Fittingly, a great decade of music ended with a great year of music. I’ve selected only nine albums here, not because “Top Nine of 09″ has a pleasant ring to it, but because picking a tenth just became too hard (and a twelve-way tie for tenth seemed silly). Besides, I always regret my final choices because I don’t hear about some albums until it’s too late—for instance, I just bought Animal Collective’s highly-touted Merriweather Post Pavilion and gave Charlotte Gainsbourg’s IRM to my wife for Christmas and though I like what I’ve heard, it’s too early to put either of them on this list. So this way I’m leaving a spot open.
Here are my favourite albums of 2009:
• xx, The xx
Feel free to make all the jokes you want about this band having just one song—and doing it eleven times on this album—but this is a fabulous debut. I listened to it a lot
• The Life of the World to Come, The Mountain Goats
I’ll admit it: I was skeptical when I heard John Darnielle was using biblical passages for song titles, but as the year ended, it was probably the album I was listening to the most
• Wilco (The Album), Wilco
Oh, sure, the music critics whined that Wilco didn’t break any new ground with this album, but I figure that was the only way they could avoid raving about another brilliant offering from this brilliant band—oh, and seeing Feist sing “You and I” with Jeff Tweedy at the second Massey Hall show was such a treat
• Infinite Light, Lightning Dust
Put me in a mood
• Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear
I found this album annoyingly hard-to-spell, but surprisingly fun and fascinating to listen to
• Beware, Bonny Prince Billy
I listened to this a lot in the spring before I went to see him and then forgot about it, but toward the end of the year, I listened to it again and realized just how good it really is
• Hospice, The Antlers
Took me a while to get into this one, but once I did, I really did
• Middle Cyclone, Neko Case
Okay, so it’s not Furnace Room Lullaby, but it’s still lovely (so was her Trinity Church gig)
• Noble Beast, Andrew Bird
Another impressive album from this impressively talented guy
Oh, and one other thing, one that made me feel like both a middle-aged man and a teenager: after reading so many raves about Tarot Sport by the Fuck Buttons, I went to eMusic and downloaded it. But when I tried to listen to it, I really felt middle-aged. And then I felt like a teenager for believing all the hype. No wonder my wife says I am highly susceptible to peer pressure.
I welcome your own lists (of whatever length) as well as your comments, complaints and condescension.
December 29th, 2009 at 8:38 pm My over-hyped album this year was Veckatimest by a landslide. For months I couldn’t take a piss without someone telling me how much I was going to love that album, then I finally listened to it and fell asleep for a hundred years. Alas. My favourites from this year, in no particular order:
Future of the Left - Travels With Myself And Another
Off-kilter, profane, sneering and hilarious three-piece punk from Wales, featuring two members of the now-defunct Mclusky.
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
Beautiful melodies, lush arrangements, off-putting bursts of noise at the right times and some of the most disarmingly optimistic lyrics I’ve found myself singing along to in quite a while.
St. Vincent - Actor
The National and Andrew Bird walk into a bar, merge into a single body and then get a sex change.
The Antlers - Hospice
I’m a sucker for an album with its own mythology. I am also a sucker for sad bastard music and art that deals with disease in an unflinching and non-hackneyed manner. Needless to say, I was a big fan of this one.
Neko Case - MIddle Cyclone
A voice that will sit you down, shut you up and teach you three or five things you didn’t know. Also, probably the best cover art of the year.
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
I’m not a dancer. I lack anything resembling rhythm, my oversized novelty feet make it a futile act at best, and I just plain don’t like it. (And yet, somehow, I’m single.) The fact that this French four-piece put out a damn-near perfect pop album that at least made me consider the virtues of the dance-floor is a testament to how fantastic the record is.
The xx - xx
“No really, you’re gonna love these four British 20-year-olds and a drum machine playing ultra-spare R&B-influenced songs about fucking.” I don’t know what the hell happened, but that statement ended up being totally true.
Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
Yeah, it’s overwrought and gooey and the sort of thing for which Elliott Smith could serve as a palate-cleanser, but this guy can just flat-out sing, so whatever.
Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
While The Pixies keep spinning the wheels on their perpetual nostalgia tour, Dinosaur Jr. got the original lineup back together and have now recorded two ass-kicking albums 15 years after most people had discounted the possibility of that ever happening again. Melodic, crunchy, noisy and shockingly relevant.
