Melody’s Echo Chamber “Some Time Alone, Alone”

Melody Prochet’s voice bears a strong resemblance to that of the late Broadcast singer Trish Keenan, and her music often sounds like a more rocking version of Broadcast circa the early 00s. So, naturally, I’m a mark for her first record as Melody’s Echo Chamber. But as much as it’s easy for me to peg this project as Broadcast-meets-Deerhunter, the substance of it is more slippery, and I find myself uncertain when trying to make sense of its emotional tone. At its best, it suggests a wide open chasm in the space between the singer’s reality and her desires, even when what she seems to want is kinda small and reasonable. You feel an absence on each track, but it’s that thing where you can’t figure out what you feel you’re missing.

Buy it from Amazon.

Dum Dum Girls “Lord Knows”

This song hurts more if you think of it as the sad conclusion to a story that begins with “Rest Of Our Lives,” the achingly sweet and earnest ballad from the Dum Dum Girls’ debut album. While that was a song about hoping a good relationship could last forever, this is about a love fizzling out despite the best of intentions. But despite that reversal, the songs come from the same place: a pure-hearted conviction that romance is powerful and true. Dee Dee writes and sings with an idealism that is heart-melting, even if you’re wallowing in cynicism. In every line, in every note, you can really feel exactly how devastated she is that this love hasn’t worked out, and how the idea of “moving on” is more like a grand defeat than some kind of liberation.

Buy it from Amazon.

How to Dress Well “& It Was U”

I wasn’t very impressed by the first How to Dress Well record – it was evocative, sure, but I didn’t have much use for an album that sounded like the ghost of an R&B singer haunting a locker room. The second record is a lot better, and not just because there’s more obvious structure and physicality. Tom Krell still over-indulges in atmosphere, but he’s composed at least a few well-structured songs that are harmonically interesting and emotionally engaging. “& It Was You” is the best and most sophisticated piece of music he’s ever released. The song calls back to Prince’s experiments with minimal funk in the mid-80s without aping anything in particular, and suggests that Krell may eventually be much better with rhythm and harmony than spacey vibes.

Buy it from Amazon.

Lavendar Diamond “I Don’t Recall”

This is a light, lovely, swooning sort of song, so the bluntness of its refrain catches you off guard: “The life we shared is gone and it’s hard without you.” There’s no room for interpretation and no attempt at embellishment; Becky Stark is telling you exactly how it is and the “you” in question just has to deal with it. And her, too – the music is pretty and poised, but it’s hard to tell whether it is an expression of grace, or the sound of a shell-shocked person trying to hold it together and keep the most agonizing feelings from showing up on the surface.

Buy it from Amazon.

Bob Dylan “Narrow Way”

Like a lot of people – most people? – I tend to think of Bob Dylan’s voice mainly in terms of its strangeness and limitations. So, in a small way, paying attention to his new album brought a minor epiphany: As much as his voice has deteriorated, he has remarkable phrasing. (This is where long term Dylan fans, particularly the older ones, can groan or LOL or whatever they have to do.) I’m very fond of his playful performance on this track; it’s both nuanced and ridiculously hammy – in this way, it’s kinda like Brando, or maybe more like Joaquin Phoenix doing his often unhinged Brando riff in The Master. He clearly loves to play this old timey rogue, and he sounds so totally alive in each line that the dynamics of his performance distracts from the extremely repetitive music.

Buy it from Amazon.

Grizzly Bear “Speak In Rounds”

Grizzly Bear, even in their blandest moments, excel in composing interlocking guitar parts that weave rhythmic elements from folk with the textures of art rock. That’s Sonic Youth’s trick too, at least from Daydream Nation onward, but Grizzly Bear are far more invested in the aesthetics of folk, and entirely avoid any trace of punk or glam. Shields isn’t quite on par with the band’s previous album – Veckatimest has better, more elegant melodic hooks – but it has a better structure as an LP, and an evocative atmosphere that’s hard to pin down but essentially sounds like someone feeling very pensive in the autumn. It’s a ridiculously autumnal album, and I can see why they chose to release it just as school season kicks in again – can’t you just imagine all the skinny white kids listening to this on headphones as they walk to their classes? “Speak In Rounds” is my favorite, and the track that comes closest to the introverted melodrama of “Fine For Now” or “While You Wait For the Others.” It’s about some kind of codependent entanglement, but given the sound of it, how could that be a surprise?

