Top 10 Albums of 2009

Alright. New Year, new music. 2009 was an amazing year for music. Here I shall count down my top 10 favourite albums of 2009. Maybe next time I'll do top ten songs. Without further ado...

10. Noble Beast- Andrew Bird: If you have the deluxe version you know why. Bird's catchy melodies, poetic lyrics, and beautiful instrumentation (I have a thing for violins) make this double album one of my favourites of 2009.
9. Fantasies- Metric: Fantasies was a highly anticipated album from Metric after a four year hiatus. The band's sound remains firmly rooted in high energy indie pop. A solid return gives Metric the number 9 spot on my list.
8. Family- Think About Life: One of my favourite albums to dance to in 2009, seeing them live was also an awesome experience. They put on a great show that was highly theatrical and had everyone dancing.7. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix- Phoenix: I love Phoenix. One of France's greatest exports musically Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix built on what It's Never Been Like That started: well-crafted and catchy as hell songs that you want stuck in your head.
6. It's Blitz- Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Is Is was not sufficient enough; the more I listen to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the more I want to listen to them. That being said, It's Blitz was awesome.
5. Popular Songs- Yo La Tengo: Yo La Tengo has been around for decades and are still making amazing music. Popular Songs embodies the characteristics that make them so great. A plethora of musical stylings ranging from pop, funk, blues, shoe-gaze, and a lot in between creates an interestingly diverse album.
4. Bitte Orca- Dirty Projectors: I cannot possibly fathom how the Dirty Projectors write their music. It is so calculated and complex that all you can do is listen in awe. Bitte Orca is surrealy beautiful.
3. Logos- Atlas Sound: Bradford Cox's solo project is just as delicious as Deerhunter. It's a newer release but with songs like Criminals, Kid Klimax, and Walkabout I just keep liking it more and more the more I listen to it.2. Veckatimest- Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest was easily the most beautiful album of 2009.
1. Merriweather Post Pavilion- Animal Collective: It was almost a year ago since the release of Merriweather. I almost overlooked it because of this, but then I considered how many times I listened to it on repeat, and had to make it number 1.

Long Overdue Andrew Bird Review

Noble Beast, Andrew Bird's latest has been out for three weeks, so I figured it's about time for a review. It's taken me a while to gather my thoughts about this album because quite frankly it's nothing new. Now, for Andrew Bird that's not a bad thing.
Bird's style is very consistent. His seven other albums (not including the live Fingerlings series) demonstrate a range of upbeat to mellow songs, beautiful instrumentation (I love baroque pop), and brilliant lyrics. In all of this, his albums still each have different feels. Armchair Apocrypha (most recent release until Noble Beast) is very much a political album. Noble Beast diverges somewhat from the political aspects of Apocrypha, it is a little more personal full of stories and references as seen in this verse from the song Tenuous:

Tenuous at best was all he had to say when pressed about the rest of it,
the world that is
from proto-Sanskrit Minoans to porto-centric Lisboans
Greek Cypriots and and Hobis-hots
Who hang around in ports a lot

Noble Beast is not a departure from Bird's previous albums, but I don't want it to be. Too many artists try to do things completely different and fail, they forget what made them so good in the first place. Bird manages to explore musically while maintaining consistency in style.

If you can, listen to the deluxe album, Useless Creatures is an album in itself. It is wholly instrumental, and totally breathtaking. It's also great to study to. If you've never listened to Andrew Bird, what are you waiting for?

2009 Looking Good

It's the fourth week of 2009 and we've already seen releases from such awesome artists as: A.C. Newman (of the New Pornographers), ANDREW BIRD (more about that sometime soon), Animal Collective, Antony and the Johnsons, and Bon Iver. So far these albums have all been pretttttty good. This leaves me with one theory, 2009 is going to be an awesome year for music.

What follows is a list of some artists with expected releases coming to a record store that I am particularly excited for click here for a larger list off of last.fm, that I have used to supplement my own knowledge of SOME upcoming releases (mainly consisting of the alternative/indie-whatsit genre)

FEB 02 - Ben Kweller - Changing Horses
FEB 17 - Beirut - March of the Zapotec (double EP)
MAR 10 - Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows
MAR 16 - Pete Doherty - Grace/Wastelands
MAR 24 - The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
MAR 31 - Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
MAR 31 - Peter, Bjorn & John - Living Thing
APR 14- Metric - Fantasies


Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Patrick Wolf - Battle
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
Maxïmo Park - Rollerdisco Of Dreams (working title)
Kings of Convenience - (title TBA)
Muse - (title TBA)
The Strokes - (title TBA)
The White Stripes - (title TBA)
Wilco - (title TBA)
The Flaming Lips - (title TBA)
Sufjan Stevens - (title TBA)
Arctic Monkeys - (title TBA)
The Wombats - (title TBA)
The National - (title TBA)
Shout Out Louds - (title TBA)
The Shins - (title TBA)
Modest Mouse - (title TBA)
Broken Social Scene - (title TBA)
Ted Leo and The Pharmacists - (title TBA)
The Arcade Fire - (title TBA)
Klaxons - (title TBA)

The aforementioned journal entry I found this list on also states rumours of... wait for it.... wait for it Jeff Mangum / Neutral Milk Hotel WHAT?! HOW?! Man... if that turns out to be true, well that's just plain HISTORIC.


All I can say is... WOW. This year could totally beat '07 for awesome releases of bands I know and love. I mean, 2008 was a fairly good year for music, but most of the releasing came from new bands (think Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, MGMT, The Dodo's, Plants and Animals, etc.), it was a year of discovery. If new bands keep it up, and the bands listed put out some awesome albums... then... even making a top 100 releases of 2009 could be difficult.