Best of 2009: Top 5 Guest Vocalists

Ahh, the guest vocalist. Usually you're forced to find work on crappy R&B records or Ja Rule songs, but 2009 was a good year for you! You got around and made yourself more known, more respectable. That's great for you. I hope 2010 is just as fruitful, though I must admit I have my doubts. For now though, let's recap your banner year with a list of your Top 5 Guest Vocal Performances. I think that would make everybody happy.

#5. Discovery featuring Angel Deradoorian - "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," from the album, LP - Chances are that "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" would have been a decent track without the inclusion of Angel's voice. Truth be told, she does very little on the track. But as it stands, her voice is the focal point of this song, and it's all the better because of it! I mean, she did a lot better than Ezra Koenig's guest spot, so that's gotta count for something right?

#4. Buck 65 featuring Sufjan Stevens - "Blood Pt. 2," from the album, Dark Was the Night - This one's kind of weird because Pt. 1 is a Sufjan Stevens song entirely. Pt. 2, however, finds the prolific rapper taking the reigns and Sufjan merely lending his vocals for the chorus. His performance, in a word, is creepy. His voice hovers eerily above the drumbeat and instrumentation, wavering and hinting at something sinister. It's quite a cool effect. And sure, while I'm still totally pissed that it's been 5 years (5 YEARS!!!) since I've heard anything really new from Mr. Stevens, I'm willing to give him the credit that is due to him for his job on this song. Congratulations, sir.

#3. Amadou & Mariam featuring K'Naan - "Africa," from the album, Welcome to Mali - So apparently this couple has been making music for years. News to me. I first heard the duo from Mali early in 2009 and I've been jamming to it off and on ever since. One of Welcome to Mali's best tracks without question is "Africa." A big reason for this is K'Naan whose vocals absolutely make the song. Maybe it's just because it's in english, that's a possibly, but he's also a very talented singer. Yay for him!

#2. MSTRKRFT featuring John Legend - "Heartbreaker," from the album, Fist of God - I've never been a giant John Legend fan (go figure, right?), but his vocals on this MSTRKRFT kinda make me want to go back and listen to some of his stuff with a more open ear. This song is easily the best track on Fist of God, thanks to Legend. He's the only vocalist on the album that doesn't sound like he's trying to compete with all the insane electronic music surrounding him. Granted, he's also got one of the album's more mellow compositions to work with, but the end result is still a beautiful track.

#1. Dirty Projectors featuring David Byrne - "Knotty Pine," from the album, Dark Was the Night - David Byrne is crazy. Dave Longstreth is crazy. Put the two of them together for a song and you get a crazy good song. "Knotty Pine" has been getting regular plays from me for months (really the only song from Dark Was the Night that I can say that about). Byrne's role isn't huge. He sings a little bit in the second verse and he may play some guitars (don't have the liner notes), but he does it all in a manner entirely his own. I love this song! It's one of the best of 2009!