The Thermals - Now We Can See
Fun as all hell, upbeat punk steeped in contemptuous religious references and informed by cautious optimism about the future.
Honourable mentions:
Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II
Capital H - Collapse
Lucero - 1372 Overton Park
Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
December 30th, 2009 at 12:34 am Dinosaur Jr.’s Farm was one of the dozen tied for tenth on my list. Meanwhile, I am still waiting for the charms of Phoenix to reveal themselves to me.
December 30th, 2009 at 11:29 am Hi Tim,
Oh man, I look at your list and feel so out of it. My friend Jason whipped up a 19-track compilation CD-R for me and the only acts I recognized on it were Spoon and St. Vincent. For what it’s worth, this is what’s been on my iPod over the past year:
The Clientele-Bonfires on the Heath, especially the title tune, “Harvest Time” and “Graven Wood.” These guys (and girl) might qualify as my band of the decade. Psych pop rules.
Wooden Shjips-Dos, especially the hypnotic “Down by the Sea,” which had me levitating as I was editing a student’s story. Whoops, maybe psych rock rules.
The Warlocks-The Mirror Explodes. When I was still the editor at Eye, Stu Berman turned me on to their first album, Rise and Fall (2001). Then I promptly forgot about The Warlocks for about eight years. Lately I’ve been catching up. They look sorta like cousins of Lux Interior and Poison Ivy but they’re not related to psychobilly in any way. This new one’s some kind of shoegaze/Mary Chain/Sabbath concoction that for all its sludginess worms its way into you. I note with some satisfaction that those who run Pitchfork have granted them the following marks out of ten over the years (working backwards): 3.4, 5.0, 1.7, 2.0. Anything they hate that bad must be real good. There seems to be some criticism of the band doing drugs and singing about it in a juvenile way. Yeah, and your problem would be…?
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band-Between My Head and the Sky. Yoko’s voice and Sean’s music, they’re a great combo. “The Sun Is Down” is one sleek, honking piece of electro-funk.
The Flaming Lips-Embryonic. I love the buzzing, joyous sound they make on this record. It’s recorded hot so it’s always the loudest thing on my iPod.
After that, well, I like Joe Henry’s Blood From Stars but haven’t really digested it fully. Same with Mission of Burma’s The Sound, The Speed, The Light. Same with Rothko’s EP, The Longest Distance Between Two Points. Same with Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster. I love listening to Matthew Shipp Trio’s Harmonic Disorder but then can’t remember much of it.
Mostly I liked a lot of different tracks, including: “In The Dream Life U Need A Rubber Soul” by The Clean from Mister Pop (I defy you *not* to sing along to the chorus); “I Ain’t Hiding” by The Black Crowes from Before The Frost (a conscious attempt to recall and amplify upon the glories of The Stones’s greatest disco forays–”Miss You” and “Emotional Rescue” and such–an attempt that succeeds wildly); “Anti-Orgasm” by Sonic Youth from The Eternal (they just keep ticking along); “Outlaw Pete” by Bruce Springsteen from Working on a Dream (the thievery of KISS’s “I Was Made for Loving You Baby” is a scream… I fantasize Simmons v. Springsteen in court or in the ring to settle it); “Gonna See My Friend” by Pearl Jam from Backspacer (just one bitchin’ rock ‘n’ roll song); “Give Blood” by Rain Machine (the only tune I really like from the TVOTR guy’s solo); The cover of Siouxsie & the Banshees’s “Christine” by Simple Minds from their Graffiti Souls Bonus CD of cover versions (these guys have still got it but only when they do covers); “Bye Bye Bayou” by LCD Soundsystem (adds a little New Orleans voodoo to the mix); “Happy House” by The Juan Maclean from The Future Is Here (I ran along the lake to this tune dozens of times, an homage to Chicago house music and Heaven 17’s Penthouse & Pavement; “Black Hearted Love” by PJ Harvey & John Parish, the opening track on their A Woman A Man Walked By album (another bitchin’ track, this one more rock than rock ‘n’ roll); Spoon’s “Got Nuffin” (more of the same but this is an okay thing, no?); The opening tune, “Crystal Visions,” to The Big Pink’s A Brief History of Love (Bunnymen/Furs postpunk channelling); “I Cut Like A Buffalo” from The Dead Weather’s Horehound (stop-start-stop-start); And the totally rad space-rock of “Alice” from Sunn O)))’s Monoliths & Dimensions. Makes you feel like you really are Major Tom floating in your tin can.
