Seattle Subsonic

Best of 2009 – Kevin’s Top 20 Singles edition

December 30th, 2009

I’ve finally pulled together the top 20 singles I found to be outstanding from 2009. My favorites for this year span the entire spectrum from the bright and cheery to dance hall grandeur, fringe hip-hop to R & B redux. One thing I noticed is that this years list is decidedly marked by old-timey folk revival. For one, there’s Portland’s Builders and the Butchers who take on a dark approach to the whole jangling jubilation of the mountain song. The damp mossy days of the Pac NW have steeped into their lyrics focusing them towards death, the devil and other unmentionables found in the deep dark well. Seattle’s Cave Singers on the other hand are a more free-spirited clan, instilling an undeniable need to dance rather than broody introspection. Far and away the best local band I’ve seen live in recent times.
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This year I discovered some bands that have been producing for years but only just appeared on my radar. The most outstanding of which would be The Heavy. Hailing from Noid, England, (and apparently spending a significant stint in Seattle) they play a style of neo-soul full of crunchy guitar and horns, like a mix of old Black Keys and Jon Spencer. Their last album, The House that Dirt Built, is riddled with hits – sometimes sleazy, sometimes straight rockin, always addictive.
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Now while the Heavy have producing albums since 2007, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears put out their first release this year, but if I were to guess I’d say it sounds as if it were put out by Stax Records in the 60′s. On their album Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is the 8-piece ensemble, lead by the heavily funktified vocals of Joe Lewis, struts their way through a mix of Soul, Funk and R&B that would impress James Brown himself.
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One other funny thing I found about this years faves is that they keep appearing on TV. Phoenix‘s music is used in the Cadillac commercials, Matt and Kim were featured in a Bacardi rum ad and Peter, Bjorn and John bring extra light to the It’s Always Sunny… spots. Other greats finds this year are simply far too numerous for listing out in detail so I’m going to let the music do the rest of the talking. Some relatively obvious but others are more obscure, and hopefully you’ll be introduced to something new. I’ve inverted the list to go “most best” to “least best” – it takes away some of the mystery but hell, life is short, viva hedonism.
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