Best of 2009 and Best of the Decade!
It’s time again for my best of the year music compilation! This year you get a 2009 mix AND a best of the decade mix. You can download them from the links below. The tracks will come in a zip file and you should be able to just import them into itunes or whatever you use, or burn them onto two 80 minute CDs. Just let me know if the links do not work or if something is wrong with any of the files. Track lists and discussion follows the links. Enjoy! and happy 2010!
Best of 2009:
http://rapidshare.com/files/330461852/2009.zip
or
http://www.mediafire.com/?mmmqzzmxdnd
Best of the decade:
http://rapidshare.com/files/330464614/aught.zip
or
http://www.mediafire.com/?no1imeoqtmy
Best of 2009:
1. “Gitty Up” by Sissy Nobby from a maybe unnamed album that has not had an official release that I know of, but is available as a bootleg from the people that sell bootlegs around New Orleans.
There is a kind of rap music particular to New Orleans and Louisiana called Bounce. Bounce is about 15 years old now. Lil Wayne, Juvenile and Mystikal all kind of emerged from this scene, but there are tons of artists who have never done anything but bounce music and stayed completely local. In the last couple of years this very poor and very local scene has been completely dominated by the “Sissy Rappers.” Some of these “sissies” are full on trannies, some are just gay. The fact that they have emerged as stars in their own communities is amazing, but what is more amazing is how crazy and fun their music is. Gitty Up is easily my favorite song of the year.
2. “Pon De Floor” by Major Lazer from Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do.
So Diplo made one of the most odd and fun and badass records that came out this year. And it was a dance hall record. If you haven’t listened to this yet because it sounds too strange to be good, do yourself a favor, there is seriously something on this album for everyone.
3. “Lisztomania” by Phoenix from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.
I hated this band for their entire career up to this album, but this album is unassailable. The whole thing from front to back is packed with earworms that seem like they were created by a computer program called “mathematically perfect pop music.”
4. “Little Secrets” by Passion Pit from Manners.
Again, just really great pop music: Falsetto. Kids singing “higher and higher.” It’s awesome. I don’t even know what the lyrics to this song are or what they are about.
5. “Remade Horizon” by Dirty Projectors from Bitte Orca.
Weird and very pretty. Like Talking Heads and Frank Zappa and Manu Chao somehow had the whitest upper-middle class-est babies in the world.
6. “Easy Chairs” by Suckers from Suckers EP.
This band’s debut was an EP released this year with only four songs on it. All of them were great. If they can sustain this through an entire album they will rule the world next year.
7. “Bang Smack” by Project Pat feat. Gucci Mane from Real Recognize Real.
I can’t really justify this other than it is fun and funny as hell. Before I had to be a lawyer this was my ring-tone all year.
8. “Trap Goin’ Ham” by Pill from 4180: The Prescription.
In honor of my move to Atlanta I give you the most Atlanta thing to come out this year. I can’t do this justice without showing the video so here is a link. This video is the real-est thing I have ever seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z42Wxd-_drg
And to any of you who want to give me hell about promoting a video that has actual crack smoking in it, let me answer you with some words from my PR guy, Killer Mike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmC_BGGNDaU&feature=related
9. “Golden Phone” by Micachu from Jewellery. &
10. “Calculator” by Micachu|the Shapes from Jewellery.
My favorite album of the year. It was her debut as far as I know. This chick is so interesting and fresh I cannot wait to see what she does next.
11. “Love Long Distance” by Gossip from Music for Men.
More super gay disco punk rock from these badass cutie-pies.
12. “She Wolf” by Shakira from She Wolf.
I was in Peru just before I started work this fall and I saw this video. It is wildly hyper-sexed and yet also totally awkward. I haven’t been able to get this song out of my head since then for more than a few hours at a time. I readily admit the song might not actually be good, I just can’t stop listening to it/ singing it to myself.
Here’s the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=booKP974B0k
And also a bonus tribute video “he-wolf”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0QNEZTzENU
13. “Rich Off Cocaine” by Rick Ross from Deeper Than Rap.
Rick Ross is super fat and has a giant beard and is still a superstar; this makes me love him. Also this song is sweet.
14. “Wetter (Calling You Daddy)” by Twista from Category F5.
