Top Albums of 2009: Part I

[valley_parade]

The new A Sunny Day in Glasgow album is fucking EPIC.  I never even listened to this band before hearing Ashes Grammar and it will definitely crack my Top 10.

Get thee Scribble Mural Comic Journal right now.

Also, OH MAN NEW FRANK TURNER ALBUM. Yesssssss.

[David_Dovey]

OM

[scarred]

I really like the new Sea Wolf.

[SWOON! at My Gravitas]

Man, has this been a fantastic year for metal.  You've got new albums from Mastodon, Isis, Blut Aus Nord, Sunn0))), Kylesa...

And there's still Baroness, Converge, Krallice, and Swallow the Sun to look forward to.  Holy headbanging, Batman!

Edit: also Katatonia, apparently.  I'm not usually much into them, but Mikael Akerfeldt gave it a glowing recommendation, which is good enough for me.

[Damnable Fiend]

Edit: also Katatonia, apparently.  I'm not usually much into them, but Mikael Akerfeldt gave it a glowing recommendation, which is good enough for me.

I think the guitarist of Katatonia is a good friend of Mikael's (oh and also Mikael sang on one of their earlier albums, Brave Murder Day), so it's not entirely surprising that he would recommend it.

[pulpfiction21]

I am adding the debut album from Montreal indie pop band Silver Starling to my list. It is self titled, and it absolutely blew me away when I first heard it. It has quickly become my number 1 album of the year so far. I am currently uploading to mediaf!re thread. Check it out fr yourselves.

[scarred]

The new Engineers album just made my list. Damn that is great album.

[Johnny C]

Woah, that band's still around?

[pogonrudie]

I for one believe this has been a very rich year for music, so it was very hard to narrow it down to just ten. After much back-and-forth:

10. Oren Lavie - The Opposite Side Of The Sea
9. Dent May - The Good Feeling Music Of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
8. Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand
7. God Help The Girl - God Help The Girl
6. Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
5. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
4. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
3. The Horrors - Primary Colours
2. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
1. Antony & The Johnsons - The Crying Light

A bunch who just missed the mark: Sunset Rubdown, Tiny Masters Of Today, Jay Reatard, M. Ward, Kurt Vile, Richard Swift, Pissed Jeans, Japandroids, The XX, Cortney Tidwell, Why?, The Thermals, J. Tillman, Mew, Datarock, Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Crocodiles (HOMETOWN REPRESENT!), Morrissey, Black Joe Lewis, Nickel Eye, Beirut, Cats On Fire, Flaming Lips...I'll just stop there, lest go on all day.

[scarred]

Woah, that band's still around?

Yes! And their new effort "Three Fact Fader" is fucking awesome.

[WestEnder67]

In no particular order;

Silversun Pickups - Swoon
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
Engineers - Three Fact Fader
Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
The Twilight Sad - Forget the Night Ahead

Also have high hopes for the new albums by Autolux, A Place to Bury Strangers and AIR.

Then next year there's possibly new albums from Telepopmusik, Serena Maneesh, Pinback, The Radio Dept., Sigur Ros, Dropkick Murphys, Amusement Parks on Fire, hopfully Autumn's Grey Solace and Glasvegas...

'Tis a good time to love music.

[scarred]

I haven't ranked anything yet, but here's my 25-contender shortlist for album of the year. I should have a top 10 in the next week or so.

The American Analog Set - Hard to Find: Singles and Unreleased 2000-2005
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - The Century of Self
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
Delorean - Ayrton Senna
Discovery - LP
Doves - Kingdom of Rust
Engineers - Three Fact Fader
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight:
Grand Hallway - Promenade
Iron & Wine - Around the Well
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
jj - jj nº 2
Metric - Fantasies
Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
Owl City - Ocean Eyes
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Press on Randy - Moths & Butterflies
Regina Spektor - Far
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Slow Club - Yeah So
Starfucker - Jupiter
The xx - xx
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

[amok]

Giuseppe Ottaviani - Go
Darren Tate - Horizons:02

Worthwhile trance full-lengths are rare enough. Two trance full-length albums of such astounding quality dropping within a month of each other is winning-the-lottery levels of unlikely. 2009 is freakin' awesome.

