The 12 CDs of Christmas:
Best of 2009 Year in Music Review
December 24, 2009

Introduction

The two biggest musical stories of 2009 were either monumentally dramatic and heartbreaking (the death of Michael Jackson) or ridiculously stupid and contrived (Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift’s award acceptance at the MTV Music Awards). Likewise 2009’s best music either knocked my socks off or was more of the same old, same old. Yet despite the year’s ebb and flow, one particular facet of music rose above the tide and reached a peek in 2009: women in music.

Indeed, 2009 has been The Year of the Woman. And it’s about fucking time. No longer stuck in the farthest corners of the stage singing backup or manipulated by producers as sex candy commodity, 2009 found women truly calling the shots.

Whether constructing the best piano ballads of the decade (Regina Spektor), re-inventing the female rock frontwoman (Karen O), unleashing the most ferociously polished voice in music (Brandi Carlile and Neko Case), polishing the sheen of indie rock (Tegan and Sara), or constructing a precious modern fairytale soundtrack (again Karen O) women were the dominant force in music in 2009.

But where my picks for the best of the year are quite simply, my picks, women went far beyond my own personal tastes in 2009. From American Idol superstars Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Kelly Clarkson to the return of Britney Spears, Lady Ga Ga’s unrelenting persona and dance floor presence to Alicia Keys dominating not only her own work but every guest appearance she makes (even overshadowing one of hip hop’s biggest stars, Jay-Z) the 2009 pop culture landscape was undoubtedly a woman’s world.

So here’s to the ladies, and the best music of 2009…

-Mister Marlowe, Seattle, Washington, USA

The Top 12 CDs of 2009

#12 Depeche Mode – Sounds of the Universe

Depeche Mode, the band that never seems to die re-emerged in 2009 with yet another excellent entry in their astoundingly robust 30-year catalogue. No reason to really describe Depeche Mode’s dark synthpop sound, it’s been pretty much the same since 1989, so let’s just say there’s still good reason the band continues to sell out arenas worldwide. Indeed, Depeche Mode are still kings of their domain.

Best Songs: In Chains, In Sympathy, Wrong

#11 The Antlers – Hospice

A healthy helping of atmospheric depression, The Antler’s Hospice is a beautiful tragedy. Or maybe it’s tragically beautiful. Either way, this is the ambient depression soundtrack of the year.

Brooding, anthemic, and nakedly emotional, Hospice is a cinematic confession of pain and sadness for whom the bell tolls. It isn’t for every mood, but for a particular state of sadness it is perfect.

Best Songs: Sylvia, Kettering

#10 Isis – Wavering Radiant

I’ve always thought the best way to separate the cream from the chafe in metal is to listen to the music at a relatively low volume. That notion may seem like sacrilege to hardcore metal aficionados but I believe it is the only way to detect nuances in the genre. Who gives a shit about nuance? This is metal! And metal gets played loud. Yes, but the best of it holds up at low volumes and sometimes plays even better. Isis’s Wavering Radiant, the band’s fifth album is hard, subtle, and excellent. It also holds up well at both blaring and low volumes.

Repeating down tuned guitar riffs, gutteral vocals, phaser sound effects, and doomsday lyrics, all hallmarks of metal are on full display in Wavering Radiant. Balancing those necessary aspects is counterpoint crooning, long stretches of instrumental odysseys, and a brilliant attention to pace and tone, the real keys to good metal. In other words, somewhere between the great Helmet and the always interesting Tool lies Isis. And Wavering Radiant is Isis at their best, an album in the truest sense of the word: a full, complete mesmerizing piece of dazzling progressive metal.

Best Songs: Stone to Wake a Serpeant

#09 The Raveonettes – In and Out of Control

That doo wop girl group obsessive duo The Raveonettes return with a spirited entry in their ever-expanding Phil Spector meets The Jesus and Mary Chain catalogue, In and out of Control.

The album is solid return to the shooby dooby phaser feedback that brought them to America from Denmark with minimal hype and a whole lot of clever constraints. Indeed, their first album saw them play everything in the same key! After that, the band made a stab at pop posturing with the disappointing Pretty in Black before they turned up the grime on Lust Lust Lust. This time, the Raveonettes find the middle ground as they bring us a return to that fictional land of teenage sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll that exists only in black and white movies from the late ‘50s/early ‘60s. What that means for the music is a pervasive surfer vibe of noodling guitar riffs combined with male/female harmonizing harnessed by the aura of teenage menace. With lyrics and song titles to match the grungy noise pop the band has perfected all the makings of a pleasantly dangerous time are on full display.

