The NewMusic’s Best Albums of 2009

December 31st, 2009

newmusic best albums

If anybody knows a thing’er two about music, it’s the folks who provide the magic behind our NewMusic blog. They put their heads together and devised a list that you should print (or at least copy), store in a safe place and consult on a regular basis.

After the jump, the best 20 albums of 2009, according to the NewMusic!

1. The xx – xx (Young Turks)

This monochromatic crew of 20-year-olds from South London appeared out of nowhere and gave us a sad, sexy and sleek album by marrying barebones post-punk minimalism and whispery R&B to give us a sound we’ve never heard before. 

2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
animal-collective
Virtually everyone saw this coming, but the fact that Animal Collective turned it the expected magnum opus didn’t detract from the vivid kaleidoscope of stereophonic ecstasy their eighth album turned out to be. 

3. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote)
phoenix
After a decade of seeing their Parisian pals like Daft Punk and Air become superstars, Phoenix finally pulled it off themselves with an album that wasn’t afraid to add some sophistication and brains to irresistibly danceable pop music.

4. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - S/T (Slumberland)
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TPOBPAH may have buried their vocals under the buzzsaw chime of their guitars and hissing keyboards, but as a whole the music rang out like one fuzzball of sweetness. An indie pop classic if there ever was one.  

5. Japandroids – Post-Nothing (Unfamiliar)

You can feel the blast of this Vancouver duo’s distorto rock in their song titles alone: “Young Hearts Spark Fire,” “Heart Sweats,” “Wet Hair,” “Crazy/Forever”… When you crank it loud though is when you actually experience all of them in reality. 

6. Girls – Album (True Panther Sounds)
girls
With a back-story sensational enough to overshadow the music, Girls’ debut made us tune in and forget all about singer Christopher Owens childhood in the Children of God cult by shimmering and shimmying with a free range of pop music that nailed everything from Spector’s wall of sound and shoegaze to ‘50s boogie and strung out space rock.

 7. The Drums – Summertime! (Moshi Moshi)
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If they weren’t so damn sullen, The Drums may have come off as twee, but these Brooklyn-based miserablists were adept enough to balance their lyrical dejection with gorgeously breezy, beach-destined melodies not heard from since The Smiths. 

8. The Horrors – Primary Colours (XL)
horrors
Unlike Animal Collective, no one saw this one coming. The Horrors abandoned their swampy, vitriolic garage rock for a soupy mix of glistening shoegaze and stifling psychedelia. That they had Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and freaky filmmaker Chris Cunningham as producers was but an afterthought.

 9. Washed Out – Life of Leisure (Mexican Summer)
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Some critics called out this year’s “chillwave” trend as being unimaginative and lazy, but I saw it more as re-imagined and laissez-faire sounds. Ernest Greene did it best on this six-track mini-album, blurring the boundaries between soft rock, synth pop and downtempo, and giving it a glowing lo-fi sheen.  

10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz! (Dress Up)
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Yeah Yeah Yeahs rebounded from the downer that was Show Your Bones by reducing the guitars and boosting the synthesizers. The result was a blast of energy on par with their seminal debut and a reminder of why they’re so universally loved. 

11. Taken By Trees – East of Eden (Rough Trade)
taken-by-trees
It almost killed her, but Victoria Bergsman’s voyage to Pakistan produced one of the year’s most breathtaking recordings. Produced by Studio’s Dan Lissvik and featuring Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox on a track, Bergsman’s second album was an exotic spin on her stark, sublime minimalistic sound. 

12. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (Warp)
grizzly-bear
If people weren’t talking about Animal Collective, they were talking about Grizzly Bear. Anticipated for months, Veckatimest blew everyone’s expectations with beautiful arrangements and haunting harmonies. So powerful was it, that it even earned them a spot on the New Moon soundtrack.

 13. Atlas Sound – Logos (Kranky)
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Deerhunter’s ever-eccentric frontman Bradford Cox proved he’s as strong on his own as he is with his band. With collaborations from members of Animal Collective and Stereolab, the second Atlas Sound album found Cox moving from bedroom sketches to consummate psychotropic symphonies.

 14. Cold Cave – Love Comes Close (Heartworm)
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Wes Eisold made a smart decision leaving the hardcore scene behind him. By dropping the guitar and arming himself with electronics, he reinvented his musical oeuvre. As Cold Cave, he and his collaborators revitalized synth pop as a gothic, industrial discotheque where the lights are always off but the bodies never stop moving. 

15. jj – no 2 (Sincerely Yours)

There isn’t much to know about these enigmatic Swedes other than they stole my heart with their hypnotic, worldly beach pop. Sampling Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop,” dropping in an Afrobeat and brushing an ambient chill all over the record, jj brought a sensual seduction like no other in 2009. 

16. Sunn O))) – Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)
sunn-o
While everyone prepared for their bowels to rumble once again, Sunn O)))’s inimitable doom-y sound broke new ground. Along with the chest-caving low-end, Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson worked with a composer to introduce orchestral element and a cast of more than 20 musicians for a resonance unheard of to this point. 

17. Wild Beasts – Two Dancers (Domino)
wild-beasts
The English quartet followed up their vastly underappreciated debut with an album that managed to soften the blow of Hayden Thorpe’s flamboyantly unconventional yelp. The band’s dense, vibrant arrangements induced visions of a fairy tale wonderland full of sublime melodies and sprawling instrumentation that was as accomplished as it was ambitious. 

18. Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II (Ice H20)
raekwon
As a tribute to his 1995 original and fallen comrade ODB, The Chef chose to go back in time and act as though he was picking up where he left off. With Dilla, Pete Rock, Dre and RZA backing him up, Rae graced some of his strongest rhymes yet with obscure kung-fu samples and vintage soul cuts, to surpass Ghostface with one of the best Wu-Tang efforts this decade. 

19. Best Coast – Where The Boys Are (Blackest Rainbow)
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Pocahaunted’s Bethany Cosentino went out on her own and gave us the best of indie’s current obsessions: dreamy ‘60s girl group pop about beach bumming recorded with a gritty lo-fi veneer. Ridiculously tagged as “lazy haze,” Cosentino definitely earned her keep as one of the year’s most blogged about newcomers. That this came out as a limited edition five-song cassette made it all the more in vogue. 

20. The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa (Green Owl)
the-very-best
Personally, I didn’t think this collaboration between British duo Radioclit and Malawi singer Esau Mwamwaya could better last year’s self-titled mixtape, but Warm Heart of Africa showed there was more to them than nicking tunes from Vampire Weekend and M.I.A. Of course, getting both of those artists to join in certainly helped make this album an uplifting and exuberant global soundclash.