The 30 Best Songs of 2009

Ok so a week into 2010 is a bit late for a “best of 2009” post but any regular readers (are there any?) will know i’ve had problems with hard-drives, my internet connection, my laptop in general and more recently some other stuff has came up that has prevented regular posting recently.

But back to the post..

Deciding on the songs and the order of them for this Top 30 was a hard decision (the Top 30 albums was even harder, post that at the weekend) to make. Basically there were only one rule when picking the list. The rule was that a band can not feature more than once in the list. If that rule wasn’t made then i’d have had the full APTBS album in there, shit, i’ve just gave away the identity of my album of the year haven’t i?

Apart from that it was pretty simple. 30 slots and hundreds of songs. Pick the best.

Remember though, having a song in the Top 30 songs doesn’t automatically mean that the artists will be in the Top 30 album countdown as well. Take for example Yes Giantess, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool and Stuck In The Sound. In the case of YG and OELSP they won’t make the Top albums cos they don’t have one out yet and in the case of Stuck In The Sound its because their album just wasn’t good enough (imo) to be in the Top 30. The song i included here however “Zapruder” is pure shoegaze genius. There’s also the other side of the coin. Bands like The Prodigy, MSTRKRFT and many more brought up absolute brilliant albums in 2009 but even though their albums as a collective were amazing, none of the individual tracks managed to make it into the Top 30 songs.

Sorry i’m not very good at trying to get my point across. I think i might just be trying to justify the fact that i had to leave some amazing songs out of the Top 30. I would have made a Top 500 if i had the time!

So away from the mumbled jibberish that i just wrote, here is the list in countdown style 30 to Number 1

SOMEONE’S IN THE WOLF TOP 30 SONGS OF 2009

30. Erol Alkan & Boys Noize – Death Suite (Bobermann Remix)
29. Paper Planes – Permanent Marker
28.  Ou Est Le Swimming Pool – Dance The Way I Feel
27. Freeland – Borderline
26. Nathan Fake – Basic Mountain
25. Stuck In The Sound – Zapruder
24.  Mew – Introducing Palace Players
23. Tigers That Talked – Artificial Clouds
22. The XX – Night Time
21. Yes Giantess – Tuff N Stuff
20. Bat For Lashes – Daniel
19. Miike Snow – Animal
18. Russian Circles – Malko
17. IAMX – I Am Terrified
16.  Maybeshewill – Co-Conspirators
15. Them Crooked Vultures – New Fang
14. The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition (re-release)
13. Japandroids – Wet Hair
12.  Tape Deck Mountain – Ghost Colony
11. Crocodiles – I Wanna Kill
10.  A Place To Bury Strangers – In Your Heart
9. The Tupolev Ghost – Diagrams
8.  Moderat – A New Error
7. Ex Lovers – You Forget So Easily
6. The Big Pink – Velvet
5. Cougar – Florida Logic
4. Zaza – Sooner Or Later
3. Lymbyc Systym – Ghost Clock
2. Passion Pit – Moths Wings

And the winner of Track of 2009 goes to

1. Ex Libras – Radar

Instead of making all these tracks available individually i’ve  put them all in a ZipFile for anybody who wishes to download the list. The songs have been numbered so they should play in the correct order.

Download it here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/190954768/e192dfa6/best_of_2009.html

Once again sorry for the delay.

S.I.T Wolf  X

New Fang = New Song

A few hours ago there was a very welcome surprise posted on my YouTube home page…a new video from Them Crooked Vultures!

After treating us to a video for “Scumbag Blues” last month they have now decided to give us another track off their self titled debut album, which is due out over here on the 16th of November. The new song is titled “New Fang” and sounds like it should, like a mix of Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zep and the Foo Fighter’s of The Colour and The Shape era. 

Have a listen below and form your own opinion. I don’t really have to give you my opinion, as you already know my feelings on Josh Homme’s never-ending musical quests. Whatever project he puts his big ginger hairdo into always seem to make my ears happy.

Them Crooked Vultures – New Fang

Can’t wait to go see them in December, thanks again to Emma for getting me a ticket! If it wasn’t for her i’d have to take the loooooooooooooong journey south to Plymouth….

S.I.T Wolf  X

Comfortable Is Creepy: A Preview Inside the Studio With Them Crooked Vultures

Comfortable Is Creepy

Them Crooked Vultures have released yet another teaser for the upcoming album. They’ve chosen to let our desperate ears listen to a little bit more of “Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I”. But this time instead of a 14 second clip of the music accompanied by three music minded vultures (crooked ones obviously) we get a peak inside the studio and 33 seconds of the song. It seems like we are being fed the song little by little, piece by piece……i reckon we’ll have got to the chorus by Christmas.

But it sounds like the wait will be worth it. Here’s hoping.

It’s all good and well that the Ginger Elvis is making new music in Them Crooked Vultures but lets hope he’s not forgot about QOTSA, we’re due something new off the Queens any month now.

Just as a little reminder for those of you who have forgotten just how good the noise is when messrs Homme and Grohl put their skulls together, here’s a classic piece of Josh Hommes riffery nicely bolted onto Dave Grohls pounding beats.

MP3: Queens of the Stone Age – A Song for the Dead

S.I.T Wolf x

Them Crooked Vultures

There were rumours in the early part of 2009 that Josh Homme and Dave Grohl had got together with John Paul Jones (of Led Zep fame) to create some unearthly sounds together. In fact, talk of the trio jamming together goes as far back as 2005 but it was only in July this year that it was revealed that the guys had been recording together in a studio in LA.  How they came up with the name “Them Crooked Vultures” i will never know but it certainly sounds fitting. With Homme on guitar and vocals, Jones on bass and Grohl on drums the recordings surely promise to be something very special indeed. All 3 have tasted success with their own bands in the past and Them Crooked Vultures will surely carry on that success rate.

The group performed their first show in Illnois on August 9th and have a show in Amsterdam lined up this Wednesday (August 19) night. Alain Johannes (Eleven, Mark Lanegan Band, QOTSA, Spinnerette) appeared on stage as a second guitarist at the Illnois gig and is likely to help out again at the Dutch show.

Them Crooked Vultures live @ Metro Chicago, Illnois (August 9)

The set list for the Illnois gig was:-

Elephants
New Fangs
Scumbag Blues
Dead End Friends
Bandoliers
Mind Eraser
Gunman
Daffodils
Interlude w/Ludes
Caligulove
Warsaw
Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I

On August 12 the band released an official video on YouTube. It was a 14 second preview clip of the song “Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I”. See what you think for yourself.

There are also a few live video excerpts from the Illnois show on YouTube. The one below is the best quality i could find. I honsetly don’t know which tracks are which in the videos yet but apparently this one is a section of the track “Caligulove”. Enjoy.

The band are keeping their cards close to their chests and haven’t posted any music online yet. There is however a brand new t-shirt (pictured at the top of this post) available on their official website.

http://www.themcrookedvultures.com/

http://www.myspace.com/crookedvultures

Anybody who knows me will know that i hold Josh Homme in high regard so i have massive hopes for this new project. And so the waiting begins….

S.I.T Wolf x