AllMusic Loves 2009
December 15th, 2009 | 8:40 am est |
Appropriately for the final year of the decade, 2009 seemed to be the 2000s in microcosm. Every trend of the past 10 years surfaced over the past 12 months: dance divas with irresistible singles mingled with the electro-pop and art-punk vanguard with Lady Gaga bridging the two extremes, new bands rubbed elbows with veterans who either mounted a comeback or proved the value of consistent work. There was a lot that was twee and precious and not much macho, save for some crackling underground metal and the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. There were seemingly too many animal bands to count — led, of course, by Animal Collective, the consensus pick for album of the year in many quarters, but followed not far behind by Grizzly Bear, Arctic Monkeys, Bat for Lashes (and, if you’re being generous, a resurgent Black Crowes) — and there was yet another new project from Jack White. In short, 2009 had a little bit of everything of what we loved about the 2000s, and the following lists are what AMG editors loved best over the last year.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications
Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You
Brad Paisley – American Saturday Night
Julian Casblancas – Phrazes for the Young
La Roux – La Roux
The Black Crowes – Before the Frost/Until the Freeze
Shakira – She Wolf
Weezer – Raditude
Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
Norah Jones – The Fall
Madness – The Liberty of Norton Folgate
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Manic Street Preachers – Journal for Plague Lovers
The Fiery Furnaces – I’m Going Away
Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
Dan Auberach – Keep It Hid
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Coconut Records – Davy
The Black Crowes – “Good Morning Captain”
Kelly Clarkson – “I Do Not Hook Up”
Weezer – “If You’re Wondering If I Want You To (I Want You To)”
Lily Allen – “Not Fair”
Britney Spears – “3″
Art Brut – “Slap Dash for No Cash”
Lady Gaga – “Poker Face”
Lady Gaga – “Bad Romance”
George Strait – “Twang”
Dan Auberach – “My Mistake”
John Bush
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
The xx – xx
The Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Anti-Pop Consortium – Fluorescent Black
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall
St. Vincent – Actor
The-Dream – Love vs Money
Dâm-Funk – Toeachizown
Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Brad Paisley – American Saturday Night
The Fiery Furnaces – I’m Going Away
tUnE-yArDs – Bird-Brains
A Place to Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa
YACHT – See Mystery Lights
Wale – Attention Deficit
The xx – “Crystalised”
Jack Peñate – “Pull My Heart Away [Jamie xx Remix]”
Washed Out – “Feel It All Around”
Black Moth Super Rainbow – “Born on a Day the Sun Didn’t Rise”
Bill Callahan – “Eid Ma Clack Shaw”
Jay Reatard – “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me”
The Dead Weather – “Hang You from the Heavens”
Camera Obscura – “French Navy”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “Come Saturday”
Neon Indian – “Terminally Chill”
Phoenix – “Fences [Friendly Fires Remix]”
Discovery – “Orange Shirt”
Lupe Fiasco – “The National Anthem”
The-Dream – “Walkin’ on the Moon”
Wale f/ Pharrell – “Let It Loose”
YACHT – “Ring the Bell”
Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”
St. Vincent – “The Strangers”
Flight of the Conchords – “We’re Both in Love with a Sexy Lady”
Beck – “Harry Partch”
Heather Phares
Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
Tyondai Braxton – Central Market
Cold Cave – Love Comes Close
Fever Ray – Fever Ray
The Fiery Furnaces – I’m Going Away
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Future of the Left – Travels With Myself and Another
Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
PJ Harvey – A Woman a Man Walked By
La Roux – La Roux
Micachu – Jewellery
Mount Eerie – Wind’s Poem
Major Lazer – Guns Don’t Kill People, Lazers Do
Real Estate – Real Estate
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
St. Vincent – Actor
Talk Normal – Sugarland
Wildbirds & Peacedrums – The Snake
The xx – xx
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
Jarvis Cocker – “Angela”
Cold Cave – “Life Magazine”
Dead Weather – “Treat Me Like Your Mother”
Fever Ray – “If I Had a Heart”
Fiery Furnaces – “The End is Near”
Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”
PJ Harvey – “Black Hearted Love”
La Roux – “Quicksand”
Lady Gaga – “Bad Romance”
Major Lazer – “Keep it Getting Louder”
Micachu – “Golden Phone”
Britney Spears – “3″
Shakira – “She Wolf”
St. Vincent – “Actor Out of Work” (YouTube)
Talk Normal – “In a Strangeland” (YouTube)
Wildbirds & Peacedrums – “My Heart”
The xx – “Basic Space”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Heads Will Roll”
Tim Sendra
Afternoon Naps – Parade
Bricolage – Bricolage
Burning Hearts – Aboa Sleeping
Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
City Center – City Center
The Clientele – Bonfires on the Heath
Cola Jet Set – Guitarras y Tambores
The Crêpes – So What Else?
