Usually when I set out to compile a list of my favorite albums of the year I already know who’s going to be on top. This year however the difficult task was not to find enough albums to fill a list of 25, but rather how they would rank. When I can’t even make out my absolute favorite there’s only one thing to do – listen once more – and then once more. If that doesn’t work? You might want to listen to that one again. Needless to say these albums have been played several times, which leads me to believe they’ll also stand the test of time. For the first time each and every one of them actually MEAN something to me, and I’m positive I won’t easily forget any of them. Like last year I bring you quotes from some reviews that said it all. So here they are: MY favorites of 2009.
1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
(2009-03-09, Interscope)
“Yet now we get into what makes the Yeah Yeah Yeahs one of the most frustrating and fascinating groups out there today: they are always, always, always changing their sound.” [...] “though the band has always flirted with mainstream songwriting before, this is the album where they flat-out embrace their pop instincts, and—in the oddest twist of all—never have they sounded more at home.” – Evan Sawdey (PopMatters)
“Despite its obvious debt to the ’80s and its (appreciated) nods to the trio’s own past, it’s their most modern, innovative record yet. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have once again raised the bar – both for themselves and for the other bands that remain in their shadow.” – April Long (Uncut)
“It’s Blitz! is the sound of a band reborn with new momentum, and on an album that requires dancing, the message is clear: It doesn’t matter where you came from. Just keep moving.” – Melissa Maerz (Blender)
Highlights: “Zero”, “Heads Will Roll”, “Runaway”, “Hysteric”
2. Metric – Fantasies
(2009-04-14, Metric)
“What will really bring listeners back to this album, though, is the music, which is the most consistently sustaining energy the band has ever created.” – Andy Pareti (No Ripcord)
“You can’t help but feel that all those who have ignored Metric in 2009 are simply missing out. Fantasies is proof that you can make big event music that doesn’t make you die on the inside.” – David Renshaw (Drowned In Sound)
“Fantasies is about as sonically pure, yet as dirty minded, as a pop album can get.” [...] “Fantasies may not be able to decide whether it’s a rock record or a dance record, but it ultimately doesn’t have to make that decision.” – Terrance Terich (Treble)
Highlights: “Sick Muse”, “Gold Guns Girls”, “Gimme Sympathy”, “Blindness”.
3. The Fatales – Great Surround
(2009-06-04, Monopsone)
“Great Surround is an epic title but the record itself is short and sweet. 39 minutes (another throwback to the early 80’s) and not a single misplaced moment. Every bar, every word, every string of every chord, is there for a reason. And the album tells a kind of story, if not in narrative, at least musically. Play this one from start to finish and keep playing it because it really reveals itself with repeated listens.” – Brett Spaceman ([sic] Magazine)
“Lush post-punk that works when the landscape is rugged. Clean indie rock interludes will leave you pining for the pastoral.” – Montreal Mirror
Highlights: “Evergreen”, “Islands of Fortune”, “Old Painter”, “Darkened Country”
4. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
(2009-05-26, Warp)
“If you came looking for twelve perfect pop songs in the form of “Two Weeks,” then you came looking in the wrong direction. But everything that Veckatimest has to offer is wrapped up in musical enchantment: gripping compositions, precisely calculated shifts and alterations and the supreme musicianship of a band hitting on all cylinders.” – Bryan Sanchez (DOA)
“Veckatimest sounds like the final product of a meticulous and exacting evolutionary process—one that has added depth and color to their swooning chamber pop arrangements, crispness to their intricate rhythms and intensity to their careful performances.” – Matt Fink (Paste)
