Entertainment For Lively Minds
Vote in The Word's Festive Fifty for 2009
By popular demand, we're running a Festive Fifty for 2009. Choose your five favourite tracks released this year - in any order, it doesn't matter - and enter them in the boxes below. We will crunch them all into a giant chart representing the WORD Massive's judgement on the best music of the year. It should produce something subtly different from, and certainly more compact than, the celebrated Spotify The Noughties list.
Selections can be singles, album tracks, b-sides or even unreleased/naughty bootleg mash-up music - we don't care. All that we ask is that, for ease of compiling the list, you enter your choices in this format:
TITLE OF TRACK IN CAPS followed by Name of Band
Otherwise I will go blind attempting to manipulate the data.
Closing date is FRIDAY 11 DEC and we will put the results in the next issue, out on Jan 14th. And we'll try to compile it into the obligatory Spotify list too. Right, off you go!
You can cut and paste mine if you like
WHEN I GROW UP by Fever Ray
CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR by We Fell to Earth
THE ROLL OFF CHARACTERISTICS (OF HISTORY IN THE MAKING) by Cornershop
ACTOR OUT OF WORK by St Vincent
THROWING BONES by The Phantom Band
No thanks...
...but you can change your mind if you want (actually yours aren't bad at all). Here's mine...
FOLK SONG OBLIVION by The Phantom Band
SCARLET FIELDS by The Horrors
THE GREATEST LIGHT IS THE GREATEST LIGHT by The Joy Formidable
DON'T YOU KNOW by Elephant Stone
MOTHER'S TEARS by Sad Day For Puppets
My oar, duly stuck in...
MY GENIUS Pugwash
DID I FIGHT IN THE PUNK WARS FOR THIS Henry Priestman
IN PARIS AFTER THE WAR Boo Hewerdine
HIGH WIDE AND HANDSOME Loudon Wainwright III
WRONG Depeche Mode
I have voted but..
if I could break the rules the 5 songs most important to me in 2009 were the different versions of Way Down In The Hole. They will remind me of this year than any others.
sorry to interrupt but wheres that spotify link to
the 'great songs by crap bands' playlist?
im pulling my hair out here. apolz.
My five
ROMANS 10:9 The Mountain Goats
There is something very pleasing about the way the disparate elements of this song come together and generate an irrepressible forward momentum: A dash of vaguely Spanish guitar, dribs and drabs of piano and some spirited percussion, all wrapped around John Darnielle’s internal monologue of someone losing the will to tread water, yet holding on to a faint glimmer of hope.
LITTLE SPARROWS The Handsome Family
Rennie Sparks lyrics have a tendency to view the world through a microscope where the small things matter. Here a Blakean sense of wonder, roused by the banal sight of paper cups blowing down a street and geese flying over parking lots, is lent an exaggerated Country & Western gravitas by her husband, Brett’s, mournful vocals.
WHAT IS HOME The Black Crowes
At the mid-point of their career The Black Crowes slipped into a well defined rut, their albums existing as perfunctory placeholders for an unfashionable form of heritage American rock music. On their latest album Before The Frost... the band have regained the energy and the enthusiasm that made their earlier material so electric. What Is Home sounds like an Appalachian trail song brought down from the mountains by Alan Lomax and then polished by Crosby, Stills and Nash .
WE MADE IT Liam Hayes & Plush
Lounge music has long been the home territory of the tongue in cheek novelty act, or the millionaire pop star who fancies dressing up as Frank Sinatra for the day. Liam Hayes (who resembles a faded 1970s Vegas club singer both in sound and appearance) peels away the layers of kitsch and infuses the outdated decor and threadbare upholstery with a world-weary sincerity.
WHO CAN SAY The Horrors
Like a Phil Spector production, warped beyond recognition in a funhouse mirror; smeared with fairground Wurlitzer and propelled along by a lean, dirty guitar riff. The spoken-word middle eight, with its dramatic dropped drum beat, effectively make this song Be My Baby in a leather jacket and black drainpipe jeans.
http://open.spotify.com/user/backwards7/playlist/0Z1wJFr74rgkEzw2DP0BVx
Never heard any of 'em ......
but those write-ups are top stuff!
Mountain Goats!
That Mountain Goats album is incredibly good, I recommend The Massive gfo check it out on spotifiy or wherever. One of my votes will probably be going for MATTHEW 25:21.
5 Tracks From My 5 Favourite Albums of 2009
MY GIRLS by Animal Collective
THE RAKE'S SONG by The Decemberists
BOY FROM LAWRENCE COUNTY by The Felice Brothers
A MATTER OF TIME by The Leisure Society
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION by The Duckworth Lewis Method
Animal Collective
Seconded on 'My Girls' - possibly the catchiest song I heard all year, or at least the one that kept popping into my head all year, even if I'm probably making up the words as I go along. 'There isn't much...'
Just to add mine
1) Seven Forty Seven - Boards Of Canada
2) Here's The Tender Coming - The Unthanks
3) My Girls - Animal Collective
4) Martinmas Time - James Yorkston
5) For Your Lover Give Some Time - Richard Hawley
Special mentions for The Phantom Band, Bibio and The Decemberists....
listing slightly
Some interesting things to go off and have a listen to there... I'm just wondering, can all five of mine be by The Phantom Band?!
