Other Phoenix writer picks can be found HERE!
1. The Horrors, “Scarlet Fields” (from Primary Colours)
2. Lady Gaga, “Dance In The Dark” (from The Fame Monster)
3. Julian Casablancas, “Glass” (from Phrazes of the Young)
4. Crippled Black Phoenix, “Rise Up and Fight” (from 200 Tons of Bad Luck)
5. Fuck Buttons, “The Lisbon Maru” (from Tarot Sport)
6. Municipal Waste, “Wolves Of Chernobyl” (from Massive Aggressive)
7. Pissed Jeans, “False Jesii Part 2″ (from King Of Jeans)
8. Lightning Bolt, “Sound Guardians” (from Earthly Delights)
9. Shakira, “Loba” (from She Wolf)
10. Spinnerette, “All Babes Are Wolves” (from Spinnerette)
2009 was a year that saw so many musical areas blossoming like never before, after years of retrenchment. This year, the metal was metal-y-er, the pop was poppier, the noise-duos were noise-duo-y-er, and the shoegaze/mope-goth was more shoegaze/mope-goth-y. “See yourself/your image in the eyes of someone else” goes the pre-chorus of The Horrors’ “Scarlet Fields”. I’m guessing that the band took their own advice, as their new long-player Primary Colours found them remaking themselves from 3rd-tier splatter-garage into an actual second coming of MBV. As we all spent 2009 attempting to sort out the real from the imaginary and idealized in our culture’s looking glass, our music continued to replicate the sound of the shards of the mirror hitting the floor. - Daniel Brockman