“Yet there’s something quite elemental about this record, something in its feel, its textures, that connect it with nature, with landscape – the world around it, before it, does come to life in the coldest bedroom, the most cluttered lounge, the busiest bus; it offers escape, albeit not of a physical nature, in its warm guitar tones and layered vocal harmonies.” – Milton Savage (Drowned In Sound)
Highlights: “Southern Point”, “Two Weeks”, “All We Ask”, “Cheerleader”
5. Doves – Kingdom of Rust
(2009-04-06, Heavenly)
“It’s a cliché to saw that nice guys always finish last – but Doves have perhaps never gained the recognition they deserve.” – Rob Watson (musicOHM)
“On this, their fourth album, the sound you can hear in the distance is the noise of lesser bands giving up. Kingdom Of Rust is possibly Doves’ finest moment yet in a catalogue full of magic.” – Ian Wade (BBC Music)
“In many ways, Kingdom Of Rust feels like Doves might be trying to prove a point. The Last Broadcast and Some Cities were both strong albums, challenging enough to be interesting over the long term and speckled with stellar pop songs. Kingdom Of Rust focuses less on the charts and more on the reinvention of Doves. After four years in which Elbow have supplanted Doves as Manchester’s favourite son, Kingdom Of Rust is an album with its chest protruded proudly. Clearly, Doves have no intention of quietly disappearing into Manchester’s mottled ether quite yet.” – Gideon Brody (Drowned In Sound)
“The title track not only has a beautiful tune, but a beautiful sense of dynamics: the strings don’t sound arranged so much as entwined around the song. The dance influences seem more prominent and more perfectly integrated into Doves’ sound than before.” - Alexis Petridis (Guardian)
Highlights: “Kingdom of Rust”, “Winter Hill”, “10.03″, “House of Mirrors”
6. Bat for Lashes – Two Suns
(2009-04-06, Parlophone)
“What’s more heartening, though, is that during Two Suns‘ highlights, Khan has few peers. I could probably fill this entire space just writing about “Glass”, the album’s aggressively propulsive opener, and about how its strange mix of elements (chamber pop, prog metal, new age– what?) magically coalesced into some entirely new genre that I wish existed and yet still can’t quite wrap my brain around.” – Mark Pytlik (Pitchfork)
“It’s the ultimate inner battle of good and evil, one that even the best of us wrestle with when making ourselves vulnerable to the entanglements and snares of love, and one that Khan has found her most confident and enthralling voice in yet. ” – Bruce Scott (Prefix)
“Two Suns, as its title suggests, is loosely a concept piece about duality – the trials of two individuals locked in romance; also, the bipolar behavioural patterns, to which Khan found herself succumbing, as her star rose within pop’s firmament.” – Andrew Perry (Telegraph)
Highlights: “Glass”, “Daniel”, “Traveling Woman”, “The Big Sleep”
7. Fictionist – Invisible Hand
(2009-01-09, Red Owl Records)
“Once in a while an album will seem like it appeared out of the blue and hit you like no other. Leave you with a smile on your face, your day just a little bit better, and fill you with a hope that you’ll never ever grow tired of this magnificent album.” – Yours Truly
“Turning old ideas into new directions and ancient wisdom into modern revelations, Invisible Hand is that rare case where substance and style coexist, and never at each other’s expense.” – Andrew Reilly (MadeLoud)
“These songs are mapped out exquisitely, with each player knowing his role, whether it be in a rhythmic vamp or a death-defying solo. For a prime example, make sure to check out the ethereally flowing closer, “Song for B.”" – Brad at CDBaby
Highlights: “Noisy Birds”, “Nowhere to Go”, “Fist”, “Song For B”
8. The Veils – Sun Gangs
(2009-04-06, Rough Trade)
“On The Veils’ third album, Sun Gangs, Andrews offers the audience his most diverse vocal showing to date. He tackles everything from piano-led balladry to heavily distorted alternative-rock, doing so in an effectively cohesive manner that proves reflective of the group’s contrasting array of moods.” – Mike Mineo (Obscure Sound)