Best Songs: Suicide, Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)

#08 Tegan and Sara – Sainthood

Tegan and Sara do good old-fashioned indie rock as good as anyone currently on the scene. Nothing fancy here, just toe-tapping diary confessions over fun beats and a bouncy rhythm section. Nothing wrong with that.

Best Songs: Arrow, On Directing, Alligator, Don’t Rush

#07 The xx – XX

Taking the dream-pop philosophy of atmosphere over forced pop undertaking, England’s The xx create a debut album that hits the mark for post-punk ambient goodness.

Impeccable influences are ever present with Vcr working as a low-key version of David Bowie’s Heroes and Intro cribbing most obviously from the Interpol playbook. Traces of Mazzy Star appear in Infinity as does a host of other dreamy entries of the past twenty five year’s musical landscape. The album as a whole is sneakier than it at first appears as it tweaks slow tempos and up front bass lines with increased amounts of male/female back and forth wordplay. The album’s elegance reaches a zenith with two standout tracks, Islands and Basic Space, pivotal examples of the band’s effortless ability to make simple songs that wash over you like rain rather than the crashing tide of typical indie rock.

Late night background music is rarely as sublime as XX, so if that sort of thing is your thing definitely give this a listen.

Best Songs: Intro, Vcr, Islands, Basic Space

#06 Julian Casablancas – Phrazes for the Young

Julian Casablancas tries his hand at numerous styles on his debut solo album, Phrazes for the Young, and in the process turns out a winner.

Peruse the nine tracks and the method is readily apparent: it’s as if Casablancas picked his all-time favorite songs, re-wrote them, and then crooned his heart out just to see how it would go. And let me tell you, it goes well.

11th Dimension is reminiscent of songs I would have heard in the mid ‘80s at the roller skating rink. That means some odd combination of New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle meets David Bowie’s Rebel, Rebel. Familiarity with a modern sheen is key to the song and half the reason the album is so much fun.

The other half is the joy with which Casablanca delivers his tracks. From the Rolling Stones ramble of Ludlow Street to the wild balladry of 4 Chords of the Apocalypse, the straight forward declarations of maturity realized on Out of the Blue to the carnival-esque reminisce, Left and Right in the Dark, the departure from The Strokes’ confines is apparent and well realized.

Nine total songs make this a lean album but with each tune averaging nearly five minutes there’s plenty of meat to savor.

Best Songs: 11th Dimension, Out of the Blue, 4 Chords of the Apocalypse, Glass

#05 Franz Ferdinand – Tonight

Franz Ferdinand’s third album, Tonight finds the former post-punk hipsters beautifully transforming into New Wave/Disco revitalizers. The result: an album that is a jolting revelation.

Radio friendly tracks No You Girls and Twilight Omens comfortably sit alongside techno experiments Lucid Dreams and Live Alone proving the band’s versatility. Three of the four tunes are gems with only Lucid Dreams caving to its ambition though all can easily serve as dance floor staples at any modern house party.

Then there’s Can’t Stop Feeling and Ulysses, songs that employ a distinctly mechanical sound to the proceedings. Neither is as immediately accessible as some of the albums more populist tracks but upon further spins their grand cunning becomes readily apparent.

With numerous musical tricks taking place just below the surface of the band’s pristine pop sheen, I have no doubt the more one listens to Tonight the better it gets. That is the sign of a great album. That is the sign of a great band.

Best Songs: Live Alone, Can’t Stop Feeling, No You Girls, Twilight Omens, Ulysses

#04 Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Sure, the songs that make up Phoenix’s sleek ten-song set, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix are perfect for 30-second commercials. Yet despite the songs being plastered over a half dozen television spots, there can be no doubt they also possess a tenderness rarely found in modern music. This dichotomy of pop bastardization with earnest sentiment makes the Phoenix sound the perfect foil to the same commercialism that has co-opted their lusciously danceable ‘80s influenced beats. It is also precisely the reason why Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is like a John Hughes film incarnate.

Indeed, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is beautiful stuff, like The Breakfast Club realizing loneliness is something to share. Beautiful, indeed.

Best Songs: Lasso, Rome, Lisztomania, Love Like a Sunset

#03 Jamie T. – Kings and Queens

Jamie T. is the epitome of raw talent. His debut album, Panic Prevention showed an artist bursting with potential yet not quite refined enough to put all the pieces together. Jamie T.’s sophomore album, Kings and Queens, shows that potential realized as it stretches in numerous directions (The Clash, Beastie Boys, M.I.A., Beck and countless other do-it-yourself punks and rockers all come to mind).