Discovery – LP
Drake – So Far Gone
Fitness Forever – Personal Train
Get Back Guinozzi! – Carpet Madness
Girls – Album
jj – jj Nº 2
La Roux – La Roux
Lake Heartbeat – Trust in Numbers
Sondre Lerche – Heartbeat Radio
The Pastels/Tenniscoats – Two Sunsets
Summer Cats – Songs for Tuesdays
The xx – xx
Bounce Camp – “Good Beat”
Kelly Clarkson – “I Do Not Hook Up”
Drake – “Best I Ever Had”
Internet Forever – “Break Bones”
Lake Heartbeat – “Mystery”
La Roux – “Bulletproof”
Little Boots – “Stuck on Repeat”
Lucky Soul – “Whoa Billy”
The Magic Kids – “Hey Boy”
Washed Out – “Feel It All Around”
Matt Collar
Annie – Don’t Stop
Dan Auerbach – Keep It Hid
Brendan Benson – My Old, Familiar Friend
The Black Crowes – Before the Frost/Until the Freeze
Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications
Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
Frankmusik – Complete Me
Franz Ferdinand – Tonight
Guggenheim Grotto – Happy the Man
Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter
La Roux – La Roux
Maxwell – BLACKsummers’night
John Mayer – Battle Studies
Paramore – Brand New Eyes
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Shakira – She Wolf
St. Vincent – Actor
Temper Trap – Conditions
Weezer – Raditude
Patrick Wolf – The Bachelor
Greg Heaney
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Coalesce – Ox
Felt – Felt 3: Tribute to Rosie Perez
Isis – Wavering Radiant
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Method Man & Redman – Blackout, Vol. 2
Russian Circles – Geneva
Goblin Cock – Come with Me If You Want to Live
Baroness – Blue Record
Muse – The Resistance
I Come to Shanghai – I Come to Shanghai
The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
Converge – Axe to Fall
Mos Def – The Ecstatic
The Thermals – Now We Can See
Wavves – Wavvves
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Pelican – What We All Come to Need
MF Doom – Born Like This
Thee Oh Sees – Help
Lil Wayne – “I’m Goin In”
Coalesce – “In My Wake, for My Own”
Snoop Dogg – “Upside Down”
Electric Six – “Body Shot”
Eagle Twin – “Carry On, King of Carrion”
Lightning Bolt – “Colossus”
I Come to Shanghai – “Your Lazy Eye”
The Bird and the Bee – “Dance Song”
The Flaming Lips – “Worm Mountain”
Goblin Cock – “We Got a Bleeder”
Rick Ross – “Maybach Music”
White Denim – “Say What You Want”
Pelican – “Ephemeral”
The Flaming Lips w/ Stardeath and White Dwarfs – “Borderline”
Gucci Mane – “Stupid Wild”
Tyvek – “Michael Caine”
The Thermals – “Now We Can See”
Isis – “20 Minutes/40 Years”
David Jeffries
Alborosie – Escape from Babylon
Buju Banton – Rasta Got Soul
Clipse – Til the Casket Drops
Leonard Cohen – Live in London
DJ Quik & Kurupt – BlaQKout
Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon: The End of Day
Lady Saw – Extra Raw: The Best of Lady Saw
Major Lazer – Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do
Ziggy Marley – Family Time
Mavado – Mr. Brooks…A Better Tomorrow
Freddie McGregor – Mr. McGregor
Method Man & Redman – Blackout! Vol. 2
Patton Oswalt – My Weakness Is Strong
Dudley Perkins – Holy Smokes
Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. 2
Tarrus Riley – Contagious
Winston Riley – Quintessential Techniques: Reggae Anthology
Slaughterhouse – Slaughterhouse
Tiny Masters of Today – Skeletons
Version Big-Fi – Crux Collide Hybridize
Thom Jurek
Tony Allen & Jimi Tenor – Inspiration Information, Vol. 4
James Blackshaw – The Glass Bead Game
Ran Blake – Driftwoods
Dâm-Funk – Toeachizown
Betty Davis – Is It Love or Desire
Blut Aus Nord – Memoria Vetusta II/Dialogue with the Stars
Ariana Delawari – Lion of Panjshir
Ben Frost – By the Throat
Jan Garbarek – Dresden in Concert
Joe Henry – Blood from Stars
Kris Kristofferson – Closer to the Bone
Buddy & Julie Miller – Written in Chalk
Georgia Anne Muldrow – Umsindo
My Dying Bride – For Lies I Sire
Nomo – Invisible Cities
Kelly Joe Phelps – Western Bell
Tom Russell – Blood and Candle Smoke
Sa-Ra – Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love
Peter Walker – Long Lost Tapes, 1970
John Zorn – O’o
Andy Kellman
Audision – Surface to Surface
Diego Bernal – For Corners
Clipse – Til the Casket Drops
Dâm-Funk – Toeachizown
DJ Quik & Kurupt – BlaQKout
The-Dream – Love vs Money
Keri Hilson – In a Perfect World…
Shafiq Husayn – Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka
J Dilla – Jay Stay Paid
King Midas Sound – Waiting for You
Maxwell – BLACKsummers’night
Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Georgia Anne Muldrow – Umsindo
Omar-S – Fabric 45
PPP – Abundance
Redshape – The Dance Paradox
Sa-Ra – Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love
2562 – Unbalance
Moritz von Oswald Trio – Vertical Ascent
The xx – xx
Black Jazz Consortium – “Mind in Flight”
Build an Ark – “Celebrate”
Calibre – “Stolen Shadow”
Dorian Concept – “Trilingual Dance Sexperience” (YouTube)
Walter Jones – “Living Without Your Love”
K. Michelle – “Fakin’ It”
Kode9 – “Black Sun”
Ryan Leslie – “You’re Not My Girl”
Little Dragon – “Fortune”
Lone – “Joyreel”
Millie & Andrea – “Temper Tantrum”
Moody – “Freeki Mutha F cker”
Mount Kimbie – “Sketch on Glass”
Joy Orbison – “Hyph Mngo” (YouTube)
Portishead – “Chase the Tear”
Rebolledo – “Guerrero”
Sade – “Soldier of Love”
Kuba Sojka – “Message from Earth”
2000F & J Kamata – “You Don’t Know What Love Is” (YouTube)
Zomby – “Godzilla”
Andrew Leahey
Miranda Lambert – Revolution
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Dan Auerbach – Keep It Hid
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – The Live Anthology
Miranda Lee Richards – Light of X
Muse – The Resistance
Paramore – Brand New Eyes
Lissie – Why You Runnin’
Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels
Le Loup – Family
The Swell Season – Strict Joy
Exebelle & the Rusted Cavalcade – The Antipoison Creek Sessions
Speck Mountain – Some Sweet Relief
Ben Kweller – Changing Horses
Ingrid Michaelson – Everybody
The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
The Skygreen Leopards – Gorgeous Johnny
Alvin Band – Mantis Preying
Arctic Monkeys – “Cornerstone”
Miranda Lambert – “Airstream”
The Everyday Visuals – “Daydream Ghosts”
Muse – “Guiding Light”
Robert Francis – “Junebug”
Great Lake Swimmers – “Everything Is Moving So Fast”
Dan Auerbach – “When the Night Comes”
Sleigh Bells – “Ring Ring”
Maria Taylor – “Cartoons and Forever Plans”
Exebelle & the Rusted Cavalcade – “What If We Fell”
Emmy the Great – “We Almost Had a Baby”
U2 – “No Line on the Horizon”
A Fine Frenzy – “Electric Twist
Paramore – “Careful”
Elvis Perkins – “How’s Forever Been Baby”
Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”
Keith Urban – “‘Til Summer Comes Around”
Jason Lymangrover
Bibio – Vignetting the Compost
Clark – Totems Flare
Crocodiles – Summer of Hate
Dälek – Gutter Tactics
Double Dagger – More
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Girls – Album
Health – Get Color
Japandroids – Post-Nothing
James Pants – Seven Seals
Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon: The End of Day
Lotus Plaza – The Floodlight Collective
Lovvers – OCD Go Go Girls
Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Odd Nosdam – T.I.M.E. Soundtrack
Marked Men – Ghosts
Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall
Tiny Masters of Today – Skeletons
Wavves – Wavvves
White Denim – Fits
Art Brut – “DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake”
Black Lips – “Starting Over”
BLK JKS – “Lakeside”
Box Elders – “Stay”
Camp Lo – “2 Dope Boyz”
Chain & the Gang – “Deathbed Confession”
Christmas Island – “Bed Island”
Crystal Antlers – “Glacier”
Goblin Cock – “We Got a Bleeder”
Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)”
Lullabye Arkestra – “Fog Machine”
Mi Ami – “New Guitar”
Micachu & the Shapes – “Calculator”
Mika Miko – “Turkey Sandwich”
Pissed Jeans – “False Jesii, Pt. 2″
Kurt Vile – “Freak Train”
Sonic Youth – “Antenna”
Titus Andronicus – “Titus Andronicus”
Tyvek – “Stop Start”
Warlocks – “The Midnight Sun”
James Christopher Monger
Florence and the Machine – Lungs
Hot Leg – Red Light Fever
Eugene McGuinness – Eugene McGuinness
A.C. Newman – Get Guilty
The Clientele – Bonfires on the Heath
The Duckworth Lewis Method – The Duckworth Lewis Method
Matt Jones – The Black Path
Muse – The Resistance
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Beware
Horse’s Ha – Of the Cathmawr Yards
Týr – By the Light of the Northern Star
Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
Hidden Cameras – Origin:Orphan
A.A. Bondy – When the Devil’s Loose
Liam McKahey & the Bodies – Lonely Road
The Hard Lessons – Arms Forest
Ensiferum – From Afar
Huun-Huur-Tu/Carmen Rizzo – Eternal
Wild Light – “California on My Mind”
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Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears – “Bitch, I Love You”
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Big Pink – “Dominoes”
Depeche Mode – “Wrong”
Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeroes – “40 Day Dream”
Future of the Left – “The House That Hope Built”
Micachu – “Golden Phone”
Fanfarlo – “I’m a Pilot”
The Delta Spirit – “People C’mon”
Jeremy Enigk – “Life’s Too Short”
Royksopp – “The Girl and the Robot”
Espers – “Caroline”
The Gourds – “Shreveport”
Wild Beasts – “All the King’s Men”
Broken Records – “Nearly Home”
Andrew Bird – “Oh No”
Phoenix – “1901″
Animal Collective – “My Girls”
The Very Best – “Yalira”
Andy Prieboy – “Hearty Drinking Men”
Sean Westergaard
Fred Anderson – 21st Century Chase: 80th Birthday Bash, Live at the Velvet Lounge
The Beatles – The Beatles: Mono Box Set
Sir Richard Bishop – Freak of Araby
James Carter/John Medeski – Heaven on Earth
Bo Diddley – Ride On: The Chess Masters, Vol. 3 – 1960-1961
Marc Ducret – Sens de la Marche
Mike Keneally – Scambot 1
King Crimson – Red 40th Anniversary Edition
Korekyojinn – Swan Dive
Wayne Krantz – Krantz Carlock Lefebvre
Medeski Martin & Wood – Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set
Miriodor – Avanti!
Ben Perowsky Quartet – Esopus Opus
Sun Ra & His Arkestra – The Antique Blacks
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Old Money
Sax Ruins – Yawiquo
Wadada Leo Smith – Spiritual Dimensions
Imahori Tsuneo/Yoshida Tatsuya – Dots
John Zorn – O’o
John Zorn – Film Works, Vol. 23: El General
Previously
AllMusic Loves 1968
AllMusic Loves 1974
AllMusic Loves 1977
AllMusic Loves 1980
AllMusic Loves 1984
AllMusic Loves 1987
AllMusic Loves 1988
AllMusic Loves 1993
AllMusic Loves 1999
AllMusic Loves 2000
AllMusic Loves 2001
AllMusic Loves 2002
AllMusic Loves 2003
AllMusic Loves 2004
AllMusic Loves 2005
AllMusic Loves 2006
AllMusic Loves 2007
AllMusic Loves 2008
twee and totally awesome, you mean!!
wow, precisely one record worth listening to. thank you mr. monger. why does allmusic fear metal?
Hey, while you guys are talking about 2009, will you post a review for the new animal collective EP? I mean, it’s out now, so like… wtf.
my top albums of 2009:
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
The xx – xx
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
Muse – The Resistance
Kasabian – west Ryder …
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Self Titled
Antony And The Johnsons – The Crying Light
Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
Dan Deacon – Bromst
Malajube – Labyrinthes
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Fever Ray – Self Titled
Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young
Arctic Monkeys – Hambug
Franz Ferdinand – Tonight
St. Vincent – Actor
U2 – No Line On The Horizon
Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
The Dead Weather – Horehound
Them Crooked Vultures – Self Titled
Depche Mode – Sounds Of The Universe
M. Ward – Hold Time
Shakira??? She Wolf??? Are you nuts???
What? No Mastodon? No Mars Volta? No Porcupine Tree? mmmmmmmm…..
oh… and no Alice In Chains??
Yes, Jesus Bin Laden. No Alice in Chains and no Porcupine Tree. (Thank God)
Only 5 tracks, but the Shrinebuilder album is excellent.
Amen to that. That Shrinebuilder album needs to be on one of these lists SOMEWHERE. Jeez, most of these read like the underbelly of the Rolling Stone crowd at best. Also good this year was Alasehir, Ahab, the new John Zorn, Eternal Elysium, and White Rainbow.
Oh, I forgot The “White Lines – How To Lose My Life” put it somewhere in top10
my favourites (till now) from 2009:
Alice in Chains – Black gives way to blue
BLK JKS – After Robots (the previous single version is better)
Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications
Manic Street Preachers – Journal for Plague Lovers
Morrissey – Years of Refusal
Pearl Jam – Backspacer
Peter Doherty – Grace/Wastelands
Simian Mobile Disco – Temporary Pleasure
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
The Black Crowes – Before the frost… Until the freeze
The Gossip – Music for Men
The xx – XX
I don’t see Loudon Wainwright III’s High Wide & Handsome on any of these lists… what the hey?
Where’s jeffrey lewis’ album??? that should be in at least one of these lists, it got 4 and a half from allmusic…
Where’s jerry lewis’ album???
I always wanted to know is there a way to search for music by year on Allmusic?
