EPT
DL links included for some stuff!
+ Show Spoiler [Honorable Mentions] +
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns: a worthy follow-up to her debut, and had one of the year's best singles in "Daniel". Also she is super hot and mesmerizing on stage.
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix: sort of encapsulated 2009's trends in indepop. Catchy record, and another one of the year's best singles ("1901").
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport: kickass, in your face, abrasive, fucking awesome. Might deserve a higher spot for ingenuity but I think the record's only standouts are "Surf Solar" and "Lisbon Maru".
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns: not much to say, just yet another good but pretty run-of-the mill folk-leaning indierock album from Canada. I listened to this album a lot this summer, until I shared it with the girl I was seeing and she told me that the band was recorded poorly and all the tracks sounded flat.
Animal Collective - MPP: tbh this was the most overhyped album of 2009. It was ingenious in a lot of ways, but always sounded like shit to me (for the most part). It's here because "My Girls" owns 2009.
Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light: bare bones synthpop. They can get away with it because they're three girls and so their voices sound sweet. By far their best. Good album for late night listening, very delicate sort of sound.
Bowerbirds - Upper Air: I fell in love with "Northern Lights" this summer.
10. Delorean - Ayrton Senna
![[image loading]](http://www.sweetslyrics.com/poze/ayrton-senna-200.jpeg)
Yeah it's just an EP, but this is some of the year's catchiest pop. Delorean has the potential to differentiate themselves from the legions of mediocre bloghouse remix squads with a good full-length album in the vein of Ayrton Senna…fingers crossed.
I listened to this album: loud driving around this summer, and on vacation flights.
Best track: Big Dipper
Download (I think)
9. Mew - No More Stories / Are Told Today / I'm Sorry / They Washed Away / No More Stories / The World Is Grey / I'm Tired / Let's Wash Away
![[image loading]](http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q166/xrayz75/Mew-NoMoreStories.jpg)
Mew has been making borderline-great stuff for a while now, but they truly brought it together for No More Stories (don't expect anything better than this). This the sort of album that you'll find a new favorite track on every time you play it.
I listened to this album: at the gym this summer, especially "New Terran" and "Introducing Palace Players".
Best track: Hawaii
8. Royksopp - Junior
![[image loading]](http://pstereo.net/site/wp-content/uploads/royksopp-junior.jpg)
Another record that's the culmination of a lot of years of good music…Royksopp fans can't be disappointed and as a casual Royksopp listener who always felt their stuff was lacking good hooks this album was a dream come true.
I listened to this album: through my phone's speakers while biking to and from my favorite field for napping, during spring. Also loud in my dorm room with all the windows open when the weather was just starting to get nice
Best track: You Don't Have a Clue
7. Girls - Album
![[image loading]](http://www.inthenews.co.uk/photo/girls-album-$7044398$300.jpg)
I inadvertently saw these guys when they opened for The Pains in SF this summer (a few months before their record dropped) and didn't think they were anything special. So I was surprised to see music people gushing over Album, but I gave it a listen and found out why. The lyrics make this music. And it's pretty much a Beach Boys homage, which is cool.
I listened to this album: in Rite Aid drunk buying cereal and milk at 3:00AM
Best track: Headache
Download
6. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
![[image loading]](http://www.cokemachineglow.com/images/8910.gif)
I had to listen to this one four or five times before I got a feel for its sound. Aside from "Two Weeks" the instrumentation has a lot of depth. Grizzly Bear takes this weird, syncopated brand of folky music (that lots of bands tried in 2009) and makes it actually enjoyable to listen to.
I listened to this album: in headphones, laying on my couch trying to read about the Ottoman Empire for a class this spring; walking to play tennis with my brother
Best track: hard to decide, I'll pick Ready, Able since it's what got me hooked
5. Discovery - LP
![[image loading]](http://www.melophobe.com/images/fifty/01-discovery-lp.jpg)
Shallow though it is, this was the album that defined my summer. Dudes who made this (one from Vampire Weekend, blech, and another from Ra Ra Riot) captured a lot of sort of stupid trends in pop and worked them into a dangerously catchy record that seemed to fit my summer perfectly.
I listened to this album: walking to play frisbee and soccer, getting ready to go out on hot summer nights
Best track: Swing Tree
Download
4. Pictureplane - Dark Rift
![[image loading]](http://blogs.denverpost.com/reverb/wp-content/photos/pictureplane.jpg)
Almost no musical integrity, but who gives a fuck? This is 2009 in dance music: reverb, chopped up voice samples, heavily clipped beats, and wicked synth hooks. If you have ever enjoyed shitty techno (as I did all through high school) you will die for Dark Rift.
I listened to this album: at his show (the first one I went to in my new home Philly), getting ready to go out with new friends during the first few weeks of law school, through headphones while dancing around my apartment
Best track: Goth Star
Download
3. Passion Pit - Manners
![[image loading]](http://webersmusic.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/passion-pit-manners.jpg)
Everything that fans of Chunk of Change could have hoped for in an LP (well, maybe aside from the fact that they fucked up "Sleepyhead" with that stupid sample that sounds like mermaids singing). Happy, hot weather music; if this doesn't make you want to dance, there is something wrong with you. I will say though, going to see these guys over AC was one of the biggest mistakes I made in concertgoing this year. Entirely missable live.
I listened to this album: as the weather was just starting to get hot; in the car with my friend Joanna; while dancing horribly with SF hipsters at a bar
Best track: Swimming in the Flood, but Little Secrets is probably the defining song
Download
2. The xx - xx
![[image loading]](http://content.dx3.net/FulWebMain/0003426755.image)
So simple, yet so good. At first I thought its b-side was boring but that's just because I wasn't paying enough attention. The xx are the sort of band who I listen to just for "their sound" as opposed to any specific lyrics or melody. Oh and this album is now top on my list of albums to have sex to.
If you want a kick, go back and listen to the first track off Young Marble Giants' Colossal Youth. Striking…you can see where these guys have their roots.
I listened to this album: while studying at the law school; while writing the last of my articles for TL; as summer faded; at my friend Tyler's place, until he got annoyed at how chilled out it was
Best track: Crystalized is where you should start, but every single one is great in its own little way
Download
1. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
![[image loading]](http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u339/Glas2008/AshesGrammar-1.jpg)
2009's most underrated release and the defining album of my year. A Philadelphia band that I got into just after moving from CA to Philadelphia—somehow this music did more to welcome me to the city than any person I've met here. Difficult to classify: at the intersection of dreampop, chamber pop, and shoegaze. An album that maintains tons of depth and incredible continuity despite changing melodies often, sometimes multiple times per track. If you like music just do yourself a favor and get your hands on this album and then set aside some time to listen to it (preferably in some good headphones). So satisfying right through to the epic electronic fuzz that caps "Headphone Space".
They played the last show of their tour here in Philadelphia last night, and I missed it because I was studying for my torts exam this morning. Fuck.
I listened to this album: while studying; while walking to and from school; while the weather got cooler; in headphones on vinyl laying on my living room floor
Best track: Shy and Passionate Introverts are catchiest, but it's all sublime
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