Posts Tagged ‘Country’

This is the first of 4 posts with 10 songs each which will make up the “Top 40 Songs of 2009 – According to Coach” at cutbucket.com.  Picking 40 songs out of all of the great music that has come out in 2009 proved to be a tremendous challenge which is a testament to all of the new and wonderful sounds that filled my ears this year.

The thing to remember here is that these selections are my opinion based on many things including “my taste”.  The beauty of music is that we all have our own taste and style of sound we prefer.  2009 was an exceptional year regardless of your taste and my selections are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all of the great music released this year.  Whatever your taste is, there are far more than 40 songs which can tell the story of music in 2009.  What an amazing musical time we are living in.  The maturity of the internet, while still far from perfect, has allowed so many more artists to find a channel in which to be heard over.  It’s a great time to be a fan of music.

The criteria that I considered were the following -

Number of Listens – How many times did I play each song (based on tracking within iTunes).  Of course, songs that came out later in the year were weighed against the available length of time listen to each song.

Sticky Factor - Did each song have the ability to “stick in my head” so to speak.? Was it recognizable again immediately after the first couple of listens?  Did I find myself humming the tune in my mind days after hearing it?

Overall Production Value – This speaks for itself…

Uniqueness – We don’t want no posers here.

Single Song Value – This was one of the hardest factors in my consideration.  Was the song strong enough to stand on it’s own without being part of an album.  In the day and age of single song downloads this is very important.   When picking the top “Songs” this has to be a factor.  If I were to pick the top “Albums” this would be a completely different mix of artists.

NOTE ::  As it relates to Single Song Value I had a very tough challenge placing the songs from Animal Collective’s release “Merriweather Post Pavilion”.  To truly appreciate the outstanding quality of their album I feel it needs to be judged as just that… AN ALBUM.  It is by far one of the top 3 of the year!!!  What is so special about Merriweather is it’s value as a work of art as a complete album in the day and age of the single song download.  That being said, none of the individual songs jumped into a natural spot within this list.  Therefore, I have included what I believe are the strongest singles from the album and put them at the bottom of the list.  This by no means represents the value of this album, I just didn’t know what else to do.  I highly suggest you listen to the entire album start to finish if you are going to listen to it at all. SORRY FOR THE LONG EXPLANATION.  I FELT IT WAS DUE.

NOW ON TO THE LIST….

31. About Face – Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest

32. Tell Me True – Sarah Jarosz, Song Up In Her Head

33. Soldier (Feat. Santigold) – N.E.R.D.

34. Walking On a Dream – Empire of the Sun, Walking On a Dream

35. What You Do to Me (feat. Billy Danze, Jim Jones & Nicole Wray) – Blakroc, Blakroc

36. Ghosts N Stuff – Deadmau5, Ghosts N Stuff – Single

37. Higher Than the Stars – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Higher Than the Stars

38. Things Will Never Be the Same Again – JJ, JJ N° 2

39. Summertime Clothes – Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion

40. Brother Sport – Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion

Readers of cutbucket have come to find that there is no real direction, no real target for the type of music you will find here.  The reason? Try and bring wonderful music to the masses with no “walls”.  There is so much great music out there and so many people pushing the bad stuff in our faces, we need stand up for the good stuff.

Well… let me push some good stuff on ya (again)!  One of my favorite bands of the year is Deer Tick.  Maybe I like them because I can’t quite explain them.  You can read my previous post [http://cutbucket.com/?p=177] to get my impressions.  I had the opportunity to ask 5 questions of front man, John J McCauley III.  He gave honest and insightful if not hilarious answers.  I hope getting to know John a little better helps open some insight into Deer Tick’s music for you.  It did for me.

cutbucket – I was going to ask you how a kid out of Rhode Island ended up making super textured country folk rock (actually I am not sure what Deer Tick music is, which is great), but I hear you started to develop your sound by listening to the likes of Hank Williams.  What are some of Deer Tick’s other major influences and who are you listening to these days?  (Sorry for the boring standard “influences” question.  I promise it gets better)

John – I think Deer Tick started out by being heavily influenced by Hank, and Townes Van Zandt and stuff like that. But I don’t listen to that stuff all the time. I’ve been listening to a lot of Tom Petty and The Replacements lately. And Dylan, who I used to not really like.

cutbucket – I understand that the band’s name “Deer Tick” came about from a personal experience with a deer tick.  If you had to re-name your band based on experiences since then, what would it be?

John – I don’t know. Foot Fetish? Let’s All Trip On Shrooms And Throw Stuff Off The Bus? Those are pretty good band names, huh?

cutbucket – If “Born on Flag Day” was a soundtrack to a movie, what would that movie be about?