My favorite albums of 2009, i recommend these to anyone, i guess there’s a little bit of everything from Demi Lovato to Animal Collective, from Carrie Underwood to Florence + The Machine & Bat For Lashes. Normally my favorite mainstream artists are female, i guess i can’t escape a good voice and a great hook. Last time i posted a list, someone said it was all the albums released in that year (in the case 2007), and it’s not, those were my favorites, i heard a lot of others and i didn’t like them. I’m a music lover, from every kind and everywhere, everyday i’m checking out new music, i just love music. It’s kinda like my best friend, that’s always something i can relate to or feel. This list is by artist, in alphabetical order
Alela Diane – To Be Still
Alicia Keys – The Element Of Freedom
Amerie – In Love & War
Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Annie – Don’t Stop
The Antlers – Hospice
Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Atlas Sound – Logos
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Bebel Gilberto – All In One
Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions
The Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love
Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
Brandi Carlile – Give Up The Ghost
Brendan Benson – My Old Familiar Friend
Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
Carrie Underwood – Play On
Cass McCombs – Catacombs
Céu – Vagarosa
Dan Deacon – Bromst
Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King
The Dead Weather – Horehound
Demi Lovato – Here We Go Again
Depeche Mode – Sounds Of The Universe
Devendra Banhart – What Will We Be
Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Dizzee Rascal – Tongue N’ Cheek
Fever Ray – Fever Ray
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Florence + The Machine – Lungs
Franz Ferdinand – Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Fuck Buttons – Tarot Spot
Girls – Album
The Gossip – Music For Men
Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
The Horrors – Primary Colours
Imogen Heap – Ellipse
India.Arie – Testimony, Vol. 2: Love & Politics
Japandroids – Post-Nothing (allmusic downgraded this album rating, don’t know why)
Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall
JJ – jj N 2
John Mayer – Battle Studies
Kelly Clarkson – All I Ever Wanted
La Roux – La Roux
Lady GaGa – The Cherrytree Sessions (this album made me like her more)
Lady GaGa – The Fame Monster
Leona Lewis – Echo
Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You
Lisa Germano – Magic Neighbor
Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
Maria Gadú – Maria Gadú
Marissa Nadler – Little Hells
The Mars Volta – Octahedron
Maxwell – BLACKsummers’night
Me’shell Ndegéocello- Devil’s Halo
Mew – No More Stories…
Michael Bublé – Crazy Love
Miranda Lambert – Revolution
Morrissey – Years Of Refusal
Mount Eerie – Wind’s Poem
Muse – The Resistance
Neil Young – Fork In The Road
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
Nirvana – Live At Reading
Norah Jones – The Fall
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Paramore – Brand New Eyes
Pearl Jam – Backspacer
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Pixies – Doolittle 20th Anniversary Live EP (Nice return)
PJ Harvey & John Parish – A Woman A Man Walked By
Regina Spektor – Far
Rickie Lee Jones – Balm In Gilead
Rihanna – Rated R
Shakira – She Wolf
Sondre Lerche – Heartbeat Radio
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Soulsavers – Broken
Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy
St. Vincent – Actor
Sunn O))) – Monoliths & Dimensions
Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years
Tegan & Sara – Sainthood
U2 – No Line On The Horizon
Wavves – Wavvves
Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
Woods – Songs Of Shame
The xx – xx
YATCH – See Mystery Lights
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
*Compilations:
-The Vaselines – Enter The Vaselines
*Honorable Mention: The Smashing Pumpkins are releasing their new album “Teargarden By Kaleidyscope”, song by song, and in EPs, the first song “A Song For A Son” is pretty amazing, and better than anything they released this decade, in my opinion. So this song deserves an honorable mention, since all the 44 songs are going to be released from December 8, 2009 onwards , so it’s gonna take some time…
no Doherty? I loved his album
===QUESTION===
*This is a repost of a comment in the AllMusic Loves 2008 section. It concerns Weiland’s “Happy in Galoshes” – which was still releasing singles in 2009 (“Paralysis”)*
Okay, in Erlewine’s review of “Happy in Galoshes” he says: “…and punctuated by dragging dirges like the Floydian ‘She Sold Her System’ (say it out loud fast; it’s almost as funny a pun as Britney Spears’ ‘If U Seek Amy’)” – can anyone figure out the pun? It’s been bugging me since the review came out…
So far I got “She’s older…” – but I could very well be wrong… Any ideas? (Stephen?)
===QUESTION===
GREAT YEAR FOR REISSUES!
THE BEATLES: Mono Box
THE FEELIES Crazy Rhythms/High Road
WHERE THE ACTION IS: LOS ANGELES NUGGETS
PREFAB SPROUT: Let’s Change the World With Music (Not Really a Reissue, but
THOMAS DOLBY: Golden Age of Wireless/The Flat Earth
BIG STAR: Keep an Eye on the Sky
KRAFTWERK: The Catalogue
STONE ROSES: 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition
ELVIS: From Elvis in Memphis Legacy Edition
DEVO: Ultra Devo-Lux Editions
KING CRIMSON: 40th Anniversary Editions
DUKES OF STRATOSPHEAR: 25 O’Clock/Psonic Psunspot
NICK CAVE: First 4 Solo Albums Deluxe Editions
SERGE GAINSBOURG: Histoire de Melody Nelson
DAVID BOWIE: Space Oddity Redux
ROBERT WYATT: Box
DVD OF THE YEAR: ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL
Enjoyed the lists. Thanks AllMusic!
I’m looking forward to AllMusic loves 2010 tomorrow.
* M. Ward–Hold Time: If you’re a longtime M. fan (and familiar with his other records and side projects She & Him, the band Rodriguez and even Monsters of Folk), maybe this is more of the same. But since he was under my radar, I find this delightful from beginning to end, with great originals and fresh takes on old songs–it really resonates.
* Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women
* Levon Helm–Electric Dirt
* Ami Saraiya–Archaeologist
* Loudon Wainwright III–High Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project
* Betty Davis–Is It Love or Desire
* Lee Fields & the Expressions–My World
* Delbert McClinton & Dick50–Acquired Taste
* Leela James–Let’s Do It Again
* Neko Case–Middle Cyclone
* Jenni Muldaur–Dearest Darlin’
* Otis Taylor–Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs
YOUR lists are lame. MY list dominates:
Edu Manzano – The World’s Greatest Dance Steps
Urban Gorillas – Macho Lunch
Idiot Weekend – Uh?
Orudis – All Hail Orudis!
Vic Mizzy – T.V. Themes From Hell
Lee Hazlewood – “Undigestible” – The Most Puzzling Songs Of
Depeche Commode – Way Too Old To Be Doing This Crap Any Longer
Plague From Mars – Maiden Voyage
Kitaro – Plays Guitar-o
Twee Disney & the Pajama Party – The Best Music EVER!
Poon & the Tangers – Ben Dover
Awful Disease – Pandemic
The Melting Marsbars – In The Midst Of My Karma
Gil Evans Orchestra – Themes From YouTube
Rootboy Slim & the Sex Change Band – A Medley Of My Hit
Now That’s What I Call Unlistenable 3
When y’all going to get around to doing “AllMusic Loves 1642″?
Kudos to James Christopher Monger for mentioning The Duckworth Lewis Method, a lovely album, not just for fans of cricket, but really the next best thing until The Divine Comedy comes with a new release. And also Tim Sendra mentioning Fitness Forever’s Personal Train, along with The XX, this were my favorite debuts of the year.
Lhasa’s Lhasa was a fantastic album too, especially the first five tracks. Peter Doherty’s Grace/Wastelands was a very nice surprise at first, and now one of my favorites. East Of Eden by Taken By Trees was another fine release.
Of course Animal Collective’s MPP, Camera Obscura’s My Maudlin Career, Antony And The Johnsons’ The Crying Light and Love 2 by Air.
