10. WAVVES "Wavvves"
10. WAVVES-Wavvves: On the overall strength of the record, WAVVES doesn’t deserve to be in the top 10. As with old ANIMAL COLLECTIVE albums, it almost seems at times like Nathan Williams doesn’t give a fuck about the listener. Half the album is miserable, comprised of walls of distorted noise completely void of melody that seem to be void of structure. For instance, More Fur may be the worst song to make it into a top-10 collection ever. But the other half of the record is jaw dropping. Like with the Chillwave/Glo-fi movement, WAVVES is in the midst of another trend, the distorted reverbed out Lo-fi Beach Punk movement. Nathan Williams’ sound is probably second only to ANIMAL COLLECTIVE in its uniqueness. This sound seems to have come out of nowhere. No Hope Kids and So Bored were easily two of the best tracks of 2009. And if you fell for those, how could you not love Beach Demon, Gun in the Sun and Summer Goth?! These songs are so dark and full of despair, and yet you want them inside your head. It will definitely, at the very least, leave your brain more well rounded to have these tunes bouncing around with those GRIZZLY BEAR and GIRLS tracks, and all that other stuff everybody else loved in ‘09.
10. GIRLS "Album"
10. GIRLS-Album: Album is perfect tied at 10 with Wavvves. The records are so similar in a weird way. Both are centered on ultra cool bros dominating the focus of what are essentially 2-bro bands. Both have a really surfy feel to their shit but in totally different ways. If I’m throwing a beach party, I’m either playing NEON INDIAN and WASHED OUT or I’m playing WAVVES and GIRLS. If WASHED OUT stepped out of a time machine from the 1980s, GIRLS stepped out of the 60s. I guess you can attribute the constant cool beach push behind these fellas to the fact that they’re both from California. WAVVES is from San Diego and GIRLS are from San Francisco. Christopher Owens, the lead singer of GIRLS, is a little upset about some shit and it shows. He definitely vents more verbosely than Nate Williams of WAVVES. But it seems like Chris has more hope than Nate. At the very least, he speaks more about his feelings so we get a larger window into his soul. From the beginning of this album Owens sets the stage. “I wish I had a beach house and we could make a big fire every night. Instead I’m just crazy, I’m totally mad.” Don’t we all? And aren’t we all?
Listen to GIRLS: Lust For Life
9. WASHED OUT "Life of Leisure"
9. WASHED OUT-Life of Leisure: The only EP of the bunch. This album is straight gorgeous. Sounds like a sunset on a crystal clear beach with a soft breeze and some weed. It’s a nice little dance album, really, and because of the dead, lazy beat, it’s getting lumped into the Chillwave/Glo-fi movement. But it really sounds more like Bliss Pop. WASHED OUT is this guy Ernest Greene who came out of nowhere, making moves in a bedroom in his parents’ house. On a peach farm. Feel it All Around is arguably the track of the year. It makes me want to strap on a snorkel and check out a coral reef. Obviously the 80s has been influencing dance music since basically the 80s, but this is the stuff of time machines. Sun-drenched vocals floating around in a background haze while thumping lazy bass lines drive the bliss forward. New Theory is another phenomenal track. It’s like the perfect complement album to NEON INDIAN’s freshman release. If Psychic Chasms is a go in the ocean, Life of Leisure is the nap in the sun.
Listen to WASHED OUT: Feel it All Around
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8. JAPANDROIDS "Post-Nothing"
8. JAPANDROIDS-Post-Nothing: This album might not be quite as raw as Wavvves, but it’s still real raw, and better than with WAVVES, JAPANDROIDS never fucks with the listener. Every song will find a lover in at least one listener. Every song is poppy and catchy and that’s deliberate. If you fall for this album, you fall for the whole thing. And that’s awesome. There’s nothing not to love here. Sovereignty is right there with So Bored as my favorite rock track of the year. “It’s raining in Vancouver, but I don’t give a fuck, cuz I’m in love with you tonight.” How can you not not give a fuck also?! That’s this album. You just become bros with these bros. Post-Nothing is a collection of rough-strewn rock anthems. That basically sums it up pretty perfectly; I’ll just leave it at that.
