Ok, so there are like three weeks left until the end of the year, and something great might come out in those three short weeks, but I'm not gonna sweat it. I also like to get a jump up on the competition, so before anyone can say, "you just copied [insert random blog or music site]'s list", I wanted to clear the air with my Best Albums of 2009 list. I have ranked, what I consider to be, the 20 finest albums released during the 2009 calendar year, along with the top 5 eps. Each album is ranked with the first being the best. There are also a few honorable mentions that didn't quite make the top 20, but were close, so I need to give them their props.Top 20 Albums of 2009:
1. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
To me, this album stands out as being far and away better than the rest this year. Now, don't get me wrong, I loves me some Animal Collective, and Merriweather Post Pavilion has some incredible tracks (and will no doubt top many a list this year); but as an album, nothing works better than Bitte Orca. The technical proficiency of the instrumentation is extraordinary and the harmonies are just absurd. I'll go out on a limb and say that this is going to fall into the realm of classic. It just works on every level and when I first listened to it, I felt like I was hearing something completely new and mind-bending. This was the feeling that I had when I listened to albums like The Soft Bulletin, Kid A and Doolittle for the first time and those have all fared pretty well in retrospect. Sometimes albums grow on you after awhile and then become your favorite, and sometimes an album is so damn awesome it just hits you in the mouth and blows your mind the first time you hear it. The former is a good album, the latter is the best of the year. Bitte Orca has quite a left hook.
2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
3. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
5. Atlas Sound - Logos
6. Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth
7. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Self-Titled
8. The xx - Self-Titled
9. A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
10. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
11. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
12. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
13. The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
14. Washed Out - Life of Leisure
15. Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
16. Alec Ounsworth - Mo Beauty
17. The Antlers - Hospice
18. Dan Deacon - Bromst
19. Built to Spill - There is No Enemy
20. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Honorable Mentions: Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall; Heartless Bastards - The Mountain; M. Ward - Hold Time; Morrissey - Years of Refusal; Donora - Self-Titled.
Top 5 EPs of 2009:
1. Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind
2. Bon Iver - Blood Bank
3. No Age - Losing Feeling
4. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher Than The Stars
5. Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Honorable Mention: Death Cab for Cutie - The Open Door
If you strongly disagree with any of my choices, I would love to hear it. Also, if there are any glaring omissions, drop me a line.
Cheers and Orcas!
6 comments:
glaring omission - The Flaming Lips' Embryonic...
otherwise, not a bad list, as a i agree with more than half of them being in the tops of 09
I've been struggling with Embryonic. Not sure if it will make my cut either. First listen through I was really into it, but it just isn't on par with their prior 3 IMO. Just uneven maybe.
Its just so hard to rank these things. To pick a batch is pretty easy, and a favorite usually stands out, but beyond that so many factors can affect what record I might prefer at a set moment.
Anyway, maybe Embryonic is a top 20. I'm still shifting those last few slots...
Terry - thanks for the comment. I was on the fence with Embryonic. I love Flips and The Soft Bulletin is one of my all-time faves, as you can see from my post, but when I examined the album as a whole, it just didn't do it for me. Part of the problem is that I can't help but compare it to The Soft Bulletin or Yoshimi and it doesn't stack up to those two offerings. If Embryonic were Flips' first album, then it would probably be in the top 20, but in comparison to what has preceded it, I decided to exclude it.
In any event, point well taken. Thanks for reading.
Like the BTS and Sunset Rubdown. BTS best output in quite some time.
I wholeheartedly agree re: BTS. A very good album from beginning to end. The art of the sweeping and nuanced guitar solo is a lost form for the most part in alt or indie music (however you want to classify it), and it's refreshing to hear some expansive tracks with inventive soloing that has a purpose.
As for Sunset Rubdown's Dragonslayer, the first track, "Silver Moons", just blew me away upon first listen. The remainder of the album is solid, but that single track makes it a Top 20 album for 2009, in my opinion.
Thanks for reading and for the comment.
What a gracious blogger Jimmy is!
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