The Bloglin’s Best of 2009: Best Albums, #100-1 (Full List)
It was about 11 months ago that we decided to do music reviews here on the Bloglin. At first it was just me doing the bulk of the write-ups. But here we are at the end of 2009 and our reviewer ranks have fluctuated to 5 dedicated music reviewers along with a few other Bloglin regulars pitching in a review here and there.
From Punk & Metal, to Indie Rock and Dance, we tried to cover as many of the musical bases that fuel Мишка as a brand. We hope you’ve enjoyed the one, sometimes two reviews we’d post Monday through Friday and we hope they lead to you guys discovering some great new music you might otherwise have been unfamiliar with or adverse in discovering.
The Bloglin’s Best 100 albums of 2009 list was compiled by polling the Bloglin’s various reviewers, bloggers and our staff along with of course the original reviews that appeared the Bloglin. As a result you’ll notice not all (but most) of the top 100 were originally reviewed, and the list doesn’t merely rehash in sequential graded order all of the records reviewed on The Bloglin.
Now that the list is done, we felt it would be handy to just compile all 5 parts into one easy to reference mega-post. For The Bloglin’s Best EPs of 2009 go here for #20-11 and here for part #10-1.
If you would like any upcoming release in 2010 to be considered for review by the Bloglin, please either email a link to digital files to bloglin@mishkanyc.com OR mail a Vinyl, Tape or CD copy to Mishka NYC c/o The Bloglin, 350 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11222.
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Honorable Mentions
Here are ten great albums just on the outside looking in:
• Minsk – With Echos in the Movement of Stone
• National Suicide – The Old Family Is Still Alive
• Brilliant Colors - Introducing
• Amen Dunes – Dia
• Sarke – Vorunah
• Pajo – Scream With Me
• Ducktails - Landscapes
• Ghostface Killah – Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry
• Magik Markers – Balf Quarry
• Silversun Pickups – Swoon
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100) Blues Control – Local Flavor (2009) [Slitbreeze]
The latest full-length from Krautrock disciples Blues Control finds them enamored in the lo-fi end of dirty, droney sound exploration. Super-hypnotic and full of dreamily interwoven riffs, this is among 2009′s best albums to zone out to.
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99) Telepathe – Dance Mother (2009) [IAMSOUND]
This album takes a minute to get used to, but it’s just strange enough to be totally charming. Equal parts synth-pop, hip-hop and pure David Sitek, Dance Mother pits throbbing beats against a constantly ambient atmosphere, resulting in several songs that are so insanely great, even the so-so ones bask in their glow.
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98) Whitest Boy Alive – Rules (2009) [Bubbles]
Erlend Oye’s quiet reluctance meets the dancefloor-destined work he’s done with Royksopp, Morgan Geist, Phonique (pick a producer, any producer). Rules is the most withdrawn of Oye’s Whitest Boy Alive stuff, but it’s also the warmest and most gut-wrenchingly real.
Not originally reviewed on the Bloglin
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97) St. Vincent - Actor (2009) [4AD]
Annie Clark’s St. Vincent jams skirt the edge of schizophrenia: nervous, unfettered and embracingly cold, with vocals that pace between shriek and lullabye. The uber-dramatic pop on Actor is an acquired taste to be sure, but once it envelops you, there’s really no going back.
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96) Zoot Woman - Things Are What They Used To Be (2009) [ZWR]
Producer extraordinaire Stuart Price returns with the first Zoot Woman album in 6 years. Still mining the same Electropop that broke them during the original Electroclash days, Things Are What They Used to Be amps up the slickness on a cold and catchy journey through some the best Synth and New Romantic Pop outside of the 1980s.
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95) The Fresh & Onlys - Grey-Eyed Girls (2009) [Woodist]
2009 was a busy year for the Fresh & Only’s. While originally planning to release three full lengths, the last has been pushed to 2010. No worries though as they left us with more than enough great music regardless. Grey-Eyed Girls, their 2nd full length of year has the band refine and tighten the rough and tumble garage pop of the their self-titled album from earlier in the year.
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94) Dinosaur Jr. – Farm (2009) [Jagjaguwar]
Who says you can’t come home again? Don’t tell that to Lou Barlow! Ever since rejoining J. Mascis and Murph the trio hasn’t skipped a beat from where they left things in the late 80s as a trio. 2007 Beyond was no novel fluke, Dinosaur Jr. is back and making some of the best fuzzed out indie rock just like they used to.
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93) Zola Jesus - The Spoils (2009) [Sacred Bones]
Reminiscent of toned-down, Juju-era Siouxsie, The Spoils is one hell of a zoned-out creepfest. Nika Rosa Danilova’s brand of lo-fi industrial teems with crawling noise and haunted, ethereal vocals—among the most disturbing, albeit often catchy, releases of the year.
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92) Alpinist – Minus.Mensch (2009) [Alerta Antifascista]
Germany’s Alpinist bring 2009 some of the best Crust/Hardcore cross-bred intensity since Tragedy’s better days. Minus.Mensch is unapologetic and bombastic blasts of riffage and frenetic vocals that will leave you battered, beaten and begging for more.
