A Round of Sound: 2009 Mixtape

January 17, 2010

Now that the countdown is complete, all that is left is to present my 2009 Mixtape, an annual mix of the songs that helped shape the past year in music.  This is maybe becoming my favorite part of my yearly top albums tradition because it’s fun to see what tunes I can pack into an 80 minute disc.  I started doing this on my own just to make a mix cd of some of my favorite songs of the year to keep for listening in my car, but it has evolved into a way for me to kind of summarize the best music of the year in just a “mixtape” form, especially since I find it pretty impossible to do a ranking of the best songs of the year.  And people seem to enjoy it, so here we are again.  By the way if you want to see my complete top 25 Albums of 2009 on one nice, put together page, head on over to my Amazon.com list to give it a look.

So, here’s some stats about the mix.  This year I packed 19 songs on the disc (down one from last year’s 20), but as usual this does not necessarily mean these are my 19 favorite songs of the year.  There a plenty of songs that I had to leave off because they were too long, or maybe they just didn’t fit with the mix.  Also, as usual the order here is how they appear on my mix, but it is not a ranking.  The songs are placed based on how they appear on their respective albums.  For this year, 9 of the songs are off albums in my top 10 (Antony & the Johnsons is the only top 10 album not represented).  Five of the songs are from albums in my #11-#25 range and two songs come from albums outside my top 25.  The lowest ranking album with a song in the mix is Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free by Akron/Family (ranked #44) with “River”.  And finally, three songs (“Blood Bank”, “My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille”, and “It Gets Your Body Movin'”) are songs off of EPs, and thus came from albums not eligible to be in my rankings.  Most of these songs have been featured somewhere on this blog in the past, or in the top albums countdown, but now here they are all in one place!

The picture above is thanks to Amy Boyd, who for the second year in a row has provided me with the album art for the Mixtape.  Another fine job indeed. Today is her birthday (as well as Zooey Deschanel’s) so she also has that going for her.  Enjoy!

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[“French Navy” – Camera Obscura :: My Maudlin Career]

———-

[“Blood Bank” – Bon Iver :: Blood Bank]

———-

[“1901” – Phoenix :: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix]

———-

[“Two Weeks” – Grizzly Bear :: Veckatimest]

———-

[“River” – Akron/Family :: Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free]

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[“My Girls” – Animal Collective :: Merriweather Post Pavilion]

———-

[“Young Adult Friction” – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart]

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[“Crystalised” – The xx :: xx]

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[“Funeral Singers” – Califone :: All My Friends Are Funeral Singers]

———-

[“Now We Can See” – The Thermals :: Now We Can See]

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[“Stillness is the Move” – Dirty Projectors :: Bitte Orca]

———-

[“Don’t Haunt This Place” – Rural Alberta Advantage :: Hometowns]

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[“Never Seen” – Lightning Dust :: Infinite Light]

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[“Home” – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros :: Up From Below]

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[“Two” – The Antlers :: Hospice]

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[“My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille” – Beirut :: March of the Zapotec & Realpeople: Holland]

———-

[“Marrow” – St Vincent :: Actor]

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[“Sleepyhead” – Passion Pit :: Manners]

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[“It Gets Your Body Movin'” – Suckers :: Suckers EP]

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Top Albums of 2009: #7 and #8

January 12, 2010

#8) The xx – xx [Young Turks; released 8/16/2009]

“I can’t give it up to someone else’s touch, because I care too much”

“Infinity”

The sparse cover art for the debut album from The xx speaks volumes for the 11 songs contained within.  It’s simple, to the point, and says no more than what is needed, which appropriately captures what this South London quartet have been able accomplish on this year’s best debut album. Released with loads of hype from the blogosphere as well as the British media, xx has captivated and intrigued listeners with its sexy melodies while employing minimal instrumentation to create an atmosphere so stunning it’s hard to believe this is a group made up of four 20 year olds. Alternating guy/girl vocals rise to forefront on these tunes which are essentially love songs, eerie as they may be, and while the lyrics aren’t as accomplished as the music and can come across as cheezy, the vocals somehow hide that and make it seem real.  Riding on the strength of their own confidence, there’s no telling what comes next from this group considering most bands might take multiple releases trying to master the sound that The xx seems to do almost effortlessly.

