It's that time of year when everybody and their uncle puts out Best-Of lists, thinking they're so creative for coming up with an arbitrary, subjective ranking of whatever it was they managed to experience in the past 12 months. And, I'm no exception. Overall, it was a relatively weak year for new music. Nevertheless, with no further ado, here's my Top 25 Best Albums List of 2009!
25. Jason Lytle, Yours Truly, The Commuter: As close as we're going to get to new Grandaddy.
24. Spinnerette, Spinnerette (review here): As close as we're going to get to new Distillers.
23. Dead Weather, Horehound: Can't remember the last time a "super group" put out a solid album.
22. Manchester Orchestra, Mean Everything to Nothing: Overwrought, but there's some gems here.
21. Metric, Fantasies: Oh the ear worm!
20. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix: Overrated, as their earlier material was far better, but nice to see some recognition.
19. Silversun Pickups, Swoon: I make no apologies for being a massive SP fan. This album rocks.
18. White Rabbits, It's Frightening: A disappointment compared to the prior release, but it's still well above average.
17. Wavves, Wavves: The lo-fi is played out, but there is beauty amidst the sludge.
16. Lilly Allen, It's Not You It's Me: What was most surprising about this album was after listening to it once I didn't hate it. The more I listened, the more I got sucked in. It's not high art, but there's some artistry at play.
15. Lamb of God, Wrath: Best death metal album of the year.
14. Julian Plenti, ...Is Skyscraper (review here)
13. Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca: Unlike earlier DP albums, you can actually listen to this one! It's always good to hear prog go mainstream, and when it works like this does, it's truly notable.
12. Art Brut, Art Brut vs. Satan: Always a better live band, AB nevertheless put together a highly listenable, themed album with some punch.
11. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion: The only AC album I can tolerate, which says a lot.
10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It's Blitz!: The weakest YYY album of the last several, but it's still a YYY album, so how can it be bad? Let's just hope they don't continue to advance the dance theme further.
9. Beirut, March of the Zapotec: A deceptively catchy album that is typically off-the-wall Beirut and also heart wrenchingly beautiful.
8. The Bird and The Bee, Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future: A sultry, breathy album of mid-tempo pop that manages to effectively combine beauty, skill, and enjoyment. An extremely rare feat.
7. Eagle and Talon, Thracian (review here): Oh man is this good. I mean, really really good. There's nothing as good as stumbling across an unknown commodity and it turning out to be a rare gem. This is this year's High Places (not in terms of style, but in terms of quality), who I also absolutely adore.
6. Japandroids, Post-Nothing: Lots of ink has been spilled about this album across the blogosphere, but thankfully it's all true. One of the stellar debuts of the year that has garnered repeat listening, and deserves even more.
5. Ida Maria, Fortress 'Round My Heart: The girl rawk that Vivian Girls only wishes it could make.
4. Stellastarr*, Civilized: For a band that has only occasionally been brilliant, they release their most solid record to date. Every track is strong, catchy, and skillfully mastered.
3. Mastodon, Crack the Skye: mainstream metal goes more mainstream/crossover, but the chops and songcraft have never been better.
2. Cymbals Eat Guitars, Why There Are Mountains: You can't help but be sucked into this album from the very opening note. Sure, there is inevitable filler at times, but easily among the strongest debut albums - top to bottom - creatively and interestingly in years.
1. XX, xx (review here): This band is as equally likely to burn out and never be heard from again as it is to be a breakout star for many years to come. The only headphone album this year that gets better with repeated listen. A subtile yet powerful masterpiece debut. Here's to hoping for more to come.
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