Best of 2009 Blog Challenge: Best Album

I am kind of obsessed with Coldplay. I’ve seen them twice live and I regret not seeing them on their last stop through Colorado earlier in the year. (I was trying to be sensical/frugal, but ended up being just plain stupid.) I am able to forgive myself a little by reminding myself that Jim and I gifted my sister Kylie a ticket to go see them. (She is equally obsessed, although I’m not sure she wants to have Chris Martin’s babies like I do.) She danced, sang her heart out, cried from pure joy, and then told me all about it afterward, even sending me video clips of the concert she had been at. (This makes her one of the two best sisters EVER!)

Anyway, Strawberry Swing is my favorite song off their latest album (although I like them all, especially Lovers In Japan and both versions of Lost). I loved listening to this song on high volume while driving from Boulder to Lafayette on Valmont/Isabelle with the windows down on a sunny afternoon. It even became my ring tone. (Yes, I know…I had a popular song as my ring tone.) <shaking head> Every time I listen to the song (even since moving to Costa Rica) Jim says, “Your phone’s ringing.” This is the kind of song that just makes me so cheerful.

Other songs I listened to this year and loved (besides the rest of …Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends and everything else by Coldplay)….I have to admit, I think I listened to less music this year than any other year of my life (including when I was an infant as my parents, especially my Dad, always had music playing). This year has required much silence, or rather much listening to by mind (I waded through sounds of fear and doubt) and my surroundings (the wild opera of birds at 5am in Costa Rica, the crashing waves, the rushing wind, or the jolting thunder the rainy season delivered, the water rushing past my ears as I swim). There have been times where that has been almost too much, but I’ve found this year that even in the midst of torrential sound there can be quiet within me. It’s cozy.

Ok but let’s give you a few songs at least. (I just found that Pandora is no longer working outside of the US! BOO!)

Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder

I Got A Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas

Perfect by Smashing Pumpkins

Sea Lion, Past and Present, I Feel It All, 1234, and Mushaboom by Feist

Son’s Gonna Rise by Citizen Cope

Jai Ho from The Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack

You Are The Best Thing by Ray LaMontagne

Use Somebody and Your Sex Is On Fire by Kings of Leon

I’m Yours by Jason Mraz

Blue Ridged Mountains and Mykonos by Fleet Foxes

Wake Up by The Arcade Fire

Crack The Shutters by Snow Patrol

Rise by Eddie Vedder

Reckoner by Radiohead

Why Don’t We Do It In The Road, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, and I’ve Just Seen A Face by The Beatles

Also, I must add these three music videos (well four actually) as I realize that all these songs make this list and also bear my maiden namesake, which I find to be a riot. The first is an awesome song to rock out to in your underwear (and I have a crush on the lead singer), the second is a must see as the video features the singer’s outrageous body, and finally the last is just plain hysterical (because I actually like this song despite the crap lyrics, bad hair, etc.)

(See the AWESOME music video for this song here. I just fell in love with them and this song when I saw them perform on Jimmy Kimmel. Their energy is awesome so I had to have that be the highlighted video, but seriously, you’ll love the awesome official video.)
Here’s their album: Return to Cookie Mountain (with Bonus Tracks)
For some reason I can’t find a good quality version of Shakira’s She Wolf video with an embedding code so go here for hotness. Who knew lycanthropy could look so sexy.
Here’s her album: She Wolf