Loo.me

I’ve been getting some great music over the past few months and i thought i’d share.  Here are my top 11 tracks of 2009 so far.

(1) Uylsses by Franz Ferdinand.  This band had the badass single Take Me Out a few years ago and i wouldn’t have been surprised if they ended up a one-hit wonder.  But they rebounded with a new album in 2009.  It has one good song called Lucid Dreams and another total classic here in Uylsses. The first 90 seconds get me incredibly pumped and it’s tops on my running mix. Click for the mp3.

(2) 1901 by Phoenix.  As many of you know, Phoenix is one of my favorite bands (lots of past entries). Their last album It’s Never Been Like That is a classic and one of my top 10 all-time.  They have a new album out this year called Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and it’s really really good.  It’s only 9 songs and 5 of them are top notch.  The best of the bunch is 1901 which is worth a listen (mp3).

(3) and (4) Oh, No and Fitz & Dizzyspells by Andrew Bird.  There are 2 songs here and both are killer sing-songy tunes from his new Noble Beast album.  Plus, i love the whistling in the beginning of Oh, No and in the middle of Fitz & Dizzy.  The song Oh, No was the first song i got addicted to and just when i thought i was getting Bird out of my head, Fitz came along and sucked me in for another month. These songs will make you happy (especially Fitz). Here’s Oh, No mp3 and here is F&D’s mp3.

(5) Fight by Ben Kweller.  I’ve been listening to Ben’s whole ablum this year and i love it. My favorite tune is Fight and i love the verse that goes

I’m like my Grandma, short but i stand tall

playing every card that’s dealt to me

You know, some days are Aces and some days are Faces

and some days are Two’s and Three’s

The entire album’s worth a listen, especially Fight.  Here’s the mp3

(6) Countrymusicdisco45 by Jeb Loy Nichols.  This track just bumps. The bass bumps.  There’s a line where it’s just “every room in the place was just boom boom boom boom” and you can feel it.   This little ditty gets me moving.  Check it out (mp3)

(7) Death by White Lies.  This sounds like a song by the Killers and it should have been what the Killers came out with last year.  Instead they came out with a bunch of crap.  Don’t fret, White Lies picked up the slack and came out with a dynamite Killers-esque song in Death.  The mp3 is here.

(8) I Am Goodbye by Bonnie “Prince” Billy.  Hozack sent me this song about a month ago and it rocked my world. A guy in a great beard walking down the streets of Echo Park.  The beat keeps building and the instruments keep coming on top of each other.  It’s a great folksy country jam that I can’t get enough of (mp3). Below is the video.

(9) Dear Wife by My Morning Jacket.  As readers of Loo.me know, the MMJ album of 2008 was my top album of the year. I’m really into these guys.  So you can imagine my excitement when i heard they were releasing a new EP in ’09.  However, that excitement turned to anger when it was only released on iTunes and nobody i knew had the tracks.  So, i forked over a few bucks and gave it a listen.  The biggest nugget of musical happiness in there was the never before released track of Dear Wife which has some kickass piano in it. (m4a file)

(10) Never Had Nobody Like You by M. Ward.  This is a slow girly song but it delivers as it has a nice beat to it.  It’s sung by M. Ward with the actress Zoey Daschel who i find strangely attractive and sounds great. I also like her Elf. Here’s the mp3 for the track

(11) Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ by Bob Dylan.  Bob has a new album coming out in a few weeks but i got this track ahead of time from the interweb and it’s been in steady rotation for a while.  I find it very Santana-like.  If you liked his last album, then you’ll love this. (mp3)