1) Of
It’s almost ridiculous how much I listened to this album this year. It helped that it came out early in the year. When I first heard it I just couldn’t stop playing it on my Zen and then my pal Ben bought me the double disc on vinyl. Every track has interesting bits, most of it is insanely catchy, it all hangs together marvelously.
2) Radiohead – In Rainbows
Um, duh. Radiohead is: revolutionary marketing tactics and distribution. They’ve come back down to earth, but it’s nice to see they were changed by wherever the hell they sent Kid A and Amnesiac back from.
3) Battles – Mirrored
I heard Battles this spring. I saw them this summer. I saw them again in the fall. They annihilate my mind. I have never been into an instrumental band before but Battles has made me a believer.
4)
How good it is to hear a sophomore album I like as much as the debut. This album has far better lyrics in my opinion. Musically it doesn’t break out of any boxes, but it definitely appeals to me in a more identifiable way.
5) Menomena – Friend or Foe
These guys do not radiate any of the supercool that so many other hip artists are trying to give off. They seem like normal guys getting together and making great music that is sometimes a little cheesy, but mostly really grooving.
6) Sunset Rubdown – Random Spirit Lover
Aside from the first track, this album took me a while to get into, but after I listened straight through it took me back to that old, familiar, Spencer Krug-obsessed place all over again. Next best thing to that forthcoming Wolf Parade sophomore release.
7)
This band doesn’t deserve my praise, but they’ll get it anyway. Homemade guitar pedals, early-90’s plus early-80’s combo punch… damn APtBS, how did you make Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine entrust you with their lovechild? And how did you ever make it cry so loud?
8) John Vanderslice –
One day people will look back and realize that the most kickass singer-songwriter of this millennium has been casually overlooked thanks to the likes of John Mayers, Conor Obersts, and Kevin Barnes’ who were championed by uncultured masses, tragedy-obsessed teenagers, and ADD bloggers of this cruel cruel world.
9) M.I.A. – Kala
All I wanna do is >bang< *bang* #bang# +bang+ and [kaching] take your money!
10)
If I weren’t already taken… nah, just kidding [Andrea.] This album has one of the most amazing lineups of catchy, rocking, off-kilter songs you’ll ever hear. + she doesn’t sound like a rip off of Feist or Cat Power.
11) Caribou –
Every year somebody does it right. They rediscover the psychedelic in a way that is both charmingly nostalgic and surprisingly fresh. This year the award goes to…
12) Architecture In
Did this lead singer go through puberty between this album and “In Case We Die” or what? The new and improved Architecture in
13) Feist – The Reminder
In my opinion the duke it out for best outside the band contest was won by a girl. Sorry Kevin D. This time I’m pretty sure I feel it all.
14) Jens Lekman – Night Falls Over Kortedala
Bring on the cheese, err, I meant the classy side of twee indie rock. Self-exposing, yet endearing, Jens Lekman is a very attractive man… in a musical way.
15) Modest Mouse – We Were Dead…
Overall I had a lot of pleasant surprises in terms of old favorites. Modest Mouse, along with Arcade Fire, Architecture in
16) Vampire Weekend – Blue CDR
I cannot wait for the revamp of this to drop next year. Ready and waiting, boys. Bring that organ back.
17) Jay-Z – American Gangster
Oh thank god this wasn’t another kingdom coming. It’s no Black Album, not even a Blueprint, but it managed to avoid the pop-crunk slum of ten cent beats on my radio right now and bring some class back to the sub-weighted trunks of true believers.
18) Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
Without a release from Sufjan I had to get my folk fix elsewhere this year. Devendra at home? Apparently not (Smokey Rolls What?) Thank God Iron % Wine was there to assemble some fine, catchy tunes with bizarre sitar/acoustic guitar arrangements. I gotta have the fix.
19) Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
I don’t care what anybody says. This shit is not accessible. However, I’m told it’s the future and all of that… our generation’s genre-expanders and blah blah blah. Well this is their best yet, I’ll give them that. I’ve never disliked, just never been the biggest fan. Maybe this Jam is converting me covertly.
20) Panda Bear – Person Pitch
See above.
21) Black Kids – Self-titled EP
And why do these guys pull record deals and big press off of an EP of four songs that you can hear on their myspace while I work my ass off playing basement shows in Fort Nowhere, IN? Oh yeah, they’re young, they’re hip, and… wow, they’re actually really good.
22) Justice – Cross
Do the dance. That’s it. Overrated? Yes. Built on the popularity of one song? Yes. Ripping off old electropop? Yes. But hey, it’s a really good song!
23) Patrick Wolf – Magic Position
Well, it is.
