My Top Ten of 2009 - With Commentary!

So I’ve been reading the various “Top Albums of 2009” lists (Really, Rolling Stone? Really, Pitchfork?), and I've found them interesting (RS=too interested in canon; Pitchfork=too interested in Pitchfork) but I didn't really find a list that reflected my sensibilities with regards to this year in music. As someone who’s completely unqualified to contribute his own list but who has a blog with a readership possibly in the high twenties, I thought I’d contribute my own “Best of.” Those who saw my WXYC Top 20 list will notice some discrepancies in my order/albums on the list, but that’s because now that exams have ended I’ve finally been able to digest and re-assess a bunch of what came out this year.

I picked stuff out on the basis of a highly scientific formula that tries to take into account mostly what I just personally enjoyed, but also just a little bit what everybody else considered "good." Also I'm only doing ten favorites instead of a loftier amount because I'm lazy. I'd love to hear your top whatever, especially if it's better than mine.

Drumroll, please. . .

10. Wale - Attention Deficit
To me, Wale represents the dialectic in modern hip-hop - it tries to synthesize a thesis (mainstream hip-hop has to change) with the antithesis of that (Cameos by Gucci Mane and Bun B, beats that wouldn't sound out of place on a Jay-Z album, a song with Lady Gaga), and the results are pretty fantastic. Wale tries to fuse the mainstream beats with the go-go sensibilities of his Washington, DC hometown, and raps about stuff that matters to him. Still, this album doesn't entirely feel like Wale's own, and sometimes the Interscope-mandated moves halt the album. A promising debut from a guy who's sure to do better next time around.

Check out: "TV In The Radio (Feat. K'Naan)" - The most unlikely jam every to appear on a hip-hop record released by a mainstream label. Produced by Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio (See what Wale did there? It's a pun!).



9. Discovery - LP
I remembered enjoying this to no end this summer. Vampire Weekend's ace in the hole keyboardist Rotsam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot lead singer Wes Miles deliver some of the brightest Synth-&-B this side of eternity.

Check Out: "I Want You Back" - A sugary jam in its own right, this Jackson 5 cover gained double poignancy upon the death of the King of Pop.



8. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
I'll admit; I slept on this record hard. I listened to it once this summer while running and dismissed it because it was too hard to run to. Months later, I re-listened to this and it was so good that it blew a hole in my mind. If reading music journalists wax technical about 3/2 time signatures and the like kept you away from the album, fear not. I didn't understand what the hell those guys were talking about, either. This album's chock-full of music that's ridiculously easy to get into - songs about Gatorade, boy/girl harmonies, and the whole "Talking Heads if they lived in a commune and were into hip-hop" vibe contribute to one hella-fun album.

Check Out: "Stillness Is The Move" - The song that many thought would break the band mainstream. While it didn't because nobody really gets on the radio without paying for it, this is still the closest an indie rock band's ever gotten to being played on 97.5.



BONUS BONUS BONUS!

This is Solange Knowles (yes, Beyonce's little sister) doing a cover of "Stillness Is The Move" that swaps out the main guitar riff for the one that Dr. Dre sampled for "Xxplosive" off of The Chronic 2001.



7. The XX - XX
The headline: British band sees common ground between Morrissey and Mariah, strikes gold. People keep expressing astonishment that this is the product of four twenty year olds, but as one myself I can totally see how they made this. The New York Times ran this story the other day about how men under twenty-five like to wear suits now. While that's not all that true, this album reflects that sentiment - a bunch of twenty year olds in suits. I wonder if the lead singers are dating. If they broke up that would make them the post-punk Fleetwood Mac.

Check Out: "VCR" - The first "real" song on the album, and probably the best. I dig the bells.



6. The-Dream - Love Vs. Money
Opening with the sound of film being spooled into a projector followed by the sounds of a bed being rocked by people doing it is a perfect metaphor for the rest of the album - music for screwing, but on a cinematic scope. The-Dream and his production team have taken up R. Kelly's crown as R&B's mad geniuses; The-Dream's voice gets multi-tracked to serve as his own heavenly chorus over the most deliciously weird pop music of the year that at times recalls Timbaland, Michael Jackson, and Vampire Weekend (trust me, listen to the vocals on "Right Side Of My Brain") but always retains his distinct sonic identity. He even pulls Lil' Jon out of whatever cave he's been living in for the last track.

Check Out: The two-song suite that is "Love Vs. Money" and "Love Vs. Money Part II" that exemplifies everything The-Dream is about - big choruses, finger snaps, lyrics that don't quite make sense, and drama all over the place. Arena music from 2050.





5. Lee Fields & The Expressions - My World
Who says old people don't make good albums? A genuine soul lifer who's been around since James Brown's heyday, Fields has the voice of an old man and this album is the better for it. He worked with the dudes at Truth & Soul Records to produce an album swelling with emotion, funk and heart. He's got a band called The Expressions, who manage to maintain one foot in the soul bucket at all times while also sounding informed of hip-hop (and to a lesser, although no less important degree, indie rock), which gives these songs a progressive bent that makes them superior to similar recent efforts by Raphael Saadiq and Sharon Jones - unlike those guys, he lived through soul's heyday, so he knows better than to repeat it..

