Favourite Albums of 2009

Before I sat down to try and remember what my favourite albums of 2009 were, I realized that I really hadn't listened to that many albums released this year. I only really got very interested in music about two years ago and I've spent those two years listening to great things I had been missing. Most of what I listen to is either from the '90s or 2000s (whatever this decade is called), so I'm not too far out of it, but there's definitely things that have come out in the past year or two that I've missed simply by not focusing enough on the present. So I've decided to limit myself to ten favourites from this year (because I honestly didn't hear more than 15-20 albums from this year) and fifteen favourites I heard this year that were released prior to 2009.

Favourite Albums of 2009

10. Logos - Atlas Sound

This is a questionable album to put in a top ten list... I mean, it's good, but not extraordinary or anything. There's a few standout tracks like Walkabout, Criminals, etc, but overall it's just a nice album to put on when I'm in the mood for something chill. Lots of nice intertwining guitar melodies, but I think I prefer Deerhunter's material more.

Hipster Level: Very High

9. The Fame Monster - Lady GaGa
I don't usually have similar tastes in music with my friends — besides the occasional Cure or Sigur Rós listener — but I can always count on knowing plenty of people who love Lady GaGa. What can you say? "The Fame Monster" outdid "The Fame" and made Lady GaGa an even more successful pop star than she already was. So it may not be hxc enough for Bring Me the Horizon fans, but we all know they secretly listen to Bad Romance when no one's checking their "screamo" cred.

8. Tertia - Caspian
I've started listening to a lot of post-rock this year and this band has become one of my favourites in the genre (second only to GY!BE). Their music is interesting and actually goes somewhere, unlike so many Explosions in the Sky knockoff bands. "Tertia" is both an energetic and beautiful album, and really quite a good listen. I just love the way the first track quietly leads into the explosive second, and the whole thing picks up from there. Yet it still calms back down to gentler points like Concrescence, which is my favourite track.

7. Angel Falls ++ - This Is My Normal State
You might remember me praising this EP when it was released in November. Since then, I've only had more time to appreciate its beauty. It's basically a really dreamy post-rock meets shoegaze album. So beautiful and ethereal... not to mention flawless. This band really has their stuff together, and the vocalist has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. I'm hoping to see another release from them in the near future (hopefully a full length studio album).

6. XX - The xx
The release of the xx's debut album, "XX", has created a big stir, not only drawing attention for lovers of "indie british stuff", but from a variety of listeners in general. Their gentle guitar riffs almost draw back to an older post-punk sound, but they're obviously not a pop-y Joy Division or anything. With their drum machine and careful sampling, the xx have created a very simple, but unique pop sound for themselves that sounds almost too perfect at times... "Crystalised", if you will.

5. Riceboy Sleeps - Jónsi & Alex
Typically when I say I could "fall asleep" listening to something, it's more of a downgrading comment than a positive one, but when I say I could fall asleep to this album, I mean it in the most flattering way possible. This is one of the most peaceful albums I have ever heard. It was made entirely with just acoustic (string) instruments and vocals; no electronic stuff. I haven't made a big move into ambient music yet, but this, along with Alex's other project, Parachutes, is really pushing me in that direction.

4. Fall Be Kind EP - Animal Collective
Now we really don't need to go over this whole thing again (not that I wouldn't like to)... BUT RLY ITS GUD.

WHAT WOULD I WANT? SKY!
WHAT WOULD I WANT? SKY!
WHAT WOULD I WANT? SKY!
WHAT WOULD I WANT? SKY!
WHAT WOULD I WANT? SKY!
WHAT WOULD I WANT? SKY!
WHAT WOULD I WANT? SKY!
WHAT WOULD I WANT? SKY!
WHAT WOULD I WANT? SKY!

