#1 Song Rewind 2005-2009

I'd love to have some new music to share, but all my favorite blogs and radio shows are busying themselves with these self-important year-end countdowns. What a waste.

So instead of trying to put up the hottest new thing, I will commit the cardinal sin of music blogging and put up some older tracks for your listening pleasure. These tracks topped the Pursuit of Catchiness year-end countdown back when I didn't need a blog to share music with my friends because we all lived in a one-square-mile radius at Princeton. With a nod to my #1 album of 1994, let me take a trip down memory lane:

2009: Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move

The best track from the best album of last year, hands down. Dr. Sean Maguire told Will in Good Will Hunting that a soulmate is "someone who challenges you." That explains my boundless love for 2009's Bitte Orca, an album that I have listened to and marveled at without end. "Stillness is the Move," with its hip-hop sensibility and jaw-dropping vocals, was my introduction to the magical world of Dave Longstreth et al. Bonus: after catching their show at the Somerville Theater (best concert I ever saw), me and Paul met the band at Redbones and bought them a round of Dogfish. It was awesome.

2008: Metaform - Urban Velvet

What would happen if the old John Coltrane Quartet with McCoy Tyner on the keys got DJ Premier to produce a track for them? This track, from Metaform's absolutely dirty Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, represents my best guess. His solid instrumental album, composed entirely of samples, follows nicely in the tradition of groundbreaker DJ Shadow and provides a more polished counterpoint to fellow sample maestro Girl Talk.

2007: Beirut - Nantes

One of several remarkable tracks from 2007's The Flying Club Cup, "Nantes" gets the nod for epitomizing the Balkan pop sound that has come to be so associated with Zach Condon and his band. Beirut's performance at Terrace Lawnparties in the fall of 2007 was probably a highlight of my life.

2006: TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me

Rock and roll lives! Reanimated by the power of electricity, with Nigerian-born lead singer Tunde Adebimpe in the role of Dr. Frankenstein, TV on the Radio are alive indeed and continue to haunt the dreams of would-be Brooklyn rockers everywhere. "Wolf Like Me" is the clearest manifestation of the raw sonic energy that defined Return to Cookie Mountain, one of the best albums of 2006. Best served loud.

2005: AZ - The Come Up

You don't have to wear skinny jeans or smoke Parliaments to make good music in Brooklyn. On "The Come Up," Brooklyn stalwart AZ teams up with DJ Premier (only the Greatest Producer of All Time) for a lyrical stroll through parts of the borough where even the most intrepid hipsters dare not tread. When a perennially underrated MC gets a chance to shine on a track by DJ Premier, you know he'll bring his A-game. Premo delivers the goods as always: the beat is tight, and the hook features cuts so clean you could dress a wound with 'em.