I gave my boyfriend Jason one slot on the list this year. This is the song he picked. I don’t know if he genuinely loves this song or if he just insisted on this to fuck with me. Fair warning, the song is filthy.
15. “Sabali” by Amadou & Mariam from Welcome to Mali.
Translation:
We came to have fun with music
The world is a place of amusement
We have a good time doing that.
Audience!
Patience! Patience is worth everything!
Patience! Patience is good.
If you love someone, patience is worth everything
If you love a man, patience is worth everything
If you love a woman, patience is worth everything
Patience, patience, patience is good.
Baby, I’m talking to you
With you, baby, life is beautiful
With you, baby,
It’s for life.
Baby I give you a great big kiss
I give you a great big kiss
I kiss you hard
Bye-bye!
16. “Two Weeks” by Grizzly Bear from Veckatimest.
Beautiful, gorgeous, infectiously catchy. (also gay.)
17. “Wilco” by Wilco from Wilco (The Album).
I think we all were slightly disappointed by Sky Blue Sky’s dad rock, but now I get it: Jeff Tweedy has decided Wilco is McCartney, not Lennon, and I am ok with that.
18. “Over It” by Dinosaur Jr. from Farm.
Believe me I am as surprised as you are these 15 or 16 or 17 years later. But here it is nonetheless.
19. “The Passenger” by Art Brut from Art Brut vs. Satan.
I am an absolute evangelist for public transportation. I loved the streetcar in New Orleans and I love MARTA in Atlanta. I loved the tiny train that took me the 15 miles down the peninsula from Babasaki-cho to Yonago station in Japan. I feel like this song was written just for me.
20. “Drugs” by Black Lips from 200 Million Thousand.
I had an opportunity to party like a rock star this year with these particular rock stars. Also I am a sucker for any song about being a bad kid riding around town.
21. “Fables” by The Dodos from Time to Die.
Besides all the things that are great about the Dodos generally (weird rhythm, sweet harmonies, that awesome shout/echoing thing they do where a cymbal crash might usually go) I just love love love the chorus to this song.
22. “I Was Young When I Left Home” by Antony & Bryce Dessner from Dark Was the Night.
This is Antony from Antony and the Johnsons and Bryce Dessner, one of the guitarists/writers for the National, covering a Dylan song. If you don’t know Antony, he has a bizarre voice that sounds a lot like Nina Simone if she was about to start crying. It seems like that should be very limiting to the kind of music he can do, but his main band does this operatic, trembling kind of stuff, and then last year he absolutely kicked ass singing disco on the Hercules and Love Affair album. This song is pretty much just him and acoustic guitar and it is absolutely soul shattering. It makes me tear up every time.
Best of the Decade:
1. “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” - by D'Angelo from Voodoo (2000)
Without question my album of the decade. I bought this record on a whim after hearing this song on the radio. I was living on Chalice Court in Athens, Georgia and I can remember clearly laying in my bed there and being blown away by this album. There is not a song on it I do not like and I have listened to the whole record at least once a week for the past ten years. I do not even like R&B and can barely tolerate most “neo soul,” but this album is an absolute masterpiece. It is soulful, beautiful, sexy, sweet, worldly and intimate and it is a completely cohesive and singular artistic statement of purpose delivered with absolute confidence. I love this album. And I could have picked any song from it, I just picked the one that I heard first.
2. “Oh My Sweet Carolina” - by Ryan Adams from Heartbreaker (2000)
Of all of Ryan Adams’ voluminous output in the past ten years this is probably my favorite song. I picked this one because it never was my favorite until the last year or so, it just took ten years for it to grow on me.
3. “Hard To Explain” - by The Strokes from Is This It? (2001)
I had heard all the advanced buzz about this band and I bought this record on a trip to Kyoto not long after I moved to Japan without having heard a note of the music. I loved it from the first song to the last. This was my favorite and is forever tied to winter in Japan for me- I can’t hear it without smelling kerosene heaters.
4. “Poses” - by Rufus Wainwright from Poses (2001)
I bought this CD at Skool Kidz records (or whatever that store was then) in Athens, Georgia and I remember thinking it was overpriced. That seems ridiculous now. How can you put a price on something you have sung softly to yourself for comfort in every lonely corner of the world?