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91) Jack of Heart - S/T (2009) [Born Bad]
Piero Ilov has stamped his name across some of the best garage and psych albums over the past few years. But he has truly come into his own with fronting Jack of Heart’s self-titled debut. A strange and compelling journey through 60′s garage and psyche that will leave you wanting to a tab or two while listening.
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90) Revelation – For the Sake of No One (2009) [Shadow King]
Baltimore Stoner/Doom legends Revelation return with an album that could easily rival 1995′s …Yet So Far. Slow methodically and absolutely transfixing. With so much attention being payed to modern day Stoner/Doom Metal we hope this new release by one of the scene’s forefathers get it’s due attention.
Download Revelation’s For the Sake of No One here
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89) Chain & The Gang – Down With Liberty… (2009) [K]
Ian Svenonius returns with his newest project, Chain & The Gang… the closest he’s come back to the much missed “Gopel, Yeah, Yeah!” sound of the Make-Up. Down With Liberty… Up With Chains! is littered with Svenonius’ usual tongue-in-cheek wit over the catchy 60′s psych and pop we’ve come to love from the legend.
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88) Embrace of Thorns – Atonement Ritual (2009) [Nuclear War Now!]
Possible the most terrifying release of this year, and I’m certain Embrace of Thorns wouldn’t have it any other way. At a point in time when Black Metal is as commercial as almost every other genre, Atonement Ritual sticks to those fundamental roots of clandestine satanic metal that made us scared and curious in Black Metal in the first place.
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87) Goes Cube - Another Day Has Passed (2009) [The End]
An album of contradictions: simple and intricate, beautiful and heavy as fuck. Weaving influences that span from Torche to Refused to Helmet into one cohesive whole, Another Day Has Passed is unassuming and bare-bones—an explosion of sludge, shimmer and strangely gorgeous melody.
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86) Röyksopp – Junior (2009) [Astralwerks]
One of those do-no-wrong bands that continue to, well, do no wrong. Featuring collabs with Karin Dreijer-Andersson, Robyn and Lykke Li, Junior moves seamlessly between sugary pop and sinister robotics, all the while maintaining a sort of dramatic, tech-house flair. If this is a junior effort, I can’t wait to hear what Senior (reported to release next year) will be.
Not originally reviewed on the Bloglin
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85) Sabertooth Zombie – And Your Fathers…(2009) [Twelve Gauge]
Sabertooth Zombie return with their best and heaviest work to date. This creatively ambitious longplayer is a pulverizing concoction of Hardcore, Thrash and Doom metal is one of the most inventive albums within three usually creative stifling of genres. Welcome to Doomcore!
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84) Jeremy Jay – Slow Dance (2009) [K]
Jeremy Jay keeps it short, sweet and simple in unleashing some of the years best bedroom pop. Catchy, eccentric and even a bit creepy, Slow Dance is like sliding into a pair of well-worn slippers after a long day out in the world. Warm and comforting.
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83) Ganglians – Monster Head Room (2009) [Woodist]
Sun drenched Lo-Fi Pop like no other! Sacramento based, Van Dyke Park disciples, Ganglians transform the aural restriction of Lo-Fi recording into a world of catchy sonic wealth across the expansive and charming Monster Head Room.
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82) Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship (2009) [Thrill Jockey]
Post-Rock legends Tortoise pull themselves back into relevancy with their strongest album since the late 90s. While more of throwback, Beacons of Ancestorship is a fantastic mind-altering journey full of Electronic, Krautrock and Jazz touches that only Tortoise could successfully and cohesively pull off.
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81) Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans (2009) [Sub Pop]
Pissed Jeans find the perfect blend of dissonance and control on their 3rd full length, King of Jeans. These masters of sloppy hardcore punk anthems tighten up the structure without sacrificing any of the snarl on route to becoming the heir apparent to The Jesus Lizard.
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80) Claws – Absorbed In the Nethervoid [Razorback]
Finland’s Claws debut album is an brutal and authentic throwback to the 90s heyday of Scandinavian Death Metal. It’s raw, heavy and demented. In an age when just about every album is described as “old-school death metal”, Absorbed in the Nethervoid truly deserves this title. Complete with great album art, Claws delivers.
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79) Twin Stumps – S/T [Dais]
A total pigfuck flashback…but even more abrasive. Twin Stumps seem to get in your face just for the sake of doing it, which makes the album succeed not just in terms of sound—and with an album’s worth of straight-up furious pounding, it totally does—but also a sheer, fuck-you attitude
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78) Fondlecorpse – Creaturegore [Razorback]
Sci-Fi, porn and horror clips litter the first full-length from Fondlecorpse. It’s a cluster-fuck of thrash and death metal that brings you back to your childhood nightmares. Just like the films it’s influenced by, Creaturegore is lo-fi and filled with nostalgia. Some call it a thrash-revival, but I don’t think these guys give a damn about any of that. They’re just in it for a blood and guts.
