Teiz
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Hi folks, I've been making and comparing end of the year lists with friends for quite a while now, and these below are my favorites for 2009. Same as during my Lotus Couch years, I post this twice: it's on G3 as well, so let me know if that is a problem. I look forward to reading about your year in music.
For me, 2009 was not the greatest year in music, but at the end I always enjoy making this list. The records below are all good, save ones in the let downs section. So I'll show you mine, but please show me your favorites as well. Especially when they're not on this list. Always looking for new stuff.
10. Patterson Hood - Murdering Oscar: Okay, anyone who says I'm cheating here: I more or less agree. It's an album that was recorded years ago for the most part. But it's the best DBT-related disc in my book. Much closer to the DBT-sound than his Killer And Stars from a few years back, which is not necessarily a good thing, but I wouldn't want to miss this disc in my collection.
09. Lucky Fonz III - A Family Like Yours: Dutch dude that makes nice tunes for a small market. Made it big in the low countries last year because he had a gig at a big Dutch tv-show that had the guts to look outside the mainstream while being very mainstream itself. Anyway: Lucky Fonz needs to improve his English and he'll reach a bigger international crowd. He's great at country, but this disc had a Kinks-like mood. This became a problem: whenever I listened to this album, I wanted to spin Village Green or Arthur. But the potential greatness is there: few songwriters remind me of Ray Davies. This great disc lacks the good production it deserves. I have high hopes for future projects.
08. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest: Great arty pop/rock album by a bunch of math nerds. This disc would've been higher in the list if they hadn't ruined the shows I went to. Disc is great though. Think Simon & Garfunkel, weird it up five times. Great harmonies too.
07. Wilco - Wilco (The Album): 2009 is the year I finally got the hang of Tweedy and his bunch. Reason: they were performing at the Lowlands festival and they gave an arse kicking performance. This album contains less of the 'hey we are serious musicians' pose that annoyed me until I checked out a show of this band.
06. Madness - The Liberty Of Norton Folgate: I didn't think they still had this great a record in them. This fantastic album has Madness browsing through the history of London, adding all kinds of musical influences from this melting pot while maintaining their own sound. Great job
05. Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum: Great third from loud, Madchester influenced rock band. It annoys some that all the ideas of Kasabian seem stolen, but damn it works just fine for me. Check out Vlad The Impaler to hear how very rock n roll dance beats can be.
04. Johan - 4: Fourth and final record by a great Dutch guitar band named after Johan Cruijff, the greatest Dutch football player of all time. It may pale a bit in comparison with their previous disc, but still a great record. Opening track 'In The Park' is one of their finest. Currently on their 'so long' tour in the Netherlands. A shame, these guys had another two or three good albums in them.
03. Bob Dylan - Together Through Life: Another damn fine album by the old master. I don't know how he keeps coming up with good tunes. This one rocks a bit harder than its predecessor, has accordions and sounds a bit less remorseful. My Wife's Home Town and Jolene are great, fun tracks. But: Oh Mercy, Time Out Of Mind, Love And Theft and Modern Times were all better. This one just needed an extraordinary track to put it in the same league, but you won't find a High Water or a Man In The Long Black Coat here. Still a must have though.
02. Drive Like Maria - Elmwood: Big rock music from two small countries: this is a Dutch/Belgian outfit that made a cool heavy rock record. They pretty much came out of nowhere for me. But this dj has a weekly review video on the site of a newspaper. He showed the goods: loud rock tracks combined with convincing ballads. Janis Ian pops up for some guest vocals too. It gets even better when they're performing live: this three piece throws everything they have in your face twice as hard. They would've been top pick if there wasn't a slow burner in my record collection.
01. The Dead Weather - Horehound: it's a bit swampy, very loud and gladly grabs every rock cliché by the balls, this debut of yet another band that was formed by Jack White. At first Horehound didn't grab me at all, but after a few months it became the disc of 2009 I listened to most frequently. In part for practical purposes: when I'm on the train to work, I feel the need to block stupid conversations quite often and this album is loud enough to do just that. But soon enough I heard the greatness of tracks like Treat Me Like Your Mother and Will There Be Enough Water?
And then there was a gig in Amsterdam I managed to get tickets for: fuck me what a show. Every song sounded even better on stage. In fact I think the album would've been even better if they would've recorded all of it in one take, then and there. But there's beauty in the way it is recorded now: a band not used to playing together yet, trying to find common ground without slipping into something that makes everybody comfy at once. Next disc is up for next year: I'm looking forward to it.
Best collection:
Drive-by Truckers: The Fine Print. Leftovers and rarities from DBT's New West years. Sounds like a studio record, has a fine bunch of cool covers (Tom Petty's Rebels and Warren Zevon's Play It All Night Long fit this band like a glove) and a bunch of songs that somehow didn't make the cut before. The Great Car Dealer War especially deserves it's time in the sun.
Let Downs:
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: a disaster. Basically it's cool for a band to broaden their sound for a bit, but this one has weird dance beats where they don't belong and contains songs they wouldn't even have picked as b-sides for singles of their previous two.
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug: it could've been interesting to put the sound of a very British rock band in the hands of a very American producer like Josh Homme. Unfortunately, it turned in to a rather boring disc. Critics say the Monkeys came of age with this. I turned it off and gave The Last Shadow Puppets another spin.
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The best of 2009 (Read 851 times)
