All the Young Punks’ top 10 best albums of 2009
It was a great year for music in spite of Taylor Swift.
Excellent new bands made a splash while established artists made some of the best music of their careers. Selecting a top 10, I was going to pick a tie for first place. That’s how close it was. In the end, I picked a No. 1 and a No. 2 (read after the jump to see).
In dramatic top 10 list fashion, I am counting down from bottom to top.
10. Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Self titled: Great debut from ’80s music lovers. If Jesus and Mary Chain was a pop band, it would sound like this.
Young Adult Friction – The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
9. Flaming Lips – Embryonic: For fans who discovered the Lips after Soft Bulletin, this isn’t going to sound right. I was a fan of the early, heavy psychedelic stuff and I dig this album.
8. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus: I’m in love with French pop music. This album is so frickin’ catchy it’s going to be ringing in my head years from now.
7. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There are Mountains: I love the up and down parts. It’s Pavement and a whole lot of other influences but, mostly, it’s an original sound that separates these guys from the pack.
Wind Phoenix – Cymbals Eat Guitars
6. Antlers – Hospice: Apart from the theme of a dying patient and care giver at a hospice, it’s a great album musically. I say that because I can’t imagine anyone drawn to an album about this subject. It works.
5. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca: I’m not really sure how to even categorize. This band has a really fresh sound. I didn’t fall in love with it immediately but I’m glad I stuck with it.
Cannibal Resource – Dirty Projectors
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz: Big and bold. It’s a departure from Yeah Yeah Yeah’s previous work with much more of an electronic sound.
3. Japandroids – Post-Nothing: Canada’s Japandroids made one of the few albums of the year with some balls. Two guys trying to sound like five guys. Often compared to No Age, Japandroids holds up as much more than just another two-piece.
2. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest: Who knew chamber pop could sound so good? This one really got better with every listen. A true masterpiece that missed my first-place spot by a whisker.
1. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion: I loved this one from the first time I heard a leaked version in late ’08. That Brian Wilson love was evident on Noah Lennox’s Panda Bear release in 2007. It’s turned up to 11 here.
In The Flowers – Animal Collective
March 28, 2011 at 10:02 pm
[...] has a more sonic feel than the excellent self-titled debut from ’09. That album — as I said at the time – sounds like Jesus and Mary Chain if JMC was a pop band. This is the second album released [...]