December 2009
30 posts
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#1 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
GRIZZLY BEAR - VECKATIMEST WARP
Dateline: February, 2009. So the story goes that Grizzly Bear, four guys from the famed neighborhood Brooklyn, announce a new album, Veckatimest. Named after an uninhabited island in Massachusetts, much buzz was a bound for this record, based on previewing new tracks over the course of the past year at festivals, late night TV shows, and the like. A mere few...
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#2 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
TELEKINESIS - TELEKINESIS! MERGE
Michael Benjamin Lerner is Telekinesis. He recorded is debut album in as many days as there were songs (11.) It was worked on with a pretty famed producer who is also in a pretty famed band (Chris Walla, Death Cab For Cutie). They made the album in their hometown (Seattle) yet the album is not about Seattle. It’s about an obsession with the west, or...
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#3 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
CYMBALS EAT GUITARS - WHY THERE ARE MOUNTAINS SISTER’S DEN
The only way to really even begin to convey how much I love this album is to go back to the beginning of the year when I first started going ape over this band and their debut:
“Rusty” wrote on January 12, 2009:
They’re in the red on the blogdar meter, blogdar being that radar that us bloggers have, that sixth...
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#4 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
YO LA TENGO - POPULAR SONGS MATADOR
There’s two sides to this album, two sides over four sides of vinyl. It starts out with keyboards sounding like pedals, before drums and strings enter and it ends with nothing but guitars duking it out, sounding like acid wash and white squall’d noise. It runs the spectrum of all Yo La Tengo releases of the decade, hitting all the perfect spots,...
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#5 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
THE FLAMING LIPS - EMBRYONIC WARNER BROS.
Some months ago when the talk of there being a new Flaming Lips record, Wayne Coyne was quoted as saying it was going to be a completely different Flaming Lips album. A change was a-comin’, kind of like when they released The Soft Bulletin a decade ago. Gone was going to be the clean, pristine pro tools sounds of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots...
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#6 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
PETER BJORN & JOHN - LIVING THING ALMOST GOLD/STARTIME INTL
This album was first heard in a van driving from New York to Boston. It was cold out and there was snow on the ground. We were on I-84, and the CD went in the player. As “The Feeling” went on, we weren’t feeling it. We had heard the first single, “Nothing To Worry About,” but we were starting to...
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#7 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
THE XX - XX ROUGH TRADE
It starts out quiet and it ends quiet; rather the whole thing is pretty quiet. But that isn’t appeal to this debut album by quartet (now trio) of Brits who are all 20.
It’s sultry and seductive in a way Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra never imagined. The way Romy Croft and Oliver Sim trade the vocals over hypnotic guitar melodies, the sparsest arrangements,...
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#8 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
GIRLS - ALBUM TRUE PANTHER SOUNDS/MATADOR
Album opens with a quote, a proclamation that was probably a direct or paraphrased quote from Christopher Owens’ ex-girlfriend: ‘I wish I had a boyfriend / I wish I had a loving man in my life.’ This is what starts off a collection of 12, mostly bright and summery pop songs that are all about what most bright and summery pop songs are...
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#9 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW - ASHES GRAMMAR MIS OJOS DISCOS
There are 22 songs on Ashes Grammar, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. Maybe that is because nearly half of them are interludes, segues, songs that feature elements of the songs on either side of them. The first two songs don’t even take up an entire minute, but those 54 seconds might be my favorite 54 seconds of harmonies all...
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#10 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
THROW ME THE STATUE - CREATURESQUE SECRETLY CANADIAN
If it were for that zany synth part in “Hi-Fi Goon,” a track that appears late in the game on Throw Me The Statue’s sophomore effort, you could say it was the best Built To Spill song that Built To Spill forgot to write and record and release themselves. Sure, longtime BTS producer Phil Ek has his hands all over...
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#11 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
DARK WAS THE NIGHT 4AD
At the halfway point of this year, I had my list of what I thought would be in the Top 10 overall. This album was on that list. It brought a lot of criticism, I see a lot of people who included this on their list were torn: a compilation being part of another compilation, a compiled list of albums and what have you? Some had it as an honorable mention, others had it...
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#12 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
JAPANDROIDS - POST-NOTHING POLYVINYL
The rock and roll duo, one made big by bands like the Japandroids and No Age, was started in the mid ’90s if you ask me. With who? Local H. And Japandroids remind me more of the H than the Age.
Bullet point #1: the crunchy guitars. They’re louder than Hell, they are up in the mix fighting to be above the vocals and the drums in success....
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#13 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
WILCO - WILCO (THE ALBUM) NONESUCH
Most people would argue that Summerteeth would be this legendary alt-country band’s most commercially appealing album. I would tend to disagree now since (The Album) is now a part of our lives. And this is a good thing. I point to my first Wilco show this summer in Portland, Maine; the intro music for the band as Jeff Tweedy & Co. entered the...
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#14 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
FOREIGN BORN - PERSON TO PERSON SECRETLY CANADIAN
The sounds on Foreign Born’s sophomore effort aren’t too unfamiliar with the indie fans; anyone who has followed a band like Brooklyn’s French Kicks will be familiar with this sound. But this sound comes from the west coast, from LA, a sound so tropical, so exotic, you’d wonder if the band is playing sets on the Carnival...
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#15 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
PORTUGAL. THE MAN - THE SATANIC SATANIST EQUAL VISION/APPORACHING AIRBALLOONS
Location in the country and of the time is very vital to Portugal. The Man. For starters there is the band name, Portugal being not where the band is from, but in fact the band is from Wasilla, Alaska, home to everyone’s favorite maverick (wink.) They escaped her reign of terror and moved to Portland. Last...
