The Year In Music

Okay, okay - the year isn't over yet, I know, but I find it unlikely that I will discover anything in the coming few weeks that will make me reconsider the following list.

While procrastinating for finals, essays, going back home and what not I ended up on Pitchfork and a bunch of other hyped up headquarters of music fascism, and they all had these top x lists: best/worst covers, greatest artists of 2009, epic comebacks, worst hairdo's, you name it - there's a list.

So, for personal archiving purposes and for your enjoyment: the 10 tracks that shaped 2009 for me: the good times, the great times, the greatest times, and the very drunk times. Enjoy.


10. K-OS - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1

You know, when you really like this artist, and they get all cocky about their stuff? And then you get scared about the crap they might release next? And then, they were actually living up to their own hype?

9. Gui Boratto - Beautiful Life

A 6 hour ride to the indoor snowboarding hall with SPIN, an early summer afternoon DJ-set at a wakeboarding weekend, a sweaty introduction party in a tiny bar in the heart of Utrecht, late night UCDJ lounging in summer term...

8. Paul Kalkbrenner - Sky and Sand

At the UCDJ lounge in the above-mentioned summerterm, a lot of stuff happened, but playing Sky and Sand was by far the most memorable. About five times. And nobody complained.
My best memory is when everybody left, I had to clean up the crime scene. First, I played myself Sky and Sand one more time, and I dropped down in one of the couches we set up on the UCU quad to finish my bottle of vodka. I watched the moon and, well, I watched the moon.

7. Digitalism - Idealistic

You ask anybody that has been to a party I had to play at, and they will draw a long face and tell you the same thing: "He played that Digitalism track... Again." Fuck it, can you blame anybody for playing this track more than once? Not at the same show, of course, but still.

Maybe even at the same show. Fuck it.

6. Shinichi Osawa - Star Guitar

Oh wow.

Supersonic orgasm.

5. The Lonely Island feat. T-Pain - I'm on a Boat

Comedy gold. This song represents most of 2009, party-wise - even though there was not a single boat involved. If you haven't seen this, or heard of this song at any time this year, you have probably not really bean alive for most of the time. Get out. Click the link. Nautical themed pashmina afghans.

4. Nathan Fake - The Sky Was Pink (James Holden Remix)

A perfect wave crashing on Spanish beaches lit by a crescent moon, a midnight bonfire illuminating the giant pan of punch, a bunch of beach chairs in front of an ancient VW-van half an hour before sunrise...

Stolen kisses, lingering regrets, vivid memories and vague visions - hardly remembering and high expectations. Delusions of grandeur.

A kiloton of bass and a landslide of filthy, rugged awesomeness. This song is the balls, the backbone, and the techno-viking glare of God. Heart-broken.

3. Caravan Palace - Je M'Amuse

I honestly don't think this song was humanly produced. It must have fallen out of the sky when an intergalactic funkateer flew over Earth and accidentally opened the wrong trash hatch, unleashing his stash of super-deluxe electro swing he was going to deliver to the king of Mars.
They damn sure know how to get down on Mars. From the catchy, Muppetesque vocal hook to the monstrous electro crunch swinging in the second verse - everything that makes a song badass, and then some.

2. Phonat - Learn To Recycle

Phonat took a long look at contemporary electronic music, closed in on it, and BITCHSLAPPED THAT FUCKER IN THE FACE. No holding back. Besides the catchiness, this 'bohemian rhapsody of the acid generation' (as critics like to call it) just makes it fun to listen to electronic music again. This tune does more than make you feel good, it's like adderall for your soul. +2 to all stats, a Jedi mind trick reminding you of what creativity means and enough originality to blow away almost everything the current electronical spectrum has to offer. Pay special attention to Phonat's riffage, adding an important layer of awesomeness to his already amazing cut-up electro-drumnbass-madness... Fuck it, there's no use describing this track. Just listen.

1. 65daysofstatic - Radio Protector

I thought I had sufficiently dusted off this track well over a year ago, but it only hit me harder in 2009. In times when the shit hit the fan, these 5 minutes of absolute aural bliss are like a hot shower after long, hard and dirty days - reminding you not only what it feels like to see light at the end of the tunnel, but also bursting out of the tunnel at the speed of light to bask in its warm and fulfilling glory. Too bad it only lasts 5 minutes, because as soon as you snap out of the 65-high it hits you like a ton of bricks, and you have to press play again. It's songs like these that the repeat button was invented for in the first place.


That about sums it up - I'm trying very hard to think of tracks I have possibly forgotten, but none of the tracks that jump to mind had the same kind of impact on me the above did. Bands as a whole did (Sublime, Explosions in the Sky), even some albums (Yndi Halda), but they did not surpass the awesomeness of the above 10 songs. Ok, one honorable mention:

Thrice - Talking Through Glass

This track falls in a different category... It's Thrice at its best, with a crazy riff, an epic chorus and a breakneck pace that makes me want to destroy shit, oh yeah. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Get on my new board and fucking start some mayhem. The rage contained in this song speaks volumes to me, but I think I listened to it a few times too much here in California - and I wasn't happy when they canceled their San Diego show last Friday.

I blame it on the fact that my iPod recently died, Thrice's new album deserves a lot of attention - which I didn't give it, except for this one banger.


So, that about sums up my year in 10 (11) tracks. My DJ'ing year looked a lot different, especially since I haven't played since I left for California. I've been building my library, so I hope to do some serious damage in the UCU bar in February :)

One final exam to go, and I'll be back home before you know it. Damn...