Fishpork’s 50 Favorite Tracks of 2009
This year really didn’t end up being that “greatest of the decade” as January-March may have suggested. With that said, our favorite tracks list became very album-heavy as it evolved throughout the year. With seven tracks from Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear in the top 20, you kinda get the point. Here is our very biased list of favorite tracks from 2009:
- HEALTH - “Die Slow”
- Grizzly Bear - “While You Wait for the Others“
- Animal Collective - “Summertime Clothes”
- Fuck Buttons - “Olympians”
- Built to Spill - “Things Fall Apart”
- Animal Collective - “My Girls”
- Fever Ray - “Concrete Walls”
- Grizzly Bear - “Ready, Able“
- White Lies - “Farewell to the Foreground”
- Moderat - “New Error”
- Atlas Sound - “Attic Lights”
- Grizzly Bear - “Two Weeks“
- Animal Collective - “Guy’s Eyes”
- Fuck Buttons - “The Lisbon Maru”
- Atlas Sound - “Walkabout”
- Animal Collective - “What Would I Want? Sky”
- Dredg - “Information”
- White Lies - “Death”
- Fever Ray - “Coconut”
- Animal Collective - “Brothersport”
- Built to Spill - “Good Ol’ Boredom”
- MC Rut - “I Don’t Really Know”
- The Mars Volta - “Since We’ve Been Wrong”
- Modest Mouse - “The Whale Song”
- Dirty Projectors - “Cannibal Resource”
- Deerhunter - “Game of Diamonds”
- Morrissey - “It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore”
- Animal Collective - “I Think I Can”
- HEALTH - “We Are Water”
- Dredg - “Mourning This Morning”
- Sufjan Stevens - “You Are the Blood”
- Fuck Buttons - “Surf Solar”
- Phoenix - “Girlfriend”
- The Flaming Lips - “Silver Trembling Hands”
- White Rabbits - “Rudie Fails”
- The Mars Volta - “With Twilight As Our Guide”
- Radiohead - “These Are My Twisted Words”
- Great Northern - “Fingers”
- Royksopp - “Tricky, Tricky”
- Dirty Projectors - “Useful Chamber”
- St. Vincent - “The Party”
- YACHT - “Ring The Bell”
- Bat For Lashes - “Sleep Alone”
- Atlas Sound - “Sheila”
- Washed Out - “Feel It All Around”
- Das Racist - “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”
- Dirty Projectors - “Stillness Is The Move”
- Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs - “Skeletons”
- Great Northern - “Driveway”
- Morrissey - “I’m OK By Myself”
The Fishpork 20: Favorite Albums of 2009
2009 started off as one of the strongest years for music in the decade but then slipped into a summer that left us scratching our heads and yearning for more. An impressive set of Fall releases surprised their way onto our Favorites List and cemented 2009 as a year that will impress music lovers in retrospect. These are our favorite albums from the past year:
1. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
2. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
3. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
4. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
5. Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy
6. Atlas Sound - Logos
7. Morrissey - Years of Refusal
8. Dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
9. White Lies - To Lose Your Life
10. Moderat - Moderat
11. The Mars Volta - Octahedron
12. MC Rut - Middle Class Rut
13. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
14. Great Northern - Remind Me Where The Light Is
15. HEALTH - Get Color
16. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
17. The Flaming Lips - Embyronic
18. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
19. Isis - Wavering Radiant
20. Royksopp - Junior
Most Disappointing Albums:
- Lotus Plaza - The Floodlight Collective
- Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
May’s Fresh Pork Cuts
May 9, 2009 by Fishpork
Filed under Fresh Pork Cuts
Mark’s:
- Deerhunter - “Rainwater Cassette Exchange”
- Dredg - “Saviour”
- Royksopp - “Happy Up Here (Holy Fuck Remix)”
- Atlas Sound - “Time Warp”
- HEALTH - “Die Slow”
- Bat For Lashes - “Pearl’s Dream”
- Isis - “Hall of the Dead”
- A Shoreline Dream - “Hypermode”
- Great Northern - “Warning”
- The Crystal Method featuring Matisyahu - “Drown In The Now”
Pete’s:
Great Northern Deluxe Prize Pack Contest
Thanks to our friends at Filter Magazine, Fishpork is giving away a Great Northern prize pack to one lucky fan. Included in the prize pack is:
- a copy of the band’s new record, “Remind Me Where The Light Is”
- a Great Northern tote bag
- a copy of RAGGED mag, featuring Great Northern
Fill out the entry form below for your chance to win!