Part rapper, part mush-mouthed crooner, and all urban streetwise urban poet, Jamie T. could turn out to be the voice of a generation. Kings and Queens is that good and I suspect will only grow in stature in years to come. Quite impressive for a young man not yet twenty-four years old.

Best Songs: The Man’s Machine, Sticks and Stones, 368, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Castro Dies

#02 Regina Spektor – Far

Harnessing the power of whimsy, clever word play, and exquisite story telling, piano virtuoso Regina Spektor’s third full-length album, Far is exceptional. It is also one of the best albums of 2009.

From start to finish Far dazzles as Spektor points out the extraordinary aspects of ordinary living. Whether chanting the dolphin song while reclining on the beach in Folding Chair, pondering the unfortunate malaise of a neighbor in Genius Next Door, or considering faith in the everyday with Blue Lips Spektor never misses an opportunity to poignantly temper adult thoughts with childish curiosity. On Laughing With she goes a step further taking what Joan Osborne started with One of Us and making it a truly stunning revelation. And on Human of the Year her whimsy reaches a sensational climax as she chronicles an imaginary award before a rousing climax and gospel-esque denouement close the show. Astounding!

Simply put, Far is an album to be cherished, to be dusted off now and then to see how it has changed, how you have changed, and how the world has changed. And that’s why I love it.

Best Songs: Blue Lips, Laughing With, Man of a Thousand Faces, Eet, The Calculation, Folding Chair

#01 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

From start to finish It’s Blitz! stretches the minimalist guitar/synth/drum sonic template over Karen O’s sugary sweet, repetitively primitive poetry. It’s a signature sound that works well resulting in a set of songs that creates an interesting mix of ‘80s atmosphere meets new millennium emo. Song for song and taken as a whole it is the best album the band has ever made and the best of 2009.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are so polished at creating their signature sound yet so intent on being “artists” that running the gamut from mini-epics (Runaway) to danceable new wave (Heads Will Roll, Soft Shock, and Dragon Queen), all out ballads (Little Shadow) to provocative experiments (Skeletons) seem effortless in the band’s capable hands. That diversity may make the album seem slightly offbeat and a bit jarring, especially on initial listens, but when the time is spent to fully appreciate its nuances the effort is greatly rewarded. Indeed, It’s Blitz! isn’t just a series of exceptional songs, it is a phenomenal album from top to bottom and a coherent masterstroke from one of this decade’s most interesting bands.

Best Songs: Skeletons, Heads Will Roll, Hysteric, Little Shadow, Soft Shock

Here are my other awards for
the musical scene in 2009:

Single of the Year:
Jamie T. – The Man’s Machine

An epic ode to urban youth finding their way through the concrete and steel of their crumbling element, Jamie T’s The Man’s Machine is a raucous anthem of pure genius.

Best Lyric: “Stone, glass, concrete and gravel, all we’ve got to keep us together.”

Rip-Off of the Year and
Runner-Up Single of the Year:
Jaz Z and Alicia Keyes – Empire State of Mind

While the Jay Z/Alicia Keyes collaboration Empire State of Mind is a catchy, interesting tribute to The Big Apple, there can be no doubt the chorus rips off Coldplay’s The Scientist. Sure, Coldplay found themselves in the midst of their own rip-off accusations in early 2009 when their Viva la Vida borrowed from a Steve Vai riff, but Empire State of Mind proves Coldplay is at least as influential as they are influenced. No matter, as clichéd as it is this song may be it is nothing less than excellent with an awesome video to match.

Worst Single of the Year:
Weezer featuring Lil Wayne – I Can’t Stop Partying

Vapid, techno driven new millennium party rap songs are generally quite horrible and obviously ripe for parody and full on hate. Rivers Cuomo gives us just that load of crap with his Lil Wayne duet, I Can’t Stop Partying. Unfortunately, merely making of fun of something doesn’t make the mockery funny, cool, or even entertaining. I Can’t Stop Partying is entertaining for about 30 seconds, and then never again.

Awkward Lyric of the Year
Asher Roth – I Love College

The most shameless song of 2009 is unquestionably Asher Roth’s I Love College. The song is a tribute to loving college and I suppose wanting to stay there forever. Every line is laughable as Roth chronicles the perfect college night (beer pong, keg stands, dancing naked, passing out and getting your face drawn on with markers, and on and on). But it is the chorus, with its mindless simplicity and silly rapping that most brings a smile to my old man college loving wrinkly face.

“Man, I love college! And I love drinking! I love women! Man, I love college!”

Guilty Pleasure of the Year
Matisyahu – One Day

In 2009 Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu sold his soul not to God but rather pop music aspirations. His latest album, Light is a doozy of lame reggae, boring rapping, and clichéd pop production, quite a fall for a fella that seemed to like taking chances. No matter, Light’s lead single, One Day is catchy enough that whenever it plays I find myself nodding right along in spite of myself. For that it is my Guilty Pleasure of 2009.