5. “Work It” - by Missy Elliott from Under Construction (2002)
Unquestionably the creator of some of the best singles of the decade, this is probably Missy’s best. I used to listen to this over and over on my morning runs at the park near Evie’s house in Watari.
6. “I'm The Man Who Loves You” - by Wilco from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
I am not sure when I heard this the first time because it was one of the first major pre-leaked albums of the internet age. I know I have never owned a physical copy of this. I had to be honest in my pick from this album, even though lots of it is cool and experimental, and this might be the most straight-forward song, it is still my favorite.
7. “Extraordinary Machine” - by Fiona Apple from Extraordinary Machine (2003)
Similar to the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, this record was leaked a few times before it was finally released in 2005 (I think). I put 2003 as the year as a good faith guess for the first time I heard this song. It’s my favorite from the album, which is excellent in all its several versions.
8. “Sadie” - by Joanna Newsom from The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)
She may play the concert harp as her main instrument, and she may sing like the chipmunks in an accent like your meemaw’s, but I love every single song she has released without exception.
9. “Gulf Shores” - by Will Oldham from Greatest Palace Music (2004)
I know Will Oldham is kind of genius and can do no wrong now after a career of caterwauling off-key folk/country into a 4-track in a neighbor’s apartment in Lexington, KY, but my favorite work of his by far is this record where he went to Nashville, got professional musicians, and rerecorded some of his own favorite songs. This song is absolutely beautiful. I bought this record in Nashville.
10. “The Denial Twist” - by The White Stripes from Get Behind Me Satan (2005)
I am an unapologetic Jack White fan. And since almost all of the White Stripes’ output has happened in this decade, it was hard for me to pick a favorite. This is just a good try. I can remember jogging to this song in Chattanooga when I lived there with Chris.
11. “Pull Up the People” - by M.I.A. from Arular (2005)
This is another CD I bought before I ever heard any of the songs. This is the first song on the record and when I first heard it I was blown away. I’ve been in love with M.I.A. ever since. I bought this at the Tower Records in New Orleans when Chris was there on business and I went to visit Tulane.
12. “Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games” - by of Montreal from The Sunlandic Twins (2005)
I lived in Athens when of Montreal first emerged from the Elephant Six miasma and I was not a huge fan of their early twee noise. I saw this video years later and immediately changed my mind about the band. I used to dance to this song with the dogs in Chris’ house on East Dallas Road in Chattanooga. Jason reminded me recently that Kevin Barnes licensed the song to Outback Steakhouse when he was in a fit of depression. I had forgotten that, but I decided to leave the song in here anyway. I love it so much.
13. “Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix)” - by Beyonce from B'Day (2006)
I am not a huge Beyonce fan, but I have to acknowledge her absolute dominance of pop music this decade. I have no idea how I came across this song initially, but I love to dance to it as much as any other song that came out in the last ten years. It almost got Jon and I kicked out of the Corner Pocket strip club in New Orleans. True story.
14. “B-O-O-T-A-Y” - by Benny Blanco & Spank Rock from Spank Rock and Benny Blanco Are... Bangers & Cash EP (2007)
Naeem is an absolute sweetheart and this is hands down one of the funnest and funniest songs I have ever heard. Spank Rock is also the key to how I met Jon Uhl, one of the best friends of my life.
15. “A Milli” - by Lil Wayne from Tha Carter III (2008)
I tried to avoid putting songs on this best of the decade list that I know I have included on my previous best of the year lists, but Lil Wayne MUST be included and this is by far his best song from the best selling album of 2008. I cannot hear this without thinking of Jon and Jason and New Orleans and Andrew Doyle and my crazy attic on Peniston Street.
16. “Love Lockdown” - by Kanye West from 808's and Heartbreaks (2008)
I know I know. But seriously, this record is strange and inventive and fearless and in the end, unforgettable. And I love those Japanese drums.
17. “That Hump” - by Erykah Badu from New Amerykah, Pt. 1 (4th World War) (2008)
I cannot say enough good things about this record. I picked two other songs from it for the best of list last year, here is what I said then:
“New Amerykah is my choice for album of the year. I considered at one point just scraping this compilation format and posting the whole New Amerykah as this year’s “best of” comp. Badu has created a sprawling, angry manifesto bursting with pride and loveliness. I love every song on this album.”
