11-20
After a strange interlude that saw someone post a very weird spam comment about cheap Nike shoes, we now return to our regularly scheduled countdown, already in progress...
20. Weezer - Raditude
Weezer's new album starts off promisingly enough - with a great title and an absolutely amazing cover photo. Based on their recent output, I expected that to be about the only good things to come from this release. What a pleasant surprise to find Weezer's most listenable album in a decade or more. There's still some big dumb rock, and the lyrical content isn't much better than we've come to expect, but the hooks have returned and the songwriting is as strong as anything they've done since Pinkerton. Make sure you pick up the two disc version, some of the bonus tracks (such as the effortlessly catchy "The Prettiest Girl In The Whole Wide World") are stronger than the actual album tracks.
19. Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years
After focusing on their pop songcraft on 2007's Hey Venus, the Furries return to the schizophrenic genre hopping fans have come to know and love. There's a little bit of everything on this album, and one is reminded of various albums and phases of their career, sometimes in the space of one song. Big hooks, big riffs, big beats, and big fun. Who could ask for anything more?
18. Third Eye Blind - Ursa Major
In the late 90's it was almost impossible to escape Third Eye Blind. Not that this was a bad thing, as their self titled debut album was one of the best pop releases of the decade. Most of the world lost interest soon after and they vanished from the public eye, returning for their first album in six years. The formula is still mostly intact, because why mess with what works? Big catchy rock riffs collide with heart-on-sleeve lyrics and create a number of memorable moments. They mix things up here and there, like on the acoustic pop of "One In Ten." Not every song works, and this is by no means a classic on the level of their debut or Blue, but this is still a fine album.
17. The Lemonheads - Varshons
This is the album we've all been waiting for. For years the Lemonheads have built a reputation for doing oddball cover songs in concert, and now they've finally taken the plunge and recorded an entire album of covers. There's a lot of alt-country and old timey honky tonk going on here, but also some psychedelic rock, breezy folk, and even a strange electro funk song. They cover everyone from Townes Van Zandt to Leonard Cohen to Wire, and pretty much every track works. However, Dando and company saved the best for last, closing the album with an absolutely brilliant take on Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" that blows the original completely out of the water. Good stuff, yo.
16. Chester French - Love The Future
I first heard these guys back in 2004 when they were a bunch of Harvard students and I was dating a girl who went to a summer program there. I fell in love with their debut EP, a mix of British Invasion style harmony, James Bond style funk, and quirky pop culture lyrics. They were courted by various labels and hob nobbed with big name rappers, and eventually got around to releasing this lovely little disc. They bounce around and try just about every pop style you can think of, intricately layering each song for maximum sweetness. Some of the tastiest ear candy to hit the shelves in 2009.
15. The Postmarks - Memoirs At The End Of The World
Do you like film noir? Do you like bossa nova? Do you like Hitchcock movies? Do you like female fronted pop bands that just make you feel good? My friend, the time has come to meet your new favorite band. The Postmarks play music that hearkens back to a simpler time, yet update it to fit our contemporary world. This is music best listened to while driving around San Francisco in an MG with the top down and a pair of Ray Bans on the top of your head. And I mean that in a good way.
14. U2 - No Line On The Horizon
After a decade of retreating from the experimental and avant garde tendencies that dominated their work in the 1990's, U2 return with an album as nonlinear as the title would suggest. There are shadows of Achtung Baby and Zooropa throughout this album, yet it stays firmly routed in the arena rock that made them one of the biggest bands of the decade. The title track, "Moment Of Surrender," and "Unknown Caller" rank among the best songs they've ever done. However, this feels like a stepping stone to a true sound evolution, with songs lie "Stand Up Comedy" and "Breathe" keeping this from being a truly great album. A huge leap in the right direction, one can't help but hope their next album stops pandering to the mainstream and follows the avant garde muse that took them to such dazzling heights in the past.