Last but not least, John Zorn, really, how talented can a man be? yes, he’s not doing it alone, but geez, this guy’s my hero.
Greetings.
my list is here:
http://clownschool.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-best-albums-of-2009/
dig it.
J. Son- say the title out loud quickly.
HRS- did you really have to give a list of every single album you’d heard in 2009? It’d be a lot more interesting- and readable- if you just gave us 20 or so favourites like the editors.
@Joe Mullaney – It would be if those were ALL the albums that i heard in 2009. But they are not. this year i heard 323 albums released in 2009, many of them were from brazil, where i live, others from around the world (another language, except english and portuguese). I’ve heard 472, counting the albums from other years and decades that i also listened to. Allmusic asked my favorite albums of 2009. I included the albums that i rated at least 3.5 stars, which for me is a great rating, i’m pretty sure that even if i only included only the albums that i rated 4 stars or above i would cut like 8 albums, it would still be a lot.
Like I said, i am a music lover. If i’m posting 100 records, it’s because those were my favorites. I guess if there’s someone who knows which albums are my favorites or not it’s me. I’m pretty sure if they were 20, i would post 20. But they are this quantity. Each of those albums were my favorites. I listen to 7 albums per day. Those are the ones that i listened most, that i cared about, that meant something to me. I guess if an album means things like these to you, it’s because it’s a favorite. Now, if it’s not readable to you, it’s a whole different point. I’m not the one to blame.
@Darcy – I’m still not getting it. Is it something lewd?
albums:
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Depeche Mode – Sounds of the Universe
songs:
Lady Gaga – “Paparazzi”
Animal Collective – “My Girls”
Arctic Monkeys – “Crying Lightning”
Depeche Mode – “Fragile Tension”
Norah Jones – “Chasing Pirates”
Nice Post
Enjoyable
thanks for good stuff
dang. Frank Zappa’s Lumpy Money set really should have been on my list. the deadline got me. it would have been near the top too, if i hadn’t listed alphabetically.
HRS- I’m not disputing that you enjoyed all of those albums. But surely it would have been possible to pick a top 20 or 30 i.e. cut down the list a bit to make it easier to digest. Fair play to you either way.
PS I’m still trying to sort out my own list. It’ll be shorter but then again I haven’t heard over 300 albums from this year.
@Joe Mullaney – Sorry Joe, i guess you’re right. Next year, or next time allmusic post a new year, i’m going to follow your advice and pick fewer albums, i sure can do that. I’m sorry, i didn’t mean to be rude, and i sure wasn’t trying to show you that i was better cause i’ve heard 400 records, that’s not the case at all. I just thought that this was a place where everyone loves to share music, and i just wanted to share mine, and this is the list i’ve made with some friends of mine, we always do this by the end of the year, those were my picks, so instead of re-work, i thought i should’ve put it like that, cause for me each of them were important. You are not the first one who tells me that. 2 others complained about the sizes of my lists before. So i’m truly sorry, if i was hard posting so many names. Next time around i’m going to be easier to digest, pick 30, or less. Again sorry. I’m just reader, leave the 100 albums lists for the music critics. Sorry, again.
Sean W. mentioned “O’o.” Bravo. But don’t forget “Stolas” or “Alhambra Love Songs.”
Henry Threadgill – “This Brings Us To, Vol. I”
Nels Cline – “Coward”
The Church – “Untitled #23″ (thought S.T.E. would include this)
Tortoise – “Beacons of Ancestorship”
“Spirit Moves” & “A Single Sky” – Dave Douglas
“A Friend of a Friend” – Dave Rawlings Machine
“Raditude” = crap
Thanks John garratt. I thought i was the only one who thought Raditude was crap. 4.5 stars, really ? What was allmusic thinking ?
Joan, yeah, that was too generous a rating for an album that was so dumb.
I have a question for allmusic.com though; how come you guys don’t acknowledge the new Vandermark 5 album’s existence? It’s called “Annular Gift,” released in the call of 2009.
Holy cow STE- you gave “Black gives way to blue” 4 stars but won’t include it in your best of ‘09? Someone please tell me about a hard rock band that genuinely tugs on your heartstrings like AIC does. Nobody has a record that sounds like theirs (except Jerry Cantrell’s “Degradation Trip”) this decade!
@J. Son – yes, it certainly is.
Oh yeah, my list (in approximate order):
Absu – Absu
Wodensthrone – Loss
Immortal – All Shall Fall
Vader – Necropolis
Tyr – By The Light Of The Northern Star
Arkona – Goi, Rode, Goi!!!
Nile – Those Whom The Gods Detest
Destroyer 666 – Defiance
Rammstein – Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da
– Resplendent Grotesque
Vreid – Milorg
Devin Townsend Project – Addicted!
OK List, Worth a mention:
Ben Harper & Relentless7 – White Lies For Dark Times
Built To Spill – There is No Enemy
Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King
Levon Helm – Electric Dirt
Matt Kanelos & the Smooth Maria – Silent Show
Otis Taylor – Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs
Steve Earle – Townes
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – The Live Anthology
White Rabbits – It’s Frightening
The Tragically Hip – We’re All the Same
I was going through this lists for a third time and until now I realize that Mr. David Jeffries picked Leonard Cohen’s Live In London, and that was a great live album, I loved it and forgot to put it in my list (my Cd stacks are a mess), but thanks a lot for the reminder, now I know exactly what to listen to with my family this christmas eve.
My favorite albums of 2009 — half of which weren’t on these lists.
Cryptacize – Mythomania (absolutely in love Nedelle’s voice)
Sholi – Sholi (an incredible album in every possible way. takes a multiple listens to fully register and unlock the gems)
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (stuck in my head all year- almost made me buy a Cadillac!)
Sade – Soldier of Love (ok it’s not out until 2010, but I heard it early. I’m obsessed with anything Sade.)
The Swell Season – Strict Joy (just breathtakingly beautiful, another amazing record by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz was the best album of the year and one of the best of the decade. Not a weak track on it.
@Darcy – Huh. So maybe I don’t want to have pun-deciphering shouting match with my parents on this one… Can you give me a clue?
@ J. Son – Say it out loud and it sounds like you are spelling out a dirty word…..and then saying another word.
Need more metal fans as editors or at least ppl who can recognize and appreciate it. If you can’t appreciate all the great metal records/bands out there you shouldn’t be reviewing music for a website called “allmusic”.
tim sendra wins
1. Dragonette, Fixin to thrill. 2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It’s blitz! 3. Lady gaga. Monster EP.
There’s a bunch of amazing stuff on these lists, but does no one at this company listen to Thrice? Not even the guy who commented with one hundred albums didn’t put Thrice. At least he put Mew, but still, where’s the affection for what is possibly Thrice’s best album?
