The 50 Best Songs of 2009

As part of PopMatters’ 20th anniversary, we are revisiting classic features. Travel back in time a decade ago to 2009, when indie rock was in its full ascendency,and hear the songs that soundtracked the era.

                                      
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        The 60 Best Albums of 2009
    
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As part of PopMatters’ 20th anniversary, we are revisiting classic features. Travel back in time a decade ago to 2009, when indie rock was in its full ascendency,and hear the songs that soundtracked the era.

The year in song reflected the state of the world around us. Here are the 60 songs that spoke to us this year.

Hell-On follows the same basic outline as Neko Case's records since she refined her sound way back on 2002's Blacklisted. But as always, there are wrinkles.

The New Pornographers recently played Houston for the first time in nine years. They did not disappoint.

Their siren sound draws indie rock fans like the sailors who would shipwreck after being enchanted by the sirens’ voices of mythological lore.

Whiteout Conditions continues the New Pornographers' traditions of great hooks and vocals while increasing the band's use of synths even more than on their last album.

Six years in the making, the second solo offering from the My Morning Jacket guitarist is tender, nostalgic, and often sweet. Neko Case, Laura Veirs, and MMJ buddies are on hand to help.

The song is extremely well-crafted, sounding like some classic from the minds of Jimmy Webb or Bacharach/David.

Laura Gibson's excellent fourth album is the cathartic sound of someone starting over.

Wherein Neko Case tackles gender politics in her loudest rock song yet, aided by guitarist M. Ward.

"They sleep, we live!" Young hearts come hither and feel the After glow.

After 20 years of steady releases and catalog development, the rest of the country has finally caught up to the vision of Bloodshot Records.

These top 20 records of the '00s feature some familiar faces, but also several that, over time, have grown more fondly in memory.

The New Pornographers teamed with NPR for a unique performance at the Brill Building - the place that inspired the title of their newest album Brill Bruisers.

A no-cost counterpoint to SXSW one can enjoy at their leisure, Couch By Couchwest is a festival where the beer is cheaper and the only hipster is you.

New Pornographers frontman and solo artist Carl "A.C." Newman talks about his failure to be a real rock star and how an almost painful self-consciousness creates his work.

A weekend full of live music including performances by Neko Case, Aesop Rock, Major Lazer, Grimes, Cloud Nothings, Twin Shadow, Youth Lagoon, Thee Oh Sees, Doomtree, Father John Misty, John Maus, Porcelain Raft, Spaceghostpurrp, King Tuff, Blood Diamonds and more.

On her first album in a decade, Kelly Hogan delivers bravura performances of music contributed by a host of songwriting legends including Andrew Bird, Vic Chesnutt and Stephin Merrit, among others.

It's the type of dream show that can only happen in the City of Angels.

Promising singer-songwriter has problems finding a real direction.

Ladies and Gents, Lydia Loveless came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. Bad news is she's all out of bubblegum.

If only the creators of the Spiderman musical had chosen Elvis Costello instead of U2 to create Spidey's soundtrack... While we're at it, here are some ideas for Broadway's next pack of superhero shows.

Everything you need to know about the new Dodos album can literally be heard in its first seven seconds: the drums are back, and they are very, very loud.

The Dodos' Meric Long espouses on guitar holes, "super shy" singing, getting Neko Case to sing on half of his band's new album, and how he just wants the Dodo shows to "go off" ...

There’s something endlessly fascinating about watching a collection of individuals melt into one entity, especially when the resulting effort produces something so simple and honest.

The member of the New Pornographers and Immaculate Machine comes out with a solid solo debut that she recorded in her mother's living room.

With some help from T-Bone Burnett and Neko Case, Jakob Dylan, now 40, finally writes the Americana-folk record we always knew he wanted to make.

SXSW conference attendees took a workmanlike “how-to” approach to discussing new revenue streams, replacing the “what do we do now?” tone of recent years.

For a decade that prided itself for breaking down musical barriers, there is a noticeable lack of female presence on this decade's most highly-regarded albums.

Neko Case's Sixth album, Middle Cyclone is almost a month old, but has quickly become one of her most important works in her distinguished career.

Beguiling beauty and powerful pipes can’t save Case’s latest from feeling like a disappointment.

Great song. Even greater cause.

The music of Neko Case shows us a world of danger, guilt, regret, displaced hearts, lost time and lost faith, several deaths, the matter-of-factness of animals, and reckoning. In other words, exactly what the contemporary moment shows us.

The world is better for every new pair of ears that gets turned on to Of Montreal and Ted Leo. The only real question is this: do you really need this album to begin with?