3. No More Stories... - Mew
I think the cover alone scores points for this album. I'm really in love with it. My original review of the music itself wasn't very insightful, but now, having had more time to absorb and appreciate it, I can honestly say it's (almost) a masterpiece. Perhaps too different to try and compare with their previous albums, but alone it stands as a good representation of a band that knows how to make their sound. There are elements of so many genres in here... all these creative twists. It takes more than a few listens for all of it to sink in, but in the end it's truly a lovely "experimental pop" record. (And might I add, Mew is stunning live).

2. The Satanic Satanist - Portugal. The Man
It seems like every rock band these days is oh so influenced by "classic rock" (which btw, is one of the dumbest musical tags I can think of) and most of the time said bands are some of the more boring lumps of snoozefest I've ever heard. But Portugal. The Man? They've got the influence, no doubt, but how did they get so interesting? So creative? So... good? Everything just flows together like honey on this album. Sweet, sticky pop goodness. My best memories of last summer are reminiscent of this record.

1. Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective
Yeah, suck it up. I kind of bought this album out of desperation early this year when I failed to find "Strawberry Jam" in any record store I searched in (ironically enough, I see it all the time now). It's easily become one of my favourite albums since, and I suppose my favourite of the year. Besides the two or three "super catchy" songs, Merriweather is really an album album, meaning you have to listen to the whole thing to get it. And obviously some people don't. Sucks for them.

Favourite Albums Heard In, But Release Prior To, 2009

1. Frengers - Mew (2003)
2. Blonder Tongue Audio Baton - Swirlies (1993)
3. Relationship of Command - At The Drive-In (2000)
4. Yanqui U.X.O - Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2002)
5. Juturna - Circa Survive (2005)
6. On Letting Go - Circa Survive (2007)
7. Some Kind of Cadwallader - Algernon Cadwallader (2008)
8. Strawberry Jam - Animal Collective (2007)
9. Lover the Lord Has Left Us… - The Sound of Animals Fighting (2006)
10. The Destruction of Small Ideas - 65daysofstatic (2007)
11. Amnesiac - Radiohead (2001)
12. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (1991)
13. Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? - of Montreal (2007)
14. Skeletal Lamping - of Montreal (2008)
15. Cell Scape - Melt-Banana (2003)

I probably should have posted this earlier this month instead of at the very end of the year. Oh well. I have a lot of music to listen to that I got for christmas. And in addition to that, I'll add a few albums released this year that I heard were good to the "listen to" list, such as "Post-Nothing" - Japandroids, "What Happened?" - Emeralds, "And So I Watch You From Afar" - And So I Watch You From Afar, "Love Comes Close" - Cold Cave, and maybe even that Grizzly Bear album. Yeah. Hope you enjoyed the list.

[currently listening to: Sounds of Sebring - Swirlies]

Fall Be Kind EP

Fall Be Kind EP
Animal Collective

I know this leaked last month, but I waited to listen to the whole thing until I had a bought a copy of it. So here we are.

This year has obviously been big for Animal Collective. "Merriweather Post Pavilion" has made "Top _____" lists everywhere and now after the release of this EP, they've gotten even more attention. It's said that they're at their "creative peak" right now, which may or may not be true, I mean... they've put out some pretty "creative" stuff before. A better word to describe it would just be "successful", seeing as how more and more people are recognizing their music to the point where the've become one of the most talked about bands of the decade. This, of course, has lead to them to also get a lot of shit from the "antihipsterantihipsterantihipster" crowd, but whaaaaatever. Maybe I'm just a hipster, but I believe their recognition is well-earned.

"Fall Be Kind" starts off where "Merriweather" ended. But it goes far beyond where that album could go; a promising sign that the next decade holds more pleasant surprises from this band.

It opens with "Graze", which is essentially a song with two parts. The first half is sung by Avey Tare. It's a rather atmospheric, almost ambient, introduction to the EP, I like to think. Let me begin. Almost unexpectedly, the song changes into a bouncier, happier tune and Noah/Panda Bear joins into the signing. And here comes the Animal Collective Express again! (see Brothersport) There's some weird stuff going on here that just seems out of place, but these guys seem to know how to pull it off (they almost always do). And just when you think things couldn't get better...

