Songs of 2009 part 7: Top 10 Albums of 2009

Argh! Running out of time to get this up before the end of the year... (okay, I didn't really make it. Happy 2010!)

Below are my favourite albums of the year. Most of these I knew I loved upon first listen, and only grew to love even more as I listened and relistened and played each to death over the year, in the car, on my ipod, while studying, doing my chores.

First, some honourable mentions:

About Time (EP) by Straylight Run

More upbeat and yet at the same time angrier and harder than before, Straylight recovered from the disappointment of being dropped from their major label with a great four song EP. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.

Buy: About Time (for only US$4!)

Lost in Pacific Time (EP) by The Academy Is...

Following on sonically from their underappreciated third album Fast Times in Barrington High, this is a great five track EP, all jangly guitars and a driving rhythm section overlaid with great melodies after a pop sensibility.

Buy: Lost in Pacific Time (AU$6)

Dark Was the Night

A compliation two disc album where the proceeds went towards HIV/AIDS work. The contributors read like a who's who of indie music, an amazing list of artists and songs and collaborations. I highly recommend getting a copy for yourself, it's worth checking out for Sufjan Stevens' reworking of 'You Are the Blood' or for Cat Powers' lovely version of 'Amazing Grace' or for Gillian Welch and Conor Oberst together on 'Lua'.

Buy: Dark Was the Night


And now, to the actual list... *drumroll*

10. There Is No Enemy by Built to Spill

A return to form for veteran band BtS. The album has that fuzzy guitar sound, Doug Martsch's yelp-like voice, and some almost-alt-country melodies as the lyrics contemplate the fears and worries of the everyday and this world.

listen: 'Things Fall Apart', a standout track; slow, and slow-building, almost-dreamlike.



9. New Again by Taking Back Sunday

It's a patchy album, but when TBS are good they're really good. Bookended with the best songs: the 1-2 punch of the album opener 'New Again' and lead single 'Sink Into Me'; and the revengeful, regretful closers 'Capital M-E', 'Carpathia' and 'Everything Must Go'. The latter is particularly bitterly heartbreaking as everything - the lyrics about the end of a dream and Adam Lazzara's angrysadbrokendown voice and all the rage and regret - comes together in one fantastic song.

Listen: 'Everything Must Go'



8 Middle Cyclone by Neko Case

Her voice is so beautiful, and it rings through the alt-country tinged songs of this album, soaking it in an atmosphere of smoke and tenderness and longing.

Download:
People Got A Lot of Nerve (click to download)


7. Hold Time by M. Ward

I love the sound of this album, all lo-fi and folky, matched perfectly with the lazy huskiness of his voice. There's something for everybody, from the upbeat collaborations with Zooey Deschanel like 'Never Had Nobody Like You' to slow, grand songs like the sombre, beautiful title track.

Download:
Never Had Nobody Like You


6. Zounds by Dappled Cities

Dappled have gone with a more electronic, darker sound on this third album, but they haven't lost their touch at building great songs: there's the same great grasp of melodies, blending shimmering synths and layers of guitars and dreamy vocal calls over evershifting drumlines.

Download:
The Price


5. I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers

Late to the party, but oh, I'm so glad Al pushed them time after time at me. A little folk, a little Americana, a little alt-country, but most of all, plenty awesome. From beautifully sweet songs like 'I and Love and You' to the fun, witty 'Kick Drum Heart', the songs are perfect in their simplicity.

Watch/Listen: 'Kick Drum Heart'

The Avett Brothers - Ch 7: "Kick Drum Heart" (Official Music Video) - Watch more top selected videos about: The_Avett_Brothers


4. Brother's Blood by Kevin Devine

Kevin Devine is a singer-songwriter who says his influences are "comic books, 90's guitar rock over and underground, good folk and country music, punk rock, social justice, books in general, books and books and books", which comes across most strongly in his way with words. He writes great songs about things going wrong (with the world, with relationships, himself) with an angry, weary passion and I love the way this album makes me feel; that yeah, even when sometimes we're bruised and hurt we press on the bruises, we go back for more.

I really really recommend the two tracks below; they are fantastic, complex songs, lyrically and musically.