Listen to JAPANDROIDS: Young Hearts Spark Fire
7. JAY-Z "The Blueprint 3"
7. JAY-Z-The Blueprint III: I get a lot of heat for this pick; people say it’s not his best work. I’ll give y’all the line I give everyone: if Babe Ruth hits 50 home runs in a season, then hits 49 home runs the next season, you still gotta give him that good respect. Empire State of Mind, Run this Town, A Star is Born, Already Home, On to the Next One. Nuff said. Jigga.
Listen to JAY-Z: New York State of Mind
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6. DISCOVERY "LP"
6. DISCOVERY-LP: I’m really conflicted with this album because it may very well be my favorite of the year. It’s not higher on this list for a few reasons. One, some of the material is not original for the album; it appears they used at least some of Wes Miles’ work with RA RA RIOT. Another reason is that the energy of the album is not consistent, and unless Rostam Batmanglij did not intend for this to be a dance record, which he may not have, it doesn’t keep the party moving. I’ve tried to drop this LP at a dance party and it didn’t sustain (certainly not like Psychic Chasms, which can just play on a loop). That said, Orange Shirt and It’s Not My Fault (It’s My Fault) were probably 1 and 2 on my iPhone’s Top 25 Most Played songs from this summer. Despite the success of VAMPIRE WEEKEND, I see LP as Batmanglij’s coming out party. He, at least to me, came out of nowhere as a glitched-out, catchy as all hell electro pop powerhouse. He might be the best producer in the world right now (it’s him or Alan Palomo; indie pop’s Kobe and LeBron. Ethan Kath of CRYSTAL CASTLES would then be Dwyane Wade). Just listen to the tempo changes he employs in So Insane. So insane.
Listen to DISCOVERY: Orange Shirt
5. THE XX "XX"
5. THE XX-XX: This is the best make-out/sex-have album around, and that it came from a bunch of 19 year olds is unexpected. But that’s just what it is and it’s as authentic as it gets. It almost sounds like someone took all the quintessential R&B classics, shoved them into a meat grinder with young hip indie rock and out came THE XX. I really don’t know what else to say about them. The album doesn’t have a clear hit on it. Maybe Crystallized or Basic Space. But you end up loving it all. Hell, you love it all right away. This is the first step into the story of THE XX, a painfully unique act that has such wet wings at age 19 that we can’t help but expect to be awed in the near future.
Listen to THE XX: Basic Space
4. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE "Merriweather Post Pavilion"
4. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE-Merriweather Post Pavilion: I say it over and over again, if ANIMAL COLLECTIVE wanted to, they could make the best album ever. Imagine 10 My Girls in a row. Done. History. As it stands, sure, they’ve gotten wayyyy poppier on this album than ever before, but there are still holes. For instance, sure, My Girls is by far the best track of the year. By far. Not even close. I remember the first time I heard it I was vacuuming and a huge smile popped onto my face. I played it on repeat maybe 20 times that Saturday. That song is out of place on the album because of it’s perfect pop structure. Brother Sport is incredible. Guys Eyes is incredible. I’m just still waiting to see what they’re gonna do, or if they’re gonna do it, in terms of making 10 perfect songs, like they are fully capable of doing. Unfortunately their precedent has set an insanely high bar. But this step into the pop realm has been huge for AC. Huge. Huge for us.
