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The Requisite, and Belated, Best of 2009 List

Yeah, so I didn’t really get around to my expected year end tally yet. I’ve been busy.

Plus, this has been an incredible year for music. I really kicked into gear my music appreciation, which luckily coincided with a dramatic increase in both high-quality new music and channels for its discovery. In other words, my RSS reader exploded at the same time as the amount of available music did.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m under no illusions that there’s some new drug in the water that’s making more people make music in their bedrooms. I doubt that the level of music has changed. But the accessibility of music certainly has. That’s nothing new, of course – this has been a growing trend for years. But I feel like the last year has seen a maturity of a number of high end music blogs, with their proprietors carving out well-defined niches that they’ve really explored fully. I think my favorite has been Fuel, Friends blog, which sits right in the middle of the convergence between indie rock and modern bluegrass. Not all discuss a specific style – others focus on their local scenes or just try to offer a roundup of news that the stereogums and pitchforks miss.

But I’m delaying the inevitable. Here’s the list: 15 this year because I just couldn’t decide. These may not be the best albums of the year, but they are the ones with which I formed the greatest connection.

15.Bad Veins – Bad Veins

This summer was torturous, wracked with indecision and promising a life-changing conclusion. Somewhere in the middle of that, the hot, muggy days leaving me paralyzed in terms of figuring out the rest of my life, I found this album. Its anthems were just bold and big enough to let me escape for just a few minutes (about 40, to be exact) and feel refreshed when I returned to my thoughts. But it’s also exciting enough that it colored the soundtrack for my inevitable cross-country journey.

And you know – maybe this song influenced my eventual decision as well. After all, I did end up in a place where “sunlight is gold and warm.”

14.Ramona Falls – Intuit

I really liked everything Menomena did (especially Under an Hour, which was simply magical). And while we wait for that band’s new album, a couple of the members have managed to put out solo work: Danny Seim’s Lackethereof released a new album last year, and Brent Knopfdropped this one a couple months ago.

I think the thing that’s always impressed me about Menomena is their production value. Every instrument -and they use anything appropriate – is meticulously placed within the tapestry of sound they’ve developed. It’s well-miked and perfectly mixed – which means that every listen reveals new layers missed before. Lackthereof didn’t really capture that, but Ramona Falls definitely does. And until a new Menomena comes out, this will more than tide me over.

13. Woodpigeon – Treasury Library Canada

I have at least a half-decade long (probably longer) obsession with orchestral singer/songwriter pop – most prominent being Sufjan Stevens. Songs in the genre emphasize melody and fragility. They alternate between orchestrating as many musicians as possible and stripping the song to its roots, making each song a surprise in complexity (though not tone). The amazing thing about this album is that it was originally just a series of cast asides recordings – yet there’s an amazing amount of power in the double disc collection.

The song I selected to show this album’s uniqueness is simply beautiful. The melody is carried bu a softly mumbling chorus, with the singer slowly pushing the song along. There’s not much else to the song until about 3/4 of the way through, when a guitar kicks in. Woodpigeon have a new album coming out sometime in early 2009.

12. Telekinesis – Telekinesis!

This is just good, fun nerdy pop (look at the lead singer below). With shades of, well, every power pop band you can imagine, it’s inevitable that a band like this ends up on my list. (Plus, he’s wearing a Devo shirt!)

The sound on this video is.. not so good. So you should just pick up the album.

11. Broken Records – Until the Earth Begins to Part

I think it was in 2008 that I discovered the collective – large bands, often with 10 or 12 members, whose sound is somewhere in the folk-rock category. Songs are usually anthemic, with a see-sawing violin (or fiddle) texturizing the song. In 2008, I spent a lot of time with Midwest Dilemma, Henry Clay People, and Jared Mees. 2009, it was Scotland’s Broken Records.

