The Top 25 Albums of 2009 (25-11)
Boy, am I late on this one or what? OK, so I still am working on that onslaught of lists to end all onslaughts of lists, even if it is a day late and a dollar short. So forgive me if this list feels a little…half-assed. I’ve been focusing on other future posts more lately, so I had to really force this one together. Anyway, to help force my hand, I’m only posting the first half of my year-end list. The top ten will come soon (I’m half done). In the meantime, here’s how I saw 2009. Enjoy!
25. Jay-Z The Blueprint 3
OK, it’s not that bad. In fact, it’s quite good…sometimes. Drop the last five or six songs and you have an album that may still be contrived, but a successful contrived album, something Hov has been doing every album since the second Blueprint. So what if the album is full of mind-boggling contradictions (“D.O.A.” followed immediately by a song featuring Rihanna and Kanye? For reals?), but we give Jay-Z the benefit of the doubt because the songs are mostly good. And when the songs are bad, we simply ignore them. Jay-Z has done enough with his career that we can give him the benefit of the doubt or look the other way. If you can look the other way enough on Blueprint 3, then damn this is a fine album.
24. Lonely Island Incredibad
In my other secret life (I have about five of them) I am a ridiculous comedy nerd. Perhaps nerdier, my comedy obsessiveness has made me a bit of an SNL historian. So when Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer released Incredibad, I was psyched. Of course, the album was padded by some of the trio’s Digital Short classics (“Dick In A Box,” “Lazy Sunday” and, um, I guess “I’m On A Boat”), but it’s the new tracks that confirmed my excitement. Whether it was trivial little one-gag wonders like “Who Said We’re Wack” and “Sax Man” or more fully developed pieces like “Dream Girl” and “Boombox,” Incredibad is like that one episode of SNL per season that justifies its entire existence and makes you forget every crappy sketch. Also, in addition to being mostly hilarious, it’s a pretty solid hip hop album as well. Just sayin’.
23. Built To Spill There Is No Enemy
Built To Spill’s brand of jammy guitar rock has become such a source of comfort, that it almost seems anachronistic these days. I mean, who plays guitars? It’s just silly!
But even if these guys do still party like its 1999, there’s nothing wrong with a lot old man indie comfort food for fogies like me (I’m 27. Very old). So what if There Is No Enemy doesn’t quite touch the band’s 90s heyday, no one with a guitar really has. There Is No Enemy is not much of a shower, but it’s too comfy to be a grower. It’s just good, old fashioned Built To Spill – all sly hooks and Neil-ish timelessness, steadfast and true, a little fun and a little wistful. The kids just don’t get it. But they will one day.
22. Isis Wavering Radiant
All those fickle metal fans looking to jump back on the Isis bandwagon, the line-up starts right here. Embracing even more open spaces and smoother melodies (if you can call them melodies), Isis have crafted an album that may be a little less metal, but certainly as heavy as anything they’ve written. It’s still not the epic destruction that is Oceanic, but Wavering Radiant sees Isis at their most majestic.
21. Krallice Dimensional Bleedthrough
File this one under “21 and rising.” These Brooklyn metal heroes have crafted an album of breathtaking speed, dexterity and sonic excellence. Dimensional Bleedthrough is just a wall of guitars and drum wails, but it’s not nearly as “difficult” as, say, Dysrhythmia or Orthrelm. Krallice have honed in on a glorious marriage between prog metal and black metal, crafting an album that is brutal, intricate and numbing. This album is a marathon, but it’s an addictive one that you’ll want to run again and again.
20. DJ Quik And Kurupt BlaQKout
OK, so I’m a huge poseur. I don’t know who the best regional rappers are and I’m far from a historian. I don’t know DJ Quik or Kurupt from Adam, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what I like. BlaQKout is easily the most giddily fun rap album I’ve heard in ages. Awesomely produced, giddily profane (“Cream N Ya Panties”, “Watcha Wan Do”, “Fuck Y’All”) and simply bangin’ the whole way through. This is the best party of 2009, even if it is coming from a rapper who sounds like he was pulled out of 1991.
19. Taken By Trees East Of Eden
It’s tough for me to be writing on this album right now because, truth be told, I’m a little sick of it. The music on East Of Eden is so easy and neutral that it becomes an easy decision to throw on when guests are over or during dinner. But with that said, there’s nothing not to like on this album, with the international flourishes being easy to digest and the soft-spoken vocals providing a favorable pairing. East of Eden’s appeal will likely remain pretty timeless, even with the fickleness of my listening habits.
18. Flaming Lips Embryonic
The Flaming Lips have spent the last decade toeing the middle of the road, earning new and unexpected fans with their last three albums. I was loosely acquainted with the band, but never fully invested. But that doesn’t mean that I begrudged them their success and popularity. They did what they did and more and more people fell in love with them everyday.
