OK kiddos, it's already the end of February, 2010, so you know what that means: the second part of my Best Albums of 2009 list. You can find the first part here and you can find my Best Songs of '09 list here.
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11.) BOAT - Setting the Paces -- Scrappler. Scrap'ums. Scrap-a-rino. Scrappity Scrap Scrap. SCRAPPO!!! OK, so here's the deal with this band. I've enjoyed the music of BOAT since hearing their p4k-approved Come On Let's Drag Our Feet album a couple years ago (#35 on 2007's Best Albums list). Liked their follow-up EP, Topps, as well (again #35 on 2008's list), but seriously this newest BOAT album is so much better than those, you don't even KNOW! See, they turned the amps up and decided to ROCK THE FUCK OUT while sacrificing none of the trademark BOAT <wait for it> scrappiness. Anthemic and self-deprecating at the same time. Kinda like me!
[Time for the year's first mea culpa (of many, in all likelihood). I should have ranked this album much higher. If I had to do it over again, It's Blitz would still be #1, but the new #2 would be the Nirvana live album, which I totally excluded from the list (um, second mea culpa, thanks), and this BOAT album would come in at a nifty #3.]
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12.) A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head -- Local boys done good... but is it any better than the debut (23rd best album of '07)? I'm not entirely sure that the clearer production always benefits the songs- which themselves are probably more accessible than those on the first album. It's no coincidence that the best songs on Exploding Head have treated/distorted/fucked up vocals, and they really should keep it that way... it's just that I'm not exactly the biggest fan of the songs displaying a slightly "lighter side" to this band-- they're best when following their JaMC/MBV/Joy Division/Ministry/etc. template very, very closely.
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13.) The Crocodiles - Summer of Hate -- What with all the lo-fi/electronic genre mish-mashing these days, it can be easy to overlook a band like the Crocodiles just because you're worried they might sound like Ear Pwr or whatever. This album's high ranking (by me and me alone, apparently) is on the merit of three great songs: "I Wanna Kill," "Sleeping With the Lord," and the title track... the rest of the album I could kinda take or leave, to be truthful.
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14.) Boston Spaceships - Zero to 99 - Robert Pollard's best new album since 2006's massive/sprawling From a Compound Eye (#9 on '06's Best Albums list) sees him dipping back into the famed suitcase (literally, there are several re-recorded versions of songs from the first Suitcase box set) and fleshing out some gems. Pretty sure that standout "How Wrong You Are" is not among the older tracks, but rather a new one entirely...? (Seriously, I'm not sure here. Help me out, someone.) GbV freakz will love that on at least a couple of the songs they somehow they manage to churn out a ramshackle rhythm guitar style reminiscent of the Tobin Sprout/Mitch Mitchell salad days. [Note: if planning your next record store purchase on the recommendation of this album review, do yourself a favor and don't confuse this album with the year's *other* Boston Spaceships album, The Planets Are Blasted, which is horrible.]
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15.) White Denim - Fits -- This album sounds like good drugs. Partially because the songs on this jittery genre-hopper are patterned after some of the best music of the psychedelic '60s, encompassing garage, soul, frat rock, Nuggetsy psych, and good ol' fashioned arena rock. No, there probably aren't any single tracks on this one as strong as "Transparency" (from 2008's Exposion, #23 on '08's Best Albums list) but these guys seem to know how to make really fun, listenable rock albums. Oh, and Steve Terebecki is indie rock's version of Chris Squire.
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16.) Fever Ray - Fever Ray -- The first several times I listened to this album I thought it was either 1.) "absolutely brilliant" or 2.) "lightweight fruity garbage." Couldn't put my finger on why, and then EUREKA! I figured that shit out (or, rather, "I figured the fuck out of it"). Listening to this album at night reveals the creepiness, the elegantly minimal production, and an understated, subtle melodic awesomeness. But just try listening to it when the sun's bright n' shining: you'll feel like a shallow shiny shirt-wearing Eurotrash faggot shitbag.
