Sylvan Esso - "Hey Mami"

I think I just listened to this song 15 times in a row thanks to my buddy Nada, who included "Hey Mami" in the most recent installment of her monthly mix club. From a quick trip to Trekky Records, it appears Sylvan Esso is vocalist Amelia Meath of Mountain Man and multi-instrumentalist Nick Sanborn of Decibully and Megafaun and it's just about everything you could ask for in a collaboration: an ambitious and brilliant contrast of playfully natural and earthy vocal harmonies with crunchy snapping drums and dark pulsing synth grooves. One moment you're listening to the leaves rustle under the trees and the next you're being vaulted up into the stars by an extraterrestrial tractor beam.

Pre-order the Hey Mami / Play It Right 12″ from Trekky Records.

Video: Sharon Van Etten, Justin Vernon, Megafaun & Fight The Big Bull - "Tribulations"

Last weekend, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, Sharon Van Etten, Megafaun, and Fight the Big Bull joined forces for a beautiful rendition of "Tribulations" at the MusicNow festival in Cincinatti. The performance was part of Sounds of The South, an evening of re-imaginings of the songs ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax recorded and collected during his early travels in the south. If you like what you hear, Mississippi Records in Portland, OR is currently reissuing Lomax's recordings on vinyl. Watch the incredible collaboration after the jump.

Megafaun - "Carolina Days"

Durham, North Carolina trio Megafaun have released a free single from the upcoming mini-album Heretofore, due out September 14th. Dig these folkies sharp jangly pop turn on "Carolina Days."

Megafaun - "Carolina Days" (from Heretofore)

Best of 2009: The Songs

In our digital day and age, the power of a song has never been greater: a song is a single key tap that can lead into years of spending—from whole album downloads to concert tickets and merchandise—or it can simply be a regrettable 99 cent purchase or more often, free download. Technology has also changed the way we listen to music, with more of an emphasis placed on mixes via iPods and CDs rather than whole albums.

For 2009, I've created two lists: one devoted to songs and another to albums. Many of the songs on this list may belong to excellent records, but they are chosen here because they can also stand alone as wholly conceived works of art. No example is better than my choice for the year's best: the 5:32 pastoral epic "Impressions of the Past" by Megafaun—a song that lazily drifts, grows dark and stormy, and then rips open like a shot of sunlight.

1) Megafaun -"Impressions of the Past" (from Gather, Form and Fly)
2) The Love Language - "Lalita" (from The Love Language)

3) White Denim - "Regina Holding Hands" (from Fits)
4) Brazos - "Day Glo" (from Phosphorescent Blues)

5) A.A. Bondy - "I Can See the Pines are Dancing" (from When The Devil's Loose)

6) Bon Iver - "Blood Bank" (fromBlood Bank EP)

7) Girls - " Hellhole Ratrace" (from Album)

8) Cotton Jones - "Blood Red Sentimental Blues" (from Paranoid Cocoon)

9) The National - "So Far Around The Bend" (from Dark Was The Night)

10) Throw Me The Statue - "Waving At The Shore" (from Creaturesque)

11) Dan Auerbach - "My Last Mistake" (from Keep It Hid)
12) Here We Go Magic - "Tunnelvision" (from Here We Go Magic)

13) Camera Obscura - "French Navy" (from My Maudlin Career)

14) Generationals - "When They Fight, They Fight" (from Con Law)

15) Dirty Projectors - "Stillness Is the Move" (from Bitte Orca)

16) Fanfarlo - "Finish Line" (from Reservoir)
17) JJ - "Things Will Never Be The Same Again" (from JJ N°)

18) YACHT - "Psychic City (Voodoo City)" (from See Mystery Lights)

19) Neon Indian - "Deadbeat Summer" (from Psychic Chasms)

20) Cass McCombs - "You Saved My Life" (from Catacombs)

21) Islands - "Vapours" (from Vapours)

22) Luke Top - "Friends" (from Friends)

23) Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - "Home" (from Up From Below)

24) Washed Out - "Feel It All Around" (from Life of Leisure EP)

25) Lands & Peoples - "Bad Habits" (from Lands & Peoples)

26) Molina and Johnson - "What You Reckon, What You Breathe" (from Molina and Johnson)

27) The Dutchess and the Duke - "Hands" (from Sunset / Sunrise)

28) Richard Hawley - "Don't Get Hung Up In Your Soul" (from Truelove's Gutter)

29) M. Ward - "Rave On" (from Hold Time)
30) Passion Pit - "Little Secrets" (from Manners)

Best of 2009: The Albums