Rick’s Top 20 for 2009 and more!

RICK’S TOP 20 ALBUMS FOR 2009
My picks are NOT based on what I predict or feel the “most significant” albums of the year are. They are simply based on which albums have given me the most listening enjoyment throughout the year.

1. DAN AUERBACH—KEEP IT HID
The guitarist for the Black Keys strikes out on his own, and delves even deeper into the blues template than he does with the Keys.

2. METRIC—FANTASIES
Emily Haines finest yet, with hooks abounding everywhere.

3. DEAD WEATHER—HOREHOUND
Jack White strikes again, with a project nearly as good (maybe even as good - time will tell) as the White Stripes.

4. M. WARD—HOLD TIME
While his She & Him project was fine, his latest solo album is even better. Fantastic soft-focus cover of Buddy Holly’s “Rave On” is just one of the highlights of this gorgeous opus that delves into rock, folk, Americana, and just about every other form of American music.

5. YEAH YEAH YEAH’S—IT’S BLITZ
Less guitar and more synthesizers, along with superior songwriting, puts Karen O. and cohorts on the list.
 
6. GLASVEGAS—GLASVEGAS
Big-hearted anthems and blustery melodies make this one of the debuts of the year.

7. ACEYALONE—ACEYALONE & THE LONELY ONES
Aceyalone fashions a hip-hop album done like a sixties soul revue, with excellent lyrics to boot.

8. STEVEN WILSON—INSURGENTES
The leader of prog-rock revivalists Porcupine Tree strikes gold with an album that conjures up images of what Radiohead would sound like if they went nuts over Pink Floyd.

9. SOULSAVERS—BROKEN
This is the second superior album by the Mark Lanegan-fronted Soulsavers. Their formula is dark gospel-blues with a rock heart, with Lanegan’s unmistakable vocals at the center.

10. FLORENCE & THE MACHINE—LUNGS
A huge voice with tunes to match make this another one of the year’s fine debuts.

11. LOW ANTHEM—OH MY GOD CHARLIE DARWIN
This is an Americana album of unvarnished beauty, with feathery vocals and subdued instrumentation yielding a feeling of listening around a campfire—with a couple of good “hoot & holler” songs thrown in for good measure. 

12. DECEMBERISTS—HAZARDS OF LOVE
This blindingly ambitious song-suite dealing with shape-shifting lovers and other such concerns unites folk-rock beauty with Led Zeppelin crunch. Colin Meloy’s songwriting and arranging skills are on full display.

13. BAND OF SKULLS—BABY DARLING DOLL FACE HONEY
Yet another excellent debut, with songs veering from strutting rockers to soft-focused ballads, all carried along by dual male/female vocals.
14. LEVON HELM—ELECTRIC DIRT
Former Band drummer/singer/songwriter returns with his second album in as many years, showing every alt-country youngster how it should be done. And his voice is still a thing of wonder.

15. JAMES HAND—SHADOW ON THE GROUND
Country done the way Hank Williams did it—‘nuff said.

16. SCHOOL OF THE SEVEN BELLS—ALPINISMS
Former Secret Machines guitarist unites with twin female singers to yield an album with crystal clear vocals combined with less clear (fuzz/reverb/distortion) guitars. Brilliant!

17. BLACK JOE LEWIS—TELL ‘EM WHAT YOUR NAME IS
Yes, it’s derivative of the sixties soul-stompers put out by Stax, but it works so well, who cares?

18. BACHELORETTE—MY ELECTRIC FAMILY
The most critically ignored pick on my list, My Electric Family is an album centered on the dangers of isolation in our computer-dependent age, but with the pop-centric music itself being largely composed and recorded on her home computer.

19. JAY FARRAR / BENJAMIN GIBBARD—ONE FAST MOVE OR I’M GONE: KEROUAC’S BIG SUR
Recorded for inclusion on an upcoming Jack Kerouac documentary, and with lyrics taken from Kerouac’s novel concerning Big Sur, the music here wonderfully combines Death Cab For Cutie frontman Gibbard’s pop delicacy with Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt founder Farrar’s alt-country leanings. It shouldn’t work but it does.

20. CRIBS—IGNORE THE IGNORANT
More blustery anthems out of England, with huge hooks and knowing swagger. I put it last because it’s too new to know how long it will last, but for now, I can’t get enough of it.

MOST OVER-RATED ALBUM OF THE YEAR
I know this is dangerous territory, as my shop has sold a ton of these, but I just can’t get into Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. Yes, they’re talented, and yes, they know how to spit out great snippets of sound one after the other. But could they PLEASE write a couple of actual songs, rather than just stringing their ideas together one after the other?