Download:
Brother's Blood
Carnival


3. Hazards Of Love by The Decemberists

Not content with having one concept album under their belt (previous album The Crane Wife, based on a Japanese fable), the Decemberists returned with a full rock-opera, originally planned as a musical. Having seen them perform this in its entirety, I can say unequivocally that it is meant to be enjoyed in this form. And the more I listen to it, the more I am amazed that a band has the guts to make such wonderful anachronistic music and be celebrated for it.

Buy:
The Hazards of Love

When it came down to these two albums, I couldn't justifiably rank one above the other. So I cheated; I have two absolute favourite albums of the year.

1. = Daisy by Brand New

Still moody, but maybe even more angry and frustrated and resigned this time around. I was surprised by the relative simplicity of Daisy compared to the more accessible but complex previous album The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me, but I love it all the same for the directness of emotion that comes across in the harsh, restless music. It's the sound of a breakdown in process, an unravelling; it's raw and painful and mesmerising. I will always remember the first time the hymn slid without warning into the screams on 'Vices', surprising and shocking me into the mood of the album.

Watch: a stripped back version of 'At the Botton' in the studio

Brand New - At the Bottom (Daisy Sessions) from The Old Man and the Seymour on Vimeo.

1. = Mean Everything to Nothing by Manchester Orchestra


I was sucked into this from the moment Andy Hull sings the first line: "I am the only one who thinks I'm going crazy". The first half of the album is packed with layered, intense rock songs, howling and powerful and almost overwhelming, save that it's balanced by a sense of insecurity and worries in the lyrics. The latter half of the album, however, is more contemplative; softer and more vulnerable and emotionally painful. Andy Hull's voice is amazing; it roars over the pounding guitars and drums, and cracks in the softer moments, tender and broken. I listen to this album when I'm feeling down, bruised, and scared; not because it tells me that everything will be okay, but because it gets how I feel.

Download:
I've Got Friends


Songs of 2009 part 6
Songs of 2009 part 5
Songs of 2009 part 4
Songs of 2009 part 3
Songs of 2009 part 2
Songs of 2009 part 1

Dappled Cities – 22 Aug 2009 – The Metro

Dappled Cities finished their Wall of Zounds tour with a sell-out show at the Metro in front of a hometown crowd. The enthusiastic reception they received from the crowd was matched in turn by the band’s obvious joy and appreciation, all of them grinning and happy.

Not that the night went smoothly – they were plagued with technical difficulties at the start, with Dave Rennick shuffling on and off stage trying to fix things while Tim Derricourt led the rest of the band in a meandering jam session and apologised to the restless crowd. And though Derricourt, bouncing all over the stage in excitement, is of the opinion that new album Zounds, only released in the week prior to this gig, is the band’s best to date, there’s a palpable sense of ‘I like your old songs better than your new songs’ from the audience through the rest of the night.

Still, Dappled bravely play half their set from an album that hardly anyone has had time to get to know. The new songs are more sombre in tone, but sound great anyway. The biggest response of the night though is saved for Holy Chord from previous album Granddance. Derricourt says the song is about universal love, and encourages each person to hug the one next to them.

About an hour in, the band leave the stage surprisingly early. But the crowd is mollified by two amusing segments on the backing screen from Alphabreaks, the band’s side project of children’s edutainment (Y for Yodel, and H for Harmonica). Then to top it all off, the band return to the stage in homemade suits adorned with lit up fairy lights to continue playing, including new single The Price which goes down well with the crowd. They get an even better response of cheers and catcalls when, upon leaving the stage, Rennick has to do an impromptu strip out of his suit as his lights have gotten tangled up.

With the crowd still chanting and cheering away, the band return to stage one final time. Rennicourt tells the audience that they hate encores and don’t normally do them, but they make an exception for their adoring audience to play one final song, “a farewell song” that closes Zounds. Here’s hope they it’s not another long goodbye, and that they’ll be back touring the country soon.

