Best Albums of 2009

Readers, I apologize for the lack of a super cool Best of 2009 logo. The entire graphic design department has taken an early vacation and left me completely bewildered in my WordPress cubicle.

Here are my favorite albums that 2009 produced. It was tough making this list, but ultimately I had to look at it this way – would I be willing to purchase this album over buying my own lunch for a day? And the answer is yes, I would be willing to buy all of the following albums and sacrifice my daily soup and sandwich in order to get them. The albums on the honorable mention list are great, but a well constructed veggie sub and soup at Quiznos beats them any day of the week.

1.  Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion

This was clearly album of the year (at least on any indie music blog or magazine’s list). Animal Collective really pushed the boundaries with Strawberry Jam and proved they could wrap their complex and multi-dimensional vocal harmonies and experimental weirdness into pop song structure and format. However, Merriweather pushes things even further and proves the band can appeal to a wider audience. I feel they brought in a new demographic and generation of Animal Collective freaks with this album and I greatly applaud them for it.

2.  Doves – Kingdom of Rust

Kingdom of Rust is the sleeper record of the year made by most underrated band of the decade. When I first heard this record, I couldn’t put it down. Check out the song “Compulsion” and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

3.  Mastodon – Crack the Skye

Mastodon is the new Metallica and this is their Black Album. They make kick ass epic progressive metal records and they rep my city. I don’t need any more reasons to place them on the list.

4.  St. Vincent – Actor

I had never heard of St. Vincent before listening to this album. It’s a really great record full of big electronic sounds, lush orchestration and string arrangements, catchy vocal harmonies and great melodies. St. Vincent proved to me that she was a strong force to be reckoned with on this one.

5.  Q-Tip – Kamaal the Abstract

I’m a huge hip-hop and rap fan, but I noticed my list was gravitating more towards the rock spectrum. I like to keep things balanced so I searched hard for a rap album that could definitely be on my top 10 list. This is it and technically it’s not even a rap album. Kamaal the Abstract is more soul than rap and on songs like “Barely in Love,” Q-Tip even evokes a Beatles-esque feel. Nonetheless, this is a great album and it easily made the cut.

6. Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures

I was completely averse to the concept of this supergroup when I first heard about it. That aversion lasted all of about ten minutes  – Josh Homme is just too good of a songwriter and musician for me to hate any of his projects and John Paul Jones contributing bass on anyone’s tracks is worth looking into. I could care less about Dave Grohl, but he played his part and was a good drummer in the back of the group.

This album was necessary for 2009. We needed something that would bring back the essence of rock n roll and extend the vitality of the genre.

7. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

Surprise, Grizzly Bear is on another best of 2009 list!

8. Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue

I heard about Bibio a few months after Ambivalence Avenue was released and I’m really digging this guy. I have a deep love and reverence for electronic music and Bibio is almost like the missing link between Boards of Canada, Prefuse 73 and Daedelus. If you enjoy any kind of electronic music, you must own this album.

9. Sonic Youth - The Eternal

Sonic Youth has definitely evolved over the past decade. They rely less on experimentalism and noise as crutches these days and they’re writing well structured and great songs. The noise and feedback are simply tools for various kinds of brush strokes and colors. The Eternal is proof that Sonic Youth has truly grown up and have reached a point where their maturity and life experiences as people are intriguing to outsiders and pulls them into the music and experience that is Sonic Youth.

10.  Japandroids – Post Nothing

Japandroids are on the list because No Age’s record came out last year and not this year.

All harsh jokes aside, I like the guitar textures on this album and it has a certain spatial quality that other records lack.

Honorable mention list:

Sunn o – Monoliths and Dimensions

Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship

Raekwon – Only Built for Cuban Linx pt. II

Beirut – March of the Zapotec

Mos Def – The Ecstatic

Dizzee Rascal – Tongue N Cheek

The Dead Weather – Horehound

Fabolous – Losos’s Way

Isis – Wavering Radiant

Currency – This Ain’t No Mixtape

Clipse – Til the Casket Drops

*Readers, please leave comments and list your favorite albums of the year

Q-Tip “Kamaal the Abstract”

So I was having a conversation with my friend Anthony over facebook about hip hop and made a vague reference to Q-Tip and Kamaal the Abstract. I asked for his simple and most basic opinion of the record. Well, Anthony is a huge hip hop head. He’s been listening to rap and hip hop since he was maybe four or five. He still stays up late and tapes the most recent and fresh tracks that are broadcast over college radio, moreover, he can spout off the names, song titles, release dates and even personnel featured on almost any hip hop and rap record produced after 1992 (seriously, I’m not kidding). I don’t anybody who’s a bigger rap/hip hop reference library than him. Ultimately, his opinion about Kamaal the Abstract was anything, but simple and basic. Here is my friend Anthony Jackson’s unofficial, but officially sanctioned guest review of Kamaal the Abstract.

1. “Blue Girl” – Best song in my opinion on the whole cd. This shit is ridiculous

2. “Do You Dig U” – It’s a little too long. Tip should of ended it a little bit after the four minute mark or so, with the beat fading out and the girl singing or something. I love the vibe of it, real funky and laid back, and I like all the different instruments he encompasses within it. My second fave, although I think some peope have a love/hate relationship with this track. I liked it as soon as it hit my ears

3. “Even If It Is So” – This song is really hot. The beat, the horns, everything. I also like the way Q-Tip spits on this. I would put this as my second favorite song, but I like “Do You Dig U” just a little more. Either way this song has to be in everyone’s top three off this album. Dope ass track

4. “A Million Times” – I Like this song a lot, just real funky. It sort of reminds me of something D’Angelo would sing on or produce.

5. “Abstractionsims” – This is probably my fifth favorite song. The beat is dope, and Q-tip is more in his rhyming mode which is also a plus.

Other Tracks:

“Feelin” - I think this track is cool, but the only thing I really like about it is when it smooths out at 1:13-2:10. After that part I usually just skip. It can get boring and repetitive to me.

“Make It Work” – Decent song, but it doesn’t really stand out to me. It sounds like maybe two or three other songs on here. Weakest song on cd, I guess that’s why it’s a bonus. They should of put “Damn You’re Cool”  as a bonus instead of  “Make It Work” . Shit, I think  “Damn You’re Cool”  is better than like at least two or three tracks on the main album, but  “Damn You’re Cool,”  I think is some new shit post-renaissance album shit, so I guess that song doesn’t count, but they have it on the  I-Tunes version of Kamaal.

“Caring” – Dope as hell. It’s a nice little slow joint, but it’s too short to make it to my top five

“Barely In Love” – Another good song, but might be a little too  rock-sounding” for me if that makes any sense. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but it’s not in my top five…still a solid joint.

“Heels” – Man, I kind of hate to put  “Heels”  down here, but it was a toss up between this and  “Abstractionisms,” but I couldn’t put this song over  “Abstractionisms.” If  “Abstractionisms”  wasn’t on Kamaal the Abstract, I would put “Heels” as number five with no hesitation.

I’ll give it about four mics, solid album overall. It sucks that they shelved it because I remember reading around 01′-02 when he was working on the album and mentioned how he was taking a different direction from Amplified. I understand why the Arista or whoever didn’t release it because it probably wouldn’t put up big numbers like Ja Rule, Eminem, Jay, etc. You’ve got to remember back then if it wasn’t platinum or better, you’re outta there. What did Amplified do sales-wise anyway?

Anthony’s final rating: four out of five mics

Shot From Guns final grade: A-

* According to the most advanced and intelligent Wikipedia sources, Amplified has, “as of July 2008, the album has sold 675,000 copies in the United States.”