my musical 2009

last year, i started my best-of post with the realization that 2008 had a dearth of excellent music. 2009 was almost the exact opposite for me. when i started compiling this list, i probably had a good 20 albums that could have easily gone on the list. for everyone's sake, i trimmed the list down and added a few notables in addition to my top ten (none of this top 15 bs, will).

listen while you read.

2009

deep breath, here we go:

in no particular order, the albums that didn't make the top 10 list:

neko case, middle cyclone

not as good as fox confessor brings the flood, but still an excellent album. her voice alone would be enough to recommend the album, but song writing takes it to a new level. there's an entire novel in the line, "this tornado loves you."

tokyo police club, elephant shell/a lesson in crime/smith ep

we all have guilty pleasures. we can admit our musical ones, but leave them off the "best of" lists. i'm using the runner up section to get tokyo police club in there. the music is fun, rowdy, and yet with a tight delivery. plus there's a song about the future robot take over. what's not to love?

bear in heaven, beast rest forth mouth

this one is hard not to put on the top 10. if i'd had more time to digest the album in it's entirety, it probably would be on there. i had the singles "wholehearted mess" and

"lovesick teenagers" on repeat for a few months.

dirty projectors, bitte orca

the dirty projectors were a slow development for me. i bought the album because of will atkins and then couldn't really get into it. after roughly a dozen times through, the album just clicked for me and i couldn't get enough. listen to it in it's entirety.

top 10, because i'm too

lame too order them and don't have the wherewithal to do it, you choose the rating.

the mountain goats, the life of the world to come

like will said, the is great songwriting pretty much at it's peak. heavy material, excellent music, though if you've never heard them before, the lo-fi style will take getting used to (this album is a step up, production wise). he/they are quickly becoming some of my favorite songwriters. david dark has an excellent article on the mountain goats here.

japandroids, post nothing

i've said most of what i think about this band already. loud and fast garage rock at it's best. just play the first song, "the boys are leaving town" and you're in. i'm really disappointed i missed them live.

camera obscura, my maudlin career

camera obscura continues to define excellent pop music for me--somewhat sentimental, derivative of a classic style in good way, and extremely easy to play.

jj, jj no. 2

i listened to a lot of electronically leaning music this year. while jj doesn't easily fall into the category of electronic, i can't help but think of them that way. at the same time the music is pretty and accessible. check out their rip of lil' wayne's "lollipop" on "ecstacy."

until the avalanches release another album, this is my pseudo tropical, electronic album of the year.

m. ward, hold time

m. ward is an old favorite of mine. hold time does not disappoint. he continues his brand of pleasant folk. it makes me want to learn an instrument to play while i sit on the porch. if it's possible, i mean that in the least sentimental way. this is music to be heard and played in community. which is probably why he has so many collaborators.

bibio, ambivalence avenue

speaking of the avalanches, i think they had a lot of influence on the bands i loved this year. bibio has a unique mix of sampled sounds (if not recognizable samples, they at least sound like they're pulling clips from somewhere), beats, and instruments sound well aged. it's as if they sat down with a portable record player, a drum machine and a guitar and took the best tracks they could churn out in one sitting. sometimes esoteric, not quite dance-able, but still very accessible. right up my alley. check out "sugarette" or the title track.

passion pit, manners

previous contributors have already said what should be about passion pit. it's fun, like a block party. i serious can't stop listening to this album. against he will, my wife knows all their songs (i think she grudgingly likes them now). the only thing i'll add is that their ep chuck of change is an absolute must, and has a cool remix of "sleepy head."

so i kind of lied, i'll add "top 3" to the following, they are interchangeable.

the antlers, hospice

i posted about this album, so i won't say much more. this is could be the best dramatic/depressing rock album of th decade. i don't really know what that means, but i love this album. you should only listen to this album in it's entirety, but "two," "antophy," "bear," and "wake" are some of my favorites. beautiful and sad art at it's best. check out their takeaway show. amazing (many thanks to ben for the link).

