This is the first year I've attempted to do any kind of yearend summary/critique of "best" or "favorite" albums/songs/concerts etc. etc. etc. It usually seemed like a silly idea to me. I mean, songs don't really care whether they were "released" into the public before or after some arbitrary calendar cutoff, you know? But whatever, we human beings like to categorize and organize and find order in chaos, and we sure as hell love to debate. So I tried making a list of favorite songs that I listened to a lot this year. In the process, I realized I was grossly underprepared for this task: I could think of a few off the top of my head, but mostly because they came from the top albums I listened to this year, but I wanted this list to encompass singles that don't necessarily come from great albums; also, I must not really pay attention to when music is released because I had to check on a lot of stuff and a good portion of it was from 2009; I also skimmed through my record collection to find some that wouldn't get picked up by Banshee's playcount ranking, and scanned some other folks' yearend album lists to scour for other ideas that slipped through the cracks of my mind. Basically, in the future, I need to keep these lists going all year and then weed out the shit later on. That's much easier than trying to build a big list from scratch at the end.
So anyway, here's a long list of songs I really liked this year. They're in alphabetical order by artist name, so there's no inherent ranking to the list. I'll likely add some more stuff over the next couple of weeks as they continue to come to mind, so keep an eye out for that. The "listen" link after each one will take you to a YouTube video or place to download/stream an mp3 file, depending on what I could find. Enjoy!
The Apples In Stereo / "Hey Elevator" / Travellers In Space And Time [Yep Roc] listen
ARMS / "Emily Sue, Pt. 2" / ARMS EP [Self-released] listen
A Sunny Day In Glasgow / "Drink drank drunk" / Autumn, again [Self-released] listen
Atlas Sound / "Here Come The Trains" / Bedroom Databank Vol. 2 [Self-released] listen
Beach Fossils / "Sometimes" / Beach Fossils [Captured Tracks] listen
Beach House / "Norway" / Teen Dream [Sub Pop] listen
Bear Hands / "Belongings" / Burning Bush Supper Club [Cantora] listen
Belle and Sebastian / "I Want The World To Stop" / Write About Love [Matador] listen
Best Coast / "Crazy For You" / Crazy For You [Mexican Summer] listen
The Black Angels / "Yellow Elevator #2" / Phosphene Dream [Blue Horizon] listen
The Black Keys / "Howlin' For You" / Brothers [Nonesuch] listen
The Books / "Group Autogenics I" / The Way Out [Temporary Residence] listen
Blue Giant / "Target Heart" / Blue Giant [Vanguard] listen
Breathe Owl Breathe / "Swimming" / Magic Central [Hometapes] listen
British Sea Power / "Zeus" / Zeus EP [Rough Trade] listen
Broken Bells / "The High Road" / Broken Bells [Columbia] listen
The Ceiling Stares / "Tunnel Through The Air" / EP I [Self-released] listen
Citay / "Careful With That Hat" / Dream Get Together [Dead Oceans] listen
Cults / "Go Outside" / Go Outside (7" single) [Self-released] listen
Dandelion Snow / "The Grand Scheme Of Things" / The Grand Scheme Of Things [Big Bullet] listen
Das Racist / "hahahaha jk?" / Sit Down, Man [Mad Decent / Greedhead / Mishka] listen
Deerhunter / "Revival" / Halcyon Digest [4AD] listen
Disappears / "Magics" / Lux [Kranky] listen
Dr. Dog / "Mirror, Mirror" / Shame, Shame [ANTI-] listen
Dum Dum Girls / "Bhang Bhang, I'm A Burnout" / I Will Be [Sub Pop] listen
Dungen / "Högdalstoppen" / Skit I Allt [Subliminal Sounds] listen
Sharon Van Etten / "Save Yourself" / Epic [Ba Da Bing!] listen
Field Mouse / "Tracing The Map" / You Are Here [Self-released] listen
