Last year when I recounted my favorite albums of the year, I lamented, "it's clear that 2008 was no 2007." I have since bitten my tongue. While 2009 did in fact birth an abundance of highlights, fewer than usual left me swooning. If for some reason you haven't heard some (or any) of these, see to it that you do--you can thank me later.
20. Bishop Allen - Grrr...
--As far as bands I've been turned onto this year go, Bishop Allen is among my favorites. They're hopefully dorky and unquestionably infectious. Serving quite well as my introduction, Grrr... epitomizes catchiness with adorable boy-girl harmonies, candy-sweet strings and a veritable grab bag of percussions, but it doesn't hold a candle to 2007's The Broken String. If these guys roll through your town any time soon, however, make the effort to catch them; they were hands down one of the best live acts I caught this year.
>>LISTEN: Oklahoma; The Ancient Commonsense of Things; True or False.
19. Islands - Vapours
--I've never expected much from Islands. Their first album had bright spots, as did their second, but neither had much impact as a whole. Even singles like 'Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby' and 'Creeper' have been relegated to the back shelves of my memory bank by now. A year after collaborating with Nick Guthrie last year as Human Highway, however, Nick Thorburn reignited my steadily dwindling interest. To say Vapours is Islands' best goes without saying; but in borrowing sparingly from influences like Talking Heads and Pixies on a handful of impressive tracks and finally making a listenable record from front to back, the third time really is the charm.
>>LISTEN: Vapours; Tender Torture; Disarming the Car Bomb.
18. Princeton - Cocoon of Love
--I'm thrilled to incorporate a little school pride into this year's list: twin vocalists Jesse & Matt Kivel and keyboardist Ben Usen are all Santa Moncia High School alumni; Usen, whom I got to know on the golf team at Samo, is also a fellow Arizona Wildcat. Affiliations have little to do with the merit of this much-anticipated debut LP, however; after amassing a solid resumé of EPs (highlighted by 2008's 'Bloomsbury'), these Santa Monica natives have put together a delightful scrapbook of breezy chamber pop. Rife with literary references on par with Vampire Weekend, and a sound somewhere in the neighborhood of a Jens Lekman/Camera Obscura lovechild, it's hard not to want to wrap yourself up in Cocoon.
>>LISTEN: Show Some Love, When Your Man Gets Home; Sylvie; Shout It Out.
17. The Thermals - Now We Can See
--A guilty pleasure of sort, there isn't much to these 11 songs that doesn't meet the ear; they're certainly nothing we haven't heard before, and more than likely constitute the greatest number of "whoahs" on here. Pitfalls aside, sharp hooks and rabid crescendos on tracks like 'I Let It Go' will get your blood rushing and your feet moving, and this in turn makes for guaranteed repeat listens. For a period where so many of us questioned our direction and longed for the days of being "sick" in college, this little gem turned out to be a desperately needed breath of freshly recycled air.
>>LISTEN: I Let It Go; I Called Out Your Name; At the Bottom of the Sea.
16. Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring
--What a difference a year makes: one year removed from gleeful Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, Charlie Fink breaks up with girlfriend/(former) bandmate Laura Marling, takes a step away from twee pop brilliance and bares his soul on a breakup album. Even within the confines of sorrow, however, N&TW's trademark optimism manages to seep through the cracks at every possible opportunity. On standout track 'Stranger,' Fink opens with the most uncharacteristic of lines: "Last night, I slept with a stranger for the first time since you've gone" (it's even more unsettling to hear him sing this in person), yet within 4 minutes, we're back in 'Give a Little Love' country with the victorious chorus "You know in a year, it's gonna be better/You know in a year, I'm gonna be happy." While I can't say the new material translates as well to the live stage (they killed with a quick set from their first LP at Coachella in April, but practically put us to sleep with this one in October), Fink's dark side doesn't end up begging too much for listener sympathy--and when the catharsis is through, he walks off into the sunset, pronounced chin held high.
>>LISTEN: Stranger; My Broken Heart; Blue Skies.