The Antlers - Two / Epilogue - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

the xx, xx

again, so much has already been said, i don't have much to add. i can find almost any occasion to play this album. it surprises me now that it took me a little while to get into it. subtle and almost dance-able (i really need another descriptor). in a word this album is sexy. which is probably appropriate given much of the lyrical content. again, i can't get enough. the spoken/whispered word delivery is beautiful. if you haven't, listen now.

phoenix, wolfgang amadeus phoenix

the pop album of the year, easily. all i'll say is that i was afraid i'd serious overplayed this album, but kept on playing it and never got tired. seriously, this is why pop music exists. well delivered, tight music.

confession

i have a confession. i publicly decry good bands that have attained popularity in a smug attempt to appear too "indie" or concerned with originality to be impressed.

i know, many of us put up some front regarding music that allows our tastes to seem somehow more informed. but a recent article from pitchfork about coldplay made me realize just how stupid and deep my hypocrisy runs (ironically, most of my snobbishness is encouraged by pitchfork).

a few months ago, my friend will asked me if had listened to the new coldplay album because he really liked it. without hesitation, i produced some lame quip that none of coldplay's songs make any sense (which is actually true, but irrelevant).

like any sane person, he responded that half the bands we listen to make no sense (if he recommends a band, i like it without fail, so he knows my music well). i think at that point i sputtered an inane response under my breath about how i was "just over their style" while i fumbled for a rational response in vain. i believe i tired to change the subject next.

what is so despicable is that i finally listened to the album (after a recommendation by another will) and liked it. of course, most of their songs still don't make sense. their thinly veiled and esoteric political statements just make me angry. but the music is still good. see, why couldn't i have said that to my friend and just enjoyed the music? 

this is just part of a wider trend in my life of making statements which sound good based on a preconceived notion of "true" art, political sensibilities, or lifestyle in general and then scrambling after the fact to find the reason behind them. why not just state up front what my personal taste is rather than perversely pretend there is empirical evidence behind it? i guess the need to feel important, original, or informed outweighs the simple pleasure of enjoying music with friends. 

it's great to have an opinion and even to have reasons for it. to portray them as anything other than taste is foolish. anyway, feel free to mock me whenever you hear self-important sounding speech.

how to waste $50

i got back in town last night to discover that the show i've been obsessing over the past month (to be my first proper concert since i got here) was about to begin in an hour and was sold out. i didn't think girl talk was playing until next thursday. fool that i am didn't think it necessary to buy tickets beforehand or double-check his dates.

as soon as i got off the train, megan met me to try and scalp tickets. we spent an hour in the cold, haggling with scalpers and generally being angry at every 16 year old boy dressed like a woman and every girl dressed like a 12 yr. old. finally we were able to get two tickets, one from a nice and intoxicated kid going to school at loyola in chicago (sorry, em, he doesn't know your brother). the other came from a guy who's other ticket for his wife was a phony (foreshadowing). for the both of them we paid about $50, which was only $20 more than face value.

when we went through the line to get in, it turned out that my ticket (from the intoxicated loyolan) had already been scanned. the kid went through, then came back out and sold us his ticket. i don't know if it was out of malevolence or drunkenness, but anger and frustration are not adequate words.

we sat in the lobby for about 15 minutes just stalling, hoping the ticket checker would have a heart and let us in. there was nothing he could do. either megan went to the show by herself (not an appealing proposition, espeically in light of one of the better conversation we'd had outside the venue earlier with a particularly wise 19 yr. old: "i had sex with a girl at the last show! the enitre crowd saw my ass." amazing. i'm sure that's how she would describe it as well), or neither of us went. we gave up and went home.

i guess the most disappointing thing about the whole evening was that by the time we got home, i wasn't that depressed. maybe i'm trying to be coyly jaded or just getting older, but sitting outside the theater last night seeing those kids didn't make me want to experience that crazy concert at all. i should've known before going to a concert like girl talk, but i guess i just ignored that quiet, prideful and judgmental voice in the back of my head until last night.

i still love going to shows. and i even truly appreciate the semi-counter culture that the indie music scene can be. i've just gotten very choosy about live music and what was once unique is now mainstream. there are still plenty of original artists (girl talk is one of them) and there are plenty of listeners who will enjoy them as art and not as consumption (maybe girl talk is intended to be more of the latter?). but i guess all things change, including my love for live music and what used to be considered independent. this sounds pretty trite and stuffy, i know, but there it is. in spite of everything, here's to hope for art...

hot lava, on repeat

thanks once again to indie surfer, i've been on a steady dose of hot lava's "apple+option+fire." go to indie surfer if you want to know more about them--i can't add anything of value. if you like good pop music, you'll probably like these guys.

apple+option+fire

website

music: TVOTR

today, i've been enjoying the new tv on the radio single. you can, too:
http://www.tvontheradio.com/

the album comes out next month. if you need to be reminded why you should be excited, watch "wolf like me."