The Definitive Top Albums of 2009

by Jason Hicks

Well kids it's that time of year again where I tell you what the best albums of the year were, definitively.  Since this year I also had to come up with a best of the decade too, I'm a bit sapped creatively so let's just go ahead and do this:

10. Volcano Choir- Unmap

A side project from Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Volcano Choir has a much more experimental bent than Vernon's other band.  There is still a healthy folk quotient, but along side Vernon's crooning vocals and acoustic guitar there are also abundant electronic beeps and abstract loops.  Some tracks are a bit too left field for their own good and at a scant 35 minute running time Unmap can't really afford to accommodate throwaways, but when it gets it right, it delivers impressionistic beauty like few other albums in recent memory.

9. Mos Def- The Ecstatic

Mos Def has long been known as one of the most prominent purveyors of so-called "conscious" hip hop that is known for its more intellectual and positive lyrics.  However, over his last couple of albums the spark had seemed to have gone out for Mos Def, who seemed more concerned with his acting career and delivering marginal albums in order to fulfill his contract.  Thankfully his passion for creating great hip hop has returned and is on full display on The Ecstatic.  Musically it's pretty diverse packing in Bollywood style strings, '70s style rock guitars, uptempo dance beats and guest spots from Slick Rick and Talib Kweli.  Most importantly when he says "We live in amazing times" on "Life in Marvelous Times" he sounds like he really means it.

8. Jim O'Rourke- The Visitor

Jim O'Rourke has played a key role in sustaining the vitality of two of the elder statesmen of alternative rock throughout this decade by briefly joining both Wilco and Sonic Youth.  He's also put out an enormous body of work ranging from experimental electronic music to the gorgeous pop melodies of Eureka and Insignificance.  His latest, The Visitor, shares the melodic qualities of those two albums, but comes in the form of a single instrumental 38 minute track.  As such it's fairly indescribable, but it's main theme is folky Americana with plenty of acoustic guitar and banjo, but also contains vaguely jazz-ish horns, big rock electric guitars and piano passages that show a modern classical influence.  Through it all it stays incredibly focused and somehow doesn't feel long winded or self indulgent.  Whatever type of music you want to call it, it makes for a great listen.

7. Atlas Sound- Logos

Bradford Cox has been making dreamy noise rock with Deerhunter for a few years now, but when that group took a break in 2007, Cox fired up a solo career with the Atlas Sound project.  His second album under that name, Logos, has the same psychedelic swirl as Deerhunter but feels a lot less dissonant and aggressive yet at the same time seeming a bit more disjointed, although that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Perhaps a better way to characterize it would be to say that Atlas Sound is more far ranging, including more electronica style production and utilizing some very high profile guests excellently when Animal Collective's Panda Bear and Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier show up.  With or without Deerhunter it's clear that Cox is one of the indie rock songwriters to watch.

6. Years- Years

Years is the solo project by Do Make Say Think's guitarist Ohad Benchetrit and on one level it's a more compact version of that band's brand of post-rock.  But there's also a sleek and concise quality to Years that can't quite be captured in a group dynamic, and it has the intimate quality of a solo album as well. Many of the tracks like "Don't Let the Blind Go Deaf" are nothing more than multitracked acoustic guitar, which gives the album more of a rootsy feel than the usual post-rock fare.  On other tracks electronic sounds dominate with plenty of loops, skittering beats and stactic-y digital sounds, but the songs retain an organic warmth.  A great example is "Are You Unloved?" which consists of some chopped up acoustic guitar, electric guitar swells, horns, and beats.  Even though the vast majority of the sounds have been heavily processed, the track still manages to avoid a sterile feeling and the end result is something much more impassioned than your typical digitally produced music.  With its folky qualities and coziness, Years manages to carve out a bit of a unique sound that's both fresh and highly enjoyable.

5. Passion Pit- Manners

Sometimes you just need an album that's easy to dance to and fun.  In 2009 Passion Pit's Manners was that album.  Sure singer Michal Angelakos is a bit of an acquired taste and using a chorus of kids to sing stuff like "Higher and higher" is kind of cliche, but you throw in a chugging beat and some sublimely funky '80s synths and it makes people smile and moves their feet.  That's not to say that Manners is completely one dimensional.  There are some tunes that have a bit more depth than pure functionalist dance tracks, such as on the reflective "Swimming in the Flood" and the Modest Mouse meets the Cure on steroids groove of "Moth's Wings".  But it's the infectious positive energy that Passion Pit delivers on tracks like "Sleepyhead" and "Little Secrets" that really gave us what we craved during this somewhat turbulent year. 

4. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse- Dark Night of the Soul

When the collaboration between renowned producer and Gnarls Barkley member Brian Burton a.k.a. Danger Mouse and indie rocker Mark Linkous a.k.a Sparklehorse was announced I was instantly intrigued to hear it.  However for this album, which also involves photos by director David Lynch, Linkous does not sing as he usually does for Sparklehorse, instead there is nearly a different guest vocalist for each track.  Among them are the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, Black Francis, The Shin's James Mercer and Vic Chesnutt.  Unfortunately a nasty dispute with EMI prevented the official release of the album, probably because getting clearances for so many guest singers from different labels proved to be cost prohibitive.  But a trivial disagreement with a label wasn't going to deter the likes of Danger Mouse.  So instead of the actual album you can purchase either the book or a poster and included will be a "custom" blank CD-R, an implicit encouragement to download the leaked copy.  Going though unconventional means to ensure that this music was heard is commendable, because Linkous' songwriting is at its height here.  Even though each song's singer no doubt colors the tunes differently, the strong pop instincts of Linkous forges a bond that connects the tracks. 

3. The Flaming Lips- Embryonic

The Flaming Lips have been one of the premiere psychedelic freak out bands for quite some time now, but after 2006's unveven At War With the Mystics they appeared to be potentially tapped out creatively and headed for goofy novelty status.  Which is precisely why this abstract and deeply strange record represents such a pleasant surprise.  The album's seventy minute running time provides quite a bit of material to digest as singer Wayne Coyne warbles under swaths of reverb while eerie synth sounds hover and collide with pounding drums and distorted guitars, making for quite a noisy listen.  Another factor that makes it a somewhat challenging record is the complete lack of pop songs throughout the proceedings.  In fact, nearly a quarter of the songs here are instrumental and on others like "Worm Mountain" and "The Impulse" the vocals are so heavily buried by effects that they are given no more weight than the other instruments that they jaggedly bump up against.  Lyrically, some themes begin to emerge in the churning sonic soup after a few listens, most conspicuously the nature of evil and how we should properly react to its presence in our lives.  When a voice intones during "Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast" repeatedly that "this is the beginning" it neatly sums up the Lips' glass-is-half-full philosophy. As long as there are those who remain on the quest for enlightened consciousness like the Flaming Lips, there is still hope that an unseen new chapter awaits us just beyond the horizon.

2. Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear's third album Veckatimest was without a doubt one of the most anticipated releases of the year, building off the momentum that they had gained with their well crafted 2006 release Yellow House.  Yellow House still gives it a run for the money, but Veckatimest is a leap forward in terms of ambition and attention to detail.   While previously the band primarily relied on songwriting and simple melody, this time around Grizzly Bear has given us an album of stunning intricacy laced with lush arrangements and interesting production choices.  Take the epic album opener "Southern Point", it starts out as a muted hymn of acoustic guitar, bass, drums and keyboard.  However by its end it has swollen to an undulating stew that includes flutes, banjo, backwards cymbals, a string quartet and wah guitar leads all intertwining and darting in and out of the mix. On the whole Grizzly Bear are fairly restrained, usually going for rococo sophistication over intensity.  But while their music can lack brawn, they have indeed mastered the ability to pack quite a bit of passion and density within their formula.  Even though their songs have a tendency to take the indirect route to express their ideas, more often than not the payoff that they provide makes the journey one that is worth taking.

1.  Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion

The other enormously hyped indie album of the year, Merriweather Post Pavilion delivers thrills in spades and undoubtedly stands tall as a classic.  The best tunes on the album like "My Girls" and "Summertime Clothes" have catchy choruses resembling hooks, but there's still plenty of patented Animal Collective eccentricity on display, from the piercing synth organ on "Daily Routine" to vocals layered to the point of unintelligibility on many tracks. The shadow of vocalist/guitarist Panda Bear's acclaimed 2007 album Person Pitch looms large, as the Brian Wilson vibe that permeated that record runs strong here too.  In particular the lullaby-like "No More Runnin" sounds a bit like the Beach Boys classic "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" seen through a 21st century prism.  Another notable theme is the use of African rhythms and afropop style melodies, which reaches its apex with the dazzling album closer "Brother Sport", which should serve as an example to the overrated Vampire Weekend on how to turn afropop into true indie rock brilliance.  Much of the album's palette is solely electronic sounds and voices, with guitars and pianos cropping up, at least at perceivable volumes, only occasionally.  By taking chirping keyboard sounds, chugging synths and managing to come up with songs that could be called "poppy" or at the very least melodic, Merriweather is a genuine achievement.  Only time will tell, but if Animal Collective do manage to increase their sphere of influence, which is already considerable in certain music circles, Merriweather could end up being one of those records that plays a role in the progression of music as a whole by redefining what can fit within the confines of popular music.