Staff Picks: Tony Martin’s Top 11 Records of 2009

With winter upon us and just table scraps coming our way for the rest of the year, its time I settled down in my little broken recliner and make my yearly list. So, with Sportscenter on mute and my headphones on, it’s time to go.

Honorable Mention:
11. Brother Ali – Us
As a kid hooked on almost any half credible Rhymesayers act for any number of years will tell you, in hindsight most of those rappers sucked. One emcee who has consistently gotten better though, Brother Ali, dropped “Us” this year and it’s his best effort to date. It’s all tightly produced and the beats are out of this world.

The List:
10. Paper Mice – Paint it Pink
All there is to say about Paper Mice is that they sound like the Minutemen, with their funky guitar lines and even funkier bass work. Also, it helps that they are just fun as hell to listen to.

09. The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate
Never being a big death metal guy, the sheer speed that these dudes play with still blows me away. The Black Dahlia Murder is just a bunch of metalheads who happen to be incredibly technical musicians in every aspect of the word, and its pretty rad. Also scores points for being a breath of fresh air in an overcrowded genre of fashion models playing breakdowns to 15 year olds.

08. Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II
If Wu-Tang was punk rock, Raekwon the Chef would be the Velvet Underground. He always comes up with the coolest ideas: a hip hop concept album about a crime boss? Well, I’m actually being half sarcastic about that, but there is no denying that I feel like the Chef and Lou Reed would get along well in a dark room somewhere, sipping intoxicants. For the record, ODB would be the Germs, RZA would be the Damned, GZA would be the Ramones, Ghostface would be the Sex Pistols, and Masta Killa would be Richard Hell. Awesome.

07. Propagandhi – Supporting Caste
When this era in music is looked at by future students of Pitchfork Community Colleges around the world, I sure hope they don’t forget Propaghandhi. They are a pillar of punk rock both musically and idealistically, and their albums always seem to leave me feeling charged up and ready to fight against the fascists. This album thrashes like a punk album shouldn’t, and has more melody than any lame NOFX album I’ve ever loved.

06. Eyedea and Abilities – By the Throat
This is some awesome hip hop. As I mentioned before, Eyedea and Abilities are one of those few Rhymesayers acts that don’t totally suck, and on “By the Throat”, they expand their sound so significantly it made me feel like DJ Abilities could be the next Danger Mouse or Dan the Automator (see: Producers loved by white people). Seriously though, to hear Eyedea’s manic rants over a thick guitar drone and hip hop bass sounds way better than you think it would based on this sentence.

05. Andrew Jackson Jihad – Can’t Maintain
Ignore the whole “Dylan goes electric” stigma, because its just going to be a waste of time. This album rocks, and this folk punk duo is actually evolving. Not in the way that most of these types of bands usually evolve (playing in an anarchist bookstore instead of a Laundromat), but in a tangible, sonic way. And as a music critic and a musician, “We Didn’t Come Here To Rock” makes me hate myself in a proud way. It’s weird.

04. Bomb the Music Industry! – Scrambles
Seriously, how can I take myself seriously? It seems like every year this band puts out another 6^th wave post-punk-skacore-speed emo-dancehall hardcore and I always put it in my top five. The problem has to be that I play it every day for about three months after it comes out, and I remember it so clearly and associate memories with it. And while that’s pretty fucking lame to say, it’s true. So deal with it.

03. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
Ingredients for a terrible album: Overarching concept (check), unreal levels of storytelling pretentiousness (check), dude with glasses that most likely walked out of a Daytrotter session or NPR studios or John Hodgeman’s apartment less than five minutes ago (check), and most of all: multiple narration perspectives within the context of whimsical folk rock (check). And you know what? IT RULES. The success of this album can be summed up in one word: riffs. There are so many of them its spellbinding. We are talking 70s prog rock, arena-filling, head-banging, air-guitar playing, RIFFS. One of the things that unite us as human beings is our love of just balls out riffs, and for that reason I suggest everyone check out this record. Yup, even Crass fans.

02. Mastodon – Crack the Skye
This is an album that I have as a lock for the top of my end of the decade lists, simply because it sounds so timeless. It was made to be a favorite album, to be played over and over and talked about and mentioned in holy regards among all the pot you are probably smoking when this is on. It’s a stoner metal album for the masses, and it’s got that whole same “completely unrealistic and kind of lame concept” thing going for it as the Decemberists record. It will be an album that many metalheads (myself included) will be listening to for a very long time.

01. Baroness – Blue Record
For the last two months, it has been a back and forth battle between this record and “Crack the Skye”, and rightfully so: both of them are from Georgia and play a similar type of sludge stoner metal. The realization I came to, however, is that “Blue Record” just grooves harder. Every song is a classic. As I look at the track listing, I realized that there isn’t one song that I would want to skip over. Very few albums can do that, and this record does it flawlessly. The guitars are out of this world, and the vocals are everything I love about Midwest punk and Level Plane Hardcore. Think Planes Mistaken for Stars and Hot Water Music, but make it like 250% more badass, add the insane musicianship, and guitar tones that feel like a searing sword of all that is face melting rock and roll and you might have an idea of what Baroness is like. Maybe. Kinda. Just listen to it.

Maybe Crass fans wouldn’t be that into “Hazards” but I digress.