When I was trying to select my 10 albums of the year (it was only 10), I kept coming back to the arrangements on this one. The opener, Nearly Home, is just breathtaking: a cello and violin dance with each other while another violin and a brass section pump through the melody. But it’s not until the next song, If the News Makes You Sad, Don’t Watch It, that the barnburners begin. And that’s what I probably enjoy most about the genre.

Broken Records – If The News Makes You Sad, Don_t Watch It

10. Metric – Fantasies

I wasn’t really all that big on Metric at first. I liked a song here and there, but they didn’t really do much for me until just before this album came out, when something in their sonic aesthetic clicked for me. But it did in a big way, and just in time, because this album just rocks. Not only is it the perfect late at night driving album, it’s deep enough to keep you coming back when you need some thinking music.

I love this song, the opener, because it really conveys the sense of nervousness lead singer Emily Haines is talking about. It’s the stage fright before a show, or a speech, or anything really important in life, set against the backdrop of a pulsating drumbeat. It’s the perfect opener because it sets the band on a level playing field with the listener by saying, look, we may be rock stars, but we suffer from the same crippling anxiety you all do.

9. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

I’m not sure there was a better crafted album this year, in terms of carefully arranged sonic masterpieces. But the reason this album didn’t end up getting ranked higher was because of the sheer effort required to get into it. When I reviewed it last May, I described it as requiring headphones: that you had to sit down with it, focus on it to the exclusion of everything else, and really embrace the sonic metaphors it develops. But real life makes that difficult, so I haven’t really spent the time with it that I probably should have. Hence, a lower spot than it probably deserves.

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

8. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

I love Neko Case. Her music has always been incredibly soulful Americana; a set of relaxed, rollicking hymns to a simple life. 2006′s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood spent pretty much an entire summer in my CD player. While this one kind of got lost in the flood a bit, I nevertheless came back to it a lot, putting it on after a long day at work.

And, of course, Neko has the best lungs in rock these days.

Neko Case – People Got a Lotta Nerve

7. Raveonettes – In and Out of Control

I’ll always jump on a good fuzz album. And The Raveonettes have always been able to bring the fuzz in overdrive – but they dn’t neglect classic songwriting techniques. The result is a melding of high intensity fuzz with 60s sunny pop. The song below, Last Dance, sits at the center of that balancing act.

No discussion of this album can be complete without bringing up “Boys who rape (should all be destroyed).” While it’s definitely a great, catchy song, I can’t figure out if they’re being earnest or satirical – do they think destruction for rapists is the most acceptable solution? It would be pretty great to see rapist spontaneous combustion, but that seems outside of the mainstream. Or maybe one shouldn’t try to read too much into a 3 minute rock song.

6. St. Vincent – Actor

I remember learning around 14 or 15 that the sugary memories I had of fairy tales were not exactly true to the originals. In their Disneyification, the hero(ine) always ends up being saved or somehow finding a better life. But in the classic European versions the bad children are punished (usually gruesomely) and every forest path is fraught with danger.

Those are the images I always come back to when listening to Actor. Each song lures you in with a fantasy canvas, splashes of light-heartedness that always lead you into a dark, dystopian wall of sound. It’s an amazing effect, made even more so once you consider that it was all recorded in her bedroom.

St. Vincent – The Strangers

Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come

I think this is the perfect album for The Great Recession. It seems like every song is a scene from around the country of how people are dealing with the collapse. At the same time, it’s an exploration of the faith that helps them weather the hard times. Each song is titled after the Bible verse that inspired it, which makes the allusion, well, pretty obvious.

Take my favorite (below): Genesis 3:23. The New International Version reads:

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

Darnielle’s song retells the story of a man visiting a home he’s been banished from. He breaks in, looks around, observing how the new tenants have set up the place: the new carpet, a brighter color scheme, new tsotschkes brightening the room. He wishes the new tenants luck, but it’s a resigned, defeated hope, that of the person who knows he’s blown all his opportunities. No one knows what he expected to find in his old home – maybe inspiration – but there’s no way to get your home back once the bank has seized it.

