The 10 Best Albums of 2009

 

    Ah, 2009; I barely knew ye.  Not.  This was one hell of a long-ass year.  Personally, I flirted with sobriety and vegetarianism for a couple of months before finally realizing, "that's gay."  I remained careerless, volunteering full-time for about 6 months at a not-for-profit before realizing that I loathe the residents (and transients) that populate the particular neighborhood in the Bronx where the not-for-profit was located with such vitriol that a stroke couldn't be too far off in my future.  Not to mention that the scumbags who worked there also misled me about the eventuality of me being offered a paying job, but to paraphrase a great American, "it'll take more than you semi-literate cheese-dicks to wipe the smile offa my face."  A healthy dose of holiday flatulence to you all.  BRAAAAAAP!!!!

    Otherwise, '09 was okay.  My first foray into the lucrative world of selling useless crap to morons on eBay has gone decently.  It's nice for a change to be spending time doing something where my success is directly analogous to how much work I put in.  Also, for the second straight summer I managed to avoid making any real super-close drug buddy-type friends in Brooklyn, which is good for both my liver and my nostrils/septum.  ["Hell is other people, of course..." --Stephin Merritt]  I continued my absurd show-going schedule, as well, seeing over 90 shows in a calendar year for the third year running.  Not to toot my own horn, but for a fat piece of shit, I kinda rock. 

    Of course, 2009 was also the year that I began flagrantly shirking my self-mandated (or not mandated!  T'heh!) duties here at the Muddd.  Looking back over my year's editorial output (or lack thereof!  T'heh!) there's a definite slowdown in comparison to previous years, but the real ass-dragging began in earnest in mid-October.  Starting October 15th, each successive weekend was jam-packed with gratuitous self-indulgence of the finest order.  In order, thru early December, accounting for every weekend:

--Cruise to Bahamas;

--Bachelor Party in Delaware;

--Trip to Los Angeles; weekend in the desert at a music-festival-that-shall-go-unnamed;

--Wedding at a Yacht Club in a lovely south Jersey resort town;

--my own birthday, celebrated at a Metallica concert at MSG;

--Splendid wedding at a picturesque, historic hotel in Pennsylvania;

--Thanksgiving with the fam;

--A bunch more shows at MSG by a band that shall go nameless; trip to Charlottesville with friends to see the same band.

(Note: this is not to be taken as an excuse for why I stopped Muddding.  I'm just bragging.)

    So, here we are, and it's year-end list time.  W00t W00t!  The rules for this are the same as always: pretty much anything is fair game here except reissues.  And for the record I heard over eighty albums during '09 in preparation for writing this very list.  More lists will follow over the next couple of weeks.

    Anyway, on with the show.

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1.) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz -- Man oh man.  I spent pretty much all year trying to pretend like this wasn't the best album of 2009, secretly hoping that each successive new release would top It's Blitz and knock it out of the coveted (bwahaha) top Muddd slot.  And why?  Self-loathing New Yorker reverse-envy?  Maybe.  Because I think many of their earlier efforts are super-overrated?  Possibly.  Because '07's Is Is EP represented such an awesome sonic transformation for the YYYs and I was kinda hoping they'd continue in that noisy, crunchy vein?  Yeah, kinda.  Is it because Brian Chase was the catcher on my junior high baseball team (true story)?  Who knows. 

    But fuck it.  (And while I'm at it, "fuck you" too, pal.)  To quote Professor Murder (the fictional one), "the science is too tight."  The songwriting here is *incredible*, and the production is so masterful it borders on sheer arrogance.  And what a hodgepodge of jamz: you get your coked-up ravers, tingly-hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck ballads, and all modes of discoey shit over the course of these ten tracks.  Yes, a song (or songs) for all seasons.  If the damn kids today had any idea what good music sounded like, this would have been the album of choice blaring from convertibles, dorm rooms, and "portable music players" galore.  And maybe it was.  (I don't know any kids.)   

