Hello, everyone! Well, now that the dust is beginning to settle on 2009, the web is starting to publish more Top 100 charts than E4 and BBC3 combined. Music wise, it's not been nearly as fine as the previous year, I think a few would agree; there's been plenty of solid work, but hardly anything outright wonderful and amazing... According to my chart, there are no healthy four-star works until the mid-30s, with as little as 3% in overall album ratings separating the bottom from the middle.
With regards to my personal awards list written last weekend (for those who haven't read that who fancy a mildly boring five minute read, click
here), I will be checking off nominees and award winners as I traipse through my listening of the last twelve months, as well as linking to other music sites' reviews on said pieces. Hopefully, this won't prove too troublesome and it'll all look relatively easy to navigate...
However, I will hand-on-heart make sure that I won't be so submerged in this sheer amount of listening ever again... turns out too much of my life has been falling to ruin for me to blog quite so regularly, so I'll wish you all a Happy 2010 and bid "adieu" for the time being.
And now, on with the show...
100. East Of Eden by
Taken By Trees
Pitchfork: "Thankfully,
East Of Eden suits Taken by Trees the way a shift from folk-pop to terrifying avant-classical suited oft-mentioned German antecedent Nico ... Production from Studio's Dan Lissvik gives the nine-song, half-hour set an ascetic grace, sort of like secular devotional music."
Link
Drowned In Sound: "Working with local Sufi musicians to create a slight and graceful collection of twee Scandi-folk tunes set to South Asian instrumentation, she achieves a steadiness of fusion that holds the two musical cultures in productive tension without ever feeling forced or self-conscious."
Link
What I Said: "The result is never less than lovely, not just with regards to Bergsman’s sweet vocals (particularly in fine fetter on her
Animal Collective cover,
My Boys) but also in her utilisation of the Sufi arrangements, famed for their trance-like qualities and put to beguiling effect here."
99. Vacilando Territory Blues by
J. Tillman
Pitchfork: "it ultimately proves a strong, quiet complement to Fleet Foxes and, more crucially, the band's rougher, looser sound ... These songs whisper loudly to slow the world down, to preserve a moment and all its emotions, whether they're pleasant or-- more likely-- painful."
Link
PopMatters: "The best of this material (
Vessels, e.g.) is arresting in its stark simplicity—a voice, one or two chords arpeggiated on guitar, little else ... A serious, small album from a singer-songwriter we should probably be paying more attention to."
Link
What I Said: "Enhanced with enough swoonsome guitars and plaintive vocals to make the borderline wrist-slitting melodies of heartbreak sublimely enjoyable rather than irritatingly spare."
98. Declaration Of Dependence by
Kings of Convenience
Pitchfork: "Along with sharper songwriting focus, this go-for-broke softness makes for the most durable, rewarding Kings of Convenience album yet ... it's also probably the best new full-length of its style you'll hear this year."
Link
Drowned In Sound: "Kings of Convenience could have stretched their legs over into new territory, or torn down their comfort zone as many bands have done to rousing success over the past decade ... Some of the disappointment with the latter half is the fault of such an enjoyable start to the album."
Link
What I Said: "For those who like their folk-pop light as air and sad-eyed as a defenseless puppy that’s been kicked in the gut ... At times, the emotionally rich vocals and elegant melodies almost suggest a jazz like quality, further adding to the elegiac effect of the songs on offer here."
97. Swoon by
Silversun Pickups
Pitchfork: "Though Swoon never becomes unpleasant, Aubert's lyrics and melodies are so wishy-washy that you'd think they were going out of their way to be ignored ...
Swoon ultimately delivers the exact same results as its predecessor mostly because it's written in nearly the exact same way."
Link
NME: "Vast, dark, a little mysterious, sad, dignified and palpably in pain ... would ‘suicide anthems for whales’ be too gushing a compliment?"
Link
What I Said: "This is what The Emo With Taste would wrap their ears around, and transporting anyone too old to really be emo exactly back to what it was like to be a tormented teenager, as opposed to a tormented adult wishing they were still a tormented teenager."
96. Listening Tree by
Tim Exile
Pitchfork: "
Listening Tree's songs are so motion-oriented, in fact, that Tim Shaw's Scott-Walker-fronting-the-Human-League vocals often serve as the calming influence ... note that Listening Tree is just an exhausting, demanding listen."
Link
PopMatters: "I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed with the third long-player from Tim Exile ... At the very least, I urge you to give him the respect he deserves and judge this record in the context of his body of work."
Link
What I Said: "For anyone who thought the idea of the thinking man’s pop star was becoming less and less likely by the day, along comes Tim Exile ... most of the work found on this third LP of his actually exhibits a humorously intelligent pop sensibility, especially on his reliance of his comically robotic baritone and elusively barmy lyrics."
95. Radio Wars by
Howling Bells
Pitchfork: "As for everything else, well... again, it's an agreeable sound the Bells have hit upon, and that makes for an agreeable listen throughout ... when you're cruising along in a pleasure craft as nice and reliable as this one, it's all right to tread a little water"
Link
BBC: "Much of the material here is so directionless it's simply bland ... It seems the quartet's decision to produce this album 'democratically' - each member writing their contribution separately - has resulted in an ill-fitting and impotent collection."