“Now, The Veils haven’t reinvented themselves. But their sound seems to have grown like Alice in Wonderland when she eats the cake that makes her get bigger. And with Sun Gangs it’s as if they’ve finished the whole cake and the house burst, bricks and mortar exploding through the sky like fireworks.” – Fiona McKinlay (Drowned In Sound)
“It does not make for a completely easy listen – nor should one want it to – but it contains tracks that shine out, with their own eerie dark and troubling light, that are likely to stay with you for a long time to come.” – Jude Clarke (The Line of Best Fit)
Highlights: “Sit Down By the Fire”, “Sun Gangs”, “Killed By the Boom”, “The House She Lived In”
9. LoveLikeFire – Tear Ourselves Away
(2009-08-24, Heist or Hit)
“Each song tells a story, and throw in some melodies, chord progressions and creativity and you have Tear Ourselves Away, which describes how you won’t be able to tear yourself away from this album.” – Amy Baker (The Music Magazine)
“Tear Ourselves Away is an album packed full of energy, stirring layered guitars and feisty female vocals that instantly knock you off your feet.” – Michael Ajayi (Subba Cultcha)
“Fuzzy synths and jangly guitars, big pounding drums and jittery acoustic parts, whilst all the while well aware that their singer is their best feature, and hence pushing her right out front – you’ve heard it all before, but honestly, never quite this good, and never quite this huge.” – Rob Evans (The 405)
Highlights: “William”, “From A Tower”, “Boredom”, “Stand In Your Shoes”
10. Broken Records – Until the Earth Begins to Part
(2009-06-01, 4AD)
“They mix in the best parts of Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, adding in a healthy dollop of Balkan folk and imbuing their big and anthemic sound with an indefinable quality that never fails to make an emotional connection with the listener.” – John Murphy (musicOMH)
“Such an over-the-top approach could end in solemn self-parody. But Broken Records’ refreshing playfulness and surprisingly light touch indicate they’re really enjoying themselves — especially singer Jamie Sutherland, whose outbursts are enhanced by touches of cello, trumpet, and piano.” – Jon Young (Spin)
“The fusion of Scottish folk with orchestral rock is nicely done and gives a unique edge to a band that will surely face the curse (albeit an earned one) of too many comparisons.” – Erin Lyndal Martin (PopMatters)
Highlights: “Nearly Home”, “Until the Earth Begins to Part”, “If Eilert Løvborg Wrote A Song, It Would Sound Like This”, “Slow Parade”
11. Florence and The Machine – Lungs
(2009-07-06, Island)
“This is an artist you can’t pin down, can’t demand anything from because, like all the greats, she knows how to surprise your expectations.” – Emily Tartanella (PopMatters)
“If there’s anything that comes to mind in thinking about this album, it’s texture. Each track is carefully constructed from top to bottom with pounding instruments, layered vocals, and fiery spirit and emotion. It is, as Florence might say, a beast.” – Bradley Stern (MuuMuse)
“You’ve gotta hand it to the girl: She always makes you feel something — even if that “something” is suicidal.” – Melissa Maerz (Spin)
Highlights: “Dog Days Are Over”, “Kiss With A Fist”, “Girl With One Eye”, “Drumming Song”
12. The Decemberists – Hazards of Love
(2009-03-24, Capitol)
“This is an album that is great upon first listen and that just keeps getting better. Epic, beautiful music to get lost in; rock bands of 2009, you’ve got a lot to live up to.” – Nick Butler (sputnikmusic)
“The music here is as strong as anything that the band has ever done, though the album is distinctly different than their others—sparser, perhaps, in timbre and in instrumentation, but more varied in style.” – Kyle Deas (PopMatters)
“It’s a grand, inspired vision. It’s a concept album, but not the usual sort, where the story or cliché being milked for an album’s worth of lyrics is more of an excuse than a constitutive instrument. Go. Get it now.” – Kevin Cogill (Antiquiet)
Highlights: “The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)”, “The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid”, “The Rake’s Song”, but this one should definitely be enjoyed as a whole!