13. Capybara - Try Brother
Okay, let's get one thing straight. This is NOT a folk album. Not that there's anything wrong with folk, I'm just sick of reading reviews that claim so. Sure, there's plenty of acoustic guitar and banjo here, but there's also synthesizer, drum machine, loud rock guitars, layers of percussion, weird time and tempo changes, and bizarre arrangements. It would be much more accurate to say this is a quirky, innovative, playful indie rock album, and on that level it is an astounding success. Melodies weave in and out of clever chord progressions. Odd lyrics float over strange rhythms. Nearly every song takes a stylistic detour at some point in time. This is music that politely demands your attention and then rewards you greatly.
12. As Tall As Lions - You Can't Take It With you and Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing (tie)
So here we have it - the second ever tie in my rankings. For some reason I just can't seem to separate these two albums in my mind. Perhaps it's because the same person introduced me to both bands. Perhaps it's because I purchased both CD's at Best Buy on sale. Most likely it's because both remind me of the late 90's when I first started to get into indie rock. As Tall As Lions specialize in dreamy space rock somewhere along the lines of Muse, The Gloria Record, and The Fire Theft. Manchester Orchestra update the Seattle sounds of Nirvana and Sunny Day Real Estate with the modern rock of Death Cab For Cutie and Modest Mouse. Neither band is terribly original, but they are very passionate about their music, and both write damn good songs. Both albums are beautifully produced and amazingly listenable, and could easily have made the top 10 in a weaker year.
Doves - Kingdom Of Rust
Ever since their first single, rock critics have hailed Doves as a new evolution of "techno rock." The fact that the members were once part of an electronic outfit was mentioned in nearly every review, and the smallest electronic touches in their songs were seized upon to validate this. But let's be honest - there was nothing techno about anything Doves ever did. Until now. Before the release of the album, the band made a single available for download that was an extended club remix of one of the album's future B-sides. Then Kingdom Of Rust dropped and opened with the dark electronics of "Jetstream." They return here and there to the electronic sounds of these two tracks, but for the most part this is a standard Doves album. Dark and light dance around each other, dreamy soundscapes drone away, and gorgeous Britpop melodies float over all of it. This is powerful music on a grand scale, just the kind we've come to expect from Doves.
Stay tuned for my top 10, coming tomorrow (hopefully). The End.
20. Weezer - Raditude
Weezer's new album starts off promisingly enough - with a great title and an absolutely amazing cover photo. Based on their recent output, I expected that to be about the only good things to come from this release. What a pleasant surprise to find Weezer's most listenable album in a decade or more. There's still some big dumb rock, and the lyrical content isn't much better than we've come to expect, but the hooks have returned and the songwriting is as strong as anything they've done since Pinkerton. Make sure you pick up the two disc version, some of the bonus tracks (such as the effortlessly catchy "The Prettiest Girl In The Whole Wide World") are stronger than the actual album tracks.
19. Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years
After focusing on their pop songcraft on 2007's Hey Venus, the Furries return to the schizophrenic genre hopping fans have come to know and love. There's a little bit of everything on this album, and one is reminded of various albums and phases of their career, sometimes in the space of one song. Big hooks, big riffs, big beats, and big fun. Who could ask for anything more?
18. Third Eye Blind - Ursa Major
In the late 90's it was almost impossible to escape Third Eye Blind. Not that this was a bad thing, as their self titled debut album was one of the best pop releases of the decade. Most of the world lost interest soon after and they vanished from the public eye, returning for their first album in six years. The formula is still mostly intact, because why mess with what works? Big catchy rock riffs collide with heart-on-sleeve lyrics and create a number of memorable moments. They mix things up here and there, like on the acoustic pop of "One In Ten." Not every song works, and this is by no means a classic on the level of their debut or Blue, but this is still a fine album.
17. The Lemonheads - Varshons
This is the album we've all been waiting for. For years the Lemonheads have built a reputation for doing oddball cover songs in concert, and now they've finally taken the plunge and recorded an entire album of covers. There's a lot of alt-country and old timey honky tonk going on here, but also some psychedelic rock, breezy folk, and even a strange electro funk song. They cover everyone from Townes Van Zandt to Leonard Cohen to Wire, and pretty much every track works. However, Dando and company saved the best for last, closing the album with an absolutely brilliant take on Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" that blows the original completely out of the water. Good stuff, yo.
