Sorry about the hiatus from the blog, real life has been keeping me occupied. I hope you all had a marvelous holiday season. After weeks of lost sleep and fiddling with my keyboard, I have compiled my list of the top ten albums of 2009. Ranking them was difficult, but I feel pretty confident in my ten choices.
10. Cobra Skulls- American Rubicon
You know that perfect song that always comes on the radio when you’re on the road with your best friends? American Rubicon is full of ‘em.
Abandoning their sophomoric penchant for cleverly squeezing the word “cobra” into every song title, American Rubicon is a step forward for the Cobra Skulls. Few bands are able to touch on political issues while maintaining a whimsical nature and sunshine-endearing tempo. Many punk blogs have labeled the Cobra Skulls as “punkabilly” but I find this moniker to be an injustice on the band’s technical prowess. Guitarist Adam Beck replaces former guitarist Charlie Parker on American Rubicon and the difference is staggering. Beck’s catchy guitar play pushes the album to a unique crossroads with flavors of punk, pop and reggae fusing into a delicious musical experience.
9. Japandroids- Post-Nothing
Post-Nothing materializes a feeling everyone feels throughout their life. That feeling you get when you get home the night after you graduate and find yourself knee deep in the real world. The feeling you get the first time you have to pay for a traffic ticket or default on your credit card payment. It’s that feeling that youth is just a skinny crescent of life that fades prematurely. Some let reality suck the life out of them while others vibrantly live the dream of freedom. This twosome of Canadians decry the dread of “growing up” with deceptively loud anthems trumpeting the cause of recklessness.
“Heart Sweats” leads the album’s gospel with an infectiously catchy chorus capped with the ultimate sing-along bridge in which Brian King and David Prowse chant “Some hearts bleed, my heart sweats!” followed by an emphatic profession of “ex-oh-ex-oh-ex.” It may sound simple, but in reality Japandroids’ music is much more complex than bands with five members. The bands ability to create such an encompassing sound with only a drum kit, guitar and two mics is remarkable and leads to a unique live experience.
Post-Nothing is what indie rock is all about. Staying young, staying free and staying loud.
8. Kid CuDi- Man on the Moon
Some hip hop albums feature magnificent production and beats. Others boast masterful lyrics and rhymes that can bring a tear to the eye of any street urchin, or a curse to the lips of a graying mother. While the staples of the hip hop cannon feature many albums with both bright shining technicalities and hard-nosed poetry, few melt the two into a precious alloy the way Kid Cudi has on Man on the Moon. The album is a type of galactic wonderland, with gravity defying beats spiced with swooping guitar riffs and a rattling bass line, coupled with Cudi’s extraterrestrial monotone flow.
Man on the Moon is unlike any hip hop album released on a major record label to date, and provides a taste of the future of rap music.
7. fun.- Aim & Ignite
2009 sucked a little bit less after listening to Aim & Ignite. Led by former vocalist of The Format, Nate Reuss, fun. is all about fun. Duh. Reuss’ poptastic vocals leave a bit to be desired but the music is swift and cheery. Seriously, if you can listen to this album and still be in a bad mood you need to take a vacation.
6. Manchester Orchestra- Mean Everything to Nothing
Lauding vocalist and songwriter Andy Hull’s youth seems like an unnecessary sympathy. Mean Everything to Nothing is high octane post punk release that chewed on Hull’s conscious and spit out a mean collection of human emotion. Transitions between raw chords with searing vocals and moving organ constructions are liquid smooth and never feel out of place. Mean Everything to Nothing’s ethos are potent for their shrouded mystery. Was Marcus, as referenced on “My Friend Marcus” sexually abused by a priest, or rather just a victim of an overreaching religion? Hull seems to have found that the most powerful songs are those that hide more than they tell.
5. Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca
Bitte Orca is a difficult listen due to Dirty Projectors’ orchestral sound and high pitched vocals. The prize is most certainly worth the effort. 2009 received pop music very well and Bitte Orca definitely fed off the success of Passion Pit, MGMT, Matt and Kim, etc. The sound of the album is lucid and soothing, yet certainly not boring. At times a minor echo delay effect is placed on the vocals which I feel was a perfect touch. Both the vocal and instrumental performances on the album are absolutely spectacular. Critics often bemoan the lack of harmonies in 21st century music, but Bitte Orca has so many it’s almost overwhelming. This album is a gift that keeps on giving with every spin.
