Scrabbled Year End Lists
Since there are only 2 days left in the year, nobody has started this yet, and John is presumably busy with the move…….
Is there any reason not to kick this off? Besides I mostly want to see everyone else’s to see if there were any things that I missed this year that I should catch up on.
Mine (In no particular order since that’s not how I roll).
- Animal Collective “Merriweather Post Pavillion”
- The Big Pink “A Brief History of Love”
- Passion Pit “Manners”
- Sonic Youth “The Eternal”
- Future of the Left “Travels With Myself and Another”
- Trapped Under Ice “Secrets of the World”
- Bat For Lashes " Two Suns"
- Kylesa “Static Tensions”
- Goatwhore – “Carving Out The Eyes of God”
- Fever Ray “Fever Ray”
Comments
I kept trying that Bat for Lashes album, but it never hit me. I can’t say I really dug a single song on it. Not sure why.
I was trying to get a Lists feature up on mixtape for this, but Ima have to push it off a bit, so might as well do this today.
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Cory Chisel and The Wandering Sons – Death Won’t Send a Letter
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Baroness – Blue Record
La Roux – La Roux
The Dead Weather – Horehound
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
I listened to more than 8 new albums this year, but these were the ones I kept coming back to.
1. Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
2. Mastodon – Crack The Skye
3. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
6. Sunn O))) – Monoliths and Dimensions
7. Fever Ray – S/T
8. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
9. Royksopp – Junior
10.Patton Oswalt – My Weakness Is Strong
I really can’t say enough good things about the Sunset Rubdown album. Those who’ve never listened to it should check it out.
I can’t get down with Sunset Rubdown (although maybe I should give another go at it). But that reminds me that Handsome Furs “Face Control” would also make an expanded top 20 list for me. I much prefer that dude’s contributions to Wolf Parade anyway, but Handsome Furs ups the 80’s retro synth factor which I’m a sucker for.
Kevin said:I can’t get down with Sunset Rubdown (although maybe I should give another go at it). But that reminds me that Handsome Furs “Face Control” would also make an expanded top 20 list for me. I much prefer that dude’s contributions to Wolf Parade anyway, but Handsome Furs ups the 80’s retro synth factor which I’m a sucker for.
Yeah, I’m the complete opposite. I gave Handsome Furs a few listens, but didn’t like it too much. I’m willing to give it another try though.
The funny thing is, I wasn’t a bit Wolf Parade/ Sunset Rubdown/ etc fan before Dragonslayer came out last summer. I thought they were alright, just not something I would listen to too often. It’s actually been a few years since I got this into an album. I still listen to it every few days.
It’s a shame it’s been overlooked in most of the year end lists.
It would seem I don’t like 2009, I’ve only listened to 10 albums this year and I don’t love most of them.
I listened to about 20 albums at least once. But I only truly obsessed with the top 4 of the following 10. The rest of the list I occasionally revisited for specific tracks. I had a much bigger focus on past music (and a definite focus on my favorite-of-the-decade list):
Favorite 10 Albums of 2009:
- Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
- The Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
- Major Lazer – Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do
- Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
- Antony And The Johnsons – The Crying Light
- J Dilla – Jay Stay Paid
- Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
- Karen O And The Kids – Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack
- Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
- Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
Kevin & Travis, I’m working on that Fever Ray album. My DJ buddy, Tom, (responsible for the J Dilla at #6), showed me the video for “If I Had A Heart” recently.
I’m also working on Phoenix. I loop “1901” when I drive sometimes, but I never make it halfway through the album.
I definitely dig Sunset Rubdown. They have that mysterious, carnival sound to them without overdoing it like Man Man. And Spencer Krug’s voice is one-of-a-kind.
Paris, can you upload that Major Lazer album? The first time I heard of that I was in a hotel and that MTVU (the “college” music MTV channel) played the video which is just this pretty cheesy 70’s animation). I was pretty mesmerized by it and thought it was just some bizarro reggae artist, and not some hip, modern dj. Either way it was good and I’ve just never actively sought it out but now that I’ve seen it on a few lists I wouldn’t mind giving it a listen.
I sure can, Kevin. This album makes me want to dance, hard. It’s full of guest appearances, which keeps things fresh even though I don’t know most of them.
Favorite Albums Of The Decade
Definitive Top Ten
- Arcade Fire – Funeral
- Animal Collective – Feels
- The Weakerthans – Left & Leaving
- The Decemberists – Her Majesty
- Wolf Parade – Apologies To The Queen Mary
- Yann Tiersen – Amelie Soundtrack
- Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
- Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
- The Decemberists – Picaresque
- Animal Collective – Sung Tongs
Numbers 11-25 Which Were Very Hard To Rank
- Death Cab For Cutie – The Photo Album
- The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
- Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
- Iron & Wine – The Creek Drank The Cradle
- Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy
- Cake – Comfort Eagle
- Grandaddy – Sumday
- Beirut – Gulag Orkestar
- The Mountain Goats – Tallahassee
- Jeff Mangum – Live At Jittery Joe’s
- Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
- M.I.A. – Kala
- Beulah – The Coast Is Never Clear
- The Shins – Oh, Inverted World
- The Spinto Band – Nice And Nicely Done
Honorable Mentions
- The Anniversary – Designing Of A Nervous Breakdown
- Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
- Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism
- The Decemberists – Castaways & Cutouts
- Dennis Driscoll – Voices In The Fog
- Joanna Newsom – Milk-Eyed Mender
- LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver
- M.I.A. – Arular
- The Postal Service – Give Up
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
- Rilo Kiley – The Execution Of All Things
- Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Paris said:Kevin & Travis, I’m working on that Fever Ray album. My DJ buddy, Tom, (responsible for the J Dilla at #6), showed me the video for “If I Had A Heart” recently.
I’m also working on Phoenix. I loop “1901” when I drive sometimes, but I never make it halfway through the album.
I definitely dig Sunset Rubdown. They have that mysterious, carnival sound to them without overdoing it like Man Man. And Spencer Krug’s voice is one-of-a-kind.
-The Fever Ray videos are phenomenal.
-Give Phoenix the ol’ college try. It’s hard not to listen to the first two songs and shut it off, but if you power through the rest of it a few times, you’ll end up liking it.
- Have you listened to the Spencer Krug Moonface EP yet? It’s awesome, but I can totally see how it would drive someone totally insane.
- Nice list, and nice call on the Spinto Band. I keep forgetting how awesome their first album is.
Late as usual but here goes
Top five of the year
Phantom Band – Checkmate Savage
Joe Gideon and the Shark – Harum Scarum
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
Duke Spirit – Neptune
Beirut – March of the Zapotec/Holland
Top ten of the Decade
Radiohead – Kid A
Arcade Fire – Funeral
Beck – Sea Change
The Strokes – Is This It?
The Roots – Phrenology
Johhny Cash – American III & IV (tied)
Laura Marling – Alas I Cannot Swim
Spiritualised – Let it Come Down
The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come Free
P.J. Harvey – Stories From The City Stories From The Sea
OOOooooo I forgot about Cash’s American album. Good call.