Also, why is there columns for the albums of the year in every genre except Gospel? Gospel is it’s own main genre, and yet it never gets any recognition on this site even though Metal, a subgenre, gets its own list.
I’m still trying to compile my list, but David Sylvian and The Hollywood Squaretet are near the top for the moment. I still need to look deeper into Alela Diane and Pissed Jeans and some of the stoner metal that came out this year, among other things.
1. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
2. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3. Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall
4. Built to Spill – There Is No Enemy
5. From Monuments to Masses – On Little Known Frequencies
6. Cass McCombs – Catacombs
7. The Antlers – Hospice
8. Throw Me The Statue – Creaturesque
9. Wilco – Wilco the Album
10. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – S/T
11. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
12. Real Estate – S/T
13. Flaming Lips – Embryonic
14. Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
15. Japandroids – Post-Nothing
Lofidelity Radio
Here’s my list:
1. Baroness: Blue Record
2. Mastodon: Crack The Skye
3. Raekwon: Only Built for Cuban Linx II
4. DOOM: Born Like This
5. Black Crowes: Before the Frost
6. Modest Mouse: No One’s First & You’re Next
7: Kylesa: Static Tensions
8: Rancid: Let the Dominoes Fall
9: Built To Spill: There Is No Enemy
10: F***** Up: The Chemistry of Modern Life
Not eligible, but the greatest ever?: Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1
And 3 CDs that I just don’t “get” (and it must be me since everyone else loves them):
1. Dirty Projectors
2. Animal Collective
3. Grizzly Bear
Vajay Iyer Trio – Historicity ??????? I’m jus sayin
Vijay Iyer (correct spelling)
I jumped the gun and previously posted this list on Tim Sendras pop list, but then he chastised me for straying from the confines of the genre so I’m re-posting here.
Animal Collective-Merriweather Post Pavilion (U.S.)
Bill Callahan-Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (U.S.)
Camera Obscura-My Maudlin Career (Scotland)
Cryptacize-Mythomania (U.S.)
Destroyer-Bay Of Pigs (Canada)
Dirty Projectors-Bitte Orca (U.S.)
Fever Ray-S/T (Sweden)
jj-jj 2 (Sweden)
Mount Eerie-Wind’s Poem (U.S.)
Nurses-Apples Acres (U.S.)
Pains Of Being Pure At Heart-S/T (U.S.)
Peter Bjorn & John-Living Thing (Sweden)
Pink Mountaintops-Outside Love (Canada)
Taken By Trees-East Of Eden (Sweden)
Thee Oh Sees-Help! (U.S.)
The Very Best-Warm Heart Of Africa (U.K./Africa)
Wax Mannequin-Saxon (Canada)
Since then I’ve really come around to the XX album, Lady Gaga and La Roux but I’m not sure if they would make my best of yet. I also really like the Peter Doherty solo album Grace/Wastelands and Neko Case-Middle Cyclone.
I also realized there were some albums I thought were fundamentally very boring and still after many listens can’t get into them.
Wilco-Wilco the album
Them Crooked Vultures-S/T
Wavves-Wavves
Japandroids-Post-Nothing
Oh well, whatever…
Dare I say, 2009 may arguably be the most feeble year for new music of the modern rock era.
No love for Roman Candle’s “Oh Tall Tree in the Ear”?
Seriously?
My top ten (with Alice in Chains, Doves, Gov’t Mule & Muse still to be checked out) are,
1- BIG WHISKEY AND THE GROO GRUX ALBUM – DAVE MATTHEWS BAND (awesome album)
2- Before the Frost/until the freeze – Black Crowes
3- Backspacer- Pearl Jam
4- Save me , San Francisco – Train
5- 21st Century Breakdown – Green day
6- Mind control acoustic – Stephen Marley
7- The fall – Norah Jones
8- Raditude – Weezer
9- Working on a dream – Bruce Springsteen
10- Draw the Line – David Gray
( 11-20 :- Depeche Mode, Porcupine Tree, Mark Knopfler, Barbara Streisand, U2, Tori Amos, Phish, John Mayers, Bob Dylan & Duncan Sheik)
my top 50 albums of ‘09 can be found below, with free MP3s and write-ups:
http://obscuresound.com/?p=3917
Between the Buried and Me? Their new album The Great Misdirect. Go get it right now.
The Berkestir
New
Art Brut – Art Brut v.s. Satan (Downtown)
The Black Heart Procession – Six (Temperary Residence)
A.A. Bondy – When The Devil’s Loose (Fat Possum)
A Broken Consort – Box Of Birch (Tompkins Square)
The Cowlicks – Hey, Hey We’re The Cowlicks (Tres Payasos)
Dave Douglas – Spirit Moves (Green Leaf)
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – A Stranger Here (Anti-)
Melvin Gibbs Elevated Entity – Ancients Speak (Live Wire)
Githead – Landing (Swim)
Sonic-Youth – Eternal (Matador)
Reissues
Bee Gees – Odessa (Reprise)
Big Star – Keep An Eye On The Sky (Rhino)
Jimmy Campbell- The Jimmy Campbell’s Album (Esoteric)
Demon Fuzz – Afreaka! (Esoteric)
Hawklords – 25 Years On (Atomhenge)
Hawkwind – Quark,Strangeness And Charm (Atomhenge)
Judas Jump – Scorch (Retro Disc International)
John Martyn – Solid Air Deluxe Edition (Universal Island)
Emitt Rhodes – The Emitt Rhodes Recordings [1969-1973] (A&M)
Vaselines – Enter The Vaselines (Sub Pop)
Not a single mention of the amazing “Untitled #23″ by The Church…
Girls’ “Album” seems shamefully under appreciated in these lists! It feels to me like one of the only 2009 sets that’s going to have real staying power. (I wonder if I said that about Soup Dragons in 1991?)
One more obligatory “How could you NOT list…?!?!?” comment: How is it possible that no one listed Passion Pit’s “Manners”? Come on!
I cam really close to doing it but I just couldn’t. You can read my review and see that I loved it but it just didn’t age very well. It’s hard for me to write these words but the record was just too sugary.
Well.. 2 albums (from Dutch artists ;) )are missing in these lists:
Moss: ‘Never be scared/ Don’t Be A Hero’ and
De Staat: ‘The Fantastic Journey Of The Underground Men’
Besides Mastodon not being on the list. Can someone tell me some underground metal that was mentioned in the story.
Haven’t seen this on anyone’s list
Ida Con Snock — Michael Hurley
Any new Hurley album is to be cherished but this one is extra special. Slow down everybody and take a listen.
How can no one have Built to Spill’s ‘There is No Enemy’ in their list, especially when so many have ‘Raditude’ by Weezer? The latter is an embarrassment with one good song that has a chorus written by someone else. The former is their best album to date and nothing short of excellent. It seems your visitors have more sense than your writers as at least a couple of them included it. I’m not exaggerating when I say that your writers’ lists are some of the worst I’ve seen in the last few weeks of 2009 round-ups and make me wonder why I should take their advice in the future.
