List Day: 2009 in Twelves

Top 12 Songs First Heard in 2009

It was actually more difficult than expected to come up with a list of just twelve songs this year, and it took several days to pare down the 3 or 4 runner-ups. I usually combine this list with the list of favourite website posts, but thought it'd be more interesting if I talked a little about my choices.

12. Plenty of Paper - Eisley
    As a band, I still think that Eisley suffers from slightly weak singing voices and too much singing in their arrangements, but when you just listen to one song apart the others, these problems aren't as glaring. This is the first song of theirs I heard, and I still like it more than anything I heard later.


11. The Fear - Lily Allen
    Lily Allen's second CD wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped, but this single grew on me after repeated listenings.


10. The Day I Died - Just Jack
    This song still hasn't come out on an album, so I only hear it on the radio. I like the upbeat outlook of the lyrics wrapped around the foreshadowed death.


9. Barrowland Ballroom - Amy MacDonald
   Besides the cute Irish accent, I just like the toe-tapping barn-burning stylings of this song.


8. Seperate and Ever Deadly - The Last Shadow Puppets
   Despite the published typo in their title, I like this song for its use of "sequitors" and the way they practically spit out the word "crumbs" at the end of the chorus.


7. Can't Behave - Courtney Jaye
   I first discovered Courtney Jaye back in April or so, and her album is probably the closest I can get to country music while still enjoying myself. Unfortunately, I also heard this song twice in the same hour while shopping at JC Penneys in September.


6. Cookie Jar - Gym Class Heroes
   The cookies are a metaphor for women, and that makes this song awesome.


5. I Belong To You - Muse
   This song doesn't rock quite as hard as others on Muse's new album, but it's quirky and catchy, and the insertion of an aria from Samson and Delilah actually works pretty well (the Chopin they appended to The United States of Eurasia just feels superfluous, as does most of that song, actually). Apparently, a remix of this song was in New Moon, but I don't hold that against it.


4. Killer - The Hoosiers
   I think this entire album is pretty great (Goodbye Mr. A. was on last year's list), but this song manages to capture the garish, quirky quality of the entire album. Autotune makes an appearance here, but the effect is subtle and definitely not graffiti'd in by a T-Pain wannabe.


3. Hello Bonjour - Michael Franti
   This is just a generally catchy song which I stumbled upon while trying to download a different Franti song for Rebecca.


2. Sweet About Me - Gabriella Cilmi
   Much like the bosom of a leper, this song is infectiously bouncy, and I'm still floored by the youth of the singer contrasted against the maturity of her voice. She's been dubbed an Amy Winehouse without the drugs, and it seems to fit.


1. You Picked Me - A Fine Frenzy
   This is easily my favourite song of the year, and probably ranks highly on the "short list of all-time favourites" that I've never actually taken the time to compile. I can listen to this ad nauseum and it always gives a lift to my day.