Here’s the final post in this series, looking back at the year in the music for Melting Pot. You’d think given the 1,000s of songs heard over the course of a year that this would be the most difficult list to come up with, but for some reason there are certain songs that stick out and stick with you. What strikes me as interesting about this list is that 4 of the 5 tracks are from artists outside of the US, three from the UK and one from Venezuela. The only US track here is from a group that stopped recording roughly around the time I was born. Not sure what to think of all that…but nonetheless, here are my top 5 favorite songs heard in 2009.
***Honorable Mentions: Ocote Soul Sounds feat. Tita Lima – “Vendende Saude y Fe,” Atlas Sound – “Criminals,” Mos Def – “Quiet Dog,” Quantic Y Su Combo Barbaro – “The Dreaming Mind,” PJ Harvey & John Parish – “Black Hearted Love,” Lee Fields & the Expressions – “Do You Love Me (Like You Say You Do)”
5. 24-Carat Black – “I’ll Never Let You Go” – Gone: The Promises of Yesterday (Numero)
Here’s what I originally had to say about this song:
“Few groups build the way this group did and here that becomes especially evident on my favorite (and perhaps the best sounding) track on this collection “I’ll Never Let You Go.” I love how the rhythm just sputters and stutters along (slightly similar to the intro for “Foot Stamps” on the debut), matched by lyrics and phrasing that sound both innocent and dirty (maybe even a little dangerous?) at the same time. Then there’s the breakdown in the middle, with some blush worthy vocalizing, and the rhythm returns only to finally break loose in stunning fashion just before ending cold. I’m blown away by this track every time I hear it, especially when you compare it to the original girl group version from The Tiares.”
5+ months later, I’m still consistently blown away every time I hear this song and how all the musical elements come together. In terms of the singing I think I’ve decided that the phrasing shifts through these different emotions, innocent, salacious, obsessive, promiscuous, needy, dangerous and then some, which is what makes it such a stunner. This is the song that more than any of the other on this set really makes me hope that somehow someway there’s a back-up of that recording session soon to be found somewhere in Chicago.
4. The xx – “Crystalised” – xx (XL)
On a cursory listen, for at least the first 2 ½ minutes, this seems like just an above average pop-electro tune. On further listens, what makes the song exceptional is the constant switching of point of view between the two singers from verse to verse and chorus to chorus. Everything climaxes close to the end when they simultaneously sing both of their individual choruses, which perhaps I should see as gimmicky, but I guess I’m not as jaded with pop music as I used to think I was. Instead, it sounds like genius, as does the exhortation to go slow at the end, which matches the overall lyrical theme of the song (focused on the tension of a new relationship, the desire to give-in completely to this new love, but a equally strong concern that you might move too fast and ruin a good thing before it starts) while also serving as a rhythmic call to literally slow things down.
3. Jarvis Cocker – “I Never Said I Was Deep” – Further Complications (Rough Trade)
Here were my original thoughts on “Deep”:
“…the crown jewel of this set, and a strong contender for “Song of the Year” has to be “I Never Said I Was Deep.” In my opinion, this quite possibly could be the best song of Jarv’s career, dropping Pulp’s “Help The Aged” from the top of the heap. This may very well be the song that they play at Jarv’s funeral, it’s a perfect crystallization of his entire ethos and after at least two dozen plays, it still almost has me in tears every time. The chorus says it all:
I never said I was deep,
But I am profoundly shallow,
My lack of knowledge is vast,
and my horizons are narrow.
I never said I was deep,
I never said that I was clever,
And if you’re waiting to find,
what’s going on in mind,
you could be waiting forever, for ever and ever.
That my friends, is bloody brilliant…”
I’ll say it again, this one is Jarv’s crowning achievement. The song he’ll ultimately be remembered for and a real anthem for this decade, particularly for those still stuck in hipsterville.
2. Adam Franklin – “Big Sur” – Spent Bullets (Second Motion)
For a song so high on this list, I actually have very little to say about “Big Sur.” Musically, it’s a no brainer why I love it so much, with all those gorgeous swirling reverbed guitars, echoed vocals and insistent drums. Lyrically, this might be the sweetest song Adam Franklin has ever written (or sung for that matter), it’s certainly one of the sweetest I’ve heard in a long time. The song makes me think of my wife and that puts a smile on my face every time I hear and sing it.
1. Jóvenes y Sexys – “Amor Platonico” – Original Music and Songs Inspired By Rudo y Cursi (Nacional)
In preparing for one of my radio shows this past summer I began skimming through the soundtrack to this (highly recommended if you haven’t seen it) film from Carlos Cuarón. It didn’t take long for me to find my way to this track from Venezuela’s Jóvenes y Sexys and it took even less time for me to be completely smitten with this song and group.
No musical crush in the last 5 years as been as great as the one I have for this group. Here (as I noted in the original post) they take a norteño from Los Tucanes de Tijuana and completely reimagine and rework it to the point where I hesitate to even call this a cover. From the layer upon layer of instrumentation, adding a new subtle element as the song moves along, to the handclaps (one of my major musical soft spots), to the unbelieveably tender and sweet phrasing from Loocila every time she sings “imposible” in the chorus, this song is pure pop perfection.
In one of my first posts on this blog, I called this song a “perfect indie-acoustic-electro pop song.” All that hyphenation is just to say that it’s very hard to classify this group and this song. Part of me doesn’t want to classify it. I hope there’s never a single genre that this band gets lumped into (and that Cheky NEVER shaves his afro). Instead, I want to them to have their own unique place, just like this song has in both my musical heart and, very deservedly, at the top of this list.