“Appropriately for the final year of the decade, 2009 seemed to be the 2000s in microcosm. Every trend of the past 10 years surfaced over the past 12 months”
In other words, there was a dire lack of ideas and originality in the music mainstream, with Lady Gaga representing the pinnacle of this pile of regurgitated non-culture. The only thing that could have made it worse would’ve been if albums full of irritating, tinny synths and naff 80s synth drums had become suddenly popular…oh, wait, La Roux. Not the best of years, overall.
Anyway, in alphabetical order:
Bat For Lashes
Blakroc – Blakroc
Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
U2 – No Line on the Horizon
Various Artists – 5 Years of Hyperdub
Hey Daire, just do what I do…if Erlewine likes it, avoid it like the plague.I won’t even give my list, I’m apparently not nearly hip enough…I actually like stuff like Alice In Chains even though they are relatively POPULAR. And I DON”T like crap just because no one else has ever heard of them. Just a thought.
My top-10:
1. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart: The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
2. U2: No Line on the Horizon
3. Sonic Youth: The Eternal
4. Isbells: Isbells (very fine debut album by a young Belgian band)
5. Eels: Hombre Lobo (12 Songs of Desire)
6. Dinosaur Jr: Farm
7. Wilco: Wilco (The Album)
8. M. Ward: Hold Time
9. Titus Andronicus: The Airing of Grivances (is an 2008 album, I know, but it was released in Europe in 2009)
10. The Low Anthem: Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
Also fine stuff by Antony & the Johnsons, Yim Yames, And So I Watch You From Afar, Yo La Tengo, Bob Dylan, Alela Diane, Jason Lytle, William Elliott Whitmore, Monsters Of Folk and White Denim
Have a nice and rock & roll 2010!
Stijn
Wijgmaal, Belgium
Thanks to all who took the time to post recommendations. Here is my list of unheralded gems:
(1)Polvo: In Prism;
(2)Great Northern: Remind Me Where the Light Is;
(3)Sea Wolf: White Water, White Bloom;
(4)Longwave: Secrets are Sinister;
(5)Ramona Falls: Intuit;
(6)The Sleepover Disaster: Hover;
(7)Other Girls: Perfect Cities;
(8)The Rifles: The Great Escape;
(9)Port O’Brien: Threadbare;
(10)Lightning Dust: Infinite Light;
(11)Deastro: Moondagger;
(12)The Aliens: Luna;
(13)A Place to Bury Strangers: Exploding Head;
(14)Dinosaur Jr.: Farm
(15)The Mary Onettes: Islands
All of these albums are excellent–among the best of the year really–and if you have indie-minded taste you should definitely give them a listen. Happy New Year.
@turlargueri
Really?
Okay, in Erlewine’s review of “Happy in Galoshes” he says: “…and punctuated by dragging dirges like the Floydian ‘She Sold Her System’ (say it out loud fast; it’s almost as funny a pun as Britney Spears’ ‘If U Seek Amy’)” – can you figure out the pun? It’s been bugging me since the review came out…
pat says, “say it out loud and it sounds like you are spelling out a dirty word…..and then saying another word” and Darcy concurs…see above.
Thanks!
Tim Sendra – thank god you’re representing some decent indie music at this website that seems to focus on mainstream pop CRAP, or the popular kind of “indie” that I find so boring (GrizzlyPhoenixVincentBlah).
Although you wound me by succumbing to the Kelly Clarkson song.
Neverthless, you are my favorite AllMusic reviewer, for knowing who the heck Afternoon Naps are…and recognizing that Burning Hearts: Aboa Sleeping is one of the best of the year. YES. My favorites never get mentioned on music critics’ lists. Thank you for mentioning one of them.
I used to like Erlewine’s reviews…back when he dared NOT to gush over critical darlings like Bright Eyes and Arctic Monkeys. But he lost me when he started gushing over Pop Tarts with absolutely no artistic merit. Y’know, the kind of manufactured, souless, commercial trash that would make me gush over Bright Eyes and Arctic Monkeys (if I didn’t know of even better alternatives).
I won’t bother posting my best of 2009 here, ’cause I know nobody cares; they just wanna post their own. And I know I’m not gonna change anyone’s (BAD!) taste. But congratulations again, Tim, for having a few different artists on your radar, instead of listing the same bands I see everywhere. I salute you… and fully expect you to blast me in defense of your co-workers/friends at AllMusic. I’m not trying to start a bitter rivalry between you all (for my affections?! Haha!)… but I still think Tim has better taste in music. So there.
2010 is actually the last year of the decade.
2011 will be the first year of the next decade.
Dear Heather Phares …
If you’re ever in need of a concert buddy – or just looking for a change of pace – I think we’re riding a merging wave:
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
(fantastic show for an ambitious work that just misses)
Future of the Left – Travels With Myself and Another
(incredible mind**** of a show – Bottom Lounge, Chicago – an excellent recording rendered lethal live)
PJ Harvey – A Woman a Man Walked By
(show marred by lousy acoustics in Chicago, could take nothing away from a sweet to savage to scary sound-scape)
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
(headphone time traveling suggests this band will never age – and their Turner Hall show in Milwaukee backed it up with an intensity that more than justifies “Youth”.)
With the exception of re-releases the Jesus Lizard offered up nothing new – but three shows in four months added 5.2 years to my actuarial table. Now that’s health care reform!
I’m a little surprised to not see more Brandi Carlile on peoples’ short lists. I understand that some of my favorite albums are a guilty pleasure of sorts (like Muse or God Help The Girl – not really amazing albums, but I love them).
Brandi Carlile – Give Up The Ghost
Elvis Costello – Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
God Help The Girl – God Help The Girl
Mono – Hymn to the Immortal Wind
Muse – The Resistance
Regina Spektor – Far
St. Vincent – Actor
Tegan & Sara – Sainthood
Third Eye Blind – Ursa Major
Utada – This Is The One
I really liked a few of the new Sonic Youth and Mars Volta songs, but not really the albums as a whole. The same could be said for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, John Mayer and Silversun Pickups (yeah.. I know). I have a feeling that I’m forgetting some of the better albums from the beginning of the year. Most of the ones I have on my list were from the second half of the year.
If you like post-rock, experimental noise music, check out the new Mono album. It’s fantastic.. and highly ignored in the US.
yaaaaa!
“indi” bands all over the lists…
way to be “trendy”
the only thing more annoying is all the “corporate radio” bullsh!t we get fed
pretty sure i saw NO punk or hardcore on there
pick up an ANTI-FLAG or RISE AGAINST album (for example) and give some props to some music that actually has something socially conscious to say
“allmusic” huh?
seem like you don’t actually cover ALL music do you?
maybe just the stuff your advertisers & the record companies push?
you should be ashamed
The decade has almost a whole year to go yet.