[“Crystalised” – xx]

#7) Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career [4AD; released 4/20/2009]

“This maudlin career has come to an end, I don’t want to be sad again.”

“My Maudlin Career”

Overflowing with sentimentality and emotion, My Maudlin Career is perhaps the most appropriately titled album of the year.  Tracyanne Campbell’s vocals are as melancholy as ever and pack a vulnerability to go along with her ballads of lost love.  However, paired with some of the most lush songs the group has ever produced and complete with their usual sweet catchy melodies, My Maudlin Career is Camera Obscura’s most endearing work to date. Camera Obscura’s existence to this point has always been tied to fellow indie-pop Scotsmen Belle & Sebastian, but Camera Obscura’s 2006 masterpiece Let’s Get Out of the Country helped the group escape from B&S’s shadow and My Maudlin Career only further sets them apart.  String arrangements absolutely dominate this album, and the songs are better for it.  Openers “French Navy” and “The Sweetest Thing” each show off the strings in exploding choruses, while a song like “Careless Love” is complimented throughout by the orchestration before a final beautiful climax to close out the song.  But when it comes down to it,  My Maudlin Career succeeds by conveying sadness without being overly gloomy.  It’s both a heartbreaking and uplifting listen and Camera Obscura pulls it off seamlessly.

[“French Navy” – My Maudlin Career]

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Mid-2009 Music Awards

July 6, 2009

A little something I like to do every year is dole out some awards for the music up to the halfway point of the year.  Nothing too detailed, just a little summary.  As usual for all my lists, the only albums I’m including are albums that I own and are currently in my itunes library.  And of course all this can change as I listen to albums more, but this is what I’m feeling so far for 2009.  Enjoy!

Animal Collective

Animal Collective

Best, let’s say, 7 Albums (in order of release date):

Antony & the Johnsons – The Crying Light

  • It’s a beautiful and affecting listen, which was to be expected from Antony Hegarty.  It was the first great release of the year and has stuck around to now.  I already mentioned in my 1st quarter of ’09 wrap-up…nothing more to add to that really.

[“Her Eyes Are Underneath the Ground – The Crying Light]

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

[“My Girls” – Merriweather Post Pavilion]

The Antlers – Hospice

  • Once again, check my 1Q of ’09 post that mentions this release as well.  People are starting to pick up on its brilliance but it will surely gain even more of a following once Frenchkiss reissiues it this August.

[“Two” – Hospice]

Passion Pit – Manners

  • A very fun listen and impressive full-length debut from the Boston, Mass band that I already featured in my review here.

[“Little Secrets” – Manners]

Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

[“1901” – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix]

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

  • About as perfect as an album gets.  The review goes into more detail.

[“Two Weeks” – Veckatimest]

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

  • The only album of these 7 that I haven’t mentioned on the blog yet.  The first 6 songs are hard to top.  Longstreth tones down the weird just a bit, and it gets album of the year hype…go figure.

[“Stillness is the Move” – Bitte Orca]

Most Overrated:

Japandroids – Post-Nothing

  • It’s a fun, rockin’ little album, but the 4th best reviewed release of the year?!…come on!

[“Young Hearts Spark Fire” – Post-Nothing]

Most Underrated:

Loney, Dear – Dear John

  • One of my most listened to albums so far this year.  It doesn’t deserve any album of the year or even top 10 talk, but I think it deserves more attention than it’s getting.

[“Airport Surroundings” – Dear John]

Biggest Disappointment:

The Appleseed Cast – Sagarmatha

  • They left behind their melodic pop hooks that made Peregrine so good, and went back to their post-rock instrumental days with bland results.  Best description I’ve heard was that it’s like Explosions in the Sky tried to make an Appleseed Cast album…not what I was hoping for.

[“The Summer Before” – Sagarmatha]

Biggest Surprise:

Maria Taylor – LadyLuck

  • Already mentioned this one here, but the more I thought about it, the more I concluded that it probably is my biggest surprise of the year.

[Time Lapse Lifeline – LadyLuck]

Need to give more listens:

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains

  • I just haven’t put enough time into this one to get a reading on it.  Some of it has some early Built to Spill indie feel to it, which deserves my attention.

[“Indiana” – Why There Are Mountains]

Notable albums I still need to get:

Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

St. Vincent – Actor

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