The new Engineers album just made my list. Damn that is great album.

Shit, I knew nothing of this. Thanks for the heads-up! I fuckin' loved their debut to bits.

[KickThatBathProf]

Geez am I the only one that thinks that Silversun Pickups album is not very good

[michaelicious]

Nope.

[FidelityCastro]

Definitely not alone there, Prof. In a similar vein of questioning, am I the only one who thinks the new Slaraffenland is at least top five for this year?

[David_Dovey]

Oooh ooh that is a plus one for "The Silversun Pickups record is not OK" here.

Excessive fuzz does not make boring/amateurish guitar pop music interesting guys, sorry?

[Professor Snuggles]

No order, dunno if I'm at ten yet, but:

Mayer Hawthorne and the County - Strange Arrangement
Smith Westerns - Smith Westerns
Cass McCombs - Catacombs
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Glossary - Better Angles of our Nature
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
The Strange Boys - And Girls Club
Miranda Lambert - Revolution

[TheFuriousWombat]

A possible, as of yet unordered top 10:
Ilyas Ahmed - Goner
Wildbirds & Peacedrums - The Snake
MONO - Hymn to the Immortal Wind
Concern - Truth and Distance
Hanging Thief - S/T
Good Stuff House - Endless Bummer
William Fowler Collins - Perdition Hill Radio
The Alps - A Path Through the Sun/A Path Through the Moon
Clues - S/T
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Vs. Children

Very tentative though...

[Retrospectre]

Wolfgang.
Amadeus.
Phoenix.

[Zombiedude]

My list in no particular order

Royksopp-Junior
MeWithoutYou-It's All Crazy...
King of Jeans- Pissed Jeans
Mastadon-Crack The Skye
Smith Westerns-Smith Westerns
Polly Scattergood-Polly Scattergood
Japandroids-Post Nothing
The Protomen- Act II: Father Of Death
The Longcut-Open Hearts
Press On Randy-Moths and Butterflies
Moderat-Moderat
Monsters of Folk-Monsters of Folk
MuteMath-Armistice
Mumford and Sons-Sigh No More
Metric-Fantasies
Black Cock-A Robot Child With A God Complex

Can't get behind Phoenix though

[scarred]

I liked that Phoenix album a lot when it initially came out, but it did not age well. You know something's wrong when you're bored with an album the same year it came out.

[tender]

Can't get behind Phoenix though

Heathen.

[Touch Me Im Sick]

New Raveonettes is brilliant IMHO

[Koremora]

Holy shit new Memory Tapes you guys. HOLY SHIT.

[David_Dovey]

I liked that Phoenix album a lot when it initially came out, but it did not age well. You know something's wrong when you're bored with an album the same year it came out.

Conversely, I listened to it again today and sang and danced like a dork

[scarred]

I still adore "Love Like a Sunset" but honestly aside from "1901" and "Girlfriend" and sometimes "Lisztomania" and "Fences" it's meh. Which I guess leaves like 4 songs. Maybe I'm being too hard on it.

[Zombiedude]

I never said it was bad, I just don't think it's best album of the year material.

[Johnny C]

I came in here to check if anyone had mentioned that Antlers record and caught three people dissing it! What is with you kids?

[Zombiedude]

I find it boring.

[scarred]

Yeah, I can't get into it.

[Daft pun]

These albums have all taken my fancy this year, now to decide on the best ones. Hmm.

Do Make Say Think - The other truths
Pains of Being Pure at Heart - s/t
Worriedaboutsatan - Arrivals
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Moderat - s/t
HEALTH - Get color
Fuck Buttons - Tarot sport
Fever Ray - s/t
The Thermals - Now we can see
Doves - Kingdom of rust
Jon Hopkins - Insides
The Raveonettes - In and out of control
Nosaj Thing - Drift
Valerie and Friends
Camera Obscura - My maudlin career
Yo La Tengo - Popular songs

[valley_parade]

I can say Pelican are soaring up my list right now, no pun intended.

[SWOON! at My Gravitas]

Oh shit, is that out already?

[valley_parade]

mediaf!re thread is your friend.