13. Eels - Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire
(2009-06-02, Vagrant)
“On this concept album, the sub-title of which is 12 Songs of Desire, Eels seem to have stripped away the intangible and sometimes rich tonalities that often surround their emotive alt-rock to reveal a sound that teeters between raw emotion and raw energy, while still retaining the haunting originality and indie-rock punch that is unmistakenly Eels.” – Matt the Raven (DOA)
“Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire is another record that hones and refines what it means to be Eels. Mark Oliver Everett continues his daring and heart-baring, and we continue to be the better for it.” – Mike Wood (Prefix)
“This is a beautifully crafted, stripped-down recording, showcasing once more that E uses searing honesty and a canny sense of pop, rock, blues, and everything else to chronicle his own strange path through life and its labyrinth — he combines them all with an endearing craziness that most of us feel every day, but dare not speak of.” – Thom Jurek (allmusic)
Highlights: “Prizefighter”, “That Look You Give That Guy”, “Fresh Blood”, “My Timing Is Off”
14. Leaves – We Are Shadows
(2009-05-11, Kimi)
“We Are Shadows edges out The Angela Test on every level, making it the band’s strongest effort to date – it’s a great mix of deftly-executed alt-rock and that unique awe that music from Iceland tends to stir in the listener when it’s at its best” – Hi-Def Audio
“We Are Shadows doesn’t just serve as a mere progression onwards from two already excellent albums. It is Leaves’ magnum opus, achieved by a broadened sonic canvas and resolute willingness to further push their own musical boundaries. They’ve never sounded more confident, leaving the competition trailing in their wake.” - Acquiescence on last.fm
Highlights: “The Harbor”, “Kingdom Come”, “Raven”, “With Drums We March the Streets”
15. Viva Voce – Rose City
(2009-05-26, Barsuk)
“Here, the key to Viva Voce’s success– long assumed to be Anita’s guitar prowess and the interplay between the percussive husband and his melodic wife– is her gilded coo. She has a limber voice that can wring the same sort of girlish, sassy flirtation from its cords as Jenny Lewis or Emily Haines, yet it’s also adept at the sort of airy, hushed lilt that makes Chan Marshall and Feist so captivating.” – Rebecca Raber (Pitchfork)
“The record was written, arranged and recorded in one month but you would never be able to tell, as this batch of 10 tracks is some of their most engaging work to date.” – Aidan Rox (The Fire Note)
“On fifth album Rose City, Viva Voce maintain their swagger and continue to flex their six-stringed muscle. That the image on the album’s front cover is a Gibson Les Paul pretty much says it all. This is a guitar album. Loud guitars. Distorted guitars. Noisy guitars. Pretty guitars. Guitars with lots of reverb.” – Jeff Terich (Treble)
Highlights: “Devotion”, “Red Letter Day”, “Good As Gold”, “Flora”
16. The Peekers – Life in the Air
(2009-03-24, Park the Van)
“The vocals are often the star of the show here, but the instrumentation is lush throughout as well. A half churchy/half psychedelic organ anchors many tracks, laying down chords and fills that heighten that mid-sixties atmosphere.” – Brian (Citizen Dick)
“Drawing heavily on everything from early ’60s girl groups to the sunny psychedelic harmonies of the Beach Boys to the progressive song structures of the Beatles, this girl/boy sextet from Shreveport, Louisiana carefully crafts and layers each of the 13 songs on this record in a way that never loses its playfulness.” – Joe Shearer (Paste Magazine)
“The microphone is always shifting hands as the band keeps it interesting with alternating lead vocals and four-part harmonies. Most affectingly, the interplay between the male and female vocals allows for lush harmonies and shifting emotional tones from song to song.” – Adrienne Bruno (offBeat)
Highlights: “Sweet Singin’ Birds”, “Close My Eyes”, “Meet You in Produce”, “Favorite Love”
17. Lightning Dust – Infinite Light
(2009-08-04, Jagjaguwar)
“Thankfully, any nods to particular genres or eras remain just that – nods; different shades on the palette, rather than retro genre-pastiches that subsume the intended emotion. Then again, not much could overpower Webber’s voice.” – Alexander Tudor (Drowned In Sound)