Best Live Performance of the Year:
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with Tom Morello – The Ghost of Tom Joad (Live at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Induction Concert, October 29, 2009)

I’ve been saying for the past 17 years that Tom Morello is the best guitar player of his generation. He proved it in a big way this year when he showcased nearly every trick in his unique repertoire while playing The Ghost of Tom Joad with Bruce Springsteen live at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame induction concert. His third solo in the song nearly brought tears to my eyes; it was that damn incredible.

Soundtrack of the Year:
Karen O and the Kids - Where the Wild Things Are

For eight years I’ve said that Karen O is best when she is gentle, vulnerable, and yearning. I’ve begged for her to put out an album that builds completely from her soft side, devoid of the screeches that sometimes fill the space in her Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ work. With her Where the Wild Things Are, the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, Karen O at last brings that gentleness to the forefront. The result is an oddly modern musical storybook with the power to move like nothing else she has produced.

Best songs: Worried Shoes, Hideaway

Album Cover of the Year:
Neko Case – Middle Cycloe

If only the songs contained within Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone could match the songstress’s amazing voice and this awesome album cover, this could have been the album of the year.

“Hey Ya” Award for Song You Heard EVERYWHERE in 2009:
Beyonce – Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)

Sure, Beyonce’s call to arms for dance floor single ladies may have come out in 2008 but it was EVERYWHERE in 2009. From spoofs to homage, top 40 radio to television sit-coms, dancing babies on YouTube to whistling grannies on the bus it may have been a terrible song but it was catchy and EVERYWHERE in 2009. Certainly the dopey black and white video had a lot to do with it, and Beyonce still looks like she is counting her steps (though hiding it much better than a few years ago), but there’s no denying Single Ladies was in your head too at some point this year.

T.I. – Live Your Life

Anything that had to do with Las Vegas, bachelor/bachelorette parties, or wild times in 2009 featured T.I.’s Live Your Life. That “ho, hey hey, hey hey, hey hey” still echoes in my head.

Musical Phenomenon of the Year:
Susan Boyle from Britain’s Got Talent

I don’t get it but apparently the rest of the world does. Yes, it’s Britain’s Susan Boyle, the woman that looks like someone who rides the bus all day yet sings like an angel. Yadda yadda yadda. And now she’s got the fastest selling album of all-time. Who would’ve thunk it?

Worst Album Title of the Year:
Wilco – Wilco (The Album)

I hate smirking irony.

Worst Song Title of the Year:
Wilco – Wilco (The Song)

See above.

Greatest Disappointment of 2009:
Weezer – Raditude (Deluxe Edition packaged with a genuine Weezer “Snuggie”)

Last year Weezer gave us their self-titled The Red Album, an album that was mediocre at best. This year they give us Raditude, an album that is likewise mediocre at best. But where The Red Album was merely forgettable Raditude is ingratiating. Why? Because Raditude’s “deluxe edition” comes packaged with a genuine Weezer Snuggie, that ridiculous blanket with sleeves thing. As they say in ‘Net lingo, OMG!

Ironic pandering at its worst? Indeed. Shame on you, Rivers Cuomo.

Ridiculous Sample of the Year:
Lady Sovereign – So Human

Cribbing parts of songs has always been part of rap music. But Lady Sovereign’s So Human brings hip-hop borrowing to a place it shouldn’t go. It takes The Cure’s Close To Me and makes us beg for the real thing, not this lazy pile of doo doo.

Worst Cover Song of the Year:
Flo Rida – Right Round

Flo Rida’s atrocious cover of Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round does two terrible things: it bastardizes a brilliant dance song and provides royalties to Dead or Alive’s lead singer, Pete Burns to continue butchering his face with plastic surgery. Worse, the cover is so bad that even Alvin and the Chipmunks manage a better version of the tune in their latest movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeaquel. When digital chipmunks can pull off a better cover than you something is clearly rotten in Denmark.

Most Hilarious Man of All-Time Award:
Given Yearly to the One and Only, Scott Stapp

Scott Stapp is getting the band back together. That’s right, everyone’s favorite hard rock punchline, Creed is reunited with a new album in stores everywhere. Does anyone care? I didn’t think so. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Keep up the good work, Scott. Rock n’ Roll needs more dudes like you.

2010 Crystal Ball Predictions

Music is good. Life is good. I have a baby girl on the way. Why predict? It’s time to just enjoy.

See you next year!

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scottmarlowe@undependentmedia.com