1. Deerhunter –
Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
Last year, Deerhunter were cyber-fellatiated by Pitchfork for their droning, pretentious sophomore album,
Cryptograms. Don't get me wrong, I like
Cryptograms a lot but listening to it in full feels like a chore, this being a major criticism of the album. Anyway, a year later I find out that Cox has somehow whipped up enough material for several solo albums and a double album for his main band. Cryptograms had to be recorded twice as the first session yielded nothing usable, they only did a second session because Liars in encouraged them to and the recorded it in 2 days. Whatever they said to Cox, has really sparked his creativity
Cox has himself a pretty large canvas on
Microcastle/Weird Era Cont., he's splashed it with shades of blissful shoegaze, 50's pop, sexual ambiguity and an enveloping sense of warmth. The songs range from simple piano ballads ("Green Jacket"),
Murmur era R.E.M. on "Focus Group" to the dreamy indie rock of "Agoraphobia".
2. Gang Gang Dance -
Saint Dymphna
I left this record alone when it first came out because, quite frankly the first thing of theirs that I listened to was the
RAWWAR EP they released to years prior to
Saint Dymphna left a sour taste in my mouth. I downloaded this one day because I was bored and found that the whole record was really really catchy and danceable. There's definitely a lot going on in
Saint Dymphna, synths, drum beats, altered vocals and samples (Most notably My Bloody Valentine on interlude "Vacuum") weaving their way in and out throughout the whole record creating a rich and dynamic whole.
3. Deerhoof –
Offend Maggie
Deerhoof are awesome, part funk ("Snoopy Waves"), part indie rock and part weirdo j-rock/pop - is this a cliché now?
4. Titus Andronicus –
The Airing of Grievances
Lo-fi indie rock, yay!
5. Fucked Up –
The Chemistry of Common Life
It's punk but not punk, it's loud angry, melodic and takes a lot of chances with its diverse instrumentation and melodies. "Son of the Father" bursts out like Les Savvy Fav song, Pink Eyes sounds a lot like Tim Harrington. Its chorus is like the album's mission statement, "its hard enough being born in the first place/ who would ever want to be born again?" There's also an exploration of faith against reason and science and how meaning is found in the actual quest for answers on "No Epiphany" and "Days of Last"
6. Mount Eerie f/ Julie Doiron and Fred Squire –
Lost Wisdom
I've kind of been disappointed by most Elverum's post Microphones' work but this album just seems complete. Doiron and Elverum's voices are so intricately intertwined throughout the whole album as melodies and counter melodies swirl around their voices. This only adds to the moments of catharsis that occur at least once in almost every song.
7. Shearwater -
Rooks
More beautiful Romantic indie-folk rock from Jonathan Meiburg, I feel this record was largely overlooked this year and unfairly derided as a Talk Talk cover band. Yes, they did in fact cover "The Rainbow" and there's an obvious influence but Meiburg isn't trying to be them.
8. Hunchback –
Pray for Scars
Christopher Alexander of CMG puts it best:
Rock n’ roll came calling for the four Monmouth County transplants of New Brunswick’s now defunct Hunchback, and it turns out their the sons and daughter that my dad never had. On their previous album, they turned “The Last Man on Earth” into one of the best Ramones songs never written. Pray for Scars turns the pop-punk down (although it’s still there: check “A Year and a Day” and the stupendous “Inside Out,” sung by the band’s drummer, Miranda), but the B-movies never stop. Most of all in the vocals of guitarist Mike (all last names are Hunchback in their universe), which sounds like an impersonation of a fourteen year old impersonating someone disturbed, likely from an abbreviated childhood of extreme isolation and trauma. It’s goofy and gets to be more than a little distracting, but it’s completely fucking awesome: “Is it too much to ask to put down the scalpel / and just hold you?” he sings in the beginning of “The Doctor,” next to a surf riff gone horribly wrong (and, when the band kicks it in, like maybe someone in Scratch Acid had written it). “Is it too much to ask, since I’m killing myself by cutting you up?” I mean, who says that, and in that tone of voice, with a straight face? Someone who has this kind of whiplash band behind him, recalling by turns Murder City Devils, the Jesus Lizard, Bleach-era Nirvana, and the earliest Mudhoney. It can only be described as unhinged precision, whenever it occurs: in the 11/8, hairpin bombast of “All that Fear Allows,” the out of time pop sludge of single “Werse Houses,” or in the lumbering, cavernous gut-splatter that kicks off the album, “The Bells, The Bells.” Like the Misfits at their best, Hunchback are simultaneously taking the piss and true believers in this horror business stuff. Their completely whacked out cover of Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” illustrates the point perfectly.
9. Grouper –
Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill 
Liz Harris makes beautiful dreamy music, on her first two albums they were hidden in fuzz with the melodies peeking through every now and then and the vocals inaudible.
Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, is more or less misty than fuzzy, the melodies, vocals, harmonies and song structure are more clearly defined but none the less eerie, subtle and beautiful.
Hon. Mentions (in no particular order):
British Sea Power, Portishead, Xiu Xiu, Beck, Abe Vigoda, No Age, the Ruby Suns, Vivian Girls, Snowman, Women, Why?, DJ Rupture, of Mont, Okkervil River, Feral Children, Parts and Labor, Ladyhawk, Ladyhawke, Marnie Stern, Mogwai, Crystal Antlers/Stilts/Castles (the fuck?), Destroyer, Bodies of Water, King Khan, Jay Reteard (although these two only release compilations this year), SM, Sic Alps, Rivers Cuomo, Make Believe, Wilderness, Nick Cave, of Montreal and Will Oldham.
