock song – not much else to say about this one

That’s it for now.  Enjoy these songs, and check back for more soon!


Virgin Mobile FreeFest 2009

September 16, 2009

Now I know that some of the other blogs/sites you might read probably definitely had posts about Virgin Mobile FreeFest 2009 the day the hour after it ended.  However, being as I’m just one person, and being as I went on vacation right after VirginFest: sorry, I’m just now getting to it…

logo

So we miiiiight have started the day off by getting a KegBus to take us from Arlington to Merriweather Post Pavilion.  We miiiight have spent the entire day at the 2nd stage, not the main stage.  We also miiiight have been front row for Girl Talk. Who knows?!

See the online album for more pictures from the day.

The Hold Steady
Approachability: High
hold steady

Now I obviously knew of The Hold Steady and had heard their album a few times.  Never totally did it for me, but I stayed and listened…and obviously they put on a really great show.  The keyboard player was particularly hilarious.  I mean come on, look at him!  I’ll probably be listening to them more now after seeing them live.

For more info, go to their MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/theholdsteady

Public Enemy
Approachability: meh, umm, medium?
PE

Umm, obviously not really my jam.  After watching The Hold Steady we sort of stumbled back over the main stage.  It was completely packed.  The group kinda split up.  We found the food and beer stands.  Then we somehow made it back to the best stage the side stage and were able to catch a few songs from Public Enemy.  It was pretty hilarious to watch.  Flava Flav totally stole the show:

flav a flav

The National
Approachability: Medium/High
The National

Very similarly for me to The Hold Steady, The National is a group that I’ve heard many times, but I just never got that into them.  I think RP3 knew every word to every song, and they definitely put on a good show.  I’ll probably also listen to them more now that I’ve seen them live.

For more info, go to their MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/thenational

Girl Talk
Approachability: Medium/Low
GT1

Girl Talk was easily the primary reason that I purchased acquired a ticket for this day of great music.  I’ve listened to his album so many times, and I’ve heard from several of my friends’ first hand accounts that he puts on an amazing show.  I can definitely corroborate their stories.

I literally didn’t move from the stage area after Public Enemy left, and by the time he came on, I was right up against the barriers at the front row.  After every band finished, people shifted around, and we threw some bo’s, and pretty soon we were right up front.  The place was packed:

packed house

He pulled like 50 audience members up on stage with him, and shit got pretty nuts pretty quickly:

GT2

They were shooting toilet paper ALL OVER the place (as you can see above) and they were throwing these big plastic beach-ball-esque things into the crowd.  So fun.  At the risk of sounding like a 12-year-old girl, we were so close that when he ran down off the stage and jumped around with the front of the crowd, we could touch him (OMG!!11 LOLZ!!).

GT3

Whenever he wasn’t in front of his laptop (and sometimes when he was!) he spent a lot of time on top of his table, jumping around with the crowd on stage, and then with the crowd on the ground.  It was such a crazy show.  I heard more than one person around me say it was the best show they’ve ever been to.  When the stage crew came on afterward, they literally squeegeed the stage off.

My favorite description of the set came from Stereogum: “the traveling hipster roadshow that is a Girl Talk set.”  Hilarious.

For more info, go to his MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/girltalk

This was one of the more fun posts I’ve done in a while.  Got to re-live the day a bit.  Super fun, great music, perfect weather.  Amazing day.

Again, see the album online for more pictures from the day.

Preview Of Things To Come
September is a busy month for me.  I’ve already been to VirginFest and seen Kings of Leon (post forthcoming).  I’m seeing Matt and Kim tonight, then seeing fun. this Friday, and finally seeing Ra Ra Riot in 2 weeks.  And let’s not even talk (yet!) about all the sweet music coming out/just released.

-WJ


Random Goodness

August 28, 2009

In the final throes of this Friday-posting-blitzkrieg, I’m just going to share a few songs/links/band updates/etc. that I found recently, but can’t really classify into the typical WJM format.

Finally, here are just a few random songs I found that needed to be shared.

  • The first one is a song I found on some blog somewhere, and I just love it.  I tried some of The Very Best’s other stuff, and couldn’t get into it, but this one featuring Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig is just fantastic:

    The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa (ft Ezra Koenig) (Approachability: Very High)

  • I found this remix while reading about and listening to Yes GiantessBo Flex is the producer/studio of Passion Pit…or something like that.  I don’t entirely understand the relationship, but Passion Pit, Yes Giantess, and Bo Flex are all very closely tied.  Whatever, the song is awesome:

    US Royalty – Keep it Cool (Bo Flex Remix) (App: High)

  • Another random remix of Passion Pit that I found, and it certainly fits with the other stuff I’ve posted today.  Kind of a clubbed-up version of The Reeling:

    Passion Pit – The Reeling (Shuttles Super Club Mega Mix) (App: Medium/Low)

And that’s all I’ve got from this week – phew!  Hope you enjoyed all the different posts today, and have a great weekend.

-WJ