Discography: Brian Eno

My next discography is going to be an interesting one. Brian Eno has a doppelganger career as both a glam/avant rock musician and then slowly transitioning into the world of Ambient music. It's also going to be somewhat incomplete as most of this will be Eno and not any of his collaborations (with the likes of Harold Budd, John Cale and David Byrne as well as his two album stint with Roxy Music.) Sadly some of Eno's other Ambient albums are harder to come by, but alas I feel as if this will be pretty complete regardless of this. So this is more or less a half discography spanning from 1974's Here Come The Warm Jets to 1983's Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks.

Here Come the Warm Jets (1974) Brian Eno's first solo record after departing Roxy Music as well as after his experimental work with Robert Fripp on (No Pussyfooting), Eno teamed up with countless musicians for Here Come the Warm Jets. Surprisingly recorded in 12 days, the album is filled with frenzied guitars, bombastic lyrical wordplay and one of the best guitar solos you'll ever hear. The record is about as close to glam rock as any in Eno's career. Songs like "Needles in the Camel's Eye" and "Cindy Tells Me" are spacey rockers chock full of wonderful sounds. The stellar track, and easily Eno's best of the more straightforward rock era, "Baby's On Fire" has easily one of the best guitar solos care of King Crimson's Robert Fripp. It's a searing track that is filled with sound. Fripp's guitar takes over and brings it to a new height. Warm Jets may be one of Eno's more standard albums in the sense of straight rock music, but even in that case it's still out there and ahead of it's time. Eno would have a different take on what pop music could be a few albums later, but even here he juxtaposes what his experiences with Roxy Music were like.

Key Tacks: "Needles in the Camel's Eye", "Baby's On Fire", "Cindy Tells Me", "On Some Faraway Beach", "Blank Frank"

Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974) In the same year, Eno would progress his sound immensely from the awesome Here Come the Warm Jets to the strangely sparse yet utterly captivating Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy.) Although this album still boasts a rock sound, it's almost a punk rock statement to release music as choppy and strange as what appears on the album. A song like the rollicking "Third Uncle" or the gloomy and foreboding "The Fat Lady of Limbourg" are polar opposites and strangely distant. The art rock takes on forms like "Burning Airlines Gives You So Much More", a wonderful pop track as well as the quirky "China My China" with it's typewriter solo. All in all, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) seems to be a leap forward in some respects even if it's a small step.

Key Tracks: "Burning Airlines Give You So Much More", "Fat Lady of Limbourg", "China My China", "Third Uncle"

Another Green World (1975) Just another few months after Taking Tiger Mountain, Eno released easily one of his best records in Another Green World. Gone are the glam rock trappings and only five songs have lyrics and vocals. This record is the first indication that Brian Eno was going to take his music into a new direction. The spaced out expansion of his music is a divergent turn from the previous years two records. Songs like "St. Elmo's Fire" and "I'll Come Running" is as close as a pop song as you'll get here. Both are way more spaced out than the more hard hitting tracks from Here Come the Warm Jets or the strange and stark songs from Tiger Mountain. Instead these tunes are floating in the ether. "The Big Ship" slowly comes in witha wave of guitars that sound like the music of another world. "In Dark Trees" plays up more paranoia in it's sound as an interesting arrangement of guitars and strange bleeping percussion ripples in and out. All of these emotions are felt through the music and not through the lyrics. It's in this that Brian Eno would really find his home as Another Green World is the first sign of his ambient career to come.

Key Tracks: "Sky Saw", "The Big Ship", "St. Elmo's Fire", "In Dark Trees", "Golden Hours", "Becalmed", "Everything Merges With The Night"

Discreet Music (1975) Again with two albums in one year (not including Evening Star with Robert Fripp), Discreet Music is the first fully fledged piece of ambient work that Eno undertook. The titular track is one whole side of the record and is an experimental tape loop. For a better, detailed description, go here. The sounds of the synthesizer loop over each other and create different sounding passages that are just overlapping threads of sound. It's intention is best used for meditation, background music or what I prefer to call a "dream machine." It's calming and ambient and in that respect, it's perfect for all sorts of activities to fill in the dead air of silence with something more engaging. The second half of the record is variations on Canon in D Major by Pachelbel. These are intriguing deconstructions, but for the most part the best thing of Discreet Music is the single side track. The album in that sense is more of an interesting experiment and observation on the deconstruction of music.

Key Track: "Discreet Music"

Before and After Science (1977) Eno's last album with lyrics for some time, Before and After Science has more conventional tunes, but it's a perfect place to see how Eno's ambient sound would meld with more conventional pop tunes, all found on the second half of the record. The first half picks up the speed more so than the previous two albums with the anagram rocker "King Lead Hat" and the silly yet entirely engaging and catchy "Backwater." Where the album really shines is in it's spacey and brooding second half. Each song has an ethereal element to it, bringing his ambient sound and blending it perfectly with conventional songs. "Julie With..." is a perfect track that slowly sways in with its delicate guitar and piano as one of Eno's best vocal performances then gently comes into view. "By This River" is a deeply saddening track giving the feeling of utter and complete stagnation. The stellar outing is "Spider & I" which has some of the most beautifully stark and simplistic, yet emotionally captivating music and lyrics that Eno has ever captured. It's all dreamy and hazy and as with many of the songs on the second half, slowly comes in and fades back out with utter beauty. It's easily Eno's perfect record.

Ket Tracks: A masterpiece is a masterpiece. Not sure if I can say any tracks aren't great.

Music For Airports (1978) As Before and After Science ended Eno's career with more conventional music, he started his ambient career off on the right foot. It may be the most unbearable record if you try to approach it as conventional music. Instead, it's best treated as a meditation piece or music you use to study to. The tracks are divided up into numbers without titles and each piece, much like Discreet Music, the music is looped tapes of synths, pianos, guitars or vocals for each track that seem like pre-written songs, but it's all just as it happens. The vocal track "2/1" is just a series of 20 second loops, each a different length, repeated. The sound is utterly breathtaking and dynamic. It sounds as if they interact with each other but in reality it's just a loop. The best of these tracks is the 16 minute "1/1" with it's simple piano slowly creating something beautiful.

Key Tracks: "1/1", "2/1"

Music For Films (1978) Although Music for Films works less on an album level then other ambient records, it is worth noting that unlike both Discreet Music and Music for Airports, the music is not just looped material but actual musicians working on the pieces of music. An all star line up including John Cale, Phil Collins and Robert Fripp are all in tow and each track has it's own idea. The tracks are meant to be the score to "imaginary films" and are soundscapes that could easily be used as a soundtrack. Some songs did go on to be in films, such as "Slow Water" which utilizes Fripp's sonic guitar tones. It's more or less an intriguing selection of songs, but as a whole it pales in comparison to much of the other prominent Eno ambient recordings you could get. I find myself going back to this record the least.

Key Tracks: "Slow Water", "There is Nobody", "Quartz", "Patrolling Wire Borders"

Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (1983) Although there were other ambient albums in between this and '78's Music for Films, those were all collaborations and also extremely hard to find. That being said, someday I will update this section with Discography: Brian Eno and Various Collaborations. Anyway, of all the ambient records, Apollo is by far the best. It contains some of Eno's finest moments and has been used in several films, namely the documentary For All Mankind. It has several different styles involved on the record ranging from the stark and minimalistic "Stars", the almost ambient-country feel of tracks like "Weightless" and the synthesizer driven and utterly heartbreaking "An Ending (Ascent)." This dynamic calls for a little more variety on the album and also opens up the lanes for some amazing guitar work care of Daniel Lanois. A song like "Deep Blue Day" is ever grateful for Daniel Lanois' amazing guitar flourishes. This being the best of Eno's ambient albums, if this type of music is something that you are into, then this would be the best place to start.