18. “Cousins” - by Vampire Weekend from Cousins (single) (2009)
I am including this song as a tribute/concession to my boyfriend Jason. We live together now at Peachtree Street and 8th in Atlanta. He said this should have been on the best of 2009 list. So here you go.
Best of 2009:
http://rapidshare.com/files/330461852/2009.zip
or
http://www.mediafire.com/?mmmqzzmxdnd
Best of the decade:
http://rapidshare.com/files/330464614/aught.zip
or
http://www.mediafire.com/?no1imeoqtmy
Best of 2009:
1. “Gitty Up” by Sissy Nobby from a maybe unnamed album that has not had an official release that I know of, but is available as a bootleg from the people that sell bootlegs around New Orleans.
There is a kind of rap music particular to New Orleans and Louisiana called Bounce. Bounce is about 15 years old now. Lil Wayne, Juvenile and Mystikal all kind of emerged from this scene, but there are tons of artists who have never done anything but bounce music and stayed completely local. In the last couple of years this very poor and very local scene has been completely dominated by the “Sissy Rappers.” Some of these “sissies” are full on trannies, some are just gay. The fact that they have emerged as stars in their own communities is amazing, but what is more amazing is how crazy and fun their music is. Gitty Up is easily my favorite song of the year.
2. “Pon De Floor” by Major Lazer from Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do.
So Diplo made one of the most odd and fun and badass records that came out this year. And it was a dance hall record. If you haven’t listened to this yet because it sounds too strange to be good, do yourself a favor, there is seriously something on this album for everyone.
3. “Lisztomania” by Phoenix from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.
I hated this band for their entire career up to this album, but this album is unassailable. The whole thing from front to back is packed with earworms that seem like they were created by a computer program called “mathematically perfect pop music.”
4. “Little Secrets” by Passion Pit from Manners.
Again, just really great pop music: Falsetto. Kids singing “higher and higher.” It’s awesome. I don’t even know what the lyrics to this song are or what they are about.
5. “Remade Horizon” by Dirty Projectors from Bitte Orca.
Weird and very pretty. Like Talking Heads and Frank Zappa and Manu Chao somehow had the whitest upper-middle class-est babies in the world.
6. “Easy Chairs” by Suckers from Suckers EP.
This band’s debut was an EP released this year with only four songs on it. All of them were great. If they can sustain this through an entire album they will rule the world next year.
7. “Bang Smack” by Project Pat feat. Gucci Mane from Real Recognize Real.
I can’t really justify this other than it is fun and funny as hell. Before I had to be a lawyer this was my ring-tone all year.
8. “Trap Goin’ Ham” by Pill from 4180: The Prescription.
In honor of my move to Atlanta I give you the most Atlanta thing to come out this year. I can’t do this justice without showing the video so here is a link. This video is the real-est thing I have ever seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z42Wxd-_drg
And to any of you who want to give me hell about promoting a video that has actual crack smoking in it, let me answer you with some words from my PR guy, Killer Mike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmC_BGGNDaU&feature=related
9. “Golden Phone” by Micachu from Jewellery. &
10. “Calculator” by Micachu|the Shapes from Jewellery.
My favorite album of the year. It was her debut as far as I know. This chick is so interesting and fresh I cannot wait to see what she does next.
11. “Love Long Distance” by Gossip from Music for Men.
More super gay disco punk rock from these badass cutie-pies.
12. “She Wolf” by Shakira from She Wolf.
I was in Peru just before I started work this fall and I saw this video. It is wildly hyper-sexed and yet also totally awkward. I haven’t been able to get this song out of my head since then for more than a few hours at a time. I readily admit the song might not actually be good, I just can’t stop listening to it/ singing it to myself.
Here’s the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=booKP974B0k
And also a bonus tribute video “he-wolf”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0QNEZTzENU
13. “Rich Off Cocaine” by Rick Ross from Deeper Than Rap.
Rick Ross is super fat and has a giant beard and is still a superstar; this makes me love him. Also this song is sweet.
14. “Wetter (Calling You Daddy)” by Twista from Category F5.
I gave my boyfriend Jason one slot on the list this year. This is the song he picked. I don’t know if he genuinely loves this song or if he just insisted on this to fuck with me. Fair warning, the song is filthy.
15. “Sabali” by Amadou & Mariam from Welcome to Mali.
