Holiday Pageantry In The Form Of A "Top Records Of 2009" List

In all honesty though, now that everyone and their Granpappy (well, at least Mike and Pitchfork) has a "Best Music Of [time period X]" list out, I'm afraid my effort is going to seem a bit pedestrian and repetitive. In a feeble attempt to combat this, I'm not only going to outline the most pleasing records of 2009 and the reasons that I enjoyed them, but I'm also going to provide: (1) the top 2 or 3 songs on said albums; (2) a line or two of lyrics from these songs that make me nod my head in agreement; and (3) a couple of things that I don't like about these records (keeping in line with my theory that there is no such thing as a "perfect" album).

Away we go:
(in no particular order until we get to the Top 3)

Lynx + Kemo, The Raw Truth

What I Like:

• Finally, a Drum & Bass album worthy of a year end list. D&B has been mired in irrelevance for most of the 2000s and has played second fiddle to newer dance scenes coming out of the UK, but I actually think this record is nearly as ground-breaking as Roni Size's New Forms back in '97.
  
• I have always felt that D&B works better with a vocalist (whether they are singing or rapping; even vocal samples can improve upon a track) to help temper the punishment your brain takes from sub-subterranean bass levels, 180 beats per minute, and the repetitive nature of most D&B. I'm not usually enamored with British emcees, but Kemo's style and voice fits the music perfectly here--dark, deep, gravelly, paranoid, and apocalyptic.
  

Favorite Songs: "Global Enemies", "Camera", "One Love"


Choice Lyric:

"Reflect, regroup, reject, reboot, recall, respond, rebel, reward, record, return, reform, reverse, refuse, repeat, refuse, revolt!"

What I Don't Like:

• Kemo doesn't appear on every track.
  
• The songs that don't deviate from the 'traditional' D&B formula ("Dangerous", "Deez Breaks", "The Semitones") are pretty standard issue and get skipped, but Lynx does a good job elsewhere of including some intriguing elements.
  
• For some reason, my favorite song of theirs ("Carnivale") was not a part of this album. And a piece of me is including this album based on the strength of this single, which kinda feels like cheating.
  

Little Dragon, Machine Dreams

What I Like:

• Swedish band with a soulful Japanese-Swedish front-woman (Yukimi Nagano) paying homage to 80's electro/electro-soul.... hmmm, has that combination of words ever appeared together before? Anyway, if socialism is even tangentially responsible for all of the beautiful music coming out of Sweden, I say bring on the socialism.
  
• They have my vote for Album Art of the Year (close 2nd was the cover art for Massive Attack's Splitting the Atom EP).
  
• The videos for "Fortune" and "Swimming"(<--Yukimi's dad made the video for this one, that's pretty cool) are really great, too.
  

Favorite Songs: "Blinking Pigs", "Thunder Love", "Fortune", "Feather"


Choice Lyric:

"Mountain of pearls to soothe the soul
Gold and silver and silk to cover the old
Clocks and rubies crushing these hard bones
I'm going blind from too many shiny stones
The fortune cast a curse
I knew it would.."

What I Don't Like:

• Unfortunately, this band (especially on this album, to a much lesser extent on their self-titled debut) falls prey to what I like to call 'Sonic Youth Syndrome'**--that is, they take a perfectly beautiful melody and then fuck it all up by adding some unnecessary distortion or random noisiness. Apparently, there is a shortage of vaccinations as many bands succumb to this condition. I guess that some bands feel like they need to add elements to songs to make them edgier and less accessible or something. For example, the childish, wonky keyboard solo on "Looking Glass" doesn't fit at all and renders an otherwise enjoyable tune nearly impossible to listen to.
  
• Yukimi Nagano has a super beautiful voice, but it isn't displayed front-and-center here like it was on their first album.
  
• While I like Machine Dreams a lot (I was really close to putting it in the Top 3), I still have the nagging feeling it could have been even better.
  

