15 Singles With Great Production In 2009
It’s New Year’s Eve, and we’re all getting ready to go to year-end parties, but I still managed to get this in on time. Reading a lot “Best Of” lists made me reflect on the music of this year as well, and I came up with fifteen singles released in 2009 that had great production and have stuck with me since I first heard them.
Fleet Foxes – Mykonos
January 2009
What I continue to enjoy and respect the most about Fleet Foxes’ production is they’re ability to make the most multiple instruments and voices and still maintain such a wide, open sound. The percussion resonates without overpowering any one thing. Shakers are a clearly heard as the kick drum are as clearly heard as the various harmonies that make up one lyric. They’ve managed this cohesion between all parts of a track without sacrificing the individuality inherent in different timbres. “Mykonos” has a lot going on throughout, but I never feel weighed down or overwhelmed. It’s never too loud to make out the details, just this lush but uncluttered dynamic range.
The Lonely Island – I’m On A Boat (feat. T-Pain)
February 2009
Comedy albums never seem to get their fair shake. Even when they’re popular, like The Lonely Island certainly have been since their addition to Saturday Night Live, they’re generally not measured against other musicians the same way. Case and point: everybody who got het up about their recent Grammy nomination. “I’m On A Boat” isn’t my favorite song from Incredibad, but I still believe that what makes this song work is what initially made “Dick In A Box” three years ago: how well the group genuinely try to recreate the genres they use as platforms instead of just making fun of them. If you simply want to make fun of hip-hop aesthetic and hubris, then you can watch two forty-somethings playing borderline mentally challenged caricatures performing “Boats N Hoes.” The production value is low; the joke is cheap. The Lonely Island aren’t exactly high-brow humor, but there’s a worthwhile and appreciated difference between what they do and other examples of parody, starting with the production value on these tracks and the fact that, ultimately, instead of just making fun the genres they use, they study them and flip songs to generally joke about themselves. It wouldn’t work as well as it has if them and the people they work with didn’t have a real understanding of and appreciation for these different styles.
Laura Izibor – Shine
February 2009
Laura Izibor is only 22. Right off, I hadn’t expected her to sound as mature as she does, like she’s been making albums for years and already has a strong grasp on her style and presentation. “Shine” isn’y interesting sonically because there’s some bizarre, unique way that the song is recorded. That’s not it at all. It’s generally just a solid soul song — bright brass, energetic chorus, bold vocals, and balanced stereo field. That confidence is what made me stop and listen to again and again all year. First impressions are everything in entertainment, right? And Laura Izibor’s first single and lead track on her album, Let The Truth Be Told, has an assertiveness that hits right away and then builds on itself at all the right moments.
Manchester Orchestra – Shake It Out
March 2009
This is probably one of Manchester Orchestra’s most aggressive songs. It still showcases what they do best, though, in creating various levels all within the same track. Each song feels more like very specific narratives rather than a way to pass four minutes.
Basic songwriting isn’t hard. If you want to write a pop song, start in C, write it in 4/4 time, and make it verse/chorus/verse. It’s the ways in which bands spin that foundation that makes a track interesting. In composition, Manchester Orchestra tend to have a great grasp on how to build a song up to heightened points, then strip it away right when you think you know where they’re going. All the emotional intensity that carries this song vanishes halfway through, but the band doesn’t leave the listener lost. They re-imagine the energy as something more desperate than angry, milk it, and eventually bring you back the original point so smoothly that you don’t notice the two extremes don’t necessarily have too much to do one another.
Kanye West – Amazing (feat. Young Jeezy)
March 2009
Kanye is a clever rapper and an excellent live performer, but his bread and butter, musically, is his tendency to experiment with different trends in popular music and figure out what else he can add to them create a signature of his own. His decision to champion Auto-Tune for 808s & Heartbreak was talked into the ground. For me, that decision wasn’t as interesting on its own so much as Kanye’s move to combine very digital elements with organic, almost tribal percussion and patterns throughout most of the album. The juxtaposition is unexpected, and that makes it feel special. “Amazing” isn’t really a typical self-assured anthem, because it’s so low-key and focused, and yet it still got adopted by the NBA to help jumpstart the Playoffs this year. Say what you will about what kind of person Kanye may be, but 808s was supposed to be an indication that Kanye had jumped the shark, and yet it’s been as popular as any of his other albums.
fun. – At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)
May 2009
I’ve had a couple opportunities to talk about what I think of fun. Nothing has changed, really, except that at this point, the fact that I’m still as charmed and excited by them as I a few months probably means they are just a flash in the pan for me. “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)” remains my favorite track from the album, impressing me in a way that’s similar to Manchester Orchestra. Both bands are very aware of how much tweaking excitement levels and inserting calculated calm can add to a song.