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77) Dam-Funk -Toeachizown [Stones Throw]
Damon Riddick, LA’s Ambadassador of Boogie Funk takes you back to the golden days of Prince and Egyptian Lover on Toeachizown, a vast 2-CD debut (that complies tracks from his 5 volume Toeachizown releases from this year) of otherworldly funk produced on vintage gear. Impressively robust and definitely unique, Toeachizown is a comet of synths shooting from the opposite end of the galaxy.
Not originally reviewed on the Bloglin
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76) Thee Oh Sees – Help [In The Red]
John Dwyer’s can always be counted upon to release some of the most compelling Garage Rock, year in and year out. 2009 is no different with two full lengths (Help & Dog Poison). Rough and jangly, Help is the sort of wonderful fun, fuzzy and even frightening garage-psych that has become Dwyer’s trademark. Help is the sort of album with the power to appeal to both Garage snobs and casual fans alike.
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75) Factums - Flowers [Sacred Bones]
Not so much haunting as downright disturbing, Flowers is like a Silent Hill sound collage: radio static, the crash and clang of metal on glass, ominous and squealing guitars. Think psychobilly through a Throbbing Gristle lens; when Factums actually form a full song, it’s weird, disarming and strangely structured. But the spooky snippets that make up the rest of the album seethe like a night terror…and it’s effing terrifying.
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74) Death – …For the Whole World to See [Drag City]
Originally set to release in the late 70′s Death (not to be confused with Chuck Schuldiner’s Death) debut was shelved for refusing to change their name to something more marketable. The “Politicians In My Eyes” 7″ they managed to press has long been a holy grail among many vinyl collectors , but now thanks to Drag City the whole world can enjoy what would have been a legendary proto-punk album ere it have originally come out way back when.
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73) Blank Dogs – Under & Under (2009) [In the Red]
The most fully realized release from this insanely prolific, self-proclaimed “shitgaze” band. Full of weirdo pop songs with a fuzzy, lo-fi edge, Under & Under makes short work of totally trumping everything Blank Dogs have done before, as if their previous releases were mere warm-ups. Finally, a band that actually develops instead of exploding into a stressed out, over-hyped mess.
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72) Coalesce – OX (2009) [Relapse]
Who cares if this band was once considered as hardcore. Even if Coalesce toured with hardcore bands in the 90′s, they’ve grown out of that old skin and matured into a great metal band. OX takes Coalesce’s fans down a new path and hopefully introduces a new generation of hardcore kids to real music.
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71) Uzi Rash – High & Phree (2009) [Freedom School]
Dinosaur masked Brooklyn rockers, Uzi Rash issue a wonderfully cluttered and weirdly hypnotic debut of lo-fi Americana. The sort of aural excursion that will leave you with something new to love with each repeated listen. A cult classic waiting to be discovered, so what are you waiting for?
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70) Clipse – Til the Casket Drops (2009) [Columbia]
You’d think straying from an entire album of Neptunes produced beats would be the first misstep in Pusha and Malice’s career, but the modern gods of coke rap return with their third album to only further ingrain why they’re kinda like a big deal.
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69) The Anals – Total Anal (2009) [Permenant]
Total Anal sits high atop three lists: 1) Most Exciting New Release That Totally Reminds Us of Pigfuck, 2) Most Exciting New Release to Come Out of Metz, France and 3) Most Exciting New Release That Will Probably Bother the Hell Out of Lots of People. All this deathly abrasive, caustic noise makes one hell of an experi-industrial album and is sure to rattle a few ears…just the sort of confrontational shit we love.
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68) Major Lazer – Guns Don’t Kill People… (2009) [Downtown]
Dancehall damage from Diplo and Switch’s Jamaican commando based alter ego, Major Lazer. After teasing fans for a good long while Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do dropped to provide possibly the most perfect backdrop to keep every summer party in 2009 moving until the crack of dawn.
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67) Municipal Waste – Massive Aggressive (2009) [Earache]
Modern day Crossover Thrash gods release their 4th album of the catchiest, face melting, fist pumping, circle pit inducing metal you could imagine. It’s becoming apparent that besides the certainties of death & taxes, Municipal Waste are good for 30 minutes of beer bonging party anthems every few years.
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66) Nothing People – Late Night (2009) [S.S.]
Imagine Pavement on a Chrome induced acid trip, then imagine it magnified by 10 more tabs! This is one dark, strange journey that’s unbelievably spellbinding. Insanity never sounded so catchy or felt so welcoming.
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65) Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (2009) [Warp]
Veckatimest is an exercise in the magic that can transpire when a band forgoes assigned roles in favor of true collaboration. For their third full-length studio album, all four members of Grizzly Bear contributed to the songwriting and the results are immense. Veckatimest is the band’s catalog standout, refined, lush and bursting with tiny hidden details.
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64) Mika Miko – We Be Xuxa (2009) [Post Present Medium]
The gals of Mika Miko go out and release their most fully realized, balls to the wall album of Punk goodness and then promptly call it quits . We Be Xuxa is chock full of the sort of art-damaged and anthemic Punk (in the most traditional sense) that gets us wet over here at the Bloglin. And now with the band broken-up it may be a while ’til we get something this earnest and good in the world of Punk again.
