The Best of 2009 - 10 Albums

Well, sorry for the hiatus. This and that, you know. Anyway, I'm not drinking again for the month of January, so I'll be posting more than you could possibly want. To begin, after your 2009 list fatigue has hopefully ended, here's the first of mine. These are the top 10 albums, in my opinion, that were released this calendar year. I don't claim that they are the universal best. These are my favorite. They tend to err on the side of solid, well thought out pop-rock, and I'm not apologizing for that. Enjoy

[click to download a .zip file of each album]

10) Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
Incredibly dense and witty lyrics with a great britpop sound. Jarvis has quickly become one of my favorite lyricists. The mostly-instrumental "Homewrecker!" sounds like a drunken spy theme, the title track is a catchy gem, and "I Never Said I Was Deep" has my favorite lyrics of the year; he's like a younger, thinner, skeevier, and British Randy Newman.

9) Wilco - Wilco
Wilco gives me a lot of trouble. On one hand, I love some of their songs. On the other hand, I get so bored some of their songs. This album brings me a few I love ("Sunny Feeling," "You And I" with Feist," "You Never Know") and some I would toss aside ("I'll Fight," "One Wing") But, its strong enough to hold up as an album that works front to back. And on top of it all, it has the trifecta, something that to my knowledge only Bad Company has also accomplished: a band with an album and a song on that album all with the same name. For that alone, it's worth a listen.

8) Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Any album that starts off with such a hit as "Lisztomania" deserves to be considered very high on a best-of list. Even though these guys are smelly Frenchmen, and I'm not particularly into their earlier stuff, I cannot deny how kickass this LP is. It's pop perfection. Throw in "Rome" for some ambient melody, "1901" for some pulse pop, and "Armistice" for some rock, and you've got a solid tracklist that will stand a long test of time.

7) fun. - Aim and Ignite
fun. is a group of veteran musicians in a new outfit, really stretching the limits of pop-rock. There's everything in here. Narrative melodies that sound like they're out of RENT ("Be Calm"), spastic orchestral arrangements that Jeff Lynne would salivate over ("All The Pretty Girls"); and Queen-esque epics ("Benson Hedges"). "Barlights" is a great NYC-tribute song that's great to listen to while walking through the city, and "The Gambler" is an acoustic, heartfelt ballad. Every song is a new feeling and sound, but it's all incredible cohesive. I hope to hear more from these guys soon.

6) Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johanssen - Break Up
This album was recorded in 2007, but not released until this year. Why? No idea, but I think it was a good move. Scarlett's distracting fame-quotient cooled down a bit, so you're able to enjoy her voice more here (it's very throwback, alá Zooey) without the baggage. But honestly, this album is an example of Pete's amazing songwriting ability (he also put out another album this year, Back & Forth, which wasn't as solid overall, but had some great tracks). We've got the summer-sounding pop triumph of "Relator," the classic emotive Yorn-ballad "Someday," and the funky country-rock of "I Don't Know What Do." What does Scarlett bring to the table? Well, most Yorn albums are depressing in tone, but this one, even with it's emotional lows, feels optimistic the whole way through. It might be Pete's happiest album yet, despite it's title.

5) M. Ward - Hold Time
And we're in the top 5. M. Ward makes the list twice, but this time it's for his amazing solo album. It's not incredibly diverse in sound; full of reverb, acoustic guitars and driving snare drums, but M has a way with mood music. The instrumentation perfectly accompanies the lyrics. From the She & Him outtake of "Never Had Nobody Like You," to the Buddy Holly cover "Rave On," to the unplugged shuffle of the Wes Andersen ready "Shangri-La," it's tight the whole way through. My personal favorite is "Epistemology," a catchy alt-pop single, if not for the opening lyric alone: "I was raised in a Catholic School/learned who to fight with and to pray to." Yeah.


4) Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young
In what seemed to be a lacking 12 months for music (at least in my eyes, but 2008 was so damn good it was hard to follow), Mr. Strokes arrived in November with this record to save the year. It really is worth the hype. A quick 8 tracks that are as good, if not better than the last full Strokes record. For a purist like myself, I'm always hesitant when a rocker adds so much synth, but he fleshes out all the electronic noises so they sound like distinct instruments, not just background coverup noise. The album opens with "Out of the Blue" which is furious and fun. "4 Chords of the Apocalypse" is maybe the best song title I've ever heard (and the music matches). "11th Dimension" is the single, and it's a perfect pop song. My favorite is "Ludlow St.," a drunken ode to NYC, with the best lyric of the year, and the theme of my unfortunate sober January: "Everything seems to go wrong when I stop drinking."

3) Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
I had to warm up to this record. When some of your favorite musicians go all "Traveling Wilburys" on you, expectations soar. And when they don't hit that mark exactly as you had imagined, you can go cold quickly. Jim James, M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis had been hyping this projects for years, and I got too excited about it. So when it came out and proved to be a thoughtful, roots-rock LP, and not a mind bending, pop-soaked greatest hits album, I was thrown off. But after proper vetting, I realized what an awesome record I had on my hands. It's simultaneously familiar sounding and off the wall: "Dear God" is gospel mixed with 90's R&B, "Say Please" is classic rock mixed with alt-country; "Losin Yo Head" is punk mixed with britpop. There's slow folksy wannabe cowboy-ballads ("Man Named Truth") and uptempo and silly melodies somehow fleshed out into full songs ("Goodway"). And there's the epic closer "His Master's Voice," my personal favorite. But through all the genre-bending, the distinctive sounds of Jim, Matt, Conor and Mike shine through both individually, and in how well they know each other and work together. And that's how a supergroup should be.

2) Deer Tick - Born on Flag Day
Me and Brian Williams love these guys. For some people, they're hit or miss. But BriWi and I know what's up. There's a distinctive sound to Deer Tick, that mostly comes from the lead singer John's gravely growl. I like to call it hungover folk; quick, loud, rough with a tinge of anger and pain. Fingerpicking guitars and strong basslines dominate the tracks, from the appropriate opening song "Easy," to the slower "Hell on Earth." Some sound like 50's prom music ("Stung," "Smith Hill"), others like country-fried breakup songs ("Little White Lies," "Ghost"). And then there's the most fun song they have, "Straight Into A Storm" which is a Chuck Berry rocker with some impressive throwback guitar rock. These guys should have a bright future in the indie scene.

1) Brendan Benson - My Old, Familiar Friend
I'm throwing you a curveball, I know. You probably didn't hear about this album. Just trust me on this one. Brendan, as I've said before, is the other guy in The Raconteurs; the one who's not Jack White. But I promise you, once you listen to this record, you'll realize how much influence he has on Jack and on that band. Brendan is a pop craftsman in the tradition of Paul McCartney, Pete Townsend, Tom Petty, Billy Joel, and even Ryan Adams. Every song grabs from from the beginning, and you're aching to hear the chorus. The verses remain interesting and not too long. The middle eight, or the bridge, is the perfect buildup to the climax. And there are layers to every song. The first time, you listen for the hook. Then the lyrics. Then the instrumentation. Then you go back and head something you missed. And so on. This album is what I love about pop music, and very well defines my ideal style. Listen to every track, I'm not going to name the good ones; they're all so fucking great. That's why I listened to this record more than any other his past year, and recommend it to you as the best album of 2009.