Favorite tracks of 2009

In no particular order. Sometimes bizarre. Sometimes banal and mainstreamy. This is the stuff that was released recently that rocked my world.

Truth: More than half of the stuff in my top-10 listened-to tracks this year are pretty old. Yes, I'm a bit of a retro-grouch. You'll see it in the throwbackish nature of several "new" tracks as listed below, I'm sure.

Jerry Ropero - The Storm (Inpetto Remix)


Santogold - Lights Out


David May - Superstar
David builds on a sample of The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony. The PG-13 Video is probably NSFW. Just sayin'.


Chicane vs. Natasha Bedingfield - Bruised Water
It came out in 2008 but I didn't hear this mash-up until 2009. Saltwater is easily my favorite track by Chicane, although it's got to be a decade old by now.


Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike - Under The Water (6 A.M. Terrace Mix)
Another cover of a classic from days gone by. Prior to this, my favorite remix of Brother Brown - Under The Water was by Deep Dish (YouTube Link)


Ferry Corsten - Shelter Me
Another one that technically came out in late '08


The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight


Depeche Mode - Perfect
The whole album was a solid win, full of vintage sound.


The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
From another album where it's worth buying the whole damn thing, if you're into this kind of noise. I am.


Plumb - Hang on (Dave Aude remix)
Old song. New remix. Plumb is somewhat of an enigma for me. Originally the name of a Christian crossover rock band, frontwoman Tiffany Lee (at the time using her maiden name, Arbuckle) repurposed the name "Plumb" as her stage name when the band fell apart in 2003. She still leaves hints of crossover in her alternative- and electronic-inspired work, some of which has been wildly popular for remixing.

Alanis Morissette - Thank U

Duplex-bonded 128k ISDN.

A chintzy Compaq with an old-school Pentium OverDrive CPU -- the fastest thing my parents could afford to give me for Christmas after my laptop died. It ran RedHat Linux for a bit before one roommate hooked me on FreeBSD.

The Bachelor Pad.

EtherMonkeys adorning the place. Literally, Barrel Of Monkey pieces hanging from do-it-yourself crimped Category Five strung up and across the ceiling.

Bowls of ramen noodle soup.

The occasional Screwdriver or White Russian (even though I was only 19)

Late nights.

Early Mornings.

Really, really pampering my 1995 Ford Escort, which I'd barely had a year, if that, at this point in my life. Weekly wash and wax and detailing.

Crashing at my girlfriend (now wife)'s apartment on occasion after really, really late movies. Not that we'd do anything but talk until our mouths hung open and drooling as we succumbed to the sandman at 4 o'clock in the morning.

Gizmo, the evil death cat that would shit, piss and vomit on anything touching the floor.

Audiogalaxy Satellite, and racing MP3 downloads home from work to see which would get to my computer faster. Damn, I miss AG Satellite. What a mindfuck. Why hasn't anyone ever duplicated it on some kind of Pirate Bay level?

Hitting the data center to help -- or watch, really, as Kenny Root performs massive upgrades on "Orator of the borg"

I expect no one but myself to know what all of these are. But that's what this song brings back.