The Tape

Tristan’s Top 25 Albums of 2009

Written by pistachionut on Tuesday, 22 of December , 2009 at 8:04 pm

My toplist for 2009 is really unsettled in spots 1-5. I feel obligated to put Bitte Orca at number one, but my heart tells me Miike Snow deserve the spot. Their debut was the album I listened to most this year (besides the perennials Enema of the State and Pinkerton), and Matt and Kim’s second effort, Grand kept me going all summer. But upon revisiting all the albums, one rose slightly above the rest. It was a really strong year. A lot of the choices I have in the teens would’ve made my top ten list last year, but without further rambling, here are my choices, 25 through 1.

25. Karen O and the Kids – Where The Wild Things Are OST

Karen O’s freak folk soundtrack takes the movie to another level, and stands out on its own as an impressive body of work.

24. Major Lazer – Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do

“Pon De Floor” was ubiquitous. Diplo and Switch’s union was inevitable, and it’s exciting to see such a quality product. Not to mention this album gave us some of the years best videos.

23. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

MPP was not everything it was cracked up to be. “My Girls” became a cliche, as did calling Animal Collective your favorite band.

22. Gui Boratto – Take My Breath Away

Boratto’s second album elaborates his tech-house roots. Big kick drums and minimal melodies are abound.

21. Wavves – Wavvves

2009 was an interesting year for Nathan Williams. He rose up a little too quickly, and fell down in Barcelona. His live shows with Zach Hill have been pretty great, post-meltdown.

20. Tiga – Ciao!

Ciao! is Tiga’s follow-up to the highly acclaimed Sexor and features a bunch of fun guests. Soulwax and Gonzales did some production on the album. Ciao! also gave us another brilliant video, the Tim and Eric-esque “Shoes.”

19. Japandroids – Post-Nothing

My favorite “noise rock” release of the year, Post-Nothing is simultaneously heavy hitting and incessantly charming. More accessible than No Age, but still way fuzzier than The Hold Steady.

18. Atlas Sound – Logos

Bradford Cox’s solo project is a fun diversion from Deerhunter. The Noah Lennox feature, “Walkabout” is one of the top songs of the year, and really develops a sound that was hard to avoid in 2009. Listen to it and you’ll know.

17. Yuksek – Away from the Sea

In a year where dance music moved away from the slap bass driven sounds of Justice and towards the warble and annoyance of Crookers and the Bloody Beetroots, Yuksek brought back the disco roots. “So Down” featuring Chromeo was one of the most overlooked tracks of the year, it should’ve been an instant classic.

16. Passion Pit – Manners

Following last year’s emblematic Chuck of Change EP, Angelakos & co. put out a debut full length that met the expectations. Maybe too much cheese and pop for some, but Manners’ charm is present in every children’s choir sample.

15. Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms

A big year for Alan Palomo, releasing an EP and an album as Neon Indian, and a brand new EP as Vega. Psychic Chasms takes the glossy shine of Ghosthustler (Palomo’s previous project) and applies it to glo-fi melodies and squelchy synthlines. Also has really rad album art.

14. Siriusmo – The Uninvited Guest

Similar to Yuksek’s album, Siriusmo’s offering provides just enough of that slap-bass driven groove to make your butt shake ever so slightly. “High Together” is the best dance track of 2009, (sorry “Pon De Floor) and if you listen to it, you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

13. Deastro – Moondagger

I place Moondagger this high in part because of Deastro’s other releases this year. The Grower EP is a brilliant instrumental collection at the intersection of Dntel and chiptune. Moondagger is a full-band project, and features Chabot’s vocals on every track. He takes the base built on the Grower EP and adds melodies and vocal lines that kinder memories of Wolf Parade and Spencer Krug.

12. Girls – Album

Christopher Owens’ story is harrowing. An ex-member of the Children of God cult, Owens channels his journey into 12 beautifully old school tracks. From the starting gates, “Lust for Life” pulses with Brian Wilson chord structures and Jeff Magnum whines. It doesn’t have any sour notes, and the good notes ring for the entire 45 minutes.

11. Volcano Choir – Unmap

Justin Vernon’s side-project, collaborating with Collections of Colonies of Bees, is his equivalent of the Postal Service. I didn’t expect to like this album at all, I didn’t want to have anything to do with “Woods” when it was on the Blood Bank EP. Somehow though, when it comes full circle on “Still,” I get shivers. It’s a very interesting complement to Bon Iver, and makes a very lasting impression.

10. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

There’s something about the way they irreverently riff on the Cure, Belle and Sebastian and Galaxie 500 all at once that just makes me smile. Their well executed fuzz-pop comes from a good place, and it doesn’t feel artificial. Their Higher Than The Stars EP was also really solid, and to be honest, pushes this up a little farther up on my list than it should be.

9. Joe Goddard – Harvest Festival

Another overlooked album, the solo project from Hot Chip’s keyboardist and backup singer’s debut may appear gimmicky at first. While yes, all the song titles are fruit themed, each delivers complex percussion and skillful production. The one song with vocals (other than the “Party and Bullshit” sample on “Go Bananas”) is a standout. “Lemon and Lime (Home Time)” could easily end a Wes Anderson film.

