1. Rilo Kiley:
I know they've been around forever, but it wasn't until "Silver Lining" entered my life in a big way in the fall of '08 that my ears became attuned to Rilo. Throughout 2009 I slowly discovered the beauty of their discography with groups of songs at a time. The entire More Adventurous album and songs like "With Arms Outstretched" and "The Good That Won't Come Out" were my summer. If I had to pick one artist/band who defined my life this past year it would be Rilo.
2. Mirah:
The other artist who defined my summer and probably the best discovery I made in '09 (though I have Lux to thank for that). Like with Rilo, my love affair with Mirah deepened a few songs at a time. This meant that I became absolutely immersed in the music and the lyrics in a really unique way. Songs that deserve specific mentions: "Recommendation", "Don't Die in Me", and "Oh! September".
3. The Smiths: Occurs naturally on the list because they're probably my most played artist ever. Smiths songs that I particularly related to in a new way this year: "Ask", "Is it Really So Strange?", "Half A Person", and, most recently, "Back to the Old House".
4. Tegan and Sara:
They've been one of my favourite bands for a number of years now; I feel like I've witnessed their growth from album to album. The arrival of Sainthood this year (probably the only full album that actually came out in '09 that I can say hit me in a huge way) did not disappoint at all. The entire album flows really nicely, but "Someday" really stands out for me.
5. Neko Case: Though I started listening to her later in the year, Neko stands as a close second to Mirah in terms of the most frapping artist discoveries I made this year (I'm counting Bon Iver as an '08 discovery). "This Tornado Loves You", "I'm An Animal", "I Wish I Was the Moon", "Hold On Hold On"... one after the other these songs have taken hold of my heart. And with an artist like Neko, who has been making music for years, it's always interesting to expose oneself to groups of songs from different eras at a time.
6. Bon Iver: It's only fair to include Bon Iver as a postscript to the list because I've played the hell out of For Emma, Forever Ago and every non-album track that's been released. I think I made my passion for Justin clear in my post dedicated to "Skinny Love", but really the entire Bon Iver catalogue has been a really important part of 2009 for me.
Other artists who frapped me in some way in '09:
Fleet Foxes
Jenny Lewis
Real Estate
Langhorne Slim
The Duke Spirit
Lykke Li
Bloc Party
Girls
Kings of Leon
-T.Dawg
No comments:
Post a Comment