Best Albums of 2009!

Here is the first of my amateurish retrospective lists for the year/decade. I come at it as a discerning fan, not a critic. So calling it the best of is such a hard sell, and then people are all, oh that’s crazy that sucks what about this. But anyway, these are the albums that I liked the most this year. I thought it was a good one. Not as good as 2007, but better than 2008. Also, a lot of female artists on the list, quite a swing from last year’s sea of bearded men.

10. Fuck Buttons, Tarot Sport
Song: the whole thing
Start things off right with a swear. This music is not for everyone, but if I push play, I’m going to listen the whole way through. What I like most about their music is how it builds on itself, folding elements of earlier tracks (and even their debut album Street Horrrsing) into building peaks.

9. Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca
Song: Stillness is the Move (live mp3 or studio)
If this were a song list, Stillness is the Move would be up at the top, but the rest of the album is experimental, quirky and catchy enough to make it easily among the best of the year. Some people say this is too much of a crossover for the band. Those guys can suck it.

8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz
Song: Skeletons
I think Fever to Tell is on a lot of Best of the Decade lists, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I think It’s Blitz is better. Nothing beats Maps, but the latest record is the YYYs’ dance rock at its most polished and feverish.

7. TV On The Radio, Dear Science
Song: Golden Age
The best electronic, secular, gospel soul band out there today. Also check out Kyp Malone’s solo project Rain Machine. Every album they put out has been an instant favorite.

6. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavillion
Song: Summertime Clothes (mp3)
Animal Collective albums are dizzying sonic experiments, each featuring a few pop hooks that seem brought back from the future by a time-traveling Brian Wilson. MPP is the first of their albums that is a perfect balance of the two. The same noisy science projects, but tightened into 11 great songs.

5. Dan Deacon, Bromst
Song: Slow With Horns / Run For Your Life (must listen mp3)
I’m going to say it. Dan Deacon scares me a little. I’ve seen his shows, they scare me. He plays with music the way a 7-year-old would play with a grenade launcher. And there is nothing better to get you through a work day than Bromst.

4. Florence and the Machine, Lungs
Song: Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
Florence Welch gets compared to British singers like Lily Allen or Amy Winehouse, but her lyrics are more interesting and real, her songs are catchier and her voice destroys me. Two songs in and Lungs became a favorite.

3. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
Song: Middle Cyclone
Another redhead with a voice, but so much more, Neko Case this year outdid her previous solid records by a good margin. Known for her voice and classic country sound, Middle Cyclone is first and foremost an album of great songwriting and lyrics that make you want to laugh and then cry. Not to mention two perfectly obscure covers that will no doubt create a slew of new Sparks and Harry Nilsson fans.

2. Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Song: Shampoo (mp3)
What a fun, backwoods carnival of an album this is. The son of the tortured talent Anthony Perkins, yet another Elvis in my iTunes is more than welcome. His vocals drive the album like the carnival’s barker, but the lyrics tell a darker story than the bouncing horns and upbeat melodies would have you believe. I love Dresden and Doomsday and Shampoo. I love it all. [Props to Eric Swedlund at CatfishVegas for introducing me to some great music this year, including this. Check out his Top 10 list in the Tucson Weekly and his blog!]

1. Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career
Song: Sweetest Thing (mp3)
Female vocalists rule the year! Gender aside, My Maudlin Career has an timeless, dreamy sound that swings from country blues to cinematic strings to a torchy lounge act. The vocals are beautiful and unique, with Tracyanne Campbell’s unmasked Scottish accent making me smile every fifth word. Deep layers of sound and reverb make her voice sound like it’s coming back at you from a dream. The lyrics are cynical and playful, and pretty dark here and there. Not expert, but engaging storytelling in each song, and you can feel yourself falling in lust, love and despair one after another. The backdrop of My Maudlin Career is a cold and foggy night, but the foreground is warm, playful and endearing. It’s a special album, and one that I’ve not let out of reach since I heard it.