Favorite Top Album of the Year
Hagysaurus Style
It’s that time of year again. Snow, hot chocolates, presents, and end of the year lists from every person in this world with a blog start to show up everywhere. My list is going to be a little different in that, it’s not a best of, but a favorite list. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that, objectively speaking of which albums were the best, we all know that Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion is not only number 1, but number 2, 3, 4, and 8. I get it; that album might be the best and Animal Collective is talented, but that CD is not making it’s way on my top ten because, well, I just didn’t like it that much.
So here are the releases that I did downright love. Objectively, they may not be the best of the year, but they are damned good and I highly recommend them.
The Narrative – Just Say Yes
This NY indie band gave us the best EP I’ve heard in a couple of years. This band inspired the term Adoracore and it’s very fitting. Slick production, smart lyrics, and fantastic songwriting dominates this male/female led group. It’s an EP, so it’s short and sweet and extremely recommended. If you like what you hear, you can always buy it from the band’s myspace for just a few bucks.
RIYL: Lydia, old Straylight Run (with Michelle Nolan), Snow Patrol with a second (female) vocalist.
Thrice – Beggars
My how far Thrice have come. Beggars is nigh unrecognizable from their early catalogue (just listen to Identity Crisis) but is light years better. Dustin Kerensue is on top of his game as a lyricist, combining intelligent and complicated lyrics with great harmonic rhythms. This is by far the best and most dynamic Thrice album and completely took me off guard how well executed it is. Amazing, amazing, amazing.
RIYL: Radiohead, Coldplay but infinitely more awesome, Frodus, Cave-In.
Silversun Pickups – Swoon
Easily one of my most listened to albums of this year. The fuzzy distortion, distinctive vocals, and fantastic songwriting turned me into a huge SSPU fan. I was aware of this band from their last album, Carnavas, but Swoon topped that album tenfold and set the bar really high for anything else they do in their career. This album also contains the song Panic Switch, which is one of the most dynamic indie rock songs of the year!
RIYL: Awesomeness wrapped in fuzzy, distorted guitars, The Smashing Pumpkins of old, Secret Machines
fun. – Aim & Ignite
Nate Ruess’ new project is jam packed full of almost every instrument known to man, in the catchiest way possible. Most catchy and sing-alongy albums have a little bit of cheese in them, but not this one. It’s sincere, yet fun, and their songs will get stuck in your head for days on end.
RIYL: The Format, The Jellyfish, Steel Train, non-cheesy pop music, springtime and singing along with your music with the windows down.
P.O.S. – Never Better
This is the best rap album of the year, without a doubt. Rhymesayer Stefon Alexander delivered slick beats, smart lyrics, and a killer flow on his album. The album also brings more energy than most punk rock bands. If you enjoy rap or hip hop at all, Never Better is a must listen from this past year.
RIYL: Doomtree, Atmosphere, indie hiphop
Dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion. Probably the most technical, creative, and overall “best” album on this list due to the sheer impressive amount of talent represented on this album. There are great melodies, impressive rhythm changes, progressive songwriting, and downright creative guitarwork pop up all over this album. Highly recommended for those who actually like to hear creativity in their tunes. If there’s one album that can give the aforementioned Merriweather Post Pavilion for technicality, it’s this one (albeit different genre)
RIYL: Dream Theatre, Mars Volta, Muse, Coheed and Cambria
Thursday – Common Existence
These punk veterans have crafted a textured, atmospheric, and amazingly executed album with their fourth CD, Common Existence. The band pushes the envelope with it’s song structuring, impressive percussion, and arrangements. Most songs rarely follow the simple verse/chorus/verse/chorus/chorus flow and they really succeeded in blending guitars and effects to create a noise atmosphere that parallels the mood of the album. This album also contains my favorite hard rock song of the year “You Were the Cancer,” a complicated apex of raw energy and some of the best drumming I’ve heard all year.
RIYL: Brand New, A smarter alexsetsfire, a more creative and heavier Against Me.
30 Seconds to Mars – This is War
This band’s last offering, A Beautiful Lie, remains the only album to this day that I bought on Monday at midnight the day it came out, and promptly returned it the next morning. It was that disappointing and I had pretty much given up on this band. So when This is War was released, I was completely taken aback at how good it was. The band has reverted back to using albums to tell stories (their self titled was like a soundtrack to a movie that didn’t exist.) It was technical, creative, produced very well, and overall catchy album that was executed very well.
RIYL: Incubus without the DJ, epic, U2 inspired music, Angels and Airwaves with an actual singer.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
This album is leaps and bounds over their previous work and safely lands a spot on my top releases. The melodies and the vocals go everywhere from soaring heights (Zero), soft and low (Skeleton), to dancy pop (Heads Will Roll.) This album is everywhere and every turn it takes is better than the last. Surprisingly awesome, you’ll be spinning this one for quite a while.
RIYL – Metric, The Kills, Be Your Own Pet.
Honorable Mentions:
Closure in Moscow – First Temple
Dashboard Confessional – After the Ending
…and you will know us by the trail of dead – The Century of Self
Brand New – Daisy
Blacklist Royals – Six Strings EP
Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3
Au Revoir Simone – Still Night Still Light
John Mayer – Battle Studies
Metric – Fantasies
Tegan & Sara – Sainthood
To see if my last.fm matches up with my favorite albums here (so I don’t put anything on here just for “name dropping” or “radness points”) here’s the top artists of my playlist for 2009:
The Gaslight Anthem – I was still pretty much in love with their 2008 release The ’59 Sound all year, so this gets a pass.
Butch Walker – Same with Butch’s Sycamore Meadows that I didn’t fully get into until early this year.
Silversun Pickups – Check
Brand New – Check
U2 – These plays came because I saw this band this year, not because of the disappointing No Line On the Horizon
Old Crow Medicine Show – No new album, but I always play their back catalogue fairly often.
Thrice – Check
Thursday – Check
Brian Fallon – This goes with the Gaslight love from point number 1.
The Narrative – Check
Other thoughts of 2009.
This was the year that neon bands took over our scene, with disturbing results. Every year poppy, autotuned, made for radio music does surface, but it’s usually not backed by some of the pioneers of the current scene (Gabe Saporta, Kevin Lyman, etc.) These scene vets paved the way and promoted artists like Millionaires, 3oh3, BrokeNCYDE, and the like found their way on Warped Tour.
Also, 2009 was the year of crabcore.
Crabcore.
(You have to watch through to the end. It is highlarious.)
Crabcore.
