Top Ten of 2009
I've been posting pretty sporadically, but one of the things I missed doing, and one of the things that crocodile tells me he missed, was my top 10 albums of the year list. So I figured I'd get one together, belatedly. These are my 10 favorite CDs of 2009. Same rules apply, as always: it's MY favorite CDs list, not anyone else's. Honestly, I don't know how someone who doesn't work for Rolling Stone could possibly make a value judgement on the best CDs of 2009, with all the possibilities out there. In addition, I included a number of CDs that were actually released in 2008, but for whatever reason I didn't actually acquire and listen to them until 2009.
Previous years:
2008
2007
2006
10. Brand New - Daisy, 2009
Favorite track: At The Bottom
Brand New, from 2006 to 2008, became one of my favorite bands of all time, having Deja Entendu and The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me played on near-infinite repeat over those two years. I suppose the boys figured they’d mined all the fertile ground they could muster from their brooding, adult-oriented emo-rock, and went in a new direction into that of noise rock, leaning more towards the punkish with some screaming reminiscent of alternative metal used heavily in Daisy. It was hard to like, honestly, but I gave it a few listens and found some gems under all the noise. It’s still a good album to give a whirl when you’re angry and frustrated, but nothing I could hold up on a pedestal like their previous two albums.
9. Silversun Pickups - Swoon, 2009
Favorite track: The Royal We
Go look these guys up on any review site, and you’ll see a brutal savaging of Silversun Pickups fraught with accusations of being a boring Smashing Pumpkins ripoff. I don’t hear that too much, honestly - but that might convince me to go give some of the Pumpkins’ back catalog a closer listen now. Some of the songs tend to meld into one another if you’re not giving a careful listen, but it’s a much improved effort on Carnavas, and the highs are especially high - when they go all out, and push a song over the top, it’s a thing of beauty. The Royal We may be my favorite song of 2009.
8. Paramore - Brand New Eyes, 2009
Favorite track: Decode
A solid, more mature album from the Paramore guys. The singles I like moreso than I did the previous album, Riot!, and the album is great for a good five songs before trailing off. The two slow songs seem to be done just because “that’s what you’re supposed to do,” and seem forced and cloying. The album gets a boost because of the inclusion of the Twilight song, Decode, which was great of them to include at the end of this CD.
7. Passion Pit - Manners, 2009
Favorite track: Little Secrets
Finally, I seem to be agreeing with some mainstream indie sites, who put Passion Pit’s debut in many of their top 10 lists. The marriage of electronic music and rock is shown off wonderfully here by Passion Pit, who reel off an album full of very interesting, melodic music. Little Secrets nails my car-stereo test - that song makes me want to roll down my windows and crank it up as loud as I can to share with as many people as I can. However, the album suffers both from a surplus of great music this year and the fact that many songs are interesting, but not easily imprinted, so the earworms are few and I never often felt myself wanting to put the album on very frequently.
6. Modest Mouse - No One’s First And You’re Next, 2009
Favorite track: King Rat
In a first for the 4 years I’ve compiled a top 10 list, an EP cracks the list - and not only that, but an EP full of B-sides that reaches all the way to #6. This one is songs left on the cutting floor from the previous two albums, and it goes to show how much I like Modest Mouse that even an EP can get numerous replays on my CD player. I love just about every song on here except History Sticks to Your Feet, which reminds me a little too much of their other song Invisible. King Rat, in particular, embodies the frenetic, kitchen-sink sort of music I love from Modest Mouse, with Isaac at points struggling to scream the critical, near-incomprehensible lyrics over the strangely melodic cacophony he’s assembled. About all the bad you can say about this album is that it’s too jumbled, there’s nothing to hold it all together, just a cut of tracks bouncing from one to the next.
5. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, 2009
Favorite track: Listzomania
One of the benefits to putting off this list for a while was being able to rethink what I actually listened to in 2009. Originally, I had slotted Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix in my #1 slot, perhaps submitting to the perceived pressure of many critics who had done likewise. Phoenix is probably the best electronic-guitar-rock band around, and this was certainly one of the best albums of 2009, but the fact is I just didn’t listen to the CD very much. It was very chill and yet catchy at the same time, and solid from start to finish, but for whatever reason, like Passion Pit, I just didn’t pop it in all that often.
