The Top 50 Albums of 2009

The Top 50 Albums of 2009

Here's a quick list of my top 9 albums from the past year (in no particular order):
1) Wavves "Wavvves"
2) Japandroids "Post-Nothing"
3) The Big Pink "A Brief History of Love"
4) Deerhunter "Rainwater Cassette Exchange"
5) The Drums "Summertime"
6) Nirvana "Live at Reading"
7) Jay-Z "The Blueprint 3"
8) Third Eye Blind "Ursa Major"
9) Weezer "Raditude"

Honorable Mentions: Lady Gaga "The Fame Monster", Pearl Jam "Backspacer", Built to Spill "There Is No Enemy", No Age "Losing Feeling", Lightening Bolt "Earthly Delights", Them Crooked Vultures, and a few reissues that I won't take time to name.

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

The liner notes from Pavement's "Brighten The Corners" list the members of the band under the heading 'The Nicene Creeders'. Similar to the original Nicene Creed, I find it interesting how the perceived importance of many indie/lo-fi rock groups is almost primed and ready for revisionist history.

Are we talking about Istanbul or Constantinople?

Per the 'Nicene Creed' Wikipedia entry - "The purpose of a creed is to act as a yardstick of correct belief. The creeds of Christianity have been drawn up at times of conflict about doctrine: acceptance or rejection of a creed served to distinguish believers and deniers of a particular doctrine or set of doctrines."

Looking into the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, commonly called the Nicene Creed, brings attention to the fact that doubt has been cast on whether this is technically the original Nicene Creed, an adaptation of the original, or an all together new creed.

Well apparently the Nicene Creed, a supposed "yardstick of correct belief", was revised later on to fully encompass the true feelings of those of that particular doctrine.

Are we talking about Istanbul or Constantinople?

The parallel to the modern day Nicene Creeders of indie rock is almost uncanny. Taking Pavement as the example, they started the 90's by releasing a (now) landmark album and ended that decade in the throes of a breakup. Ten years later, their history has been revised in the minds of most of us to fully encompass what we truly feel when looking around at the current state of music, and only now truly appreciating the early musical efforts of that band.

Gone are the whispers of sloppy shows and inner turmoil. Yes, intellectually we know what happened, but now it's all forgotten and even part of the mystique. Above it all, they are selling out whole festivals. The 'yardstick' has been reworked.

Pavement... we finally appreciate you.

Day 1 with Deerhunter

I have officially entered the world of 'workaholism'.

I knew I was there as I trudged into work - on a day when there were a total of three people in my entire building - to "set up shop" for the next 8 hours.

I picked up the new Deerhunter CD "Microcastle/Weird Era Continued" a couple of days ago at CD Central. I have probably listened to both CD's in their entirety 9 times, and I must say if you've ever felt as though you were never gonna get out of something - no matter how bad you wanted to - but at the same time you didn't really care enough to try, then that pretty much sums up my experience listening to "Microcastle/Weird Era Continued".

Microcastle:
This collection of songs starts off by setting up a mood in "Cover Me (Slowly)" that can only be understood after listening through the next four songs. You start off slow, build through the superb trio of "Agoraphobia", "Never Stops", and "Little Kids" before slowing back down with "Microcastle". It's a bell curve, and on a day like today you ride that bell curve over every twist and turn. After "Microcastle", Act II begins with "Calvary Scars", and this, along with the next two songs, sets up the standout of the album - "Nothing Ever Happened". I'm starting to agree with that sentiment. That song punctuates another fine trio of songs, including "Saved By Old Times" and "Neither of Us. Uncertainly", before the album drones to a close with the final number.
Weird Era Continued:
Here's the thing about Weird Era Continued - I like it just as much as, if not more than, Microcastle. Kudos to any band that can concurrently release two CD's chock full of terrific material. This is a great listen, highlighted by "Operation", "Vox Celeste", and "Focus Group". All the while "Backspace Century", "Dot Gain", "VHS Dream", and numerous others are no slackers either.

Here's my advice. Put each of these CD's on at the same time in two different rooms in your house (or in my case, my place of employment) and hit 'Repeat All'. Prepare for the weird era to continue at least for another day.

JT Ess