It took us until February to gather and present what our hearts felt about the music from 2009, but we are ready to open the door to the songs that shaped our year.  Our top 100 songs has a bit of everything you might expect from our site, so dive in and enjoy!

100. Paper Route – Gutter (buy)
Why: The boys from Nashville show up first on our list at the very last spot, but rest assured that they deserve every spot they got.  “Gutter” somewhat mirrors Linkin Park’s rap-like and bass-heavy electro-rock while staying refreshingly original at every turn.

99. White Lies – Farewell to the Fairground (buy)
Why: While this song released in the UK last December to an uproar of enthusiasm, the unveiling in the US was by far a subtle thing.  Fortunately, we kept this in our playlists and in the top 100.

98. The Whitest Boy Alive – Island (buy)
Why: Erlend Øye didn’t completely woo us after his spectacular Dreams album, but not only was this the first song we heard off of Rules, but also his best effort here.

97. The Assembly Line – twenty-thousand leagues (buy)
Why: Graves Like Oceans falls into the alternative genre, but behind Thornfin Nguyen the New York outfit kept it real.  This track could have easily been any other track on the album although this does spin the emotion gamete a bit faster through some stringy guitars and slick tempo adjustments.

96. Manchester Orchestra – The Only One (buy)
Why: MO took their Mean Everything To Nothing out to a quick start with “The Only One”, and with it a track that will be fresh from year to year.

95. Director – Can’t Go Home (buy) UK
Why: Clocking in at 8 minutes 11 seconds, this epic song by Director swells with emotion, then settles to a rest… one could say this song is a tale of sorts or even a combination of three songs in one.  Sure enough, we couldn’t leave this one off our list.

94. Loney, Dear – Airport Surroudings (buy)
Why: After going back to this track time and time again, I couldn’t believe this was actually on this album and not some other upbeat artist’s set.  For a track that has a cinematic aura, “Airport Surroundings” flies out of the gate for Dear John in a truly surprising fashion.

93. Pete Yorn – Shotgun (buy)
Why: Back & Fourth didn’t drive us crazy and it didn’t toally delight us either.  This song, however provided a little bit of that magic Pete Yorn had given back in 2001’s Music For The Morning After.

92. Snow Patrol – Just Say Yes (buy)
Why: Our roots are deep with Snow Patrol love going back to the early 2000’s.  Everyone says this about the bands they love, and its a wonderful thing to see a band grow into something spectacular.  Snow Patrol didn’t come out with anything new, but as poppy as this may be considered, it combines the electronica aspect we dig with Snow Patrol’s latest musings.

91. The Morning After Girls – Alone (buy)
Why: The title track from their debut album confides in dual vocal presences and an alternative swagger of calmly laid-out instrumental intros to create one of the best live songs we heard all year.

90. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Old Panda Days (feat. Nick Krgovich) (buy)
Why: If there’s one instrument so simple and enjoyable that it completely cripples us every time, it must be the drum machine.  The Casiotone crew may not have been on everyone’s year-end lists, but this one is enjoyably repetitious.

89. White Rabbits – Percussion Gun (buy)
Why: Much like “Take a Walk Around the Table” from White Rabbit’s Fort Nightly, “Percussion Gun” generates motion.  It might not even be the best track on the album, but at the first track it creates the perfect atmosphere for what the New York-based group was going for – poetry in motion.

88. Great Northern – Houses (buy)
Why: Rachel Stolte’s voice stimulates the music muscle even while sitting behind a grim veil as a magnificent surrounding instrumental accompaniment shoots out in every direction to reach the emotional peaks that Remind Me Where the Light Is captured like no album like it in 2009.

87. Deastro – Biophelia (buy)
Why: This track (and album) was purchased amid an early summer buzz… Giddy feelings of warm air were abound and this song escalated the starts of summer madness upon our iPods.  Very creative song and a band to keep your eyes on!

86. Ohvaur – Not What This Century Wants (buy)
Why: Lush subleties may be one way to describe the band who we would not have found if it were not for WOXY out of Cincinatti.  With one of our top 5 song openings for the year, the guitar breakdowns at precisely 2:01 are mesmorizing in their own subdued way along side Mark Hoppus-like vocals.

85. Doves – Jetstream (buy)
Why: The silent start to “Jetstream” only begins to deliver on the lofty and locomotive fluidity of Kingdom of Rust.  To skip this track would be like leaving the frosting off of a cake; it’s good, but not quite there without it.

84. Phoenix – 1901 (buy)
Why: How could we not include one of our favorite groups’ most remixed song from 2009?  Nuff said…

83. Cut Off Your Hands – Turn Cold (buy)
Why: Poppy and connected to the way we feel about most indie rock.  If a song pops like this, we’re sure to love it.  Surely these New Zealanders saw much success from this song as well as making their first LP in addition to an amounting number of EPs behind them already.

82. Passion Pit – Little Secrets (buy)
Why: The allure of Passion Pit lies in their childlike vivacity, so when “Little Secrets” play, the group is in their groove.  No place on Manners did the Massachusetts electronica-wonders come out more giddy than this and we thank them for it.

81. Neko Case – This Tornado Loves You (buy)
Why: Its hard to deny an artist with pipes like this.  The last time we were mezmorized with a voice so catching was when we saw Chairlift last year.  Neko has secured a spot with her vocals alone, but we still feel like her best is yet to come.

80. Blitzen Trapper – Silver Moon (buy)
Why: The Black River Killer EP was too short.  The deceiving simplicity of “Silver Moon” speaks wonders after five or more listens… or 40, but keep an eye out for this group – “God & Suicide” from them was our No. 1 from last year.

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Related Posts:

1. Part 4: MUF’s Top 100 Songs of 2009 (21-40)
2. Part 5: MUF’s Top 100 Songs of 2009 (1-20)
3. Part 3: MUF’s Top 100 Songs of 2009 (40-59)
4. Part 2: MUF’s Top 100 Songs of 2009 (60-79)
5. Indie Halloween Playlist 2009