The next song, "What Would I Want? Sky", is the song that sets "Fall Be Kind apart from Merriweather. It's my favourite song. It's everyone's favourite song. It's Pitchfork's favourite song. It's probably your favourite song too. "Sky" is focused around the repeating line "What would I want? Sky" (no shit), which emerges out of nowhere after "a bunch of noise and some weird words muttered over and over". A whole catchy melody is built off this to, undeniably, create one of Animal Collective's greatest pop songs. Do you get up up up? / Clouds stop and move above me / Too bad they can't help me / What is the right way? Face it. "My Girls" was good, but nowhere this good.

These songs flow so well into each other. After some messing around with the track order, it seems that almost any order you put them in works great (but of course the original is best). "Sky" flows right into "Bleed", where we here some more weird muttering that reminds me of the voices meathead uses in his videos, but that's irrelevant. "Bleed" is on the dreamy side, kind of like the first half of "Graze". Panda Bear hits some high notes in the background while Avey Tare sings a slow, surreal melody. It's my least favourite track on the EP, but it's still very good.

Animal Collective's sound has obviously changed a lot in the past few years. They've given up the more raw/acoustic sounds of "Sung Tongs" and "Feels" and taken up a more electronic-based/"i'm not really sure what instrument that is" sound where we often hear looped noises and sounds combining to form a more complex melody that often isn't meant to be taken apart, but heard more as a single flow of sound (major run-on sentence, sorry). This was especially prevalent in "Merriweather", where basically every song was constructed in this way, though it's seen in parts of "Strawberry Jam" as well. This definitely applies to all the songs on "Fall Be Kind", but "On A Highway" is an especially good example. Not only is the main melody in the background repeating in a drone-like fashion, but the lyrical structure does the same thing, and the song doesn't ever fall into that point of monotony that songs on "Merriweather" are often accused of. It might be notable to mention that I didn't really listen to the lyrics very closely on the first time through, but I definitely couldn't avoid hearing On a highway / There are some workers pissing / It starts my bladder itching / Can I wait for the exit?

The EP hits its darkest point with "I Think I Can". This song is almost creepy at times. I'll try to remember to put it on my Halloween playlist next year. The layered, almost droning vocals combined with the resounding drum pattern and weird distorted piano (?) sound like some caveman ritual you might stumble across while walking aimlessly through the woods at night. O-kay— maybe not, but randomly finding Animal Collective in the forest would be pretty cool. I think I can I think can I think I—

"Fall Be Kind" is a really sound EP. It's both addicting and fun to listen to. Animal Collective is definitely building on their pop sound, and they're doing a great job. I hope the next album is this good. Also... What Would I Want? Sky single? Yes plz

Rating: 8.6/10

- - -

In other news, I'm on winter break right now, which is why I have time for writing novels like this. This is my first not-completely-stupid review, so thank you for reading/skimming/falling asleep at the keyboard. Next year I hope to write more of these, given I have an album to write about and the time to write. New Massive Attack and solo album by Jónsi in February.

Before the end of the year I'm also going to post my own "Best of 2009" list, so I'll get started on that soon...

Mew @ Neumo's, 12.10.09

Here be concert photos! Please read on! :)

I first heard Mew last summer when their new single "Introducing Palace Players" was released (you might remember me mentioning the music video with the cute snails). I quickly moved onto their "Frengers" album and instantly fell in love with that as well. When "No More Stories" was released in August, I excitedly bought it as soon as I could, as well as the EP preceding it. Their music is so beautiful and unique. It's had me absolutely obsessed for months (they're my top artist for the past six months on lastfm ;) I made no hesitation in buying tickets when I heard they were touring.

TL;DR: I love this band very much and got a chance to see them play live. And I will now happily share that wonderful experience with you.

