This time last year I posted my top 40 tracks of 2009.
1. Religious Songs – Withered Hand
2. Two – The Antlers
3. William Henry Miller Pt. 1 – Meursault
4. Love In The Time Of Ecstasy – Withered Hand
5. Kettering – The Antlers
6. White Blank Page – Mumford & Sons
7. Cornflake – Withered Hand
8. William Henry Miller Pt. 2 – Meursault
9. Bear – The Antlers
10. Oslo Novelist – Grand Archives
11. Winter Winds – Mumford & Sons
12. Northern Lights – Bowerbirds
13. Ruby – Roadside Graves
14. Madame Shocking – The Silent Years
15. Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons
16. Love Or Limb – Meursault
17. California On My Mind – Wild Light
18. Valley – Roadside Graves
19. The Cave – Mumford & Sons
20. People Say – Portugal. The Man
21. Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap
22. Guiding Light – Muse
23. So Far Around The Bend – The National
24. Folding Chair – Regina Spektor
25. City Of The Dead – Pinstripe 45′s
26. With This Ship – The Basics
27. Familiar Light – Asobi Seksu
28. Black Ice – Ohbijou
29. Uprising – Muse
30. Far And Wide – Roadside Graves
31. Roll Away Your Stone – Mumford & Sons
32. 40 Day Dream – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
33. Brother – Little Birdy
34. HiFi Goon – Throw Me The Statue
35. She Don’t Love Me – The Loops
36. I Love You, But Goodbye – Langhorne Slim
37. Antiques – Concept: Bravery
38. LaLaLa – The Loops
39. Suicide – The Raveonettes
40. Orchard – The Honey Trees
And how do I feel about them now? The Antlers are an every-now-and-then listen for me because of the sheer intensity of that album but I fall in love with it all over again every time I play it. Meursault are still going strong, getting a decent amount of spin on the stereo. Mumford & Sons… well I’ve gone off them a little bit lately and I think it’s because they were all hyped up and I kept hearing them on the radio in change rooms and shopping centres and that just didn’t sit right with me. They’re still good and all, but I need to remember that I loved them at least six months before they won Triple J’s Hottest 100 I think!
Muse & Temper Trap? Not even on my radar any more. That Wild Light track? Couldn’t remember it until I chased it up and it’s ok, but number 17? Yeah, no idea what I was thinking there. Number 34, ‘Hi Fi Goon’? A place holder, nothing more. Come to think of it, the last seven tracks on that list all belong in that category. Good songs, yes, but deserving of the Top 40? Perhaps not.
There are a few songs that I still really love. ‘Northern Lights’ by the Bowerbirds is the only track from Upper Air that’s stuck with me. ‘People Say’ by Portugal. The Man is also the only solo cut that I from The Satanic Satanist that I really latched onto. Pretty album art too, although I still haven’t figured out how to fold it all back up again. I love cardboard covers, but that one was like a bloody Rubik’s cube!
People Say – Portugal. The Man
It must’ve been the year for albums containing only one song that I liked – I adore ‘Oslo Novelist’ but the rest of Grand Archives’ Keep in Mind Frankenstein hasn’t really stayed with me either. And as for ‘Madame Shocking’ from the 2009 EP Let Go The Silent Years…. well I’d totally forgotten all about it until tonight. How did that happen… I used to play that thing incessantly. As I’m doing all over again now. I do love rediscovering a track like that.
Oslo Novelist – Grand Archives
Madame Shocking – The Silent Years
And as for my number 1 track? Well I was listening to Withered Hand just two days ago, so that is a love that’s still going strong. And ‘Religious Songs’ from last year’s Good News is still a favourite but there are several other tracks on that album that could easily have appeared at the top of my list. ‘Providence’. ‘I Am Nothing’. ‘For The Maudlin’ – oh, I love that one. A year on, these songs still tear me up. And you can read that as ‘tear’ (rip apart) or ‘tear’ (get all emotional like) – either and both are still true.
It All Started With Carbon Monoxide 
just wait till you hear Dan’s new songs……
Yes it says on his website that he’s writing new material but when will they be ready?!
I was horrified to see that I recognised none of these so now I am listening to the featured tracks and expanding my horizons. It is funny to look back and see ‘where you were’ the previous year. I think the gap gets bigger as you get older 😀
Looking forward to hearing your top 40 from 2010
Yes I thought it might be an interesting exercise! I don’t think I’m going to have a top 40 this year… my listening habits have changed a little in 2010 and it’ll require some serious backtracking a re-listening. Maybe I’ll get one done in January, but I don’t see it happening before the end of the year anyway.
The Antlers’ album is a classic, and one that I still listen to regularly. It’s become a favourite to walk the dog to, particularly on a Sunday afternoon, but it’s also so, so, so very heavy that there are times it does my head in, though I like that, usually, sometimes.
I like Muse – they are ridiculous. But I do go through stages of them, and this week’s stage is listening to The Resistance on LP and turning it up loud and possibly, just possibly, doing a little it of air-guitar. At my age and everything.
“though I like that, usually, sometimes.” Ha – love this.
Muse ARE ridiculous! Sooo over the top. I’ll put it this way – if I’m doing some shuffling and ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ or ‘Uprising’ or ‘Guiding Light’ come on, I won’t skip em, but I’m not actively seeking Muse out any more.
And air guitar is an all ages event, my friend. I wouldn’t sweat it.
Thank you for this list. :-D. I accidentally got here and the son “So Far Around The Bend – The National” is something that I play again and again and again.