The end of the decade is nearing a close as we here at The Yellow Stereo present to you our favorite albums of 2009. Even though we haven’t been around since the start of the decade, I want to say on my behalf that it’s been an absolute joy doing running this blog for you guys for at least the past three or so years. Hopefully, we can ride this ship far into the years that are yet to come.
Joining the usual crew this year were (Pablo and Val) were two new writers, Nathan and Bianca, who you may not have seen too often around here, but hopefully will figure more prominently once the new year begins. We’ve had others that have come and gone, but it shouldn’t be surprising — I mean, I don’t pay anyone to help out.
Without further ado, let’s get to the goods shall we? Also, we would love to hear your favorites in the comments, so please feel free to let us know since we love seeing comments/feedback from you guys.
The Yellow Stereo’s Albums of 2008
The Yellow Stereo’s Albums of 2007
The Yellow Stereo’s Albums of 2006
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PJ’s List
It’s definitely been a rough year for me, as many things contributed to me completely falling off the blog radar for a while over the past twelve months. But with all of the negative that may have happened, there’s also been a few shining spots, including finally getting out of Alabama and moving here to Salt Lake City. With the new scenery change, I can promise the blog will be better than ever in the new year.
As far as my list goes, it primarily favors the early half of the year, as I quite honestly didn’t listen to much music the past couple of months. I’m sure that I’ll still be listening to albums from this year well into the next, so hopefully you guys can cut me some slack if there are any glaring holes in my list.
Since I didn’t bother to rank my list, if I had to choose my #1 it would definitely (or obviously?) be The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. It’s the only record that I completely loved from beginning to end, as evident from how many times I mentioned it on this blog. It’s music that wants you to remember your years as that naive teenager without a worry in the world. It’s Indiepop that wears its heart on its sleeve and wants the world to know about it. C-86 is alive and well in 2009, and these guys brought it to the masses in droves.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
MP3: “Young Adult Friction”
MP3: “Come Saturday”
MP3: “Everything With You”
Video: “Young Adult Friction”
Video: “Everything With You”
Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavillion
MP3: “My Girls”
Video: “In the Flowers”
Video: “My Girls”
Video: “Summertime Clothes”
Reverie Sound Revue
Reverie Sound Revue
MP3: “An Anniversary Away”
MP3: “Arrows”
Video: “You Don’t Exist If I Don’t See You”
Video: “An Anniversary Away”
Grizzly Bear
Veckatimest
MP3: “Cheerleader”
Video: “Two Weeks”
Video: “While You Wait For The Others”
Burning Hearts
Aboa Sleeping
MP3: “Iris”
MP3: “Close to Her”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
It’s Blitz
MP3: “Hysteric”
Video: “Heads Will Roll”
Video: “Zero”
Fanfarlo
Reservoir
MP3: “Harold T Wilkins”
MP3: “I’m A Pilot”
MP3: “Luna”
MP3: “Finish Line”
Video: “The Walls Are Coming Down”
Video: “Harold T Wilkins”
Video: “Fire Escape”
St. Vincent
Actor
MP3: “The Strangers”
Video: “Marrow”
Video: “Actor Out Of Work”
Phoenix
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
MP3: “1901″
Video: “1901″
Video: “Lisztomania”
Bat For Lashes
Two Suns
MP3: “Daniel”
MP3: “Glass”
Video: “Daniel”
Video: “Sleep Alone”
Video: “Moon and Moon”
Video: “Pearl’s Dream”
Summer Cats
Songs For Tuesdays
MP3: “Hey You”
MP3: “Super”
Video: “Lonely Planet”
Video: “Super”
Rose Melberg
Homemade Ship
MP3: “Things That We Do”
MP3: “Old Days”
Asobi Seksu
Hush
MP3: “Familiar Light”
MP3: “Me & Mary”
Video: “Transparence”
Video: “Me & Mary”
Röyksopp
Junior
MP3: “The Girl And The Robot”
Video: “This Must Be It”
Video: “The Girl And The Robot”
Video: “Happy Up Here”
Dirty Projectors
Bitte Orca
MP3: “Stillness Is the Move”
Video: “Stillness is the Move”
Honorable Mention:
Memory Tapes :: Seek Magic
Telekinesis! :: Telekinesis!
