Top 10: Albums of 2009 (So Far)

10. Dan Deacon Bromst; Prior to my first listen I was a bit apprehensive about Dan Deacon's sophomore album. Would the man be able to capture magic in a bottle again? Or was he just a one trick pony that would burn out after one great album? Personally I would have been fine if we were left with Spiderman of the Rings as his great living testament, but Dan Deacon went out and recorded an album with a 15-piece band and blew away all of our expectations. Bromst is much more dense album then his debut was, it has more texture, it feels like a better album, and I adored Spiderman of the Rings. I can't say it's a million times better or anything like that, but it definitely improves fully on the debut and makes it's own immediate impression upon the listener. This is a great record in a year that has been full of great records, but I kind of feel it's one a lot people have been sleeping on so far.
Dan Deacon - "Padding Ghost"

9. Grizzly Bear Vecketamist; Obviously this has been Grizzly Bear's year so far and a lot of people are going to think me crazy of putting Vecketamistat #9. To me this is just personal taste. Any record on this top 10 list probably could have been #1 with an extra listen here or one more catchy song there, and I think that's what kept Grizzly Bear from cracking the top 5 is the need for one more addictive catchy single. Sure it has "Two Weeks" and "While You Wait for the Others" which are both tremendous songs but it needed one more to really put it over the top. As it is Vecketamist is definitely more of a whole album and one that is a brilliant listen from start to finish. Grizzly Bear do a wonderful job of crafting pop music that isn't confined to one genre or style. It bends through genres melding a ton together and creating just the right blend between mainstream pop sounds and avant artsy-ness.
Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"

8. White Rabbits It's Frightening; All talk about the White Rabbits sophomore effort must start with the album's opening track "Percussion Gun". This song absolutely dominates your ears, setting them up for everything that is to come throughout It's Frightening. The song bubbles with the non-stop stream of drums pounding into your ears and then suddenly we are met head on by the piano and vocals and guitar and it all comes together seamlessly. The rest of the album goes much the same way, and it definitely picks up some of the fingerprints of its producer Britt Daniel. Not that that's a bad thing, Spoon has never released a bad record, and through two tries neither have the White Rabbits. This is a stellar, solid record through and through.
White Rabbits - "Percussion Gun"

7. Various Artists Dark Was the Night; It's rare that a compilation album like Dark Was the Night would make a list like this. Normally us "critics" pan tribute anything made by Various Artists. Maybe we attach ourselves to a song or two but that's it. With Dark Was the Night the Dessner brothers have done an amazing job gather talented musicians to release amazing music. They paired artists perfectly like Dirty Projectors and David Byrne or Ben Gibbard and Feist, and the allowed the bands and artists to focus within some pretty loose reins. All that and the record was made for the In the Red charity who continues to fight against HIV and AIDS. It's an amazing record on its own but when you consider what it was made for it becomes all the more impressive for it.
Dirty Projectors & David Byrne - "Knotty Pine"

6. Screaming Females Power Move; You may not know it yet but Screaming Females are going to go down as one of your favorite bands from New Jersey ever. They will be mentioned in the same breath as Sinatra and Springsteen and will be cranking out their guitar heavy odes for some time. Of course all that is hypothetical, but if they stick together and keeping making records like Power Move it is totally inevitable that this will happen. This album is built on the steady rhythms of King Mike on bass and Jarrett Dougherty on drums and the absolute manic attack that is front woman Marissa Paternoster. Seriously this girls kills in every way! Her guitar playing is insane and her vocals are wild and totally unrestrained. This may be one of the quieter records on my mid-year list but there is no doubt in my mind that it belongs right here.
Screaming Females - "Bell"

5. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart The Pains of Being Pure at Heart; In the year that has been dominated by lo-fi acts this list is surprisingly devoid of those bands. Perhaps they all sound the same, maybe they're all gonna be flashes in the pan, but whatever the case may be I haven't full grabbed onto the trend. The closest to those lo-fi bands on this list is definitely The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a band that has the fuzz and waves of noise suppressed a little bit and who use melody and harmonies to create some fantastic pop songs. This would certainly have fit in well in the late 80's New York scene, but instead it is carving out its own scene here in the late 00's. It may be a bit depressing and it's certainly melancholy music but The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's self-titled debut is also full of amazingly beautiful music.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Contender"

4. St. Vincent Actor; It has been a fine year for sophomore releases. On this list alone there are three glowing sophomore records that absolutely best impressive debuts from the same artists. Not only that but they are working hard to shape the current musical landscape as well. The best of these is definitely St. Vincent's Actor, a record that is immediately beautiful, artsy, pop oriented, rocking, and just an engrossing listen. From start to finish few albums show such emotional depth while still maintaining such a vast range of sound and emotion. Actor is an awesome record that I have been hooked to since my first list, it improves on St. Vincent's debut Marry Me greatly, and stands up well against all the other records that have come out this year. It definitely fits right here.
St. Vincent - "Actor Out of Work"

3. Micachu & the Shapes Jewellery; Micachu & the Shapes keep things short and simple, but their 2-minute long songs are expanding the ideas of what you can do with an acoustic guitar. Mica Levi is absolutely destroying the sound of her acoustic guitar, taking it from a pretty folk instrument to something grating and noisy and wonderful. It plays hard riffs in odd tunings and is matched by her bandmates synth sounds and perfectly rhythmic drumming. Along with Mica's monotonous delivery this whole record bops and weaves along at a rapid pace but once it's over there's a good chance you'll be hitting play all over again. Such is the allure of these new and interesting sounds.
Micachu & the Shapes - "Lips"

2. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion; When all is said an done with this decade Animal Collective will probably be left standing at the top of the pile as one of the most important bands of the last ten years. Obviously it's a controversial statement that can be argued to death (other contenders include Kanye West, Radiohead, M.I.A., etc.), but when you look at the breadth of Animal Collective's work and how much they've changed the landscape of music in such a short time it's hard to argue their importance. The amazing thing is that after all this time and all their terrific records Merriweather Post Pavilion is hands down their finest achievement. This is the record that knocks down the wall between the artistic side of everything they've done and the pop oriented side. They have finally come together to create something mind bending but dance worthy. Something you can chill out to or go nuts for. No matter how choose to appreciate it you can't help but enjoy it.
Animal Collective - "My Girls"

1. The Antlers Hospice; In August Frenchkiss Records will be re-releasing Hospice with a sweet new remastering and some fine tuned stuff, but for my money this was already the best record of last year and has dominated my iPod for the first half of 2009. The record is absolutely one of the most gorgeous things I have ever heard, and having been a huge fan of The Antlers for some time now I can say that this is by far the best thing The Antlers have ever done and it stands right along with all the current big boys as one of the finest records of the year. My personal taste pushes it to #1, though I understand not all of you will agree with it. I love it, I've loved it for a while now and it hasn't faded in the slightest bit.
The Antlers - "Kettering"