BEST MUSIC OF (my) 2009

Scroll on though to see/hear what affected me, Christopher Reynolds, the most musically this year. This list is intended as a record for myself but also I hope that if you're reading this, maybe you'll see something you like and look into the artist/album yourself (if you haven't already).

Let's go!

ALBUMS

(in yes-particular order)

#15: Future of the Left - Travels with Myself and Another

Clever, musical, heavy and Welsh! Best show of the year, hands down.

Best song: Arming Eritrea


#14: St. Vincent - Actor

Multi-faceted lyrics, ribbon-like melodies, dark moods. Very musical, very affecting.

Best song: The Party


#13: Liars - Liars

A critical band of the aughties, this is another great step. This album isn't as "singular" as the last one, but in some ways it's probably better. Sonically interesting, tough and fun!

Best song: Plaster Casts of Everything


#12: Bad Brains - Bad Brains

It's weird, even as every one of my friends is into punk or hardcore, and has been for forever, I've never gotten into it. But this album absolutely kills me. Maybe it's all the one-drop thrown in? I love this album.

Best song: Banned in D.C.



#11: jj - jj No. 2

This album is definitely part of a trend in indie pop/folk music in these late 2000s. I guess you could say it started with CocoRosie, and is now heard in bands like Discovery, jj, The XX and even Dirty Projectors: indie folk/pop music heavily influenced by commercial/club rap. Seriously old people, it's happening now! Kids are crooning soft, gentle melodies enunciated with thoughtful, reflective lyrics... over club beats.

I think the jj album is the best of all of 'em. It actually has a straight-up cover of Lil' Wayne's hit "Lollipop" - and it's beautiful. My favourite tracks on this album, though, are the folkier/weirder ones.

Best song: Masterplan (Interesting note: this song *musically* [really!] samples a comedic YouTube meme. 2009 baby!)

#10: Röyksopp - Junior

I think a big part of why I liked this album so much was Karen from The Knife's vocal contributions to it made up for my inability (so far) to get into the Fever Ray album.

Did that sentence mean anything to you?

Anyway, Junior is a great "electro pop" (I guess) album by Scandinavian vets Röyksopp, and features great song writing, great production and great guest vocalists representing the best from the region (Robyn, Lykke Li, Karen from The Knife).

Best song: Tricky Tricky (also, the other Karen song, This Must Be It)


#9: Wavves: Wavvves/Wavves

A controversial indie "beach punk" star this year, made huge by pitchfork hype. I caught the last 20 seconds of his first Toronto show in the fall, and it was beautiful, angsty, lonely, evocative, and the whole reason I love his albums (both of 'em were released this year).

But then I saw a full show at El Mocambo in the summer. Zach Hill, the insane drum beast from Hella, was playing on the kit and it was alllllllllllll wrong. I mean, it was fun from a sporty standpoint to hear Hill going nuts on the skins, but it totally robbed Nathan Willams (Wavves)'s songs of their mood. I felt terrible for the guy.

Anyway, the albums are great, still, especially the songs So Bored and Weed Demon.

Best song (actually not on these albums, and featuring Zach Hill, toned down): Cool Jumper


#8: Caspa - Mini Promotional Mix for Caspa/Rusko Fabriclive mix


This mix is the biggest dubstep hit in my life since Midnight Request Line and the Loefah remix of that Digital Mystikz track (which I dropped as far back as Indie Dance Night - how cool am I?).

Also, Rusko, who produced the biggest killer in this mix, put on probably my #2 show of the year, at Modclub. I didn't have a drop to drink and I was flipping out so hard on the dancefloor that I forgot which direction was up. It was heavy.

Best track: Rusko - Jahova


#7: Woody Guthrie – Dust Bowl Ballads


Woody's played a big part of every year of my musical life since probably 2005, but he's never made it on my year end lists. Seeing as how Pretty Boy Floyd actually made me tear up this year, I guess it's about Woody's time.

Best song: Pretty Boy Floyd


#6: Black Dice - Repo


Usually when bands make "noise" music, I think it's easy for people to dismiss it, or to just cast it off as wankery. But Black Dice doesn't make "noise", as they're so often classified. They make "dance music from the year 3000," as somebody put it.

It's highly musical, often confounding, totally original stuff, and I think Repo is their best yet.

(Interesting note: It's a little-known secret that their Beaches and Canyons EP is the best love making music available without a prescription.)

Best "song": Glazin


#5: Flying Lotus - Los Angeles

Those of us who have been late on coming to Flying Lotus probably arrived at the hands of Tim Heidecker (of Tim and Eric fame). He directed the insane, wonderful, perfect video for the track Parisian Goldfish that was banned just about everywhere, so they had to make a separate website just to host the video (I'm sure it's never been on TV before, but who watches TV anyway?) at dancefloordale.com (NSFW!!).

*nsyncway, Flying Lotus's music has been dismissed by my friends as being "trip hop" and by a lot of music critics for sounding "sloppy" or "unfinished". It's true that dude doesn't quantize his beats, and that things are "sloppy" - but the effect that creates is that the beats are more organic sounding, and maybe more musical.

This album will be a classic.

Best song: Riot


#4: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion / Fall Be Kind EP

The best band of the 2000s, easily. Avey Tare is a brillaint song writer, Panda Bear is a brilliant moodologist and together they made the most unique, beautiful and affecting music going. That's it!

Both the album and the (brand spankin' new) EP from this year are great, possibly their best work (although not my personal fave).

Best song (Merriweather Post Pavilion): My Girls


Best song (Fall Be Kind EP): On a Highway


#3: Bogdan Raczynski - Alright!


This short album (from 2007) is kind of a hardcore/gabba-tempo electronic album, but it's very musical and full of beautiful, touching songs.

This last song on the album, especially, totally slays. It's like... emo/Godspeed/epic/rock/love, whatever that means, somehow. Kills me, especially the end.

Best song: Goodfellas (track #8)


#2: Nite Jewel - Good Evening


Glass Candy/Chromatics producer Johnny Jewel's best work yet. The singer in Nite Jewel is Canadian, too, which is a bonus. Maybe the only Canadian on my list though, sadly.

This album's production isn't the best, but the songs are, without fail, totally beautiful and extremely memorable. This is a big one.

Best song: Let's Go (The Two of Us Together) [this video is live, album version is good too]


#1: Pilooski - DJ Mix from WFMU Radio NYC's Beats in Space


#1 music of the year for me. His disco edits are great, and his show in Toronto was also great, but the curatorial prowess displayed on this mix is what's killed me (softly) the most. Every single track is different and each one is surprising when it drops, and yet the mix stands as a striking and distinct whole.

Music for me is not so much about saying something as it is about feeling something. I guess the reason I love so many different types of music is that I find that each one presents a different mood and I can use that mood to directly affect my own, resulting in a feeling. And this one feeeeeels gooooooooood.

(download the entire mix here: PILOOSKI on BEATS IN SPACE)

Best song: Claudja Barry - For the Sake of Love



RUNNERS-UP: Josephine Foster – This Coming Gladness, Henrik Schwarz/Ame mix, Major Lazer (album and Essential Mix), The Bronson soundtrack, The Taken By Trees album, Grizzly Bear's album this year, the as-yet-heard/dropped new Clipse album.

BONUS SONG OF THE YEAR: France Gall - Poupeé de Cire, Poupeé de Son