So, they played at Neumo's last Thursday, as the title suggests. It was a school night, so I pulled an "FFFFFFF SKOOL!!!!" and had fun for once... so much fun that I only got 4 hours of sleep ;)

But anyways, it was my first time at Neumo's. I can't say whether I liked it better than El Corazon since the crowd size of the shows I saw was quite different, but it's a nice little venue. I love small shows, they're much more personal and fun.

Here's the setlist (thanks to some nice people on the Mew forums)

Intro
Introducing Palace Players
Special (long)
Zookeeper's Boy
Hawaii
Sometimes Life Isn't Easy
Am I Wry? No
156
Repeaterbeater
Silas the Magic Car
Apocalypso
Saviors of Jazz Ballet
Bear
Circuitry of the Wolf
Chinaberry Tree
Beach
Snow Brigade
Louise Louisa

Awesome? Yeah, I thought so. The only song I didn't recognize was "Bear", but the rest of the setlist is soooooooo good. During the encore (after "Beach" I think) they asked us what song we'd like to hear. I was dying for them to play "Swimmer's Chant" seeing as they hadn't really played anything quiet up till that point except for "Silas the Magic Car". Although I didn't get that wish granted, they did play "Snow Brigade" which is also another favourite of mine. I thought "Comforting Sounds" would be a great closer, but it turned out "Louise Louisa" was maybe even better. Mew can do no wrong.

Unfortunately, it took a really long time before even The Lonely Forest (opening band) starting playing, but it was worth the wait.

The Lonely Forest is a band from Anacortes, WA. They released a new album this year called "We Sing The Body Electric!". I regret not buying it there at the show, because I actually enjoyed the songs, but I'll probably end up getting it off amazon or something.

But anyways, I got a few shots of these guys. They were pretty funny. The mic was freakin' out the lead singer and shocking the fillings in his teeth (?!?), so he put his sock over it. It was lol. He asked if this would appear on some blogs. You bet it is ;)

Oh, and call me crazy, but I thought the singer looked like Noah Lennox / Panda Bear. Y/N?

-SQUEEEEEEL-

Bo! They opened with Introducing Palace Players, leading right into Special. It made me so happy, you don't even know.

Trippy lights?

I realized later that the mic stand was in the way of Jonas' head in just about EVERY picture D: But he still looks adorable, so it's o-kay.

These next few are too awesome, I can't pick just one

I love the lights !

Snazzy 8)

Again, such cool lighting. I especially love the red.

Gahh, I just love these guys. I didn't have a chance to meet them at this show, but maybe next time :) I still can't stop listening to Mew. I don't really go to shows that often, so that might be the reason for obsessing after seeing this show... but either way, an amazing show always leaves you ecstatic and longing for more. And this most certainly was an "amazing show". I hope I'll see these guys again someday :)

If you've noticed... no, I couldn't see Silas or the bassist very well. Or... not at all. I was standing off to the right and everyone was taller than me by at least a head. I didn't really know beforehand what kind of fanbase Mew attracted. I only knew that almost no one my age listens to them. That stayed true, seeing as most of the people there were young adults... not really anyone under 17 or 18. It was still very fun though. I absolutely fell in love with "Repeaterbeater" and "Sometimes Life Isn't Easy" after hearing them played live (I remember saying I wasn't impressed with the latter when writing my review of No More Stories... I take it back ;)

Oh, I got an awesome shirt!

On a really random sidenote... I got the new Animal Collective EP, "Fall Be Kind", yesterday. Good stuff. Once I listen to it a few times I'll try to write again. Winterbreak starts Saturday. I just have to live through tomorrow. O-kay, bye now.

[currently listening to: White Lips Kissed - Mew]

boy lilikoi

Old news, but in case you haven't already heard, Jónsi of Sigur Rós is releasing an new solo album in March and you can download one of the songs right here on his website :) It's one of the lovliest things I've heard all year.

I'm looking forward to hearing the whole album next spring, but for now I'm extremely excited to see Mew at Neumo's this Thursday... just two days away. First show I will have seen in six months.

[currently listening to: Boy Lilikoi - Jónsi] (of course!)