This is one of the most fun, self-indulgent things I do all year. Revisiting all of the music I enjoyed (and discovering a few things I wasn't listening to) is like going back to every stellar meal I had and getting a re-do without having to count calories... mmm... the escargot and fig martinis of tuneage.
I like to call this a "favorites" list instead of a "best of" list because music, like all art, is so subjective. What touches, titillates, inspires someone all depends on personal preference and what is happening in your world at that moment. For my own reasons, these are my top 13 albums of 2009 in no particular (ok, alphabetical) order.
1. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns: I loved Fur and Gold. I think Two Suns surpasses it. Natasha Khan (aka Bat for Lashes) is a true artist whose music is tough to categorize. Expansive, orchestral, dramatic and beautiful.
2. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul: You have to dig a little bit to find this in a place you can still download it. Here's a hint. This album is a collaboration between Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse with featured singers you may have heard of like The Shins, Frank Black, Julian Casablancas, and Vic Chesnutt. It's designed to accompany a photo book by David Lynch. (Anyone remember the mysterious posters that were displayed around Austin during SXSW last year?) It's a little bit dark, multilayered and pretty.. go get it.
3. El Perro del Mar - Love Is Not Pop: It's no surprise that El Perro del Mar has collaborated with Lykke Li. Her sound is very similar and, like Lykke Li, her lyrics may not always be deep but this album is really listenable and loveable. (Unintentional use of alliteration there..Lordy!)
4. Florence + the Machine - Lungs: I shouldn't have waited so long to get this- I mean, it's been out since July. Florence Welch has a voice that can definitely fit in among the other British soul crooners like Adele and Amy Winehouse but she adds extra layers of instruments and unexpected twists that remind me more of My Brightest Diamond than Lily Allen.
5. The Grouch & Eligh - Say G&E!: First heard this album thanks to a Paste Magazine download and was immediately hooked. West Coast members of the Living Legends crew (including Aesop and Scarab) with positive lyrics, kickass hooks and production. Really, really fun to listen to from start to finish with no hos or snow.
6. Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3: It's HOVA. He's back. I mean, Empire State of Mind is worth the price of admission alone. Enough said.
7. Lissie - Why You Runnin' I have a friend over at Nettwerk who introduced me to Lissie and I heard her play live on KCRW shortly afterward. This is her debut album and, if it's any indication of where she's going, we'll be hearing a lot more about her. Stellar songwriting - beautiful, at times heart-wrenching, songs.
8. Metric - Fantasies: Emily Haines' of Broken Social Scene's "side project" - I've listened to this over and over again. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a breakthrough album but it is really solid and manages to tow that thin line between gloomy and danceable, which is a kind of bipolar I can always get behind.
9. Miike Snow - s/t: Thanks to RCRDLBL, I heard some of this album (and remixes of the original songs) pretty early on. Always liked it but it's continued to move up in my '09 rankings the more I listen to it. Swedish guys with a knack for pop with a fuzzy edge.
10. Mos Def - The Ecstatic: I've got an enormous amount of respect for Mos Def but can't really say I've ever wanted to put on one of his albums and listen to it all the way through. Not so with this one. It's the Mos Def you know who writes meaningful, inspiring poetry but it's hooky and makes you want to bounce.
11. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. 2: No shocker that this is stylistically similar to Ghostface Killah since they are both part of the Wu-Tang Clan. It's a sequel to Raekwon's solo debut back in 1995 and, although I never listened to the '95 album, I'm tempted to go back and get it now that I'm hooked on Pt 2. It's predictably dark but it's good.
12. Regina Spektor - Far: Always a big fan of Regina Spektor's, I expected I would enjoy Far but I was surprised just how much. She is consistently amazing - lyrically, musically, and magical-vibe-ly.
13. Various Artists - Dark Was the Night: Featuring a top-notch cast of artists including David Byrne, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, Sufjan Stevens, Jose Gonzalez, and Dave Sitek, this compilation is one of the few I've heard that goes to a good cause (Red Hot Organization, raising awareness for HIV/AIDS) and is actually a killer album. It's a 31-song set and there aren't many throwaways on here.
And now, for the Runners-Up:
Amadou & Mariam – Welcome to Mali
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Antony & the Johnsons – The Crying Light
The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
Billy Harvey – The Everlasting War
Bon Iver – Blood Bank
Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Drake – So Far Gone
Elvis Perkins In Dearland – s/t
Fanfarlo – Reservoir
Girls – Album
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Harlem Shakes – Technicolor Health
Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
Japandroids – Post-Nothing
Loch Lomond – Night Bats
Micachu – Jewellery
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – s/t
Passion Pit – Manners
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Silversun Pickups – Swoon
St. Vincent – Actor
Tegan & Sara - Sainthood
Wale – Attention Deficit
The XX – XX
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