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]

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

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

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

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

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

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[“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]

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

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

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[“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]

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[“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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Album Highlights from 3Q of 2009

October 9, 2009

I haven’t had much time to post lately, and I don’t envision being able to get an album review up anytime soon,  so I’m going to use this post as a summary of albums released from July through September that I haven’t already mentioned here on AROS.  I did a first quarter wrap-up as well as my mid-year awards, so I guess it only makes sense that I take some time to mention the highlights of the third quarter of 2009.  Hooray!

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We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls

This is the debut album from the Scottish quartet whose sound is in the vain of fellow Scotts Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad (more on them later).  Those three are actually on an American tour right now, I guess doing a sort of Scottish “emo” tour as people have been branding it.  Anyway, this really is a solid and very enjoyable release with great energy, and I just love the thick Scottish accents.

[“It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning” – These Four Walls]

The xx – xx

The xx is a quartet out of London that have been a fairly hyped UK band consisting of four 20 year olds.  xx is their debut album and is getting rave reviews from everywhere.  I like it alright, although the hype may be a little much.  There is something about it though…it’s a very intriguing listen.

[“Crystalised” – xx]

Choir of Young Believers – This Is For The White In Your Eyes

Yet another debut album from a European band, this one coming from Denmark’s Choir of Young Believers.  This Is For The White In Your Eyes is full of some great orchestra pop tunes led by band frontman Jannis Makrigiannis.  The music is super ambitious at times, which I guess is to be expected from an 8 piece band, but when they get it right, the songs can be breathtaking.

[“Hollow Talk” – This Is For The White In Your Eyes]

Wild Beasts – Two Dancers

I’m struggling finding a way to describe the tunes of UK’s Wild Beasts, but theatrical is certainly an adjective that has been used before and seems to fit.  Two Dancers is the second album for the quartet and continues the ridiculously good year Domino Records is having.

[“All The King’s Men” – Two Dancers]

The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love

A Brief History of Love just might be my favorite album from the last 3 months.  It’s the debut album from, you guessed it, the British duo.  I’m in love with the electro-rock pop mix and industrial sound of the tunes.  It’s a very strong album from start to finish and as the BBC predicted, it looks like The Big Pink is one of 2009’s breakout acts.

[“Dominos” – A Brief History of Love]

Volcano Choir – Unmap

Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) teams up with fellow Wisconsiners Collections of Colonies of Bees to release this weird little 9 song album full of eerie and at times beautiful songs.  It’s an interesting release that may end up being an afterthought in the Justin Vernon catalog, but I do think it atleast validates what a great artist he is and ensures that For Emma, Forever Ago was no one hit wonder.

[“Island, IS” – Unmap]

The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead

This album was one of my most anticipated releases in the latter half of 2009 as The Twilight Sad released one of my favorite albums from 2007, Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters, and led this recent Scottish invasion.  The lyrics of this group have always been so dark and nothing really changes with this release.  It’s probably not as good as their debut, but it’s still the thick emotional ballads that I came to expect.

[“I Became a Prostitute” – Forget The Night Ahead]

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