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63) The Pink Noise – Alpha (2009) [Almost Ready]
Montreal Noise-Poppers, The Pink Noise’s third full length is a drug addled trip back in time that dots everything from No Wave, Snyth Punk and even Power Pop that transcends beyond being merely just another revival LP. Rather than reminiscing about scenes we wish we were around for, Alpha transporting is a direct wormhole to them.
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62) Trail of the Dead – The Century of Self (2009) [Justice]
And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead return with their most ambitious and expansive album to date. Finally free of the expectations of their sudden success earlier this decade, The Century of Self is exactly the sort of album the band has always hinted it was capable of.
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61) Tor Lundvall – Sleeping and Hiding (2009) [Dais]
Ghostly electro compositions that surge forward from twilight to midnight black in a matter of minutes. Lundvall is the master of gorgeous and enveloping ambience, but he’s upped the dark ante something fierce; his heady vocals combined with heart-buzzing bass (plus a recurring, nightmarish whistle) feel both detached and totally desperate. Perfect for either a seance or a suicide pact.
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60) Simian Mobile Disco – Temporary Pleasure [Wichita]
A subtle disco undercurrent connects an abundance of guest vocalists with enough polish and complexity to avoid disparity on SMD’s followup to 2007′s Attack Decay Sustain Release. Temporary Pleasure draws heavily from James Ford’s pop production skillset, resulting in a dance-pop album that’s more mature than it is bubblegum.
Not originally reviewed on the Bloglin
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59) Wolves In The Throne Room – Black Cascade [Southern Lord]
Black Cascade is ambiguously situated within the Black Metal time-line. Mixing spiritualistic and eco-friendly lyrics with organic melodies and brisk collapsing breaks, this album would cater to the post-rock and post-metal crowds as well as the die-hard Black Metal crowd. No blast beats and no peaking moments of brutality, just somber and melodic Black Metal.
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58) //TENSE// – Memory [Desire]
I’ve been waiting a good long while for a band to come along and revive the true sound of EBM. Houtson, Texas’ //TENSE// is that band, and my god is it about time. Memory is the sort of industrial dance album that not only masterfully brings back a long forgotten sound, but fits pretty comfortably between spins of Front 242 and A Split Second.
Not originally reviewed on the Bloglin
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57) Japandroids – Post-Nothing [Unfamiliar]
Anyone who grew up on bands like Mineral, Cap ‘N Jazz, or Jawbreaker will find Japandroid’s Post-Nothing a most welcome homecoming to their adolescence (good and bad). This may be little more than musical nostalgia, but this record is just too damn good at just that to fault it.
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56) Part Chimp – Thriller [Rock Action]
Hailing from Camberwell in the UK, Part Chimp is the best kept secret in rock (along with a pretty wicked live act). Thriller ups the ante in an enveloping blanket of shoegaze fuzz, and Post-Hardcore aggression. Fun fact: Originally slated to be called The Dark Side of the Moon, Part Chimp decided to re-name their album Thrller after Michael Jackson’s death.
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55) Little Claw – Human Taste [Ecstatic Peace!]
Somewhere between the dark and raucous soundscapes of The Cramps Psychedelic Jungle and Sonic Youth’s Bad Moon Rising lies Human Taste, Little Claw’s third full length is their most realized album to date. A spellbinding conflict between dissonance and melody.
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54) Sacrifice – The Ones I Condemn [Roadrunner]
Pure Canadian metal. Sacrifice has been around for quite some time and The Ones I Condemn marks a triumphant return for the band after a 16-year absence. One of the best thrash albums of the year and it makes you wonder how long they worked on it? 16 years is a long time!
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53) Hudson Mohawke – Butter [Warp]
Glasgow producer Ross Birchard aka Hudson Mohawke drops his hotly anticipated debut, Butter. Which ends up being the musical equivalent to a Lisa Frank folder. Chaotic, ultra-bright neon that sends your head spinning in a deliriously happy sugar rush. yes we mean this in a good way, a very good way.
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52) Rome – Flowers From Exile [Trisol]
Rome returns with another exotic mix of gentle acoustic guitars, atmospheric tape-loops and deep baritone vocals. However it’s Rome’s willingness to let Flowers in Exile transcend being simply another Martial act gives way to not only an esoteric depth but the sort of haunting charm that’s long been lost from bands mining this sound.
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51) Isis - Wavering Radiant [Ipecac]
Wavering Radiant is continues Isis’ career long pursuit of finding the balance between beauty & brutality. The tension is thick as the years of growth and refinement pushing and pulling until finally hitting the sort of creative crux whose intensity makes this not only Isis’ most accessible album, but one of their most rewarding ones as well.
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50) The Big Pink - Brief History of Love [4AD]
There are hundreds of ways to describe London duo The Big Pink and their much-hyped debut—among them, of course: My Bloody Valentine-esque, nu-gaze, intense, atmospheric, blah, blah, blah—but perhaps the most applicable is massive. From the seemingly endless UK hype machine to the climactic tracks on A Brief History Of Love, TBP simply feels larger than life, regardless of how popular they have yet to become.
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49) Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon: The End of Day [G.O.O.D.]