Buy it from Amazon.

Ben Folds Five “Michael Praytor, Five Years Later”

You would think that there wouldn’t be a lot of difference between Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five; that it’d just be the same songwriter writing the same sort of songs no matter what, and on some level, you’d be right. But in terms of execution, it’s a huge difference. Left on his own, Folds settles too comfortably into his quirks and excesses, and his solo catalog is clogged with songs that are either too sappy or too self-consciously dorky. The other two guys in BFF – drummer Darren Jesse and bassist Robert Sledge – give his songs weight and dynamics. The first BFF album in particular thrives on Folds’ realization that it was necessary to temper his clever quasi-show tune piano shtick with a major jolt of rock and roll. At the time, this was something of a survival mechanism – they were playing to often hostile mid-90s alt-rock fans – but it made them a better band. They needed that tension and energy; it elevated Folds’ craft and improved on songs that could’ve been fine if played entirely straight.

The first Ben Folds Five record since 1999 isn’t on the same level of quality as the three that preceded it in the 90s, but it’s a big improvement over what Folds has been up to in the meantime. The songs make a compromise of Folds’ present inclination with the familiar dynamics of the old band, and it mostly ends up sounding like a pumped-up version of Folds in Bacharach mode. “Michael Prayor, Five Years Later” is the best of these songs; they pull off a fine balance of elegance and urgency. The lyrics are good too, with a riff on running into a dude every few years into something that can be taken as a meta-commentary on periodically reuniting with these two musicians.

Buy it from Amazon.

Carly Rae Jepsen “Tiny Little Bows”

Whether by accident or design, Carly Rae Jepsen’s new album Kisspositions her as a new Canadian version of Kylie Minogue, and it’s wonderful. Jepsen, like Minogue, wouldn’t make sense as a pop “bad girl,” her voice and look is appealing because she seems genuinely perky, optimistic and sweet. Following Kylie’s example is brilliant because, despite what people might have expected from her, she found a way to make her youthful style age very well. The trick? Focus on conveying feelings of intense infatuation, because that experience remains fresh and powerful through life, even if just as a nostalgic memory for those in long term relationships.

Another similarity to Minogue is that she sounds best in elegantly composed pop songs with a touch of classiness in the arrangement. She wouldn’t sound right in something that felt “edgy,” or particularly indebted to hip-hop or R&B production, but she is right at home in clean, precise dance pop with a bit of strings. “Tiny Little Bows,” a song primarily written and produced by Dallas Austin, makes the most of her “Call Me Maybe” strengths while nudging in a more adult direction. It’s another euphoric song about a crush, but there’s more complication and angst, which is at least partly expressed with a sped-up sample from Sam Cooke’s “Cupid.”

The most interesting connection between “Tiny Little Bows” and “Call Me Maybe” is that its writers seem to recognize that part of what made the latter song connect with people wasn’t just its gloriously catchy hooks, but in the way the melody lodged the words in your head. There’s just something really compelling about the way “I just met you and this is crazy” unfolds, as if every time you hear it, some simple part of your brain is hanging on the sentence as it forms and you don’t know where it will go. “Tiny Little Bows” is a bit more abstract. I am not quite certain what she’s getting at with “how do you think it goes with those tiny little bows,” but it’s a vivid image and the close internal rhyme scheme of goes/those/bows makes my brain light up. A lot of the magic in pop is delighting in combinations of words that don’t mean much at face value but come out sounding like pure genius when paired with the just the right melodies and beats.

Buy it from Amazon.

