Dec 21, 2009 08:24 pm St. Vincent's Actor wasn't 1/2 bad if you ask me.
Best of 2009
Posted on Dec 21, 2009 07:55 pm
Tadpui
I am not a crook's head
Member Since: Mar 14, 2003
Usually around this time of year, I'll make a post with my top 10 or otherwise favorite albums of the year. Well this year was one of the worst ever for me as far as discovering new music (and in lots of other areas as well). I don't think that I could come up with 10 worthy albums if I tried. I think I might be able to muster a top 3 or top 5 though:
- The Hazards Of Love - The Decemberists
This is the only release of 2009 that has brought goosebumps to my skin and tears to my eyes. By the time that the last few songs come around and Colin Meloy's protagonist William is pleading to the river in Annan Water "If you calm, and let me pass/You may render me a wreck when I come back/So calm your waves and slow the churn/And you may have my precious bones on my return", the goosebumps are in high effect. And when the river takes him up on his bargain in The Hazards Of Love 4, my face is as wet as his clothes: "So let's be married here today, these rushing waves, to bear our witness/And we will lie like river stones, rolling only where it takes us[/i]". I envy his ability to write epic songs, and this rock opera is one of the Decemberists' finest albums to date.
- Dark Night of the Soul - Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, Various Artists
This is a great compilation with an interesting assembly of various artists. Iggy Pop, The Flaming Lips, Black Francis, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, director/writer/photographer (and, apparently, songwriter) David Lynch, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, James Mercer of The Shins, Suzanne Vega, and Vic Chessnut. Lots of dark, brooding indie/pop
- A Brief History Of Love - The Big Pink
I can't really defend this as a great album, but I've taken a liking to this CD lately. The production quality is top-notch, and there are a few single-worthy songs on it. It's guitar-driven with a fair dose of electronic elements strewn about, and the mixes are packed to the hilt with sound.
- Elvis Perkins In Dearland - Elvis Perkins
The opening song, Shampoo is definitely required listening for 2009. This is almost like Bob Dylan had a son who just came of age and started putting out music. There's lots of great folk and folk-tinged rock on this one. The lyrics are a little difficult to get into for me, but the presentation is so confident and authentic that I can't help but enjoy this album.
- Blood Bank - Bon Iver
A short EP, this was just enough to tide us over until Justin Vernon can come up with another full-length. These 4 songs both reinforce the ground that For Emma... covered last year, plus it forges new ground with the autotune/vocoder acapella number Woods.
- Hold Time - M. Ward
Again, I can't say that this is a great album, but M. Ward has won me over as a fan, so I'm always looking forward to what he puts out next. This is a pretty average album, but M. Ward's love for old-time American music is infectious, and his acoustic guitar playing is as enthralling as ever.
- Dragonslayer - Sunset Rubdown
I've come to be a pretty big fan of Spencer Krug and his band Sunset Rubdown. He has such a demented imagination and such a twisted sense for songwriting. His song structures are always meandering and inventive, his chord progressions are twisted and recursive, his lyrics dense and nearly impenetrable. But for some reason, I love the results. This was a welcome release after last year's very disappointing Random Spirit Lover, which was just a mess of an album. He reeled it in just a bit for Dragonslayer, and it pays off. The album walks the line between uniquely interesting and off-the-deep-end weird.
This year was also full of disappointments, flavor-of-the-month bands, and flat-out unlistenable bands that were inexplicably hyped up. Here are a few:
- Post Merriweather Pavillion - Animal Collective
I fell for it again. For the third (and final!) time, I bought into the hype that surrounds Animal Collective. The last two times, I read reviews that made this band sound like the best thing since sliced bread. The genius of their arrangements, their studio trickery, their lyrics, and all of that. And each time, I sat down to listen to the album and immediately raised a "WTF?" eyebrow. I just don't get it. I don't understand the draw this band and thier over-reverberated, wandering, Beach Boys mimicry. All of their albums have sounded just alike, each equally unlistenable.
- Noble Beast - Andrew Bird
I love Andrew Bird, I really do. I'd love to see him live, and I've been totally enamoured with his last few albums. But this one just pushed too far in the wrong direction. The songs are all directionless soundscapes that fail to establish a hook, much less sink that hook into you. Bird is a very smart songwriter and lyricist, but he outsmarted himself on this one.
- xx - The xx
The xx is a London band that garnered tons of good press this year. So I bought into it. It's not bad music, but it's so obviously a flavor-of-the-month affair and that they're not going into the annals of rock history based on their career so far. they have a certain charm to them, but it wears thin really quick.
So, as you can see, it's been a hit-and-miss year for me and music in 2009. I've found more disappointments than gems, and I've kind of lost interest in the search. I'm going to have to wait for some new music to find me in 2010 I guess. I'm just tired of striking out. I quit eMusic, who seem to have been the main provider of flavor-of-the-month bands for me. I hate hate hate iTunes so I refuse to buy from them. So I'm in need of a new music outlet. Maybe a few months of hiatus from music seeking will help me out a bit. I feel like I've worked over the available stuff and I need to let it rest a bit to build up some more worthy material.
