even more best of 09 staff lists
(photo by zoom lens)
We’re almost at the end of our countdown, so keep those lists rolling in! We’ve got another batch of staff lists for you in the meantime, so be sure to follow us after the jump.
And, once again, take a look at our Best Albums of 2009 and our Best Audiobooks of 2009!
Greg Hill, Creative Director
In No Particular Order:
The Welcome Wagon, Welcome to the Welcome Wagon: Sufjan Stevens produced and arranged this and I like it better than his own records; it’s the perfect meeting point between his ambition and homespun simplicity. That it’s Christian Music of some stripe is immaterial.
The Clean, Mister Pop: Wow, the Clean comes up with a super strong record after all these years. Remarkable. This is the catchy/hooky side but into the Krautrocky tracks. Get the whole thing!
Taken by Trees, East of Eden: I’ll probably hear this Gap while shopping for Christmas and feel embarrassed but this one of those records that everyone who hears it, asks “who is this?” Same for me.
Appaloosa, “Kitsuné: The Day We Felll in Love“: I think Yancey was playing this, repeatedly, for a couple of days. It sounded great over the wall. I downloaded it. The whole thing may be a joke (Girl’s bedroom covered with posters of horses, the French accent) but is somehow hypnotically seductive.
Jah Wobble, “Get Carter“: Yes, that Carter and that Wobble.
The Robins, “Smokey Joe’s Café“: I’m a little late on this one. It was released in 1955, by The Robins. But I heard it for the first time in 2009 so there. Sounds like the missing link between a field chant and early r&b but the song itself is straight outta Tin Pan Alley, a Leiber and Stroller composition.
Cymbals Eat Guitars, Why There are Mountains: Seems like there were a lot of great guitarey records this year; I liked this one.
Juliana Barwick, “Cloudbank“: Another tip of the Fedora to Yancey for this one. Any fool can make loops but who can make them sound this beautiful? Kinda impossible to listen to the whole thing, at work anyway.
Department of Eagles, “Teenager“: Just realized what attracts me to this- it feels like something from one of Eno’s first two solo albums. And it’s funny.
Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas, II: Neu-motorikrautnik? No idea really. Sounds like they’ve been listening to old Klaus Schultz and Tangarine Dream records and hitched up the sound to clean-burning diesel. Why doesn’t American have an Autobahn?
Dave Scott, Art Director
Best Albums
1. The Flaming Lips, Embryonic
2. City Center, City Center
3. Monsters of Folk, Monsters of Folk
4. Cymbals Eat Guitars, Why There Are Mountains
5. Taken By Trees, East of Eden
6. Atlas Sound, Logos
7. Bowerbirds, Upper Air
8. Trouble Books, The United Colors of Trouble Books
9. Headlights, Wildlife
10. Real Estate, Real Estate
11. Molina and Johnson, Molina and Johnson
Best Songs
1. The Flaming Lips “The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine”
2. Yo La Tengo “When It’s Dark”
3. Cymbals Eat Guitars “Wind Phoenix (Proper Name)”
4. Atlas Sound “Sheila”
5. Monsters of Folk “The Sandman, the Brakeman and Me”
6. The Clean “In the Dreamlife U Need a Rubber Soul”
7. J Tillman “Year in the Kingdom”
8. Cotton Jones Basket Ride “Some Strange Rain”
9. A.A. Bondy “Mightiest of Guns”
10. Bill Callahan “Too Many Birds”
11. Mount Eerie “Between Two Mysteries”
12. Taken By Trees “To Lose Someone”
13. Wilco “You and I”
14. White Rabbits “Percussion Gun”
15. Let’s Wrestle “I Won’t Lie to You”
Bryan Robbins, QA
Favorite Electronic Albums of 2009
(Available as an eMusic list here)
Lusine, A Certain Distance: Gorgeous album by the Seattle ambient techno wizard.
Telefon Tel Aviv, Immolate Yourself: So different than their older material, and better for it. RIP Charles Cooper
Royksopp, Junior: Happy Up Here never fails to make me smile. The only thing disappointing about this album is that we will not see the follow up album “Senior” released this year.
The Prodigy, Invaders Must Die: It’s back to the future with the original rave rockers.
Vitalic, Flashmob: A very satisfying return by one of the best in French electro.
Jon Hopkins, Insides: The beats are rougher this time around, at least by Hopkins standards.
Moderat, Basic Version: Modeselektor AND Apparat??? If you don’t pick this up you should punch yourself in the face.
Freeland, Cope: This album just wants to rock. And that’s just fine with me.
Gui Boratto, Take My Breath Away: Totally blissed out minimal techno from Brazil.
The Upbeats, Nobody’s Out There: Moody drum & bass from a couple o kiwis.
Junior Boys, Begone Dull Care: The Boys Junior return with an even more minimal album.
Moby, Wait For Me: Aww, is wittle Moby sad? Actually, this might be the best Moby CD since Play.
The Toxic Avenger, Scion CD Sampler Vol. 26: Hmm, Scion…alright. Really more of and EP, but the remixes are different enough from the originals. Anyways, more great French electro.
Mirror’s Edge Original Video Game Score: Yes, a game soundtrack made my list for ‘09. But it was scored by Magnus Birgersson of Solar Fields so you can just shut yer trap.
