The Bloglin’s Best of 2009: Best Albums, #100-1 (Full List)
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
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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