09 BESTS II

TEN BEST SINGLES OF 2009 PART II BY HSA

let's continue

"in random order"

When I Grow Up by Fever Ray

Apart from “The Knife”, a permanent project yet-in-hiatus along with her brother, Karen Anderson continues her uniqueness in style with a side solo one. Going under the name “Fever Ray”, Karen delivers an electronica synths beat, neatly collaborates with her distorted high-pitched vocal and deep lyrics, things I always love to misinterpret :P By the end of the year LastFM ranged her no. 32 on their best of ’09 lists, impressive isn’t it?

And what’s up with substitutions? Despite knowing the reason why this lady avoid to make an appearance in her music videos, I always still get caught by the thought of misunderstanding a beautiful young woman in this video for the singer, as it is actually not. Karen always performs on stage with loads of theatrical elements and a whole bunch of haunting yet interesting make up on, but whatever.

“When I Grow Up” (thank god I eventually succeed in getting the topic back) received my full attention right after it’s released right after a subterranean wave created by her debut solo single “If I Had A Heart.” The quirky, irregular electro beat and a Scandinavian-ish arctic programming vibe combined drive the melody smoothly as it carries out a depth in the song’s atmosphere for listeners to slowly build and build a shivery, calm feeling until the end.

Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z Featuring Alicia Keys

No surprised.

Currently HSA lives in Bangkok, for educational purpose. Street lights, exquisite fashion vibe, night timing and skyscrapers are senses of mega city I can undeniably witness. In 2005 I had a chance to be in New York City for a couple of weeks - thrilling it was, astonishing it certainly was. It’s like a BKK times two, for NYC no matter where you go, you’ll apprehend the city ecstasy in it. Supertall building, those big yellow taxis, and who could miss the great Empire State Building.

Jay-z teamed up with Alicia Keys in this glorious downtown anthem. The song starts with an immediate old-school hip hop beat with Jay-Z rhymes “…I’m the new Sinatra, and since I made it here, I can make it anywhere.” What extraordinarizes the song even more is Ms. Keys’ part, she captures our love by kicking out one of the best hooks I have ever heard in years, “In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of…”

Splendid it is; the rhymes , the beat, the vibe, the hook, the melody, the piano, the everything, the oh my god, the woahhhh, the masterpiece, the year’s best!

Splendid it is, and I really mean it.

Splendid

My Girl by Animal Collective

What’s a charm of noise pop? It is when you can scooch your languid bag of bones while feeling eyelids sandwich each others, mind-float with a flow of every little aspects in a melodious noise. It’s like a kind of harmony that makes you feel like getting high, not on crack but on an intonation.

What’s a charm of this Baltimore-based group called “Animal Collective”? It’s basically what you have read above combined with strength in conveying the kind of music into mainstream success. The band’s latest album “Merriweather Post Pavilion” is overwhelmingly praised by critics, plus hammered in critical-acclaimed single-after-single – “My Girl” is yet to be the first work cut off the album to promote. The song strikes my otological organs with its smelly Neo-psychedelia sound that starts slowly, seems intergalactic, with the first verse, “There isn't much that I feel I need. A solid soul and the blood I bleed,” repeated four times with accelerated speed until it constantly maintains the repeated melody through its six minutes. The song is innovative, so “Animal Collective,” so cute to sing along without being frustrated that this is way far away from being a mainstream tune.

Lisztomania by Phoenix

A cute and tasty French dish to serve your ear drums. Phoenix, a French-based alternative rock band, sparked their US debut (despite being international since their 1999’s admission album ) with the first single off their latest highly-praised album “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” called “1901”, the song’s been widely successful mainstream as it also climbed as high as no. 87 position on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, “Lisztomania”, didn’t soar as high but it’s proved to audiences it is worth to be a fanatic freak for this band. A constant standard, we love it.

I prefer this song to “1901” because it’s so energetic that I can relate my ass to it when I feel like shit. It is an adorable track. It’s dancy, shaky, very fun to sing along and yet very catchy. There’s no complexity in term of music arrangement in this song. Alas, its simplicity is good enough to make this song stand out, just like how I feel towards bands like Coldplay or Kings of Convenience, as one of the year’s bests.

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) by Florence And The Machine

Too bad if this wasn’t for songs released within the last 365 days, I would have to cherish Florence’s first two debut singles “Kiss With A Fist” and “Dogs Day Are Over” as a year’s best. Howsoever, nothing could stop this talented bitch and her backing-music-fellow band to follow an achievement with another indie storm. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) becomes their mega-hit; again, as critics applauded, a fan-based supporter is rapidly generated world-wide, especially the hippie-ish group of listeners, maybe because of a vibrant and lively sound they delivers perhaps? Their debut CD “Lungs” went platinum. It’s been mentioned as a year’s recommendation from NME, Pitchfork, LastFM, especially from the BBC as they played a big role introducing the band to prominence, and a list goes on. Enough for an overall notoriety - now dissect the song please!

“This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb and who is the knife
Midas is king and he holds me so tight
And turns me to gold in the sunlight”

Other than nice lyrics, Florence blends many background sounds together with the machine. An echoing drum rolls, a clarity piano along the baseline combine with some powerful chorus make the song stuck in your head for days. A soul-inspired vocal associated with a baroque-rock music creates a unique and dazzling character of the song. Therefore, I love it. Yes, I love this song so damn much!!

That's it for the previous memorable year in music. See you by the end of 2010 if this blog is still in control by the restless mind of Homesickalienn.

Peace the fuck out, HSA