Note: These songs are not in preference order. Also, these songs are not necessarily new in 2009--many of them were released sometime in the last 5 years. I will have a separate posting for my favorite "old school" music that I discovered in 2009.
1. One More Drink (With T-Pain) | Ludacris & T-Pain | Hip-Hop/Pop. The numbers don't lie: this is the hip-hop song that I played the most in all of 2009. For all of my self-righteous, independent-music bravado, I seriously fell for the catchy beat and funny lyrics!
2. Don't You Go Away | Liquid People | Dance/House. I've really lost touch with 2000's house music, so I rely solely on m DJ friends for recommendations. My man Jahsonic was performing at Fly Lounge one night and just as I was leaving, he put Don't You Go Away on and I nearly lost my mind! This has become one of my favorite house songs of all time and I think all house heads must have this classic in their collection. (I strongly encourage you to listen to the entire song-- it has a few tasty treats!)
3. Ashby (Frequent Flyers Remix) | Fineprint | Hip-Hop/Indie. This is not a hip-hop dance track, but a clever poem over a great head-nodding tune with a contagious piano sample. The best part of Ashby is probably the chorus: "If you catch me lookin' at you/That means that you were lookin' at me too/Think about it.../I don't mean to be mean to you/But if you were lookin' at me, could you be diggin' me too?". Hmmm....
4. Stella | Nino Moschella | R&B/Neo-Soul. Like Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely, Nino's Stella is a powerful and soulful song about the love, awe and wonder he has for his child. The beat is off-putting at first, but slowly grows on you while the Wonder-esque melody wraps around you like a warm blanket.
5. Thank You | Jay-Z | Hip-Hop/Pop. I know that Empire State of Mind was 2009's hip-hop anthem, but Thank You was clearly my favorite song from The Blueprint 3 album. The track is reminiscent of something from Reasonable Doubt, but Jay's conversational delivery really puts this song over the top and shows why he is still the best in the biz.
6. Home | Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros | Folk. I love it when I stumble on to great music. I never look for folk stuff, but sometimes it just finds me. Home's purposefully-simplistic lyrics and addictive chorus make for an amazing love song that you can't stop playing!
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros's Home Music Video - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Music Videos at MTVMusic.com - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.
7. DFTF (feat. Affion Crockett) | Illa J | Hip-Hop/Indie. Illa J is far from a great rapper, but he does have the choice picks from his brother J Dilla's treasure trove of untapped tracks. Lyrically, DFTF is a typical hip-hop lust song--but the 90's-retro production literally forced me to pull my car over. (R.I.P. J Dilla-- you are still missed all over the world...)
8. Clocks | Coldplay & Buena Vista Social Club | Latin/Mashup. After hearing DJ Oz rock this mashup a few years ago, I finally found it online. It's hard to imagine, but Buena Vista Social Club made a great rock/pop song even better!
9. Piano Lessons (feat. Joell Ortiz) | Colin Munroe | Hip-Hop/Soul. On top of the sick beat and infectious piano riff, I really love the lyrics to the autobiographic Piano Lessons: "So don't bet on me, I'm a longshot/I might bet a million-to-one/So don't bet on me, I'm a longshot/But in a million, I might be the one..." After hearing this song, I'm definitely betting on Colin Munroe!
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10. Heartbeats | The Knife | Electronic/Downtempo. Somehow, I didn't get the memo about The Knife until 2009. So I scoured their discography and discovered Heartbeats. Wow. Keep your volume down when you listen to this--Heartbeats can easily blow your speakers out of commission if you are not careful!
Next up: Part 2 with 10 more of my favorite songs from 2009!
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