I’ve finally decided to give in and post my Top-25. With so many things to review it’s easy to slack but I gotta get down to BUSiness here.
A few bands endeared themselves to me especially heavily this year, for the first time: Tonestartssbandht (the only group with more than one album), The Fresh & Onlys (whom I’ve been raving about all year) and Ganglians.
They made 2009 particularly interesting, but there was a whole lot of goodness goin’ down. Whether Anfang, Sylvester, O-Rod (Omar Rodriguez-Lopez), Locrian or the always-unpredictable Broadcast, ’09 was a year of teeming creativity.
And so it is, my Top-Two-fizzle. My nizzle:
1. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post-Pavillion
2. Tonestartssbandht – An When
3. The Fresh & Onlys – Grey-Eyed Girls
4. Ganglians – Monster Head Room
5. Sylvester Anfang II – s/t
6. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Old Money
7. Broadcast/The Focus Group – Witch Trials
8. Gay Beast – Second Wave
9. Sunn O))) – Monoliths & Dimensions
10. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
11. Boredoms – Super Roots 10
12. Thee Oh Sees – Zork’s Tape Bruise
13. Blank Dogs – Under and Under
14. Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. – Dark Side of the Black Moon
15. Dan Deacon – Bromst
16. Oneida – Rated O
17. Crocodiles – Summer of Hate
18. Doom – Born Like This
19. Titus Andronicus – The Airing of Grievances
20. Racebannon + Merzbow = Merzbannon
21. The Darlings – Yeah I Know
22. Mincemeat Or Tenspeed – Strange Gods
23. Awol One & Factor – Owl Hours
24. Tonestartssbandht – Dick Nights
25. Lotus Plaza – The Floodlight Collective
Excellent list Gumshoe! So many outstanding albums from 2009 that I still need to check out, like that Flaming Lips one, Sunn O))), Fresh & Onlys, and Thee Oh Sees.
Glad to see Gay Beast on there – that video was wicked. And I’m totally with you on Darlings and Crocodiles… big fan of the fuzz.
hey thanks, what a great year it was, sniffle! oh god “Embryonic”, i barely even cracked that one open. also, just got those Darlings interview questions back, i’ll zip them over …
Zork’s Tape Bruise? How do I not have this. Loooovvve that Blank Dogs record.
KZUU has a top 30… AnCo 1 as well, DOOM, and Deacon on their too.
I was pretty disappointed with Old Money, especially since it was on Stones Throw.
Props for that Awol One pick, def underrated.
aww, you no like Old Money? Jesus, I love that thing … the Zork’s Tape Bruise is a LP + CD combo that’s getting more and more tough to find. just saw it for $50 on eBay but that’s stupid … if you wait a good deal will come … Yeah, I think Animal Collective made #1 on just about everyone’s list, Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes, and many more … probably the easiest choice for #1 since Panda Bear’s “Person Pitch” in ’07!