4. fun. - Aim & Ignite, 2009
Favorite track: Be Calm
Ah, fun., product of another of my random deep-underground loves, much like Jesus H Christ. fun. came from the ruins of one of my favorite kitchen-sink rock bands, The Format, and Nate hasn’t lost what I love about him. Gone is the circus music, but brought in instead is the multi-instrumental ideology of Roger Manning, Jr., leading to.. a lot of rock with a lot going on at the same time. Heck, the album opens with a track about being calm that is absolutely not calm whatsoever. They often reach back into sunny rock roots like the Beach Boys and put their own spin on it. It’s the ultimate feel-good album of 2009.
3. Say Anything - Say Anything, 2009
Favorite track: Do Better
As for the ultimate not-feel-good album of 2009, we’d have to go to Say Anything, and their reliable dose of self-put-downs, cynicism, and venom. But Max is happily married now, and the venom is dialed down somewhat, and instead the self-put-downs seem amplified. Musically, Max seems to turn his cynicism on the structure of his music itself; taking pop clichés and forcing handclaps into bitter songs calling people losers and beautiful piano regaling us with an indictment on organized religion. This album is as great to spit out as it is to sing, right up until Mara & Me segues the album into some truly heartfelt and beautiful songs of love and his unworthiness to receive the luck that he did.
2. Fall Out Boy - Folie à Deux, 2008
Favorite track: What A Catch, Donnie
I always felt like I should be able to get into Fall Out Boy more, but I’ve never been able to get into their dramatics and histrionics as much as I wanted to, as much fun as their songs were, as melodic and upbeat as they could be. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for Fall Out Boy’s placement on this silly list, I had a rather difficult 2008, rising them farther up the chart than they would otherwise. During some of my harder times I would listen to this album multiple times a day. It’s sad, yeah, but singing along to “Boycott love!” felt cathartic, and it was what I needed at the time. Maybe now I can reach into their back catalog now and finally “get” some of their other music. Or maybe I’m not that juvenile still.
1. Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing, 2009
Favorite track: Shake It Out
This one was a surprise to me, but shouldn’t have been, considering how much I liked Brand New. Manchester Orchestra seems to like them as much as I do, and put out in 2009 what I consider to be the spiritual successor to Brand New’s The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. The writing isn’t nearly as opaque or well-done as Brand New, but the bitterness and anger is more palatable, the musical chops seem more well-thought-out and cohesive, and Andy Hull’s unique voice lends a strange yet powerful air to this album. Brooding yet catchy - this is an easy decision for my top album of 2009.
Previous years:
2008
2007
2006
10. Brand New - Daisy, 2009
Favorite track: At The Bottom
Brand New, from 2006 to 2008, became one of my favorite bands of all time, having Deja Entendu and The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me played on near-infinite repeat over those two years. I suppose the boys figured they’d mined all the fertile ground they could muster from their brooding, adult-oriented emo-rock, and went in a new direction into that of noise rock, leaning more towards the punkish with some screaming reminiscent of alternative metal used heavily in Daisy. It was hard to like, honestly, but I gave it a few listens and found some gems under all the noise. It’s still a good album to give a whirl when you’re angry and frustrated, but nothing I could hold up on a pedestal like their previous two albums.
9. Silversun Pickups - Swoon, 2009
Favorite track: The Royal We
Go look these guys up on any review site, and you’ll see a brutal savaging of Silversun Pickups fraught with accusations of being a boring Smashing Pumpkins ripoff. I don’t hear that too much, honestly - but that might convince me to go give some of the Pumpkins’ back catalog a closer listen now. Some of the songs tend to meld into one another if you’re not giving a careful listen, but it’s a much improved effort on Carnavas, and the highs are especially high - when they go all out, and push a song over the top, it’s a thing of beauty. The Royal We may be my favorite song of 2009.
8. Paramore - Brand New Eyes, 2009
Favorite track: Decode
A solid, more mature album from the Paramore guys. The singles I like moreso than I did the previous album, Riot!, and the album is great for a good five songs before trailing off. The two slow songs seem to be done just because “that’s what you’re supposed to do,” and seem forced and cloying. The album gets a boost because of the inclusion of the Twilight song, Decode, which was great of them to include at the end of this CD.