Contest Start Date: May 7, 2009.
Contest End Date: May 14, 2009
Great Northern @ The Bowery Ballroom
The crowd that greeted Great Northern last night at The Bowery Ballroom was quiet and modest. Vocalist and keyboardist Rachel Stolte introduced herself, and I commented on the strength of their new record Remind Me Where The Light Is. As I watched fellow guitarist/vocalist Simon Bixler set up his impressive rack of guitar petals and effects, Fishpork received a tweet from Great Northern indie label Eenie Meenie Records that read “Awww . . . You’re (at) the show. We’re jealous.” “Jealous” is certainly an accurate word for anyone not able to make it out to see this band play in one of the best venues around. This show was the third on their current tour, and it did not take long for the band to win over the crowd.
While Stolte’s keyboards are prominent on the record, she plays guitar alongside Bixler for this tour, accompanied by bassist Michael Regilio, touring keyboardist Marissa Micik and Dusty Rocherolle on drums. With the dueling vocals and guitars, Great Northern played almost every track off their new record. The natural interplay between Bixler and Stolte’s unique layering of the male and female vocals gives their live performance the depth and breadth that few bands can achieve. With such a large guitar effects rack some guitarists can drown out the vocals, yet Bilxer uses his with subtle mastery. 
His warm guitar tones and the transonic keyboards round out a sound worthy of tremendous praise.
Great Northern’s performance was as tight as the record, and the raw power of songs like “33,” “Numbers,” and “Warning” (one of my favorite tracks of the year) came across live brilliantly. The 45-minute set was squeezed between openers Eulogies and headliners The Dears. Their sound was polished and mixed to perfection. Great Northern is not a studio band, and they made this clear last night. The band is ready for that next step that is undoubtedly before them. With one of the best records of the year in their pocket and an impressive live set, this band is ready to burst into the spotlight. It is well deserved.
http://www.greatnorthernmusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/greatnorthern
http://www.eeniemeenie.com
Album Review: Remind Me Where The Light Is
My bold prediction of 2009: Great Northern will not be on an independent label for much longer. The epic and stunning Remind Me Where The Light Is is one of the most complete and compelling records I’ve heard so far this year. While not my favorite of the year, the album contains absolutely no filler. Solon Bixler (ex-30 Seconds to Mars) and Rachel Stolte team up for an inspired sophomore effort that compels from start to finish. Most of the songs on the record are very accessible and would play well on mainstream radio. This is not to take anything away from Great Northern. It’s a compliment to the band’s compelling compositions. In an effort to expand their sound, the band decided to work with producer Michael Patterson (Beck, She Wants Revenge). Every track is a potential single.
The band has been releasing sneak peak videos titled with the number of remaining days left to the album’s release, but we’ve been spinning an advance copy for weeks and have anxiously been waiting to post a positive review. Unfortunately, Grey’s Anatomy got their hands on the stunningly beautiful “Driveway” to play during a scene where Meredith tells Derek about Izzie’s brain cancer (no, I don’t watch the show!). Bixler’s voice on the track is impressive for someone who was not a lead singer in his former band (that would be Angel Face … I mean Jared Leto).
Although Rachel Stolte handles the vocals on a majority of the songs, the lyrical collaboration on tracks like “Story,” “Warning” and “33″ are high points on the album. Piano-driven tracks “Warning” and “33″ highlight Stolte’s tremendous sense of melody, and Davey Latter provides serviceable percussion. Other album highlights include the Arcade Fire-like “Mountain” and Stolte’s incantation of Stevie Nicks on “Numbers.” A highly anticipated May gig at Johnny Brenda’s (200 capacity) in Philly promises to be a real treat. Remind Me Where the Light Is was released digitally on iTunes on 4/14 and will be in stores next Tuesday.