Ah! But the decade IS over! Do you consider 2000 part of the nineties? 1990 part of the eighties? There’s already been ten years of the 2000s – ‘00, ‘01, ‘02, ‘03, ‘04, ‘05, ‘06, ‘07, ‘08, ‘09 = 10 years! It’s over people!
Favorite 2009 albums:
Polvo – In Prism
Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture Vol 2: Enter The Dubstep
The Xx – Xx
Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Built To Spill – There Is No Enemy
Other Lives
MF DOOM – Born Like This
Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt II
Adventureland Soundtrack
The Beatles Mono & Stereo Remaster box sets [Mono everything but Abbey Road, Let It Be, Yellow Submarine]
.
Favorite 2009 playlist of the moment:
“Night Time” The Xx
“New Year Banga (Rogue Star Remix)” Wu-Tang Clan
“Suns Of Temper” Clark
“Good Ol’ Boredom” Built To Spill
“Octane Twisted” Porcupine Tree
“Malibu Gas Station” Sonic Youth
“Amarillion” Datarock
“Here To Fall” Yo La Tengo
“Black Tables” Other Lives
“Misfits & Mistakes” Superchunk
“Soft Shock” The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
“A Link In The Chain” Polvo
“Over It” Dinosaur Jr.
“Ballskin” MF DOOM
“Where Is My Mind (Bassnectar Remix)” The Pixies
“Calypso (Original Mix)” Datsik & Excision
IAN HUNTER’S “Man Overboard.” Here is a 70-year-old rocker still cranking them out. Maybe he’s slowed a little, maybe his voice is a tad raspy, but songs carry the wisdom of someone’s who’s been around the block (a couple thousand times) but still carry the bite and the fire of someone who’s not yet done fighting the status quo. Songs “Arms & Legs” and “River of Tears” are so beautiful they bring you to tears. “Girl from the Office” sounds like something Weezer or Fountains of Wayne would put out and just brings a big, huge ole smile to your face. “The Great Escape” stands along “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” and “All the Way to Memphis” by providing insight into the underside of Rock and Roll. This is just another understated masterpiece by one of the most underrated musicians in Rock and Roll history. Hunter’s influence on Rock has been tremendous and his contributions should be more widely recognized. A good start would be finding some airplay for this fine, heartfelt album.
Finally, not one list with the Avett Brothers on it. Or maybe I missed it but I’m not going back to check. I swear, those guys are to music what Ovaltine is to beverages.
And yes J Scott you are so right about Ian Hunter. He put out three great discs over the past decade and I didn’t see one list that gave him credit for that. But oh let’s rave about how great the Avett Brothers are, fighting insomnia with every release.
Attention everyone who listed Animal Collective: You have been brainwashed by the psychedelic optical illusion on the cover of Merriweather Post Pavilion to believe that what is recorded on the album constitutes enjoyable music.
This has manifested itself into a massive community of indie music snobs insisting that MPP is among the best albums released in 2009. In extreme cases, such as among the readership of pitchfork.com, unfortunate victims have been led to believe that this album has four of the ten best songs released in 2009.
If you are reading this, there is help. You should take a week of work, lock yourself in your apartment and listen to a CD featuring music with a discernible melody. If you must limit yourself to other popular “Best of 2009″ selections that meet the criteria of indie groupthink, I recommend Phoenix or St. Vincent. While you’ve probably already listed these albums in your “best of” as well, take the time to really reflect on what makes this music enjoyable.
have you listened to the cd One Day Maybe by Sashamon?
you should as it has become an island surf roots classic.
I laud the critics who recognized Sondre Lerche’s Heartbeat Radio. Paste Magazines score for it of 58 (out of 100 was ridiculous; as was its 89 for the remastered Sgt. Pepper’s (should have been 100)). Everyone’s seemed to forgotten Milwaukee At Last! by Rufus Wainwright. Even tho’ it was already-released material, even Rufus’ ‘repeats’ deserve recognition.
Thanks for picking Kelly Joe Phelp’s album and giving him more exposure. Western Bell was a gorgeous album.
It’s great to see quite a few mentions of Grizzly Bear, but I wish there was more love for metal! Where’s God Forbid’s Earthsblood? Between The Buried And Me’s The Great Misdirect?
True, they only gave the latter 3 stars, but they seemed to love Earthsblood. It’s a shame it’s nowhere to be seen.
Oh, and some Backspacer (Pearl Jam) and Hymn To The Immortal Wind (Mono) love would have been nice to see, as well.
Oh, well…
A nod, to Earth. The Animal Collective album is right up there, slightly outdoing both Lightning Bolt & Grizzly Bear’s rekkids for ‘most overrated’ lp of the year.
0 for 3 lived up to the hype and 3/3 saw heavy use of the Skip button
My favos 2009:
Romi Mayes – Achin in yer bones
Miles Davis – Complete Columbia
Joe Henry – Blood from stars
Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey
Rickie Lee Jones – Balm in Gilead
Loudon Wainwright III – High Wide and Handsome (Poole project)
Martin Simpson – Prodigal Son
Bo Diddley – Ride on
I know it’s been a bone of contention in past years, but I have to mention that Titus Andronicus and The Bird & The Bee’s “Dance Song” were released in 2008, and the first half of the 2008 no less.
Anybody who has the Dam-Funk album on their list is cool with me.
In (rough) order of preference:
The Black Crowes- Before The Frost…Until The Freeze
Jarvis Cocker- Further Complications
Franz Ferdinand- Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Arctic Monkeys- Humbug
Manic Street Preachers- Journal For Plague Lovers
Morrissey- Years Of Refusal
Super Furry Animals- Dark Days/Light Years
Julian Casablancas- Phrazes For The Young
Them Crooked Vultures- Them Crooked Vultures
Dan Auerbach- Keep It Hid
Ian Hunter- Man Overboard
Bob Dylan- Together Through Life
The Dead Weather- Horehound
Neil Young- Fork In The Road
Reissues
All these right here are perfect, took me awhile to find some of them though.
Bee Gees Odessa (Reprise)
Big Star Keep An Eye On The Sky (Rhino)
Jimmy Campbell- The Jimmy Campbells Album (Esoteric)
Demon Fuzz Afreaka! (Esoteric)
Hawklords 25 Years On (Atomhenge)
Hawkwind Quark,Strangeness And Charm (Atomhenge)
Judas Jump Scorch (Retro Disc International)
John Martyn Solid Air Deluxe Edition (Universal Island)
Emitt Rhodes The Emitt Rhodes Recordings [1969-1973] (A&M)
Vaselines Enter The Vaselines (Sub Pop)