7. Passion Pit - Manners, 2009
Favorite track: Little Secrets
Finally, I seem to be agreeing with some mainstream indie sites, who put Passion Pit’s debut in many of their top 10 lists. The marriage of electronic music and rock is shown off wonderfully here by Passion Pit, who reel off an album full of very interesting, melodic music. Little Secrets nails my car-stereo test - that song makes me want to roll down my windows and crank it up as loud as I can to share with as many people as I can. However, the album suffers both from a surplus of great music this year and the fact that many songs are interesting, but not easily imprinted, so the earworms are few and I never often felt myself wanting to put the album on very frequently.
6. Modest Mouse - No One’s First And You’re Next, 2009
Favorite track: King Rat
In a first for the 4 years I’ve compiled a top 10 list, an EP cracks the list - and not only that, but an EP full of B-sides that reaches all the way to #6. This one is songs left on the cutting floor from the previous two albums, and it goes to show how much I like Modest Mouse that even an EP can get numerous replays on my CD player. I love just about every song on here except History Sticks to Your Feet, which reminds me a little too much of their other song Invisible. King Rat, in particular, embodies the frenetic, kitchen-sink sort of music I love from Modest Mouse, with Isaac at points struggling to scream the critical, near-incomprehensible lyrics over the strangely melodic cacophony he’s assembled. About all the bad you can say about this album is that it’s too jumbled, there’s nothing to hold it all together, just a cut of tracks bouncing from one to the next.
5. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, 2009
Favorite track: Listzomania
One of the benefits to putting off this list for a while was being able to rethink what I actually listened to in 2009. Originally, I had slotted Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix in my #1 slot, perhaps submitting to the perceived pressure of many critics who had done likewise. Phoenix is probably the best electronic-guitar-rock band around, and this was certainly one of the best albums of 2009, but the fact is I just didn’t listen to the CD very much. It was very chill and yet catchy at the same time, and solid from start to finish, but for whatever reason, like Passion Pit, I just didn’t pop it in all that often.
4. fun. - Aim & Ignite, 2009
Favorite track: Be Calm
Ah, fun., product of another of my random deep-underground loves, much like Jesus H Christ. fun. came from the ruins of one of my favorite kitchen-sink rock bands, The Format, and Nate hasn’t lost what I love about him. Gone is the circus music, but brought in instead is the multi-instrumental ideology of Roger Manning, Jr., leading to.. a lot of rock with a lot going on at the same time. Heck, the album opens with a track about being calm that is absolutely not calm whatsoever. They often reach back into sunny rock roots like the Beach Boys and put their own spin on it. It’s the ultimate feel-good album of 2009.
3. Say Anything - Say Anything, 2009
Favorite track: Do Better
As for the ultimate not-feel-good album of 2009, we’d have to go to Say Anything, and their reliable dose of self-put-downs, cynicism, and venom. But Max is happily married now, and the venom is dialed down somewhat, and instead the self-put-downs seem amplified. Musically, Max seems to turn his cynicism on the structure of his music itself; taking pop clichés and forcing handclaps into bitter songs calling people losers and beautiful piano regaling us with an indictment on organized religion. This album is as great to spit out as it is to sing, right up until Mara & Me segues the album into some truly heartfelt and beautiful songs of love and his unworthiness to receive the luck that he did.
2. Fall Out Boy - Folie à Deux, 2008
Favorite track: What A Catch, Donnie
I always felt like I should be able to get into Fall Out Boy more, but I’ve never been able to get into their dramatics and histrionics as much as I wanted to, as much fun as their songs were, as melodic and upbeat as they could be. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for Fall Out Boy’s placement on this silly list, I had a rather difficult 2008, rising them farther up the chart than they would otherwise. During some of my harder times I would listen to this album multiple times a day. It’s sad, yeah, but singing along to “Boycott love!” felt cathartic, and it was what I needed at the time. Maybe now I can reach into their back catalog now and finally “get” some of their other music. Or maybe I’m not that juvenile still.
1. Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing, 2009
Favorite track: Shake It Out
This one was a surprise to me, but shouldn’t have been, considering how much I liked Brand New. Manchester Orchestra seems to like them as much as I do, and put out in 2009 what I consider to be the spiritual successor to Brand New’s The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. The writing isn’t nearly as opaque or well-done as Brand New, but the bitterness and anger is more palatable, the musical chops seem more well-thought-out and cohesive, and Andy Hull’s unique voice lends a strange yet powerful air to this album. Brooding yet catchy - this is an easy decision for my top album of 2009.