Top Albums of 2009
posted December 12, 2009, 7:33 pm | Log In To Post Comments | 
view comments (1)
When I sat down to write this year's Best Albums I thought it'd be a relatively easy task. Always mindful of this annual individual ritual (great band name), I've often reflected upon 2009 and thought it was a fairly mediocre year for music. In a way it was, I suppose. I enjoyed a lot of music that was released but rarely did I come across an album that transcended those around it. A lot of my usual heavy hitters didn't come through or didn't put out new material so the opportunity for disappointment was rife. The absence of usual suspects did, however, clear a path for those often times underrated bands to finally get their day in the sun.
1. Mastodon- Crack the Skye
It didn't take long through the first listen of Crack the Skye to know this was album of the year. Even back in March, there was a certain sense of sadness knowing that the rest of the year would be shit in comparison. While that wasn't necessarily the case, the initial sentiment was true. Now that 2009 is nearly over, crowning Mastodon's latest effort as "Cloven God of the Year's Aural Offerings" makes even more sense. The album offers so much and has nearly every element that makes the other albums on this list great. My only wish for Crack the Skye is that it were longer, though I think the album may only be a glimpse of greater things to come.
2. Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
As a good friend of mine said before recommending this album to me, "It's obnoxiously good". This is a near perfect description. This is the type of album that makes you want to quit the band. How people compose music like this is an absolute mystery. Too much time spent with a nose in Lewis Carroll literature is the only sensible explanation. The sole reason Veckatimest isn't my album of the year is because it makes me have to pee when I listen to it. You know how, when you are in a darkened hallway and you think somebody may be there with you and it gets you anxious or scared enough that you start to feel the urge to piss yourself? That's the sensation Grizzly Bear's 2009 offering gives me. I'm so unnerved by the album that listening to it with any regularity is nigh impossible. However, when I do listen to it (after a good three hours of liquid abstinence), I can't help but recognize its absolute genius.
3. Baroness- Blue Record
Baroness is one of (along with Mastodon) the most refreshing acts in metal recently. They have a sound as consistent as it is unique and an overall concept for their approach that has the focus and attention that all bands should embrace when conceiving their own identity. In this sense, they're very much like Tool in the way they are mindful of every aspect of representation. Sonically however, Baroness are all their own with the only real comparisons being made to The Sword or High On Fire. The Blue Record does what the Red Album could not: adequately capture how this great band sounds live. Rather than defibrillators or CPR, "Swollen and Halo" cranked to eleven should be used to resuscitate the physically distressed.
4. Giant Squid- The Ichthyologist
I love bands that toe the line of classification. Back in '06, when Giant Squid's Metridium Fields was released, you would have begrudgingly categorized the band as "metal" even though there was clearly something more to them than the designation suggests. With The Ichthyologist, the band is now impossible to catalog. Aggressive? Sure, at times, but the occasional cameos of soothing wind instruments or airy ballads nearly nullifies any earlier mania. Aaron Gregory's vocals drift with the freedom of absolute indulgence, allowing himself to openly give what each song demands, highlighting a composition that only comes from a band totally in tune with its vision.
5. The Mars Volta- Octahedron
Hardcore Volta fans probably grow wary with each release from the band as they are slowly becoming more accessible and toned down in aggressive tension. I see their approach more as mature focus and growth. Octahedron maintains their brand of arcane neuroses while broadening the Volta sound with an acoustic subtlety. It's important for a band like The Mars Volta to continue growing and branching out. Otherwise, even with an overall sound so eclectic, their liable to become a one trick ponychletheron.
6. Them Crooked Vultures- Self Titled
Rock 'n' Roll at its roots. The perfect coalescence of the members involved in this "supergroup" makes for something so much more than the almost derogatory classification insinuates: an actual band. Them Crooked Vultures at times evokes memories of each members' prior engagements but the result is very much its own entity. When needing nothing more than new, baggage-less rock, you need turn nowhere else in 2009 than to Them Crooked Vultures. (Also, I'd just like to state publicly that Josh Homme is the coolest guy around. Seriously, that cat is a cucumber.)
7. Shrinebuilder- Self Titled
Another fantastic mash-up of musical giants who managed to create an identity past that of their separate contributions. Moody, dark, droning stoner metal at its absolute best. Jim Morrison would love this band, I think. I feel like, if the Lizard King were still kickin', he'd really be into shit like Weedeater and Serpentcult. Don't ask my why, I just think that he would've eventually gotten a little angry(ier?) with the world but still enjoyed trippin' out. Sorta the Anti-Hippie. Anyway, a word of warning to the tokers out there: peep this one at your own risk. Spin this after firing a bowl of the wedge and you may need to request roadside assistance.
8. Crippled Black Phoenix -200 Tons of Bad Luck
Ambient, atmospheric, and absolutely depressing. This album is positively mood altering and should really only be played on the grayest of days. Otherwise you share a very real risk of ruining a perfectly sunny Saturday afternoon. CBP aims for the blue shades of the soul and slowly slices through them like a cello bow over the wrists. Fantastically sorrowful with a very apparent ode to Pink Floyd.
9. Metric- Fantasies
Perfectly polished pop album laced with poison.
10. Snail- Blood
Sometimes Foo Fighters, sometimes Melvins, the band Snail supposedly went on a ten year hiatus and came back with the album fans of "Betty" era Helmet would love. Fuzzy and still somehow melodic, this album floats along, lazily rocking in Grunge like apathy. The intro to the album is deceptively heavy, droning forward in one of the greatest stoner metal riffs I've ever heard. Shortly thereafter though, the album settles into a groove that makes you want to throw on a flannel shirt and watch episodes of The Head.
Honorable mentions go to DOOM, Russian Circles, and Silversun Pickups who put out great albums but didn't do anything drastically different enough to crack the top ten. I also wish I could have somehow put Mouth of the Architect's "Quietly" on this list again as their album from last year is STILL better than anything that came out in 2009.
Comments:
Wow.. I'm checking out Crippled Black Phoenix, they sound mint! Was finally gonna get to DOOM this week. I forgot all about that Mars Volta release, wow!
posted on December 13, 2009, 5:26 pm