4. Fake Problems- It’s Great to Be Alive
Fake Problems showed relatively low potential with their first full length album, How Far Our Bodies Go. After a brutal touring schedule, this quartet from Naples, FL pieced together one of the best cross-genre releases in recent memory. Drawing heavily from punk rock, country and folk influences, It’s Great to Be Alive feels very much like its own genre, and it’s a damn good one. Front man Chris Farren (call him Tom Gabel if you see Fake Problems live. He loves it.) bellows out anthems with a hoarse, grizzly voice that seemingly defies his diminutive body and youthful, clean shaven face.
Lyrically, Fake Problems isn’t reinventing the wheel, but they’re keeping it rolling. It’s Great to Be Alive is passionate and, perhaps more importantly, fresh. In five years Fake Problems will probably be signed to a major record label and making teenie-bopper love songs, but for now these guys are wearing their hearts on their sleeves and creating some wicked awesome music.
3. Phoenix- Wolfgang Adameus Phoenix
Remember when pop music was really, really good? If not, listening to Phoenix’s latest album will jolt it back into your memory. Forcing classics like “1901” or “Lisztomania” out of your head is a struggle, albeit an enjoyable one. With its memorable cohesiveness, this album is one of the most enjoyable listens of the year. I can’t help but feel Phoenix is going to be the Greenday of the coming decade.
3. The xx- xx
The xx orchestrate sexy, sensual, moody, and- most importantly- catchy songs about love, angst, hurt, sex, passion and mystery, or in other words, everything that makes life interesting. The first time I was told that the eldest of the members of The xx was 20 years old I was, for the lack of a better word, ballyhooed. These kids are mature, composed and intelligent. xx reflects appropriately.
At its core, xx is a celebration. While this may be hard to construe from the album misty-eyed raw emotion, the album is a tribute to what makes relationships worthwhile. The oft-unbearable pain caused by jealousy, neglect and misunderstanding can cause love to feel jaded and caustic. It is the moments of unbridled bliss that supersede the negative aspects of love and keep us buying thousand dollar rings. The xx understand this and you can feel it when vocalists Romy Croft and Oliver Sim’s voices perfectly harmonize in the few moments of accord littered throughout an album filled with nagging solitude between Croft and Sim. The quiet atmosphere of the album rarely raises above that of a whisper which naturally leads to a tangible mysterious allure. xx is minimal but extravagantly composed; quiet, but never mute.
1. P.O.S.- Never Better
Every genre needs a black sheep and P.O.S. has clearly gained head way in becoming hip hop’s resident odd ball. Never welcoming of classification, P.O.S. has constructed his best release yet in this year’s follow up to the 2006 release Audition. Heavily implementing drums, bass and a pulsing up tempo energy, P.O.S. has essentially constructed his own genre, reaping the redeeming qualities of punk and hardcore with the raw passion and word play of hip hop. P.O.S.’ (Stephon Alexander) story is an extremely intriguing tale of a youth experimenting with different expressional outlets, but his story is not mine to tell at this moment. Throughout history artists have bemoaned the existence of genres as an impetus, but on Never Better, P.O.S. demolished the possibility of being categorized by constructing his own sound and genre, reflective of Stephon’s background, emotions, and skill.
Never Better is a tough album to write about, since it offers few comparisons. While their work is not symmetrical, P.O.S. is heavily influence by Brooklyn emcee El-P. The difference between Never Better and previous albums Ipecac Neat and Audition is the degree to which the “rock” element in P.O.S.’ beats is amplified. The first few seconds of “We’re All Thirsty (Drumroll)” sounds more like a Dillinger Escape Plan song than a rap track. While the album encompasses all the typical praises good music receives they are out shadowed by the album’s progressive nature. Stephon Alexander is a unique artist, and Never Better is the type of work that could only be produced by one person. Isn’t that ultimately the goal of art?
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