Free Energy / "Bang Pop" / Stuck On Nothing [Astralwerks] listen
Frightened Rabbit / "Swim Until You Can't See Land" / The Winter Of Mixed Drinks [Fat Cat] listen
Charlotte Gainsbourg / "Heaven Can Wait" / IRM [Because] listen
The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger / "Jardin Du Luxembourg" / Acoustic Sessions [Chimera Music] listen
Glasser / "Apply" / Ring [True Panther] listen
The Happy Hollows / "Big Bad Wolf" / Spells B-Sides [Self-released] listen
Harlem / "Friendly Ghost" / Hippies [Matador] listen
High Highs / "Open Season" / [Self-released] listen
Holy Fuck / "Red Lights" / Latin [Young Turks] listen
Japandroids / "Art Czars" / Art Czars b/w Racer-X 7" single [Polyvinyl] listen
LCD Soundsystem / "Pow Pow" / This Is Happening [DFA] listen
Lohio / "Family Tree" / Family Tree EP [self-released] listen
Los Campesinos! / "There Are Listed Buildings" / Romance Is Boring [Wichita] listen
Love Is All / "The Birds Were Singing With All Their Might" / Two Thousand And Ten Injuries [Polyvinyl] listen
Lower Dens / "I Get Nervous" / Twin Hand Movement [Gnomonsong] listen
Maps & Atlases / "Israeli Caves" / Perch Patchwork [Barsuk] listen
Mariage Blanc / "Rag To A Bull" / Mariage Blanc [self-released] listen
Meeting Of Important People / "Leap-The-Dips" / Quit Music EP [Authentik Artists] listen
MGMT / "It's Working" / Congratulations [Columbia] listen
Moon Duo / "Motorcycle, I Love You" / Escape [Woodsist] listen
The National / "Anyone's Ghost" / High Violet [4AD] listen
Netherfriends / "I'm Gonna Start" / Barry and Sherry [Lateral] listen
The New Pornographers / "Moves" / Together [Matador] listen
New Shouts / "Answers On A Postcard" / Digital Single 01 [Self-released] listen
Thee Oh Sees / "I Was Denied" / Warm Slime [In The Red] listen
of Montreal / "Coquet Coquette" / False Priest [Polyvinyl] listen
Amanda Palmer / "High And Dry" [Radiohead cover] / Amanda Palmer Performs The Popular Hits Of Radiohead On Her Magical Ukulele [Self-released] listen
Pepper Rabbit / "Red Wine" / Beauregard [Kanine] listen
Plants & Animals / "The Mama Papa" / La La Land [Secret City] listen
Reading Rainbow / "Always On My Mind" / Prism Eyes [Hozac] listen
Ty Segall / "Sad Fuzz" / Melted [Goner] listen
The Soft Pack / "Answer To Yourself" / The Soft Pack [Kemado] listen
Sonny and the Sunsets / "Too Young To Burn" / Tomorrow Is Alright [Soft Abuse] listen
The Spires / "Held" / Curved Space EP [Beehouse] listen
Spoon / "Written In Reverse" / Transference [Merge] listen
Laura Stevenson & The Cans / "Landslide Song/The Dig" / A Record [Quote Unquote] listen
Strand Of Oaks / "Alex Kona" / Pope Killdragon [eMusic Selects] listen
Strange Boys / "Be Brave" / Be Brave [In The Red] listen
Surfer Blood / "Floating Vibes" / Astro Coast [Kanine] listen
Tame Impala / "Solitude Is Bliss" / Innerspeaker [Modular] listen
Titus Andronicus / "Theme From 'Cheers'" / The Monitor [XL] listen
Twin Sister / "The Other Side Of Your Face" / Color Your Life EP [Infinite Best] listen
Kurt Vile / "I Know I Got Religion" / Square Shells EP [Matador] listen
Villagers / "I Saw The Dead" / Becoming A Jackal [Domino] listen
The Walkmen / "Blue As Your Blood" / Lisbon [Fat Possum] listen
The War On Drugs / "Comin' Through" / Future Weather EP [Secretly Canadian] listen
Warpaint / "Undertow" / The Fool [Rough Trade] listen
Wavves / "Take On The World" / King Of The Beach [Fat Possum] listen
Woodpigeon / "Woodpigeon vs. Eagleowl (Strength in Numbers)" / Die Stadt Muzikanten [End Of The Road] listen
Woods / "Blood Dries Darker" / At Echo Lake [Woodsist] listen
Wye Oak / "My Neighbor" / My Neighbor, My Creator EP [Merge] listen
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