This year’s best of lists start with what is always the hardest one for me to compile.  After going through all the records, EPs, singles, etc. I was left with 186 songs that made me flip my shit in 2009 and a scorned galley of songs just waiting in the wings for…something.  Eventually, I painfully boiled that group down to 30, the first ten of which I present to you today.  You can listen to each one by clicking the little, red sideways triangle next to each song title.  Here we go.

#30:
Fires Of Rome: “Dawn Lament”
(from You Kingdom You / The: Hours)

The most aggravating part about “Dawn Lament” is that it’s a pretty fucking horrible representation of the rest of Fires Of Rome’s You Kingdom You.  Go ahead, try and make it past the third track on that record, I triple-dog dare you.  On a positive note, this is easily one of the finest leadoff tracks of the year.  If after one listen you don’t have at least five hooks from this song roaming around in your head for days, you obviously were not listening carefully enough.

#29:
DOOM: “That’s That”
(from Born Like This / Lex Records)

With lines like “Trees is free, please leave a key, these meager fleas, he’s the breeze and she’s the bee’s knees, fo sheez” and “DOOM rock your grandma like Kumbaya” flowing over the best RZA beat that the RZA never produced, what else do you need?

#28:
Best Coast: “That’s The Way Boys Are”
(from Sun Was High (So Was I) 7” / Art Fag Recordings)

This lo-fi shit got a bit out of control this year which ultimately led to some fantastic cassettes and seven inches, but invariably spawned some truly deplorable ones.  Thankfully, Bethany Cosentino appears to have done the homework on exactly which Phil Spector records she should take to heart.

#27:
The Black Heart Procession: “When You Finish Me”
(from Six / Temporary Residence)

Though it would be nearly impossible to make words like “If you miss me, don’t say a word, don’t waste your time, don’t expect me, just get rid of me, just drain me, don’t look for me, don’t touch me, don’t come visit me, don’t say a word” sound anything but despondent, when Pall Jenkins sings them he sounds downright bereaved.  Oh yeah, if you aren’t completely sure about who The Black Heart Procession are, they’re the band whose name will always be listed next to the names of members of Modest Mouse, Three Mile Pilot and Ugly Cassanova in the “Also A Member Of” section.  A fucking crime, for sure.

#26:
Bosque Brown: “This Town”
(from Baby / Burnt Toast Vinyl)

Since that first Regina Spektor record appeared, the stock of female, piano-driven power pop has risen dramatically.  What separates Mara Lee Miller from the dearth of Chan Marshallists flooding iTunes is that Texas swagger in her voice, the crackly sound of her recordings and this exceptional song.  Show me a better song about a small town from 2009 and I’ll mail you a fancy piece of paper with the words “YOU’RE WRONG” typed neatly in the center.

#25:
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros: “Home”
(from Up From Below / Vagrant Records)

There are two things about Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros that still throw me off.  First, that I discovered the band in an issue of Wired magazine.  Second, that’s the guy from Ima Robot?  No fucking way.  ”Home” is a remarkably fun song.  Don’t believe me?  Has your band ever had this much goddamn fun playing on Letterman?

Didn’t think so.

#24:
White Rabbits: “Percussion Gun”
(from It’s Frightening / TBD Records)

Despite the fact that White Rabbits appear to have stolen Jonny Greenwood’s guitar tone from Hail To The Thief and Thom Yorke’s sneering vocal delivery, it seems to have succeeded in inking them a deal with the same label that distributed Radiohead’s In Rainbows.  Throw in two drummers, handclaps, a sick bass line and a rolling piano lead and you have an incredibly exciting opener in “Percussion Gun”.  Months after first hearing it, the way the word “know” is snarled during “I know which way to run” still sends shivers up my spine.

#23:
Rain Machine: “New Last Name”
(from Rain Machine / ANTI-)

I don’t know Kyp Malone personally at all.  Listening to “New Last Name” makes me wish that I did, if only so that I don’t feel so awkward invading this private confessional of a song.  You and your friends can spout off all day about the daringness of Lady Gaga and her ensuing anointment as the next Madonna, but few artists have the guts to put everything inside of them right out on the table the way that Kyp does.  Naked, for everyone to see.

#22:
Washed Out: “Feel It All Around (Toro Y Moi Remix)”
(from Feel It All Around Single / Pure Groove)

Call it chill-wave.  Call it glo-fi.  Call It no-fi.  Who cares?  This is one amazing downtempo artist remixing another amazing downtempo artist and knocking it out of the fucking park.

#21:
Laura Gibson: “Spirited”
(from Beasts Of Seasons / HUSH)

Right after Laura Gibson sings “When the seasons settle in our lungs, they’ll harden us, they’ll cover us in crows, but cannot wash the laughter from our tongues” a huge guitar riff boils up from underneath the song.  She sings so sweetly and delicately that every time I arrive at that transition, I fear that it’s going to rip her apart.  Please don’t hurt Laura.