So Last Year

December is traditionally the "Best of" everything month. Slackers put it off until January. But they're too late.

What I'm about to do (post a best of 09 list in April 2010) is, at this point, culturally irrelevant.

But, it could save you a little time.

The purpose of this blog will be to document my search for something to listen to in 2010.

So have a listen to what I liked last year. If you don't like any of it, you'd probably be better served reading something else. Try The Daily Beast. They've got a little bit of everything there. Politifact is pretty good too, if you want to be "that" guy.

9 from 09

1- A.A. Bondy- When the Devil's Loose. Great songwriting. Falls in the category of Americana. This album has been a grower for me. Started out "just pretty good." Ended the year as a certain top 5. Mightiest of Guns, I Can See The Pines, and On the Moon are all great. Oh the Vampyre is good if you are the Team Edward type.

2- Rural Alberta Advantage- Hometowns. Technically this is an 08 album. But it was a limited self-release in 08. 2009 was really the breakthrough year for the RAA. They got all sorts buzz at South by Southwest, were signed by Saddlecreek (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley's best album, lots of other sweater wearing emo bands) and toured the US for the first time. Their show at Kilby Court in July showcased a band genuinely loving the music they had created. People often mention Neutral Milk Hotel as a reference. This album is much lighter than that comparison suggests. Good music still, even if all you listen to are the drums. Don't Haunt This Place was on a mix if I gave you one anytime in the last 2 years. Frank, AB, Summertime, Edmonton and Drain the Blood are all great places to start as well.

3- David Bazan- Curse Your Branches. This is, for me, probably the saddest album of the year. Maybe the Antlers album hold that title. But this is a close second. In his younger days, David Bazan was Pedro the Lion. He wrote incredible, bare songs many of which documented his personal belief in Christianity. Curse Your Branches, his first album released under his proper name, is roughly the story of his journey away from that faith. There is the type of pain you normally associate with the loss of loved one, or the end of a marriage, all throughout the album. It is beautiful and sad. He is, for my money, one of the most thoughtful lyricists in music today. Listen to Hard to Be. Then Harmless Sparks. In Stitches if you want the autobiography.

4- The Low Anthem- Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. Another album full of beautifully written, lyric driven songs. I swear there was a day last fall that Charlie Darwin was the only song I listened to. All day. It's that kind of good.

5- Avett Brothers- I and Love and You. Tightly produced and incredibly well played album. Heart on sleeve emotion. The type of music you can listen and related to all year, no matter how you feel. The title track and The Perfect Space express perfect longing. My Heart Like a Kick Drum might be the best pop song of the year.

6- Yeah Yeah Yeahs- It's Blitz. I will group the Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack with this and say Karen O had a great year. She is a fav in our house. A couple of the songs (Skeleton and Little Shadows notably) rival Maps for sweetness. Zero is all sorts of danceable.

Her cover of Daniel Johnson's Worried Shoes on WTWTA is really nice as well.

7- Say Hi- Ohhs and Ahhs. Ashley's favorite of the year. The older I get, the less I can argue with her taste in music. The girl is pop music through and through. The Stars Just Blink for Us is the perfect formula. November was White, December was Gray brings a little darkness in. One quirky dude, who know how to write a catchy song. He also plays every instrument on this album.

8- Casiotone for the Painfully Alone- Vs Children. A loose theme of lawbreaking and child bearing ties the songs on this album together. Springsteen's Nebraska being one of my musical founding documents I am naturally attracted to this framework. Very conversational tone to his lyrics. Reminiscent, both lyrically and musically, of Elliot Smith- but with keyboards instead of guitars. Natural Light kills me with it's If You See Her Say Hello sentimentality and Northfield, MN sounds like a missing track off of Smith's XO.

9- Fanfarlo- Reservior. Arcade Fire quality intensity that doesn't come across as imitation. Great first album by a band I expect will sell a lot of records for a really long time. Singer sounds like David Bryn a bit. They could probably do a really great cover of Psycho Killer. The Walls Are Coming down sounds like Beirut, which is always welcome in my book. Maybe that's the best description of this band. David Byrn, with Arcade Fire as his backing band, singing Beirut songs.

Honorable mention: Elvis Perkins. Knaan. The XX. The Antlers. Phoenix. We Were Promised Jetpacks. Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone" and "my life would suck without you." The Biggie and Miley Cyrus mash up "party and bulls**t." and my mom's new christmas CD, One Small Boy.