I’ll mention two reissues that have me in their sway: The double CD pack of John Martyn’s Solid Air (Deluxe Edition); And the superb remastering of Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! By the way, Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, which I rented over Christmas and watched twice, is a brilliant recapture of an era long covered over by cynicism and opportunism.
Sorry for the long response. Happy New Year and all the best for 2010.
Bill
December 30th, 2009 at 11:46 am Yes, Bonfires on the Heath is fabulous (as is all of Clientele’s stuff) and was tied for tenth on my list. Thanks for your list — there’s plenty I want to check out.
December 30th, 2009 at 1:24 pm As you can see from this list, which I put together this morning, I’m more of a sounds guy than a lyrics guy nowadays. I don’t recall listening to a Dylan album all the way through in years, although I must have (for some reason I keep going back to “The Man In The Long Black Coat” over and over, though; Mark Lanegan recently did a great cover of it), and lyrics tend to bore me most of the time if I take them too seriously. And I don’t really care for the idea of lyrics as poetry and having “meaning” or whatever, and most of the time I mishear some or most of the lines anyway, or I find out that I’ve been mishearing a line for years or decades. Which, it has to be said, is part of the inherent fun of rock ’n’ roll. A-wop-bop-a-lu-bop/ A-wop-bam-boom!
December 30th, 2009 at 6:16 pm Marshall Crenshaw - Jaggedland
Nirvana - Live at Reading
Hayden - Place Where We Live
Miranda Lambert - Revolution
Blue Rodeo - Things We Left Behind
Tegan and Sara - Sainthood
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
Norah Jones - The Fall
Sophie Milman - Take Love Easy
Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream
December 30th, 2009 at 6:26 pm Oh, you always rope me into this, & I waste half an afternoon compiling my list because, well, as you know, I like music lists. (Like the 1.2-million knobs who sent Nick Hornby their High Fidelity mix CDs & got no reply…)
“The Fall” - Norah Jones (Probably my favourite of the year. A new direction with a new band & much stronger than the folky earlier stuff. She said one of her biggest inspirations was Tom Waits’ Mule Variations. Chasing Pirates is a killer track, although may get so overplayed that no one will be able to listen to it again.)
“The List” - Rosanne Cash. (She selected songs from the list of 100 greatest country songs that her dad gave her when she was a kid. All great - esp her duet with Springsteen on Sea of Heartbreak.)
“Vekatimist” - Grizzly Bear (I esp love While You Wait for Others & Two Weeks. Man, mixes Beatles, Beach Boys, Radiohead, Phil Spector. The vocals as great as the best harmony singers in pop music, which I would say include The Beach Boys, Queen, CSNY, The Association, The Eagles… whatever else you think of the Eagles, they could fuckin’ sing.)
“What Have You Done, My Brother” - Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens. (That great DapTone release of last spring. Great revivalist soul; Amy Winehouse, etc should take lessons. The title track is worth the price of the entire CD…)
“IRM” - Charlotte Gainsbourg. (The collaboration with Beck is great. Perfect mood music.)
“Duets” - Blind Boys of Alabama. (Probably good because it’s duets done over the past decade or so. Some unlikely choices, including blues artist Charlie Musselwhite who I haven’t heard much of in years. The Bonnie Raitt duet is also great. Includes the killer “None of Us is Free” with Solomon Burke memorably used on the soundtrack of The Wire.)
“Live in London” - Leonard Cohen. (Not really a “new release” in strictest sense, but a document of a great concert at a great period of Cohen’s performing career.)
“Bright Mississipi” - Allen Toussaint. (Everyone knows my bent is toward classic soul, blues, R&B, jazz. Here the elder statesman of New Orleans covers Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Ellington, etc. I was sold as soon as I heard Joe Henry was the producer.)
