The Top 75 Albums of 2009: Part One – 75 to 5115.12.09
So…much…music. If there is one word I could use to sum up 2009 it would have to be “expansive”. The shear abundance of great records this year has put a stress on both my hard drive and shelves, while the over-arching themes of this years releases have been aimed to create refined derivatives of great trends established in 2007-8 (folk, electro-clash, art-rock, technical hardcore, etc).
Based on the sheer number of albums in this years list, each pick is accompanied by a Twitter-esque 140 character description (most are closer to ~200) to aid in digestibility, a couple of arbitrary hashtags to give you a feel for what you are getting yourself into, as well as a couple of recommended tracks to get you started should you want to check a particular record out.
Finally, so Wordpress doesn’t have a heart attack the list is divided up into three parts: 75-51, 50-26, and 25-1. The next parts will be posted over the following days.
So without further posturing, here is part one of my best albums of 2009 – hope you enjoy!
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75. So Many Dynamos – The Loud Wars
Richly textured indie-rock, with borderline post-rock tendencies. Full of clashing keyboards and near spoken-word delivery. #indie #synth
Listen to: The Formula, New Bones
74. Trophy Scars – Bad Luck
What happens when a reformed hardcore band embraces the entire sonic palette. Half ode to misfortune, half assassin-story concept album. Seriously. #experimental #rock
Listen to: Anna Lucia, Geneva
73. The Horrors – Primary Colours
Gothic avant-garde shoe gaze meets traditional British indie sensibility. As moody and angular as it is intriguing. #postrock #ambient
Listen to: Mirrors Image, Who Can Say
72. Royksopp – Junior
A collection of thick, goopy, and meandering loops so infectious that they stand on their own merit. The excellent vocal talent is just icing on the cake. #electro #synthpop
Listen to: Tricky Tricky, This Must Be It
71. Heartsounds – Until We Surrender
Old school melodic punk akin to No Use For A Name with charming boy-girl vocalists, duelling for the final note. #punk #fastmusic
Listen to: The Song Inside Me, Until We Surrender
70. Baptized In Blood – Gutterbound
Unabashed power metal channelling as much Maiden as Motley Crue. Exactly what you’d expect – monster riffs – but that’s not a bad thing. #metal #mathrock
Listen to: Down And Out, Go It Alone
69. Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse – Dark Night Of The Soul
A celebrity-studded & well-choreographed album that won’t only be remembered for the blank CD-R’s which they arrived on. #softrock #collaboration
Listen to: Little Girl, Revenge
68. Fireworks – All I Have To Offer Is My Own Confusion
Realist pop-punk that would rather play to their strengths of inciting moshpits instead of crafting sugary hooks for the Fall Out Boy crowd. #pogo #punk
Listen to: Detroit, Vonnegut and Me
67. St. Vincent – Actor
Fragile voices meet powerful instrumentals to create a shimmering elegance this is hard to top. The soundtrack to a million Wes Anderson imitations. #songstress #indie
Listen to: Actor Out of Work, The Party
66. Patrick Wolf – The Bachelor
Shape shifting electro-folk that spans the emotional spectrum from morose to cheerful. Lots of glitchy 80’s new waves feel. #melodrama #electro
Listen to: Vulture, Oblivion
65. Islands – Vapours
Nick Diamonds throws every bit of quirk he can muster at his listeners – luckily the majority sticks. Bizarre lyrics and arrangements abound. #artpop #onemanband
Listen to: Disarming The Car Bomb, Switched On
64. Lower Than Atlantis – Bretton
Post-hardcore that yearns for the sweaty basement gigs of the early 90’s. Rough-around-the-edges, but that’s what makes it eternally appealing. #threechords #gangvocals
Listen to: The Juggernaught, Sleeping In The Bath
63. Bishop Allen – Grrr…
Generic indie pop; but leverages perfectly-crafted lyrics to rise above the pack & make it appear at least a little more sincere at first blush. #twee #lightheartedpop
Listen to: Dirt On Your New Shoes, Cue The Elephants
62. Brand New – Daisy
When your first thoughts upon hearing the crashing opening are “is this Refused?!” you know you are in for something extraordinary. Lyrically brooding, mature indie that keeps you on your toes #genrebending #rock
Listen to: Sink, Gasoline
61. Say Hi – Oohs And Aahs
Laptop indie that actually works. Say Hi’s Eric Elbogen knows how to craft a diverse album from crafty snippets seemingly lifted from Ra Ra Riot’s cutting room floor. #kitsch #indierock
Listen to: Dramatic Irony, Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
60. Dinosaur Pile-Up – The Most Powerful E.P In The Universe
Tricked out stadium rock, channelling as much early Foo Fighters as humanly possible without being a cover band. Full of obscenely catchy arpeggio hooks. #festivalrock #harmonies
Listen to: Summer Hit Single, Cat Attack!
59. Danger – 09 16 2007
Glitch-y and dance-y all at once. Danger aims for the high bar set by Justice and Boys Noize and successes at raising the stakes for everyone. #dance #techno
Listen to: 88:88, 07:46
58. Health – Get Color
If you had told me that Health made up their songs for Get Color on the spot, I would be tempted to believe you. Incredibly eccentric noise-rock punctured by dour lyricism. #angularrock #noise
Listen to: Die Slow, Before Tigers
57. As Tall As Lions – You Can’t Take It With You
A collection of soulful and impassioned alt-rock that finds them putting subtlety before extravagance. (Stolen from Sptunik because they worded it perfectly) #altrock #gracefulindie
Listen to: In Case of Rapture, Circles
56. The Boy Least Likely To – Law of The Playground
Breathless twee-pop from the British Isles that embraces its love of children’s-music rather than hiding it under layer of complexity. The greatest pleasures in life are the simple ones. #indie #sunshineandpuppies
Listen to: Balloon On A Broken String, The Boy With Two Hearts
55. The Number Twelve Looks Like You – Worse Than Alone
The perpetually genre-defining grind band that throws everything from jazz, to salsa, to blast beats at you (in the same track no less) on their latest. But at its heart, this hydra is a great frantic hardcore record. #uncategorizable #hardcore
Listen to: The Garden’s All Nighters, To Catch A Tiger…
54. Yacht – See Mystery Lights
Acid-soaked hippe freak-out meets sensible block rocking hits. This brainy duo craft some effortlessly smart electro that will undoubtedly make you nod your head or put a smile on your face. #disco #electrobreak
Listen to: Summer Song, Physhic City
53. We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls
Rousing indie imported straight from the Scottish Isles that feels at home pulling on the heartstrings or creating deep, textured melodies. #minimalist #indie
Listen to: Conductor, Quiet Little Voices
52. White Lies – To Lose My Life
If you took the best parts of The Bravery and Editors to create a new band, it would probably sound close to this great debut from White Lies – even if its subject matter is heavy stuff. #ominous #rock
Listen to: Death, Nothing To Give
51. Baroness – Blue Record
Calling this record the ‘blue’ record is a bit of a misnomer – its composition is anything but. Complex, guttural metal, painted with enough variance to warrant something new every time. #instrumental #metal
Listen to: A Horse Called Golgotha, Steel That Sleeps the Eye
Make sure to come back tomorrow to check out part two!
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