“I could easily rustle up praise for every track on the album; notwithstanding a title that says too much weed at best and religious cult at worst, Infinite Light is solid. And its overall quality owes more than a small debt to the fact that Webber and Wells have the good taste and modesty to keep it at 10 songs” – Amy Granzin (Pitchfork)
“Here, they’ve developed a hypnotic, uplifting mélange of sounds and senses, nudged forward by the Steinway Grand piano that pulses like a battered, bruised heart at the center of the record.” – Anthony Lombardi (PopMatters)
Highlights: “Antonia Jane”, “The Times”, “Never Seen”, “Wondering What Everyone Knows”
18. Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
(2009-06-30, Nonesuch)
“This is not the music of men trying to be cool; it is the work of veterans unafraid to express mature emotions with an appropriate level of musical depth and nuance. There is certainly more thrill to be found when the band is acting out but there is something rather pleasing about hearing a band sound so comfortable in their skin.” – Matthew Perpetua (Pitchfork)
“When you are making music that is this powerful and blisteringly captivating, what can anyone really argue?” – Bryan Sanchez (adequacy.net)
“Wilco (The Album) not only succeeds but stands near the top of Wilco’s extremely distinguished catalogue not because it Has Something To Say but because it’s not afraid of its own shadow.” – Aquarium Drunkard
Highlights: “One Wing”, “Bull Black Nova”, “You & I”, “Everlasting”
19. The Swell Season – Strict Joy
(2009-10-26, Anti-)
“It’s testament to the band’s vision that they remain focused despite such improvements; no amount of cinematic orchestration can change the fact that these songs are, after all, inward-looking tunes about heartbreak and personal struggle, and their lyrics resonate regardless of their wrapping paper. As a result, Strict Joy is a joy from start to finish, and few bands manage to mix intimacy and sweeping songcraft with such finesse.” – Andrew Leahey (allmusic)
“It’s an album of good quality folk-rock music performed by musicians with a love for music.” – Peter N (2 U I Bestow)
“On musical terms, though, Strict Joy succeeds. The duo effectively mix lushly arranged slow ballads that emphasize their voices with more uptempo pop songs that keep the album from becoming staid.” – Chris Conaton (PopMatters)
Highlights: “Low Rising”, “In These Arms”, “Paper Cup”, “The Verb”
20. The Phenomenal Handclap Band – The Phenomenal Handclap Band
(2009-06-23, Friendly Fire)
“From its epic superfly opening of ‘The Journey To Serra Da Estrela’ to the trippy psychedelic guitars of ‘Testimony’, this album encapsulates the nostalgic elements of ESG, ELO, Tom Tom Club, The Doors and Sly And The Family Stone, applies a gloss of New York cool and then re-packages it with the modern production of the LCD Soundsystem, CSS and Beck variety. Forget the handclap, they’ll take a standing ovation.” – Stephen Kelly (NME)
“Here’s a Tardis of a record, with the controls set squarely for the very heart of 1972. The Phenomenal Handclap Band – a loose amalgam of musicians brought together by New York DJs Daniel Collás and Sean Marquand – operate at a point on the spectrum somewhere between Pink Floyd and the Blackbyrds, to produce a kind of space funk dripping with retro-futurism.” – Michael Hann (Guardian)
Highlights: “All of the Above”, “Testimony”, “15 to 20″, “Tears”
21. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
(2009-03-03, Anti-)
“Like other of her records, Middle Cyclone has an almost earthen feel, with a grounded set of subject matters artfully portrayed using not only vivid alliteration and colorful wordplay, but also semi lo-fi recording techniques that allow the landscape to physically become a part of the document.” – Kevin Walker (No Ripcord)
“With the economy tanking, homes being lost, and folks switching to survival mode, America may need Neko Case’s back-to-nature fantasias more than ever.” – Melissa Maerz (Spin)
“Less of a departure and more of a confirmation and deepening of everything she’s been exploring over the last 10 years, Case has never sounded quite so compelling as a storyteller, unleashing the full range of her humor, defiance, and despair.” – Matt Fink (Paste Magazine)
Highlights: “This Tornado Loves You”, “People Got A Lotta Nerve”, “Fever”, “Red Tide”