Check Out: "My World Is Empty Without You" - Backed by a heavenly chorus, swelling strings and an actual churchbell, Fields sounds absolutely desperate. But totally in a fun way!




4. Method Man and Redman - Blackout! 2
While it wasn't the best hip-hop or even the best Wu-Tang album of the year, it was definitely the most fun. Hip-Hop's stonedest bff's Method Man and Redman, convinced that 1999's Blackout! was a classic, actually turned in something that's better than the original. Redman, one of the hardest-working dudes in hip-hop (he also A&R'd and mixed the album), again puts his easily adaptable flow and mastery of the verse to use, and Meth is clearly enjoying himself, making it his best effort in years. Most rap duos have one guy who's really zany and another dude who has to reel him in, but Meth and Red both eschew gravitas on this one, making it twice as enjoyable as albums by those other guys.

Check Out: "City Lights (Feat. Bun B)" - The would-be summer jam of 2009, except nobody was into the Wu-Tang Clan again until Raekwon da Chef's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II came out.



3. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Leave it to a bunch of French dudes to master Rock n' Roll. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is probably the most technically accomplished release of any on my list in terms of traditional rock instrumentation, and plus it's got songs about classical music! If that sentence sounded boring, here's all you need to know: this album sounds like The Strokes' first album, but with synths and so many hooks you could build a coat room around it. This album is more than a little wimpy, like it you thumped it with your finger it might cry, but that only makes me like it more.

Check Out: "1901" - I'll admit that I'd never heard of Phoenix until I was hanging out with some friends and this song came on and everybody got up and started dancing in a conga line around my friend's apartment. Or maybe it was "Lisztomania;" I'm not sure. Either way I like this song the best. Please ignore the Cadillac commercial they used this song in.





2. Raekwon da Chef - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Vol. II
People keep comparing this album to The Wire. I've never seen that show, so I'll just compare it to the original Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. It's almost as good as the original, which for 2009 is good enough. Unlike most of the young, hot cats out right now (Lil' Wayne, I'm looking squarely in your direction), Raekwon writes actual songs; he raps from the perspective of a guy who's been working at his job for years and seen it all. Such a guy just so happens to be a crack dealer. He's not interested in writing a hot 16-bar verse - not that he can't crank them out in his sleep, as evidenced by his verse in "House of Flying Daggers" - but is instead more interested in immersing the listener in his world, tossing off details the same way any other good writer does. Check this gem from this song with the completely-to-the-point title "Baggin' Crack:"

Choppin' like a lumberjack up in the gate/One plate, a rock on the table, movin' that flake/Fiends start hittin' my shit/Paranoid, he got the convoy all up in his crib/One n---a sick, fuck it/Let's get this money/Got the razor hid up in my jean jacket

Painted in broad strokes, these are the same ramblings of a jaded middle-manager type - Okay, time check the TPS Reports; Johnson can't make it in, we can settle the account anyway. That's one of the reasons why this album's so great, Raekwon's ability to fully inhabit his persona.

Another reason why this is so great is the production. Rae tapped a murderer's row of ace beatsmiths to provide the album's backing tracks, from the late J. Dilla to Alchemist to RZA to Pete Rock to Marley Marl to Dr. Dre, whose label Aftermath Records was at one point supposed to release this behemoth. Raekwon also pleased the fans by having every living member of the Wu (except U-God because he's not very good) guest on the album, plus a couple of his big-name friends like Jadakiss and Busta Rhymes. Just like the original, Rae includes Ghostface Killah on like half of the tracks on here, providing a frenetic, paranoid foil for Rae's laid-back Boss persona.

Bonus points go to this album for reigniting the public's interest in the Wu-Tang, which had been slowly-but-surely waning ever since Ol' Dirty Bastard was killed by the government for being too real.

Check Out: I couldn't decide which song was the best from this album, so here's two. "House of Flying Daggers (Feat. Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah, and Method Man)," which gives you some of that gritty, old-school Wu-Tang feel, and "Catalina (Feat. Lyfe Jennings)," one of them Dr. Dre joints that's so nice it's like Rae's telling his come-up story from atop a velvet mountain.





Oh, what the hell. Here's "10 Bricks," another J. Dilla production that has what might be my favorite beat on the album.



1. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
This edges out Raekwon because they didn't have Dr. Dre's help. These are two dudes from Vancouver who were so excited about the prospect of forming their own band that they started recording before they could recruit a bassist. And this is the most beautiful, unholy racket two people have ever made, accomplished with thundering drum fills, dual lead vocals and more reverb than you can shake a stick at. At first I thought these songs were just a bunch of love songs, but then I saw Japandroids live and realized that most of these songs are about how the guitarist and drummer are best friends.

I'm not sure how to relate the degree to which I love this album. These guys are the number one listened-to group in my iTunes and this disc hasn't left my car's CD rotation since I first acquired it earlier this year. I don't know who to compare them to - though they sound completely familiar, they seem to occupy their own distinct territory within the rock landscape. How about a combination of The White Stripes, Tegan and Sara, My Bloody Valentine and The Hold Steady? Yeah, that works.

Check Out: "Young Hearts Spark Fire" followed by "Wet Hair," what's definitely my favorite one-two punch in recent memory.




So, there you have it. Check back in a couple of days for me talking about an album that I think is way, way overrated (hint: it's that Animal Collective one).