MNDR “Faster Horses”

It didn’t occur to me until I paid closer attention that this song is being sung to an audience, and not to some romantic partner. But it works both ways – there are performative aspects to personal relationships, and romantic aspects to one’s connection to an audience, or lack thereof. “Faster Horses” is about frustration with someone else’s desires and expectations, and a fear that you’re not going to find the audience – or partner – you actually want, because they’re caught up in wish for “faster horses.” Despite this, the song sounds strong and confident – MNDR sings it with a tone of “you don’t judge me, I judge you,” and makes the whole situation seem like a challenge rather than a defeat.

Buy it from Amazon.

St. Vincent and David Byrne “Weekends in the Dust”

My feelings about Love This Giant are pretty close to that of my friend Eric Harvey: Annie Clark and David Byrne are a smart match on paper, but their ideas don’t quite gel on this record. I find myself getting bored with Byrne’s songs and waiting impatiently for Clark to sing again, and I’m generally fine with late period Byrne. I could see myself warming to the album over time, but at this point in time listening to it in full can feel like a chore, which I really was not expecting. I do love portions of it, though, most especially “Weekends in the Dust.” The horns on the record can get a little heavy-handed and monochromatic, but they’re used really well here, rooting the neurotic scratch of the guitar to James Brown-style funk and add a more fluid melodic element to a piece that is otherwise stiff and reserved. The canned percussion makes sense here – it disconnects from the core funk, and indicates an emotional and intellectual rigidity. Clark’s vocals in this context remind me of Janet Jackson, who has always been good at playing it cool yet subtly soulful and dynamic in the context of rigid, mechanical funk.

Buy it from Amazon.

Swearin’ “Kenosha”

Swearin’ excel at a very particular sort of 90s rock. I’ve seen some people compare them to Superchunk, but to my ears, they are nearly a dead ringer for That Dog, but with a sassiness similar to a U.K. indie band like Sleeper. Of course, these reference points will only make sense if you’re kinda old! The appeal of this is really basic: The chords convey a passive-aggressive angst while feeling just a bit cozy, and Allison Crutchfield’s vocal performance adds subtle dimension to lyrics that could just as easily come across as straight-up bitterness and spite. She’s very sour and cutting on the chorus – “I hope you like Kenosha so much that you stay there,” directed to an ex-boyfriend who has gone back to his college town to visit old friends – but at other points, she sounds genuinely wounded and insecure about the whole situation.

Buy it from the Swearin’ Bandcamp page.

The xx “Angels”

The xx broke big because people connected with their sexy minimalism, so in their own way, opting to go softer and more intimate on their second record is the equivalent of a rock band aiming for something bigger and louder. Coexist sounds like what you expect from the xx, but even more so. I imagine a lot of people will be thrilled with this, but I have mixed feelings about this record. While a few of the songs have melodies and motifs strong enough to be presented with almost no accompaniment, a good chunk of the record is lacking in dynamics, so large portions of the album just sound like some codependent couple murmuring at one another in the middle of the night. It can be so airy that there’s no implication of physical contact, so the types of duets that seemed almost lurid on the debut are charged with a less compelling sort of tension.

“Angels,” the opening track and first single, is my favorite, and it’s mostly because Romy Madley-Croft’s vocal part is so gorgeous and emotionally potent that anything other than a barely-there arrangement would’ve been overkill. While other songs on Coexist sound like the arrangement style was a foregone conclusion, this is an example of a song being perfect for their approach regardless of whether or not they’re the performers.

Buy it from Amazon.

Cat Power “Manhattan”

“Manhattan,” intentionally or not, echoes the sound of one of my all-time favorite New York City songs – Joe Jackson’s “Steppin’ Out.” Both songs pair a steady electronic pulse with bright, sparing piano chords, and somehow imply a grand, highly detailed urban landscape with those simple musical gestures. But while “Steppin’ Out” depicts the ritzy glamor of a night out in the big city, Chan Marshall evokes the feeling of the city just a few hours later, as the sun slowly rises and people get back to work. It’s not morning rush hour; it’s just before that – the first wave of the coming day, and you can still feel the stillness of the night around you. Yeah, she’s singing about the night, but it’s from this perspective. Sober, bleary-eyed, pensive. Like all of the songs on Sun, it cuts deep because she’s singing from this distance – the balance of softness and crispness in her voice signals a lot of wisdom.