Bat For Lashes, Two Suns

What I Like:

• Even though my wife suspects that I have schoolboy crushes on all of the female vocalists that I listen to (perhaps a teeny-tiny bit, but hey, I'm not the one who googles Paul Banks on a daily basis and drives to Philly to see his side project on the Friday after Thanksgiving...), it's not really my fault--some girls have incredibly pretty singing voices capable of melting iron hearts. What more can I say?
  

Favorite Songs: "Daniel", "Glass", "Travelling Woman"


Choice Lyric:

"..never fall in love with potential.."

What I Don't Like:

• I really hate it when they release "Deluxe Edition" albums within several months of the initial album's release date. It's like rewarding people for being lazy (I'm usually a fan of this practice, but only when I'm the one being lazy). I believe that the deluxe edition of Two Suns comes with some bonus tracks--a gorgeous, 'way-better-than-the-original' cover of the Kings of Leon's (I don't like them either) "Use Somebody" and a cover of the Cure's "A Forest"--in addition to some videos.
  
• I don't understand what Natasha Khan's 'Pearl' alter-ego is all about.
  

jj, N° 2

What I Like:

• Very dreamy pop music with a global feel (I have no idea what that means).
  
• Listening to this music makes me say things that don't make any sense (see above bullet point).
  
• I like how "My Hopes and Dreams" progresses: the first two verses are pretty morose and would be right at home on a Portishead album, but then the third verse tells you everything's gonna be alright...and then the song abruptly ends--leaving you yearning for more.
  

Favorite Songs: "My Hopes and Dreams", "Intermezzo", "Ecstasy"


Choice Lyric:

"..And of course there's people out to get me
but they don't have a trace of me and my soul.."

What I Don't Like:

• At least a couple of songs come across as campy.
  
• Sometimes it is hard to tell if "Ecstasy" is being serious or tongue-in-cheek--I mean, it uses a Lil Wayne sample, and has the lines "if you get a hug, guess which drug I'm on" and "Bienvenido a Miami"(<--from a Will Smith song?!?). Please tell me it's tongue-in-cheek.
  

DOOM, Born Like This

What I Like:

• In my opinion, this guy is the best active emcee in hip-hop (Black Thought would be #2). Nobody has a crazier vocabulary, more knowledge of pop culture, a better sense of word play, or better usage of non-sequitur--and all of these are on display here.
  
• Arguably the best producer in hip-hop as well.
  
• Dude is never ever seen without his mask, even at the grocery store.
  

Favorite Songs: "Gazillion Ear", "That's That", "Cellz", "Still Dope"


Choice Lyric:

"Lend sympathy to limper simple simon rhymin emcees
Trees is free, please leave a key
These meager fleas, he's the breeze
And she's the bees knees fo' sheez
G's of G's
Seize property, shopper sprees, chop the cheese
Drop the grease to stop diseases, gee wiz Pa!
DOOM rock grandma like the Kumbaya!"

"The key, plucked it off the mayor
chucked it in the old tar pit off La Brea, playa"

What I Don't Like:

• DOOM has the tendency to 're-use' old beats from his Special Herbs instrumental series.
  
• It's not hard to view "Batty Boys" as pretty offensive to gays.
  

Major Lazer, Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do

What I Like:

• Diplo and Switch's production is rock solid.
  
• I can't think of a better way to spend 36 seconds than listening to the warped horns that kick in at the 3:06 mark of "Cash Flow".
  
• The video for "Pon de Floor" manages to turn me on, offend me, make me giggle, and make me think philosophically, all at the same time! The best way to describe it is 'porn with clothes on'.
  

Favorite Songs: "Cash Flow", "Can't Stop Now", "Hold the Line"


Choice Lyric:

"Johnny Blaze, good morning sir!"

What I Don't Like:

• The sex song ("What U Like")? Not stimulating.
  
• "Keep It Goin' Louder" annoys me; I'm not sure why so many people like this song.
  
• Except for "Pon de Floor", the 2nd half of the album I don't enjoy too much.
  

And now for my Tippy-Top 3:

#3. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion

What I Like:

• It seems like Animal Collective has finally given into actual song structure and pop sensibilities without losing any of their individuality.
  