15. The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
--It appears I started listening to the Avetts just in time; I'd stumbled across Four Thieves Gone a few months before their latest came out, and boy am I glad that happened. Plain and simple, the North Carolina bluegrass band offers up a handy helping of songs about love and life, sung with sincerity over some perfectly placed strings and keys. "Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in/Are you aware the state I'm in?" are certainly among my favorite lyrics from '09.
>>LISTEN: I and Love and You; Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise; Slight Figure of Speech.
14. Decibully - World Travels Fast
--Hardly hot on the heels of 2005's Sing Out America, here comes another solid and beautifully haunting release from this ridiculously underrated Milwaukee band.
>>LISTEN: Prom Jam; Don't Believe the Hype; If I Don't Work.
13. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below
--Planning a trip through the desert anytime soon? Driving out to Arizona in the middle of the night couldn't have been a better occasion to first give these charmingly twangy, whiskey-soaked songs a listen. Kind of makes me want to invest in some boots and maybe a hat. (Jenna gets points for the introduction; she put 'Home' on a mix for me; it's one of my favorite songs this year from anyone.)
>>LISTEN: Home; Janglin; Carries On.
T/12-11. Girls - Album/Real Estate - S/T
--Ranking these two albums has been quite difficult. Hell, I can barely make a distinction at times. Given that I think of the two in such a similar light and that they share so much common aesthetic and feel at times, it's only appropriate to pair them together. Much like Real Estate, San Francisco's Girls have slapped together a remarkably simple, melancholy album of beachy compositions. Where Girls throw angsty Costello-esque vocals and sweeping synths over their surfy Pacific riffs, Real Estate offers a slightly more collected, cooler, crisper Atlantic angle with tastes similar to Yo La Tengo. While it's 50 degrees out and raining and I've never been surfing in my life, Girls have me convinced I should be packing a bowl and waxing my board. Real Estate, on the other hand, have me primed to sit on my imaginary porch with something stiff in my coffee and just watch the waves roll. Either way, looks like I win.
>>LISTEN: Lust for Life; Ghost Mouth; Darling.
>>LISTEN: Black Lake; Atlantic City; Snow Days.
10. Vetiver - Tight Knit
--Every now and then, you get sucked into a band or record that makes you want to drop everything, throw a few essentials in a knapsack and wander into the woods for a while. This, my friends, is that record. With everything from jaunty, toe-tapping beach folk to strutting funk to starry, atmospheric lullabies sure to enhance anyone's "go to sleep mix," Tight Knit pleasantly winds the listener along Pacific Coast Highway to California's central coast, the only problem being that when the trip is through, you won't want to leave.
>>LISTEN: Everyday; Another Reason to Go; More of This.
9. Coconut Records - Davy
--As much as I adore Jason Schwartzman and his cheeky little mannerisms, it's hard to deny--as my girlfriend points out nearly every time I mention him--he's kind of a dweeb. As his surprisingly funny at times yet generally boring HBO series Bored to Death demonstrated, he just can't carry the load as a leading man. Both on screen and in the recording studio, everyone's favorite Rushmore student is a bit of a remora; his presence is best when supporting something larger. Regardless of his musical ability--there's not much question there; Davy boasts a host of instantly memorable songs, several of which became B-sides providing one of the very few likable facets--the score--for Judd Apatow's Funny People--I'd never expect even the best Coconut Records LP (which this is, and deserves praise) to stack up against richer, more developed competition.
>>LISTEN: Any Fun; Saint Jerome; I Am Young
8. The Antlers - Hospice
While I might listen to a track here or there in the future, there's no guarantee I'll ever listen to Hospice from front to back again; the experience is just a little staggering. Intensely beautiful and overwhelming in every sense of the word, but staggering nonetheless.
>>LISTEN: The Bear; Two; Sylvia.
7. Bowerbirds - Upper Air
--Getting me hooked on a folksy boy-girl outfit isn't particularly difficult; throw in a crooning accordion and a cast of delicate, distinct strings, and I'm butter. Akin to Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, Upper Air is a simple yet rare joy in today's vast sea of exorbitantly overproduced music: accessible, clean, and natural.
>>LISTEN: Northern Lights; Ghost Life; Teeth.