Translation:
We came to have fun with music
The world is a place of amusement
We have a good time doing that.
Audience!
Patience! Patience is worth everything!
Patience! Patience is good.
If you love someone, patience is worth everything
If you love a man, patience is worth everything
If you love a woman, patience is worth everything
Patience, patience, patience is good.
Baby, I’m talking to you
With you, baby, life is beautiful
With you, baby,
It’s for life.
Baby I give you a great big kiss
I give you a great big kiss
I kiss you hard
Bye-bye!
16. “Two Weeks” by Grizzly Bear from Veckatimest.
Beautiful, gorgeous, infectiously catchy. (also gay.)
17. “Wilco” by Wilco from Wilco (The Album).
I think we all were slightly disappointed by Sky Blue Sky’s dad rock, but now I get it: Jeff Tweedy has decided Wilco is McCartney, not Lennon, and I am ok with that.
18. “Over It” by Dinosaur Jr. from Farm.
Believe me I am as surprised as you are these 15 or 16 or 17 years later. But here it is nonetheless.
19. “The Passenger” by Art Brut from Art Brut vs. Satan.
I am an absolute evangelist for public transportation. I loved the streetcar in New Orleans and I love MARTA in Atlanta. I loved the tiny train that took me the 15 miles down the peninsula from Babasaki-cho to Yonago station in Japan. I feel like this song was written just for me.
20. “Drugs” by Black Lips from 200 Million Thousand.
I had an opportunity to party like a rock star this year with these particular rock stars. Also I am a sucker for any song about being a bad kid riding around town.
21. “Fables” by The Dodos from Time to Die.
Besides all the things that are great about the Dodos generally (weird rhythm, sweet harmonies, that awesome shout/echoing thing they do where a cymbal crash might usually go) I just love love love the chorus to this song.
22. “I Was Young When I Left Home” by Antony & Bryce Dessner from Dark Was the Night.
This is Antony from Antony and the Johnsons and Bryce Dessner, one of the guitarists/writers for the National, covering a Dylan song. If you don’t know Antony, he has a bizarre voice that sounds a lot like Nina Simone if she was about to start crying. It seems like that should be very limiting to the kind of music he can do, but his main band does this operatic, trembling kind of stuff, and then last year he absolutely kicked ass singing disco on the Hercules and Love Affair album. This song is pretty much just him and acoustic guitar and it is absolutely soul shattering. It makes me tear up every time.
Best of the Decade:
1. “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” - by D'Angelo from Voodoo (2000)
Without question my album of the decade. I bought this record on a whim after hearing this song on the radio. I was living on Chalice Court in Athens, Georgia and I can remember clearly laying in my bed there and being blown away by this album. There is not a song on it I do not like and I have listened to the whole record at least once a week for the past ten years. I do not even like R&B and can barely tolerate most “neo soul,” but this album is an absolute masterpiece. It is soulful, beautiful, sexy, sweet, worldly and intimate and it is a completely cohesive and singular artistic statement of purpose delivered with absolute confidence. I love this album. And I could have picked any song from it, I just picked the one that I heard first.
2. “Oh My Sweet Carolina” - by Ryan Adams from Heartbreaker (2000)
Of all of Ryan Adams’ voluminous output in the past ten years this is probably my favorite song. I picked this one because it never was my favorite until the last year or so, it just took ten years for it to grow on me.
3. “Hard To Explain” - by The Strokes from Is This It? (2001)
I had heard all the advanced buzz about this band and I bought this record on a trip to Kyoto not long after I moved to Japan without having heard a note of the music. I loved it from the first song to the last. This was my favorite and is forever tied to winter in Japan for me- I can’t hear it without smelling kerosene heaters.
4. “Poses” - by Rufus Wainwright from Poses (2001)
I bought this CD at Skool Kidz records (or whatever that store was then) in Athens, Georgia and I remember thinking it was overpriced. That seems ridiculous now. How can you put a price on something you have sung softly to yourself for comfort in every lonely corner of the world?
5. “Work It” - by Missy Elliott from Under Construction (2002)
Unquestionably the creator of some of the best singles of the decade, this is probably Missy’s best. I used to listen to this over and over on my morning runs at the park near Evie’s house in Watari.
