As I get older, I’m coming to appreciate shorter lists of bests and worsts. Collections of top tens flood you with far too much information to digest, especially if it concerns a subject that you’re unfamiliar with. Top three lists, I think, are better for a number of reasons. First, it forces the writer of the list to really decide—ten gives you a lot of wiggle room to include selections that cover all of your bases, but three forces you to really choose favorites (or least favorites, as the case may be). You can tell a lot about a person by their top three of anything, but ten just waters everything down. Moreover, three gives the reader of lists a small, approachable chunk of recommendations to try on for size. With this in mind, my favorite albums of 2009:
- Woods | Songs of Shame: I had several lengthy discussions with my friend, Jesse, over our differing musical temperaments this year. We had a lot of musical synchronicity over 2008, but we were pretty split on most albums this last year. I’ve been in a really lo-fi mood lately and I think Woods’s album is nearly perfect—she was non-plussed with it. Excepting “September of Pete” (a nine minute, self-congratulatory jam session that doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album and jarringly cuts the album in half), Songs of Shame is melodic and mellow without being dispassionate. Just skip track four.
- Bibio | Ambivalence Avenue: I can’t really describe this album. It’s a mix between dance music and folk music. Considering folk is probably the first type of music that humans danced to, I think Bibio is doing something really extraordinary by crafting folk music conditioned by our generation’s culture. As such, one shouldn’t expect traditional folk music here, but instead a truly unique musical experience.
- The Antlers | Hospice: This album grabbed me and wouldn’t let go for about a month. This is probably one of the most “complete” albums of the year, as it tells a deeply personal story of a man losing his lover to cancer. Having lost my grandfather at the beginning of 2009 after several weeks in the hospital, this album resonated with me in a significant way. Coming back to it near the end of this year with a slightly less emotion, it’s still musically brilliant, lyrically brilliant, and shows a really deep level of care and craftsmanship. I’m excited to hear The Antlers’s next project.
And staying in threes, my most disappointing albums of 2009:
- Volcano Choir | Unmap: Bon Iver produced my favorite album of 2008 and I was hoping for another experience akin to For Emma, Forever Ago. Instead, I listened to a shoddy post-rock album that is weak, gutless, and boring. The thing is, the album inspires nothing in me. I’m not annoyed by it, I’m not passionately upset by it, I’m bored by it. What a disappointment.
- Beirut | March of the Zapotec/Realpeople Holland: When I heard Zach Condon was orchestrating a new album with southwestern influences in mind, I was elated. Beirut’s past two albums have put an original spin on traditional, regional styles to produce incredible musical experiences. Strangely, this album was split into two parts. March of the Zapotec is clearly inspired by New Mexican culture and is quite good, even though it’s far from being Beirut’s best album. Then it’s cut with Realpeople Holland, which is mostly slow synthesizer music with plaintive vocals. The two don’t mix—each one keeps the other from ever getting off the ground. And it’s disappointing because if either of them had been given adequate attention, either of them could have been great.
- Bibio | The Apple and the Tooth: After loving Ambivalence Avenue, I expected great things and was subsequently let down. Hard. Half of the album is comprised of earlier songs by Bibio remixed by other artists and the other half—while catchy—don’t really feel carefully composed or thoughtful. What’s more it just doesn’t feel musically coherent. I’m curious what was going on behind the scenes here. Specifically, I wonder if Bibio’s studio, thrilled with the reception of Ambivalence Avenue, pushed for another release as soon as possible. What we got was a series of leftover songs that didn’t make the cut in the past along with some mediocre remixes of songs that really aren’t improved in any noticeable way.
Other stuff worth mentioning:
- I didn’t list Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Paviliion because I didn’t really enjoy it. I felt like Atlas Sound’s Logos was a better album that tried to incorporate classical pop music with a post-rock/noise sound. I felt like Fuck Buttons’s Tarot Sport was a better album that did the traditional noise/experimental sound akin to Animal Collective’s older stuff. Sandwiched between these two, Merriweather Post Pavilion just wasn’t that satisfying.
- Can the Yeah Yeah Yeahs just stop producing music please? It’s Blitz! was gimmicky and thoughtless. And after listening to what Karen O did with the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack, I’m convinced that she’s a one trick pony. It’s time to put her out to pasture. I’d say the same thing about Passion Pit, but I want to see what their next album has in store before writing them off entirely.
- Dark Was the Night was not included in my best-of list because I think of it more as a compilation than an album. Still, it’s absolutely superb and deserves mentioning as one of the most enjoyable listening experiences from this last year. Also, it’s probably the best collection to introduce a newbie to the current music scene.
January 5th, 2010
by Jesse
I’ve been waiting for this post!
Some thoughts:
1. lo-fi: I respect it, I just don’t like it. I’m a big sound person, generally speaking. Though I can enjoy the more subtle side of music on occassion, I just couldn’t get on this bandwagon. I do think it’s good for music though.
2. Bibio: fuck, it’s good!
3. I’m embarassed I haven’t heard the Antlers album yet. I guess I shouldn’t have made my list until I listened. Will do. And also, fuck cancer. I’ve lost too many people to that disease. I’m sorry to hear of your loss.
