My Top 10 Records of 2009.
My perpetually late list is here! Rejoice, disagree, call me a jerk, whatever. But the first person to use the word "Fail" as a noun is getting blocked.
10. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Few albums released in the last decade have captured the spirit of Kate Bush’s seminal period quite so much as Two Suns. Although Natasha Khan doesn’t ape Kate’s specific blend of artful pop, she does duplicate the former’s masterful balance of conceptual conceits with delicate, deliberate hooks. Although much has been made of the duality of Two Suns (art vs. pop, organic vs. mechanical) the blend is so seamless that rather than playing off the energy of clashing ideas, the record flows beautifully from them. Lead single “Daniel” is a perfect example, mixing the pure unfettered passion of youthful longing with the melancholia born of experience.
9. Little Boots - Hands
Listening to Hands, it’s hard to remember a time not so long ago when fun dance pop was artistically reviled rather than celebrated. And in an era when music is lousy with young blonde chanteuses’ with shameless beats and disposable hooks, Hands stands head and shoulders above the throng. What makes it work is not only the tasteful production choices and catchy melodies, but the guileless sense of genuine fun that comes shining through on every track. Songs like “New in Town” and “Stuck on Repeat” make the most of Little Boots’ strengths, undeniably pop without being pandering, universally enjoyable without being disposable.
8. A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
Exploding Head isn’t just a cute name for the NY noise rocker’s second album, it’s actually a pretty good description for their hyper effected aesthetic. Much like their self-titled debut, EH is built on a foundation of strong rock songs that are then fed through brain shredding levels of distortion to produce a sound that takes it’s cues from stalwarts like The Jesus and Mary Chain without directly aping them. The record isn’t a major step forward, but when you’re re refining an already powerful formula, you don’t need to have a sea change to make something this good. Stay the course, A Place to Bury Strangers, stay the course.
7. White Lies - To Lose My Life
Memo to lazy rock writers: dark indie and Joy Division are not synonymous, and you’re doing a disservice to bands like White Lies by making the comparison. The truth is that WL’s particular brand of mopey, catchy post-post-punk has more in common with Echo & The Bunnymen or The Teardrop Explodes (and even a hint of VERY early U2), easy to hum songs that come from dark dark places. The album isn’t terribly adventurous soundwise, but songs like the title track and “Death” are so instantly there, perfectly formewd from the moment you hear them that the meat and potatoes production doesn’t distract from them. Given a bit more of a broad palette, their potential to repeat and surpass a great debut is promising.
6. The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
Although the Big Pink are pigeonholed as an electro-rock band, the success of A Brief History of Love has more to do with the clever choices made by the band in presenting their terribly addictive songs then it does their pedigree in yet another overhyped loosely defined subgenre. A track like “Dominos” is built around an insanely catchy hook, but what takes it from being good to being fantastic is the little details, the weird backwards sound effects, the finely tuned reverb and the loping gait of the drum track. Every song on the album feels like it started life in a more conventional form and then was tenderly monkeyed with to bring it to another level entirely. Few new artists can make those kinds of decisions, capturing the essence of a track by highlighting it with little accoutrements.
5. Wolves in the Throneroom - Black Cascade
Let’s face it… the subject matter of most Black Metal is some juvenile bullshit, either pedantically opposed to religion for no real reason or inscrutably steeped in a bunch of capital E evil metaphorical mumbo jumbo. Wolves in the Throneroom don’t play that, their nature based philosophy doesn’t just inform their approach to music, it builds it up into a truly monumental stature. The power of nature that informs their epically long songs is not only captured on Black Cascade, but suggested in every detail of the dry, overpowering rush of screamed vocals and blastbeat drums. Fuck corpse paint and muddy recordings, this is Black Metal that can inspire and terrify in equal measures by virtue of its deadly serious atmospherics.
4. Fever Ray - s/t
God knows how much we could all do with a new album by the Knife, but one half of the brother/sister duo has produced something almost as remarkable as that band’s lauded discography. Karin’s unmistakable (even when distorted) vocals backed by pulsing electronic sounds that tread the ground just shy of danceable form the basis of Fever Ray’s sound, which despite the downright creepy feel of lead track and single “If I Had a Heart” never wallow in darkness. Think of it kind of like Twin Peaks, occasionally dark, sometimes disturbing, always enjoyable, but above all, just WEIRD.
