Best Albums of 2009
Another year of music has come and gone and thus I compose my list of the top ten albums of 2009. Sadly, after sifting through my iTunes by year and seeing that I had 94 albums for 2009, only one really stuck out as a gem. And with that statement, the list begins…
1. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest [Warp]
This album has both immediately captivating material like “Two Weeks” and songs that grow over time such as “While You Wait for the Others.” Between the Daniel Rossen/Department of Eagles release in late 2008 and the rumored “disconnect” between Rossen and fellow bandmate Ed Drost, I was surprised to see a new Grizzly Bear album released in May of 2009. The quality of recording is astonishing, and as my friend Sonia mentioned, to truly enjoy the album, put it on loud with some really nice speakers.
Top songs: “Two Weeks”, “Southern Point”, “All We Ask”
2. Vetiver – Tight Knit [Sub Pop]
Sub Pop made a really wise decision in bringing Andy Cabic and Vetiver onto their label. I had a chance to see them at the Chopin Theatre here in Chicago in May and much of the material they played came from Tight Knit. The performance only confirmed my respect for the band and their latest album. After a great album of covers (Thing of the Past) last year, it was nice to hear some Andy Cabic originals.
Top songs: “Everyday”, “Through the Front Door”, “More of This”
3. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [V2]
Ok, this could qualify as a guilty pleasure. This is “pop”, a term that generally makes me cringe–but then again–they’re from France. Not unlike how Jens Lekman would be unlistenable if he was American, it is his “Swedishness” allows me to overlook/tolerate some of the cheese.
Top Songs: “Lasso”, “Girlfriend”, “Armistice”
4. The xx – xx [Young Turks]
Yeah, they’re only 20 years old and one member has already decided to pack it in but the understated tone of this album shows undeniable potential. The vocal pairing and low key lyrics are catchy and the album has a unique late night mood that grows on you. I missed them at the Bottom Lounge a few weeks back but will definitely catch them at Lincoln Hall in April.
Top songs: “VCR”, “Heart Skipped a Beat”, “Basic Space”
5. Fanfarlo – Reservoir [self released]
Unfortunately this album didn’t out perform the slew of singles and EPs that Fanfarlo had released prior but still, for a year like 2009 this definitely on the list. Saw them at Schubas a couple months back and I get the impression that they’re a band that’s gonna be prolific in years to come. The fact that they released this album themselves shows that with some backing they’ll only get better
Top Songs: “I’m a Pilot”, “Finish Line”, “Luna”
6. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca [Domino]
This album would probably be higher had I made this list a few months back but surprisingly, some of my favorite tracks actually started to lose their hard fought appeal. Why? Hard to say but if I had to make an argument I’d say their song structures can become grating. This is definitely not material for everyone. That being said, the beginning of a song like “Temecula Sunrise” is worth also the subsequent exploration.
Top songs: “Temecula Sunrise”, “Cannibal Resource”, “Two Doves”
7. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below [Rough Trade]
Some of the songs are a raucous party, others are beautifully structured acoustic material with Alex Ebert’s voice as the showcase. Both are great.
Top songs: “Brother”, “Home”, “40 Day Dream”
8. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone [ANTI]
Her most consistent album to date. If you’ve longed to hear Neko make full use of her unmistakeable voice on some really strong chorus compositions, this is the album for you.
Top songs: “This Tornado Loves You”, “Middle Cyclone”, “I’m an Animal”
9. Loudon Wainwright III – High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project [2nd Story Sound]
I love Loudon. This album spans two discs and contains 30 songs and had it been pared down to 10 to 12 of the best I might have named it album of the year. That being said, High Wide and Lonesome was nominated for a Grammy (”Best Traditional Folk Album”) and I got the man to sign a copy for me after his show last month.
Top songs: “High Wide & Handsome”, “Didn’t He Ramble”, “If I Lose”
10. Deer Tick – Born on Flag Day [Partisan Records]
Deer Tick had managed to elude me up until this release. John McCauley’s distinctly gruff vocal and alt country sound of the band was a pleasant surprise from what I was expecting. I guess with all these “deer” bands (”Deerhunter”, “Deer Tick”, “Deerhoof”) it’s just been too hard to keep track.
Top sons: “Houston, TX”, “Hell on Earth”, “Stung”
Honorable Mentions
Dodos – Time to Die [Frenchkiss Records]
Wheat – White Ink, Black Ink [The Rebel Group]
Devendra Banhart – What Will We Be [Reprise Records]
Dawes – North Hills [ATO Records]
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion [Domino]
Ever since first hearing The Walkmen perform “The Blue Route” at Schubas way back in January I’ve been waiting for this album to arrive. Needless to say it lived up to my expectations and would have to be my favorite of theirs to date. I’ve seen these guys play a number of times and highly recommend checking them out.
The next few are really hard to put in a specific order. 
Andy Cabic and Vetiver really pulled out some hidden gems from a number of artists I’d never heard of. Not to mention a few songs from some of my faves like Loudon Wainwright and Ronnie Lane. Should be noted that Vetiver also released a short EP follow-up titled 
This is my “Say Who?” choice for 2008. Pete and Pirates are an English band based in Reading and this was their first full-length release. The lead singer also has another band called Tap Tap which released a noteworthy album in 2006.
Always great to get new material from David Byrne… his first album since 2004.
A slight bit over-hyped but damn good all the same. Seeing as lead singer Robin Pecknold was only 21 when this was released we’ll have plenty of time to see if they live up to the hype.
I might be alone on this one but LOVE Beach House’s sound.
This could go higher… another solid effort from a member of the Broken Social Scene fam.
No sophmore slump for Frightened Rabbit. A solid step up in song craft.
Nice pairing of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel.
I think I first heard about Andrew Bird from an article in the Chicago issue of Stop Smiling. This album received a number of solid reviews so I decided to pick it up without having heard any previous Andrew Bird material and needless to say I was bowled over. Bird has a rare combination of musicianship, lyricism and vocal range that is hard to find today. I have since picked up all of his albums but I gotta say I like “Armchair” the most.
Was a bit disappointed with the last Spoon album “Gimme Fiction” so my expectations were not all that high for this follow-up. When I first heard pieces of the album from the Spoon site I became slowly more excited for the release. The addition of horns really seemed to have opened up the material – not as easy to pull off live but still a nice change.
I love “The Search” for a number of reasons but one thing that really sticks out for me is the wide variance of emotions Jay Farrar is able to capture over the course of the album. For a while I felt Jeff Tweedy had overshadowed Jay Farrar as the more successful member of Uncle Tupelo (and he probably still is) but I think Son Volt has continued to produced compelling stuff while the last Wilco album was 90% shit.
Another band I hadn’t listened to before picking up their latest album. Animal Collective material isn’t for everyone seeing as they don’t really have choruses, anthemic hooks or even completely coherent lyrics but there’s a unique sound and mash-up quality to their stuff that’s totally original.
This was a hard choice – there were a number of albums left off this list. “Cease to Begin” is fantastic album but I must admit for album of 10 songs running a total of 35 minutes it had some less-than-stellar material thrown in. Enough harping, definitely worth picking up.