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2.) The Thermals - Now We Can See -- Okay, fine, the answer to your question is "no."  And the question is "is it better than The Body, The Blood, The Machine?"  Okay, I take that back; the answer is "fuck no" and a playful-yet-steadfast cockpunch.  But so what.  Despite being dragged down ever-so-slightly by a few sappy turds and being largely devoid of "Here's Your Future"-style thrasherz, the artists formerly known as Hutch n' Kathy manage more often than not to make the mid-tempo three chord deal not only worthwhile, but rockin', fist-pumpingly joyous, and poignant all at the same time.  And you can't beat that with a bat.   

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3.) Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy -- "What about Canada" indeed.  To me, this is the most *consistent* Built to Spill album ever, with the usual peaks n' valleys smoothed out into a (mostly) pleasantly pleasurable listening experience.  The album's first half consists mostly of mid-tempo guitar rockin' pieces, with side B taking it down a notch into more slower/introspective/stoned territory.  To be sure, any of the album's final 5-or-so songs would have fit neatly as a sweet album closer.  But yeah, one hell of a solid album.  As Doug Martsch sings on "Things Fall Apart," "don't know how to say thanks for being alive."  Right back atcha, kind sir. 

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4.) Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport -- Not sure how else to put this, but this album splits the difference ALMOST EXACTLY between Dan Deacon and Yanni.  In other words, awesome.

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5.) Baroness - The Blue Record -- I liked the shit out of 2007's Red Album (#15 on that year's year-end best-of list), but noted -- rather dickishly, in retrospect, that the vocals were kinda boring.  Well, whaddya know: The Blue Record's singing is better- a whole heaping shitload better.  And they've ramped the urgency on this one to the point of their debut EP, "First," while further refining their bonecrushingly southern-fried sound.  For those who care about such things, "The Gnashing" winds up rivaling Torche's "Across the Shields" as catchiest heavy song of the decade.  Fuckin' great album, and Baroness are truly a great fuckin' band, even if this asshole doesn't think so. 

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6.) Crippled Black Phoenix - The Resurrectionists/Night Raider -- As hackish (guilty as charged!) as this comment may seem, the length of this double album is really n' truly both it's best and worst quality.  Yes, the bloated run time allows for some flat out time-wasters (like the main offenders from 2007's A Love of Shared Disasters), but the great tracks are almost too well-executed to be true.  The fact that a lot of the material sounds... how you say... "familiar" leads one to think that it's a ton of ripoffs, which isn't exactly the case.  It's more that the ambience is nice n' cozy n' warm and, yes, "familiar," and who on god's green earth doesn't like nice n' cozy n' warm?!  Seriously, it's fucking freezing outside!  OK, fine, I admit it; they're shamelessly aping Pink Floyd pretty much throughout the entire album.  Happy?

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7.) King Khan & BBQ Show - Invisible Girl -- DON'T WORK BLUE KID, YOU'LL NEVER WORK THE BIG ROOMS!  Mercy me, I just can't get enough of this Nuggets-meets-Sam-Cooke-meets-bathroom-wall-poetry nonsense.  For all the retardedness of the lyrics to "Anala" (yes, it's about what you're thinking), if you don't melt with the middle "ooo-ooo-ooo" doo wop-inspired section then I just don't know what to tell ya, bub.  If you're the type of person who's easily offended by off-color song lyrics you'll probably want to hurl, but then again if that's you, you should probably eat a box full of these. 

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8.) Kylesa - Static Tensions -- These guys own sludge.  Herein lie at least three legit song-of-the year contenders, and the (slightly) lesser stuff is damn good too.  But make no mistake: this is not simple paint-by-numbers stoner pablum (see: Black Math Horseman): there's enough muscular crunch and polyrhythmic dizziness to keep you on your toes whether you've been ripping phat tubez or not.  But to be safe, go rip some tubez anyway.  And not that you asked but their live show is also amazing.

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9.) The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control -- Considering how much I love this fucking band (2003's Chain Gang of Love is, in my estimation, the finest album by anyone ever), it makes sense that I'm hypercritical of each successive release.  And with all the public hemming and hawing about the Raves searching for a new producer for In and Out of Control, it's odd that the production is so godawful on this one.  To wit:

--2002- Whip It On - raw, garagey production befitting the minimal nature of the songwriting.  Self-produced.