Listen to ANIMAL COLLECTIVE: My Girls
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3. BOAT "Setting the Paces"
3. BOAT-Setting the Paces: It upsets me that this album has been left off every 2009 TOP-50 list I’ve come across. It’s pathetic. Setting the Paces is to 2009 what SURFER BLOOD‘s Astro Coast will be to 2010; what WEEZER’s Blue Album was to 1994: that catchy fun pop album that doesn’t need to have it’s merits debated; that is just straight good. That’s what BOAT has done here, they just made a catchy-ass pop album with pretty interesting song arrangements. There aren’t nearly as many hits on this record as with the NEON INDIAN and PHOENIX releases, but what there are, a lot like with the new ANIMAL COLLECTIVE album, are many moments where you just find yourself hooked-in. Nearly half these songs end with on-repeat sing-at-the-top-of-your-lungs anthems. BOAT is another band that’s been around for a bit, but like PHOENIX, they changed the game with their ’09 release and found a way to get into our heads and stay there. Early-WEEZER’s influence is all over this record. It’s a great straight-through listen. This year had an amazing top-3 in that you could really play the records in their entirety and never feel the need to fast forward. None of the other records in the top-10 can boast that, not even THE XX or DISCOVERY.
Listen to BOAT: Lately (I’ve Been on My Back) (live)
2. PHOENIX "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
2. PHOENIX-Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix: This was the clear-cut challenger for 2009′s throne. It could easily have gone the way of PHOENIX, but ultimately NEON INDIAN won the day because along with making a near-perfect record, as PHOENIX also did with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Alan Palomo brought something fresh and new to the table. PHOENIX has been around the block, but they did something few expected of them: they made perhaps the best pop rock record of the past 5 years; perhaps even of the decade. There hasn’t been an accessible pop-rock record this good, with this many hits, in as long as I can remember. The last album I can think of is, again, WEEZER’ Blue Album, though there are few-to-no similarities between the bands. THE STROKES‘ Is This It? also comes to mind as an album filled with hits (I don’t mean radio hits), but that’s not really pop rock. W.A.P. is as close to perfect as a pop album can get. Nearly every song sounds and reads like a hit. There’s heartbreak, there’s joy, and it all gets stuck in your head like a hook. 1901, Lisztomania, Armistice, Rome, Lasso, Fences, Countdown, Girlfriend…that’s basically the whole album right there and it’s all better than anything you’ll hear on the radio. The melodies are incredibly infectious. Like with Psychic Chasms, it doesn’t take very long to get hooked; these songs don’t have to “grow on you.” Everyone will love this album. Anybody who hears it will love it. Even moms and dads. That’s very rare.
Get PHOENIX Wofgang Amadeus Phoenix
Alan Palomo of NEON INDIAN
1. NEON INDIAN "Psychic Chasms"
1. NEON INDIAN-Psychic Chasms: Alan Palomo (VEGA; GHOSTHUSTLER) put together the sexiest dance record of the year (all time?) with Psychic Chasms. This is the music I want to see girls dance to. The album infects your hips from start-to-finish with short, catchy electro-pop songs. This is the rare album where you never have to skip to the next song. There are 12 unique, distinct pop songs powered by too-cool-for-school lazy digital dance beats and hazy sun-drenched vocals. For a shade over 30 minutes, this LP is near perfect. Deadbeat Summer is probably the best track from the record, only because it’s the one everybody immediately loves. But 6669 (I don’t know if you know), Psychic Chasms, Local Joke, Should Have Taken Acid With You and Mind Drips are all instant classics. NEON INDIAN headlines the new Chillwave or Glo-fi genre. Awfully named. Other artists in the movement include WASHED OUT (Ernest Greene) and MEMORY TAPES (Dayve Hawk). Both are phenomenal producers, but neither has figured out how to get an ass to move quite like Alan Palomo. And what’s most impressive is that Palomo and guitarist Ronnie Gierhart have found a way to keep that ass moving for 30 straight minutes. You need only go as far as their next live show to see what this all boils down to. There isn’t a moment of bad NEON INDIAN yet (remixes aside). The future looks very neon.
Listen to NEON INDIAN: Deadbeat Summer
Get NEON INDIAN Psychic Chasms
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