Colour Coding
Peach
Vision Bell
The Night is Young At Heart
Wooden Ships
Fire Fire Fire
Miniature Alas
Beach
Answer is Zero
Holy Chord
Cream

(Alphabreaks)

The Price
Apart

Stepshadows

Dappled Cities Fly / Red Riders - 15 Jun 2007 - The Metro

Last time I saw support act Belles Will Ring, supporting Death Cab for Cutie that time, they were a four piece, and not particularly memorable in a generic rock way. This time around, they were now a five member band, and they'd picked up a 60s folk-rock influence. Some of the songs from their album Mood Patterns are quite catchy – I particularly liked 'Park Benches', which is the point where their set picked up for me, 'Midnight' and 'The Coldest Heart'.

After Belles Will Ring, both Red Riders and Dappled Cities came out on stage and did a coin toss to determine who would play first on the double bill. To my relief, Dappled won the toss and elected to go first. After hearing Dappled briefly at Modest Mouse and wanting more, I'd come to really enjoy their sound. They didn't disappoint, with a good tight set; the band gelled together really well, and they seemed to be really enjoy playing, and the crowd’s response. I admit I tuned out a touch during the middle of the set with more material from A Smile but there were lots of great moments from second album Granddance. 'Work It Out' was slowed down, which threw me a bit at first, but still sounded great, and 'Holy Chord' was really beautiful live, with the crowd singing along enthusiastically.

Not a set list, but we definitely heard: Granddance, Peach, Vision Bell, Within Hours, Beach, Work It Out, Fire Fire Fire, Holy Chord and Colour Coding.

We ended up only staying for the first 3 songs of the Red Riders set, which included their hit 'What They Say About Us'. They struck me as being quite young, not really polished on stage yet, but they had a real energy to them that was fun. The crowd on the floor was really into them. They reminded me a bit of The Strokes, a bit of Franz Ferdinand.

Modest Mouse - 3 Jan 2007 - Enmore Theatre

I didn’t really have any expectations going in, because I am woefully acquainted with the entirety of the Modest Mouse oeuvre (though what I know I like) so I was ready to go and experience for experience's sake. It was good to see some really good live ROCK (when I'm listening to Modest Mouse my dad will often pop in and ask what all the noise is) with the jangly guitars, the growling bass, the massive percussion section.

We arrived about halfway through the Dappled Cities set, and what I heard was catchy and good. Two things in particular struck me – they can caterwaul in harmony! and the lead singer/guitarist has a really nice voice. I will be looking for more of their stuff to listen to.

Modest Mouse started with 'Ocean Breathes Salty', which was one of about five songs I wanted to hear tonight. They followed up with a stompingly good 'Black Cadillac', then a song that was only about a minute and a half long, then Isaac Brock stopped and said something along the lines of “Normally we just play this through again because that’s all there is. It’s a good song so here we go.” And then they really did just play it all the way through again.

Before the concert we'd wondered when in the set 'Float On' (their far and away best known song) would go and we guessed either first or last or in the encore to draw out is popularity. However four songs in there it was, and it was good but not great – I still love the song, but hearing it live did nothing for me. However, a few more songs in they played an absolutely blistering rendition of 'Tiny Cities Made of Ashes' that just raised the energy levels. This started a great section of songs – 'Tiny Cities', 'Bukowski', 'The World At Large', 'The View' - where the crowd really got into it; the moshers started a crazy whirling pit in the centre, and others were less timid in moving along to the rhythm and beat. And I got to geek out over the use of unexpected instrumentation, especially during Bukowski with the bit when it’s the banjo, electric double bass and accordion only – so cool.

Isaac Brock tried a bit of banter, though for him it consisted of awkwardly funny sarcasm. He was most animated when he was talking about cuddling koalas in Brisbane, which is adorable. And I’ve discovered that I really like it when frontmen are narky at certain parts of the crowd – it might be a bit mean, but it’s still amusing when they’re paying out some idiot in the crowd (I guess as long as it’s not me I’m ok with that). The crowd was a bit insane last night though, with the crazy hyper girls on the barrier, and the half-naked guy who kept trying to crowd surf and actually dove onto the stage at one point, only to be chased back onto the floor by a big security guard who dragged him away forcibly while the guy’s girlfriend hung off the security guard as an useless impediment.

Last song of the set was 'Breakthrough' (also good). There was a two song encore ending with 'Dramamine', which I did want to hear, but they noodled through it for a bit too long. The energy level of the crowd was flagging and it seemed that most were not in the mood for that kind of extended jam, which meant the concert ended on a strangely impatient note.