One of the most hotly anticipated albums of the year is (no surprise) also a very divisive one. Man on the Moon is a bold and accessible break from what we’ve come to generally accept as Hip Hop that has people drawing a line in the sand. This is as far away as you can get from Boom Bap, and truthfully there isn’t anything wrong with that.
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48) Night Control – Death Control [Kill Shaman]
Christopher Curtis Smith’s (CSS) AKA Night Control has just slipped in a real gem right under the Lo-Fi Pop radar. With a knack at channeling the Velvet Underground and Marc Bolan, CSS has a unique gift for weaving his haunting bedroom pop assemblages effortlessly in and out of more ambivalent and cosmically visceral terrain.
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47) Zoroaster – Voice of Saturn (2009) [Terminal Doom]
Atlanta’s Zoroaster shows how stoner doom is cooked up down south; fried and crispy. Heavy on the bass and vocals, the doom trio never ceases to impress. Voice of Saturn marks a turning point for the band, earning them much-deserved respect.
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46) Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light [Moshi Moshi]
Au Revoir Simone’s third and arguably most sophisticated album is less about what you hear immediately–jaunty little keyboard arrangements, wispy-thin female vocals–than what you really have to listen for. Sugary and optimistic, not only one of this year’s best Synth-Pop releases, but this decades.
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45) Washed Out – High Times [Mirror Universe Tapes]
A limited release of 200 cassettes turned into the digital leak that everyone had to get a hold of. High Times was the largely instrumental counterpart to bedroom producer du jour Ernest Greene’s Life of Leisure EP. Found samples wander amongst gauzy beats on the upbeat-leaning cinematic gem that further secures Greene’s footing as a reclusive wunderkind.
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44) Moderat – S/T [Bpitch Control]
German electronic giants Modeselektor and Apparat join forces in creating an album that could rival anything in either groups back catalog. Culling together their divergent yet complimentary styles, Moderat unleashes a definitive Tech House album that is as beautiful as it is catchy.
Not originally reviewed on the Bloglin
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43) Doomriders – Darkness Comes Alive [Death Wish]
Matured rock for the people who grew up throwing elbows in the mosh pits at Converge and Cave In shows in the late 90′s. Doomriders’ history in the hardcore and punk scene is not forgotten in their newest release Darkness Comes Alive. The title serves as a metaphor for the band’s sound as they bring their sound to a new level. Top it off with some bitching artwork by Thomas Hooper and you’ve got an essential album.
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42) Smith Westerns – S/T (2009) [HoZac]
Four teenagers from Chicago craft snotty garage anthems of frustration, angst and fun. They might be a little bit awkward, but their catchy hooks and sneering vocals are absolutely infectious. Their hobbies include getting wasted at house parties and covering venue floors in glittery confetti at their live gigs. What’s not to love?
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41) The Horrors – Primary Colours [XL]
An almost unimaginable step forward from their debut album, so much so that the word “Mature” feels inadequate of an adjective to fully explain their sudden turnabout. A sweet and dark marriage of the grotesque with the irresistible, The Horrors have done the unthinkable, dethroned Interpol as the defacto “gothiest” mainstream band.
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40) The Juan Maclean – The Future Will Come [DFA]
More actual songs than random dance tangents, and definitely DFA-friendlier than their previous release, The Future Will Come is a pretty predictable shift for The Juan Maclean…but that doesn’t make it boring. I mean, B Movie is a band worth ripping off, as are Human League and Devo. And The Juan Maclean ape that chilly new-wave so well, it totally doesn’t matter that he doesn’t so much care to innovate.
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39) Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall [Matador]
An unlikely followup to 2006′s Blood Visions, Watch Me Fall is a Jay Reatard curve ball. An album of short, singalong garage pop cuts mark a stylistic deviation from his vast back catalog, but if you give Watch Me Fall a chance, you’ll find all the same energy and emotion characteristic of other Reatard releases. Watch Me Fall may be different, but in this case different is very good.
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38) Asobi Seksu – Hush [Polyvinyl]
It’s sad that Asobi Seksu’s most mature and fulfilling album left many fans of their previous album Citrus so underwhelmed. Moving away from simply aping My Bloody Valentine as they did on Citrus, Asobi Seksu truly come into their own on Hush. A beautiful and melodic slice of Dream Pop that veers as close as anyone has to matching the utter ethereal beauty of the Cocteau Twin’s Blue Bell Knoll.
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37) Former Ghosts – Fleurs [Upset the Rhythm]
Collab project featuring members of Zola Jesus, This Song Is A Mess But So Am I and Xiu Xiu that sounds exactly like the lovechild of those bands: agony-fueled and vaguely industrial with an ice-cold, ghostly ambience. It has its Joy Division moments to be sure, but they’re so muffled by terrifying reverb, I promise you’ll be too creeped out to give a shit.
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36) Memory Tapes - Seek Magic [Rough Trade]
Seek Magic had me at hello…if hello means the dance explosion about a minute into “Bicycle”. A little Deerhunter, a little The Knife and a whole lot a Outhud, this pushing together of Weird Tapes and Memory Cassettes results in some of the most dynamic indie-dance released all year. It wanders into some seriously downtrodden territory for sure, but the sickly, detuned synths and ghostly pentatonic harmonies always amp up the slowest moments.