So what did you love and hate in the world of music in 2009?
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Dec 21, 2009 08:24 pm St. Vincent's Actor wasn't 1/2 bad if you ask me.
Dec 22, 2009 08:19 am Izzy Stradlin - Smoke
Another great album from the former Guns N' Roses guitarist. He'll put out a new album each year on iTunes only and does zero promotion or interviews. Why? Cause he didn't give a ****.. it's all about the music. This new album contains some great songs, it's a bit more Stonesy sounding then the last one. Timo Kaltio is also guesting on 3 songs, he was a Hanoi Rocks roadie and also co-wrote the GN'R song 'Right Next Door To Hell'. Izzy produces the albums himself, his other bandmembers are guitarist Rick Richards (Georgia Satellites), drummer Taz Bentley (Reverend Horton Heat, Burden Brothers) and bassist/engineer/mixer JT Longoria (Nomad Studios in Dallas, involved with many King Diamond albums).
Check out Izzy's stuff at: www.chopaway.com/izzy_str...raphy.php?id=14
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Duff McKagan's Loaded - Sick
This album is from the former Guns N' Roses bassist and his band.
It's a mix of hardrock, punk and blues. Imo it's one of his finest work..
Check out Loaded at: www.duff-loaded.com/
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KISS - Sonic Boom
I like it.. sounds kinda vintage Kiss. Not the greatest but good, some really catchy stuff on it.
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Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
Not a giant fan but good enough to make it on my favorite albums list of 2009.
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Dec 22, 2009 08:54 am Thanks for the excellent posts, you guys! You know, a lot of the new music I seek out comes directly from recommendations that you people make. I need to do a little mental review, and then I'll post a few notables from 2009.
Jim
Dec 22, 2009 11:36 am I still haven't jumped on with St. Vincent yet, and I'm not sure why. I definitely need to check her out. All I've seen is the "Cemetary Gates" feature she did for Pitchfork TV, and it was so-so. I'd like to hear her on disc.
I forgot that Izzy Stradlin was still putting out music. I'm definitely interested to see what the old gunner is doing. He always was the strongest songwriting force in that band if you ask me. His absence changed that band forever.
Jim, glad that at least somebody is interested in what we've been listening to. I think that there are a select few of us here that share somewhat similar tastes. Seems to be a growing contingent of non-metal fans growing lately :-)
Not that there's anything wrong with metal, it just doesn't excite me like other music does. I've had a subscription to Guitar World magazine this year and every single issue is packed PACKED! with more tattooed, grimacing greaseballs playing Deans, ESPs, and 7-string guitars than you can shake a stick at. They all blend together to me. There are more genres, sub-genres, and sub-sub-genres of metal than any other style of music I've ever seen. And the distinctions are so slight. "Well, post-metal-core-death-black-hard-metal is just like black-death-tune-core-speed-metal except with more breakbeats and fewer blastbeats, but usually tuned down to low A." I feel way too old to care about it. But there are no shortage of 13-25 year olds to take my place in supporting post-black-death-core-rap-ska-metal, it seems.
Anyways...
Oh, I remembered another over-hyped band of the past year. Probably the most over-hyped band I've seen since Animal Collective:
- Album - Girls
With back-to-back song titles of Goddamn and Big Bad Mean Motherfucker, how could it go wrong? So I thought. You know, this album isn't terrible. But it got so much hype and good press that you'd have thought that it was the 2nd coming of Brian Wilson. But at its heart, its just another over-reverbed 60s throwback band to join the dozens that have been singled out as interesting by the indie community in the past year or two. Now it seems that all you have to do to get attention is turn off your overdrive stomp box and turn up your reverb and play your same songs. Now instead of being a nobody, you're a genius!
Dec 22, 2009 12:19 pm Here's what got me into St. Vincent...Maybe the live horns will do for you what they did for me.
@Tad: She's going to be here on Feb 15th. Too bad you fell out of the post-black-death-core-rap-ska-metal circuit, there's an incredible post-black-death-core-rap-ska-metal local band thats heavily influenced by post-murder-death-edge-machinegun-blood-black-core music. It's called Death by Deathwest and they only play on Friday the 13th...but they always play.
Dec 22, 2009 01:21 pm heh, death by deathwest.
Now that's funny.
Dec 22, 2009 02:05 pm No way I could come up with 10 favorite albums released in 2009, but here are a few I bought that I am still listening to rather often:
I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers
Kind of folky alt-country-ish. I've worn the digital grooves out of this one.
The Rose Hotel - Robert Earl Keen
I own everything he has ever released. This album did not disappoint his loyal fans. I wish he'd venture up Wisconsin way so I could see him live.
The Excitement Plan - Todd Snider
He keeps getting weirder with each release, but his songwriting remains clever and accessible. This CD was actually produced by Don Was.
