RethinkPopMusic Best of 2009

RethinkPopMusic’s Top 10 Singles, Albums and Videos of 2009… don’t mind our bias.

Top 10 Singles of 2009

1. Empire of the Sun – “Walking on a Dream”

2. Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”

3. Animal Collective – “My Girls”

4. Mumford and Sons – “Little Lion Man”

5. Florence and the Machine – “You’ve got the Love”

6. White Rabbits – “Percussion Gun”

7. Passion Pit – “The Reeling”

8. Manchester Orchestra – “I’ve Got Friends”

9. White Lies – “Farewell to the Fairground”

10. New Villager – “Rich Doors”

Top 10 Albums of 2009

1. Wild Beasts – Two Dancers

2. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

3. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimist

4. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

5. Bat for Lashes – Two Suns

6. N.A.S.A. – Spirit of Apollo

7. Fever Ray – Fever Ray

8. The Antlers – Hospice

9. Paper Route – Absence

10. Miike Snow – Miike Snow

Top 10 Videos of 2009

1. Ambassadors – “Tropisms”

1.The Aviation Orange – “Radio”

1. The Vanguard – “Both Sides”

4. Charlotte Gainsbourg – “Heaven Can Wait”

Charlotte Gainsbourg – Heaven Can Wait from Charlotte Gainsbourg on Vimeo.

5. Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”

6. Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”

7. Fever Ray – “Triangle Walks”

8. The Walkmen – “On the Water”

9. MGMT – “Kids”

10. Miike Snow – “Black and Blue”

The National Falceto Championships

Another night and another sold out show at Bowery Ballroom. I must say that I am biased when it comes to Passion Pit and Paper Route and I like to take credit for introducing the bands to each other. Nevertheless, it was apparent that this tour may be getting the better of these two immensely talented groups.

Some observations from the night:

The crowd was crazy young… which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “I keep getting older, they stay the same age.”

Ayad is going to be a star in his own right. Something about a kid who jumps up and down in excitement after receiving his green card is enough evidence for me to make such a statement.

Paper Route is an elite band with vocalists who never disappoint despite shitty cuban food.

Michael loves him some grilled peanut butter and banana sammies.

Overall, the show was excellent. Passion Pit played a couple new tunes and I was informed that this Bowery show is the last of the old set. I won’t name my source, but this is definitely incentive to go check them out when they tour in support of the new album.          

Paper Route

It’s quite the pill to swallow, imagining a heavy-synth, protools-loving rock band from Nashville signed to Motown Records. But with dueling falsettos and complex harmonies, the influence of early Motown greats Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder amd The Temptations are obvious.

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