On your disappointments, I have to say I mostly agree. I fell in love with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs when Fever to Tell came out. They’ve been breaking my heart with mediocrity since. I agree, put Karen O to pasture. She annoys me.
Finally, I feel honored to have a shout out! You have a shout out on my list too, but I didn’t link. I will do that now.
Good list, comrade.
January 6th, 2010
by Elaine
We also had differing opinions regarding music this year. I couldn’t get enough of Merriweather Post Pavilion, and I still can’t believe you didn’t enjoy it. And as you know, I was not super excited about Songs of Shame. I did love Ambivalence Avenue… But I’m not really sure why you’re likening it to folk.
I’ve been mentally putting together a “my year in music” post for the past week or so. Hopefully I’ll get it up soon.
That’s what he said.
January 7th, 2010
by Jesse
The Author
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy Merriweather, Elaine. It’s that it just didn’t have the magic of other Animal Collective albums, especially alongside other albums that pulled off the sound of Merriweather better.
I’m not the only one that likened Ambivalence Avenue to folk (Google that shit). My spin on it is that folk music draws from a cultural morass outside of the musical influences of the period—as a whole, it’s really quite different from anything else we’re hearing these days. His incorporation of found sounds also give it a distinctive “folksy” feel.
January 9th, 2010
by Elaine
You said yourself that you didn’t enjoy Merriweather, just a few paragraphs above. How do you italicize that shit? I’m a huge fan of earlier songs/albums by Animal Collective (though not usually the earliest)–and Merriweather is certainly different from those–but I think it’s still an awesome album, especially taken on its own terms.
I remember reading something about Ambivalence Avenue being folksy before, and I was sort of puzzled then, too. So I Googled that shit again. One writer explained what he meant… “The caveat as regards Bibio, however, is his sizeable folk influence: pretty much every track (of 12) on Ambivalence Avenue places chiming, piecemeal acoustic guitar at the forefront.” Well, guitar is not all it takes to make something folk. “Folk” is much more specific and very different than what Bibio does on this album. In addition to particular instruments and eclecticism, tradition and the art of storytelling define folk. Sufjan Stevens, for instance, is a fine example of a contemporary folk singer, but I would hesitate before assigning the same label to Ambivalence Avenue’s mishmash of musical influences.
January 9th, 2010
by Jesse
The Author
I guess my enjoyment was relative. Merriweather wasn’t bad. It’s just that if I was in the mood for Animal Collective, it’s definitely not my go-to album. And now if I’m up for that sound, I have other go-to artists instead of Animal Collective. Considering my previous feelings on their music, this seems…off.
(I’ll tell you how to italicize stuff on GChat…it would be hard to explain here.)
I’ll agree that guitar isn’t all that it takes to make something folksy. However, I’m not sure that “folk” is defined adequately for one to make a hard and fast distinction between folk and non-folk. When I think of folk, I think of relatively simple instrumentals with semi-repetitive, “unsophisticated” vocalization (e.g. Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, etc. and not Beethoven, Handel, Rameau, etc.).
While some of Sufjan Stevens’s work is definitely folk, some of his other stuff—e.g., Enjoy Your Rabbit and his contribution to Dark Was the Night—were most decidedly not folksy. He has folksy elements, but I don’t think him a folksy singer across the board.
With these sorts of parameters, I think it’s fair to call the first half of “Haikuesque” (on Ambivalence Avenue) pretty folksy, as well as “All the Flowers” and “The Palm of Your Wave.”
January 12th, 2010
by Elaine
I knew you were going to say that about Sufjan’s albums! No, Enjoy Your Rabbit was certainly not folksy, but most of his work has been. Illinois, The Avalanche, Michigan, and Seven Swans all, I think, can all be described as folksy albums. The tracks I have heard from A Sun Came are also quite folksy. This appears to be his predominant style, hence my offering him up as an example of a folk artist. Perhaps I should have been more specific, however, and given examples of his folk albums. (Geez, I kind of never want to write the word “folksy” again.)
Sure, while bits of songs on Ambivalence Avenue might sound a bit folksy (the beginning of “Lovers’ Carvings” comes to mind), calling the album a mix of folk and dance music is saying something entirely different. There just isn’t enough folk to categorize it as such.
I would not call anything undefinable and unique “folk,” because folk, adequately defined or not, does refer to a specific type of music. Why not just say that the album is indescribable and leave it at that?
January 12th, 2010
by Elaine
Goddammit, this thing doesn’t let commenters delete or edit.
January 13th, 2010
by Jesse
The Author
I don’t settle on Ambivalence Avenue simply being indescribable because I don’t really feel that it is. A blend of dance and folk, I think, describes it quite well, albeit such a combination is difficult to imagine having not heard it.
The folksy elements really came out for me and that’s likely why I ended up loving it so much in my year of lo-fi sound. I’ll happily acknowledge the presence of other musical genres in the album, but to neglect mention of the folk elements disregards a huge part of the album’s whole.
January 13th, 2010
by Jesse
The Author
It’s also worth mentioning that I think folk is a descriptive word, not some quasi-metaphysical real that exists independent of variations on it. Trying to the sound down and give it a specific definition is ultimately futile.