10 Albums I liked in 2009

Julianna Barwick - Florine EP

Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country

Sleeping States - In the Gallery of the North

Everything is Made in China - Automatic Movements

Marissa Nadler - Little Hells

Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care

DM Smith - Heavy Ghost

Tiny Vipers - Life on Earth

Atlas Sound - Logos

Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue

Bryan's Faves of the 00s

Ok........here is my list of my 100 favorite albums of the 00s. I needed to beat Pitchfork to the punch. Um...good decade. Lots of really good music. It was really fun to make this list



100. Queens of the Stone Age—Songs for the Deaf

99. Spoon—Gimme Fiction

98. Les Savy Fav—Let’s Stay Friends

97. Fennesz—Endless Summer

96. Ghostface Killah—Supreme Clientele

95. Reigning Sound—Time Bomb High School

94. Baroness—Red Album

93. The Walkmen—Bows + Arrows

92. The White Stripes—Elephant

91. Pearl Jam-Binaural

90. Arcade Fire—Funeral

89. Mastodon—Blood Mountain

88. At the Drive-In—Relationship of Command

87. Kanye West—The College Dropout

86. The Field—Yesterday and Today

85. Dinosaur Jr.—Farm

84. Sleater-Kinney—One Beat

83. Aaliyah—Aaliyah

82. King Khan & The Shrines—What Is?!

81. M83—Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts

80. Blonde Redhead—23

79. Pissed Jeans—Hope For Men

78. The Hold Steady—Stay Positive

77. Broken Social Scene—Broken Social Scene

76. Life Without Buildings—Live at the Annandale Hotel

75. Justin Timberlake—FutureSex/LoveSounds

74. Animal Collective—Sung Tongs

73. Radiohead—Hail to the Thief

72. Wilco—Kicking Television: Live in Chicago

71. Junior Boys—So This is Goodbye

70. Yo La Tengo—And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out

69. Weezer—Weezer (Red Album)

68. The New Pornographers—Twin Cinema

67. Yo La Tengo—I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

66. Daft Punk—Discovery

65. Radiohead—Amnesiac

64. Reigning Sound—Too Much Guitar

63. Radiohead—In Rainbows

62. Wilco—A Ghost is Born

61. Outcast—Stankonia

60. Pantha Du Prince—This Bliss

59. Sonic Youth—Sonic Nurse

58. Converge—You Fail Me

57. Deerhoof—Apple O

56. Erykah Badu—New Amerykah Part One (4^th World War)

55. Angels of Light & Akron/Family—Akron/Family & Angels of Light

54. Akron/Family—Akron/Family

53. Sonic Youth—Rather Ripped

52. Sun Kil Moon—April

51. Deerhoof—Offend Maggie

50. The Knife—Deep Cuts

49. Animal Collective—Feels

48. Songs: Ohia—Magnolia Electric Co.

47. LCD Soundsystem—LCD Soundsystem

46. Deerhunter—Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.

45. The National—Boxer

44. The National—Alligator

43. Modest Mouse—The Moon & Antarctica

42. Ghostface Killah—Fischscale

41. Clipse—Hell Hath No Fury

40. The Exploding Hearts—Guitar Romantic

39. Deerhunter—Cryptograms

38. Harvey Milk—Life…The Best Game in Town

37. Grizzly Bear—Yellow House

36. Cannibal Ox—The Cold Vein

35. Melvins—(A) Senile Animal

34. Converge—Jane Doe

33. LCD Soundsystem—Sound of Silver

32. Kanye West—Late Registration

31. Hercules and Love Affair—Hercules and Love Affair

30. Spoon—Kill the Moonlight

29. Dinosaur Jr.—Beyond

28. Jay Reatard—Blood Visions

27. Junior Boys—Last Exit

26. Boris—Pink

25. Spoon—Girls Can Tell

24. Animal Collective—Strawberry Jam

23. The Knife—Silent Shout

22. Jay-Z—The Blueprint

21. Deerhoof—The Runners Four

20. The Strokes—Is This It

19. Sleater-Kinney—The Woods

18. Burial—Untrue

17. Panda Bear—Person Pitch

16. Fugazi—The Argument

15. Sonic Youth—Murray Street

14. Boards of Canada—Geogaddi

13. Radiohead—Kid A

12. Animal Collective—Merriweather Post Pavilion

11. Converge—No Heroes

10. Fucked Up—The Chemistry of Common Life

9. Spoon—Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

8. Portishead—Third

7. Broken Social Scene—You Forgot It In People

6. The Field—From Here We Go Sublime

5. Wilco—Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

4. Life Without Buildings—Any Other City

3. D’Angelo—Voodoo

2. Sun Kil Moon—Ghosts of the Great Highway

1. Unwound—Leaves Turn Inside You

some photos

in some physical pain i am staying home looking at our band photos. some of these were taken by our photo buddy nate at ronny's and the other by our buddy kristin at clearwater theater. no witty captions-enjoy

