Sometimes, the most obvious answer is right in front of your face.

I went around and around, mentally juggling my favorite songs of the year – all of which were great but none of which really stood out above the rest. In a year that I felt was just sorta “eh,” singling out one track as my favorite seemed daunting. (Hell, I even considered a Yeasayer song – Tightrope – and anyone who knows me knows how ridiculous that sounds.)

But then I recently heard Phoenix’s 1901 for the umpteenth time (still not sick of it) and thought back to the first night I downloaded it, when I played it and replayed it. Over and over. I never grew tired of 1901 – only of the countless remixes it inspired.

Given my track record of favorite song selections in years past (see links below), this positively danceable jam certainly strays from the sometimes-mopey narratives I’ve come to love. With 1901, I’m still not sure what singer Thomas Mars is saying and, frankly, I don’t really care. The beat is powerful enough and the hook catchy enough to render a lyrical analysis an inconsequential task. You might say it’s the Cadillac of 2009 songs.

• Phoenix | 1901

I also really liked these songs (in no particular order):
A.C. Newman, Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer
Bowerbirds, Northern Lights (mp3)
The Twilight Sad, Interrupted and I Became a Prostitute and basically the whole album
Yeasayer, Tightrope (mp3)
The National, So Far Around the Bend
Grizzly Bear, Deep Blue Sea, Two Weeks and While You Wait for the Others (with and without Michael McDonald)
Japandroids, Young Hearts Spark Fire, Heart Sweats and Crazy/Forever
The Phantom Band, Island
Julian Plenti, Only If You Run
Lymbyc Systym, Bedroom Anthem
Digital Leather, Photo Lie (mp3)
Mayer Hawthorne, Maybe So, Maybe No, Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out (mp3) and Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin’
Jason Lytle, Birds Encouraged Him and Brand New Sun
Mos Def, Supermagic and Auditorium (feat. Slick Rick)
Bobby Birdman, Victory at Sea
Neko Case, People Got a Lotta Nerve and Prison Girls
Phoenix, Lisztomania and Love Like a Sunset
5 O’Clock Shadowboxers, No Resolution and Weak Stomach
People Under the Stairs, Trippin’ At the Disco
Port O’Brien, Oslo Campfire and My Will is Good (mp3)
Wilco, Wilco (The Song), Bull Black Nova and You Never Know
Throw Me the Statue, Hi-Fi Goon (mp3)
Built to Spill, Aisle 13 and Oh Yeah
Source Victoria, Slowburner (Traindead cover) (mp3)
Wale (feat. Bun B), Mirrors
We Were Promised Jetpacks, It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning
The Cave Singers, At the Cut, Jangle and I Don’t Mind

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Favorite song(s) of 2008
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