• Strange indie electro space songs about helping your brother, oppressive city heat, and "bouncing along every crack" in the sidewalk while pushing a baby stroller? Now I've heard everything.
  
• Oooooo!!! I just noticed that it looks like the cover art is moving when you stare at it!! (It works even better if you click on the image to make it bigger)
  

Favorite Songs: "Summertime Clothes", "Daily Routine", "My Girls"


Choice Lyric:

"..a voice from the clock says 'you're not gonna get tired..'"

"..so much on my mind that it spills outside.."

What I Don't Like:

• Here's another band with a terminal case of 'Sonic Youth Syndrome'**. As far as I can tell, they have spent their entire musical career (before this album) completely bedridden by it. While they have proved that they are on the mend, they still have the tendency to relapse into nightmarish, ketamine-infused elevator music.
  
• Did they really have to sing "when the sun goes down we'll go out again" SIXTEEN FREAKING TIMES in the middle of "Summertime Clothes"? For Pete's sake...
  

#2. The xx, xx

What I Like:

• This album feels really polished and has a real even keel throughout which you would not expect out of a band's initial offering.
  
• I find call-and-response, male vs. female verses in songs really alluring, especially for love-type songs.
  
• They both sing in a manner that seems almost lackadaisical or sleepy--like they just woke up from a two week nap. If I were ever to pursue a singing career, that's how I would do it, too.
  

Favorite Songs: "Heart Skipped A Beat", "Islands", "Stars"


Choice Lyric:

"Heart skipped a beat
but when I caught it you were out of reach"

"I don't have to leave anymore
what I have is right here
Spend my night and days before
Searching the world for what's right here"

What I Don't Like:

• All of their songs revolve around love and relationships, which isn't such a horrible thing, but I'd like some different thematic elements thrown in (isolation, death, ennui, food, poverty) just so I know they're not a one trick pony.
  

#1. Fever Ray, Fever Ray

What I Like:

• Yikes. When you think of what elements make a record great, 'scaring the shit out of you' usually doesn't spring to mind. But Fever Ray does it in such a brooding, under-your-skin kind of manner that makes it hard to completely shake free from the music's grasp--even people who don't like this record will have a hard time ever forgetting it.
  
• The lyrics are so personal, honest, natural, and human, it makes me a little embarrassed to be privy to the information that Ms. Dreijer-Andersson puts out there--it's kind of like eavesdropping on her inner-most thoughts. But on the other hand, when you hear these same lyrics put through all types of scary vocal effects, they take on an alien, disconcerted, unnatural feeling. I think it is this duality that makes this album work so well.
  
• And, oh yeah, if the music isn't haunting enough for you, check out the videos. You may want to leave a light on.
  
• "Coconut" begins with three and a half minutes of trippy, jungle vibes (complete with tropical birds whistling) before the vocals even kick in. I love the choral "oh oh oh-oh!" at the end of every other line.
  

Favorite Songs: "When I Grow Up", "Coconut", "Keep The Streets Empty For Me", "Dry and Dusty", "If I Had A Heart", "Concrete Walls"


Choice Lyric:

"..you've got cucumbers on your eyes
too much time spent on nothing
waiting for a moment to arise.."

What I Don't Like:

• Another case where they release a deluxe edition well after the initial release--this deluxe edition features all of Fever Ray's videos in addition to two bonus tracks (one of which is a cover of Nick Cave's "Stranger Than Kindness"--the fact she can make Nick Cave sound even more creepy than usual is quite an accomplishment).
  
• I'd like to hear her natural voice just a little more often.
  

**-There are so many bands and songs afflicted by this condition, I've actually started using the music editing program 'Audacity' to surgically remove the offending segments (tumors!) of music from my MP3s. An outro that lasts 30 seconds or 3 minutes too long? Gone. Self-indulgent, distorted guitar solo? See ya. Less than stellar, superfluous fourth verse? Outta here. Is that so wrong?