24) The New Pornographers – Challengers
This album is good. It’s solid. It’s not a disappointment. So why is it no. 24 on my list? There’s just nothing new here. And it kind of lacks the punch that Twin Cinema packed. All around it’s good, just not great, I guess.
25) Kanye West – Graduation
He does it again, and by the way, take that ya half-dolla sucka! Beats are incredible as always, the raps are mediocre as always, the result is an amazing hip hop album, as always.
26) Dirty Projectors – Rise Above
Unbelievable. This is not my favorite style exactly, but the Dirty Projectors more than make up for my personal taste in amazing initiative. By all rights if I’d given this more listens it would no doubt be higher on the list. As it is, I still think it’s great. Don’t get me wrong. I just need to spend more time with it.
27)
I came onto this pretty late in the game, but I love it. Granted, by the end of the album the repetition makes it a little tough to muster another “oompa!” but the sound is fairly unique and the melodies/vocals are easy to grab hold of.
28) Kevin Drew – Spirit If
Okay, now these albums are still on my top list. I enjoyed them. These were just the albums I had an easier time criticizing. Broken Social Scene rules, and it probably does so mainly due to the contribution of Kevin Drew. However, his “solo” work here suffers from a slight lack in creativity. I think half the songs on here have the exact same drumbeat. It’s a damn fine beat, it works well with just him, it works well for BSC, it even works well on a couple of Feist songs we all heard this year, it just doesn’t work enough to fill a whole album.
29) Tough
The whole album is very listenable, but the first track is what blew me away. I wanted something special. Tough
30) National – Boxer
I think this album is amazingly well put together and my initial fears (having seen these guys last year) was that they had missed the bandwagon on well-polished rock music and would be lost in the ensuing return to ramshackle acts (like much of the above and most of the below.) As it is, I still didn’t find a whole lot of mindblowing ingenuity here, but as rock albums go, this one is incredibly solid.
31) Deerhoof – Friend
They finally made me a fan. The Perfect Me is my favorite Deerhoof track ever and the whole album really spiced up some late night painting sessions at my job. Repainting a whole hallway off-white? Why not throw your conscious into a mindspin with the unpredictable musical stylings of Deerhoof?
32) Interpol – Our Love to Admire
I don’t care what anybody says, half of this album is unbeatable. I actually really appreciate the grander gestures and expanded arrangements featured here. Rest My Chemistry, All Fired Up, No I in Threesome… I’d say these all stand up to the previous catalog. If only the other half weren’t so… mediocre?
33) Brian Jonestown Massacre – My Bloody Underground
Man these guys rock and they just don’t stop.
34) Chromatics – Night Drive
As the name implies, this is a great record for late drives home.
35) Klaxons – Songs of the Near Future
Energetic, lively, tight- this is where dance punk has ended up. It’s not so bad after all I suppose.
36) Christians & Lions – More Songs for Dreamsleepers
C&L had me by default. They took time out of their schedule to play
37) Simian
Can’t do the D.A.N.C.E. any longer? Take a break and do an unspelled-out dance to Simian Mobile Disco. Mixes well with Klaxons, Hot Chip, etc.
38) Blitzen Trapper –
Down home fun for all you wild mountain folk out there.
39) Liars – Liars
A turn for the accessible? How unexpected. Half of these songs sound like DFA1979, but you could hardly call that a bad thing, right?
40)
In the absence of a new Decemberists album, longtime compatriots
Way over Rated:
Before you hear my criticism, know that I have seen Dan Deacon and Deerhunter live and that I’ve watched Black Lips and LCD Soundsystem online quite a bit. They all put on great live shows, and it’s probably due to this that they have generated a lot of buzz this year. It’s just that in my opinion these albums do NOT stand up to the above, even though they are sung the praises of much better.
Black Lips – Good, Bad, Not Evil
I really thought this was over? Am I wrong or are these guys the Hives, only younger, more American, and poorly produced? And lyrically? Uh, what lyrics? Or was that the point? What am I missing here?
Deerhunter – Cryptograms
Not rocking hard enough, not melodic enough to be not rocking hard enough… they were okay live but these guys seem to be a half-good band riding on the recent hype surrounding weird indie rock.
Dan Deacon – Spiderman of the Rings
Sideshow act. Fat, bald dude in sweat suit. Glowing green skull and really trippy vocoding effects. Am I not taking enough drugs to get this?
LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
This is not a bad album, it’s just not a great album. Sorry. It’s not mainstream for a reason. And hearing North American Scum in the mall is not helping my perception of its integrity any. Congrats on the mindblowing tour with Arcade Fire though.
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