• DOWNLOAD | RHETT MILLER “Haphazardly” Rhett Miller, 2009

With June freshly wrapped, it seemed like the right time to revisit my ongoing list of favorite songs from 2009. The First Quarter Playback, looking back on it now, was a pretty diverse assembly of songs that indicated either the lack of a cohesive cultural shift or the further inculcation of indie music as a purely singles format, as filtered by the internet. Both theories hold water because they’re related: The internet makes longstanding and cohesive cultural shifts impossible by virtue of its 24-hour news cycle and rapid-fire interest span. Had Michael Jackson started his career in 2007, Thriller would have been no bigger than FutureSex/Love Sounds.

This inventory — which I’ve limited to fifteen songs — has changed six ways in the last three months. The most significant additions to the list come from Dusty Kid, who has really established himself as a techno innovator on his unfortunately titled A Raver’s Diary album, and Rhett Miller, whose “Haphazardly” evokes all the self-confident panache of a newer artist. For a veteran songwriter to sound so reinvigorated is a feat. Also new are tracks from Bowerbirds, Basement Jaxx, and Tiefschwarz — whose recent collaboration with Detroit’s Seth Troxler is refreshingly more classic Chicago than German minimal. I have also somewhat futilely attempted to place these tracks in some sort of order — for whatever that’s worth.

These are my fifteen favorite songs from the first half of 2009:

RHETT MILLER “Haphazardly” (Shout! Factory)
ROD THOMAS “You Get Goodbyes” (Self Raising)
DUSTY KID “America” (Kompakt)
MARMADUKE DUKE “Kid Gloves” (14th Floor)
KELLY CLARKSON “Don’t Let Me Stop You” (J/Sony BMG)
LONGWAVE “Eyes Like Headlights” (Original Signal)
MARIA TAYLOR “Time Lapse Lifeline” (Nettwerk)
MILTON JACKSON “Cycles” (Freerange)
RÖYKSOPP “The Girl and the Robot” (feat. Robyn) (Astralwerks)
BASEMENT JAXX “Raindrops” (XL)
TIEFSCHWARZ “Trust” (feat. Seth Troxler) (Souvenir)
PET SHOP BOYS “This Used To Be The Future” (feat. Philip Oakey) (Astralwerks)
PHOENIX “Countdown” (Sick For The Big Sun) (V2)
BOWERBIRDS “Teeth” (Dead Oceans)
JESSE ROSE “Miss Taker” (feat. David E. Sugar) (Dubsided)

Photo: Vox Efx