Best of 2009 Thread

[owl]

Is There a Best of 2009 Thread?

 

I tried, but failed, to find it—if it exists. Can someone point me in the right direction?

[Killer Whales]

I was kind of thinking the same thing. I don't think there is. Well I'll start it off I suppose. This is a pretty standard indie list, but oh well. I listened to a lot of music this year and this was what came out on top for me.

 

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion

2. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

3. Japandroids - Post-Nothing

4. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport

5. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

6. The Antlers - Hospice

7. Girls - Album

8. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

9. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

10. Volcano Choir - Unmap

11. Wilco - Wilco (the Album)

12. The Decemberists - Hazards of Love

13. Norah Jones - The Fall

14. Jim O'Rourke - Visitor

15. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

16. Atlas Sound - Logos

17. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

18. V/A - Dark Was the Night

19. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Beware

20. Real Estate - s/t

[nodep5]

Despite other proclomations in the past few months, my favorite record this year is

 

Iron and Wine - Around The Well (I know it is a compilation of old stuff, but it is adorably rightous)

Vetiver - Tight Knit

Grand Archives - Keep In Mind Frankenstein

NO I DON"T WORK FOR SUBPOP

Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing

Gary Louris/Mark Olson - Ready For The Flood

 

Those are my favs

 

Albums that I think are overrated would be

 

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone (it is no different for me than other Neko Case albums, I realy like 2 songs and the rest are entirely lost on me.

Wilco (the album) is both under and over rated

 

Biggest Dissapointment this year

 

Avett Brothers - I and Love and You (not that it was terrible, I actually like it, just short of my high expecations)

 

Worst Album that I heard this year:

three way tie

Bonnie Prince Billy - Beware/ Son Volt - American Central Dust/ Steve Earle - Townes

[owl]

Cool, ok then. In no particular order, and subject to additions:

 

Best Albums of 2009

Califone - All My Friends Are Funeral Singers

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band

Marissa Nadler - Little Hells

St. Vincent - Actor

Animal Collective - MPP

Brandi Carlile - Give Up The Ghost

Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship

Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

Sera Cahoone - Only as the Day Is Long

Steve Earle - Townes

Vic Chesnutt - At the Cut

Volcano Choir - Unmap

Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

 

Box Sets/Reissues

Beatles

Big Star - Keep an Eye on the Prize

Iron & Wine - Around the Well

Wilco - A.M., Being There, Summerteeth vinyl

[Maggie]

I was sitting here wondering how I'm supposed to sift through close to 50 albums in order to come up with my list. Then I happened upon this blog post about the very same subject:

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2009/12/how_do_you_make_your_yearend_l.html

 

I just might be nerdy enough to try out the strip method.

 

That said, I'm not ready to post my list yet. I've still got at least one album on the iPod that I haven't even listened to yet, and a few that have only been played 2 or 3 times.

[nodep5]

Cool, ok then. In no particular order, and subject to additions:

 

Best Albums of 2009

Califone - All My Friends Are Funeral Singers

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band

Marissa Nadler - Little Hells

St. Vincent - Actor

Animal Collective - MPP

Brandi Carlile - Give Up The Ghost

Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship

Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

Sera Cahoone - Only as the Day Is Long

Steve Earle - Townes

Vic Chesnutt - At the Cut

Volcano Choir - Unmap

Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

 

Box Sets/Reissues

Beatles

Big Star - Keep an Eye on the Prize

Iron & Wine - Around the Well

Wilco - A.M., Being There, Summerteeth vinyl

 

 

Fruit Bats - Ruminant Band is sweet (no I still don't work for Subpop)

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Worst Album that I heard this year:

three way tie

Bonnie Prince Billy - Beware/ Son Volt - American Central Dust/ Steve Earle - Townes

 

Really?

Wow...Ok

[slice_oftheday]

 

Worst Album that I heard this year:

three way tie

Bonnie Prince Billy - Beware/ Son Volt - American Central Dust/ Steve Earle - Townes

 

 

interesting, I've come to really enjoy ACD

 

my list:

 

Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard - One Fast Move Or I'm Gone Music From Kerouac's Big Sur

Son Volt - American Central Dust

Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine

Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

Mark Knopfler - Get Lucky

Neil Young - Dreamin' Man

[sky blue bats]

1. Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy

2. Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band

3. Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid

4. Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies

5. AC Newman - Get Guilty

[CortezTheKiller]

