Another year has come and gone, marking the time to finally reflect on my favorite topic – Album(s) of the Year! The top ten chosen are albums I felt most passionate about throughout 2009. They are accompanied by reviews to further explain my appreciation for them. 11 – 20 are highly recommended but are in no particular order.
Note: This list was not compiled in a boardroom with numerous staff members who were paid to agree on the following selections.
1. Silversun Pickups – Swoon
2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
What can be said about this album that hasn’t already been said? All the hype and buzz surrounding this record made me very nervous, but just as excited. When I heard the album a week before its release date, I instantly declared it an album of the year. Who would have thought that Animal Collective would ever break Billboard’s Top 20 charts and make it onto almost every mainstream media’s top list (i.e. Spin, Rolling Stone)? But wait – AC hasn’t traded their creative formula for big paychecks! If you were listening closely,
3. The Horrors – Primary Colors
I really don’t like the fact that The Horrors did the infamous, Indie Band + High Fashion Model, spread for Vogue, but music is first and foremost. On
4. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Art Rock from Brooklyn broke through on the charts this year in a big way with Animal Collective and, of course, Grizzly Bear.
5. Themselves – CrownsDown
When talking about Themselves and The Anticon Collective, it is crucial to throw everything you think or know about Hip Hop, out the window. Seven months after the release of
6. Julian Plenti – Is… Skyscraper
It is no secret that not everyone loved this album and probably why it didn’t make very many of 2009’s end of the year lists. As a longtime fan of Interpol, I was hesitant to hear the solo work of Paul Banks a.k.a. Julian Plenti. The material for this album was apparently written before Interpol formed. Still skeptical, I gave it a chance. I got the sense that this had a lot to do with the organics of the album. Not in terms of the music itself, but in the writing and construction of the music.
7. The Black Ryder – Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride
This duo from Sydney, Australia is almost unheard of in the United States.
8. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
When I think of the French, I don’t think of them rocking out or melting the faces off of people. But they sure do make great music in the dance and pop genres. By far, this gets my award for Pop Album of the Year. I am going to be up front and say that I actually wanted to hate this album because every NYC bar or club I went to was always playing a track off of WAP! I soon found myself secretly visiting the album on the down low. An affair with tracks like “1901” and “Lasso,” I could not deny. I hope readers agree that an obsession with Phoenix rather than Lady Gaga is better to admit.
9. Atlas Sound – Logos
It’s no secret that Bradford Cox is making some of the most exciting Indie Rock as the frontman of Deerhunter and with his side project, Atlas Sound. Apparently he is so exciting, to the point of my having to miss out on seeing him at this year’s CMJ due to the long lines, badge plenitude, and lack of talent in its lineup. Cox’s second album under Atlas Sound is a beautifully ambient, pop-like record but one that is also just as haunting. His choices for the placement and structuring of every sound are what make it so brilliant. The album is worth a purchase alone for “Walkabout” (featuring Noah Lennox of Animal Collective), which is one of my favorite tracks this year.
10. Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
This has got to be one of the most underrated records of the year!
Considering all of the Sunset Rubdown material I’ve heard, this is probably their most well-crafted, accessible album to date. Much like Spencer Kurg’s smaller band, Wolf Parade, every track on
11. The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead
12. Doves – Kingdom Of Rust
13. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