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ANDY’S TOP 20 ALBUMS FOR 2009

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
2. A Place To Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
3. Major Lazer - Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do
4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. MSTRKRFT – Fist Of God
6.    Band Of Skulls - Baby Darling Dollface Honey
7. Converge – Axe To Fall
8. Peter Bjorn and John – Living Thing
9. Russian Circles – Geneva
10. Metric – Fantasies
11. Mew – No More Stories
12. Mastodon – Crack The Skye
13.  Blacroc - Blacroc
14.  Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young
15.  Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
16.  The xx - The xx
17.  Sonic Youth - The Eternal
18.  White Lies - To Lose My Life
19.  Mos Def - The Ecstatic
20.  Antony & The Johnsons - The Crying Light

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More to come from the other employees soon!

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Rick’s TOP 10 RELEASES FOR 2008

10. MGMT—Oracular Spectacular Produced by the band and Dave Fridmann of the Flaming Lips, MGMT, like the Lips, tackle any-era psychedelia. But they go on to fuse this focus with beautifully sweeping stabs at 60s and 70s rock monsters (Fleetwood Mac, Bee Gees, and T. Rex are three that pop into your mind while listening), along with lyrics that convey a child-like wonder or naivete about whatever their subject matter is. The result is the most charming debut of 2008.

9. Fleet Foxes—s/t Fleet Foxes debut puts their old-English vocal harmonies front and center, creating one of the first “medieaval rock” records of the new millennium. All this from a group of guys from Seattle—how does this type of stuff happen?

8. Radiohead—In Rainbows In Rainbows combines all the elements that make Radiohead great—anthemic sweep, avant gropings, hook-filled tunes, and sheer inventiveness. One of the few “career” bands still in existence, and still going strong.

7. Various Artists—Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour, Vol. 1 This two-disc collection of songs broadcast on Dylan’s satellite radio program encompasses the history of American music, showing the linkages between modern rock, jazz, folk, blues, world, and anything else that ever got played on the radio. Stunningly diverse, yet the entirety of the two discs flows smoothly from beginning to end. One of the most enjoyable history lessons you will ever encounter.

6. Howling Rain–Magnificent Fiend The side project of Comets On Fire’s Ethan Miller, this disc pays homage to the seventies sounds of Traffic and Eric Clapton circa Derek and the Dominoes. Miller’s raspy blues-flecked voice is perfect for the material.

5. Moondoggies—Don’t Be A Stranger Another Seattle-based band with vocals at the forefront, but this time the reference points are groups like The Band and Crosby Stills, Nash & Young. Some times they rock out, other times they deliver the blues, and at still others they give way to old-time gospel fervor, but at all times their ragged-but-right approach goes down like listening to good ol’ music on your front porch.

4. Last Shadow Puppets—Age Of The Understatement Arctic Monkey’s Alex Turner heads up this project. Like a modern-day version of the soundtrack music that accompanied 60’s action-adventure films (think James Bond and Morricone), the majestic orchestral sweeps and rousing choruses are all present and accounted for, but all songs are set to brisk tempos, avoiding the lugubrious balladry that often accompanies such an approach.

3. Various Artists—Jazz Icons DVDs, Vol. 3 The jazz equivalent of finding a box of unseen full-length concerts from the 60s by the Beatles, Stones, James Brown, etc., the Jazz Icon series showcases the greatest jazz performers of the 50s and 60s (Miles Davis excepted) in their prime performing full-length sets for European TV.  The Oscar Peterson and Nina Simone discs are especially compelling, but seeing Lionel Hampton switch from vibes to piano to drums to the dancefloor also gives a flavor of what’s in store for you here. Flawless sound and great camerawork demonstrate the European’s love for jazz, as does the fact that they preserved the tapes of these show (something the US television powers-that-be rarely bothered with).

2. Robert Plant/Alison Krauss—Raising Sand The most unexpected musical pairing of the year (decade?) finds bluegrasser Krauss and “Zepelliner” Plant demonstrating that music is music regardless of the genre. Their voices blend so well that you miss the combination when one takes a solo turn. Ranging from Page/Plant numbers to folk to old-time pop, this disc reminds you why vocalists always get the attention in a band. Simply sublime.AND NUMBER

1. TV On The Radio—Dear Science Sounding like no one else, TV On The Radio’s third album added sophisticated rhythmic dancefloor beats and superior lyrics to their already heady mix of Dave Sitek’s guitar washes and Tunde Adebimpe’s (and Kyp Malone’s) original vocalizing to conjure up an indie-rock stunner. No weak tracks here, just strength upon strength.

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