My Favorite Albums of 2009

And So I Watch You From Afar - And So I Watch You From Afar

I love instraMetal. I absolutely love it. This album killed me the first time I heard it. It’s so incredibly layered and deep, without sounding like a wall of noise. The depth that this album has is quite astounding. The album, as a whole, works well. It has a great amount of arena anthem punch, without being over the top. It’s well-balanced and precocious. It’s an incredibly talented and clever album. “Set Guitars to Kill” is one of the more outstanding opening tracks I’ve heard lately. It’s a hardcore anthem without rival.

If I’m in a fight, I have this album playing in my head. It’s rock, hardcore, and mature. It’s a testament to the fact that you can play loud and rambunctious without sacrificing talent, planning, and song writing.

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

This album is on everyone’s list, and probably rightly so. I’m not sure if this is an album I’ll be listening to in 10 years, but for now, it’s great. Animal Collective have shaped “Merriweather Post Pavilion” into an accessible indie staple. It’s a sonic and pounding album, full of catchy tracks and singable melodies. It comes across pop-y, but not to its detriment. I think that makes it more endearing. Had it been less “Feels” and more “Strawberry Jam”, I think it would have been a failure. As it is shaped though, it may very well turn into a corner stone in many a hipster’s LP collection for years to come.

Brand New - Daisy

This album floored me on my first listen. It’s an evolved sound that has been hinted at through “The Devil and God..” and all those leaked tracks that didn’t make the cut. There is a maturity in their songs now, giving each track a more timeless feel. They are no longer just another Jersey hardcore band, there is depth and layering to a level we haven’t truly heard from them yet. There is a bit of a disconnect from “The Devil and God…” because of the calmer overall sound of “Daisy”, along with the fact that most song-writing credits are going to Vincent Accardi, with all other albums written mainly by Jesse Lacey.

I think what I love about this album is it’s almost uncharacteristic Brand New feel. It fits inside their catalog, but stands a bit apart. I love bands that are willing to take chances and grow. I think “Daisy” is a big chance, but I think it landed well. It’s an album I’ll be listening to for a long time. I think time will show it to be a solid, well-crafted album. Brand New has crafted another album that is helping them stand apart from the post-hardcore/emo scene. I, for one, am grateful for that.

Fever Ray - Fever Ray

This album is so good. Dreijer Andersson from The Knife broke off and crafted a solo album that is phenomenal. It’s creepy and atmospheric without a sacrifice of substance or depth. It’s a slow paced, quality record that plays over 45 minutes. Andersson’s vocals are altogether haunting and inviting. You can’t help yourself from being drawn into a dark and crafted world that seems to be full of shadow and light. It’s at times a very dark sounding record, but in a purposeful manner that helps highlight the feminine and bright vocals of Andersson. It’s a soundtrack album. When I listen to it, I imagine I’m looking out the window of a train, traveling the steel lines of a far off place. There is a tempo and a pace that moves you along from track to track.

While electronic and constructed, there is a softness to this album. I’m a huge fan of the intimacy that this album brings. I will be listening for years to come.

La Roux - La Roux

It’s a bright British pop record full of singles. It’s a young girl with hair cut more hipster than anything you’ll see on the streets of Stockholm. She’s ambiguous and electronic. None of these things are typically in my wheelhouse, but this is by far, the most fun album I’ve listened to this year. I’m pretty sure if I ever met La Roux I’d slap her silly, and I’m not sure why. This album is so pop-y and sugary I can’t take it. I also can’t leave it alone, it’s so catchy and fun. I don’t see this album as a lasting and timeless masterpiece, but I can’t not want to dance when I hear “In For the Kill.”

I don’t dance, ever, but I would consider it with this record.

The Mars Volta - Octahedron

I heard that The Mars Volta were doing an acoustic album. I laughed. The Mars Volta? Slow and acoustic? Not psychedelic, spazzy, and progressive? I had no idea what that would even sound like. After one listen to “Since We’ve Been Wrong” I knew what it meant for The Mars Volta to be acoustic. It meant that they were going to destroy my ears with some of the most well crafted and inspired guitars, vocals, drums, and bass lines, much like every other album they’ve ever done.

“Octahedron” has quickly become one of my favorite albums from The Mars Volta. It’s quiet and subtle, with an immense amount of depth and thought. It feels more crafted and honed in comparison to their previous 4 releases. There are less 10 minute guitar solos and Cedric’s vocals are softer and more deliberate, and that is my favorite aspect of this album. How this album feels in relation to their catalog gives it a maturity that goes beyond their remarkable skills. The Mars Volta, without question, have cemented themselves as one of the most inspired and talented bands of the last decade. Their albums have managed to encapsulate hardcore, punk, jazz, acoustic, reggae, rock, electronic, alternative, and a myriad of other styles and influences and turn them into a single, fluid style all their own. The gravity that The Mars Volta carries into each of their albums is spectacular, but even more so when carried across an entire catalog. I will buy and listen to anything that they release. They are doing things with music that no one can — or is willing — to do.

Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More

I would rarely say that the only way to listen to an English folk album is loud, but I will say this about “Sigh No More”. It’s a more expansive album than I was expecting, but it’s so well written that I can tolerate that. “Sigh No More” has a much more pop sense than I would like in my folk catalog, but that’s okay. With the layering they’ve been able to accomplish with such simple sounds, you get a strong listen with a lasting quality that I don’t see diminishing. This album is not for everyone, but it sure is for me.

Neon Horse - Haunted Horse: Songs Of Love, Defiance, & Delusion

Mark Salomon and Jason Martin. Stavesacre and Starflyer 59. That is a combination I would not have expected to work out well, but oh Lord has it. A side project from two of my staple bands is something I really want to get into, and I don’t have to force my Neon Horse fandom. It’s rough, dirty, and awesome. Mark Salomon sings like he hasn’t in years. It’s more Crucified than Stavesacre. Jason Martin is writing more like he’s trying to craft a pop album than he does for all of his shoegaer/Starflyer amazement. This album is perfect if you’ve been with Starflyer since the She’s the Queen EP. It’s a really well-produced album, and I love anything Martin or Salomon do, so it was an obvious choice to be a favorite of mine.

Paper Route - Absence

This is a Nashville hipster pop album, but I love it anyway. It’s well written and plays well through all 12 tracks. There is no shame in loving this record, even if you hate $200 haircuts, ironic mustaches, and fedoras. It’s that good. Personally, it carries a lot with it, but I think you’d be able to see the gem that it is.

Four guys just want to make music, and I like the music they make. It’s half synth, half indie rock, and half well crafted rock. The other half is melody. It’s a really heartfelt record, and there seems to be plenty of emotion inside both the lyrics and the atmosphere that is created.

Thursday - Common Existance

Thursday rules my ears, all the time. This is a beauty of a Jersey hardcore album. I listened to this record so much, I’m pretty sure I wore out my hard drive like an old vinyl. It’s a wonderful hardcore/punk album with a lot more sonic variety than old Thursday albums delivered. “Last Call”, “Circuits of Fever”, and “You Were the Cancer” are mammoth tracks with a complexity that Thursday has always excelled at. Overall, there is a amplified calmness to this album, which I haven’t felt in previous Thursday releases. There are more electronic undertones to this album, due to the increased use of Andrew Everding on keys.

Thursday is one of those bands form the mid 2000’s that is starting to fade away, but I think that “Common Existence” will do a great deal to excite the band and their fans. I see them following up this record with something amazing. Full of depth, chaos, and more intensity on a more mature and palatable scale.

If you like this album, make sure to get the Thursday/Envy split EP. It’s a wonderfully electronic prelude to “Common Existence” that delivers more than I was expecting from a split record.

Honorable Mentions

Here We Go Magic - Here We Go Magic

This is a great background album. I listen to it a lot when I want to just ignore the world and get into a zone where I can focus on whatever it is I’m doing. There isn’t a lot going on with the record, and not in a bad way. It’s a very simple, well-crafted piece that is a good addition to a collection. This is the album that when it comes on random in a party that you’ve made a mix for, will turn a bunch of heads and make you look like you’re straight out of HIgh Fidelity.

Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti Is… Skyscraper

I love Interpol, which means I loved Julian Plenti. It’s a well done side project with more depth and variety than an Interpol album would have.

Maylene and the Sons of Disaster -

This album rocks so damn hard. I listen to it all the time, but I just couldn’t put it in my top 10, and I don’t have a good reason why. I will listen to this often in the years to come, it’s such a well done hardcore album.

Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms

This is anotehr great background album that I listen to a lot. It’s quite atmospheric and fun. I love it.

Slowmotions - Quick Potions

I put this album on here because it makes me look like I’m finding small label band gold. But, in actuality it was an album put out on a small label, of whom I’m familiar with the curator. It’s a great album, full of sound and activity. It’s incredibly well done. I’m a big fan of layered and purposeful sounds, and this has both. Listen to it with headphones. Get it free here.

Sufjan Stevens - The BQE

Apparently, this album was so hard and fulfilling for Sufjan Stevens that it has him rethinking what he wants to do musically. It’s a great album, a classical piece with an immense amount of Sufjan flare and liberality.

The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules

I listen to this album when I want to feel like I’m in a smokey piano bar in Vegas watching a talented 30-something son of Bob Dylan who is doing his own thing. He just wants to play music and use keyboards, leave him alone.