3. Raekwon - Only Built for Cuban Linx II
Though Raekwon has never had the profile of many of his contemporaries in the Wu-Tang Clan, the original OBFCL is a golden age classic, a record which presaged the now clichéd institution of crack rap and inspired luminaries like Biggie Smalls to step up their proverbial game. Like it’s predecessor, Part II benefits from on point appearances from Ghostface, but it’s Rae himself who shines through on every track in a way that he hasn’t in years. All aspects of his approach seem revitalized, from tense street stories to raw threats and warnings, every word he spits feels real, vital and dangerous without ever descending to hysterics or cheap theatrics. Intellectually we know that Rae hasn’t cooked crack for years, but listening to Cuban Linx II you’re hard pressed not to imagine him running shit like he says he does.
2. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
While their debut Street Horrsing benefited from the rawness of it’s premise, noise built into repetitive techno structures with a hint of post-rock grandeur, Tarot Sport smoothes out and evolves without sacrificing an ounce of power. Andrew Weatherall’s production helps the band realize their goals, to integrate white noise and distortion artifacts into songs that are immersive and immediate, drawing power from momentum and building to grand climaxes so subtly that you almost don’t realize how far up the mountain they’re pushing. It’s a constantly evolving record, one that reveals as much as the listener wants to take from it, beautifully rendered from on high right down to x1000 magnification.
1.The Horrors - Primary Colours
Busting out of the ghetto that the NME hype cycle confined their spastic spooky garage rock into a few years back, the Horrors have made a record nobody expected them to. A psychedelic journey into some weird, post hippie landscape where their howling riffs and hostile energy have been roped in to create barely contained menace of the highest order. Portishead’s Geoff Barrow is an expert at this stuff, and though his contribution to the delicate, reverbed out sound can’t be understated, the band’s new sense of dynamics is really what makes Primary Colours work so well. Album closer “Sea Within a Sea” perfectly encapsulates what the Horrors are about now, propulsive without bulldozing, woozy without being obscure. No other record released this year can claim the same depth or immersiveness, or it’s indisputably expert construction.
Oh, and for the record, my favorite singles this year were "Heads Will Roll" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Dominos" by the Big Pink, "Crystalized" by The XX, "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga (fine, you win Trish and Rheanna), Antony & the Johnson's cover of "Crazy in Love" and "Daniel" by Bat for Lashes. Oh, and "New in Town" by Little Boots
10. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Few albums released in the last decade have captured the spirit of Kate Bush’s seminal period quite so much as Two Suns. Although Natasha Khan doesn’t ape Kate’s specific blend of artful pop, she does duplicate the former’s masterful balance of conceptual conceits with delicate, deliberate hooks. Although much has been made of the duality of Two Suns (art vs. pop, organic vs. mechanical) the blend is so seamless that rather than playing off the energy of clashing ideas, the record flows beautifully from them. Lead single “Daniel” is a perfect example, mixing the pure unfettered passion of youthful longing with the melancholia born of experience.
9. Little Boots - Hands
Listening to Hands, it’s hard to remember a time not so long ago when fun dance pop was artistically reviled rather than celebrated. And in an era when music is lousy with young blonde chanteuses’ with shameless beats and disposable hooks, Hands stands head and shoulders above the throng. What makes it work is not only the tasteful production choices and catchy melodies, but the guileless sense of genuine fun that comes shining through on every track. Songs like “New in Town” and “Stuck on Repeat” make the most of Little Boots’ strengths, undeniably pop without being pandering, universally enjoyable without being disposable.
8. A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
Exploding Head isn’t just a cute name for the NY noise rocker’s second album, it’s actually a pretty good description for their hyper effected aesthetic. Much like their self-titled debut, EH is built on a foundation of strong rock songs that are then fed through brain shredding levels of distortion to produce a sound that takes it’s cues from stalwarts like The Jesus and Mary Chain without directly aping them. The record isn’t a major step forward, but when you’re re refining an already powerful formula, you don’t need to have a sea change to make something this good. Stay the course, A Place to Bury Strangers, stay the course.
7. White Lies - To Lose My Life
Memo to lazy rock writers: dark indie and Joy Division are not synonymous, and you’re doing a disservice to bands like White Lies by making the comparison. The truth is that WL’s particular brand of mopey, catchy post-post-punk has more in common with Echo & The Bunnymen or The Teardrop Explodes (and even a hint of VERY early U2), easy to hum songs that come from dark dark places. The album isn’t terribly adventurous soundwise, but songs like the title track and “Death” are so instantly there, perfectly formewd from the moment you hear them that the meat and potatoes production doesn’t distract from them. Given a bit more of a broad palette, their potential to repeat and surpass a great debut is promising.
