Critical Mob’s Top 25 Albums of 2009
By Critical MobMan, what a weird year. Somebody we loved seemed to die unexpectedly every third day, with Vic Chesnutt's Christmas Eve suicide the poisoned cherry on top of the crap sundae. The breakout YouTube star of the year looked like your school cafeteria lady, and former critical darlings brought out their latest works to bemused shrugs. (Really, does anyone even remember that Antony and the Johnsons released an album in 2009?) Meanwhile, artists who had fairly recently been hipster-only secrets (Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective) showed up on late night chat shows and had their songs shoehorned into TV soundtracks, and artists who had been at that bubbling-under level for what seemed like ages -- Neko Case most spectacularly -- finally made their career-defining albums. This is how bizarre 2009 was: The Decemberists had their biggest-ever mainstream commercial success, not with a watered-down feint towards the pop charts, but with a full-blown concept album about witches and child murderers that sounds more like Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull than Lady Gaga. Hell, that Lady Gaga is the default mainstream pop star of 2009 proves the point: it's been a weird damn year. And that's how we like it.
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 Merriweather Post PavilionAnimal CollectiveFocuses freewheeling experimentalism into relatively concise song structures >> |
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 Everything Is NewJack PenateEuphoric and melodic pop from Jack Peñate, an artist written off two years ago. >> |
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 VeckatimestGrizzly BearAmbient meets acoustic in a bewitching sonic space >> |
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 The Hazards Of LoveThe DecemberistsAn unabashed and entirely successful concept album >> |
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 Wolfgang Amadeus PhoenixPhoenixFrench popsters almost completely reinvent their sound, for the better, on their fourth album. >> |
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 My Maudlin CareerCamera ObscuraWinningly winsome melodies and sparkling pop-savvy vision >> |
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 Fever RayFever RayBeautiful, frightening, and incredibly fascinating. >> |
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 CatacombsCass McCombsShaking off some of the aggressive quirkiness. >> |
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 XXThe xxPerfectly composed and intensely subdued pop songs about sex and longing and sweet sweet angst. >> |
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 Bonfires on the HeathThe ClienteleWispy, dreamy psych-pop. >> |
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 Sometimes I Wish We Were An EagleBill CallahanMore Leonard Cohen than Jackson Browne. >> |
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 Waxing GibbousMalcolm MiddletonSparkling, elegant, pop-friendly. >> |
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 Popular SongsYo La TengoNearly 25 years after their first release, the Hoboken trio still sounds fresh and vibrant >> |
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 Adventure ManEg WhiteSharply crafted melodies call to mind everything from The Style Council to Steely Dan >> |
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 Set 'Em Wild Set 'Em FreeAkron/FamilyMoving forward after founder's departure. >> |
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 SpoilsAlasdair RobertsForeign, fantastical, and forward-looking >> |
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 Dark Was The NightVarious ArtistsCovers and collaborations joining some of the era’s finest voices in intriguing new combinations >> |
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 A Woman A Man Walked ByPJ HarveyPerhaps the singer-songwriter's most musically and emotionally varied work so far >> |
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 ActorSt. VincentAnnie Clark's self-assured second album features more complex songs, catchier hooks, and greater emotional shading in its lyrics >> |
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 Lindstrom and Prins Thomas IILindstrom and Prins ThomasElectrorganic space disco for the masses >> |
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 BewareBonnie Prince BillyWell-crafted country-pop meets more experimental sounds, with substantial, rock-solid songwriting and rich, varied arrangements >> |
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 Dark Days/Light YearsSuper Furry AnimalsGlam-rocking guitars, burbly vintage synths and groovy freakbeat rhythms underpin the solidly upbeat songs >> |
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 Life of LeisureWashed OutLike an old OMD record that’s been pulled off the ocean floor >> |
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 ManafonDavid SylvianSome of his most intriguing lyrics and memorable melodies in years >> |
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 Altogether Now (Birds Bees Flowers Trees)Patrick & EugeneWhimsical trad-jazz meets bouncy dance grooves. >> |
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