Jake Smart’s Best Albums and Songs of 2009

Best Albums

1. The Antlers – Hospice
No album has had this kind of emotional scope since The Moon & Antarctica. The album is based on the story of a man watching a child he loves pass away in a hospital. This is heavy stuff and you’ll feel it. What makes this album so great, though, is that it offsets the pain with moments of triumph. The song “Kettering” displays the utter defeat that much of the album is fueled by, but songs like “Two” and “Bear” suggest hints that the person is beginning to come to terms with death and can still find joy in life and memories. Maybe this all sounds like a downer, but it’s an album that needs to be experienced.

2. Japandroids – Post-Nothing
This is the antithesis of the album of the year. This album isn’t trying to win you over with sincerity. Post-Nothing gave indie music a much needed shot in the arm of punk. There’s not much depth here. Just a couple of guys who want to play as hard and fast as they can and tell us how cool it would be to “French kiss some French girls.” Which you have to admit sounds pretty great.

3. Animal Collective – Merriwether Post Pavilion
Every diehard fan, regardless of the band, will always claim that their favorite band’s early work is their best. But this is simply not the case with this album. This is hands down the best Animal Collective album to date. It’s the result of the band letting go of trying to be inventive and weird and just saying screw it, let’s just make music people are going to love, and then blowing us away as the result. I only wish Radiohead followed suit.

4. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
By far the BIGGEST album of the year. It not only took by Billboard by storm but led Jay-Z to personally rep for the band. Veckatimest will be most critics’ favorite album of the year, but its popularity and hype are somewhat disproportionate to the actual album. The greatness of “Two Weeks” and “While You Wait for the Others” completely overshadowed the fact that this album had some forgettable and skippable moments. I only say this because it was starting to feel like Grizzly Bear gave us a new Revolver or something. It’s not a timeless classic, but it’s pretty damn close.

5. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
I got really into this album and the tv show Friday Night Lights this year and I’m starting to think of them more and more in the same terms. Neither is all that original but I can’t pull myself away from either. Sometimes you just want some fun, mindless entertainment and Phoenix delivered in spades.

6. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There are Mountains
This is an album that only a 19 year could release. It embraces everything that is great about being young. It’s angry, raw, loud, and sincere; basically all those things we start to lose as we get older. The albums brightest moment “And the Hazy Sea” holds nothing back and inspires all of us old guys to try to rediscover that passion that we probably lost.

7. Pomegranates – Everybody Come Outside
This is just a great album. Sometimes I have a difficult time explaining why an album is great, which makes me question why I even spend time critically reviewing an album. This album is hard to put your finger on and pinpoint why it so good. It’s good in the same way that Talking Heads albums are good; a perfect blend of melodic and weird. But that doesn’t properly explain this albums greatness either. You know what, screw it. Go buy the album and see for yourself. You won’t regret it.

8. Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
Spencer Krug is a weird dude. I’m not sure how much I would want to hang out with a guy who pens lyrics about sacrificial virgins and mother’s who eat babies. I don’t think I’ll ever enter into the weird world Krug lives in but I its soundtrack is amazing.

9. Built to Spill - There is No Enemy
A new Built to Spill album is kind of like a lunch packed by your mom. It’s predictable, but you know it’s going to be good. There is No Enemy was just that, but with a little more this time. Songs like “Hindsight” and “Nowhere Lullaby” with their prominent steel guitars, show the band embracing an almost alt-country vibe. Built to Spill rarely tinker with their sound, but There is No Enemy finds Doug Martsch mixing things up a bit. It’s kind of like those rare days when you got a pop-tart up thrown in.

10. The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa
I like to think of this album as what the Lion the King soundtrack would have sounded like if it featured Moby instead of Elton John. I swear that’s a compliment. A lot of bands are trying to harness African influences, but DJ Radio Clit realized the best way was to actually use African musicians. DJ Radio Clit is able to capture the sound that bands like Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective and Yeasayer pine for by working with real African musicians. The wonderfully talented vocalist Esau Mwamwaya gives this album the feel of Africa that other bands can only pray for.

Best Songs

1. Two Weeks – Grizzly Bear
2. Walkabout – Atlas Sound (ft. Noah Lennox)
3. 1901 – Phoenix
4. My Girls – Animal Collective
5. Brothersport – Animal Collective
6. Two – The Antlers
7. Wet Hair – Japandroids
8. Blood Bank – Bon Iver
9. Warm Heart of Africa – The Very Best (ft. Ezra Koenig)
10. While You Wait for the Others – Grizzly Bear
11. You Go on Ahead – Sunset Rubdown
12. Lisztomania – Phoenix
13. Young Hearts Spark Fire – Japandroids
14. And the Hazy Sea – Cymbals Eat Guitars
15. Aisle 13 – Built to Spill
16. Anonanimal – Andrew Bird (based mainly on its live performance)
17. Corriander – Pomegranates
18. My Mirror Speaks – Death Cab for Cutie
19. I’m Confused – Handsome Furs
20. Now We Can See – Thermals
21. Pieces – Dinosaur Jr.
22. Summers – Loney Dear
23. Guide to Edible Flora – Touching Earth Made of Steel
24. However Long – Jason Isbell
25. Bear – Antlers