--2003- Chain Gang of Love - helmed by Richard Gottehrer, the guy who wrote songs like "I Want Candy" and "My Boyfriend's Back," and produced Blondie.  GREAT production, mixing J&MC distortion with girl group sweetness, which pretty much defines the successful aspects of the Raves' whole friggin' aesthetic to this day. 

--2005- Pretty in Black-- production largely bereft of distortion, but still manages to retain the trademark Raves darkness.  Gottehrer again. 

--2008- Lust Lust Lust-- self-produced, with the distortion back at the fore.  "Aly Walk With Me" has a minute-plus "distortion solo," for fuck's sake.  Also in '08 they put out a bunch of EPs that were experimentally well-meaning even if all the music contained therein wasn't always up to snuff.  Nothing wrong with screwing around with the ol' blueprint every so often.

--2009- In and Out of Control-- back again to less distortion.  Somehow, Thomas Troelson manages to make these songs sound like a bunch of fucking demos what with all the boxiness and compression.  

    One of these things is not like the other things.....

    Seriously though, how do you fuck this up?  Fortunately, the songwriting of Sune Rose Wagner is still there, as it presumably always will be.  

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10.) Melvins - Pick Your Battles -- I'm guessing I like live albums more than you do.  Which begs the question- why did I leave the recent Nirvana Live at Reading set off my list?  Well, to be honest, I forgot.  But frankly my dear, I've had that show in perfect-crystal-clear-soundboard quality for several years in bootleg form, so it's a little tough for me to get excited over something I've been eviscerating for the sake of mixtape betterment over the last 6 years or so. 

    Why do I bring this up in the middle of a review for a Melvins record?  Well, speaking as someone who's read nearly every Melvins interview that exists on the web (and there's plenty), it's tough not to notice that practically every interviewer ever brings up the Melvins'/Nirvana connection at some point.  Infuriatingly, it's not just clueless n00bz that fall prey to this; even the seemingly "hipper" interviewers manage to get in an annoying question or two about "how annoying it must be that EVERYBODY STILL ASKS THEM ABOUT KURT COBAIN."  Dude, you're doin' it too!  Sheesh!  (And now, so have I, sorta.  Ah crap).

    Anyway, this particular record consists of about 18 minutes of early-ish Melvins stuff from a show played in Berkeley 20 years ago, and 40+ minutes of music from two different shows from Boston in '08 (with the dudes from Big Business, of course).  And it's not that the greatness of the song list that makes this a worthwhile outing, but more that the Melvins are great live.  Riff after riff after riff after riff.  Good shit.

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I'll eventually have more reviews up.  Who knows when that will be, though.

Comments

[beaf]

My top 10 (beaf):

1. Thermals - Now We Can See -- "youre my best frieeeeeend...ooooooooh you make me live, now honey"
2. Built to Spill - There is No Enemy -- wish there were a couple of "hits"...would be #1
3. Flaming Lips - Embryonic -- we all had no expectations....its knotty and creepy, but it grooves and is listenable...awesome time OKC NYE '10!
4. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest -- wish they had included "While you wait for the others" w/ Michael McDonald on the LP...its so smooooooth
5. Animal Collective -- Merriweather Post Pavilion - too much filler to be a classic IMO
6. White Denim - Fits -- close to being great, has some awesome moments...definitely the most "interesting" record of the year
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz -- what Tudd said, but less
8. Atlas Sound - Logos -- I've only listened to it a handful of times, but it's Cox's best after Cryptograms methinks
9. Wilco - The Album -- "Bull Black Nova" is a tour de force and worth the price of admission
10. Unnamed band - Unnamed album -- Nostalgia act puts together new album of listenable pap, sign me up!

Honorable Mentions: Fiery Furnaces, Dinosaur Jr., Them Kirked Vultures, Smith Westerns, Neon Indian (in that order)

Not listened to enough to be evaluated: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, King Khan & BBQ Show

This year I discovered Steely Dan, Neil Young and Comets on Fire from shit released in previous years. Those acts were pretty much the best part of the year.

Thanks goes to all the 0 people reading.

[beaf]

rediscovered the billy joel catalog this year too ;-) keepin the faith is the greatest song ever written!