6. “I'm The Man Who Loves You” - by Wilco from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
I am not sure when I heard this the first time because it was one of the first major pre-leaked albums of the internet age. I know I have never owned a physical copy of this. I had to be honest in my pick from this album, even though lots of it is cool and experimental, and this might be the most straight-forward song, it is still my favorite.
7. “Extraordinary Machine” - by Fiona Apple from Extraordinary Machine (2003)
Similar to the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, this record was leaked a few times before it was finally released in 2005 (I think). I put 2003 as the year as a good faith guess for the first time I heard this song. It’s my favorite from the album, which is excellent in all its several versions.
8. “Sadie” - by Joanna Newsom from The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)
She may play the concert harp as her main instrument, and she may sing like the chipmunks in an accent like your meemaw’s, but I love every single song she has released without exception.
9. “Gulf Shores” - by Will Oldham from Greatest Palace Music (2004)
I know Will Oldham is kind of genius and can do no wrong now after a career of caterwauling off-key folk/country into a 4-track in a neighbor’s apartment in Lexington, KY, but my favorite work of his by far is this record where he went to Nashville, got professional musicians, and rerecorded some of his own favorite songs. This song is absolutely beautiful. I bought this record in Nashville.
10. “The Denial Twist” - by The White Stripes from Get Behind Me Satan (2005)
I am an unapologetic Jack White fan. And since almost all of the White Stripes’ output has happened in this decade, it was hard for me to pick a favorite. This is just a good try. I can remember jogging to this song in Chattanooga when I lived there with Chris.
11. “Pull Up the People” - by M.I.A. from Arular (2005)
This is another CD I bought before I ever heard any of the songs. This is the first song on the record and when I first heard it I was blown away. I’ve been in love with M.I.A. ever since. I bought this at the Tower Records in New Orleans when Chris was there on business and I went to visit Tulane.
12. “Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games” - by of Montreal from The Sunlandic Twins (2005)
I lived in Athens when of Montreal first emerged from the Elephant Six miasma and I was not a huge fan of their early twee noise. I saw this video years later and immediately changed my mind about the band. I used to dance to this song with the dogs in Chris’ house on East Dallas Road in Chattanooga. Jason reminded me recently that Kevin Barnes licensed the song to Outback Steakhouse when he was in a fit of depression. I had forgotten that, but I decided to leave the song in here anyway. I love it so much.
13. “Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix)” - by Beyonce from B'Day (2006)
I am not a huge Beyonce fan, but I have to acknowledge her absolute dominance of pop music this decade. I have no idea how I came across this song initially, but I love to dance to it as much as any other song that came out in the last ten years. It almost got Jon and I kicked out of the Corner Pocket strip club in New Orleans. True story.
14. “B-O-O-T-A-Y” - by Benny Blanco & Spank Rock from Spank Rock and Benny Blanco Are... Bangers & Cash EP (2007)
Naeem is an absolute sweetheart and this is hands down one of the funnest and funniest songs I have ever heard. Spank Rock is also the key to how I met Jon Uhl, one of the best friends of my life.
15. “A Milli” - by Lil Wayne from Tha Carter III (2008)
I tried to avoid putting songs on this best of the decade list that I know I have included on my previous best of the year lists, but Lil Wayne MUST be included and this is by far his best song from the best selling album of 2008. I cannot hear this without thinking of Jon and Jason and New Orleans and Andrew Doyle and my crazy attic on Peniston Street.
16. “Love Lockdown” - by Kanye West from 808's and Heartbreaks (2008)
I know I know. But seriously, this record is strange and inventive and fearless and in the end, unforgettable. And I love those Japanese drums.
17. “That Hump” - by Erykah Badu from New Amerykah, Pt. 1 (4th World War) (2008)
I cannot say enough good things about this record. I picked two other songs from it for the best of list last year, here is what I said then:
“New Amerykah is my choice for album of the year. I considered at one point just scraping this compilation format and posting the whole New Amerykah as this year’s “best of” comp. Badu has created a sprawling, angry manifesto bursting with pride and loveliness. I love every song on this album.”
18. “Cousins” - by Vampire Weekend from Cousins (single) (2009)
I am including this song as a tribute/concession to my boyfriend Jason. We live together now at Peachtree Street and 8th in Atlanta. He said this should have been on the best of 2009 list. So here you go.