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17.) Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights -- Fuck it, you know what you're getting into with Lightning Bolt. These guys' psychotic, migraine-inducing blustery hoopla never fails to entertain. Barely-controlled chaos at its finest.
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18.) Heartless Bastards - The Mountain -- Normally when a band either 1.) goes higher-fi or 2.) starts flaunting more country-ish tendencies it's time to cut bait. However, Les Bastardes Sans Coeurs manage to make both numbers 1 and 2 work for 'em on this album. Rockin' and soulful at times, although your mileage may vary on the wimpier folky songs.
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19.) Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans -- Saw this album described somewhere as a "steaming plate of hostility". In fact, I'll second that. [Side note: one of my favorite concert moments of the year occurred when I saw these guys at the WFMU-fest at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Towards the end of the set just moments after Pissed Jeans had finished playing a song, the drummer stood up and triumphantly puked all over his drum kit. Amazing.]
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20.) Russian Circles - Geneva -- Three albums in, you have to admit that Russian Circles are kind of a one-trick pony. But if you like hyper-melodic post-metal with a decided tension/release slant, then, like me, you love this band. There are some strikingly beautiful moments on this record.
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21.) Liturgy - Renihilation -- This is truly Hell's muzak. (That is, if hell's awesome.)
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22.) Converge - Axe to Fall -- The best thing to come out of Boston -- musically or otherwise -- since Sib Hashian's 'fro. If there's a better heavy song from 2009 than "Worms Will Feed" that's not by Pissed Jeans or Baroness, I've yet to hear it. [Yes, this is said as I realize that I somehow managed to accidentally leave all Converge songs off of my Year's Best Songs list. Fuck me.]
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23.) Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg -- Simply put, Wolfmother are good at what they do. If you don't care for great cock rock, you're obviously not going to care for this, but c'mon. Live a little! Pull your Poison Flesh and Blood black sleeveless out of mothballs and crush some brewdogs to Cosmic Egg while doing reverse gravity bong hits and, uh, competing in freestyle Motorcross events.
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24.) Dinosaur Jr - Farm -- Solid album, but almost boringly so. After comeback album Beyond's eye-popping awesomeness, Farm's songwriting is so standardly above-average that at times the album seems to be in danger of flatlining. But I definitely prefer the fuzzy, You're Living All Over Me-style production on this one to Beyond's weird emphasis on J's vocals, that's for damn sure.
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25.) Smith Westerns - Smith Westerns - People seem to do a lot of kvetching about these guys being super young, which honestly I had no fucking clue about until all the year-end lists started coming out. But fuck tha haterz. When The Airing of Grievances came out, the collective age of all the members of Titus Andronicus was less than that of my left asshole and that didn't stop 'em from making some rootin' tootin' great music. In the tradition of countless good-to-great garage bands from the early-to-mid '60s, Smith Westerns have found that touring the country and rockin' out are funner things to do with your summer than (say) working at McDonalds, lifeguarding, hanging out in the parking lot of a 7-11 or [whatever it is that the kidz do these days].
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26.) Goes Cube - Another Day Has Passed -- Quality riffs, great drumming, and plenty of throat shredding from this post-hardcore powerhouse. Top-notch re-recordings of a trio of classic Cube jams push this one over the top safely into Best Albumville.
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27.) Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade -- How can something so brutal be so relaxing? Does this mean I've got a serious fucking screw loose?! (Don't answer that.)
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28.) Dead Weather - Horehound -- This one kinda dropped like a stone in the rankings, no? Yes, there's still a few good mixtapeable songs on here, although beyond the best four-or-so songs, shit gets pretty bare. But seriously, why wouldn't you just listen to the Kills?
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29.) Red Fang - Red Fang -- This actually includes their great Tour EP released a couple of years ago (ranked #30 on '07's Best Albums list) and expands upon that with another handful of sludgy goodness.
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30.) Dan Deacon - Bromst -- To me, nearly every friggin' song on this album sounds like something you'd hear as the background music on a really smug iPhone commercial. Which still makes this album way, way better than most of the other crap that came out this year.