Quarterly Review: The Best of 2009’s Third Quarter
Every time I do one of these, it feels like there’s one album that really stands out, followed by a glut of solid albums that are good, but don’t resonate at the same level. Every quarter seems to go like that, including this one, but sometimes the last week or two of the quarter brings in a wealth of albums that seem so good, but provide you with significantly less time to really soak them in. That’s what happened here. I don’t really know how much some of these albums will hold up or how much they can improve with time, but a few of the albums on this list feel like something special even though they have all the hallmarks of being “growers.” On top of that, I haven’t even heard new albums by Mission of Burma, Om, Tyondai Braxton, Why?, Circulatory System or Kid Cudi. So…things could change by the end of the year.
1. Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt. II
Why make a sequel to an album that is heralded as one of the best albums in the already unparalleled Wu-Tang canon? Is there any thematic continuation that needs to be shared? And what is that theme anyway? Coke? Pyrex?
Raekwon has talked about how OB4CL2 is less of a continuation than it is a personal challenge – if you’re going to slap the OB4CL brand on there (is it a brand?) then you better deliver. After several delays and a certain degree of living in the shadow of The Blueprint 3’s hype, the truth has finally been revealed: OB4CL2 is a world-class banger that is at least on par with its beloved predecessor.
Raekwon sounds as good as ever here, providing a menacing, controlled flow over every song, detailing the coke game in a way that almost nobody else has done before (except, of course, Rae himself), but the guest spots tend to provide the most frequent highlights. Inspectah Deck gets first dibs on the album by opening the huge “House Of Flying Daggers” with a verse that sets an incredibly high bar for everyone to follow. Beanie Sigel provides a devastatingly conflicted verse on “Have Mercy,” while the RZA is at his unhinged best on “Black Mozart.”
In the end, however, OB4CL2 is stolen by Method Man and Ghostface, who make every one of their appearances hit harder than either of them have in a few years (although Meth was pretty great on 8 Diagrams). Meth, who actually only appears twice, spits the album’s biggest hook on “New Wu” and lands one of the gnarliest verses on “Daggers,” not coincidentally the album’s two best tracks. Ghost, who appears frequently, steals every moment, from getting detailed and disturbing over a dead child on “Cold Outside” to getting caught receiving a hummer from his son’s baby mama on “Gihad.” Ghost is the ultimate compliment to Rae, and his moments of perfection only shine more light on Rae’s steely flow. When the three of these guys hook up on their new album, it’s going to be siiiiick.
At 22 tracks, OB4CL2 could be trimmed down a bit (I’ll drop the Dr. Dre-produced cuts first), but it’s a very minor quibble. This album is a revelation and a worthy and welcome victory lap for the Wu-Tang Clan, who experienced a Lazarus-like resurgence doing the back half of the decade. All the reasons for that are right here on this album.
“New Wu”
2. Volcano Choir Unmap
The amazing and constantly growing fan support behind Bon Iver’s wonderful For Emma, Forever Ago has had people eagerly anticipating his next move. I doubt this is what they had in mind, but it works for me.
Teaming with rad math rockers Collections of Colonies of Bees, Unmap, doesn’t favor either artist over the other. It’s certainly not another Bon Iver album, as these songs are less songs than they are tuneful experimentations. And for the significantly smaller group looking for another CoCoB album (that’s a pretty good acronym – hope it sticks), Unmap is a bit mathy, but nowhere near as rocking as the band’s older stuff (although, to be fair, I’m only really familiar with 2007’s Birds). Unlike many other collaborations in the past decade, this one feels like a perfectly happy medium – a little from column A; a little from column B – but it all coalesces into something new and fascinating. Unmap is loose and spacious, but Justin Vernon has proved capable of captivating with his voice alone, and CoCoB are certainly no slouches on the musical side of things, creating a sonic backing that could stand on its own without Vernon’s familiar voice. If the whole hiding in the woods and writing a cult classic folk album thing proves to be fruitless for Vernon in the future, it seems that he’s got a new avenue that could ensure his musical vitality for years to come.
3. Taken By Trees East Of Eden
I’ve never been a very big fan of The Concretes or Peter, Bjorn and John, so when a new album came out from Victoria Bergsman, I really couldn’t be bothered. That is until my wife picked it up and made me listen to it. Not expecting much, I was taken aback when the album sounded nothing like the lily-white twee indie that I was expecting. Instead, there was a global music blanket over the whole thing, recalling artists like current favorites Hanggai and most obviously the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. It’s a breath of fresh air in an indie world where cultural crossovers begin and end with afropop. While Bergsman’s voice stays mostly within her subtly cooing comfort zone (a far cry from Khan), the music underneath her feels vibrant and strange, giving the album an understated charm that doesn’t even show a trace of being ostentatious when Bergsman re-works Animal Collective’s “My Girls.” It’s doubtful that East of Eden will send other indie stars to different parts of Asia in search for inspiration, but it’s a pretty good reminder that it’s a pretty big, beautiful world we live in.
4. Pissed Jeans King Of Jeans
Listening to King Of Jeans, the latest collection snarling explosions of existential dread from Philly’s Pissed Jeans, I start to wonder if maybe I jumped the gun when praising Hope For Men, the band’s 2007 Sub Pop debut. It’s not that Hope For Men is bad; it’s just clearly not half the album King Of Jeans is. This one sounds like what I wanted Hope For Men to be. On opener “False Jesii Part 2,” “singer” Matt Korvette sings the hook like he’s puking marbles (it sounds like he’s putting them back in his mouth for the rest of the album), while the band churns out more seasick anthems that would make you mosh in your living room if you they weren’t making you nauseous first. Pissed Jeans are like the retarded offspring of Flipper and the Jesus Lizard. And their lead singer’s apparently balding, so they’ve got that going for them too. Extra points for having the best front and back album cover of the decade.
5. Polvo In Prism & Dysrhythmia Psychic Maps
Between Collections of Colonies of Bees’ surge into the wider indie spectrum and these two albums, 2009 may be viewed as the year math rock made its official comeback.
While I’ll cop to not knowing much about Polvo’s 90s heyday, I’m grateful they returned. In Prism is the victory lap no one knew they needed. With huge drums and visceral guitars, In Prism isn’t so much an album you hear as much as you feel. With an angular burliness that you really don’t hear anymore, In Prism could be a throwback, but the sound is too powerful to be considered a mere nostalgia kick. These songs can bruise.
On the proggier end of the spectrum is Dysrhythmia with their almost overbearing wall of wailing guitars and frenetic drums. Psychic Maps would be as menacing as a swarm of bees if it weren’t for the fact that it literally sounds like a swarm of bees. For fans of ultra-technical fretwork and ridiculous musicianship – plus a healthy dose of metal’s monolithic evilness – Psychic Maps should satisfy for a long time.
6 to 10 (in no particular order): Levon Helm Electric Dirt; The Big Pink A Brief History Of Love; Yo La Tengo Popular Songs; The xx XX & Jay-Z The Blueprint 3 (What? Drop five or six songs and it’s a great album!).