| The Top 50 Albums of 2009 |
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| Written by onecaseman | |||||||
| Wednesday, 13 January 2010 | |||||||
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10 Machine Drum, Want To 1 2? [Normrex]Lurking deep in the Brooklyn underground music scene, Travis Stewart, aka Machine Drum, delivers one of the freshest and upbeat instrumental hip-hop albums of the year. The production quality exceeds some of Stewart's previous output on the beloved Merck label, while the tracks, each averaging around 2-3 minutes, contain all original and instantly appealing hooks. Featuring a diverse roster of up and coming artist appearances, Stewart covers a lot of ground with 21 tracks, uniquely flavored with IDM elements, and even playing a bit into pop territory. Personally, I’d prefer every track on this album to be played on the radio over the latest trend of shallow lyrics and auto-tuned barking. ~ Headphone Commute Download: Brighty
9 Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest [Warp]Grizzly Bear make quite a splash with their 2006 album Yellow House, but what a lot of people don't know is that there's a lot more music out there by them. In the midst of all this music there's certainly a worry that the Grizzly formula would grow stale, but they've really managed to open things up here in a way much freer than Yellow House, and do it in a way that's both more accessible and engaging. The result is an album that can be enjoyed piecemeal as well as a whole, something I couldn't say about Yellow House. Normally, an album can be enjoyed as a whole or for a few singles; it's rare an album can do both, but Veckatimest is pretty much it. Take any song of of this record, throw it on a mix tape for that cute girl you're too afraid to talk to, and she'll think you're that man of mystery she's been searching for. ~ onecaseman Download: Southern Point
8 Fuck Buttons, Tarot Sport [ATP]The moniker that triggers my corporate email filter each time I recommend this album, Fuck Buttons does to minimal techno what Radiohead did to IDM – namely gets my indie rock friends to finally understand what I was talking about all these years. “Have you heard Tarot Sport”, they would exclaim, “it puts me onto a psychedelic trip!” – Yes! That’s what I was telling you about repetitive patterns! With Tarot Sport, Bristol-based Benjamin John Power and Andrew Hung bridge the gap of noise driven progressive rock and hard pounding four-to-the-floor beats, to deliver an album that indeed takes you into outer space, with complex layers, fuzzy synth particles, and a full sonic throttle. The most exciting crossover album of the year. ~ Headphone Commute
Download: Surf Solar
7 The xx, xx [Young Turks]The xx sort of came out of nowhere this year. The English indie pop band joined together just a year ago and is fresh out of high school. But there's a maturity to their sound and their influences that make this record special. "Crystalised" is one of my favorite tracks released this year. They bring a real mood to indie rock that is rare these days, and their's a soulfulness that comes from their love of R&B that really shines through in the vocals. I wish there was more to know about these guys and what their future plans are; I'm hoping they can do more with this sound. ~ gravelheadwrap
Download: Infinity
6 Prefuse 73, Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian [Warp]I was quite surprised at the change in style on Prefuse 73's "Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian." Scott Herren's sixth album was more of a collection of beats and ideas than anything else, though Herren described it as one long piece. Anyway, I think "Ampexian" has been his most enjoyable album since "One Word Extinguisher." You get a sense that the passion is back for Prefuse, and that there's real sonic exploration going on instead of him going through the motions. The corresponding EP "The Forest of Oversensitivity" shows that he can still be prolific as well and keep the quality up. Our vote for "comeback producer of the year". ~ gravelheadwrap Download: Natures Uplifting Revenge
5 The Field, Yesterday And Today [Kompakt]There are lots of things that one could say about The Field's Axel Willner, or about this album, but the most important thing is the track "Leave It," which intitially might seem to just be a really good track on an album that's full of good tracks, but then the thing shifts into hyperdrive (from 2:49 to 3:08) and becomes one of the top three or four techno tracks of all time. A worthy follow-up to his dazzling debut (From Here Go Sublime), and by all measures a better album. Forward-thinking dance music by easily one of the best producers of techno working today. ~ playbynumbers
Download: I Have The Moon, You Have The Internet
4 Bibio, Vignetting The Compost [Mush]After staying dormant for nearly three years, Bibio's Stephen Wilinson released a flood of music in 2009 with four releases. Before moving into many different directions musically with his debut Ambivalence Avenue for Warp, Wilkinson perfected his acoustronic folk sound with Vignetting the Compost, an album that elevates and completes the work he began with previous albums Fi and Hand Cranked. Adding in more vocals and instruments than in the past, Bibio creates an intensity folk music usually can't hold in its grasp. The vocal work sounds as if it's always existed and is now just seeing the light of day. In hindsight, you can start to tell that Wilkinson was reaching the limit of what we could do within this style and why he's started to branch out, but Compost treads in so many directions even as a folk album that it never gets tired. You're not going to hear a more refreshing take on folk music. ~ onecaseman Download: Flesh Rots, Pip Sown
3 Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion [Domino]Animal Collective have had quite a 2009; their best album to date (Merriweather Post Pavilion), followed by their best EP to date (Fall Be Kind), with an under-the-radar limited vinyl set of their earliest material (Animal Crack Box) being released in between. The box set compilation really sets the newer stuff into perspective; you really never would have guessed, in 2002, that these guys would end up sounding like the Beach Boys, but let's just be glad they did! A great alternative pop album that I've been hearing on the radio, of all places, which means that the masses might be ready ... ~ playbynumbers
Download: In The Flowers
2 Bibio, Ambivalence Avenue [Warp]Bibio's Stephen Wilkinson has dazzled us in the past with three great acoustronic folk albums. What we didn't expect him to do was to surprise us. Wilkinson, whose releases have been very focused from the start, decides to be scatterbrained on his fourth album, exploring hip-hop, funk, indie and post rock all within the same release. Yet somehow it works together as an album. I've had "Ambivalence Avenue" on repeat since it dropped a long with each and every other release of his in 2009 (there were four in total; yeah, he's been busy). Hearing Bibio breaking away from his usual style and moving into something different was an unexpected joy. Hip-hop tracks like "Fire Ant" and "Sugarette" are so different than what I'd expect from Bibio, and "Jealous Of Roses" doesn't sound like anything out there right now. What a 2009 for a superb (and now versatile) artist. ~ gravelheadwrap Download: Ambivalence Avenue
1 Atlas Sound, Logos [Kranky]Bradford Cox is the most prolific artist in indie rock today. He releases new music with his band Deerhunter multiple times a year, tours incessantly both as Atlas Sound and with the band, releases countless mp3's for free on his blog, and even records solo albums as Atlas Sound. Logos is in a totally different place musically than his last album, taking his sound out of the bedroom and into the streets and the living rooms of others (he collaborates with with Panda Bear and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab on the album, and the results are fantastic). The tone is more irreverent, at times even celebratory of a deeper understanding, than the somberness and depression of previous Atlas Sound songs. The album is also firmly more indie rock than ambient, though those moments are certainly present. Cox tells stories growing up, growing old, and learning what life is about. And his stories are easy to follow and get attached to. Like in album highlight "Shelia", in which he talks about finding one's soul mate, going through life and ultimately dying, alone, but together. Or "Quick Canal", which states "I looked in the dirt and found wisdom is learned through a costly process of success and failure". It is no coincidence this album is titled the Greek word "logos". For body of work, one of the artists of the decade, and for Logos alone, the album of the year to Bradford Cox. ~ onecaseman Download: An Orchid
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