Haymaker! - The Gourds
I love The Gourds! If you have never heard their version of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice" then I feel very sorry for you.
High, Wide and Handsome - The Charlie Poole Project - Loudon Wainwright III
His last dozen releases were sorry disappointments to me. He totally redeemed himself with this project.
That's about all I can think of now. I've mostly been listening to a lot of alt. country type stuff. I never did check out Wilco's 2009 release...is it any good?
Dec 22, 2009 02:30 pm Hmmm, good question on Wilco's newest. It didn't really make any waves and I totally forgot about it. But I actually liked Sky Blue Sky whereas a lot of their fans and critics didn't. It sounds like it followed in the same vein. I like Nels Klein on guitar, I think he fills the void left by Jay Bennett (RIP) very nicely.
I haven't listened to Louden Wainright yet, but I've listened to his son's stuff. Rufus Wainright had a good streak going early this decade, but he got busy making sure that the entire world understands that he's here, he's queer, and that we should get used to it. He apparently forgot to spend the time writing songs while playing out his Judy Garland fantasy. Too bad, he had some potential before dedicating himself to the total and unrelenting acknowledgement by the world that we know that he's gay. I guess some people just need affirmation that bad. I say just focus on writing songs and forget about being a spokesperson for sexual preference.
A friend has recommended the new Gourds album to me. I have a feeling I'll end up hearing it sometime in the coming months. I have to tread carefully in the alt. country realm. There are some great gems to uncover there, and there are some total losers posing as "alternative" just to have another word to hang on their bio sheet. Purchasing a Telecaster doesn't make you "country", and stepping on a Tube Screamer doen't make you "alt". Doing both certainly doesn't equate to "alt. country". But if you browse by genre at Amazon, you wouldn't know it!
Dec 22, 2009 10:12 pm Oh man, why do you have to pick the busiest time of year for me to do this.
LOL
I'll try and get something up in the next week or so.
So much good music came my way this year. Lots of it is stuff most have not heard yet. Or may never hear.
Dec 29, 2009 03:41 pm I just saw that Post Merriweather Pavillion got the #1 spot in Pitchfork's top 50 albums of 2009. *sigh* God I hate that band.
But the new one from the Flaming Lips got the #4 spot, which makes me want to check that one out. St. Vincent was in the top 15. But the Animal Collective spin-off Grizzly Bear (who I hate just as much as Animal Collective itself) was in the top 10, and so was The xx. So apparently flavor-of-the-month also equals best-of-the-year.
Dec 29, 2009 11:22 pm Don't forget Kutiman! :)
Dec 30, 2009 01:45 am i really dug Devin Townsends 2 new solo albums, "Addicted" being the best.
I got them both autographed too.
Thought i might bring up how crap "Death Magnetic" was followed closely by Slipknots "All hope is gone"
Devine Heresey's new one was also unbelieveable.
never heard a drummer as good as that in my life and anyone that can sweep pick a bass like that deserves a mention.
Dec 30, 2009 01:51 am thought i might drop in the Devine Heresey song.
Dec 30, 2009 01:42 pm Yeah...I don't like Animal Collective either. I wish media was less trendy about music...Pitchfork especially. The only music recommendations I'm inclined to trust are the ones made by my Pandora play list. Their music genome is my best friend. It takes a long time to get a good play list...but after days of continuous listening on each station and excessive thumbing up/down I have three stations that cover the gambit of my favorite music.
Speaking of bands I found on Pandora...the band IQ released an album this year. Not their best but if Animal Collective can have the "#1 Track of 2009" on Pitchfork I can put Frequency on my top ten albums of the year...yeesh.
Dec 30, 2009 07:27 pm I've never even heard of most of those bands. Maybe I need to check out some new music.
My favorite album that I bought this year was probably the new Dave Matthews Band. That CD probably stayed in my CD player for 2 or 3 months straight. I just couldn't take it out. Their best album since Crash.
Lamb of God - Wrath was a good one as well.
Yeah Deon, their drummer is a beast.
Jan 10, 2010 11:41 pm I guess the band that had the biggest impact on me this year was Laudanum Forest. A band from Belgium that I met on The 61 and simply was amazed not only by the music.But the simple fact that their recording set up was and extremely meager PC set up. Running just the bare minimum and making due with what they had. But the influences of 3 different musicians that came together to try something out and went far beyond what they hoped to do. And in that they created some of the best and emotional music I have heard in years. There is more feeling in their short catalog including the cover's then in nearly everything else I had listened to in the last year. And I've listened to more then my share of music in 2009.
Give them a listen, tracks like Snail, The Witch and their cover of Rockstar. All their music takes time to listen to but you have to listen all the way through as each track evolves into something other then what it started out as. I got involved with these guys and didn't look back, not even for an instant. They create the music as they see it. And their few cover's completely blew me away with what I thought were better arrangements then the original's.
I know I ranted on about them but they really had the biggest influence on me in 2009 out of everything.
www.thesixtyone.com/#/laudanumforest/
Give them a listen.
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