16. Chester French - Love The Future
I first heard these guys back in 2004 when they were a bunch of Harvard students and I was dating a girl who went to a summer program there. I fell in love with their debut EP, a mix of British Invasion style harmony, James Bond style funk, and quirky pop culture lyrics. They were courted by various labels and hob nobbed with big name rappers, and eventually got around to releasing this lovely little disc. They bounce around and try just about every pop style you can think of, intricately layering each song for maximum sweetness. Some of the tastiest ear candy to hit the shelves in 2009.
15. The Postmarks - Memoirs At The End Of The World
Do you like film noir? Do you like bossa nova? Do you like Hitchcock movies? Do you like female fronted pop bands that just make you feel good? My friend, the time has come to meet your new favorite band. The Postmarks play music that hearkens back to a simpler time, yet update it to fit our contemporary world. This is music best listened to while driving around San Francisco in an MG with the top down and a pair of Ray Bans on the top of your head. And I mean that in a good way.
14. U2 - No Line On The Horizon
After a decade of retreating from the experimental and avant garde tendencies that dominated their work in the 1990's, U2 return with an album as nonlinear as the title would suggest. There are shadows of Achtung Baby and Zooropa throughout this album, yet it stays firmly routed in the arena rock that made them one of the biggest bands of the decade. The title track, "Moment Of Surrender," and "Unknown Caller" rank among the best songs they've ever done. However, this feels like a stepping stone to a true sound evolution, with songs lie "Stand Up Comedy" and "Breathe" keeping this from being a truly great album. A huge leap in the right direction, one can't help but hope their next album stops pandering to the mainstream and follows the avant garde muse that took them to such dazzling heights in the past.
13. Capybara - Try Brother
Okay, let's get one thing straight. This is NOT a folk album. Not that there's anything wrong with folk, I'm just sick of reading reviews that claim so. Sure, there's plenty of acoustic guitar and banjo here, but there's also synthesizer, drum machine, loud rock guitars, layers of percussion, weird time and tempo changes, and bizarre arrangements. It would be much more accurate to say this is a quirky, innovative, playful indie rock album, and on that level it is an astounding success. Melodies weave in and out of clever chord progressions. Odd lyrics float over strange rhythms. Nearly every song takes a stylistic detour at some point in time. This is music that politely demands your attention and then rewards you greatly.
12. As Tall As Lions - You Can't Take It With you and Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing (tie)
So here we have it - the second ever tie in my rankings. For some reason I just can't seem to separate these two albums in my mind. Perhaps it's because the same person introduced me to both bands. Perhaps it's because I purchased both CD's at Best Buy on sale. Most likely it's because both remind me of the late 90's when I first started to get into indie rock. As Tall As Lions specialize in dreamy space rock somewhere along the lines of Muse, The Gloria Record, and The Fire Theft. Manchester Orchestra update the Seattle sounds of Nirvana and Sunny Day Real Estate with the modern rock of Death Cab For Cutie and Modest Mouse. Neither band is terribly original, but they are very passionate about their music, and both write damn good songs. Both albums are beautifully produced and amazingly listenable, and could easily have made the top 10 in a weaker year.
Doves - Kingdom Of Rust
Ever since their first single, rock critics have hailed Doves as a new evolution of "techno rock." The fact that the members were once part of an electronic outfit was mentioned in nearly every review, and the smallest electronic touches in their songs were seized upon to validate this. But let's be honest - there was nothing techno about anything Doves ever did. Until now. Before the release of the album, the band made a single available for download that was an extended club remix of one of the album's future B-sides. Then Kingdom Of Rust dropped and opened with the dark electronics of "Jetstream." They return here and there to the electronic sounds of these two tracks, but for the most part this is a standard Doves album. Dark and light dance around each other, dreamy soundscapes drone away, and gorgeous Britpop melodies float over all of it. This is powerful music on a grand scale, just the kind we've come to expect from Doves.
Stay tuned for my top 10, coming tomorrow (hopefully). The End.