Saturday, January 2, 2010

Extra Hot Spirit: 2009's Hottest Tracks

At the close of each of the last four years, I have attempted to compile the year’s best music in a set of mixtapes. Although 2009 was a pretty darn good year for music, when I sat down to make these mixtapes, I found that I had spread myself too thin—there were dozens of albums that, despite enjoying, I listened to only once or twice. So after a good deal of revisiting and deliberation, I’ve decided to trim the fat and limit myself to only tracks and albums that I listened to with regularity in 2009.

This editing resulted in some rather blurry mixes, genre-wise. I’ve combined the indie and rock tapes into one mix that roughly balances the two, with side B (starting with Future of the Left) being a good deal more “rock” than side A. The electronica mix has bands that, in the past, were on my rock and indie mixes. And the pop/hip hop/r&b and country/folk mixes are a little all over the place. Still, I’ve done my best to make these as cohesive as possible. Hopefully they make sense and are enjoyable in the order I’ve placed them in.

As always, I am convinced that nearly all of these songs come from albums and artists worth supporting. If you like a song from these mixes, please check out the artist’s myspace, buy their albums, and go to their shows. This year’s tracklist (below) lists the albums from which the songs were culled and includes links for purchasing.

Last but not least, thanks to everyone for the continued interest in these mixes. I love hearing that people are still listening to Anchors Away or that they discovered one of their favorite bands from one of these things. It makes it all worthwhile.

Happy listening,

adam


DISC I – ELECTRONICA – 1:19:30 – 143.3 MB

1. “Velvet” // The Big Pink (from A Brief History of Love) [buy]

2. “My Girls” // Animal Collective (from Merriweather Post Pavilion) [buy]

3. “1901” // Phoenix (from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix) [buy]

4. “New Theory” // Washed Out (from the Life of Leisure EP) [buy]

5. “Zero” // Yeah Yeah Yeahs (from It’s Blitz!) [buy]

6. “Oh! (A-Trak Remix)” // Boys Noize (from A-Trak's FABRICLIVE. 45) [buy]

7. “Goth Star” // Pictureplane (from Dark Rift) [buy]

8. “Second Lives” // Vitalic (from Flashmob) [buy]

9. “A New Chance (The Juan Maclean Remix)” // The Tough Alliance (from the Prison Break EP) [buy]

10. “Seasun” // Delorean (from the Ayrton Senna EP) [buy]

11. “Plain Material” // Memory Tapes (from Seek Magic) [buy]

12. “Light, Pt. 1” // Nosaj Thing (from Drift) [buy]

13. “All for the Best” // Thom Yorke (from Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy) [buy]

14. “Bits and Pieces” // Junior Boys (from Begone Dull Care) [buy]

15. “Surf Solar (7” Edit)” // Fuck Buttons (from Tarot Sport) [buy]

16. “Hyph Mngo” // Joy Orbison (from the Hyph Mngo 12”) [buy]

17. “Xam” // Subway (from Subway II) [buy]


DISC II – POP / HIP HOP / R&B – 1:19:41 – 140.3 MB

1. “Rockin’ That Shit” // The-Dream (from Love vs. Money) [buy]

2. “Keep It Goin’ Louder” (feat. Nina Sky & Ricky Blaze) // Major Lazer (from Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do) [buy]

3. “Help Somebody” // Maxwell (from BLACKsummers’night) [buy]

4. “Life on TV” // Kid Sister (from Ultraviolet) [buy]

5. “Time” // O’Spada (from the Time 7”) [buy]

6. "Echo" // R. Kelly (from Untitled) [buy]

7. “Raindrops” // Basement Jaxx (from Scars) [buy]

8. “Hey Playa! (Moroccan Blues)” (feat. Tai ‘Missy’ Phillips) // DJ Quik and Kurupt (from BlaQKout) [buy]

9. “Run This Town” (feat. Kanye West & Rihanna) // Jay-Z (from The Blueprint 3) [buy]

10. “House of Flying Daggers” (feat. Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah, Method Man & GZA) // Raekwon (from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II) [buy]

11. “Not Your Average Girl” (feat. Shareefa) // Ghostface Killah (from Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City) [buy]

12. “Ballskin” // DOOM (from Born Like This) [buy]

13. “Day ‘n’ Nite (Crookers Remix)” // Kid Cudi (from the Day ‘n’ Nite 7”) [buy]

