Mixes By Year: 2009 Most Recommended Albums

2009- a year that’s tough to comment on being that it’s only now 2011. I posted my top 50 albums about a year ago and my top 20 are unchanged except for swapping Wild Beasts with Mos Def. Though the below twenty albums are not ranked 1-20 I can tell you that my top ten may now slightly differ with The xx and Neon Indian rising into the top ten and Raekwon & Mastodon falling just out of the top ten. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart and Dinosaur Jr. would also likely fall a few notches in the top 20 and Neko Case and Bat For Lashes rising a bit. Animal Collective/Girls/Dirty Projectors are still heads and tails above all else for me. I was worried that I overrated Passion Pit a bit but they sound just as great a year later to me. I’m somehow still not sick of the two ubiquitous Phoenix hits “Lisztomania” and “1901” which are so good that even excessive airplay can’t kill their charm.

When the music history books are rewritten years from now ’09 may stick out for its weirdness. I don’t think I’ve ever had an odder, or more inaccessible 1-3 albums in any year. As great as the three albums are I recognize they aren’t for everybody- I can’t see any of them garnering much future airplay like Phoenix has or like Passion Pit and the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s great “It’s Blitz” should. ’09 was not a big rap year but albums like Drake’s EP and Freddie Gibbs mixtapes and Mos Def’ return to form set the stage for a rap comeback in 2010. U.K. dubstep also became a dominant underground sound, which came to my attention with the release of the 5 Years of Hyperdub double album. Time will tell if dubstep will gain in popularity or if it will go the way of grime and be banished to relative obscurity. Whether or not the genre grows the sound has certainly been a big influence in the broader worlds of hip hop & r&b, house & techno. The same can be said for blog house and chillwave- they haven’t taken over the charts but there influence is everywhere. Will be interesting so see what happens next. With all of the re-workings of early synth-pop and soft-rock will the next movement be a return to heavy rock?

THE XX- THE XX

Buy The XX - XX (Bonus Track Version)

Buy AmazonXX



PHOENIX- WOLFGANG AMADEUS PHOENIX

Buy Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Buy Amazon Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix




JAPANDROIDS- POST-NOTHING

Buy Japandroids - Post-Nothing

Buy Amazon Post-Nothing



NEKO CASE- MIDDLE CYCLONE

Buy Neko Case - Middle Cyclone (Bonus Track Version)

Buy AmazonMiddle Cyclone




CAMERA OBSCURA- MY MAUDLIN CAREER

Buy Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

Buy Amazon My Maudlin Career



GRIZZLY BEAR- VECKATIMEST

Buy Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Buy AmazonVeckatimest




GIRLS- ALBUM

Buy Girls - Album (Bonus Track Version)

Buy AmazonAlbum



YEAH YEAH YEAHS- IT’S BLITZ

Buy Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

Buy AmazonIt’s Blitz!




JJ- JJ N2

Buy JJ - JJ N° 2

Buy jj nº 2Amazon



PASSION PIT- MANNERS

Buy Passion Pit - Manners

Buy AmazonManners




NEON INDIAN- PSYCHIC CHASMS

Buy Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms

Buy AmazonPsychic Chasms



ANIMAL COLLECTIVE- MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION

Buy Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Buy Amazon Merriweather Post Pavilion



THE FLAMING LIPS- EMBRYONIC

Buy The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

Buy AmazonEmbryonic



BAT FOR LASHES- TWO SUNS

Buy Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

Buy AmazonTwo Suns



MOS DEF- THE ECSTATIC

Buy Mos Def - The Ecstatic

Buy AmazonThe Ecstatic



RAEKWON- ONLY BUILT FOR CUBAN LINX II

Buy Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. 2

Buy AmazonOnly Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. 2




THE PAINS OF BEING PIURE AT HEART- THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART

Buy The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

Buy AmazonPains of Being Pure at Heart



DIRTY PROJECTORS- BITTE ORCA

Buy Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Buy AmazonBitte Orca



DINOSAUR JR.- FARM

Buy Dinosaur Jr. - Farm

Buy AmazonFarm



MASTODON- CRACK THE SKYE

Buy Mastodon - Crack the Skye (Deluxe Version)

Buy AmazonCrack the Skye

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.