Happy New Year! And what a glorious New Year. Hooray for our new President! And for the mad possibility of a better world. More love, less fear. Dare we say, hope and progress one last time? We do dare. We are near drunk with it. Damn the hangover. And it’s time once again for that Fawcett and Honeycups’ best of the year mix which, if you recall from previous years, has consisted of what we liked to call “songs we played most.” This year it is slightly different. It is still the songs we played most, but edited into a series of loose themes. Today is the first of three (!!!) playlists of our most played songs (and by definition, our favorite songs of the year). There will be two more playlists to follow in the coming weeks.

Today’s playlist contains the songs that fit into a category that can best be understood as music you’d want playing in the background during the first hour or two of getting together with good friends to have a few drinks and eat good food. These are songs that feel jubilant, that feature pulse-rate tempos, and that often have a hip-shaking effect. The songs often have pretty melodies and sing-along choruses. A few are slightly embarrassing. But mostly these are buoyant songs that lift the conversation and make chopping and uncorking and grilling and raising a glass feel absurdly good. We wish to share the love.

A few shout-outs and comments: First, thank you to Lisa Tremain and her husband John for a copy of their “Learning Music” CD which is one of the finest albums of the year. We have played it so many times and still adore it. As far as albums are concerned, it was part of a select few albums that were played many times from beginning-to-end throughout the year: She and Him, Quiet Village, Beach House, M83 and MGMT. And for the latter we also owe you thanks. You contributed MGMT’s “Kids” on that TGW Palm Spring’s playlist last spring (thanks for that post Steph!)–and inspired curious listeners to discover the whole album and the genius of “Time to Pretend” on their own. Nice restraint.

Not all of these songs are from 2008, but they are all songs that we encountered in 2008.

Some of these songs were played more by one of us than another: see Lil Wayne. One of the songs features a singer with the most amazing tooth gap you will ever behold: see Vanessa Paradis. One sounds like it was a long lost ABBA single. And one sounds too much like the theme of an awesome 80′s tv show: you figure them out. Only two of them have appeared on Gossip Girl, although, truth be told 20 of them could have.  And something’s wrong with that? Gossip Girl rules! Still, not a few songs we are quite tired of listening to now. A few of them though were just discovered in December and we can hardly get enough. But that sad weird falling-in and out-of-love process is just the nature of this music obsession. And politics. But forget that. These songs have enriched our lives. What more need be said.  Go and be happy!

The Playlist:

1.) “Time to Pretend” MGMT

2.) “Contagious” Learning Music

3.) “Hallucinations” The Raveonettes

4.) “Eraser” No Age

5.) “Gamma Ray” Beck

6.) “Neon Beanbag” Stereolab

7.) “Say Fiesta” Francois Virot

8.) “Graveyard Girl” M83

9.) “Viva La Vida” Coldplay

10.) “Des que j’te vois” Vanessa Paradis

11.) “Dance, Dance, Dance” Lykke Li

12.) “Hercules Theme” Hercules and Love Affair

13.) “Kelly” Van She

14.) “Back in Your Head” Tegan and Sara

15.) “Light of Love” Music Go Music

16.) “Rock ‘n’ Roll Hero” Car-sick Cars

17.) “Good Time” Crystal Castles

18.) “A Milli” Lil Wayne

19.) “Nothing Ever Happened” Deerhunter

20.) “Inni mer syngur vitleysingur” Sigur Ros

21.) “My Only Offer” Mates of State

22.) “Caravan Girl” Goldfrapp

23.) “Why do you let me stay here?” She & Him

24.) “Collapsing at Your Doorstep” Air France

25.) “Hey Hotties!” Supermayer

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