“Secret, Profane & Sugarcane” - Elvis Costello. (I think I put this up because I love Elvis & this is the best CD he’s put out in awhile. And because I love the Spectacle show…)
From what I’ve heard, I think Neko Case’s “Cyclone” should be on this list but I haven’t gotten around to buying it. And I’m not really into too much hip-hop/rap, but I’ve heard a bunch of K’Naan’s cd, “Troubadour” & it’s very good. Esp Waving Flag, the track chosen as the theme song for the World Cup. It’s more Canadian in style, meaning greater reggae/island influence & not so much misogyny & homophobia, which is probably why I like it. But I don’t actually own it so can’t put it on my list…
December 30th, 2009 at 10:19 pm Tim; I can only come up with 8 and the list is admittedly influenced by the on-going (re)education I’m receiving from my son (who, natch, is on my list). Also, a couple of the records aren’t actually from ‘09, but as always, I reserve the right to list them as I’m too slow to catch up with them in their release year. In no particular order:
“Timber Timbre” - (eponymously named): Best leading edge blues record by a Toronto artist (the very young Taylor Kirk) in forever. Atmospheric, spooky, beautiful reworking of an old (and sadly, all too often tired-sounding) genre that makes it his own. See this guy when you can. He’s on to something.
Slim Twig - “Contempt!” and “Spit it Twig! Vols. 1 & 2″: Yes, an LP and two EPs (hey! brings my count to 10!) and yes, full disclosure, ’tis my progeny. But I ask you: what sounded more original this year than “Contempt!”? Answer: not one damn thing. As NOW said, it’s a “startlingly unique project.” Angular, beautifully written horror songs with sounds as densely and betimes dissonantly avant-garde as anything the pop world’s produced in years. It’s a record that repays repeated listening in spades. I agree with the blogger who said Slim deserved the Polaris. (No, I don’t know the blogger and no, I didn’t pay him to pen his comment.) The EPs are great too, (and free!) with highlights including a Dirty Beaches (see below) collaboration and a D-Sisive rap.
Mad Lib: “Beat Konducta Vol 5 - 6″: The Beat Konducta series is out of this world good and this one is up to Mad Lib’s (un)usual(ly high) standard. Largely instrumental, by the way, for those who don’t always groove to the rapping part of the hip-hop world. He’s an appropriation artist of the highest order, who helped me re-think what hip hop is all about.
Thee Oh Sees: “Help!”: Grungy, lo-fi, unfamiliar-sounding pop by a super-talented band. Saw them live in Montreal, where they set up off-stage and turned the whole place into a giant mosh. Not that I’m into that sort of thing. But it was fun to watch. Plus, Thee Oh Sees are just flat-out fantastic.
Dirty Beaches: (eponymously named) EP: Ex-Montreal, now Vancouver-based hipster by way of Taiwan, Hawaii and San Francisco. This record is Wong Kar-Wai meeting Elvis as heard from a long, echoing alleyway, while the femme fatale is in the shadows across the way: you know it’s her, you just know it, if only you could get closer. This record is longing, nostalgia, eeriness, with an element of a dreamy, lost radio station drifting in and out of your consciousness.
Atlas Sound - “Logos”: Deerhunter’s front man doing his solo thing. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen at Lee’s Palace was his set opening for Broadcast. Melancholy, contemplative and hard-rocking all at once. When it was over, I wanted him to start it again from the top. Oh, the record’s really good too. Bradford Cox appears to be highly, highly intelligent, based on the whipsmart music he makes.
Sunn O)))) - “Domkirke”: This is from ‘08 but I just heard it recently, plus, I haven’t yet listened to their ‘09 release (which has been getting even better reviews). Drone-rock recorded live in a church. Absolutely gigantic sound–turn it up as loudly as you and your neighbours can stand to get that full-on, shake-your-house-foundation effect– with roots in death metal, the noise community, John Tavener and eastern liturgical music (hey, the impulse behind the drone has gotta come from somewhere) and I don’t know what all else. Not exactly something to put on during dinner but a unique aesthetic experience nonetheless.
Oneida - “Happy New Year” (alas, from ‘06, but I’m just catching up with it…): Tim, if your response to seeing these guys was like Malcolm’s than this may be a dead zone for you but I’d urge you to check this record out notwithstanding. They are the real deal and this record is a good place to start. What can I say: their sound is hypnotic, eclectic, highly adventurous and I think they put on a true rock show. Oneida also has tremendous wit, which is sometimes in short supply among music-makers and it’s live where their great good humour is best conveyed. I can’t get enough of this record: really, really good, arty pop/ rock.
Perhaps more will come to mind but the records are all a-jumble at the moment.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:41 pm I’m only going to add one: The Decemberists’ “Hazards of Love,” mostly because they manage to tread a VERY fine line between a genius concept album with awesome songs and an insufferable piece of self-indulgent pretension with incredible skill.