John – An old, miserable Irish American with cancer, living in Providence.

cutbucket – When Deer Tick was going through the writing process for Born on Flag Day, did you give more consideration to where your music would fit into your fans lives or was all about telling your story?

John – I didn’t really write the album as an album. They’re songs I picked from a bunch that I’d written that I thought would fit nicely together. I guess its more about telling the story.

cutbucket – The first line of the song “Hell on Earth” states, “Life is beautiful and beauty is a dying art”.  Do you feel Deer Tick’s art is “beauty” or are you aiming for something different?

John – I wouldn’t call it beauty, hell no. It’s some kind of art. Sometimes it feels like we’re all locked in a room together and there’s a gun in the middle of the room and somebody is going to snap at any moment and we’ll all be dead in a big, rock n roll murder-suicide. Other times it feels about as perfect as a margarita on a hot summer day. We’re not really aiming for anything, which is maybe a problem.

Listen: Deer Tick – Hell On Earth

Listen: Deer Tick – Easy

Listen: Deer Tick – Friday Xiii

Author:  Coach

There is literally no time to post all of the good music out there and what makes it most difficult is cutbucket is a blog that aims to have something for everyone.  We try and leave no genre untouched.

This latest effort by Doves seems to be a perfect fit for cutbucket as it will  likely appeal to folks with all sorts of musical tastes.  These cuts I have posted from the Kingdom of Rust album include the title track of the same name.  Kingdom of Rust pulls in country, indie, folk and alternative influences with its twangy guitars, flowing strings, hollowing reverb and diving synths.  Think of it as Coldplay meets Chris Isaak.

Jetstream is a perfect title for the other cut.  It builds up to the exactly halfway point of the song (somewhere around the 2:40 mark) and takes off as if the song was exploding into the sky and then soaring to wherever your imagination goes when you close your eyes.  The reveb and synths will grab you and take you for a ride if you let them.

Listen: Doves – Kingdom of Rust

Listen: Doves – Jetstream

Author: coach

Do you ever wonder how Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus became so popular?  I do, every minute of every day (I am seriously crazy).  You can’t spell Miley without L-I-E .  Well guess what, your lie has been exposed, you suck….

Take a listen to a teenager with some real talent who is breaking into the country-bluegrass scene, Sarah Jarosz.  Sarah has a hollowing voice that evokes ghosts of the true West.  She does an incredible cover or the Decemberist’s song, “Shankill Butchers”, which is vibrant with texture and feeling.  Her voice and style is far beyond her years.  There is no “lie” in Sarah Jarosz, she is a true talent.

Listen: Sarah Jarosz – Tell Me True

Listen: Sarah Jarosz – Shankill Butchers

Author: Coach

Deer Tick is taking top spot on my “Favorite Band of the Moment” list.  If you happen to be planning a bank robbery in El Paso while drunk on Hornito’s and your get away car is an El Camino with a roll bar, then Deer Tick’s new album “Born on Flag Day” is perfect.  Then again you just may want some raw indie country to chill to while you BBQ – Deer Tick is your Tick-et! (That was bad)

If you could somehow take Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Axel Rose, Elvis, Johnny Rotten and Dwight Yoakam and combine them, you end up with something like John McCauley, the 23-years-old singer and lead songwriter for Providence, Rhode Island band Deer Tick.  I suggest listening to this on the way to Rocky Point, Mexico in a stolen car…  Have fun!

Listen: Deer Tick – Easy

Listen: Deer Tick – Hell On Earth

Listen: Deer Tick – Friday Xiii

–cutbucket–

Happy 4th of July.  Please take a moment out of your day and say a prayer for those who have left their families and are fighting to preserve our freedom.  God Bless America!

Listen: Toby Keith – Courtesy Of The Red White & Blue (The Angry American)

Listen: Johnny Cash – Song of the Patriot

–cutbucket–

I have to assume that a large percentage of the fine citizens of this great country will be celebrating poolside for the 4th.  The cuts below should go great with those hot dogs and gooey blended drinks.

In the spirit of the diversity of America, I have included a handful of genres on this post.  Enjoy and make sure to use sunscreen.

Listen: Steel Pulse – Roller Skates

Listen: Weezer – Island In The Sun

Listen: Alan Jackson – Pop A Top

Listen: Phoenix – 1901

Listen: Damian `Junior Gong` Marley – All Night

Listen: Ozomatli – Cumbia De Los Muertos

Listen: The BPA – Toe Jam (feat. David Byrne & Dizzee Rascal)

Listen: Wisin & Yandel – Rakata (Hip Hop Remix)

–cutbucket–