Chris' Top 10 Albums of 2009

1. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest:

Aside from all the hype this album received and doing away with any biases, this album is incredible. It sounds like it is from a completely different decade, and like any good album, it took time to grow on me, seemingly song by song. I regret missing this band open for Radiohead, but they’ve proved to go on fine without me. I encourage you to listen to this band a second time if you didn’t ‘get them’ the first time.

2. Bon Iver - Blood Bank:

I'm one to view music as a complete work; that means the music and the artwork, and I think this simple 4-track EP is the perfect example of why I love this album. It's a great follow-up from 'For Emma, Forever Ago' released last year, and it includes one of my favorite songs of all time, 'Blood Bank.' Oh yeah, and I almost forgot, the awesome use of an auto-tuner on ‘Woods.’

3. Russian Circles - Geneva:

So I once saw the artwork for this album online somewhere, thought it looked cool, and bought it blindly at Newbury Comics because it was a Staff Pick. One of the best blind buys ever. Russian Circles combines great drumming, a distinct bass tone, and strings to create one of the most powerful instrumental bands I've heard. The music ranges from heavy and driving, to soft and melodic; a perfect mix. [ALBUM STREAM]

4. Passion Pit - Manners:

After hearing about this band from a few friends and latching on as soon as I first heard 'The Reeling,' I decided to investigate. I'll say that the band is probably most known for 'Sleepyhead' but this album is filled with so much more. Extremely poppy and catchy but "so much fun to listen to," as Barnesopolis puts it. Another band that makes me think 'genre' is an unproved theory.

5. Frank Ramz – Make the Road by Walking ft. The Menahan Street Band:

What can I say? As The Menahan Street Band’s album alone stands as an incredible album, Frank Ramz adds so much more to it. I kept listening to this album and picking up on his lyrics bit by bit. It rarely seems that he struggles to make it work; it just flows naturally with the music. He finds a good balance between getting a meaningful point across and delivering it in a poetic and sometimes humorous way.

6. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains:

Another album I didn’t really know about until I got it. There are so many different sounds on this album; songs slow down, speed up, and change shape. The lead singer has a certain intensity reminiscent of older Modest Mouse albums. There are some awesome, interesting uses of instrumentation, and every song gets better with each listen.

7. M. Ward - Hold Time:

I've been listening to M. Ward for a couple years now, and it seems that on every album there's something new and fun to listen to. Hold Time is no exception with great songs like 'Rave On,' 'Jailbird,' and a perfect instrumental to close. This seems to be an album I kept going back to throughout the year.

8. Mesita – No Worries EP:

I came across this solo artist out of Colorado after looking around the ‘Loophole’ forum on ateaseweb.com. He had recently put out this EP (self-released) and I enjoyed the music enough to buy one of the mini-CD packets he made, and it quickly got better with each listen. He’s a great multi-instrumentalist and the effort he puts into his music can easily be heard through this short EP which is also up for streaming.( http://mesita.bandcamp.com/)



9. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast:

I’ll admit I looked past this album many times before picking it up later this year, not expecting to like it as much as I did. Bird does a great job with his signature whistling and awesome violin playing (especially the use of pizzicato) throughout the album. The backup vocalist provides some great harmonies as well. No shortage of good tracks on this album, some powerful, some mellow.

10. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix:

I didn’t get this album earlier in the year, so I didn’t get to let it set in as much as I could have; However that doesn’t take away from the well-deserved attention it has gotten. An interesting sound that I think of as synth-indie. I have no doubt songs from the album will make it onto my ski playlist for the winter. I’ve already heard one of them in a ski movie.

Eminem- "Elevator"

A little teaser for the upcoming Relapse: Refill. More killing, more blood. But at least that annoying voice isn't as prevalent. Still, it's Em.

Eminem- "Elevator" 

Kid Cudi- "Cudderisback"

What do you get when you combine the artist of my #9 album of 2009, with the artist whose album is my #1 most anticipated album of 2010. Cudi throwing some lines over Vampire Weekends "Ottoman." It's about time someone sampled a VW song. Oh, and the song is dope.

Kid Cudi- "Cudderisback"

Passion Pit "Little Secrets (Video)"

Here's the video for my favorite song of 2009 (possibly more foreshadowing here). Unfortunately, embedding is disabled on it, but I highly recommend checking it out. 

Passion Pit- "Little Secrets (Video)"

Bars of Gold

Okay, so I've been following this for a little while and decided to post about it. There's a band out of Michigan called Wildcatting that included a few former members of Bear vs. Shark. They put out quite an awesome album that most probably don't know about called 'How to Survive a Sneak Attack.' Bars of Gold is what happened when Marc Paffi (previous BvS vocalist) joined up. It seems the band has been recording since this past summer. After practicing Talking Heads songs for their Halloween show, Brandon from the band tells me they've gone back to work on their own stuff. There are a handful of live YouTube videos and rough demos on their MySpace page, and to be honest, I can't wait to hear what they come up with after hearing these.
- Chris

Here's "Birds" :

On the Rise: Carmine

Hey guys, Along with Wiz Khalifa's newest album, I also got my hands on a new mixtape. It's from an artist known as Carmine. My friend found out about him on Pigeons and Planes and ever since I listened to it, I knew it was legit. His beats are creative and very well done. His lyrics and flow are what I like best about him though. The first song I heard was Just Gone and the lyrics just blew me away. A few of my favorites are Just Gone, Tonight, and Don't Wake Me Up. I would highly suggest checking him out. His myspace is myspace.com/itscarmine. Check him out and download his mixtape EightEatEight. You will not be disappointed and watch out for this guy on the rise big time!

8. Animal Collective "Fall Be Kind"

I told you something would come up. This spot was originally for the Avett Brothers I and Love and You album, but Animal Collective came out with this EP last week or so, and it is WAY to good for me to keep off the list. (Still check out the AB though, the album is beautiful). Anyways, this album, although only five songs long, is still incredible, right up there with Merriweather Post Pavilion in terms of vocal harmony and musicianship (a bit of foreshadowing there). The opening track "Graze" starts off with a swirl of strings and David Porter and Noah Lennox showcasing their vocal talents. The song builds up steadily with the strings and vocal, eventually exploding into a kind of Peruvian flute masterpiece. "Bleeding"contains the vocal harmonizing and layering which is to be expected from AC. The standout track however, is certainly "What Would I Want Sky", which samples the Grateful Dead's "Unbroken Chain" the first ever licensed Dead sample. Like "Graze" the song requires considerable build up, but boy is it worth it. At about the 3:10 marker, the sample kicks into gear, with Porter singing "Old glasses clinkin/and a new orders blinkin/and I should be floating/but I'm weighted by thinkin." The sample works to perfection with the rest of the song, as well as presenting a more accessible AC. Overall the album is nearly flawless, and it should be interesting to see what 2010 brings for AC.