1. American Central Dust/Son Volt

2. Murdering Oscar/Patterson Hood

3. One Fast Move Or I'm Gone/Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard

4. Before the Frost... Until the Freeze/The Black Crowes

5. ¡Let Freedom Ring!/Chuck Prophet

6. Josephine/Magnolia Electric Co

7. Middle Cyclone/Neko Case

8. When the Devil's Loose/A.A. Bondy

9. Keep It Hid/Dan Auerbach

10. The Fine Print/Drive-By Truckers

11. Singlewide/Dexateens

12. Blood of Man/Mason Jennings

13. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit

14. Mix Tape/The Felice Brothers

15. My Son's Home/Roadside Graves

16. Molina & Johnson

17. Written in Chalk/Buddy & Julie Miller

18. Learn About It/T Bird & The Breaks

19. Some Days the Song Writes You/Guy Clark

20. Love and Curses/Reigning Sound

21. Wilco (The Album)

22. Farm/Dinosaur Jr.

23. Tell Em What Your Name Is/Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

24. Midnight at the Movies/Justin Townes Earle

25. Closer to the Bone/Kris Kristofferson

[Vacant Horizon]

1. American Central Dust/Son Volt

2. Murdering Oscar/Patterson Hood

3. One Fast Move Or I'm Gone/Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard

4. Before the Frost... Until the Freeze/The Black Crowes

5. ¡Let Freedom Ring!/Chuck Prophet

6. Josephine/Magnolia Electric Co

7. Middle Cyclone/Neko Case

8. When the Devil's Loose/A.A. Bondy

9. Keep It Hid/Dan Auerbach

10. The Fine Print/Drive-By Truckers

11. Singlewide/Dexateens

12. Blood of Man/Mason Jennings

13. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit

14. Mix Tape/The Felice Brothers

15. My Son's Home/Roadside Graves

16. Molina & Johnson

17. Written in Chalk/Buddy & Julie Miller

18. Lear About It/T Bird & The Breaks

19. Some Days the Song Writes You/Guy Clark

20. Love and Curses/Reigning Sound

21. Wilco (The Album)

22. Farm/Dinosaur Jr.

23. Tell Em What Your Name Is/Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

24. Midnight at the Movies/Justin Townes Earle

25. Closer to the Bone/Kris Kristofferson

 

 

no surprises there

[Calexico]

Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

The Decemberists - The Hazards Of Love

The Bottle Rockets - Lean Forward

Son Volt - American Central Dust

Louris and Olson - Ready For The Flood

Vetiver - Tight Knit

The Black Crowes - Before The Frost...Until The Freeze

Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit - Self Titled

Rickie Lee Jones - Balm In Gilead

Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue

Mastodon - Crack The Skye

Eels - Hombre Lobo

Porcupine Tree - The Incident

Richmond Fontaine - We Used To ThinkThe Freeway Sounded..

Slaid Cleaves - Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away

 

 

Very honourable mentions to the Neil Young Archives and the Kraftwerk reissues.

[myboyblue]

Some pretty good lists along with some stuff I need to check out. I haven't heard the Chuck Prophet yet.

 

In no real order (other than maybe the first):

 

Dan Auerbach - Keep it Hid

Patterson Hood - Murdering Oscar

Jason Isbell - 7 Mile Island

Molina & Johnson - Molina & Johnson

The Evening Rig - is Doin' Stuff

The Duke & The King - Nothing Gold Can Stay

Dexateens - Singlewide

Deer Tick - Born on Flag Day

Avett Brothers - I & Love & You

Brendan Benson - My Old Familiar Friend

Cracker - Sunrise in the Land of Milk & Honey

Cory Chisel - Death Won't Send a Letter

AC Newman - Get Guilty

William Elliott Whitmore - Animals in the Dark

Steve Earle - Townes

Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies

Joey Kneiser - The All Night Bedroom Revival (and it's free!)

Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard - One Fast Move

Son Volt - American Central Dust

Magnolia Electric Company - josephine

Lucero - 1372 Overton Park

Langhorne Slim - Be Set Free

Roman Candle - Oh Tall Tree in the Ear

Roadside Graves - My Son's Home

 

Honorable Mention - REM - Live at the Olympia & Paul Westerberg - PW & The Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys Michah Schnabel - When The Lights Go Dim

[deepseacatfish]

1. Neko Case-Middle Cylcone

2. Grizzly Bear-Veckatimest

3. Califone-All My Friends Are Funeral Singers

4. Yo La Tengo-Popular Songs

5. Wilco-Wilco (The Album)

6. Phoenix-Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

7. The XX-XX

8. Jim O'Rourke-The Visitor

9. Sonic Youth-The Eternal

10. Bowerbirds-Upper Air

11. Nels Cline-Coward

12. Passion Pit-Manners

13. Tortoise-Beacons of the Ancestorship

14. Andrew Bird-Noble Beast/Useless Creatures

15. On Fillmore-Extended Vacation

16. Tyondai Braxton-Central Market

17. Animal Collective-Merriweather Post Pavilion

18. Decemberists-The Hazards of Love

19. 7 Worlds Collide-The Sun Came Out

20. Pronto-All Is Golden

[Calexico]

All great lists of course...the one inclusion that has gone right over my head this year has been the Animal Collective album. Every magazine has given it top of the pile and it appears here quite a lot too. I dunno, it just passes me right by.