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35) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – S/T [Slumberland]
Drawing from shoegaze, new wave and pop, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart put out one hell of a debut this year. The band’s effortless, soft melodies are a quiet explosion of style and grace. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart emulate the sound of 15 years ago so well you’d swear it was 1985 again.
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34) Wavves – Wavvves (2009) [Fat Possum]
Say what you will about Wavves—we’ve all said a lot over the past year—but this kid writes some effin’ great songs. For every person calling bullshit on his simplistic, lo-fi schtick—or every band whining about how they could’ve done it too—there are at least two more 100% in love with it, and for good reason. Breezy, funny, silly and emblematic of a certain teenage “who gives a fuck” ignorance, Wavvves captures you on a purely primal, emotional level. And despite all the well-publicized drama surrounding its creator, the album never truly gets old…even when you feel like it should.
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33) Bear In Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth [Hometapes]
Fill an arena with the quintessential 4AD sound and maybe, maybe, you’ve captured the sheer giganticism of Beast Rest Forth Mouth. A shoegaze/psych/industrial/indie-pop mishmash that feels as epic and unending as a cross-country drive—and all but bursts at the seams with so much glistening ambience and hollow noise. I’ve listened to at least one BRFM song per day since its release; it’s just that beautifully haunted.
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32) Silk Flowers – S/T [Post Present Medium]
Another in a long line of Joy Division references, but lo-fi faves Silk Flowers make it more apt than ever. Instead of looking solely to Ian Curtis for inspiration—several of these songs are vocal-free anyway—the album suggests the way Sumner, Hook and Morris nervously played off each other pre-New Order. Maudlin and jittery, just like a depression-fueled panic attack.
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31) Fukpig – Spewings from a Selfish Nation [Feto]
Take your face and smash it against your desk, then take a nailgun and crucify yourself. Fukpig’s Spewings from a Selfish Nation will turn you into a masochist. 30 minutes of rib-crushing intensity that just won’t stop! One of this years most essential Metal releases.
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30) Telefon Tel Aviv – Immolate Yourself [Bpitch Control]
What a sad fucking story: Charles Cooper, half of Telefon Tel Aviv (and longtime friend of other half Joshua Eustis) dies of an overdose just as Immolate Yourself released. Whether that colors the songs for you is obviously a personal thing, but let me just say this: all circumstances aside, this album is honestly the best of the duo’s career. A sort of less-is-more exploration in terms of both concept and technical preference, Immolate Yourself chooses to focus on the perfect dance song rather than another series of IDM beats. The result is celebratory, joyous and seriously fun—the perfect, if horribly unexpected, wave goodbye from this decade-old incarnation.
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29) Oneohtrix Point Never - Zones Without People [Arbor]
Hypnotic, robotic and totally sans percussion, Zones Without People feels exactly like Brian Eno’s most rambling atmosphere work, with an even more finely tuned sense of the organic (if such a thing is possible). And though it’s built of little but lithe arpeggios and analogue loops, the album evokes a full range of emotion—empathy, joy, even panic—in ways I seriously don’t understand.
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28) Kylesa – Static Tensions [Prosthetic]
Building upon their previous efforts while channeling back to the crust legends Damad (which would spawn them), Kylesa’s artistic direction is not only brought full-circle but to a finite culmination with the release of their 4th full-length album, Static Tensions. Without losing their edge, Kylesa has proven that doom and sludge can be refined.
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27) DOOM – Born Like This [Lex]
MF Doom returns as DOOM after a lengthy and quite noticeable absence with some of his best work to date. Gone are the high concepts that have dominated so much of his recent work as DOOM returns doing what he does bestm dropping clever lines over some of the best production you’ll ever hear.
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26) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz! [Interscope]
The perfect third album. Rather than rehash the sound they built via Fever To Tell and Show Your Bones (which, let’s be serious, would’ve been a total snoozefest this many years on), Karen O & Co. explore a whole host of new ideas: synth-driven, poppy but still rough-edged tracks that barely need remixed to be dancefloor suitable. Stubborn fans may call it a shark-jumper, but we think the turnabout is pretty brilliant.
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25) Mount Eerie – Wind’s Poem [P.W. Eleverum & Sun]
Phil Elverum magnificent and haunting return to the beauty his albums lost once he changed monikers from The Microphones to Mount Eerie. Wind’s Poem is a delicate yet completely engulfing experience that you can take away from as much as you want to put into. It’s a challenging piece of work that once digested is one of the most rewarding things you’ll hear all year.
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24) Nocturnal – Violent Revenge [Death Strike]
Grab your skateboards and thrash the fuck out of a pool. Violent Revenge fucking rules! While they have a slew of 7″ and splits to their name this is only the second full-length that Thrash/Black Metal crossover ace Nocturnal has put out and man does Violent Revenge fucking deliver!