6. The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
Although the Big Pink are pigeonholed as an electro-rock band, the success of A Brief History of Love has more to do with the clever choices made by the band in presenting their terribly addictive songs then it does their pedigree in yet another overhyped loosely defined subgenre. A track like “Dominos” is built around an insanely catchy hook, but what takes it from being good to being fantastic is the little details, the weird backwards sound effects, the finely tuned reverb and the loping gait of the drum track. Every song on the album feels like it started life in a more conventional form and then was tenderly monkeyed with to bring it to another level entirely. Few new artists can make those kinds of decisions, capturing the essence of a track by highlighting it with little accoutrements.
5. Wolves in the Throneroom - Black Cascade
Let’s face it… the subject matter of most Black Metal is some juvenile bullshit, either pedantically opposed to religion for no real reason or inscrutably steeped in a bunch of capital E evil metaphorical mumbo jumbo. Wolves in the Throneroom don’t play that, their nature based philosophy doesn’t just inform their approach to music, it builds it up into a truly monumental stature. The power of nature that informs their epically long songs is not only captured on Black Cascade, but suggested in every detail of the dry, overpowering rush of screamed vocals and blastbeat drums. Fuck corpse paint and muddy recordings, this is Black Metal that can inspire and terrify in equal measures by virtue of its deadly serious atmospherics.
4. Fever Ray - s/t
God knows how much we could all do with a new album by the Knife, but one half of the brother/sister duo has produced something almost as remarkable as that band’s lauded discography. Karin’s unmistakable (even when distorted) vocals backed by pulsing electronic sounds that tread the ground just shy of danceable form the basis of Fever Ray’s sound, which despite the downright creepy feel of lead track and single “If I Had a Heart” never wallow in darkness. Think of it kind of like Twin Peaks, occasionally dark, sometimes disturbing, always enjoyable, but above all, just WEIRD.
3. Raekwon - Only Built for Cuban Linx II
Though Raekwon has never had the profile of many of his contemporaries in the Wu-Tang Clan, the original OBFCL is a golden age classic, a record which presaged the now clichéd institution of crack rap and inspired luminaries like Biggie Smalls to step up their proverbial game. Like it’s predecessor, Part II benefits from on point appearances from Ghostface, but it’s Rae himself who shines through on every track in a way that he hasn’t in years. All aspects of his approach seem revitalized, from tense street stories to raw threats and warnings, every word he spits feels real, vital and dangerous without ever descending to hysterics or cheap theatrics. Intellectually we know that Rae hasn’t cooked crack for years, but listening to Cuban Linx II you’re hard pressed not to imagine him running shit like he says he does.
2. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
While their debut Street Horrsing benefited from the rawness of it’s premise, noise built into repetitive techno structures with a hint of post-rock grandeur, Tarot Sport smoothes out and evolves without sacrificing an ounce of power. Andrew Weatherall’s production helps the band realize their goals, to integrate white noise and distortion artifacts into songs that are immersive and immediate, drawing power from momentum and building to grand climaxes so subtly that you almost don’t realize how far up the mountain they’re pushing. It’s a constantly evolving record, one that reveals as much as the listener wants to take from it, beautifully rendered from on high right down to x1000 magnification.
1.The Horrors - Primary Colours
Busting out of the ghetto that the NME hype cycle confined their spastic spooky garage rock into a few years back, the Horrors have made a record nobody expected them to. A psychedelic journey into some weird, post hippie landscape where their howling riffs and hostile energy have been roped in to create barely contained menace of the highest order. Portishead’s Geoff Barrow is an expert at this stuff, and though his contribution to the delicate, reverbed out sound can’t be understated, the band’s new sense of dynamics is really what makes Primary Colours work so well. Album closer “Sea Within a Sea” perfectly encapsulates what the Horrors are about now, propulsive without bulldozing, woozy without being obscure. No other record released this year can claim the same depth or immersiveness, or it’s indisputably expert construction.
Oh, and for the record, my favorite singles this year were "Heads Will Roll" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Dominos" by the Big Pink, "Crystalized" by The XX, "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga (fine, you win Trish and Rheanna), Antony & the Johnson's cover of "Crazy in Love" and "Daniel" by Bat for Lashes. Oh, and "New in Town" by Little Boots