22. Telekinesis – Telekinesis!
(2009-04-07, Merge)
“These songs sound immediate and urgent, but for all their unbridled energy Lerner never loses sight of texture and depth. From the crunchy pop-rock of “Coast of Carolina,” to the ’50s piano bounce of “Awkward Kisser,” to the rainy day mood and spaced out guitar riffs of “Great Lakes,” Lerner refuses to settle on a sound with Telekinesis!.“ – Matthew Fiander (Prefix Magazine)
“There’s not much new here, but complaining about that is like complaining your cold drink on a sunny afternoon is like your last cold drink on a sunny afternoon. Shut up and enjoy.” – Frank Yang (Chromewaves)
“The album brims with quick ‘from the gut’ compositions that have been uncomplicatedly produced using simple instrumentation. And quite right too, as to over think this poppy sound would be to lose sight of its very purpose – fun!” - Tom Milway (Drowned In Sound)
Highlights: “Coast of Carolina”, “Awkward Kisser”, “Imaginary Friend”
23. Portugal The Man – The Satanic Satanist
(2009-07-21, Equal Vision)
“As I reflect upon The Satanic Satanist, I realize there is nothing satanic about the album at all. Rather, it is nothing if not a sunny, groovy, summer soirée with hooks and riffs and anthems sent down from a troupe of bearded angels donning unkempt wings.” – liftingfaces
“Now, just one year after the release of Censored Colors, we have the oddly titled The Satanic Satanist, and for the first time, it feels like Portugal. The Man have finally settled down into an amalgamation of their previous sounds. This isn’t a bad thing; quite the contrary, actually.” – Channing Freeman (sputnikmusic)
“At any rate, this is Portugal.The Man’s most streamlined release to date, full of syrupy sentiments, crooning entreaties, and sing-along choruses that will echo in your head longer then they rightfully should. This Alaskan group has changed their approach yet again, for better or worse, to something brighter and less inhibited by the philosophical trappings of music for music’s sake.” – Andrew Dietzel (PopMatters)
Highlights: “People Say”, Work All Day”, “The Sun”, “Everyone Is Golden”
24. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse – Dark Night of the Soul
(2009-06-02, Self-released/Unreleased)
“It’s a friendly collaboration that turned out to be a match made in limbo.” – Jon Dolan (Rolling Stone)
“Few contemporary pop albums have spoken to the human condition so eloquently, and given the listener so much pleasure in the process, than Dark Night of the Soul. It’s no exaggeration to say Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse have crafted a near-masterpiece.” – Matt Gonzales (PopMatters)
“It’s a shame if Dark Night of the Soul ends up relegated to a cult souvenir; it’s truly exceptional as music. Rivaling the orchestral composition of works like Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin or Jim O’Rourke’s Eureka, with more than enough of its own personality to make those references mere talking points, Dark Night of the Soul is a touchstone example of a sum greater than it parts.” – Cory Tendering (LAS Magazine)
Highlights: “Revenge (feat. The Flaming Lips)”, “Little Girl (feat. Julian Casablancas)”, “Everytime I’m With You (feat. Jason Lytle)”, “The Man Who Played God (feat. Suzanne Vega)”
25. Malajube – Labyrinthes
(2009-02-10, Dare to Care)
“Like Sigur Rós, Malajube crosses linguistic barriers at the primal aesthetic level that makes music a universal form of expression, to drag up a hoary old cliché that nonetheless rings true.” – Ross Langager (PopMatters)
“As the name and cover art might suggest, Labyrinthes’ treatment of religion’s permutations is nearly as mazelike as its song structures, rife with instrumental interludes and stylistic mash-ups.” – Michael Saba (Paste Magazine)
“That’s what this album’s all about, really: beaming, cheerful music. It doesn’t matter that your long-neglected GCSE-Level French barely catches one word in five – it’s all about the tunes. In Labyrinthes, Malajube are certainly packing them in abundance.” – Sophie Bruce (BBC Music)
Highlights: “Ursuline”, “Luna”, “Casablanca”, “Le Tout-Puissant”
Finally, the honorable mentions. The albums that just didn’t make it to the top 25 for various reasons. I have a feeling there’s a lot of growers here.
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
The Hidden Cameras – Origin: Orphan
A Place to Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
Sivert Höyem – Moon Landing
Odawas – Blue Depths
The Antlers – Hospice
Dead Man’s Bones – Dead Man’s Bones
Mew – No More Stories / Are Told Today / I’m Sorry / They Washed Away // No More Stories / The World Is Grey / I’m Tired / Let’s Wash Away
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
St. Vincent – Actor
Tags: 2009, albums, bat for lashes, best of, broken records, danger mouse and sparklehorse, doves, eels, fictionist, florence and the machine, grizzly bear, leaves, list, lovelikefire, malajube, metric, neko case, portugal the man, telekinesis, the decemberists, the fatales, the peekers, the phenomenal handclap band, the swell season, the veils, viva voce, wilco, yeah yeah yeahs