My personal top of the chart for 2009 was the debut EP from Chicago locals I Fight Dragons, Cool Is Just a Number. Catchy, well-crafted songs in the pop/punk vein, with the addition of 8-bit videogame sounds. (They program samples into NES controllers to play live on stage.) I've seen them live a few times, and it's been fun to watch them grow as a band.
Next, there's School of Seven Bells's Alpinisms. The twins of On!Air!Library! got together with the guitarist of Secret Machines and dramatically improved their sound. Kind of a cross between Cocteau Twins and The Cure -- swirling and mesmerizing, but in English.
I listened to Dinosaur Jr.'s Farm this year as much as I listened to Beyond in 2007 -- which is to say, a lot. The best song on the album is the Lou Barlow-penned "Your Weather", which has a perfect 60s psychedelic pop feel without ever sounding as though it was written as 60s psychedelic pop. Matthew Sweet must be so jealous.
The Airborne Toxic Event's eponymous album had a nice, comfortable "bringing the 80s back" flair. Think Foreigner 4 production, with more depressing lyrics. "Sometime Around Midnight" is the bar story that no woman could ever have written, but every guy has been there.
Animal Collective deserves its own note. I like everything I've heard from them, but their songs are really musically dense. In some ways they strike me the same way as The Fiery Furnaces and (in a different genre) Mahler. Interesting and enjoyable if you're in the mood, but kind of a slog to unpack if you're not.
Loved:
Fave album was Mastodon's Crack The Skye. Loved it when I wrote the review, love it just as much now.
Baroness -- The Blue Album
Interesting blend of classic rock/metal/w/hints of southern rock. Even non metal-heads will find this very accessible.
Joe Bonamassa -- The Ballad of John Henry
A very rockin' blues album. Great guitar playing. If you enjoyed The Steepwater Band's musical vibes, you'll find a lot to love with this disc.
The Flaming Lips -- Embryonic
Strangely catchy psychedelic mindfuck... not for newbies and way more experimental than any recent Lips album. I've no idea how this album holds itself together so well considering all the factors at work, but it does.
Morrissey -- Years of Refusal
The Master of Mope returns with a muscular-sounding album -- his best solo work.
Dinosaur Jr. -- Farm
As noted in gerry's post above, the Alt-rock vets bring the guitar goodness. Seriously. Catchy. J. Mascis gets more hooks outta a few little guitar skronks in one song than most pop singers get out of a whole album's worth of production.
Phoenix -- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
French band throws out an album of danceable, hook-filled pop.
Steve Earle -- Townes
Steve's tribute to Townes Van Zant. Best country/americana album of the year.
Ox - Burnout
Canadian band puts out the 2nd best americana/country/roots rock album of '09. Painted in shades of Wilco's early work and should easily please fans of same.
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart -- S/T
Fuzzy indie rock. Really melodic and hooky. Kinda like a softer version of The Jesus And Mary Chain.
Two Hours Traffic -- Territory
Power-pop, Canadian style. Hooky, hooky goodness that fans of Matthew Sweet or Fountains of Wayne will eat up with a spoon.
Lucero -- 1372 Overton Park
Lucero added horns to this album and it's really, really good. A modern slice of Motown-esque rock -n- soul.
Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West
Full tilt R-n-R boogie music. A fine return to form that almost washes away the bad taste from their last few meandering crapfests.
Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
I seriously doubt that there was a catchier album in any genre released last year. Yeah, it was another concept/rock opera deal, but forget about that. While the concept was a glorious, incoherent mess, the individual songs lodged themselves firmly in your ears for days after listening to them.
Liked:
Arctic Monkeys -- Humbug
A darker, moodier, broodier album than past discs. A grower.
Monsters Of Folk - S/T
Enjoyable disc from indie/folk "supergroup"
Rancid - Let The Dominoes Fall
Typically catchy sing-along punk from Tim Armstrong and Co.
Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement
Throwback blue-eyed soul that sounds like a lost album from the '60s. Retro coolness.
Wale - Attention Deficit
Above average hip-hop, that despite the occasional bout of falling into traditional rap cliches manages to drop some excellent beatmaking and effective use of hooky samples into the proceedings.
Amadou and Mariam - Welcome To Mali
Malian Afropop troubadors do very well what indie heartthrobs, Vampire Weekend wish they could do half as well; drop catchy as fuck pop songs wrapped up in the signature sounds of African Worldbeat.
U2 - No Line On The Horizon
Solid tuneage. 'Nuff said.
Animal Collective - MPP
More interesting than good, but.... like-able nonetheless if you enjoy their style.
Pearl Jam - Backspacer
Pretty good no-frills rock album. No pretentious crap here, just fun rock -n- roll songs.
Didn't lack for hype, but Found Lacking anyway:
Wavves - Wavvves
Worst fucking record released in the past twenty years. Was supposed to usher in the "lo-fi shitgaze" era. What it ushered in instead was crappy guitar playing with walls of noise layered over top and a few Beach Boys styled "harmonies" shoehorned in the background somewhere. Championed by P-fork and a bunch of other bloggers who apparently never bothered to actually listen to this self-indulgent monument to horse dung. Shitgaze, indeed...
Grizzly Bear - Veckitamest
Surprisingly boring, actually. One or two great tracks, with a whole lotta "meh" in between.
Somewhere in my soul, there's always Rock -n- Roll... Joe Strummer
I don't have a lot to add, unfortunately - when I want listen to music lately I usually just do it for white noise and put Pandora on some random station in the background. I'll probably check out a few of these albums though, which brings up a question - where are you buying your music lately? When Amazon started offering mp3s they immediately gained my loyalty, but now I see most places are offering mp3s. lala.com seems nice - generally a bit cheaper than Amazon, and they allow you to stream most albums once to "try before you buy" (instead of just the little snippets most places have). Anyone else have experience with them, or recommendations of other places to look?
Ce n'est pas une pipe. C'est une signature.
