Every year, I make a mix CD of my favorite songs. And nobody plays the damn thing all the way through.

Okay, right. I know you’re the exception. Seriously, you are. Dude. It’s okay, really.

It’s just that, for some time now, it’s struck me how often I’m talking to a friend about a band. And my friend claims to have never heard said band. And I say, “Really? Oh, but I think you’d really like them.” When what I meant to say was, “Listen, spud. I’ve put songs by (that band) on three of my last end-of-the-year compilations. All of which you have. And you claimed to love. So…um….”

Seriously. I get maybe a dozen compilations. And as much as I love getting them, they can be overwhelming. You don’t have to apologize or defend yourself. I’m guilty, too.

I’m just trying to make it easy on everyone. So here are nine really freaking great songs from the last year. Hope you find something you love.

And I promise I will listen to your mix CD. Yes, yours. Not everyone’s. But yours, for sure.

1. Phoenix: “Lisztomania,” Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Ah, the French. Delicious wine. Asshole waiters. The City of Lights. Jerry Lewis. Rock and Roll? Seriously, a French rock band?

Seriously. I would also like to point out how much, if you hold your ears just right, you hear the influence of XTC. I don’t know if it’s conscious or not. But it’s as if someone left Drums and Wires playing in the background.

2. Fruit Bats: “The Ruminant Band,” The Ruminant Band. As my brother Tom noted earlier this year, “do these guys sound like The Shins, or what?” And head Fruit Eric Johnson has apparently joined The Shins. I think that’s good news for The Shins.

Because Eric Johnson is a damn fine songwriter, and I love him better than The Shins. For me, this is the best pure pop album of the year. When someone asks, “Who does this remind you of?” I do not think of The Shins, who never changed my life. I think of the Beatles. Who did. 

3. Califone: “All My Friends Are Funeral Singers,” All My Friends Are Funeral Singers. From my review of this album that stalled somewhere: “Three whole generations of musicians playing what can broadly be defined as ‘Americana’ have been influenced by Gram Parsons. It’s always been easy to hear the country in Parsons’ body of work. But Parsons called what he was doing ‘Cosmic American Music.’ It wasn’t just country: it was rock and blues and gospel and folk interpreted for a generation that was all about experimentation and grooviness.

"I can’t help but consider Califone’s All My Friends Are Funeral Singers in this context. Califone are decontructionists; unlike pastiche artists such as Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective, who seem to start with a sound that’s multilayered and complex, Califone strips songs to their bare essentials and reassembles them in surprising ways. Shall we combine fiddle and steel drum? Baritone uke and French horn? Marimba and melodica and talking about the flu? Check, check, and check.

"But you don’t have to play the deconstruction game to enjoy the music: the whole album is pretty damn fine in its own right. It’s a primal beat for a digital tribe that’s world-weary but not beaten, fully antennaed but only loosely rooted, stripped down and reassembled into art that’s utterly new. Califone is the new Cosmic American Music.”

Sorry about the longish rant, but this was my favorite album of the year. 

4. Metric: “Satellite Mind,” Fantasies. I admit that I am not much of a fan of Broken Social Scene. Too loosey-goosey. Not very focused. (I refer, of course, to myself.) Metric, though, I like. Maybe Emily Haines and James Shaw could take over BSS and fire everyone else. Or they could just keep making Metric albums. Whatever. This was my favorite album from Canada this year. Were I Canadian, I would give it a Juno Award. I mean, if I had a vote.

5. Jarvis Cocker: “Further Complications,” Further Complications. I love Jarvis Cocker with a love that is more than love. He’s one of those guys who’s a pop institution across the Big Ditch, but not many people know him in the States (or Canada). He also did the coolest thing this year: he and the band set up in an art gallery in Paris for a week and played stuff for the folks who stopped by. One day they’d do music for mediation. One day they did kids’ songs. One day they did spontaneous requests. Etc. You can find some of these performances on YouTube, and they're tons of fun. Do yourself a favor and check out jarviscocker.net, too.

6. Cracker: “Turn On Tune In Drop Out With Me,” Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey. David Lowery is one of the great vocalists in rock history. He and his band of merry Camper Van Beethoven pranksters virtually created Alternative Rock. He has written some great, great songs; in fact, “Euro-Trash Girl” may be the greatest hidden track in the history of CDs. But Cracker has been treading water for years, and I, personally, did not get a lot out of the last Camper album.

So color me surprised and pleased by this outstanding album. Which has several songs that could have made this list. But I’m a sucker for the idea of finding a little meadow high up in the Cascades and never coming down. 

7. Wilco: “One Wing,” Wilco (The Album). Of course, I heard “Wilco (The Song)” on Colbert months and months before the album came out. And of course, we saw the show in Bloomington, which did not contain one new song­­--a great show, but a little disappointing when you know something new is coming out and you want a little taste. And so I could barely wait to rip the cellophane off the jewel case and slide this disc into the CD player as soon as I got it—and I actually started laughing, I was so happy. “Bull Black Nova” itself was worth the price of the album. This song is more of a grower, but it’s fine and beautiful, and I look forward to hearing it live many, many times in the years to come.

8. Wheat: “H.O.T.T.,” White Ink Black Ink.  This is the part of the writing where I tell you how much I love my wife. No: I do not tell you that. I cannot. I would go on and on and you would first think me romantic and eventually think me boring. So I will spare you. Just play this song and know that the lyrics remind me of her and why I love her for loving me, and why I love my life with her. (I love Wheat, too. They are another one of those Cosmic American bands.) 

9. Buck 65: “Blood Pt.2,” Dark Was The Night. Dang. Another Canadian makes the list. Melodic, thoughtful hip hop from the north, remixed by our own Sufjan Stevens. Anyone else want to call this comp that was a Who’s Who of indie stars to benefit the Red Hot Organization the album of the year? We all owe a debt of gratitude to the Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National for organizing this effort. It raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight AIDS. And it produced some damn fine music.

Thanks for listening, everyone. Love you all. Here’s to a beautiful 2010.

Love & Shiny Things For The Holidays,

k