14. “Left My Heart in Tokyo” // Mini Viva (from the Left My Heart in Tokyo 7") [buy]

15. “Playing God” // Paramore (from Brand New Eyes) [buy]

16. “Shine Blockas” (feat. Gucci Mane) // Big Boi (from the Shine Blockas 7”) [buy]

17. “Dirtee Cash” // Dizzee Rascal (from Tongue N’ Cheek) [buy]

18. “Mfumu” // The Very Best (from Warm Heart of Africa) [buy]

19. “Bad Times” // Annie (from Don’t Stop) [buy]

20. “This Must Be It” (feat. Karin Dreijer Andersson) // Röyksopp (from Junior) [buy]

21. “All Yr Songs” // Diamond Rings (from the All Yr Songs / Facelove split 7”) [buy]


DISC III – INDIE / ROCK – 1:17:44 – 135.9 MB

1. “Two Weeks” // Grizzly Bear (from Veckatimest) [buy]

2. “Stillness is the Move” // Dirty Projectors (from Bitte Orca) [buy]

3. “Hi-Fi Goon” // Throw Me the Statue (from Creaturesque) [buy]

4. “Daniel” // Bat for Lashes (from Two Suns) [buy]

5. “Night Time” // The xx (from xx) [buy]

6. “You and I” (with Feist) // Wilco (from Wilco (The Album)) [buy]

7. “So Far Around the Bend” // The National & Nico Muhly (from Dark Was the Night) [buy]

8. “Young Adult Friction” // The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart) [buy]

9. “Lovers’ Carvings” // Bibio (from Ambivalence Avenue) [buy]

10. “French Navy” // Camera Obscura (from My Maudlin Career) [buy]

11. “Early Warnings” // Foreign Born (from Person to Person) [buy]

12. “Lust for Life” // Girls (from Album) [buy]

13. “Arming Eritrea” // Future of the Left (from Travels With Myself and Another) [buy]

14. “Die Slow” // HEALTH (from Get Color) [buy]

15. “Nothing to Hide” // Yo La Tengo (from Popular Songs) [buy]

16. “Indiana” // Cymbals Eat Guitars (from Why There Are Mountains) [buy]

17. “Let’s Go Surfing” // The Drums (from the Summertime! EP) [buy]

18. “Pine On” // Obits (from I Blame You) [buy]

19. “Over It” // Dinosaur Jr. (from Farm) [buy]

20. “Bell” // Screaming Females (from Power Move) [buy]

21. “Fast Jabroni” // Surfer Blood (from Astro Coast) [buy]

22. “Take It In” // Wye Oak (from The Knot) [buy]


DISC IV – ALT- / COUNTRY / SINGER-SONGWRITER / FOLK – 1:19:06 – 126.9 MB

1. “Jump Then Fall” // Taylor Swift (from the Platinum Edition of Fearless) [buy]

2. “Country Roads” // Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses (from Roadhouse Sun) [buy]

3. “People Got a Lotta Nerve” // Neko Case (from Middle Cyclone) [buy]

4. “Mama’s Eyes” // Justin Townes Earle (from Midnight at the Movies) [buy]

5. “Time to Get a Gun” // Miranda Lambert (from Revolution) [buy]

6. “The Devil and Maggie Chascarillo” // Lucero (from 1372 Overton Park) [buy]

7. “A Love I Think Will Last” (with Chris Janson) // Holly Williams (from Here With Me) [buy]

8. “Whip-Poor-Will” // Magnolia Electric Co. (from Josephine) [buy]

9. “The Blue” // Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit) [buy]

10. “Frank, AB” // The Rural Alberta Advantage (from Hometowns) [buy]

11. “Tenuousness” // Andrew Bird (from Noble Beast) [buy]

12. “Much More Than That” // Sharon Van Etten (from Because I Was in Love) [buy]

13. “Two” // The Antlers (from Hospice) [buy]

14. “Blood Bank” // Bon Iver (from the Blood Bank EP) [buy]

15. “Eid Ma Clack Shaw” // Bill Callahan (from Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle) [buy]

16. “Boat Behind” // Kings of Convenience (from Declaration of Dependence) [buy]

17. “Anna” (feat. Panda Bear) // Taken By Trees (from East of Eden) [buy]

18. “Bode” // Julianna Barwick (from the Florine EP) [buy]

19. “Royal Festival Hall, London – Part VIII” // Keith Jarrett (from Paris / London: Testament) [buy]