Ray's Top 20 Records '08

1. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Dodos - Visiter
3. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
4. The Walkmen - You & Me
5. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
6. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue
7. No Age - Nouns
8. Beach House - Devotion
9. Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances
10. The Muslims - The Muslims
11. Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
12. Women - Women
13. Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
14. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
15. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
16. Times New Viking - Rip It Off
17. Chairlift - Does You Inspire You?
18. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
19. Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
20. Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual

Here's my top 20 records from this year. Lots of great stuff that i listened to and enjoyed thoroughly:

Erykah Badu-New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)
Harvey Milk-Life…the Best Game in Town
Portishead-Third
Hercules and Love Affair-Hercules and Love Affair
Deerhoof-Offend Maggie
Deerhunter-Microcastle
Jay Reatard-Matador Singles ‘08
Weezer-Weezer (Red Album)
Cut Copy-In Ghost Colours
Ruby Suns-Sea Lion
Sun Kil Moon-April
Rhymefest-Man in the Mirror
Wolf Parade-At Mount Zoomer
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds-Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Jacaszek-Treny
Parts and Labor-Receivers
Gang Gang Dance-Saint Dymphna
Fleet Foxes-Fleet Foxes
The Bug-London Zoo
Suicide Note-Empty Rooms



-Bryan

music i like from this year

lists are great. 

here is a list of things i listened to a lot over this year(according to my itunes), that was released this year. thanks. 

The Walkmen - You & Me

Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill 

The Dodos - Visiter

Fleet Floxes - s/t

Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue

here is a list of things i listened to a lot over this year(according to my itunes), that wasn't released this year(may have been reissued though)

R.E.M. - Murmur

Galaxie 500 - On Fire

Linda Perchachs - Parallelograms

Neil Young - Harvest

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock

really what this means is that if you want to take me for a drive, feel free to put any of these cd's in the car - -  its safe to say i will be happy. 

Tastemaking With Bryan and Chris part 1 section B

Tastemaking with Bryan and Chris allows us to banter, chit chat and discuss, well, taste, music that may or may not have already been tasted. This time around we chat about Grizzly Bear's new track from their upcoming album, "two weeks" (link in previous post) that was performed on letterman the wednesday of 23rd. 

Bryan:

I love this song. This plus 'While You Wait for the Others' is making Grizzly Bear's forthcoming album my most anticipated release of 2009. So what kinds of stuff are they doing here...what direction are they going in and how are they evolving? If Yellow House was an exploration into acoustic psych-folk and Firend EP was their electric response to that, this is different altogether. By scrapping guitars entirely on this track it seems they're moving more towards the psych/dream pop side of their sound and continue their journey farther and farther away from folk music. Songs like this make me latch onto that Zombies comparison even more. (I also appreciate the male-version-of-the-Ronnettes analogy as well).

'Two Weeks' and 'While You Wait for the Others' seems to be united in their generally more upbeat sound...less dark and mysterious (aside from the verses of WYWFTO) and more soulful and joyful. I've been making a mental comparison between Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear of late, and I would say that if Fleet Foxes were doing their best CSNY impression on their record, grizzly bear are moving towards a brighter and sunnier 60's psych-rock sound a la Odyssey and Oracle. Which is fine by me. Because really, they retain something incredibly distinctive here. This still sounds exactly like Grizzly Bear even without the presence of a single guitar (something i would have though to be very difficult). Instead we are reminded that what makes them so unique are their general use of reverb, their beautiful and original voices, and Chris Bear's great drumming. That drumming really ties it all together...bringing in the remnants of that 'freak folk' sound that they used to be described as, while also incorporating his trademark loose playing----clearly influenced by jazz music. It's like Elvin Jones meets Panda Bear. Ultimately, it's class, creative, intricate.....and yet sounds so easy and loose. Great stuff that continues to feed into my not-entirely-solidified opinion that Chris Bear is in fact the best contemporary drummer in indie rock. 

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in other news, Hamilton's young rival covered my favorite beach house track, master of none and made it a song for waking up not drifting towards sleep.