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23) Kings of Convenience – Declaration of Dependence [Virgin]
Who’d have thought it possible for Kings of Convenience to get even quieter, but alas: here we are at an album so tremendously hushed, it barely registers as sound. And yet, Declaration of Dependence is hands down the most sophisticated of the duo’s career; a testament to what happens when you leave a project for five years, only to return as real live grown-ups capable of shedding the impish awkwardness that, while charming, killed the sensuality your songs so desperately wanted. A must-listen for anyone, anywhere.
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22) Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport [ATP/R]
Pseudo-microhouse that epitomizes reluctant progress: the sound of machinery destined for obsolescence. Partially produced by Andrew Weatherall, Tarot Sport is the ideal soundtrack to our shattered technological dreams, an epic EPCOT eulogy that abandons most of the band’s previous abrasiveness for boatloads of shimmery melody. Departure? More like evolution. And definitely the best thing Fuck Buttons have done yet.
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21) Woods – Songs of Shame [Woodist]
Woods most mature effort to date is also the ultimate in Lo-Fi pop. Marrying the rough and tumble charm of home recording with a deep and profound skill set of songwriting and musicianship. While keeping with the clandestine atmosphere within which Lo-Fi thrives, Songs of Shame opens the curtains, lets the light in but fully makes use of the shadows still being created.
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20) Mastodon - Crack the Skye [Reprise]
Fans either adore this or think it’s the biggest sell-out album of the past decade, but we belong to the former camp. So what if it’s commercially viable? It’s also really effing good. The classic Mastodon structure is honed, guitar tones perfected, vocals catchier and more emphatic than ever. If this is the album that makes Mastodon really famous, so be it: it’s a fucking well-deserved fame, if you ask us.
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19) Cold Cave - Love Comes Close [Heartworm/Matador]
Cold Cave are the year’s shining stars of dark releases with a coldwave bent, and all hype aside, it’s for pretty good reason. Love Comes Close is a chilly-creepy-crazy homage to 80s wave that manages to avoid being novel by just being good. The Bloglin originally called it “the perfect gateway album”, and that’s totally right: not only will Love Comes Close bowl you over with its revival-like darkness, it might just spark an interest in both the classic dark- and coldwave albums of the 80s and the new crop of wave-inspired releases sure to bombard us in 2010.
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18) Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms [Lefse]
The new project of VEGA’s Alan Palomo, Neon Indian slid in silently and exploded when no one expected it with their debut release, Psychic Chasms. Palomo used an arsenal of vintage gear and analog samples to create an inspired surfy, synthpop and dub-influenced album. Psychic Chasms was humble, fresh and authentic, generating well-earned buzz for the band and setting the scene for a successful career.
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17) Iron Age - The Sleeping Eye [Tee Pee]
This is one little monolith of an album. One part Hardcore, one part Thrash, one part Powerviolence and one part Stoner Metal and yet, entirely it’s own beast! Not your usual Crossover fare, The Sleeping Eye is the most unconventional and engaging approaches to Hardcore and Thrash in years!
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16) Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care [Domino]
Maybe the warmest and most human of their releases so far, Begone Dull Care shows Junior Boys in an updated, funkier place. Rather than evoke the same old 80s synth-pop they’ve been perfecting for years, the duo goes a little Hall & Oates here—a tactic that sounds guilty pleasure-destined in the text but is seriously innovative and technically impeccable in practice. Way to totally best Chromeo, Junior Boys.
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15) Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [V2]
Ignore the stupid title and focus instead on this: Phoenix is seemingly incapable of putting out a bad record, and Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is the best of the best. Dancey, catchy and so smoothly produced, these tracks may be emotion lite, but they’re still tons of sugary fun. Just the thing for taking the edge off a particularly dark winter.
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14) Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions [Southern Lord]
Stephen O’Malley has crafted his finest hour as Sunn O))). This is more an incantation than an album. A terrifying and transfixing journey from a demon’s womb into the blistering light. This truly is Doom Metal at it’s finest. Lock your doors and grab your bong… Cthulhu coming over!
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13) Screaming Females -Power Move [Don Giovanni]
A healthy mix of 70s proto-metal, post-punk and even late riot grrrl, Power Move is both confounding and completely rad. It’s not stunningly innovative, but the shrieking riffs and sloppy construction totally convey the sort of enthusiasm for music you had as a teenager. Back then, it didn’t matter whether the stuff was technical or innovative—it just needed to be raucous, riotous and full of bratty attitude. You know, exactly what Screaming Females do best.
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12) Screen Vinyl Image - Interceptors [Safranin]
The year’s two most prominent revival genres, married at last. Interceptor is so much the middle point between shoegaze and goth, you really can’t call it anything but gothgaze: dark and ethereal, mechanical and still somehow warm. I’ll be closely following Screen Vinyl Image in 2010; if Interceptor is any indication—and if they get the attention they deserve—we can expect nothing but great, gothgazey things.
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11) Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II [EMI]
Raise your hands if you honestly expected this album to be good. I know I didn’t, and from the early singles I went into it with rather low expectations. I’ve never been happier to have been so wrong. 14 years after the original, Raekwon not only storms himself, but all of the Wu back into relevancy. Shit, at this point I’m ready to even believe that Detox will come out and may end up being greatest record ever recorded.