6. Foreign Born - Person to Person
--The Afropop resurgence just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? Here's 40 minutes of endless summer from right here in Los Angeles, complete with colorful riffs and diligently layered percussion evoking everything from Venice drum circles to sizzling carne asada on Echo Park grills (or maybe in 2009's case, something savory from the Kogi truck). And who knows, with the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver, 'Winter Games' might make for fantastic montage material. NBC, get on that.
>>LISTEN: Winter Games; Early Warning; Lion's Share.
5. Deer Tick - Born on Flag Day
--One of countless bands I'm indebted to Jenna for introducing me to this year, we had the good fortune of watching John McCauley & co. storm the stage at the Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival in October. Given their frontman's pack-a-day rasp and gold-toothed desert swagger, you'd never guess these guys were from Rhode Island.
>>LISTEN: Smith Hill; Easy; Straight Into A Storm.
4. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
--For the last decade, Tracyanne Campbell and Camera Obscura have steadily carried the torch bestowed upon them by fellow Scots Belle & Sebastaian. Thus far, this might be their masterpiece; their If You're Feeling Sinister, if you will. On My Maudlin Career, Campbell, part hopeless romantic and part seething pessimist, lends her warm silky vocals and sardonic wit to golden orchestrations that masterfully evoke the ghosts of doo wop. After spending much of this past holiday season with A Christmas Gift For You, I can't help but hope Phil Spector got to hear this before he went to the slammer.
>>LISTEN: Swans; French Navy; The World is Full of Strangers.
3. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - S/T
--Some might argue the best publicity this buzz band received for their debut this year came from (what does he do? music? whatever) Jay Reatard, who oh-so cleverly tweeted about POBPAH, "The Pains of Being Boring at Heart." He's since carried on with a vendetta against half of Brooklyn's indie scene, had his own band members abandon him, and to the best of my knowledge, inspired thousands more who didn't give a shit about him to continue not giving a shit about him. Meanwhile, without RT-ing the situation to high hell and making cheeky "Reatarded" jokes (that's my job), POBPAH have already followed this acclaimed debut up with the similarly impressive 'Higher Than the Stars' EP. So while this album very well may be enshrined alongside a PBR tallboy and a pack of Parliaments in the scenester hall of fame in an a half-finished Williamsburg apartment, let's not ignore the fact that what we have here is a virtually flawless helping of trebly, unforgettable noise-pop that takes internet buzz bands into the next decade on a very high note.
>>LISTEN: Young Adult Friction; This Love is Fucking Right!; Gentle Sons.
2. A.A. Bondy - When the Devil's Loose
--Auguste Arthur strikes again! The only problem I'm having with the former Verbena frontman these days is trying to decide whether I treasure this LP or last year'sAmerican Hearts more. (Thankfully, I don't actually have to.) Bondy's sophomore album may lack some of the punch of his debut, but it allows him to pick up right where he left off--singing velvety ballads over watery guitars and sorrowful strings. In this installment, we find Bondy somehow even more at ease in his southern ether; and while individual tracks seem to stand out less here than last year's model, this gently rolling album is all the richer as a whole.
>>LISTEN: I Can See the Pines Are Dancing; A Slow Parade; On the Moon.
1. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
--Every kid at some point dreams of spreading his or her wings and taking flight as a bird; Frankly, I'd be content enough to be Andrew Bird: handsome, a sharp dresser, and one of many things I know I'll never be: musically gifted. (In Bird's case, "gifted" is a gross understatement; aside from his ingenious songwriting, he's quite adroit with the violin, guitar, and piano. And then there's the whistling. I didn't learn to whistle (barely, at that) until I was in high school. While Noble Beast might not be his best offering to date (or maybe it is), it's another glorious contribution to a string of unmistakable opuses that have put him in a league of his own. As far as solo acts go this decade, I'm not too sure anybody did it better (or in a more fascinating fashion).
>>LISTEN: Effigy; The Privateers; Souverian.
Oh, and in case you missed 'em, here are my annual individual song picks. Happy '010, y'all.
No comments:
Post a Comment