The Qemists, Join the Q: Bombastic crossover drum n bass. Prefer this to Pendulum’s new one.
Odd Nosdam, T.I.M.E. Soundtrack: Atmospheric and abstract, this anticon collaborator’s 2009 release is the most accessible yet.
Dada Life, Just Do the Dada: Unfortunate name, but the album is quite fun. Daft Punk meets Booka Shade.
Solar Fields, Movements: More fantastic soundscapes from the Swedish sound designer
Kameil Sattar, Label Relations (UK)
Favorite Albums of 2009
1. Andrew Bird, Noble Beast
2. The Invisible, Invisible
3. Mulatu Astatke & the Heliocentrics, Inspiration Information
4. Colourmusic, Yes!
5. Tony Allen, Secret Agent
6. Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career
7. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
8. Great Lake Swimmers, Lost Channels
9. Lindstrom and Prins Thomas, II
10. Idlewild, Post Electric Blues
Wow. Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart all pop up in this 12?
My guesses for the top ten are dwindling.
Craig
The latest batch just knocked Grizzly Bear, Thao, Antony, Andrew Bird, and Pains out of the top 10. All my top 10 assumptions have been officially obliterated, with the exception of Animal Collective and Passion Pit.
Isn’t it clear by now that our #1 is gonna be Julian Casablancas?
I kid.
You kid, but I’ve been amazed at how high that album has gotten on some lists.
Happily I haven’t seen Wild Beasts yet, so that means it is hopefully top 12. Love, love, love that album. I’m just going to guess though that one of my other favorites of the year, Matt & Kim’s Grand, didn’t make it.
Craig
Animal Collective
Wild Beasts
The Clean
The Clientele
The Mountain Goats
El Perro Del Mar
Sonic Youth
The Big Pink
St. Vincent
The XX
I can see The Clean and/or (sadly) The Clientele dropped for maybe The Antlers or Tinariwen or Bear in Heaven or Mt. Eerie or even the Super Furry Animals. There’s a lot of good indie rock discs left this year that haven’t shown up yet. Also, given the way the list has unfolded so far, I assume we’ll see titles from other genres sneak into the top 10, as well. That’s actually what I’m most looking forward to, TBH.
what about future of the left? I notice it hasn’t hit the list yet. It probably just isn’t in the top 60. That’s a shame though — Travels with Myself and Another is a pretty great album.
Ah, forgot about the Mountain Goats. Also maybe Bazan?
Maybe. I know some eMusic editors and contributors really liked that album, but I doubt it has enough mass appeal to knock out any of the acts mentioned above.
But who knows? I was shocked by The Gaslight Anthem being eMusic’s No. 1 last year. So maybe it WILL be Julian Casablancas in 2009.
Bazan! Bazan! I really hope that album shows up.
Would also be psyched to see Coconut Records, White Rabbits, Ramona Falls or Telekinesis make the cut, but it seems unlikely to me.
Daniel, if it had anything to do with mass appeal then Grizzly Bear, Avetts, Pains, and the rest already mentioned would be in the top 10. I am genuinely interested in seeing the formula of how this list is tabulated, as it doesn’t appear to be mirroring staff pics nor sales numbers.
And what about RAA? It made the list last year as a Selects, and maybe this year again now that it was released on Saddle Creek.
Yeah, I wasn’t clear. By ”mass appeal,” I meant appeal among the eMusic editors and staff who voted in eMusic’s year-end list.
But it’s all guesswork on my part. For all I know, eMusic’s list could have been put together by 5 people, 3 of whom are big Bazan fans. We’ll see this morning.
Two on my list that I haven’t seen yet – Yo La Tengo and Califone. Otherwise, Pains of Being Pure At Heart is the only one of the top 50 I own yet.
I’d also like to tip the hat to Any and All for having a list whose length is a multiple of 12, which I ranted on at considerable length about last year. (Joe is one of the folks who got the jokes…but I still really meant it.) So even though the top 60 isn’t being presented as dozens, and even if nobody at emu has any recollection of my ravings, I still take comfort, if not credit, in balance being restored to the world.
Argh. I also forgot about Girls, which is my new guess for #1.
Sigh. Wild Beasts didn’t even make the list.
Craig
So, a few quick notes:
• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is Nos. 12 AND 13.
• You David Bazan fans were right. I was wrong.
• No. 9, really? Hm.
• I only correctly predicted 5 of the Top 12, so show’s what I know.
• Thrilled to see the Hyperdub and Soundways compilations in the Top 10.
• That blurb makes me want to check out the Mos Def album.
Daniel –
That was a weird ID album hiccup — fixed now.
The Mos Def album is awesome. An alarming return-to-form.
As much as I think Animal Collective is waaaay over-hyped, I’m content with it at #9. I’m confused about having not only one but two Various Artists comps (#4, #6) so high, especially when both are retrospectives (although I concede that Hyperdub has rare and unreleased tracks).
I agree about the Mos Def album. It was definitely in my top 3 along with Mountain Goats and The Love Language.
Re: Bryan’s electronic picks — great roundup; I’ll be picking some of these up. Lusine was criminally overlooked this year. My choices start here:
http://dominicumile.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/memorable-electronic-music-2009-part-i/
hey is anyone on here??
theres a girl 2@ my school named dominique and shes soo sweeett
this is soo sad
:<)
Good points. Bookmarking to check back for follow-ups later.