8. Discovery – LP

I loved the collaboration between Ra Ra Riot’s Wes Miles and Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij the minute I first heard “Osaka Loop Line.” Their album is a quick one, 10 songs (8 originals, 2 covers) weighing in at 30 minutes. The covers, one of Ra Ra Riot’s own “Can You Tell?” the other being a version of the Jackson 5′s “I Want You Back” (recorded before MJ’s death) both fit perfectly in with the vibe of the album. They sit flush with the original tracks, which offer some pretty nice guests themselves. Dirty Projector’s Angel Deradoorian sings on “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” and VW’s own Ezra Koenig lends his voice on “Carby.” The album does feel very cohesive, and it’s a really fun, summery sound. It also has some of the best album art, front and back.

7. Matt and Kim – Grand

It seemed to me almost impossible to follow up Matt and Kim’s self-titled debut. When “Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare” came out via RCRD LBL, I got a little bit dubious. I didn’t want Matt and Kim to stray from the vintage synth sounds they employed oh so well. My worries were immediately dispelled with the release of “Daylight,” a song so great with a piano lead, it doesn’t need a cheesy bass riff to carry it along. The rest of the album more than makes up for that lack of vintage bass, with “Cutdown” and “Lessons Learned” being fist-pumping anthems. Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino are shameless about their love for their hometown of Brooklyn, but I’d like to think they have a small place in their hearts for LA, too. They bring the energy when they play live in Los Angeles like few bands I’ve seen. I have nothing but high praise for these two.

6. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

This album gave me two of my favorite songs of the year. “1901″ and “Lisztomania” are perfect pop-songs, continuing from the tradition set with It’s Never Been LIke That. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is a great body of work. I don’t have much more to say other than that it just works. Thomas Mars & co. just make it sound so easy and so simple. Everything melts down into their melodies, and their songs just won’t leave you alone.

5. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

This album had the most hype out of anything I listened to this year. I suffered through the crappy leak just to get my grubby little hands on non-live versions of “Two Weeks” and “While You Wait for the Others.” Veckatimest met the entirety of its expectations, building off Yellow House and bringing “indie-folk” into the public eye. Aside from the aforementioned tracks, there are some non-single standouts. “About Face” is a beautiful work, as is album closer “Foregroun,” neither of which gained much traction after the release. Regardless, the boys released a stellar followup, and the best third album since Neon Bible. [I'm counting the first Arcade Fire EP as an album for comparison's sake. Deal.]

4. The XX - XX

Some of the guitar lines sound like Explosions in the Sky riffs. The XX take the haunting beauty and resonance of those riffs and apply them to New Order-inspired songs with the vocal style of a mellower Karen O. I must admit I didn’t “get” this album until a few weeks ago. It hit me around the time I listened to their cover of Florence + The Machine’s “You’ve Got The Love.” If that was on the album, this ranking would be even higher, maybe even at #1. The Pitchfork review noted that there was no standout track, but that’s wrong. “VCR,” “Crystalized,” and “Islands” all have the power to be huge hits, (in the UK at least) given the right amount of play on BBC Radio 1. It’s one of the most unique albums to come out this year, pioneering a sound that didn’t quite exist before. The XX created it for their own purposes, now let’s wait and watch the rip-offs begin.

3. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

Everyone’s instant #1 didn’t do as much for me as it was supposed to. Yes, it’s a great album, but it’s not the life changing magnum opus some have claimed it to be. The songs are incredibly well written, and impeccably performed, but on the whole I felt like there was just something missing that my #1 and 2 albums could give me. Bitte Orca is almost hollow, for me it didn’t get better with time. I “got” it at first listen, and it didn’t have any more gifts to give me after that. That all being said, based on the raw material on this album, it’s still in the top 5. I’m not hating, by any means.

2. Miike Snow – Miike Snow

This one shocked me as much as it might shock anyone who reads this. I doubt this album is on anyone else’s Top 10, Top 25 or maybe even Top 50 list this year. But there’s something about this album that “does it” for me in the way that Bitte Orca could not. It’s a primally satisfying pop record, each song constructed with such delicacy and care. The production technique is improbably good, but we’re dealing with the same two guys who made the beat for “Toxic.” The album does not let up, dipping below 110 BPM only twice, once for “Burial” and yet again for, “Plastic Jungle.” It’s the perfect 21st century pop album, and very definitive of the sound of pop music in 2009. It’s what you hear on the radio, just done right.

1. Dan Deacon – Bromst

I fell in love with Bromst before it came out. Pitchfork posted a video of Dan Deacon recording the album, using a player piano hook up to a midi send device, playing notes faster than humanly possible. Deacon’s quirkiness contrast and complement his classical composition perfectly, letting rhythms and melodies play in uncharted territories for experimental electronic music. “Snookered” is the top song of 2009, an 8 minute epic that builds and builds and never stops giving. It may be the perfect song of its type, Deacon perfecting his own form.

That is all for 2009, ladies and gentlemen. See you again next year, Beach House and Yeasayer are already in a fight for everyone’s favorite album of 2010.

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Category: Albums,Miscellaneous,Reviews

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