Mountain Goats – Genesis 3:23

4. M. Ward – Hold Time

M. Ward’s voice is like molasses. A dusty, 19th century kind of molasses that’s spiked with a little bit of moonshine, intoxicating the listener with its sweetness and its bite. Hold Time sees M. Ward fresh off his success with the She & Him album he recorded with Zooey Deschanel, the album shows a maturity in both instrumentation and song structure. Some songs, like Hold Time, are quietly magical, while others like Never Had Nobody Like You (below) embrace a strong blues riff. He’s definitely one of the most interesting songwriters of the generation.

M. Ward – Never Had Nobody Like You (Featuring Zooey Deschanel)

3. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – s/t

There’s a lot of similarity between Pure at Heart’s debut album and the Raveonettes album above – in sound, album cover, and general aesthetic. But Pure at Heart just seems more youthful and catchy, awash as it is in its classic shoegazer sound. Maybe that’s because the mixing is more subdued – who knows. But I know that I kept coming back to this album, over and over again.

Plus, they have a song called This Love is Fucking Right! You can’t beat that.

The Pains of being Pure at Heart – This Love Is Fucking Right!

2. The Antlers – Hospice

Hospice is being lauded all over the web this year, and for good reason. This concept album is about a man and a friend he falls in love with in a cancer ward. As such, it’s completely wrenching, filled with bittersweet joy and loss. Both are broken people at the beginning, and through the course of the album, one’s emotional wounds begin to heal. But nothing stops the cancer. Not since Elliott Smith has an artist been able to leave such an emotional mark on me.

Warning: You really have to listen to this album with lyrics in hand to get the full effect. Otherwise, this is just a pretty song.
Antlers – Two

1. Emmy the Great – First Love

Well, this album shocked me. Emmy’s music is powerful but playful, upbeat but dealing with the difficult challenges of adulthood. It’s singer-songwriter fare, but it’s much richer than the standard girl and guitar. Most songs are heavily rhythmic, with a backing piano and drum kit driving the girl and guitar motif. I guess, really, it seems to have the same kind of wit and sensibility of a Wes Anderson film.

There’s a lot more to be said about this album, but I’m frankly tired of writing and don’t have much more to say. Just get it.

Runners Up – all of these were very good and at some point had a spot on the top 15 list above. But for one reason or another I ended up going with the ones above. Usually an album just was inconsistent or had a few shortcomings.
Barzen – Notes to an Absent Lover
Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons – Death Won’t Send a Letter
Fanfarlo – Reservoir
Generations – Con Law
Glasvegas – s/t
Headlights – Wildlife
jj – No. 2
Joshua James – Build Me This
Joy Formidable – A Balloon Called Morning
Malajube – Labyrinthes
Mayer Hawthorne – A Strange Arrangement
Monsters of Folk – s/t
Paper Route – Absence
Polly Scattergood – s/t
Telefon Tel Aviv – Immolate Yourself
Vandaveer – Divide & Conquer
xx – The xx
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

There are even more albums that barely missed the runner up cut. So as you can see, this was a really difficult decision. So many albums released this year were incredibly excellent, both from newcomers and established artists. But there were a few albums that I was really really looking forward to that just didn’t do it for me. Lots of sophomore slump, and some just mediocrity:
Air – Love 2
Asobi Seksu – Hush
Bishop Allen – Grrr
Decemberists – The Hazards of Love — I don’t think any album was a bigger disappointment this year than this one. I just couldn’t get into it.
Gomez – A New Tide
Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
New Ruins – We Make Our Own Bad Luck
The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir – …and the horse you rode in on
The Veils – Sun Gangs
White Rabbits – It’s Frightening

Finally, fuck Animal Collective. I don’t care what the rest of the Internet says. Merriweather Post Pavilion isn’t that great.