Key Tracks: "An Ending (Ascent)", "Deep Blue Day", "Stars", "Always Returning", "Spirits Drifting", "Silver Morning"

That's all for now. There are many more Eno albums, some I've heard some I can't find. But this is more of a part one. Someday down the line I will hunt all of these records down.

The Magnetic Clamour of IRM

When I read earlier in 2009 that Charlotte Gainsbourg was releasing a second album in Janurary 2010 with Beck writing, producing and playing a lot of the music, I was immediately frothing at the mouth with anticipation. Charlotte's 5:55, which stood at #59 on my decade albums list, is a beautiful record. However, knowing that Air was her backing band then and Beck would be handling that now, it would come as no surprise when the album would sound shockingly progressive and different. Luckily I was able to hear IRM in part when Charlotte stopped in Philadelphia recently, her first time touring and first time in our fair city. Now that the album has officially graced our shores, I can safely say that it is a work of delightful genius. It's important to know that several songs address the near death experience Charlotte faced, hence having to have an MRI (IRM in French.) That said, the track "IRM" has the claustrophobic sounds that and actual MRI has. The clamour and shifting of mechanical parts and the otherworldly sounds that are emitted from the machine. The album has many sides, but one thing is apparent; Beck draws on percussion, acoustic guitars and orchestral arrangements (some done by his father.) The song "Vanities" is a delightfully stark track filled with a delicate guitar pluck to shadow Charlotte's voice and then the strings come in and change the mood even more. "Time of The Assassins" is a short but sweet tune with Beck's cooing in the background of the chorus. As usual, a highlight of the record is when Charlotte sings in her native French. The track "Le Chat du Café des Artistes" is one of the most Beck sounding tracks taking a page from "Dark Star", the best track from his record The Information. Brooding drums and bass are accentuated by a Hitchcockian string arrangement. What IRM does is expand upon Charlotte's strengths as a singer. Although 5:55 is an excellent record, IRM progresses beyond just the love song driven piano ballads and goes somewhere else in the stratosphere. Her duet with Beck, "Heaven Can Wait", shows that there is even more promise for her career. The album is a delight and if she returns to the United States to tour it further, be sure to check it out. It was a fantastic experience.

Discography - Beck

It's no surprise I'd tackle my favorite solo artist next. Beck's album arc is stranger than most artists. He's our era's David Bowie in that respect. He's more prolific than most artists of the newer generation. Ten records out from 1994 to 2008 and that does not include some of the indie records and the slew of B-Sides and unreleased stuff. For our cause, We'll start with Stereopathetic Soul Manure.

Stereopathetic Soul Manure (1994) The first of three records in one year, Beck released Stereopathetic Soul Manure on Flipside Records before his debut came out on the major label on DGC. The album is a schizophrenic hodge-podge of all kinds of strange experiment, traditional tracks and other sound clips. It's definitely Beck's most peculiar album in the catalog, but it also contains some stellar samplings from Beck's early career. Songs like "Satan Gave Me A Taco" show Beck's troubadour/slacker story teller roots that would be paramount throughout Beck's early era. "Rowboat", a fantastic blues song, was covered by Johnny Cash at one point, shows also that Beck still has a firm foot in the blues. It's less of an album and more of brain droppings. I can't really recommend this outside of rabid Beck fandom.

Key Tracks: "Rowboat" "Crystal Clear (Beer)" "Satan Gave Me A Taco"

Mellow Gold (1994) Beck's first major label release is a time capsule of the 90's counterculture. Much like "My Generation" by our first band to get the Discography spot, "Loser" is an anthem of the 90's and one that is undeniable to the culture of the time. It's a lot harder now that Beck has become so prolific, but for the time many thought "look at this guy." and thought he would slip into obscurity. Luckily the album pointed to the future with tracks like "Pay No Mind (Snoozer)", a surprisingly stark look at the record industry, "Blackhole" which is an underrated sleeper on the record and "Soul Suckin' Jerk" which is a punk rock sloppy mess of a brilliant track. What Beck does best is take genre and sound and juxtapose them and Mellow Gold has plenty of gems worth playing some 15 years later into his career. The cool thing here is that the genre melting is so intense that it really just sounds like Beck. Mellow Gold isn't by far my favorite album, but it's a genuine classic and a must own.

Key Tracks: "Loser", "Pay No Mind (Snoozer)", "Soul Suckin' Jerk", "Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997", "Beercan", "Blackhole"

One Foot In The Grave (1994) Getting a very sleek and extended re-issue this past year is one of Beck's most underrated albums, One Foot In the Grave. It's a swampy, muddy blues album that has slapdash production but an honesty that is pure and wonderful. This record, released on K Records, was the second indie released album by Beck in the same year and is by far the more superior. The songs are rather short, but unlike Soulmanure, they are at least not fragments of songs but consistently good blues. The Skip James cover "He's A Mighty Good Leader" is the front runner of the sound on the album with just a guitar, a stamping foot and Beck's wayward vocals. "Fourteen Rivers, Fourteen Floods" is the best Delta blues song that Muddy Waters didn't write. "Cyanide Breath Mint" lends to the anti-major label execs wanting him to stick to the "Loser" shtick and "Asshole" is one of Beck's finer songs of love lost. One Foot proves one thing and that's Beck knows the blues.

Key Tracks: "He's A Mighty Good Leader", "Sleeping Bag", "Cyanide Breath Mint", "Asshole"

Odelay - (1996) What else can I say about Beck's perfect album? I mean, start to finish Odelay is something else. The addition of The Dust Brothers in the production room would usher in an era of cool and probably be his best production collaborator. I know that's hard with Nigel Godrich being his other constant companion, but we'll get to that soon enough. Whether it's the big hits like "Devil's Haircut", "New Pollution" and"Where It's At" or the fan favorites like "Novacane" and "Hotwax", there are a slew of excellent folk-hop goodies to be had. When the end hits you with "Ramshackle," it's hard not to see just how brilliant Beck really is. Nostalgia aside, I still don't know if Beck has sounded as good as on Odelay. It's really a stunner of a record and one that should join the ranks as one of the best of all time.

Key Tracks: Hard to not list every song.... the only not so great track is "Derelict" and even that song rules.

Mutations (1998) Before I was hardcore into Beck, I didn't even know Mutations existed. I knew songs from the record, but it was a VH1 Behind the Music type show about Beck that got me intrigued by this album. Bought it immediately and found the first introspective look into Beck without all the clamour and bang of his prior records. That's not to dilute the meaning behind his blues or crazy records, but Mutations strips it away and brings on the baroque. Nigel Godrich's production brings in a less frenzied pace and on songs like "Cold Brains" and "Lazy Flies" we still get the upbeat Beck style, but from a different angle. The amazingly beautiful "Nobody's Fault But My Own" brings in sitars and tons of other sounds swirling in the background making it easily one of Beck's finest songs. Overall the album is one of Beck's finest artistic statements with heart felt songs to his Grandfather like "We Live Again" to the calypso of "Tropicalia." It's all Beck still but it was something different. Beck's first serious album of sorts.

