Best Indie Songs of 2009

A lot of great indie/alternative music was released this year. So much that I wanted to write a post to share a few of my favorites. Of course, creating a fair, comprehensive "best of" list is next to impossible, unless you base it on sales statistics or some other popularity data. This list is highly biased by my own musical taste and perhaps would be better entitled "Indie songs of 2009 that sound best to me". Anyway, in no particular order, here are my picks:



Doves - Kingdom of Rust
If it were possible for bits to get worn out by repetitive plays, I would have worn them down to their electronic stubs with this song. What's interesting is the song is very noisy. Everything seems dirty and distorted, from the guitars to the string accompaniment in the song's solo. But despite this sonic rustiness, it has very catchy melodies, particularly the guitar/piano/xylophone melody in the chorus.

Headlights - Get Going
Although it isn't quite as addictive as their previous album's Get Your Head Around It (another song whose bits were worn down considerably), Get Going is an excellent song. Or maybe I just have a thing for dreamy, double-tracked vocals sung on top of glittering layers of acoustic and electric guitars.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Everything With You
This is what My Bloody Valentine might sound like in a brighter mood (and without all the pitch bending). It's one of those songs where the vocals are slightly buried in the wall of distorted guitars, but that's okay because we still feel the warmth as they sing from their (pure? ... painful?) hearts.

We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices
Awesome and anything but quiet. And yeah, where is my jetpack anyway?

The Clientele - Never Anyone But You
Speaking of quiet, this one's on the softer side, but definitely worth the listen. The gentle guitars and pleasant ringing of the organ, accompanied by strings are all beautiful, but The Clientele has another beauty on their minds... "I can only see you".

White Rabbits - They Done Wrong / We Done Wrong
This feels like a driving song; one that you might listen to on a long road trip. Everything about it (especially the travelling-style beat) assist in the motion that carries it on full-speed ahead. It's a trip I'm happy to take over and over again.

Papercuts - A Dictator's Lament
It's in the bass that almost sounds like a timpani, warm organ, and the lamenting vocals that bring this track to the list. It's not quite 2007's Dear Employee, but enjoyable nevertheless.

Wilco - One Wing
So many of the elements that make Wilco great are present in this song. From the exceptional drumming and guitar work to the harmonious chorus led by Jeff Tweedy's unique voice, One Wing is One Winner.

Kings of Convenience - Freedom And Its Owner
Of all the songs on the new Kings of Convenience album, this one has the perfect balance of guitars, piano, and two-part vocal harmonies. It's the song I've been waiting for ever since Quiet Is The New Loud's brilliant I Don't Know What I Can Save You From.

Silversun Pickups - The Royal We
I was about to put Panic Switch on this list when I remembered my more favorite track from Swoon: The Royal We. I love the way Brian Aubert belts this one out beyond his normal singing register in the second half of the song. Also the constant battle between the orchestra and the raging guitars seems like a production challenge that was pulled off perfectly.

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Bouncy old-style piano chords, interweaving vocal harmonies, trembling guitar riffs, topped off with hopelessly romantic lyrics make this another instant classic.

William Fitzsimmons - If You Would Come Back Home
Listening to Fitzsimmons' album about dealing with divorce is heart-breaking, but somehow he twists the loneliness and regret into something soft, forgiving, and beautiful. You can particularly hear it in this track, which expresses the loss and love he feels in every emotional note.

Miike Snow - Burial
You would almost expect the gloomy lyrics of Burial ("Now it's the funeral / I become the serial killer of us all") to be somewhat depressing, but the song remains uplifting by its poppy nature.

The Wooden Birds - The Other One
This one instantly gets stuck in your head and won't leave. Acoustic pop at its finest. Doo-do-do-doo.

Phoenix - Rome
Probably anything from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix could go on this list, especially 1901, but Rome is the song I've played the most. It's highly polished and singable "always and forever more."

The Sweet Sounds of Free Music

I recently discovered that Amazon.com offers tons of free songs for download, including full albums. Follow this link to see the full list. (Or go to Amazon, click on mp3 downloads and find the free music link.)

At first I was skeptical when I saw this, thinking it would only have songs by obscure, unknown bands. And, while it does have a lot of those, there are still quite a few songs that are worth the download. Out of the 1,327 songs currently listed, there's bound to be something you'll find interesting.

Snow Patrol's New Album

Woohoo! Snow Patrol just came out with a new album! It's called A Hundred Million Suns.

Even from the opening song, you can hear how much they have improved over the years. At the same time they have kept their distinctive sound. They have some catchy songs this time around, like Take Back the City and Lifeboats ("Send your lifeboats out for me~"). The song Engines sounds like a cross between My Bloody Valentine and Collective Soul, an interesting combination. The album also has their longest song, which runs just over 16 minutes.

Some people complain that this album has nothing compared to Chasing Cars, but I think amongst this hundred million suns, there are a few brilliant stars.

Department of Eagles

I heard some album-version songs by Department of Eagles yesterday, and while it sounded kind of cool and very unique, the music was so highly produced that it almost distasteful, like an over-saturated photo. However, today I found a few videos on the band's website of them playing live on a roof top. In its raw, stripped-down form, their music is awesome! Here's one of the videos of them playing No One Does It Like You.

In This Twilight (Piano Mix)

Finished a piano and string version of Nine Inch Nails' In This Twilight. The original is very industrial, scratchy and noisy. Overall, it's not very pleasant to listen to. (Although, given the song's nuclear explosion undertone, perhaps that is exactly how it was meant to be. If you haven't heard the original, check out this video.)

However, if you strip away all of the noisy instruments, you are left with Trent's sorrowful vocals, which are really quite beautiful. Using only that vocal track (and the rhythmic "trash piano" track, which appears in the second chorus, for effect), I attempted to complement those sorrowful (but hopeful) feelings with piano and string orchestration.

Ghosts Remix

Added another Nine Inch Nails song to my remix.nin.com page called Pretty Ghosts. I got the idea for this one after listening to Ghosts I-IV, the instrumental album. I discovered that laying track 1 on top of track 8 worked very well, without much extra mixing, aside from a slight tempo change on track 1 and some panning adjustments. In an eerie sort of way, it's as if the two tracks were meant to be together.