[gospel]

> Personal Favorites
Dead Man's Bones - s/t
Builders and the Butchers - Salvation in the Deep Dark Well
Jone Rae-Fletcher - Oh, Maria
Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Phoenix - Wolfang Amadeus Phoeniex
Fun - Aim and Ignite
Birdy Nam Nam - Manual for Successfull Rioting
Bowerbirds - Upper Air
The Cave Singers - Welcome Joy
Le Loup - Family
Fever Ray - s/t
Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind
Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights
Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
Casitone for the Painfully Alone - vs. Children
J Tillman - Year in the Kingdom
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
William Elliot Whitmore - Animals in the Dark
Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More
Monsters of Folk - s/t
meWithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream It's Alright

> Honorable Mention / Pleasent Surprise *:
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson - Breakup *
Kid, You'll Move Mountains - Loomings *
Röyksopp - Junior *
Totally Michael - s/t *
Telekinesis! - s/t *
Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine (as much as I love Albini, not my favorite work of theirs)
Dengue Fever - Sleepwalking Through the Mekong
A.A Bondy - When the Devil's Loose
James Yorkston & The Big Eyes Family Players - Folk Songs
Architechts - Hollow Crown
Florence + The Machine - Lungs (a few tracks I really liked. Overall not sure)

[Johnny C]

I find it boring.

It's a subtle record. I can see how you'd make that mistake.

[SWOON! at My Gravitas]

mediaf!re thread is your friend.

Fuuuuuuuck yes.

In other news, I was first unimpressed with Behemoth's "Evangelion," but its really starting to grow on me.  I've been listening to it almost nonstop for the past couple days.  Will it end up in my obligatory year-end list?  More news at ten.

[Theriandros]

Man, has this been a fantastic year for metal.  You've got new albums from Mastodon, Isis, Blut Aus Nord, Sunn0))), Kylesa...

And there's still Baroness, Converge, Krallice, and Swallow the Sun to look forward to.  Holy headbanging, Batman!

Edit: also Katatonia, apparently.  I'm not usually much into them, but Mikael Akerfeldt gave it a glowing recommendation, which is good enough for me.

And for industrial/NDH, new Rammstein drops next Friday in Europe. U.S. has to wait until the following Monday. =/

[David_Dovey]

Everybody make sure you get the special edition of the Rammstein record:



(this is not a joke)

[Retrospectre]

Ones I've really liked so far:

Bat For Lashes- Two Suns
Dinosaur Jr.- Farm
DOOM- Born Like This
Future Of The Left – Travels With Myself And Another
The Horrors- Primary Colours
Mastodon- Crack The Skye
Mew – No More Stories
Mos Def- The Ecstatic
Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
St. Vincent – Actor

And Deerhunter's "Rainwater Cassette Exchange" EP.

The new Raekwon and Flaming Lips will probably wind up on there once I've had bit more time with them.

[scarred]

OK, tentative top 10 of '09 list...


10. Owl City - Ocean Eyes
9. Discovery - LP
8. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
7. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - The Century of Self
6. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
5. Starfucker - Jupiter
4. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - s/t
3. jj - jj nº2
2. Engineers - Three Fact Fader
1. Doves - Kingdom of Rust





edit: edited already.

[BlakeJustBlake]

Starfucker - Jupiter
Islands - Vapours
Monotonix - Where were you when it happened?
Mos def - the ecstatic

[DynamiteKid]

Jamie T's new album is fan-fucking-tastic. 'Castro Dies' might be my song of the year if it gets released as a single.

[Merrick]

The new Editors album is pretty sweet....

[Zombiedude]

New Raveonettes is brilliant IMHO

I agree with this statement

[scarred]

Starfucker

ahem

[Zombiedude]

Aw, I liked Starfucker

[scarred]

Me too. They've got several reasons for changing it though, all of which are valid:

- They were booked to tour as the opener for Animal Collective, but dropped because of their name (which must have been huge)
- Several bigger labels have rejected their bids to get signed because of the name
- They want to do European tours, and there's a Danish (or something) metal band called Starfucker that is actually pretty big over there

Don't worry, there's no change in band members or style. Just a name overhaul. PYRAMID might not have been the best choice, but it's actually kind of growing on me.

[Zombiedude]

They should have re arranged the letters or something

Fear Struck would be a good name

Edit: or maybe Fart Suckers?