Lists and Numbers
2009 WB Album of the Year - 20 - 11
Featuring: Dinosaur Jr., Megafaun, Hopewell, Malakai, Them Crooked Vultures, WHY?, Swan Lake, Antony Johnsons, Memory Tapes, The Decemberists
Written by: Wireless Bollinger
Published: Mar 1st '10
20. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Speaking of bands exhibiting longevity, when you've been out of the game for as long as Dinosaur Jr had been when Beyond was released in 2007 it must be challenging to figure out how to go about it. After all, a decade's hiatus must surely create some fundamental, seismic shift in the kind of sound a band produces, right? Not for J Mascis and co., who set about making Beyond and Farm as though they were putting out unreleased material from a long-forgotten 1993 studio session. Listen to the chorus of the eight-minute epic 'Said the People' and imagine it being #1 worldwide in '94. It isn't hard.
19. Megafaun – Gather, Form and Fly
After dumping Justin 'Bon Iver' Vernon from their previous band DeYarmond Edison, the lads who remained and reformed Megafaun had some indie music political capital to rebuild. And on Gather, Form and Fly, they did; to the point that they now probably have a surplus. Applying just enough of the 'freak' in freak-folk, Megafaun created a wistful, earthy album of folk harmonies, fleshed out with moments of psychedelic wonder. Gorgeous single 'The Fade' recalls The Band at its next-door best, while 'Darkest Hour' shifts from cacophonic drumming to swelling harmonies with almost unnoticed ease. Justin who?
18. Hopewell – Good Good Desperation
Former Mercury Rev bassist Jason Russo formed his own band shortly after touring with the orchestral rockers in 2004. But if anyone expected a similar sound to the eastern philosophy-spouting, string swirling Rev would be sorely disappointed by Good Good Desperation. Owing more to psych-rockers like Black Mountain and Comets on Fire than his former band (listen to the thumping, awesome 'Island'), but with less of a hard-rocking sensibility, Russo incorporated funk, jazz, soul – you name it – into this eclectic mix of harmony, melody and big rhythms. And struck gold.
17. Malakai – The Ugly Side of Love
Take two parts each of Portishead, The 13th Floor Elevators, The Byrds and Gorillaz. Add one part Monty Python and stir. The result might be some approximation of the sound achieved by Malakai on their debut The Ugly Side of Love. Tight grooves, sunny melodies, and an overarching sense of global fatalism come together for an affecting, but addictively heady mix. Criminally unreleased stateside, this is one that could still find some love in 2010.
16. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
Guitar, bass, drums and vocals. In 2009, it grew easy to forget that rock music was still a viable musical genre, as these basic instruments of raw musical power were subsumed by an effort to wring the best out of mandolin, harp and melodica. Not for the year's obligatory supergroup. Undeniably a Josh Homme project, it is also his best thing since his last pairing with Dave Grohl, QOTSA's Songs for the Deaf. Add to that the almost unparalleled musical legendary awesomeness that is John Paul Jones, and the music didn't have to be all that good. Thankfully, it's awesome. And it rocks.
15. WHY? – Eskimo Snow
At the risk of courting anti-semitism, WHY? frontman Yoni Wolf exhibits, along with names like Dylan and Berman, a classic Jewish songwriter's penchant for dealing with death and morbidity. Wolf, however, manages to dress his in a particularly technicolour coat. Even after dispensing with much of his heralded hip-hop influence, Eskimo Snow still came across as eclectic and fun. Making the discovery of his lyrics all the more surprising. While there is no 'Slept on my back for coffin rehearsal' here, few albums put the fun in funereal like WHY?
14. Swan Lake – Enemy Mine
Supergroups can come in any number of forms, but the frontmen of the Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown teaming with New Pornographer Dan ‘Destroyer’ Bejar is one so replete with indie cred as to challenge the sheer awesome integrity of the similarly staffed Wolf Parade. And their latest album was worthy of the comparison. Sweeping and epic, certainly, but each man’s distinct voice lent the profundity a series of unique characters that kept the experience consistently fulfilling and rewarding. At this rate they’ll barely need their ‘proper’ bands much longer.
13. – Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light
After so many had spent much of 2005 getting over hearing Antony Hegarty's voice for the first time, they begun to view his music in a new light. Namely, that it wasn't as good as they thought, but the sheer emotional impact of hearing him sing was enough to cover any flaws, an attitude that was taken to The Crying Light. This is a shame, as it is in almost every way a worthy successor to the breakthrough I Am a Bird Now. Moving from introspection to more worldly matters, Hegarty embraced an equally extroverted musical persona, dispensing with his sedate showtunes to incorporate elements of much of the rest of his New York home to create yet another work of wonder.
12. Memory Tapes – Seek Magic
Dayve Hawk’s first full-length release under the Memory Tapes moniker resonated with the warmth and familiarity of 80s dance music without retreating to mere imitation. By resurrecting new wave dance-pop melodies and marrying them with the spaced-out sonic blankets of the likes of Brian Eno, Seek Magic sounds like a hundred of the greatest records you’ve already heard but fail to be able to name.
11. The Decembrists – The Hazards of Love
With the power of hindsight, The Hazards of Love seems like the album that The Decembrists were destined to make. Unleashing Colin Melloy’s most proggy leanings, they finally created a thematically consistent, morbid and occasionally hilarious concept album about…something. While perhaps not the unalloyed delight that was The Crane Wife, The Hazards of Love established that The Decembrists were capable of more than the twee pop of Picaresque and The Crane Wife’s dense Gaelic prog. Whatever comes next, they’re undoubtedly here to stay.