Link
What I Said: "All in all, there are enough buoyant riffs, subtle electronic signatures and crystalline vocals from lead singer Juanita Stein on this album to give these Aussie rabble-rousers another eligible shot for success at the festivals this year."
94. The Bachelor by
Patrick Wolf
Pitchfork: "Most of The Bachelor's strengths sound borne out of arrangements rather than visceral or melodic thrills ... for all of the talk of Wolf being a chameleonic drama queen, oddball, or genius, The Bachelor most damningly lacks the charm attendant with any of those character descriptions."
Link
NME: "
The Bachelor is a thoughtful record whose greatest flaw is only that it’s overthought ... For some it’ll be an album that rushes over you like a waterfall, demanding awe not deconstruction. For others it’ll be cry for attention with all the charm of a man with a bell on his head shouting equations."
Link
What I Said: "You’d be forgiven for finding Wolf’s talents more than a little precociously annoying. It must be said though, that Wolf simply has whatever
it is ... whether you like him or not, convincing Tilda Swinton to feature on his tracks is nothing less than impressive."
93. Central Market by
Tyondai Braxton
Pitchfork: "
Central Market proves bigger in the sense that it's clearly been delivered as a statement record-- a summation of lots of ideas accrued over the years and lots of restless thinking about how best to engage those ideas in ways far from expected."
Link
BBC: "Though it pursues futurism,
Central Market actually gazes backwards in time through its maker’s personal musical lineage ... Tyondai Braxton’s achievements here are true to their inheritance, and this album deserves to sell."
Link
What I Said: "
Central Market does well to marry both the classical and avant-rock genres to give a unique bent on Braxton’s loop-heavy symphonies ... it’ll certainly sate the appetite before the
Battles’ return next year.
92. No More Stories Are Told Today I'm Sorry They Washed Away No More Stories The World... by
Mew
Pitchfork: "Over the course of a long career (they formed in 1994), Mew has succeeded in developing a good sound from some of the least hip ingredients imaginable, and
No More Stories... feels like a consolidation of every stride they've made to date."
Link
PopMatters: "Despite a few drawbacks,
NAITNTIL is a triumph. It signals a more mature Mew, with more to say and more ways to say it."
Link
What I Said: "This dreamy adventure of an album inhabits a heady atmosphere ... A rewarding listen for those who dare and an impressive feat for an outfit that’s still going after fifteen years."
91. Embryonic by
The Flaming Lips
Pitchfork: "The double album
Embryonic is the band's most audacious undertaking since 1997's
Zaireeka ... portends yet another new phase for the Flaming Lips-- one that's equally as improbable and rewarding as the ones that have preceded it."
Link
NME: "At points on this glorious act of galloping lunacy it feels as if you’re being sensuously lobotomised by a higher power ... Ten years after their last masterpiece, The Flaming Lips have finally produced another one."
Link
What I Said: "The result is a disjointed, dark journey through some impenetrably forboding psych-rock that either contains the Lips’ finest work or their most infuriatingly puzzling ... one cannot deny the sheer gravitas of what is certainly one of the only genuine event records to see release this year."
90. Kingdom Of Rust by
Doves
Pitchfork: "Doves' fourth album is another sterling example of why the Doves should be household names and why they probably won't ever be: their unwavering flair for producing mountainous, Wembley-worthy pop anthems that are nonetheless invested with a palpable degree of grace and humility."
Link
The Guardian: "But a certain confidence is all over Kingdom of Rust. Not the brash, cocksure swagger of a debut album, but the quiet conviction that comes with experience."
Link
What I Said: "It would be easy to assume listening to their fourth album that these Cheshire-based indie stars drew upon various works from their peers last year to make this their at once most varied and most accessible album yet ... and that any comparison between this and the fabulous work from last year by those other bands is justified solely on sheer beauty and merit."
89. Bromst by
Dan Deacon
Pitchfork: "The music becomes something like a natural process: one clean, simple sweep, but built from an insane complexity of detail."
Link
The Onion: "With Bromst, Deacon not only shucks the “wacky” thing, he replaces it (and those gadgets) with virtuosity of composition and an array of instruments ... but it’s surprisingly easy to “get” Bromst as an album."
Link
What I Said: "Deacon’s soundscapes feature some quite relentlessly dancey “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” moments alongside the more introspective pieces that could happily snuggle alongside the likes of
Holy Fuck and
Battles on a playlist for the wilfully leftfield."
88. Two Suns by
Bat for Lashes
Pitchfork: "Khan's aesthetic is such a perfectly struck balancing act between earth mother hippie mystic and post-modern Gen Y art student ... A significant step forward from her debut, Two Suns is home to some of the year's most thrilling music so far."
Link
NME: "
Two Suns is epic in scope and ambition and requires a similarly epic patience to unravel its charms. If this year’s Mercury panel know their arse from their
Elbows, this could be her time."