Key Tracks: "Cold Brains", "Nobody's Fault But My Own", "Canceled Check", "We Live Again", "Dead Melodies", "Tropicalia"

Midnite Vultures (1999) After Beck's more personal, quite and reflective album Mutations exploded the most enjoyably fun record of the 90's, Midnite Vultures. That's right, most fun record of the 90's. Especially for it to drop amid the late 90's suck zone of popular music, Beck created an electrical sex explosion of an album. With Prince and David Bowie's Young Americans being his muse, Beck concocts sexy lounge tales of love("Debra",) Kraftwerk infused debaucheries robot sex ("Get Real Paid") and straight up dance floor ready jams ("Sexx Laws".) His hyper frenetic take on hip hop, "Hollywood Freaks" takes the whole sound to the highest and most ridiculous with screams of "he my nun!" in the background as well as calling out Norman Schwarzkopf. Vultures was also a Dust Brothers production and the clamour of sound effects, sampling, instrumentation and all other sorts of wackiness add to the sheer fun that Midnite Vultures can bring. From the first time I heard it to today, it's been a staple for any party (and originally was played at midnight at every party) as well as a staple for getting amped for any good time. For some reason, this is Beck's most misunderstood record, and to me that is a crying shame. Your loss, really.

Key Tracks: "Sexx Laws", "Nicotine and Gravy", "Hollywood Freaks", "Get Real Paid", "Broken Train", "Debra"

Sea Change (2002) Almost every great artist has their heartbreak/break-up album of sorts, but Beck's Sea Change, coming after his over sexed and hyper kinetic Midnite Vultures was a surprise left turn. When I saw Beck for the first time on his small pre-Sea Change one man show, Beck shed his heart out on forthcoming tracks like "Sunday Sun" which immediately stunned me. It was a beautiful and heartbreaking number and on the album it takes a whole level of beauty with it's arrangements and freak-out ending. Tracks like "Lonesome Tears" never lets the listener rest with the ache that he feels. "The Golden Age" is a faux prosperity. The line "these days I hardly get by" is a heart wrenching feeling for a supposed Golden Age. "Already Dead" is definitely a feeling many have gone through when the loss gets so hard, but what's funny is that beyond the lyricism being straightforward and honest, the music is still compelling and fantastic. It's by far the best of the Nigel Godrich albums, with stunners like "Paper Tiger" filled with swooping strings and a funky bass groove. There is no denying that Beck's finest work in the past decade comes from the heart rather than from a stranger place that Beck usually traverses.

Key Tracks: "Paper Tiger", "Lonesome Tears", "Sunday Sun", "Already Dead", "Lost Cause"

Guero (2005) Beck's latter career in the 21st century had troubles after Sea Change. Although Guero is chock full of excellent songs, something is missing from it as an album. Part of my feeling in that regard is the fact that the leaked version of Guero was much more captivating. "E-Pro" had less production and an abrupt ending, "Scarecrow" was a 7 minute static jam with some amazing Beck harmonica and bluesy guitar work and some songs that ended up being B-Sides ("Send A Message To Her" and "Chain Reaction") were actually superior to some that ended up on the actual release. Regardless, songs like "Missing" and "Earthquake Weather" luckily remained intact and ended up being some of my personal favorite Beck songs. The album boasts some nice celebrity guests like Jack White rocking the funky bass line on "Go It Alone" and a surprisingly strange turn by Christina Ricci on "Hell Yes." Overall, Guero is one of Beck's more uneven albums but it still has a ton of excellent music. Maybe he should have stayed with the original leak track listing, but something that trivial isn't worth dwelling on. Guero is a nice little record that has a great selection of tracks.

Key Tracks: "E-Pro", "Missing", "Hell Yes", "Girl", "Earthquake Weather", "Farewell Ride"

The Information (2006) Easily the weakest link in the chain, The Information is a muddled album. It is one of those cases where an album could easily have been an EP with the best tracks numbering in at around 4 or 5 and the rest is just there. Nigel and Beck wanted to do a hip-hop record of sorts and this is what came about. Woozy bores like "Soldier Jane" and "Think I'm In Love" are muzak compared to your usual Beck and only work when used as background music. However, songs like "Cellphone's Dead" and "Dark Star" bring the heat with more intriguing musical elements and lyrical wordplay at first glance absurd and at second glance great social comment. The album shifts back and forth from redeeming tracks to boring sleepers and the final track is a bit of a mess. It's surprising that Beck's long worked on record ended up being less enjoyable then Guero which was pounded out between sessions for The Information.

Key Tracks: "Cellphone's Dead", "Dark Star", "We Dance Alone"

Modern Guilt (2008) Luckily Beck picked up a new companion in the studio with Danger Mouse and in 2008, beck released a morbid but delightful psych pop record in Modern Guilt. It's by far Beck's shortest record since One Foot in the Grave and it's even shorter than that record. Somehow Beck learned his miscue with The Information and instead of packing in tracks, gave us the ten best. Short, poppy but dark, Modern Guilt boasts one of the defining moments in Beck's career in "Chemtrails." Although not the usual clamour of funky grooves and sounds, the track swells in and out like the tide with fantastically woozy synths and falsetto and then comes crashing in with it's intensely groovy bass and Moonesque drums. "Gamma Ray" may seem like a cheap rip off of "Girl" form Guero, but it still works as a beach blanket party shuffle. "Volcano" is Beck at his darkest giving up on humanity to get "back into the womb of the world." The titular track is an ode to the Zombie's and "Orphans" is a perfect album opener. It also houses one of the most poetic and beautiful Beck lyrics of all time, and it is in this lyrics that I leave you on this edition of Discography:

If I wake up and see my maker coming
With all of his crimson and his iron desire
We'll drag the streets with baggage of longing
To be loved or destroyed
From a void to a grain of sand in your hand

Key Tracks: "Orphans", "Chemtrails", "Walls", "Volcano", "Replica"

Beck is up to lots on his website via Record Club where him and musician pals will get together and cover full albums. He's almost three records deep, but I will not be reviewing these. Beck, more so than The Who, has a mountain of B-Sides and unreleased tracks as well as other smaller indie records. My apologies for not delving into these but due to their wildly out of print nature, I would not want to tease you into thinking you can get them without it being illegal or damn lucky to get.

The Summertime Haze of Real Estate

Psych surf sounds like the wrong way to describe Real Estate, the titular debut of the Jersey born band. It isn't quite classically surf rock like Dick Dale or Link Wray and it is somewhat hazier and covered in a thin veil of darkness to be as sunny as The Beach Boys. It's psychedelia, but never hard rocking and it's pop music, but it's never over produced. Real Estate is the album I missed last year that has potential to be a lasting favorite. There seems to be something much more honest and special about this group. The first track, "Beach Comber", comes in slowly and drifts up to your ears as it's drum beat shuffles in from the haze and the guitar picks away at a catchy little riff. It's simplistic music but the production, rife with the white washed glow of a summers day at the beach allowing all the optimism of a vacation come through in the calming sound, still has some uncertainty to it. The opening lyric "What you want is just outside your reach/You keep on searchin’" is of that wondering spirit many get with just a moment that the music conveys. That clouded, summertime restlessness. The music is perfect for that feeling. "Pool Swimmers" is that twilight feel of sneaking into backyards to find a spot for night swimming and the song is filled with an eerie joy. "Atlantic City" is an instrumental groove jam that sounds like the euphoria and depression that you get at the same time from entering the casinos. If anything, Real Estate may be the perfect album for dreaming of the summer. If anything, the group have been my crutch through this cold New Jersey winter. I can't wait for this record to become the soundtrack for relaxing down the Jersey shore, where the inspiration for the record came.