Tough choices
Here's mine:
PULLING ON A LINE Great Lake Swimmers
DON'T TAKE ME TO SPACE (MAN) Brakes
SICK MUSE Metric
IF I HAD A HEART Fever Ray
I BEEN BORN AGAIN The Phenomenal Handclap Band
Must go and listen to the Phantom Band album again after all the picks above. One of those that didn't grab me when I got it, but maybe I was wrong!
My guess is that there'll be
My guess is that there'll be a lot of love for Mumford And Sons, Little Boots and Florence. However, these were my five:
1) Rabbit Heart by Florence + The Machine
2) Islands by The XX
3) Old School by Kosha Ft Bizzy B
4) Physical Education by George Pringle
5) Every Word She Said by Tony Christie
Where's the Pop?
My subscription to Word is likely to be cancelled if there isn't at least one of Lady GaGa, Lily Allen or PSB in the Festive 50. By the look of the selections above I should probably contact my bank to check how I cancel a Direct Debit.
Diverse!
What happens if no song gets more than 1 vote?
Furtive five
Doves - Outsiders
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Dull Life
Shakira - She-wolf
Dinosaur Jr. - I Don't Wanna Go There
Flaming Lips - Convinced Of The Hex
Well then...
Growing Up Beside You - Paolo Nutini (natch)
The Hazards of Love - The Decemberists
For Your Lover Give Some Time - Richard Hawley
Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons
Blue Lips - Regina Spektor
And can there be a rule about there being only one song per artist in the final fifty to prevent a re-run of last year's Fleet Foxes and Elbow love-in?
After much wrangling I went with:
CORNERSTONE Artic Monkeys
BOY FROM LAWRENCE COUNTY The Felice Brothers
THE LIBERTY OF NORTON FOLGATE Madness
WHEN I GO AWAY Levon Helm
AHEAD OF THE CURVE - Monsters Of Folk
Almost made it:
Sweet Spot: Duckworth Lewis Method
Union Street: The Duke & The King
Feel A Change Comin' On: Bob Dylan
Mine are in order of most listened to...
Sorry if this is getting a bit predictable, but I'm only being honest...
The Phantom Band - Throwing Bones
The Phantom Band - Folk Song Oblivion
The Phantom Band - Island
The Phantom Band - The Howling
Animal Collective - In the Flowers
props to the Handsome Family selection though!
My 5
REVENGE sparklehorse & dangermouse featuring the flaming lips
SIGH NO MORE Mumford & sons
LISZTOMANIA Phoenix
CRYSTALISED the xx
HEADS WILL ROLL yeah yeah yeahs
a plea to the word team
It's upsetting to see so many good tracks mentioned by people when I have personally messed up my own votes something chronic... failing to read the originally post properly in my haste to vote I misunderstood the principal of the festive 50.
It was the festive bit that threw me and so what I have actually submitted, rather shamefully, was my 5 greatest Christmas songs of all time. None of which were released this year!!!
And so it goes!
What I would have submitted would have been:
1. JOHN 4.16 by The Mountain Goats
2. THE TESTIMONY OF PATIENCE KERSHAW by The Unthanks
3. THE FEAR by Lily Allen
4. THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER by Florence + The Machine
5. AMY AND RACHEL by Darren Hayman and The Secondary Modern
Thankfully this time I read the post carefully and did my research and so didn't embarrass myself further by selecting any of these:
THE BOX by Johnny Flynn (2008)
5 YEARS TIME by Noah And The Whale (2008)
FROM THE RIVERS TO THE OCEAN by Bill Callahan (2007)
All of which I thought were released this year until about 5 minutes ago.
So anyway Fraser or whoever else can help me could my actual submission be ignored and the above selection inserted instead? Please? Pretty please? (etc...)
As Dermot says...
..in no particular order:
1. RAINDANCE - The Very Best (feat. M.I.A.)
2. THESE ARE MY TWISTED WORDS - Radiohead
3. HARRY PATCH (IN MEMORY OF) - Radiohead
4. 15 TO 20 - The Phenomenal Handclap Band
5. SEVEN - Fever Ray
Blimey that was hard
FOR YOUR LOVER GIVE SOME TIME Richard Hawley
FRENCH NAVY Camera Obscura
I'LL HAVE TO DANCE WITH CASSIE God Help The Girl
THE WANTING COMES IN WAVES Decemberists
THE FEAR Lily Allen
Here are mine...
1. My Girls - Animal Collective
2. When I Grow Up - Fever Ray
3. Islands - The Xx
4. Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5. Olympians - Fuck Buttons
Those that nearly made it:
Two Week - Grizzly Bear
Who Can Say - The Horrors
You Got The Love (Xx rexix) - Florence & The Machine (Album version also good)
In For The Kill (Skreem remix) - La Roux
My album of the year would be Fever Ray.
harder than I thought...
This was harder than I thought, most of the music I bought this year was made in other years. And then my short-list turned out to have 18 songs on it.
TOO MUCH TIME John Vanderslice
READERS & WRITERS Idlewild
BLUE NILE Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics
MATTHEW 25:21 The Mountain Goats
GIRLFRIEND Phoenix
Whether I will still love the Idelwild song this time next year is at present unknown.
Wot, no Animal Collective?
Five to savour
1. We Share the Same Skies - The Cribs
2. You and I - Wilco
3. God Help the Girl - God Help the Girl
4. 24-25 - Kings of Convenience
5. For Your Lover Give Some Time - Richard Hawley
Thanks to the people above for the pointer to the Mountain Goats. Quality.