Best Albums of 2009
What are your picks for best music of '09? Thoughts on my list?
AA Bondy When the Devil’s Loose
Solo folkie spins bittersweet tales alongside soaring, often mesmerizing choruses.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sURFD0vVQYo
El Michel’s Affair Enter the 37th Chamber
Brooklyn funksters try their hands at souling out hip-hop rhythms while interpreting Wu Tang classics.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhDnWLfm07o
Other Lives Self Titled
Oklahoma piano-and-strings based indie rock. Painfully overlooked.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHxTC2NVYaE
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis White Lunar
Sad-song-salesmen extraordinaires create a haunting, mostly instrumental two-disc collection of soundtracks including 2009’s post-apocalyptic film The Road.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUbCB0QCfqM
The Whitest Boy Alive Rules (Bubbles)
Kings of Convenience’s Erlend Øye’s vocals feature prominently in the German-based group noted for the short and danceable songs. Catchy Synthesizers and a Rhodes piano feature prominently. My neice Fiona wiped the floor with me after challenging me to a dance-off to the infectious track “Intentions”.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO7BKyzQxjA
Do Make Say Think The Other Truths
Rumoured to be the Toronto post-rock band’s final release, it would be a hell of a swan song, as the four sprawling instrumental tracks seem a fitting summation of the work by one of the genre’s finest torchbearers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPPRpUKCubE
Lee Fields and the Expressions My World
Pure soul, and plenty of it, from Truth & Soul’s living legend, the man once know as the “little J.B.”. James Brown might be dead but funky Lee Fields proves once again that he is very much alive.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XwdRSMs4FY
Wax Tailor In the Mood For Life
French producer Jean-Christophe Le Saoût enlists a variety of musicians to compliment his lush breakbeat/trip-hop backdrops.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uf6QLh8SMs
Freelance Whales Weathervane
Another Brooklyn band puts out another sublime album of indie-rock. Recorded with just about any instruments hanging around the music room floor, the songs seem effortless, as if people just fart great music in NYC. Avid street performers, this is another example of the immeasurable good that can come when art is allowed to live and breathe in the streets of the city.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7gxmClhW8Q
Phoenix Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus
French pop-rock sensations hit the North American mainstream in 2009 after years of indie success overseas. Over-marketed, yes, but not overhyped, Phoenix has done it all with this auditory hook-fest.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rbGj4_qYgI
Fanfarlo Reservoir
London’s Fanfarlo is Beirut’s adventurous cousin visiting from Europe. Well layered and multi-instrumental (think Sufjan) and wildly raucous in their own driving way (think Broken Social Scene or Arcade Fire), Reservoir is not only among the year’s best, but also underrated, albums.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsXhQfIZD2c
Patrick Watson Wooden Arms
Quebec’s Watson was understandably shortlisted for a Polaris award for this, his third and fullest effort to date. As lush vocals roll over chamber pop and zany-cabaret, Watson navigates similar waters as Andrew Bird and fellow-Montrealer Rufus Wainwright.
Honourable Mentions :
Bowerbirds Upper Air, Céu Vagarosa, Gregory Alan Isakov This Empty Northern Hemisphere, Frank Fairfield S/T, Molina & Johnson S/T, Quantic & His Combo Barbaro, Royal Wood The Lost and Found EP, Vieux Farka Touré Fondo, The XX XX
Best Albums of 2009
What are your picks for best music of '09? Thoughts on my list?
AA Bondy When the Devil’s Loose
Solo folkie spins bittersweet tales alongside soaring, often mesmerizing choruses.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sURFD0vVQYo
El Michel’s Affair Enter the 37th Chamber
Brooklyn funksters try their hands at souling out hip-hop rhythms while interpreting Wu Tang classics.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhDnWLfm07o
Other Lives Self Titled
Oklahoma piano-and-strings based indie rock. Painfully overlooked.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHxTC2NVYaE
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis White Lunar
Sad-song-salesmen extraordinaires create a haunting, mostly instrumental two-disc collection of soundtracks including 2009’s post-apocalyptic film The Road.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUbCB0QCfqM
The Whitest Boy Alive Rules (Bubbles)
Kings of Convenience’s Erlend Øye’s vocals feature prominently in the German-based group noted for the short and danceable songs. Catchy Synthesizers and a Rhodes piano feature prominently. My neice Fiona wiped the floor with me after challenging me to a dance-off to the infectious track “Intentions”.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO7BKyzQxjA
Do Make Say Think The Other Truths
Rumoured to be the Toronto post-rock band’s final release, it would be a hell of a swan song, as the four sprawling instrumental tracks seem a fitting summation of the work by one of the genre’s finest torchbearers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPPRpUKCubE
Lee Fields and the Expressions My World
Pure soul, and plenty of it, from Truth & Soul’s living legend, the man once know as the “little J.B.”. James Brown might be dead but funky Lee Fields proves once again that he is very much alive.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XwdRSMs4FY
Wax Tailor In the Mood For Life
French producer Jean-Christophe Le Saoût enlists a variety of musicians to compliment his lush breakbeat/trip-hop backdrops.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uf6QLh8SMs
Freelance Whales Weathervane
Another Brooklyn band puts out another sublime album of indie-rock. Recorded with just about any instruments hanging around the music room floor, the songs seem effortless, as if people just fart great music in NYC. Avid street performers, this is another example of the immeasurable good that can come when art is allowed to live and breathe in the streets of the city.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7gxmClhW8Q
Phoenix Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus
French pop-rock sensations hit the North American mainstream in 2009 after years of indie success overseas. Over-marketed, yes, but not overhyped, Phoenix has done it all with this auditory hook-fest.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rbGj4_qYgI
Fanfarlo Reservoir
London’s Fanfarlo is Beirut’s adventurous cousin visiting from Europe. Well layered and multi-instrumental (think Sufjan) and wildly raucous in their own driving way (think Broken Social Scene or Arcade Fire), Reservoir is not only among the year’s best, but also underrated, albums.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsXhQfIZD2c
Patrick Watson Wooden Arms
Quebec’s Watson was understandably shortlisted for a Polaris award for this, his third and fullest effort to date. As lush vocals roll over chamber pop and zany-cabaret, Watson navigates similar waters as Andrew Bird and fellow-Montrealer Rufus Wainwright.
Honourable Mentions :
Bowerbirds Upper Air, Céu Vagarosa, Gregory Alan Isakov This Empty Northern Hemisphere, Frank Fairfield S/T, Molina & Johnson S/T, Quantic & His Combo Barbaro, Royal Wood The Lost and Found EP, Vieux Farka Touré Fondo, The XX XX