Discography: The Who

I always come up with some ambitious idea and never really keep up with it, but while new albums trickle in, I will be going back to my favorite artists and picking out key moments on record in a new series called Discography. I know, boring name, right? Don't have the creative juice to jazz that up just now.

What better way to start then with my all-time favorite group, The Who. Each album will get a short write up and a rating of some sort. Think of this as a rip off/watered down version off A.V. Club's Primer. This won't include every single release, but at least for The Who it will include all studio records AND one live record, integral to the listening experience of the band.

My Generation - (1965) - The Who's debut is an explosive piece of 60's mod rock. The album sprawls and shows a band in it's early phase. This record is the definition of Maximum R&B. Moon and Entwistle carry this record, which was the moniker of The Who's early career. The fuzz and distortion all over this record and the power the band has is obviously best described through easily their one song everyone knows, "My Generation."
Other great take-aways are "The Kids Are Alright" and "A Legal Matter." The sense of Pete Townshend's British wit and his sense of the mod scene is prevalent in these lyrics as they are all for the rebellious youth of the mod culture.

Key Tracks: "My Generation", "The Kids Are Alright", "A Legal Matter", "The Ox"


A Quick One - (1966) - After only a year between debut and sophomore release, A Quick One showed signs of progression. It would be the first Who record to have songs written by each member, it includes a delicious cover of "Heat Wave" and has the very first rock opera of Townshend's career in "A Quick One, While He's Away." The best tracks include lead off rocker "Run Run Run" and Entwistle's growly kids tale, "Boris the Spider." The progression shown was in the varying depths of songwriting from the cutesy love songs like "Don't Look Away" or the powerful instrumental mayhem of "Cobwebs and Strange." It's easily one of The Who's most underrated albums, although it still lacks the magic that would come in just another year.

Key Tracks: "Run Run Run", "So Sad About Us", "A Quick One, While He's Away"

The Who Sell Out - (1966) Where A Quick One is an underrated Who record, The Who Sell Out is one of the most underrated albums of all time. Period. What this record does may very well be the pinnacle of rock and roll in the 60's. It epitomized an era and has some of the most unique Who songs you'll ever hear. Shaped around the concept of pirate radio, Townshend whipped up some of his best love songs ("Sunrise", "Our Love Was") and easily his best rock song in "I Can See For Miles." There isn't a dull moment. Between the catchy jingles, the varying approaches to rock or the brilliant and bombastic nod to the future in "Rael" this easily could be The Who's best record. It's tough to admit it when there are 3 more studio albums of equal but different importance coming up.

Key Tracks: "I Can See For Miles", "Sunrise", "Tattoo", "Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand" "Rael"

Tommy - (1969) - A long gestation period and loads of touring occurred in between Sell Out and Tommy lead to speculation of The Who breaking up and plenty of other controversy, but luckily instead Tommy drops and everything changed. A bonafide classic rock center piece, there is nothing wrong with Tommy except its ambition. Even with tons of takeaway tracks, Tommy is still a record that demands attention for 74 minutes. From "The Overture" to "Where Not Gonna Take It", there really is no time to put the thing down. This was groundbreaking and insanely ahead of its time at this point and it was the end of the 60's for The Who. 40 years later, Tommy still sounds fantastic. It's really a no brainer, but anyone not owning a copy of Tommy is doing themselves a huge injustice.

Key Tracks: The entire album? But especially "Overture", "Amazing Journey/Sparks", "Underture", "I'm Free", "We're Not Gonna Take It"

Live At Leeds - 1970 - Although it's a live concert, there is no way Live at Leeds can be left off this discography. It is one of few live albums that are must own material. It's also a must own Deluxe Edition. The stripped down LP and early CD releases are an abomination compared to the Deluxe Edition which has the entire concert, including the live version of Tommy. That disc is good and all but it's the blistering covers of Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues" that proves why The Who is the greatest live Rock and Roll band of all time. "Heaven and Hell" kicks it off in usual Entwistle dark comedy, but this version trumps any studio copy of the same song. The real kick in the pants is the insanely fantastic live version of "A Quick One, While He's Away." After hearing this first and not knowing it was live only to here the audience kick in was mind blowing. It's a ride that every fan of The Who must take and even the casual listener would enjoy.

Key Tracks: "Young Man Blues", "A Quick One, While He's Away", "Summertime Blues" "Shakin' All Over"



Who's Next - 1971 - After Woodstock and Live at Leeds, The Who entered the 70's and changed their act massively. Using tons of studio technology to lay down tons of tracks, Who's Next is a remarkable record that sounds pristine and authentic to this day. "Baba O'Rielly" still packs a massive punch to the heart strings, "Bargain" is an underrated rocker, "The Song is Over" is some of Pete Townshend's finest songwriting and "Won't Get Fooled Again" never fails to blow it's listener out of the water. With the added sound of synthesizers to the mix, The Who embarked on a fantastic journey with Who's Next which is easily their most appealing album. Not a single song on the record is weak. It's hard for a band to release something this good.

Key Tracks: Start to finish perfect.

Quadrophenia - 1974- Another really long break between albums, due in part to the Tommy movie, Pete Townshend had time to write one of the most daring and ultimately would become their greatest achievement, Quadrophenia. It may not have the easy access that Who's Next does, but Quadrophenia is a challenging album. It definitely marks the high water mark of musical ability in the group. John Entwistle shines brightest here especially on tracks like "The Real Me" and "Sea and Sand." Pete's lyrics are at their most introspective and his guitar work stands as a testament of sheer power. Moon's drumming on songs like "I've Had Enough" and "Bell Boy." It definitely has some of the groups darker moments with tracks like "Doctor Jimmy" showing the dark side of boozing. All in all, it is a beautiful record filled with intensity and the best musicianship The Who ever showed.

Key Tracks: "The Real Me", "Cut My Hair", "I've Had Enough", "Sea & Sand", "Love Reign O'er Me"

The Who by Numbers (1975) - Over ambition will usually lead to some sort of slump, and although The Who by Numbers is a stellar album, it still pales in comparison to four home runs in a row. The biggest beef fans and critics had with By Numbers was it's dark and cynical tone, but it is easily one of the most daunting lyrically in The Who catalog. Songs like "However Much I Booze" or "Imagine A Man" sound less like Who songs and more like Pete Townshend tracks, but nevertheless still rock. It's in this split that makes the album a tad bit weaker than most. Rock tracks like "Slip Kid" and "Success Story" sound more like what the band would bring to the table collectively and they are shining moments. However, something is lacking in coherency throughout that makes this record a weak follow up. It lacks the intensity of Who's Next and lacks the overarching ideas of Tommy and Quadrophenia. It works well as a collection of songs, but not as an album.

Key Tracks: "Slip Kid", "However Much I Booze", "Dreaming From the Waist", "Success Story"

Who Are You (1978) - The final Who record with the full line-up, Who Are You is an intriguing mess. It has dull moments when the songs just fail to do much such as "905" and "New Song," but it also showed that The Who still had lots of power. The titular track is still one of the best songs The Who have ever produced and the intriguingly sparse "Music Must Change" are two tracks that have tons of capacity. "Sister Disco" is also a favorite with it's intriguing swirling guitar and synth effects. Sadly, Keith Moon passed on shortly after the album was released and The Who would never be the same.