Buy it from Amazon.

The 10th anniversary celebration of this site comes to a close with this collection of 2009’s best and most notable music. This is, of course, the very recent past, and I can understand if you’re feeling kinda “uh, who cares?” about this one. But! 2009 is a pretty incredible year, one of the best of the past decade, and with this set, I have anthologized a full decade of music. All of previous surveys are still up – 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 – and in December, I will put up a survey of this year’s music. In the meantime, I may get around to putting together a mix of great songs that fell through the cracks in putting this project together, but no promises!

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

Phoenix “Lisztomania” / Neko Case “This Tornado Loves You” / St. Vincent “Marrow” / Bat for Lashes “Siren Song” / Raekwon featuring Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah and Method Man “House of Flying Daggers” / Lil Wayne and Pharrell “Yes” / Big Boi and Gucci Mane “Shine Blockas” / Kid Cudi featuring Kanye West, Common and Lady Gaga “Make Her Say” / Discovery featuring Angel Deradoorian “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” / Evil Cowards “Soldiers of Satan” / Charlotte Hatherley “White” / Florence and the Machine “Dog Days Are Over” / Shakira “She-Wolf” / Rick Ross featuring The-Dream “All I Really Want” / Beyoncé featuring Kanye West “Ego (Remix)” / Little Dragon “Feather” / Basement Jaxx “My Turn” / Animal Collective “Brother Sport”

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

Lady Gaga “Bad Romance” / Fever Ray “Seven” / Washed Out “Feel It All Around” / The xx “Basic Space” / Maxwell “Pretty Wings” / HEALTH “Die Slow” / DOOM “Gazzilion Ear” / J Dilla featuring Raekwon and Havoc “24K Rap” / Shabazz Palaces “1055 32 leaves dipped in blackness making clouds forming altered carbon” / Joy Orbison “Hyph Mngo” / Royksopp featuring Robyn “The Girl and the Robot” / Bear In Heaven “Lovesick Teenagers” / Wild Beasts “Hooting and Howling” / Wilco “Bull Black Nova” / Junior Boys “Parallel Lines” / The Big Pink “Dominos” / R. Kelly “Echo”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

Dirty Projectors “Cannibal Resource” / Grizzly Bear “Cheerleader” / Tune-Yards “Hatari” / The Breeders “Fate to Fatal” / Micachu and the Shapes “Calculator” / Jay-Z “On to the Next One” / Ke$ha “Tik Tok” / La Roux “Bulletproof” / Metric “Help I’m Alive” / Handsome Furs “I’m Confused” / Thunderheist “Jerk It” / Rihanna “Rude Boy” / Sleigh Bells “Crown on the Ground” / Frankmuzik “3 Little Words” / Amerie “Tell Me You Love Me” / The Very Best featuring Ezra Koenig “Warm Heart of Africa” / El Parro Del Mar “Change of Heart” / Felix “You Are the One I Pick” / Kings of Convenience “Mrs. Cold” / Antony and the Johnsons “Kiss My Name” / Frida Hyvönen “Jesus Was A Cross Maker”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

Das Racist “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper RMX)” / Ciara featuring Missy Elliott “Work” / Lily Allen “The Fear” / Atlas Sound featuring Panda Bear “Walkabout” / jj “Ecstasy” / Young Money “BedRock” / Passion Pit “Sleepyhead” / Matias Aguayo “Rollerskate” / AC Newman “Submarines of Stockholm” / Rose Elinor Dougall “Fallen Over” / The-Dream “Mr. Yeah” / Annie “Anthonio” / Dominique Leone “I’m the Police” / Slow Club “Trophy Room” / Taken By Trees “Greyest Love Of All” / Girls “Lust for Life” / Jay Reatard “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” / Telekinesis “Tokyo” / Pissed Jeans “R-Rated Movie” / Julian Casablancas “4 Chords of the Apocalypse”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

