Yep, it's about that time again. Have to say this was a really good year for music, at least in the sense that there was new stuff just about every week that rocked my world. The Mastodon LP is easily my record of the year, but the rankings of the others all kinda depend on the day's temperature and wind conditions; suffice to say that they all repeatedly delivered the goods when I needed the goods delivered...
(All album titles link over to ShockHound, so you can check out song samples from each record, and maybe even download somethin' that strikes yer fancy!)
Yeah, I know — it’s hip to say that you liked Leviathan or Remission more, or that this is like Blood Mountain but not as good. Well, fuck that; these guys get better, weirder and yet somehow more accessible with each record. Astral travel? Rasputin? Wicked time signatures? Brutal riffs? Catchy-ass choruses? It’s all here, baby!
The Georgia art-metal record of the year, if only it hadn’t come out the same year as Crack the Skye. Crushing and sludgy in spots, oddly soothing and disarmingly psychedelic in others. Didn’t expect to love this as much as I do, but I keep coming back for more.
Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound — When Sweet Sleep Returned
The third album from these tripped-out SF psychsters (though only the first I’ve had the pleasure of hearing) reminds me of a cross between the Screaming Trees and Spiritualized — the ‘60s classic rock damage and rampant fuzz of the former meets the glacial, opiated beauty of the latter. Like the Mastodon, it’s only 40 minutes long, but you feel like you’ve traveled through several eons and dimensions by the time it ends. Highly recommended to all you Black Mountain fans out there.
Gallows — Grey Britain
Pure punk rock from (and for) 21st century boys— hellaciously angry, unremittingly bleak, but also played by a band ballsy enough to occasionally throw an orchestra on top of their hardcore assault. Punk album of the year, no question.
Them Crooked Vultures — Them Crooked Vultures
Take the last two Queens of the Stone Age albums, subtract the “building beachfront property up our own ass” factor and add one incredible rhythm section, and you’ve got one helluva dense and intriguing hard rock rekkid from this much-hyped Josh Homme-Dave-Grohl-JohnPaul Jones supertrio. Took a few listens to really sink in, but this one’s definitely a keeper. Plus Josh Homme does a pretty wicked Jack Bruce impression on “Scumbag Blues.”
Amazing Baby — Rewild
Another unexpected gem that I keep returning to. The debut record from this Brooklyn band combines the post-modern pop suss of MGMT with Radiohead’s multi-textured guitar attack (though without any trace of Yorke n’ Co.’s dreary self-importance), and spikes it with bits of metal, psych and ‘70s classic rock. These cats definitely have a cool and unique vision; hopefully they’ll stick around long enough to really let it develop.
New York Dolls — ‘Cause I Sez SoI liked the Dolls’ “comeback” record from a few years ago mostly because I was glad to have them back; this one, I actually dig ‘cuz it’s really damn good. The songs stay true to the bluesy, sleazy and slyly witty template of the original Dolls — the title track and the awesomely titled “Exorcism of Despair” rock out with switchblades drawn — but there’s also a soulfulness and aching introspection in songs like “Temptation to Exist” and “Drowning” that can only come from rock n’ roll lifers who’ve seen a lot of their comrades fall by the wayside. The whole record is a beautiful object lesson in how to grow old gracefully without losing touch with your inner bad-ass.
My favorite black/dark/death metal album of the year, by far. These gauntlet-wearing Polish dudes will pin you to the wall with their rampaging assault, and will make you beg for more of Satan's love. A lot of "Trve Kvlt" fans think Behemoth lost it years ago; I think they just get better with age.
Crippled Black Phoenix — 200 Tons of Bad Luck
This record delivered for me in 2009 what Mogwai’s The Hawk Is Howling delivered last year: A powerful, hypnotic and instantly transporting collection of epic instrumentals that straddle the line between the metallic post-rock of Pelican and the seductive spaciness of prime Pink Floyd. The perfect soundtrack for watching meteor showers.
Wolfmother — Cosmic Egg
While it’s been tempting to view this band of hard-rocking Australian throwbacks as the late-aughts version of the Darkness, their second album completely eradicates any doubts I’d previously had about them. So what if Andrew Stockdale keeps trying to write the perfect Donovan song, but everything ends up sounding like Billy Squier squeezing Robert Plant’s lemons? This is a top-down joyride through an alternate universe where groovy hippie chicks do the quaalude boogaloo with magical dwarves in glitter-flaked earth shoes. It'll sound great in your Camaro…or your Millennium Falcon.
And 25 others I dug that are well worth checking out, but which I didn't feel like spending my Saturday writing about:
Riverboat Gamblers — Underneath the Owl
Lee Fields and the Expressions — My World
Slayer — World Painted Blood
Portugal. The Man — The Satanic Satanist
Anti-Flag — The People or the Gun
The Orange Peels — 2020
Crocodiles — Summer of Hate
Wooden Shjips — Dos
Mariachi El Bronx — Mariachi El Bronx
The Flaming Lips — Embryonic
Naam — Naam
Children — Hard Times Hangin’ At the End of the World
Mulatu Astatke & the Heliocentrics — Inspiration Information
Mayer Hawthorne — A Strange Arrangement
Sunn 0))) — Monoliths and Dimensions
The Cribs — Ignore the Ignorant
Neko Case — Middle Cyclone
The Dead Weather — Horehound
Municipal Waste — Massive Aggressive
Manchester Orchestra — Mean Everything to Nothing
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart — S/T
The Avett Brothers — I And Love And You
Bruce Springsteen — Working On A Dream
The Decemberists — The Hazards of Love
Nile — Those Whom The Gods Detest
Good list with a glaring omission. Bottle Rockets Lean Forward.
Posted by: Phil | December 17, 2009 at 03:28 PM