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10) Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy [Matador]
After releasing a grip of 7″s, EPs, singles and a 2008 album titled Constant Hitmaker that was largely ignored, Kurt Vile finally started to get the attention he deserved with his short and excellent vinyl only release, God Is Saying This to You… (out much earlier in 2009). But it is with his Matador debut, Childish Prodigy that Vile truly comes into his own. A lonely masterpiece of outsider Americana and retooled lo-fi. Vile sucks you into his melodies and holds you there, transfixed with curiosity at a man so full of mystery and talent.
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9) Health - Get Color [Lovepump United]
Barring this year’s success of the XX, I’d be hard pressed to name another band in recent years who were able to shift as effectively across different audiences as Health. Beginning with the release of their 2007 debut, Health have found equal support in many different circles. Get Color saw the band introduce a heavier focus on vocals and continue to build upon their brand of synthesized noise rock. A logical next step, Get Color proved Health are going to be around for awhile and will just keep getting stronger with every subsequent release.
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8) A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar [Mis Ojos]
The gleaming beacon of this year’s nu-gaze influx, Ashes Grammar doesn’t merely outshine each of ASDIG’s previous releases–it blows every similar sounding band straight out of the water. Ashes is a sideways album, a sort of down-the-rabbit-hole experience that boasts kicky dance tracks and watery-gorgeous interludes in equal parts. It’s easy to lose yourself in all this sweet, twinkling tinkering…and just as easy to never dig yourself out.
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7) Skeletonwitch - Breathing the Fire [Prosthetic]
Chance and the guys put on one hell of a live show. Between drinking beer, shots of whiskey and screaming “Eat some pussy” to the crowd, you can tell what they’re all about; brutally honest blackened thrash metal. Breathing the Fire is the follow-up to Beyond the Permafrost; Hot and Cold. Quite simply put, Breathing the Fire is exactly that, one hot album that effortlessly weave decades of Metal into something altogether fresh and exciting.
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6) Atlas Sound - Logos [Kranky]
Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox’s sophomore solo effort, Logos, painted a flawless portrait of what it means to be human. Love, longing and loss fill the compositions of an album that was as well executed as it was emotive. Cameos from Noah Lennox (Animal Collective) and Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab) provided bright spots on an otherwise ethereal, and deeply introspective opus.
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5) Blessure Grave - Judged by 12, Carried by 6 [Release the Bats]
Talk about getting it in under the wire: Judged by 12, Carried by 6 may be one of the year’s final releases (available by Dec. 28th) but it’s by far one of its best. Evocative, dramatic and amazingly reminiscent of everything from Bauhaus to Play Dead, Judged hits you on the same guttural level as, say, Unknown Pleasures; a total clusterfuck of dark emotion that leaves you manic and panicky and desperately craving more. Most of you won’t hear this until 2010, but trust me: its miserable loveliness is so, so worth the wait.
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4) Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion [Domino]
Animal Collective is one of those bands that, for whatever stupid reason, I always think I hate…until I actually listen to them again. It’s like an accidental affection, you know, but Merriweather Post Pavillion is different; there’s just no denying that this thing is charming as hell. Melodic noise, psych explosions, hypnotic breakdowns—it’s all there, just a wee bit gentler and easier to embrace. The band’s most accessible, and joyful, album to date.
Not originally reviewed on the Bloglin
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3) The XX - S/T [Rough Trade]
They’ve been hyped within an inch of their lives, but The XX are one of those rare bands who actually deserve the fervor. Everything about this debut is so near perfection. Buttery vocal interplay that feels like a hushed, secret conversation. Lyrics both desperate and desperately happy. Hollow, one-note guitar that brims over with longing. That these kids are barely 20 years old only adds to its charm; they’ve given voice to the sort of manic teenage melancholy that haunts us all, even those of us damn near (or well into) our 30s. So lonely. So desperate. So perfect.
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2) Baroness - Blue Record [Relapse]
In the 6 years together Barnoness have successfully conquered the realms of Stoner/Sludge metal… So what are they to do now? Set their sights higher of course! The Blue Record is on some straight up Hammer of the Gods type Rock ‘n Roll. This isn’t merely this year’s best Stoner/Sludge album or even the #2 album of 2009, this is one of the decades greatest Rock albums. Period. Get those lighters up!
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We knew Karin Dreijer-Andersson’s post-Knife solo debut was going to be great the minute she streamed an early version of “If I Had A Heart” from her website. I mean, my god, even that unfinished track was better than almost anything released so far this year. But I’m not sure any of us expected Fever Ray to be this incredible. Similar to The Knife in its dark, tropical vibe but studded with a sense of blind hope, Fever Ray is Andersson at a personal best: wide-eyed and haunted, with slow, throbbing rhythms and ghastly sweet melody. It’s less dancefloor-intended than anything The Knife has ever done, but Fever Ray isn’t without beat. It’s just pulsing, undulating, almost seasick. And totally fucking amazing.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Surprised to see no love for Converge – Axe To Fall.
April 20th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
[...] Recording Tape last year when it was released. It would have easily crept it’s way into our Bloglin’s Best 100 albums of 2009. But as hard as you try, it’s next to impossible to keep up with everything and that’s [...]