The Flaming Lips “Convinced of the Hex” / Spoon “Got Nuffin” / Au Revoir Simone “Shadows” / Drake “Best I Ever Had” / Mos Def “Supermagic” / Zomby “B With Me” / U2 “No Line on the Horizon” / Morrissey “Something Is Squeezing My Skull” / PJ Harvey “Black Hearted Love” / Jarvis Cocker “I Never Said I Was Deep” / Future of the Left “Arming Eritrea” / The Pains of Being Pure at Heart “A Teenager In Love” / God Help the Girl “Act of the Apostle” / Music Go Music “Light of Love” / Golden Silvers “True No. 9 Blues (True Romance)” / Thao “When We Swam” / Pearl Jam “The Fixer” / Electric Six “Egyptian Cowboy” / UUVVWWZ “Castle”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Zero” / Kelly Clarkson “My Life Would Suck Without You” / Miles Fisher “This Must Be the Place” / Anni Rossi “Ecology” / Solange “Stillness Is the Move” / A Sunny Day in Glasgow “Close Chorus” / Gigi “I’m Not Coming Out Tonight” / Real Estate “Beach Comber” / Jeffrey Lewis “If Life Exists (?)” / James Rabbit “In Love with the Idea” / Chain and the Gang “Unpronounceable Name” / Weezer “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” / The Decemberists “The Rake’s Song” / Sonic Youth “Sacred Trickster” / YACHT “The Afterlife” / Clipse featuring Kanye West “Kinda Like A Big Deal” / Cooly G “Love Dub (Refix)” / Beak “Backwell” / Avett Brothers “I and Love and You”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

Major Lazer featuring Vybz Kartel “Pon De Floor” / Swedish House Mafia “Leave the World Behind” / The Lonely Island featuring T-Pain “I’m On A Boat” / Silkie “Purple Love” / Joker and Ginz “Purple City” / Adam Lambert “Music Again” / Nine Inch Nails “Non-Entity” / Peaches “Talk to Me” / Think About Life “Havin’ My Baby” / Japandroids “Young Hearts Spark Fire” / The New Pornographers “Hey Snow White” / Green Day “21 Guns” / Fight Like Apes “Tie Me Up With Jackets” / Cornershop “Who Fingered Rock & Roll” / Cam’ron “My Job” / Ghostface Killah featuring Fabolous “Guest House” / Alchemist featuring Three 6 Mafia and Juvenile “That’ll Work” / Oh No Ono “Internet Warrior”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

The Dead Weather “I Cut Like A Buffalo” / The Fiery Furnaces “Lost At Sea” / Cymbals Eat Guitars “And the Hazy Sea” / The Joy Formidable “Cradle” / Miley Cyrus “Party in the USA” / Lacrosse “It’s Always Sunday Around Here” / Super Furry Animals “Inaugural Trams” / Neon Indian “Deadbeat Summer” / Tegan and Sara “Arrow” / MEN “Off Our Backs” / Dizzee Rascal “Bonkers” / DJ Quik and Kurupt “Hey Playa!” / Yo La Tengo “Here to Fall” / Alicia Keys “Empire State of Mind (Part II)” / Cotton Jones “Gotta Cheer Up” / Julianna Barwick “Choose” / Fuck Buttons “The Lisbon Maru” / Franz Ferdinand “Ulysses” / Portishead “Chase the Tear”

Animal Collective “Moonjock”

Centipede Hz is like one of those Magic Eye posters – at first, it’s hard to find its form in its treble-heavy clutter, but once you acclimate to its tonal range, you “see the boat,” and from that point onward it just sounds like a bunch of pop songs. Or, at least, Animal Collective-style pop songs. That said, while I’ve had some time to live with the record and its melodies have sunk deep into my brain, I’m still not crazy about its tinny frequencies and near total lack of low end. It makes the album unnecessarily exhausting, even when played on a good stereo. The sound of it makes sense on a conceptual level, though – the band is emulating the sound of radio, and seeking to capture that feeling when you’re a kid and you’re still figuring out what music is and it all sounds a bit strange and alien. “Moonjock” makes this theme explicit in the lyrics, as Avey Tare recalls going on family trips in his childhood, and listening closely to tapes and radio signals on a Walkman in the back seat. I strongly relate to this memory, and also to its odd balance of idealizing a shared moment with his family that coincides with a totally private experience with headphones. They perfectly capture the spirit of this in the music, which conveys a sense of adventure and imagination, but scaled down to something small and safe.