[deepseacatfish]

All great lists of course...the one inclusion that has gone right over my head this year has been the Animal Collective album. Every magazine has given it top of the pile and it appears here quite a lot too. I dunno, it just passes me right by.

I'm pretty skeptical of its place at the top of lists, but clearly it's resonating with a lot of people. I find it interesting in parts but not wholly engaging or as brilliantly creative as many people seem to.

[Calexico]

I'm pretty skeptical of its place at the top of lists, but clearly it's resonating with a lot of people. I find it interesting in parts but not wholly engaging or as brilliantly creative as many people seem to.

 

I do quite like the My Girls song but then find the rest of it just bores the tits off me. Those underwater sounding vocals irritate the shit out of me too.

 

On the plus side, because of this thread I got the Califone album and it is impressive so far. Never listened to them before.

[brianjeremy]

Best of 2009 List – In order of favorites…

Japandroids – Post-Nothing

The Antlers – Hospice

Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

Boston Spaceships – Zero to 99

Girls – Album

Wilco –(The Album)

Monsters of Folk – s/t

Wavves - Wavves

Built to Spill – There is no Enemy

Real Estate – s/t

Pains of Being Pure at Heart – s/t

Dinosaur Jr. – Farm

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown

The Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come

Son Volt – American Central Dust

Boston Spaceships – The Planets are Blasted

The XX - xx

Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard – One Fast Move or I’m Gone

M. Ward – Hold Time

Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

 

Worst of 2009 – Albums that I just couldn’t love, even though I wanted to.

The Lemonheads – Varshons

The Decemberist – The Hazards of Love

Weezer – Raditude

Flaming Lips - Embryonic

[owl]

All great lists of course...the one inclusion that has gone right over my head this year has been the Animal Collective album. Every magazine has given it top of the pile and it appears here quite a lot too. I dunno, it just passes me right by.

I'm pretty skeptical of its place at the top of lists, but clearly it's resonating with a lot of people. I find it interesting in parts but not wholly engaging or as brilliantly creative as many people seem to.

I'd say it's one of the year's most creative albums, and it's definitely AC's most accessible. That said, I agree; I think a lot of people put it at the #1 spot but only because they're supposed to like it.

[LittleSavage]

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - s/t

Elvis Costello - Secret Profane and Sugarcane

Patterson Hood - Murdering Oscar (and other love songs)

Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

Dave Rawlings Machine - Friend Of A Friend

Monsters Of Folk - s/t

Regina Spektor - Far

Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard - One Fast Move Or I'm Gone

Works Progress Administration - WPA

Patty Loveless - Mountain Soul II

Buddy and Julie Miller - Written In Chalk

Levon Helm - Electric Dirt

Avett Brothers - I And Love And You

Drive-By Truckers - The Fine Print

The Gourds - Haymaker!

Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies

Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band - Between My Head And The Sky

Brendan Benson - My Old, Familiar Friend

Allen Toussaint - The Bright Mississippi

Son Volt - American Central Dust

John Wesley Harding - Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead

Bob Mould - Life And Times

Felice Brothers - Yonder Is The Clock

Yim Yames - Tribute To

Bob Dylan - Together Through Life

[TCP]

My favorite record was Josephine. Other ones I enjoyed were Wilco (The Album), Molina and Johnson, and Dark Was The Night.

I didn't get to listen to as much music as I should have, unfortunately

[Kalle]

A lot of my list is comprised of Canadian material, whether it be our friends, bands we've played with or friends or friends seems to be the year that I really really immersed myself in it. 2009 has been way better than 2008 IMO.

 

1. The Wooden Sky - If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone

2. Wilco - W(TA)

3. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast

4. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

5. Timber Timbre - S/T

6. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

7. Hayden - The Place Where We Lived

8. Dan Mangan - Nice, Nice, Very Nice

9. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels

10. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

11. St. Vincent - Actor

12. Howie Beck - How To Fall Down In Public

13. Evening Hymns - Spirit Guides

14. The Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours

15. Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain Is A Mouth

16. Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish I Were An Eagle

17. M. Ward - Hold Time

18. Bahamas - Pink Strat

19. Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor

20. Great Bloomers - Speak Of Trouble

[jimmyjimmy]

I tried, but failed, to find it—if it exists. Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

There was this one.

[Calexico]

I think a lot of people put it at the #1 spot but only because they're supposed to like it.

 

Well, that's just plain silly. Do these fakers secretly listen to Phil Collins and Mariah Carey behind closed doors? Why bother trying to look cool by saying you like so and so latest hip band? Are people that shallow that they are afraid to seem out of step with popular cultural "tastemakers"?

[owl]

Well, that's just plain silly. Do these fakers secretly listen to Phil Collins and Mariah Carey behind closed doors? Why bother trying to look cool by saying you like so and so latest hip band? Are people that shallow that they are afraid to seem out of step with popular cultural "tastemakers"?

 

Yes.