Kings Of Leon – Notion
June 2009
What makes me like “Notion” is what’s made me enjoy all the singles from Kings of Leon in the last year and a half. Everything recorded during or after Only By The Night pretty much sounds live. Playing around with reverb and echo is tricky, because if a producer and/or engineer is too enthusiastic, well, it just sounds like you’re stuck in the 80s again. I love Journey as much as the next person, and I think it’s great that “Don’t Stop Believing” has somehow managed to reclaim super-single status for the last two years as if it isn’t almost thirty years old, but I also don’t need all brand new albums to sound like they were also recorded in 1981. “Notion” reaches a middle ground. It encourages a feel as close to live feels as one can get without actually dubbing a concert, but it’s laso not so over-the-top that it sounds like someone doesn’t know when to quit experimenting with decay times.
Phoenix – Lisztomania
July 2009
I feel kind of bad, because I don’t actually have a whole lot to say about this song, except that, well, when I think of indie music as it is today, I think of songs like this one. Thankfully, this one isn’t so patently popular indie that it’s annoying.
Lily Allen – Fuck You
July 2009
There’s nothing more satisfying than a song that’s a little deceptive. Lily Allen is sort of notorious for bits of cheerful sarcasm, but this single is probably one of her best examples of that, considering the title and the entire chorus is a series of “Fuck You” sung sweetly. There are even harmonies! There’s nothing like a “Fuck You” and a smile. The generous application of chimes and bells pump in some extra flare, too, with a trumpet coming in to help herald the most lighthearted kiss-off in a while.
Eminem – Beautiful
August 2009
This is far from the best Eminem song ever recorded. This probably isn’t even the best song on Relapse, but it is the song that uses a live sample of “Reaching Out” to set the tone for this moody, heartfelt song about self-esteem and accepting oneself. It’s like “Lose Yourself,” but a post-rehab, post-crying in your room listening to classic rock records version. That alone makes it the most interesting track on Eminem’s latest album and definitely the most interesting single he’s released this year.
Muse – Uprising
September 2009
If you’re planning some kind of revolution, you can probably plan to play a lot of Muse as the soundtrack for your movement. Trust me, you’ll save a lot of time, which will be good, since you’ve got all that overthrowing the establishment to organize. But, honestly, I think that’s ultimately what makes “Uprising” infectious. They can construct an anthem for unrest like nobody’s business, complete with the two recognizable guitar chords that bracket each chorus after a round of soaring vocals. This song insists again and again that we’ll be victorious, and we believe them.
Kid Cudi – Pursuit of Happiness (feat. Ratatat and MGMT)
September 2009
This won’t be officially released as a single until sometime next month, but it already has a video, so I say it counts. I’m a huge fan of collaborations, especially if the collaborations seem to come out of nowhere. I’m still not entirely sure how Kid Cudi knows Ratatat or MGMT, but I was pleasantly surprised by their appearance on “Pursuit Of Happiness.” The track blends identifiable traits of each artist and yet, overall, it still sounds like a successful hip-hop record, fitting in with Kid Cudi’s whole package.
Passion Pit – Little Secrets
November 2009
Passion Pit are probably the most talked about new band on the blogs this year. They’re considered indie, of course, but that never feels fully correct to me, largely their production tends to cater more to my hip-hop sensibilities, which is funny, since they’re not at all a hip-hop band. (Although they apparently work really well for hip-hop mashups with T.I. vocals. So, there’s that.) Something about their choices for sampling and the emphasis on bass in lot of tracks, especially songs like “Little Secrets,” which is so heavy that it even starts to veer just right of typical dance music in my mind. Other tracks don’t knock as much. It’s a deliberate and necessary move on their part, because an album full of songs are produced the same way would be too much, but it also means that singles like “Little Secrets” stand out for how big they sound and feel.
Green Day and ‘American Idiot’ cast – 21 Guns
December 2009
I haven’t yet seen the stage production of American Idiot, but already I appreciate the way Green Day songs used are modified for theater performance if this first track released by Spinner.com is any indication of overall quality. Billie Joe Armstrong produced this adaptation of “21 Guns” on his own, which is a solidly-produced and well-received song on its own, but the cast version for the show adds strings and additional voices. The variation in texture makes the song that much more arresting.
Gold Motel – Perfect In My Mind
December 2009
Every decade will have it’s fair share of retro-styled bands and artists, and in 2009, a resurgence in pseudo-lo-fi recording popped up everywhere. Greta Salpeter is originally from the band The Hush Sound, but her latest project is a solo effort called Gold Motel. Most of the debut EP doesn’t actually dabble in wannabe 60s methods so much, but the single, “Perfect In My Mind” tries out a couple of those techniques. The result is a song that feels very relaxed, the compression on the vocals and keyboard in particular mimicking the warmth of mono tape. The song almost feels better suited for spring or summer, as a result, aided by the smooth, rounded quality of Greta’s vocals. The optimism of the lyrics and instrumentation make this single succeed for me where other, similar throwback songs ultimately fall short, basking in nostalgia instead of simply using it as a cool trick to immediately win cred points.