January 1st, 2010 at 2:52 pm 1 The xx –xx
Sensual, brooding and with hooks galore this was a stunning debut. Empty space as the x factor , this album showed a maturity well beyond their ages
2 Animal Collective –Merriweather Post Pavilion
This band has intrigued me for years but never managed to hook me, as all their songs seemed very colourful and rhythmic but ultimately felt formless. This album boast a number of songs that can’t but help but draw you back in. Combining tribal rhythms with Beach Boys harmonies, no other album on this list can make you long for open fields, festivals and a carefree past – no middle age teenager can be without!!!
3 Built to Spill – There is no Enemy
A return to form to for a band that has made some of my favourite guitar driven power pop. Great arrangements, great production and dreamy jams only add to the magic. Bonus points for a shout out to Canada “ What about Canada, it’s a paradise of pines and ice” from the song “Hindsight”
4 Dinosaur Jr –Farm
Another strong effort from a band that rescued itself from extinction and came back arguably stronger. A work-out staple, this will appeal to the air guitar urges of all middle age slackers.
5. The Pains of being Pure at Heart –eponymous
Driven by a steady beat, jangly guitars and a dose of synths, this band is a generational throwback that manages to escape its roots through strong song writing and overall infectious enthusiasm. Check out “Come Saturday” and “Young Adult Friction “ – Music that will make you feel young again and last I checked there is nothing wrong with that!
6. The Tragically Hip –We are the Same
A disappointment upon first hearing, that like so many of their recent records, repaid the patience of multiple listens. “Honey Please” became a sing along favourite!!
7. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
A strong album in all respects that benefitted from consistently more focused song writing than her recent efforts. With great songs and that voice, it would be hard to miss.
8.Andrew Bird –Noble Beast
A more mature offering for this list. Andrew Bird has again delivered a melodic adventure decorated by an impressive vocabulary. An updated, cleverer inhabitant of a world once owned by Sting without any of the baggage.
9. Taylor Swift – Fearless
Fitting addition, if only in name, considering what I am risking with this pick on our host’s site!! As an early fan of her song writing (through emusic no less!) and with fans of varying ages in my house, I will give credit where credit is due- overproduced in places to be sure but strong writing wins out.
10 Cocteau Twins –Heaven or Las Vegas
Not a current release and there were many that could battle for this spot too be sure, but somehow this album crept back into my life in a big way. Romantic, melodic and hypnotic which are all essential, and too often missing ingredients, in the middle- aged teenager lexicon !!
January 2nd, 2010 at 12:41 pm Just finished my entry for the Eye Weekly critz poll. One I didn’t include: Betty Davis’ Is It Love or Desire, which kinda counts as a new album since this funk masterstroke never saw the light of day until it escaped the vault a few months ago.
Otherwise realized I listen to precious little rock these days unless it’s metal (thrash and drone varieties) or Cheap Trick (solid recent album, though half as good as similarly neglected Rockford disc of some years back). I failed in my repeated efforts to embrace Animal Collective (too restrained next to similarly psych but harder-edged recent discs by Black Dice, Lightning Bolt and Gang Gang Dance) and Grizzly Bear (too CSNY and Eagles and the only thing I ever liked about either is the bass line to “One of These Nights”).
The album I probably most listened to this year was Ne-Yo’s 2008 release Year of the Gentlemen — I heartily agree with Sasha-Frere Jones’ flippant but true assessment of Ne-Yo as our era’s Burt Bacharach. Like George Michael said, listen without prejudice.
1: Maxwell/BLACKsummers’ Night (Sony) -Belated neo-soul masterpiece and a surprisingly aggressive gesture by a one-time master of mellow
2: Junior Boys/Begone Dull Care (Domino)
3: Sunn 0)))/Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord) -Supersized drone extravaganza!
4: Dam-Funk/Toeachizown (Stones Throw) -one of the year’s two two-hour electro-soul oddities (also check the Sa-Ra) — Los Angeles session musician pays glorious homage to softer side of Roger Troutman and Zapp
5: Camera Obscura/My Maudlin Career (4AD) -Disarmingly pretty retro indie-pop that does the impossible by bettering much of its source material
6: Gary War/Horribles Parade (Sacred Bones) -Cheap, noisy, very weird
7: The Phantom Band/Checkmate Sauvage (Chemikal Underground)
8: Broadcast and the Focus Group/Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age (Warp)
9: Sa-Ra Creative Partners/Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love (Ubiquity)
10: The xx/The xx (Rough Trade)