Best of 2009

2010 is just around the corner and I'm already getting excited about the music that's to come in the new year. As for music this year, I feel like there were a lot of great albums but not many that really grasped my attention for very long. My first choice was really easy but the other four were hard to rank. But I've re-listened to the ones I remember the most and the five that are posted are the ones that my ears seemed to like the most this year.

Number 1

Röyksopp - Junior, March 2009

Hands down, this was the best album of the year in my opinion. It was almost like a Scandinavian celebration album. With Lykke Li, Robyn, and Karin Dreijer Andersson (The Knife and Fever Ray) as vocalists for more than half of the songs on the album; I was very pleased and impressed. Even the songs without the vocals are amazing. "Röyksopp Forever" is an instrumental that is some kind of emotional and passionate electrorchestra. I'm not going to lie, I probably listened to "The Girl and The Robot" over 100 times this year. The bass is so intense, I imagine the whole world shaking every time I play it. This album makes love to my ears every single listen.

Röyksopp - The Girl and The Robot


Number 2

Vitalic - Flashmob, September 2009

Vitalic is classified as techno/trance but I would say Vitalic is just completely electronic. I feel like Vitalic put a lot of thought into the songs on Flashmob. Don't be discouraged by the description, the album isn't a complete dance fest. There are slow songs as well. This French artist has done a remarkable job of producing and creating his own music. Flashmob is an explosion of noise, i.e. beautiful noise.

Vitalic - Poison Lips


Number 3

La Roux - La Roux, June 2009

La Roux came out of England with some great 80s-inspired dance songs. I heard her first single, "In for the Kill", on Hype Machine. This song was followed up with "Bulletproof" and the album had a hold on me. "Colourless Colour" and "Tigerlily" are definitely my faves. One thing that really stands out on this album is the amazing lyrics. All the lyrics on this album are powerful, coherent and clear; an album well done.

La Roux - In For The Kill


Number 4

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, May 2009

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was a great, upbeat summer album. I remember taking a ridiculously intense summer course and listening to this entire album while studying in the library; it kept me from going completely insane. It was also a great road trip album. It had two major hits: "Lisztomania" and "1901." These were great but my favourites were "Rome" and "Love Like A Sunset Part I & II." It will always remind me of the summer of 2009.

Phoenix - Lisztomania


Number 5

Muse - The Resistance, September 2009

Even though The Resistance wasn't completely what I would have liked, it was still an album that was produced and thought-out well. This may sound strange but Muse has some kind of extra-terrestrial side to them that I've always liked. This album really exudes their out-of-this-world feature. The last three parts of "Exogenesis: Symphony" are amazing and finish up the album very well.

Muse - Undisclosed Desires



Best remixes/mash-ups of 2009:

1. Bag Raiders vs. Chromeo - Shooting Stars/Call Me Up
To be honest, any version of Bag Raiders' "Shooting Stars" is unbelievably elating.

2. N.A.S.A. feat. Kanye West, Lykke Li and Santigold - Gifted (Steve Aoki Remix)
Aoki remix of an already amazing song, enough said.

3. Fever Ray - If I Had a Heart (Fuck Buttons)
This remix has followed me throughout Vancouver for the entire year.

4. Lykke Li - Little Bit LIVE (Death to the Throne remix)
The amazing live version of "Little Bit" remixed into an 8-bit masterpiece with a heavy bass.

5. GRUM - Runaway (SymbolOne Remix)
Image: dancing in circles with confetti falling all around and pink lights flashing.

2010, here we come!

6's afraid of 7 'cause 7 ate 9

Röyksopp's "Tricky Tricky", featuring Karin Dreijer Andersson, has an extremely dark exuberance to it. I feel like Dreijer Andersson (The Knife and Fever Ray) sings the listener through a dusky tunnel of possessed, scared numbers. I really don't have much else to say other than, it's pretty yummy.

And, this remix by Horror Shower is like the original but in this one, the numbers are dancing.

Röyksopp - Tricky Tricky feat. Karin Dreijer (Horror Shower remix)

I'm in love with a robot

Remixes of Röyksopp's "The Girl and the Robot" have come to us. So far, the best seems to be Joakim's remix. Oh, and guess what? He's another French remixer. All the remixes I've been into these days seem to be produced by French people. But I guess that's besides the point.

This remix takes different parts of the song and mixes them up while adding external drums and beats. The best part of it is when Robyn's voice is overlapped multiple times in the middle of the song.

Röyksopp - The Girl and The Robot (Joakim remix)

Röyksopp - The Girl and The Robot

Röyksopp Forever

The internet is freaking out over the new Röyksopp album, Junior.

On the official release date of March 23rd, this album should definitely be part of your CD/Mp3 collection. If you are already a Röyksopp fan, you won't regret the purchase even if you don't think the album is the best of the three studio albums they've released. If you aren't a Röyksopp fan, perhaps this review will encourage you to become one.

Röyksopp is a Norwegian electronic duo that are electro geniuses in my mind. All their songs, new and old, are produced with a lot of emotion. The new album, Junior, has a song that will suit every mood of the week. Starting off with "Happy Up Here", this song will suit that hyper mood that encourages you to bounce around the room like a video game character. And ending with "It's What I Want", you will find this "life" song fits that mood that comes over you before you go sleep.

I'm having a hard time figuring out whether or not Junior is a better album than The Understanding (2005). Both are very good and follow similar structures, but I think Junior conquers my world a little more than The Understanding. The fact that Junior has so many Scandinavian collaborations on it may be the reason for this (collaborations include: The Knife's Karin Dreijer, Robyn and Lykke Li).

So far, there are a couple of songs that really, really stand out to me:
One being "Miss it so much" featuring Lykke Li. I know what you're thinking, maybe it only stands out to me because Lykke Li is in it. Yes, this may be the case but it is a good song besides the fact that Lykke Li is in it. The best part of this song is the middle; the use of a voice fade-in to aid the peak of the song is very nice on the ears.

"The Girl and the Robot" is another song that really stands out. This one features Robyn singing about a man/robot who she is desperately in love with but he's not into it. This song is a good one for the dance floor. It has a super intense beat that kind of feels like it could shake the world if played on the right speakers.

"Röyksopp Forever" is an instrumental that reminds me of the song, "Triumphant", from The Understanding. Both are beautifully orchestrated instrumentals that hit an emotional limit that never seemed possible before.

There also seems to be a cyborg theme emanating from this album. Lyrics like "mechanical heart" and "I'm in love with a robot" make me think Röyksopp is doing an excellent job of reflecting the modern world.

So far in Röyksopp's musical career, they never seem to disappoint; only unbelievably satisfy.

Röyksopp - Happy Up Here

Happy up here

The electronic Norwegian band, Röyksopp, is coming out with their third album this March. The album is called "Junior" and the band promises that it will be worth the two-month wait. They've collaborated with some artists like; Lykke Li and Robyn (which I'm pretty excited for).
You can listen to the new single, "Happy Up Here", below or stream it from their website. This song is so happy it reminds me of a colourful video game full of happy creatures flying and bouncing around all over the place.

Röyksopp - Happy Up Here