But you know what, never has this band been more interesting than when they’re totally alienating. And on Embryonic, the Lips are looking to shed the fairweather fans by letting their freak flag fly. Of course, the band has always had the Midas Touch, so even when they decide to skew conventions, they still pick up momentum. Anyway, Embryonic is a total mess. And I think I really love it.
17. Yo La Tengo Popular Songs
I’ve never been a Yo La Tengo die hard, but whenever I hear them I have a real “Who are these guys?” moment. These guys may be merely hopping through genres, but everything feels wholly unique, even when the reference points are obvious. Popular Songs is an endlessly engaging trip through symphonic grooves (“Here To Fall”), soft-spoken Nuggets-rock (“Nothing To Hide”), early Motown classics (“If It’s True”) or extended, and potentially superfluous jams (the last three tracks – over a half hour of music). It’s unassuming, like most of the band’s work, but it’s smart, playful and a whole lot of fun.
16. Neko Case Middle Cyclone
Another year, another inch towards perfection for Neko Case. With the exception of a time-wasting closer in “Marais La Nuit,” Middle Cyclone proves to be Case’s most sure-footed venture yet, with Case playing the role of a force of nature (“This Tornado Loves You”), a carnivorous animal (“People Got A Lot Of Nerve”) and, well, a prison girl (“Prison Girls”). While past Neko Case albums have always boasted one song that stands front-and-centre, Middle Cyclone feels more well-rounded, as the unexpected cover of Sparks’ “Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth,” the lilting “Don’t Forget Me” and the siren song of “The Pharaohs” all hold a place next to the album’s more notable tracks.
15. Mastodon Crack The Skye, Kylesa Static Tensions, Baroness Blue Album
Three-quarters of Georgia’s heavy metal all-stars released albums this past year (the fourth, Harvey Milk killed it in ’08 with Life…The Best Game In Town) and by my count they all absolutely nailed it, albeit in totally different ways. Kylesa, of course, was the big discovery, with their relentless twin-drum assault, basement ready sludge rock. Static Tensions is huge and a lot of fun for audiophiles to boot.
A lot of eyes were on Baroness this year with people wondering how they were going to follow-up their excellent The Red Album. The answer, as it turns out, was more of the same – awesome. Blue Album is not much different than its predecessor, full of southern-inflected epic metal with a propensity toward Nintendo effect solos and big moments. This one took me a while, but now it’s become one of my go-to metal records.
Of course, the biggest and most divisive of the bunch is Mastodon, who managed to simultaneously push toward and away from more mass appeal with their less propulsive, prog-inflected Crack The Skye. While there’s a little less crust to be found on the band’s newest offering, the guitars still churn in that queasy way that made Leviathan such a monster. I know metal fans are done with these guys, but Crack The Skye only proves that the dissenters are being myopic in their view of metal.
14. Thao With The Get Down Stay Down Know Better Learn Faster
Last year’s We Brave Bee Stings And All was one of the more surprisingly lasting albums from 2008. It really snuck up on me with its endless listenability. Know Better Learn Faster is less of a surprise and therefore warrants less fondness, but the truth is that this album is every bit as inviting and effervescent as its predecessor. I know that this album is the soundtrack of Thao Nguyen grinding an ax for an ex-lover, but the soundtrack couldn’t be more enjoyable.
13. Converge Axe To Fall
With all due respect to Jane Doe, Axe To Fall is my favorite Converge album yet. The band is still as propulsive, technical and intimidating as ever before, but Axe To Fall boasts a wider and richer palate than anything the band has ever touched. With quieter moments and varied vocal performances, Axe To Fall is constantly engaging, even when the band’s ambitions cause them to misstep.
12. Big Business Mind The Drift
Big Business are hardly the most beloved band in metal. Their brand is a bit too hipster-friendly, jokey and inextricably linked to the Melvins, not exactly qualities coveted by hardcore metal fans who shun anything more good-natured than Napalm Death. But I’m not one of those metal fans and the truth is, there is no other band right now better for rocking out to in the car. Mind The Drift sees Big Business integrating more guitar and stronger melodies to wonderful effect. The albums back half hits especially hard with absolutely crushing burly pop metal tracks like “The Drift,” “Ayes Have It” and “Theme From Big Business II” catching the band on an impressive upward trajectory.
11. Volcano Choir Unmap
To be honest, the more I listen to Unmap, the more its flaws rise to the surface. But that doesn’t mean that the album’s two moments of absolute perfection – “Island, IS” and “Still” – lose any of their lustre. Those two tracks are as perfect as anything released this year and there are enough worthy moments scattered throughout the rest of the album to make it a compelling and winning experiment between one artist who has a lot to lose and another group who has everything to gain.