Key Tracks: "Who Are You", "Sister Disco", "Music Must Change"

Face Dances (1981) - Even though The Who was changed forever with Keith Moon's death, they soldiered on for a few more albums. Some may say that the late era Who discs are more like Pete Townshend solo records would be somewhat true. Pete's better songs landed on his 1980 standout solo record Empty Glass. Still, there were enough tracks that were deemed worthy of The Who moniker and they are lasting as well. "You Better, You Bet", a tongue-twister lyrically, is easily one of the Who's finer late period songs. "Don't Let Go The Coat" sounds more like a Pete song, but Daltry's kinda screwy vocal performance makes the track magical. John Entwistle also brought his A-Game with "The Quiet One" which is a fantastic rocker. Other than that, Face Dances fails to deliver much more.

Key Tracks: "You Better You Bet", "The Quiet One"

It's Hard (1982) Just one year later, It's Hard was released and left much to be desired. It is by far the weakest of all Who records. Again, most material was sub par to what Pete Townshend was releasing by himself, but there are still glimpses of genius. Maybe just one. "Eminence Front" is The Who's best 80's track filled with a droning and constant synth back bone, Pete's furious guitar jamming and John Entwistle kicking in here and there. Absent is Roger Daltry on this track, making it and odd choice as a Who track when I'm sure on a Pete Townshend album it would have worked just fine. "Athena" is a catchy enough track, but it fails to really be too lasting of a track. It's Hard proved that The Who, although still fantastic live, had a hard time creating magic in the studio. Somehow Rolling Stone gave It's Hard five stars. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Key Track: "Eminence Front"

Endless Wire (2006) - Oddly enough, the best tracks from Endless Wire, a better album then It's Hard or Face Dances as a whole, are the tracks where the two surviving members of The Who are all you can hear. Tracks like "Man in a Purple Dress" lambasting religious figures who feel the need to wear ridiculous vestments to give them credibility, or the beautiful, poetic and poignant "God Speaks of Marty Robbins." The final track, "Tea and Theater" became a fan favorite as it sadly represents what could easily by the final track on the final Who record. The only rocker on the disc to really captivate is part of the Wire and Glass EP called "Soiund Round." It's a quicky rocker reminiscent of early era Who that really makes you remember the greatness of the band. Overall, the disc feels a bit stale at moments, but when the two Who members left come together, something whistful and beautiful was created.

Key Tracks: "A Man in a Purple Dress", "God Speaks of Marty Robbins", "You Stand By Me", "Sound Round"

Contra Not So Revolutionary

It's no surprise really that Vampire Weekend's second effort, Contra, is anything but revolutionary. At times, it has all the pop elements and trappings of a fine record, but other times it strays into the world of "We want to be Paul Simon REALLY bad" territory, which is a bit labored. There also seems to be a track that uses auto tune? Anyway, let's get to the matter here: Vampire Weekend is not anything to write home about, as per usual, but they can still write a decently catchy song. The lead of track and second single, "Horchata" shows that the band does have some room to grow bringing in new sounds like marimbas and more synths taking place of the jangly guitars from the first record. To me, that has it's ups and downs. What I loved most about songs like "A-Punk" or "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" were the interesting guitar arrangements. The track "Holiday" most replicates this sound, but without going further. If these Ivy League boys wanted to, they could probably shred some sweet rock music. The first single "Cousins" is a raging rocker buried under this polished sound. It has the most redeeming elements, with hyper-kinetic drums and super fast guitar theatrics. After that, everything else seems to be trying to hard. Every song sounds like it's purposely supposed to sound islandy or Carribean. There really is not sense of self on the record. "California English" is a laughable track with it's unnecessary use of the awful auto tune effect. It adds no depth to the music or the lyrics and if anything it's a detraction. There are many decent moments on Contra, but they are overshadowed by the weaker tracks. With a little more guitars upfront in the mix, Vampire Weekend could have tapped into something spectacular. Instead, we got a failed experiment of sorts and an album stretching for direction. I guarantee, as many other publications have already proved, that this album will launch the band for some reason into a sort of limelight that any indie band could achieve, but there is not much left to enjoy on the record. Oh, and did I mention that the album art really annoys me?

Looking Ahead 2010

2010 is here and I could not be more excited for some of the cheesey and quality entertainment to come. Here is a quick glimpse at some possible new music and movies that I can't wait for.

Charlotte Gainsbourg's IRM - Already releassed in Europe, the much anticipated follow-up to 5:55 (#59 on the best records of the Decade.) It's intriguing enough as Charlotte always seems to surround her with talent. On 5:55, Air played the music, Nigel Godrich helmed production and Neil Hannon and Jarvis Cocker took the lyrics. This time, it's all one person: Beck. That's right, Beck wrote, produced and plays on almost every track. Basically getting a new Beck record via a new voice? Yes, please! Should be out this coming Tuesday, January 12th.



Autolux's Transit Transit - Although not as epic or long of a wait as Chinese Democracy the length between Autolux'x fantastic 2004 debut Future Perfect (#17 on the best of the decade!) and this year's (hopefully) release is uber anticipation. Supposedly coming in January, Transit Transit is the epitome of "can't wait" anticipation.



Vampire Weekend's Contra - I was split on the first Vampire Weekend. I mean, it's decent pop music but all the "best new artist" or "album of the year" talk back in 2008 was laughable at best. I still am intrigued and enjoy them enough that I am anticipating the new record with a skeptics eye. Sometimes it takes album #2 for me to be sold on an artist.



Martin Scorcese's Shutter Island - Why this didn't come out in 2009 is beyond me. What looks to be Marty tackling the thriller/horror genre looks exciting. Although his past thriller/horror movie, the crappy remake of the eternal classic Cape Fear, was a piece of trash, the trailer for Shutter Island shows that Marty might have it in him to tell a badass ghost story of sorts. Plus the cast is stacked. DiCaprio, Ruffalo, Kingsley, Williams, Clarkson, etc. Very excited.



Disney's Tron Legacy - Ok so this is a summer popcorn flick, yes. But a popcorn flick remake of the classic 80's Tron that keeps Jeff Bridges around and has Daft Punk doing the soundtrack? Sign me up! Plus the trailer looks pretty intense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HcsDc_9LX8

The Wolfman - I am sick of vampires. A better mythology: Werewolves. And wehn that werewolf comes in the form of Benicio Del Toro with the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt in the cast, I smell a great flick.



Christopher Nolan's Inception - When I first saw the trailer I was sold. DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon Levitt in a Chris Nolan thriller? Of course I'm going opening night! I couldn't ask for anything more this year. After a relatively disappointing 2009, it's good to see easily one of the best directors around coming back full force. The last film in between Nolan's Batman franchise, The Prestige (#26 on best of the decade), it's bound to be something special.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HilwtqaN4Gs
Other notable movies to watch (whether hilariously bad and unecessary sequeels/prequels/remakes or legitimate interests for both popcorn and art films): Wall Street 2, Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland, Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3, Jonah Hex, The Book of Eli and I'm sure loads more later in the year.

As for music, not sure what else is coming this year, just anticipating some acts to release stuff. Possible Radiohead in the fall, the new act Broken Bells (Danger Mouse and James Mercer of the Shins) plus GOD knows what else.