Buy it from Amazon.

Corin Tucker Band t”Groundhog Day”

I like Wild Flag, I do, but I can’t listen to them without yearning for Corin Tucker’s voice. Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss brought a lot of power to Sleater-Kinney, but Corin was the soul, and her mountain-blasting vocals gave the band its urgency and emotional potency. Tucker’s first solo record did little for me, but this cut from her forthcoming followup is exactly what I’ve been missing. “Groundhog Day” gives voice to her frustration with the state of feminism, and wondering why it seems as though there’s been almost no progress in the past decade. In a way, it’s a sequel to the All Hands on the Bad One track “#1 Must Have,” which had the same balance of disappointment and bleak wit, and similarly urged other women to take action. In both cases, it’s a song that does its best to shake the listener out of complacency, and remind them that you can’t rest on your laurels after a bit of incremental – or worse, purely superficial – progress.

Buy it from Amazon.

Tame Impala “Elephant”

The previous Tame Impala record was notable for its bold rhythm section, but this cut from their forthcoming followup goes a few steps further, with the bass and guitar parts sounding especially thick and chunky, like lines drawn on with an extra-wide marker. The combination of vocal tone and melodic turns with the sinister schaffel beat makes it sound like John Lennon in his Plastic Ono Band phase writing his own version of Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Part 2.” And really, how is that not enticing? It’s a perfect blend of glam imperiousness and chilled-out psychedelia. I’m kinda surprised I’ve never encountered a song quite like this one before.

Pre-order it from Amazon.

Deerhoof “Breakup Songs”

Deerhoof pull off a tricky balancing act on Breakup Song: They’ve significantly changed their sound while retaining their very distinct character. The glitchy electronic textures are jarring at first, but it quickly becomes apparent that that their rhythms and melodies have only been changed on a superficial level, and there is a clear aesthetic through line from any point in their creative evolution to where they are right now. “Breakup Songs” is particularly strong – jumpy, jittery and absurdly generous in its variety of tones, but oddly mellow at its core. I can see why this is a “breakup song” – it sounds like being shaken up by a sudden change in status quo, but also understanding on some level why it had to happen.

Buy it from Amazon.

Divine Fits “Would That Not Be Nice”

Britt Daniel and Dan Boechner are such fully formed artists that it’s not much of a surprise that they can only really sound like themselves as Divine Fits, their new band with drummer Sam Brown. The Britt songs sound like Spoon; the Dan songs sound like Handsome Furs, and the reason it fits together is mainly because their aesthetics are complementary – they dress up a similar sexy, hyper-masculine character in different forms of studio gloss and caustic wit. “Would That Not Be Nice,” the only track on the record credited to all three members, is also the number that sounds most like Spoon, with its rumbling funk and liberal use of processing on Britt’s vocal. I really like the sound of that effect here – it kinda swallows up parts of his lines, blurring his meaning and sharpening his delivery. The slapback sounds like a literal slap back at points, which suits the performance rather well: There’s a touch of affection in Britt’s words, but it’s mostly a bit caddish, as he’s working to seduce a woman he seems to resent and fear. But as much as she’s “destructive, alien and deranged,” that clearly turns him on.

Buy it from Amazon.

Teengirl Fantasy featuring Romanthony “Do It”

Romanthony is most famous for being the singer on Daft Punk’s “One More Time,” which is, of course, one of the most widely beloved dance songs of the past 20 years. He brings a similar presence to this new song with Teengirl Fantasy – joyful yet serene, soulful but devoid of angst. The lyrics, about living it up at a dance club, are totally banal, but he elevates them by virtue of total commitment. You hear Romanthony sings these words over these beats, and you know he’s a true believer. He brings an absurd gravitas to it, as though he’s the High Priest of Dancefloor Optimism.

Buy it from Amazon.