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#16 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
EELS - HOMBRE LOBO VAGRANT/EWORKS
The title of the Eels 7th album is Spanish for Wolf Man. And rightfully so, the album starts with E howling after the delicate strum of his electric guitar. E has been known to write some personal songs, songs about him and the events of his life: most would point to his sophomore effort, 1998’s wrist-cutting inducer Electro-Shock Blues, an album...
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#17 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
PEARL JAM - BACKSPACER MONKEYWRENCH
Since their last album, 2005’s volatile self-titled record or “Avacado” by the fans thanks to that simplistic artwork, the climate in America has changed. We got rid of Bush, we ushered in a new era of change with Obama, and thus the climate was changed for Pearl Jam and their latest album.
For the first time in a decade, since the beloved...
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#18 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
THRICE - BEGGARS VAGRANT I listen to the recommendations of my best friend about once a year. For awhile, he tried, he begged for me, like with Brand New before them, to give Thrice a chance. I knew of them, they were kinda hardcore or something, I didn’t know. He was so hotly anticipating The Alchemy Index, a set of four EP’s that skewed their earlier, harder leanings, a more...
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#19 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009
EDITORS - IN THIS LIGHT AND ON THIS EVENING FADER/KITCHENWARE There’s nothing I love better than when a band continues to reinvent themselves. When Editors revealed themselves back in 2006, the were the by-the-numbers 80s band; Tom Smith’s vocals were dominating, in a way that was reminiscent of Ian Curtis. For their second album, An End Has A Start, they channeled this...
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#20 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
ELVIS PERKINS IN DEARLAND - ELVIS PERKINS IN DEARLAND XL How do you follow up an album that followed a story that would be too heartbreaking for many to tell, an album where the songs were in order of when they were written, when they occurred over the years? For Elvis Perkins, you get your live band to become one with you and your music, and you continue to tell some sad tales but beef up the...
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#21 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
DEAD MAN’S BONES - DEAD MAN’S BONES ANTI- Most of the times that actors have made the swap of job trade, from acting to singing, it usually doesn’t pan out so well. Granted they released moderately successful singles in the 80s, but who really wants to hear Eddie Murphy, Don Johnson, or - ugh - Bruce Willis sing songs? They should be making us laugh, rolling up their sleeves...
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#22 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
MT. ST. HELENS VIETNAM BAND - MT. ST. HELENS VIETNAM BAND DEAD OCEANS I was sitting at my old office in Boston earlier this year when a co-worker passed a record on to me, told me it was something I’d be in to and he was right. This album has everything I love about bands from the Northwest wrapped in to one: It’s about the production, how the drums sound larger than life. How the...
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#23 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
ROBERT POLLARD - THE CRAWLING DISTANCE GBV INC. When you’re a man like Robert Pollard, who releases no fewer than five albums in a year, how do you stay relevant and attempt to top yourself? You dig backwards.
In the tradition of his new band the Boston Spaceships who do the same thing, Bob turns the clock back for his 99th release, The Crawling Distance. Two of the songs,...
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#24 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
THE LOVE LANGUAGE - THE LOVE LANGUAGE BLADEN COUNTY RECORDS North Carolina, the area known as the Triangle to be specific, is one of the greatest hotbeds for music these days. This year alone, it saw great releases from bands like Megafaun, Bowerbirds, even Superchunk put out some new music. But the best new band, in my opinion, is that of Raleigh’s The Love Language.
On their...
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#25 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
SUNSET RUBDOWN - DRAGONSLAYER JAGJAGUWAR
I can’t remember the last time anyone made a good prog record in this era, but I know Spencer Krug has his finger on the pulse of it.
He’s the busiest Canadian I know, busier than Neil Young with the amount of material he puts out. Since his alpha band Wolf Parade released their epic debut Apologies To The Queen Mary in 2005, he’s put...
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#26 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE - MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION DOMINO I have so much to say about this album, and I know I’m going to get a lot of flak for not having it higher because everyone else has this (probably) as a guaranteed Top 3 if not #1. Ever since this album was announced, I have a known and documented history with it. When the album was announced, I turned to my old blog to rip Animal...
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#27 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
BRAND NEW - DAISY INTERSCOPE
After releasing the career defining The Devil & God Are Raging Inside Me back in 2006, it seems like the band who once leaned more in to the pop punk/emo territory couldn’t top themselves. Instead of making another album like the three before, Brand New’s Daisy is an album that’s dark, that’s dense, that’s aggressive.
The album...
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#28 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
HERE WE GO MAGIC - HERE WE GO MAGIC WESTERN VINYL
Although not #1 on the Top 20 Songs of ‘09, “Tunnelvision” is the best song I’ve heard executed in a live setting. Starting out with Luke Temple’s guitar strum, the other four members of the band slowly enter in piece by piece, and by the time he’s done singing, the musical mantra that the band has built...
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#29 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
ST. VINCENT - ACTOR 4AD When I was trying to sell people on Marry Me, Annie Clark’s debut album as her stage moniker St. Vincent, I said ‘she’s indie rock’s Norah Jones.’ Crazy thing to say, I know, but I thought it was a good sentiment at the time: she had this smooth and delicate jazzy voice to her, yet she kinda rocked a bit.. and “Your Lips Are Red”...
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#30 IN THE ALBUMS OF 2009:
SUPERDRAG - INDUSTRY GIANTS SUPERDRAG SOUND LABORATORIES/THIRTY TIGERS In the summer of 2007, one of my boyhood fantasies was made a reality by the reunion of the original line-up of Knoxville’s finest. The original quartet of John Davis, Senator Top Pappas, Brandon FIsher, and Don Coffey Jr. were going on tour, playing a few cities in the US. I saw them that November, and could have...