2010, I can't wait for you to start.







One thing I know I won't enjoy this year: The Oscars. Although I have yet to see some bigger contenders, I'm not entirely sure if I want to see them.

Top 30 Tracks of 2009

Last year I did top 30 tracks but I feel that I have not listened to as much music in 2009 as I did in 2008. Anyway, here are 25 great tracks from the year 2009 and a short description of each. Enjoy!

30. Matt Berry - "Take My Hand" - Funny that a song from one of Britain's finest comedic minds would land on a best tracks of 2009 list, but Matt Berry with his unique voice and knack for writing would be massive hits in another decade still succeeded with his record Witchazel. "Take My Hand" is a dreamy ode to 60's San Francisco pop that is undeniably catchy and melodically soothing.

29. Air - "You Can Tell It To Everybody" - Air's Love 2 may not have been the most memorable album of the year, but it is chock full of excellent tracks, especailly this one. Starting off like a fairy fountain in a Zelda game and slowly woozing in and out with loads of other sounds organic and synthetic, it's a perfect track for spacing out.

28. Fever Ray - "If I Had A Heart" - The Knife's Karin Dreijer Andersson produced a solo record that is brooding and sonically different then most anything else I've heard this year. The first single "If I Had A Heart" is indescribable but it's power is something all together intense and riveting over it's long, droning sound scape.

27. Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - "Take Me With U" - Covers are rarely good enough to include on a list of favorite songs of the year, but when Spin Magazine gave a free Purple Rain tribute album out this year, I was delightuflly surprised with some of the tracks, mainly Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings 60's funk groove version of Prince's "Take Me With U." James Brown would be proud with just how groovy this track is. Loads of horns and enough soul care of Jones' fantastic voice. No MP3 here, but definitely look into it.

26. Julian Casablancas - "11th Dimension" - Julian Casablancas' first solo effort is a doozy of a record. The second half ventures into some uncharted territory and some riskier sounds, but what shines are the pop elements of the first half of the short record. "11th Dimension" is an anthem for 2009 with it's pepped up hooks and synth riffs. It's a dance track and a strange, introspective look into the singer's darker side. Catchy and comedic at times, it's a wonderful track.

25. Animal Collective - "Bluish" - Animal Collective at first was a strange release for the year to me. Loads of hype and when I listened to it at first, it caught me off gaurd. It wasn't until I got to "Bluish" that the album solidified for me. It's easily the most straightforward song with the most crossover appeal. A cute infatuation song that has plenty of catchy sounds and the same effervescent throb that the rest of the album has, just in a better hook. A beautiful track and one that I will associate with a time and place more so than any other.

24. The Flaming Lips - "See The Leaves" - Another difficult album from this year, The Flaming Lips Embryonic is a tough sell outside of the album experience. It is Floydian in that way as listening to single tracks is sometimes difficult. However, much like Pink Floyd, "See The Leaves" is a dynamic and acidic mantra of a track. Existential lyrics, throbbing and ear shattering rhythm sections make way for a organ infused outro that belongs on A Saucerful of Secrets. It's a trip and a half but one of the best take away tracks from the record.

23. Monsters of Folk - "Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)" - Furthest from folk, "Dear God" is a well produced bedtime prayer and a brilliant album opener from the self titled super group record. Each singer takes a turn at existential questions to God while harps and arrpegioed guitars swirl around a sampled beat. It's beautiful and one of the best crafted tracks of the year.

22. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - "The Road" - From the titular film adaptation of the amazing novel, Cave & Ellis hit another soundtrack homerun with their score for The Road. Filled with beautifully stirring strings helmed by Ellis' beautiful violin work as well as a repeating and woeful piano line, "The Road" is a sitrring musical image as poetic as the verse the film is based on.

21. Antony & The Johnsons - "One Dove" - Antony Hagerty has a voice that is operatic and melancholy. On "One Dave", we get easily one of the best songs about longing and hoping, filled with beautiful imagery and some of the best piano work Antony has brought to his recordings.

20. The Raveonettes - "Gone Forever" - The Raveonettes have a knack for the sounds of the 50's via the sounds of the 80's. In what could easily have been a Ronnettes track by way of Jesus and Mary Chain, "Gone Forever" is a break-up song, even if sometimes a break-up is a hard decision. The guitars rock with less distortion then last years Lust Lust Lust but this record is more about the interplay between Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner.

19. Dinosaur Jr. - "Pieces" - Although Farm lacked the long playability that Beyond had, Dinosaur Jr. still had an incredible year and an album chock full of classic riffs and intense rocking. Album opener "Pieces" reminds me of the little brother of the epic "Pick Me Up." J Mascis still croons through a veil of unease and his guitar work is backed up with a phenomenal rhythm section.

18. Phoenix - "Lisztomania" - Phoenix's most dancey number from the excellent Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, "Lisztomania" is a fantastic pop record and one that will stick with you. The precision of the music makes the line between guitar and synthesizer very thin. Try to not bob your head, tap your feet or get up on your desk and kick off all the papers onto the ground when this track comes on.

17. Islands - "On Foreigner" - Islands have been a delightful band taking a page out of their former groups page and creating three different but solid pop albums in the latter half of the Aughts. From Vapours, "On Foreigner" is a dreamy track filled with swirling synthesizers, I fell in love with the track driving through a snow storm. It added a sense of wonderment to the environment around me and is a great soundtrack for any relaxation.

16. Grizzly Bear (feat. Michael McDonald) - While You Wait For the Others - Funny that I should include this version as opposed to the album cut, but what Michael McDonald brings to Grizzly Bear's art pop makes it all the more wonderful. A year of Yacht Rocking led to many more people discovering that when Michael McDonald doesn't butcher Motown favorites, he actually can do some great work. The song is a delightful chamber pop ballad with loads of crooning care of the smoothest Doobie.

15. M. Ward - Epistemology - M. Ward has been one of my favorite songwriters this past year. After getting down with She & Him and Monsters of Folk, I decided to check his solo stuff and his album Hold Time is chock full of great tracks. "Epistemology" hits home on many levels, lyrically and musically it's next to perfect and hits every dynamic I love in an introspective singer/songwriter track. Catchy and with loads of heart, it's a song that I will hold near and dear to my heart.

14. Mastodon - "Divinations" - Mastodon created something special with Crack the Skye. A bridge between their thrash metal and psych prog and a topic so convoluted that it works that a magic metal record came to fruition. It also has one of the fastest, most bad ass tracks in the bands catalog in "Divinations." With a surf guitar breakdown and loads of thrashing and heavy hooks that sink in deep, it's the kind of metal song that needs to be a huge hit.

13. Wilco - "Bull Black Nova" - Wilco (The Album) was nothing short of disappointing overall, but my word if there weren't a few moments. Wilco's own "Riders On the Storm" of sorts, "Bull Black Nova" is an acid washed static track about a serial killer and his titular car. It's a road song filled with loads of dread, which came as a dark surprise on the otherwise fairly bright and cheery record. It's this dark, droning stomp that stood out best among the other tracks.

12. Animal Collective - "My Girls" - It's hard to pinpoint exactly what kind of song "My Girls" actually is. It starts off as a arrpegied synth wave of otherworldly sounds, then adds harmonized vocals then kicks into a full on tribal dance sound. It's one of the most unique and dynamic songs I've ever heard and is definitely Animal Collective doing the best of their art pop. It's breathtaking.