Link
What I Said: "Confessing in interviews that she felt that her follow-up album was going to be a bit cheesier. And whilst Khan hasn't quite given Same Difference a run for their money with
Two Suns, she's definitely embraced a poppier aesthetic this time around."
87. Take My Breath Away by
Gui Boratto
Pitchfork: "For better or for worse,
Take My Breath Away feels comfortable and content ... in acknowledging where his inspirations came from and figuring out where his compositions will go, he's misplaced the present tense and the once-present tension."
Link
PopMatters: "You’ll know exactly what to do when you hear it, and that is nod like a bastard ‘til your neck can’t take it any more ... Suffice to say, Gui’s time has arrived."
Link
What I Said: "To be found here are ambient club jams that are the very epitome of slow-burn beauties, particularly the title track, which pulsates away so agreeably and smoothly you’d be hard-pressed to stop yourself smiling for the full seven minutes."
86. Phrazes For The Young by
Julian Casablancas
Pitchfork: "This album is overstuffed with production do-dads, yet disappointingly devoid of anything coming close to the sort of tossed-off brilliance this guy used to come up with during an afternoon nap."
Link
The Guardian: "Only the length of the songs suggests a man grasping for grandiosity at odds with the album's sound, and instead inadvertently sapping the songs' power ... When he concentrates on making pop music, however,
Phrazes For The Young is a blast."
Link
What I Said: "Being content to concoct a diverting pop record with various wide-reaching influences that would belie his rockier credentials if he hadn’t spent the past couple of years collaborating with seemingly out-of-leftfield cohorts (
Santigold and
Pharrell,
Danger Mouse and
Sparklehorse)."
85. Only Revolutions by
Biffy Clyro
The Guardian: "At their heart, Biffy remain hard rockers. But they corral their heavier, visceral tendencies within irresistible tunes ... Whether
Only Revolutions will propel Biffy Clyro into the stratosphere is another matter."
Link
NME: "Can you hear it? It’s here! Biffy finally make that sprint-burst into the rock stratosphere and trample over the competition like badly tattooed elephants smashing through dead branches."
Link
What I Said: "A slightly off-kilter rock album full of warm vibes and joyous rabble, played by a band brimming with confidence and more than up for a good time."
84. Heavy Ghost by
DM Stith
Pitchfork: "It's an impressively dense and mature work, and without a doubt sometimes tough listening, too, but somehow not hard to listen to, let alone hard to like."
Link
The Independent: "Stith's music, made with cellos and pianos but also the creaking of wooden doors, has the uncomfortable intimacy of
Antony and the Johnsons (to whom he is often compared), but also the baroque strangeness of
David Bowie in his Brechtian Baal phase."
Link
What I Said: "A thoroughly disarming mix of glitchy electronica and alt-folk hues, at times summoning favourable comparisons to
Robert Wyatt with regards to the surreal melancholy permeating throughout."
83. Yes by
Pet Shop Boys
The Guardian: "
Yes neither benefits nor suffers from
Xenomania's attentions - only the opening Love Etc takes a co-writing credit - and it pootles along just as one would expect a moderate-to-strong Pet Shop Boys album to do."
Link
NME: "For the first time in years, Pet Shop Boys sound thrillingly modern ... It’s a quite startling return to form and, if you had your interest in Pet Shop Boys piqued by the
Brits performance, also a fine re-entry point."
Link
What I Said: "Isn’t the concentratedly euphoric blast of pop mastery that months of hype on the Internet has whipped PSB fans into hoping it would be ... what remains is an undoubtedly classy affair, awash with pure pop sophistication."
82. Music For Men by
The Gossip
Pitchfork: "The result is a good Gossip album, one that could soundtrack sweaty summer dance parties, but it also isn't drastically different from their last one."
Link
The Independent: "
Rick Rubin's skill lies in the way he's managed to sit Ditto's vocals comfortably among the limber arrangements without sounding as if she's in conflict with the music, which was occasionally the case on previous recordings. He's framed her voice to its best advantage, and in doing so he's put paid to the canard that finds Ditto frequently compared to
Janis Joplin."
Link
What I Said: "Whilst it’s certainly true that Ditto’s presence in the present day fashion-curio glitterati has generated more press and interest than that of her band’s actual work, it should be noted that she really is quite the fabulous singer and they offer up some of the finest anti-authoritarian pop rock on any side of the Atlantic."
81. Veckatimest by
Grizzly Bear
Pitchfork: "Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the truly remarkable
Veckatimest, however, is how very exciting much of it is; no small feat for a painstaking chamber-pop record that never once veers above the middle tempo."
Link
NME: "
Veckatimest requires the listener to make a studied and careful exploration. But for those patient enough to wait for this record to relinquish its quiet delights, the treasures waiting to be discovered it are rich indeed."
Link
What I Said: "A timeless marriage of guitar-led indie rock subtly synthesised into a head-turning mix that takes in chamber music, rabble rousing and uncategorically weird soundscapes, it at once celebrates and promises an interesting future for rock in general."
Check back tomorrow for Part 2, featuring albums 80-61 on my 2009 chart... There may be trouble ahead!!
xxx
Kings of Convenience
