The Best of 2009 or These Records Don’t Suck
It’s that time of year again. I knew it was coming, but I put it off. There were other things I had to do. But I can’t put it off any longer. These are my favorite records of 2009. As usual, feel free to fill up my mailbox with pithy remarks.
- 1. We Were Promised Jetpacks: These Four Walls
I was ready to write these guys off the moment I heard their name. Sentences and bandnames usually don’t mix. I’m glad I kept an open mind, because These Four Walls is an amazing record. These Four Walls is tough to classify, walking a delicate line between post-punk and straight up rock. Adam Thompson’s thick Scottish accent is hard to understand at first, but it makes every lyric sound urgent. If you shut your eyes while listening to “It’s Thunder and Lightning,” you can practically see the veins popping out of his neck. “Keeping Warm” is the centerpiece of the album. It starts out quietly, but the volume and intensity gets ramped up with every measure. The end of the song is a cathartic release of fury.
Key Tracks: “It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning,” “Ships With Holes Will Sink,” “Keeping Warm”
- 2. The Wildhearts: Chutzpah!
The Wildhearts’ late period renaissance continues. The last album was full of extended jamming and epics. Chutzpah! is The Wildhearts going back to their roots. Ten songs, all with a very basic riff chorus riff structure. The biggest change is that Ginger has handed lead vocal duties to other members of the band and even gave the lead single, “You Are The Only One,” to drummer Scott Sorry. If you haven’t heard The Wildhearts, Chutzpah! is a great introduction. There is no pretension, just killer riffs and amazing pop melodies.
Key Tracks: “You Are The Only One,” “Plastic Jebus,” “You Are Proof That Not All Women Are Insane”
- 3. Patterson Hood: Murdering Oscar and Other Love Songs
Murdering Oscar has been floating through Patterson Hood’s brain for almost two decades, and finally saw the light of day this year. Since the songs were written at different times in Hood’s life, each one offers a different perspective. On “Pride of the Yankees,” he is afraid of exposing his daughter to the evils of the world, but on “Grandaddy,” he is genuinely thrilled. Murdering Oscar is easily the best sounding album of the year, recorded on analog equipment. You can practically hear the crackle of vinyl.
Key Tracks: “Pride of the Yankees,” Grandaddy”, Pollyanna”
- 4. Mastodon: Crack the Skye
Mastodon topped 2006’s incredible Blood Mountain with Crack the Skye. When the final power chord faded from my ear canal, I touched my face to make sure it hadn’t melted away. Crack the Skye comes dangerously close to progressive rock, but the tandem riffing is unbelievable. They manage to be epic without being pretentious. ”Czar” is five part suite. Each part is different, but everything comes together in the end. I had to remind myself that Mastodon is an American metal band, because their ambitions come directly out of Europe.
Key Tracks: “The Czar,” “Divinations”, “The Last Baron”
- 5. Jay-Z: The Blueprint III
Let the controversy begin! I don’t care what Pitchfork says, The Blueprint III is my favorite rap record of the year. Jay doesn’t do anything new, but he doesn’t really have to. He has so much weight that he can take a step back and reflect. He’s the new Sinatra.
Key Tracks: “Empire State of Mind,” “DOA (Death of Autotune),” “Thank You”
- 6. Girls: Album
The easiest way to melt my cold critic heart is jangly guitars and songs about girls. Girls delivered tenfold. “Laura” is the darkest ray of sunshine of 2009. The guitars and happy drum beat are straight out of ‘70s AM radio, but when lead singer Christopher Owens asks his object of desire to reach out and touch him, you know it isn’t going to end well. The songs are great, but the production really puts it over the top. The pop melodies are supplemented with trippy tape loops and effects.
Key Tracks: “Laura,” “Lust for Life,” “Goddamn”
- 7. Arctic Monkeys: Humbug
The Arctic Monkeys records follow an arc. Whatever You Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not is the calm before the storm. The boys are getting ready for an insane night out of the town. Favorite Worst Nightmare is the eye of the hurricane, the music is fast and amphetamine fueled. Humbug is the hangover. The songs have a slower tempo, and there is a twinge of regret in Alex Turner’s voice as he struggles to remember what the hell happened on the dancefloor.
Key Tracks: “Crying Lightning,” “My Propeller,” “Potion Approaching”
- 8. Bob Mould: Life and Times
Life and Times is an album of reflection for Bob Mould. Every sound he has ever recorded is there. There are acoustic ballads, blasts of traditional hardcore, jangly power pop and electronic experimentation. However, Mould has never sounded as content as he does here. He is no longer the angry man he once was. On the title track he asks, “What the fuck kicked up all this dust?” I don’t know, but Life and Times is one of the most underrated albums of the year.
Key Tracks: “Life and Times,” “I’m Sorry Baby But You Can’t Stand In My Light Anymore”
- 9. Neko Case: Middle Cyclone
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was a tough act to follow, and Neko Case took the challenge head on by straddling a muscle car and holding a rapier aloft. This automatically makes Neko Case the most attractive and frightening female on the planet. Superficialities aside, Case’s music remains impossible to define. It’s country, but there isn’t much of a twang. There’s punk rock and traditional singer/songwriter balladry. Her voice is the glue that holds it together, rich and robust. She can hit the high notes, but only when it’s absolutely necessary. “This Tornado Loves You” has the complexity of a Les Paul/Mary Ford record.
Key Tracks: “This Tornado Loves You,” “Vengeance is Sleeping,” “Middle Cyclone”
10. The Hold Steady: A Positive Rage
There is nothing really new about A Positive Rage, so it probably doesn’t belong on this list. However, there is so much joy in what they do up there, and they just want to share that joy with us.
Key Tracks: “Stuck Between Stations,” “Chips Ahoy,” “Killer Parties”
Other favorites:
- Steel Panther: Feel the Steel
- Ace Frehley: Anomaly
- Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest
- Cheap Trick: The Latest
- The Japandroids: Post-Nothing
- Slayer: World Painted Blood
- Lamb of God: Wrath
- Lady Gaga: The Fame Monster
- St. Vincent: Actor
- Nirvana: Live at Reading
- Morrissey: Years of Refusal
- Morrissey: Swords
- Drive-By Truckers: Live from Austin
- Bob Dylan: Together Through Life
- Pinhead Gunpowder: Kick Over the Traces
- Pearl Jam: Backspacer
- The Thermals: Now We Can See
- The xx: s/t
- Heaven and Hell: The Devil You Know
- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: s/t