11. Them Crooked Vultures - "No One Loves Me & Neither Do I" - Cryptic teasers and Google Earth shots were all we knew of Them Crooked Vultures just a few months ago, but now that their rollicking debut is out, it's no denying that a musical giant was created. On the albums opener, we get a bluesy first half that is shortly followed by a heavy and pummeling rock riff in it's second half. John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl churn out the sexy rhythm section while Josh Homme croons the lyrics and shreds the guitar. It's a perfect driving song.

10. Graham Coxon - "Tripping Over" - Graham Coxon's The Spinning Top may have some uneven moments, but in it's final third, it's heartbreakingly beautiful. With help from the track "Tripping Over", we get an elegiac track about the end of things. Filled with fluttering guitars and melancholy lyrics, it's one of the most beautiful tracks you'll hear from 2009.

9. Dirty Projectors - "Stillness is the Move" - Avante garde music is sometimes a bit to swallow, but Dirty Projectors track "Stillness is the Move" is noting short of one of the most infectious songs I've heard. The vocals are simmering with beauty and the intensely driving guitars that help the backbone of this song creates a lush pop track that is all at once engaging and difficult yet extremely catchy and relatable.

8. Pink Mountaintops - "Vampire" - There were a lot of excellent tunes on Pink Mountaintops Outside Love, but none so great as the love song "Vampire." Although I am no Twilight fan, this song would work perfectly for that romantic, vampire love. It's an psych pop sing-a-long filled with lyrics of longing and of acceptance. When the vocal chorus comes in at the end, my heart strings melt.

7. Phoenix - "Love Like a Sunset (Part 1 & 2)" - If Phoenix's album is chock full of catchy, radio ready hits, then why is the best song a two part trip into a strangely different sound then what the rest of the record offers? It's in "Love Like a Sunset" that we get the albums most intense musical diversion. Part 1 is a trippy, electro ballad that turns into the lush and shorter part 2 filled with tasty acoustic guitars and the lyrical end. It may be cheating having both parts together, but one without the other even if they are seperate tracks is not recommended.

6. Monsters of Folk - "Whole Lotta Losin'" - A groovy ode to the likes of Roy Orbison or Jerry Lee Lewis, the best Monsters of Folk track is a piano boogie that was made with "The Twist" in mind. Whether M. Ward took full credit for this track or he just excels over the other three members of the group is all speculation on my part, but M. Ward's soothing vocals takes full credit for the hook here. It's one of the danceist tracks of the year and takes all it's credit from the golden age of rock n roll.

5. Antony & The Johnsons - "The Crying Light" - Antony Hagerty crafted one of the best albums this year and the titular track is easily the most beautiful. It has some of the most romantically poetic lyrics he's written and has the slow build into a beautiful ending that takes the album to it's pinnacle in heartbreak.

4. Yo La Tengo - "Here to Fall" - Yo La Tengo excelled on Popular Songs whenever the topic was love. The love songs here are all gorgeous and in this one, even the dark times seem lovely. Sometimes things go wrong, but accepting the good with the bad is what a true relationship takes and "Here To Fall" is about being that crutch. It's a beautiful track and one of the most unique Yo La Tengo songs.

3. Julian Casablancas - "Left & Right in the Dark" - Julian Casablancas gets really introspective on Phrazes For the Young which is surprising as he was once a famous boozehound. His boozey voice still prevails on "Left & Right in the Dark" but it's the lyrical content and the catchiness of the hook that really sells it.

2. Franz Ferdinand - "Ulysses" - Surprisingly getting a #2 spot, Franz Ferdinand may have had a so-so record, but "Ulysses" is one of their finest songs, almost as good as "Do You Want To" and "Take Me Out." Something about Franz Ferdinand and their way to write a great single. A song about an overnight bender with plenty of sexy vocals care of Alex Kapranos and a guitar riff that savagely cuts into you, it's a track about partying for the sake of partying. It also has my favorite video of the year with it's Mean Streets vibe.

1. Mastodon - "The Last Baron" - A 13-minute prog epic isn't always likely to win the top spot, but 13 minutes seems too short for "The Last Baron." The finale of Crack the Skye is constantly changing and shifting track that goes through movements so fast it's hard to keep up. It's the perfect ending to one of the craziest concept albums ever. It has so many riffs it's hard to keep track of. That's whats good about it. Even at a long 13 minutes, you can't stop going back to it and picking apart all the layers. It's turly a masterpiece.

Top Ten Albums of 2009

10. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca It's an interesting turn of events that an album that was first hard for me to get into at all would land on a top ten list for this year in review of albums. However, Bitte Orca, as intense as it may be at times, is a fitfully beautiful record. The music is insanely orchestrated as well are the vocal arrangements. The flurry of female harmonies behind Dave Longstreth's trembling voice add an element of wonder and awe to the record. Album opener "Cannibal Resource" starts of as a standard pop track but quickly veers somewhere else into the world of avante garde. The whole album kind of reels you in back and forth in between traditional pop sounds and arrangements and then swirls in with interestingly structured vocals and off tempo drums or intricate guitars. A nice break from these intense tracks comes in the form of "Two Doves", a beautiful little song stripped down compared to the layers you will see on all other tracks. The closer, "Fluorescent Half Dome" is easily one of the strangest and most beguiling tracks of the year.




9. Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love - There is something to be said about the Canadian rock scene. It's been a refreshing escape at times from the artier stuff that prevails from places like Portland and NYC (and that isn't meant to sound like a cut.) Like it's doppelganger Black Mountain, Pink Mountaintops takes on a poppier element to the psych rock vibe. Mixing in "Wall of Sound" style reverb on tracks like "Axis: Thrones of Love" and with just as many voices layered like the Dirty Projectors record, the band creates a lush sound filled with sound. No empty spaces can be heard. Wether the droning guitars and fuzzed bass or the choir of vocals, there is no room for silence. Even on quieter tracks like "While You Were Dreaming" there is still a hum somewhere in the background to give the music depth of feel. Both Amber Webber and Stephen McBean take helm of the vocal work. Overall, Pink Mountaintops have found there sound after two experimental works. Outside Love is beautiful and shimmering with it's honest faithfullness to the rock of old.



8. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs - As Yo La Tengo albums go, Popular Songs has a distinctly nostalgic vibe to it. As I had said in an earlier post, this is the bands ode to pop music with a dash of their own sensibilities. From track one through nine, we get conventional pop songs. This doesn't take away from it as Yo La Tengo has reveled in 60's garage and psych pop for ages with their own unique twist (see "By Two's".) So a solid disc of 9 great pop songs and three experimental tracks (a droning raga of sorts in "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven", the ambient acoustic crackle of "The Fireside" and the noise guitar epic "And the Glitter is Gone.") These are fun diversions from the record but the best moments lie in the sunny side of tracks like the syrupy sweet love song "I'm On My Way" or the psychedelic ballad "Here To Fall." It's a solid outing that works best as a collection of what Tengo has done best over the past two decades.



7. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion - The more I go back to listening to this record the more I get it. At first I was just like "what?" But it captivated me enough to keep coming back. And the more and more I spun it, Merriweather Post Pavilion is truly a fantastic disc to listen to. I may be a flip-flopper to some going from not enjoying it to loving it but sometimes music has to grow on you. Where I was first truly captivated by this record was the song "Bluish." It's a cutesy song lyrically and musically it is a bubbly trip through a neon landscape. Something about this album is constantly percolating and warming. "Summertime Clothes" is a futuristic beach blanket jam and "My Girls" is a hypnotic travel through a grown up landscape filled with foreign and tribal sounds as well as an echoey Brian Wilson choir. The churning sway of Merriweather Post Pavilion may be the ingredient Animal Collective needed to get their strange avante pop music. They definitely caught my attention and now my admiration.



6. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic - Strange enough that this album also garnered the same reaction that Merriweather Post Pavilion did. The Flaming Lips last two efforts are glossy, well produced pysch rock with a sweet edge to them. Yoshimi will forever stand as one of the best albums I've ever heard so when I first put Embryonic on, it's abrasive Brillo pad edge threw me for a loop. Once I got over that I found the ridiculously great nature of this record. "The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine" may be an update of "One More Robot/ Sympathy 3000-21" but that is not to say it isn't something new as well. The hypnotic blips and bloops, the intensely fuzzed bass and drums constantly battling your ears and Wayne Coyne's signature existential lyrics in a haze of echo, this is the perfect space traveling acid rock track. "See The Leaves" starts as a similarly droning rocker and slips into a full on tribute to Saucerful of Secrets era Floyd. Something is much more dire and serious about this music and for that reason it makes it one of The Flaming Lips finest records. It may be a long daunting listen, but this double album has less lag moments then At War With the Mystics which I also love. That being said, Embryonic isn't as immediately catchy as other Flaming Lips records, but the process of it taking over your listening docket is inevitable. It's just a more harrowing experience and one that is likely to accompany many an acid trip for fans in the future.



5. Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young - In a surprising twist, The Strokes main man's first solo output, well belated after other members of the band tried their best at solo outings, comes a a sweet victory. As far as The Strokes go, it seemed as if they were unable to change or do something different with their sound on the last album. It turned out to just be a parody of their first two solid records. Thankfully Julian Casablancas finally dropped Phrazes for the Young and it is a refreshing piece of pop music mastery. Rather then the gritty CBGB influenced Is This It, Casablancas brings in synths and drum machines giving his solo stuff a different sound. Even if the first three tracks sound like Strokes songs, they sound like they were processed through a different lens giving the record a refreshing sound. Whether it be the extremely poppy "11th Dimension" or the brooding organ opening into guitar splashes on "4 Chords of the Apocalypse," we are treated to the same boozey goodness that Casablancas is known for. The stellar and introspective track "Left & Right In the Dark" is a fantastic song, if not one of the best tracks you will hear from 2009. It may be a paltry 8 tracks, but Phrazes For The Young never seems to lull and sometimes brevity is the way to go on an album.



4. Monsters of Folk - After a lot of debate, the triumphant super group from 2009 is the 4 headed beast of Monsters of Folk. Hardly a folk album, this collection of deliscious tracks takes the best of what M. Ward, Jim James, Connor Oberst and Mike Mogis can do in the studio. Songs like "Losing Yo Head" and "Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F)" could easily be heard as a My Morning Jacket track. "Sandman, Brakeman and Me" and "Slow Down Jo" is fresh off of an M. Ward disc and "Man Named Truth" drips of Bright Eyes. Although this sounds like it's a fruitless collaboration and more just a smattering of what each of these guys do on their own, there is a sense of magic and charm on the disc. The three voices come together and the insanely talented Mogis' production and guitar work make it something slightly different. Track highlights abound making Monsters of Folk easily one of the most fun listens of the year. Dare to not twist to "Whole Lotta Losin'" and try not to whistle along with Mogis' slide guitar on "The Right Place." It's infectiously good rock and roll that deserves it's constant rotation on your record player.



3. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - It's hard for me to detach the next three records as not deserving the top spot, but in any list there has to be some semblance of order. Phoenix, a band whose been at it for almost ten years, has finally been given their due time in the sun. From first listen of this record to now, there was no doubt it was the kind of album that would capture the hearts of many. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix may not be baroque like the titular composer, but it's beautiful music nonetheless. What Phoenix accomplishes with their instruments is fantastic. Try to discern the difference from a swirling synth line or just a completely effects driven guitar. It's not easy to do. "Listzomania" and "1901" are two fantastic pop songs that will probably be on rotation for some while. The trippy and utterly breathtaking "Love Like a Sunset (Parts 1 & 2)" are the pinnacle of experimentation with pop music. The first half being reminiscent of M83 and the second half being a short little appendage that ads an element of euphoria to the trip before makes it a stellar 1-2 Punch. "Rome" and "Girlfriend" will also find themselves lodged into the part of your brain that will never forget. A fantastic album that deserves listening on a summers day or in the dead cold of winter to warm your bones and put a smile on your face, Phoenix deserve much praise for the delightful album they've unleashed this year.


2. Antony & The Johnsons - The Crying Light - Antony and the Johnsons have easily made one of the most beautiful albums this year. The Crying Light is easily the best work Antony Hagerty has done on his own. It's a beautifully heartbreaking record to listen to. Themes of death, fragility of humanity and bodily deterrence is just fantastic. The lovely opener "Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground" sends chills down my spine with each listen. "Epilepsy is Dancing" shows the both sides of the beauty of humanity, all at once fragile and beautiful. "Another World" laments the loss of reality and pining for a better place. "The Crying Light" oozes with beauty and heartbreak. All throughout, Antony Heagerty's trembling voice seems like it's about to fall apart at the seams at any time yet it stays strong from start to finish. Antony and the Johnsons have explored themes of loss and love and romantic visions of a better place before but never so heart shattering. When "Everglade" hits at the end of the album, we get one last feeling of an atrophied body but a beautiful spirit that remains. It's utterly gorgeous. I haven't even mentioned how beautifully orchestrated this record is with it's sweeping strings, heartfelt woodwinds and gentle piano. The Crying Light is a treasure.




1. Mastodon - Crack the Skye - It should come as no surprise since I basically showed my hand with this record getting high marks on the Decade in Review section of this blog. And after reviewing this record several times, Crack the Skye is still the best thing I've heard all year, even if the margin between the lat two records is small. Mastodon went from a straight up hardcore thrash metal band on Remission and the brilliant Leviathan, moved to a more experimental bridge between both thrash metal and prog on Blood Mountain and created one of the best, no matter how convoluted, concept albums yet here on Ctrack the Skye. Hell, the band even managed to make a metal track bittersweet as the album is highly influenced by Brann Dailor's loss of a sister (named Skye) to the tragedy of suicide. Beyond those crazy plot lines of golden umbillical chords and Rasputin, the music explodes with precision on fury. Many fans were turned off by the different direction, but I applaud the band for doing something different. All to often in the realm of Metal music, bands get stuck in their ways or just play the same shit over and over. When you hear the surf rock soloing on "Divinations" or have your mind exploded through each movement of "The Last Baron," Crack the Skye is an intense sonic journey. "Ghost of Karelia" is reminiscent of Tool while the titular track thrashes with the best in the Mastodon catalog. It's an undeniable masterpiece and an album that has a power and might all its own.



This was an interesting year. Usual stand-by favorites either lacked the ability to spark my listening (Wilco, Franz Ferdinand) or just barely missed this list (The Raveonettes, Dinosaur Jr., Air, Islands are all runners up.) Regardless, it seemd like a year of artists or bands that at first seemed unlikeable or just too strange slowly grew on me. Regardless, 2009 was a tasty year.