Songs of the year - part two

Yesterday I rattled off a few of the best songs of 2009 in video form - a sort of doudle-edged sword of success for a musician. Today I'll wrap things up with a few more songs that were huge and songs that should have been epic.

Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
Sure, KOL made it huge with mainstream success this year for "Use Somebody" but anyone who follows the roots of their music in the alternative scene would tell you that these southern boys are definitely not newcomers. I remember hearing them locally with "The Bucket" about four or five years ago. Sex on Fire, while it dind't achieve even a shred of pop success this year was most definitely a hit in certain corners during the summer of 2008 and I think that, based on this year's pop success, KOL can again hit it big if "Sex on Fire" is re-released. It deserves to be the soundtrack to half-naked people on beaches everywhere.



Ida Maria - I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked
Who? Ida Maria could very well fall in to the one-hit-wonder chasm but this song is catchy as hell and the accompanying video is compelling simply because it's different. The lyrics, while simple, are certainly not throw-away crap like for too many songs released this year but the straigh-forward approach of them makes the song that much more appealing. The lyrics can only be interpreted one way.



Airborne Toxic Event - Wishing Well
The instrumental opening of nearly a minute long is so epic that it's hard not to be a fan of this song. The style that the video is edited feels fast, jittery and choppy and matches the underlying, steady kick drum beat that's present throughout the four minutes of the song. In short, even though this is a fan-produced video, it's as good as many bands turn out.


I think I'll stop here but I could go on forever. Sure, this year wasn't as ripe with favorites to me as years past but it's been a blast putting this together. And for the five or six people reading this, I'm toying around with a video site dedicated to Minnesota music - both from here and appearing here - check back from time to time to see if it happens.

But don't forget about MinnPics - it's like a reliable old friend if that friend captured kick ass photographic moments across Minnesota to share with the world.