Friday, December 18, 2009

Sunless Shortlist: 2009 List & Disappointment

I'm done buying new stuff for the year so I guess I can go ahead and compile my best of lists. Usually I wait until after New Year's, but I don't think I missed much this year. I never did get the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album and Karen O's Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack, but I'm in no rush. I feel pretty complete with my 2009 collection. So here are the candidates:

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light

Apostle of Hustle - Eats Darkness

Arctic Monkeys - Humbug

Andrew Bird - Noble Beast

Bonny 'Prince' Billy - Beware

Built to Spill - There is No Enemy

Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

Circulatory System - Signal Morning

Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications

Condo Fucks - Fuckbook

Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Eels - Hombre Lobo

Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away

Flaming Lips - Embryonic

Franz Ferdinand - Tonight

God Help the Girl - s/t

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimist

Handsome Furs - Face Control

Islands - Vapours

Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine

Most Serene Republic - ...and the Ever Expanding Universe

Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come

AC Newman - Get Guilty

Conor Oberst - Outer South

Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor

Osso - Run Rabbit Run

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Phosphorescent - To Willie

Son Volt - American Central Dust

St. Vincent - Actor

Sufjan Stevens - The BQE

Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer

Swan Lake - Enemy Mine

John Vanderslice - Romanian Names

Viva Voce - Rose City

Volcano Choir - Unmap

White Rabbits - It's Frightening

Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

Last year I complained a little about the lack of great releases, but this year was certainly not disappointing at all. Tons of surprises all year long. Last year, I struggled to put together a good enough year-end list. This year I struggled again, but this time it was because I couldn't fit everything in. That's good!

Well, it wasn't all good...

Most Disappointing Album of 2009


Apostle of Hustle - Eats Darkness

Usually I like to use this spot to make fun of an artist that has just lost it. Somebody I formally loved and then suddenly don't. Their fault. You know... backlash. Backlashes are fun. Come on, it's fun to bash somebody that thinks that they are great. However, it absolutely pains me to put Apostle of Hustle in this spot because I absolutely LOVE Apostle of Hustle. When I saw Broken Social Scene last year, I was super excited to see that Andrew Whiteman was touring with the band. And he didn't disappoint. This album, however, defines disappointment. The constant sampling is annoying and distracts from the moments of actual music. And the music is pretty weak too. The poetry reading just make no sense. Why are they there? I did appreciate the William Burroughs sample, but it just sounds like his own Spare Ass Annie. Unnecessary.


((Next post: Best Songs))
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