Sunset Rubdown :: Dragonslayer
Neko Case :: Middle Cyclone
God Help The Girl :: God Help The Girl
Atlas Sound :: Logos
The Clientele :: Bonfires on the Heath
Pants Yell! :: Received Pronunciation
Girls :: Album
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Pablo’s List
This year I decided to simplify my list-making, since any time I order the list I end up wishing I could change the list as soon as I’m done with it. So, I looked at the albums I enjoyed the most without hoping for any specific number of albums, but I only included the albums that really found there way to repeat over and over again. There were a bunch more I enjoyed through the year, but here’s the handful I really loved:
Andrew Bird
Noble Beast
MP3: “Oh No”
Video: Anonanimal
Video: “Fitz and the Dizzyspells”
Bat for Lashes
Two Suns
MP3: “Daniel”
MP3: “Glass”
Video: “Daniel”
Video: “Sleep Alone”
Video: “Moon and Moon”
Video: “Pearl’s Dream”
Bibio
Ambivalence Avenue / Vignetting the Compost
MP3: “Lover’s Carvings”
Video: “Top Soil”
Video: “Mr. & Mrs. Compost”
Video: “Torn Under The Window Light”
Fanfarlo
Reservoir
MP3: “Harold T Wilkins”
MP3: “I’m A Pilot”
MP3: “Luna”
MP3: “Finish Line”
Video: “The Walls Are Coming Down”
Video: “Harold T Wilkins”
Video: “Fire Escape”
Florence & the Machine
Lungs
MP3: “Kiss With A Fist”
Video: “Dog Days Are Over”
Video: “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)”
Video: “Drumming Song”
Video: “Kiss With A Fist”
Video: “You’ve Got The Love”
Grizzly Bear
Veckatimest
MP3: “Cheerleader”
Video: “Two Weeks”
Video: “While You Wait For The Others”
Japandroids
Post-Nothing
MP3: “Wet Hair”
Mos Def
The Ecstatic
Phoenix
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
MP3: “1901″
Video: “1901″
Video: “Lisztomania”
Röyksopp
Junior
MP3: “The Girl And The Robot”
Video: “This Must Be It”
Video: “The Girl And The Robot”
Video: “Happy Up Here”
St. Vincent
Actor
MP3: “The Strangers”
Video: “Marrow”
Video: “Actor Out Of Work”
Various Artists
Dark was the Night
MP3: Dirty Projectors & David Byrne :: “Knotty Pine”
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Val’s List
Not a fantastic year for new releases…but there are a few gems in there. And I’ll go ahead and say that this year was better than 2008.
10. Real Estate
Real Estate
When I was growing up in an oceanfront city, the kids I went to high school with thought “Beach Music” meant teen-friendly punk rock. When I went to college in North Carolina, everyone who’d ever vacationed at tourist traps further south seemed to think that “Beach Music” meant some sort of cheesy Buffett-inspired slow jams. I think Real Estate probably has a better idea than both groups of schoolmates as to what should really soundtrack a trip through sand-covered sidewalks. The songs on their self-titled debut are as hazy as the humid atmosphere and as relaxing as waves.
MP3: “Snow Days”
9. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
You might have caught on that PJ can be pretty good at catching good things before everyone else does (Thanks! – Ed..) and that happened in a big way with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They also win this year’s Vampire Weekend award…as the band that was hyped WAY WAY too much…but for all the right reasons. With nods to bands like Velocity GIrl and My Bloody Valentine, you’re going to turn to this album halfway through 2010 and realize that songs like “Come Saturday” and “Young Adult Friction” are still pretty fantastic.
MP3: “Young Adult Friction”
MP3: “Come Saturday”
MP3: “Everything With You”
Video: “Young Adult Friction”
Video: “Everything With You”
8. St. Vincent
Actor
When everyone got on the St. Vincent bandwagon the first time around, I didn’t really find her album appealing as a whole. Annie Clark has a wonderful voice, sure, but wow did she put the pieces together for Actor. It’s just more complete and more interesting lyrically and sonically than the debut.
MP3: “The Strangers”
Video: “Marrow”
Video: “Actor Out Of Work”
7. Deleted Scenes
Birdseed Shirt
One of DC’s most interesting bands has created a better mix CD than you could have thought of. Acoustic and emotional? Done. High octane and high energy? Sure. Drunken country bar song? That’s in there. Suburban reggaeton? Yeah…that, too. Neutral Milk Hotel homage…you bet. Yet none of it sounds like it’s the work of multiple personalities. This is clearly all one band…who can do many different sounds well. Pitchfork gave it an 8.0 already…maybe it’s worth looking into one of this year’s most overlooked records
MP3: “Fake IDs”
MP3: “Turn to Sand”
MP3: “Mortal Sin”
MP3: “Ithaca”
MP3: “Get Your Shit Together for the Holidays”
Video: “Fake ID”
6. Impossible Hair
What Is the Secret of Impossible Hair?
I missed out on Guided By Voices. Yes, I missed out on a 30 year boat, during which I had one album that I never listened to…and now I’m finally discovering Bee Thousand. I’m also discovering this debut from a Baltimore/DC quartet that has the same lo-fi songwriting but more hi-fi recording for some pop gems that sound like they were written straight out of the garage…but recorded in a high budget studio. Nobody knew about this album…and it’s to their detriment.
MP3: “Tambourines of Fury”
MP3: “Find It”
Video: “Tambourines of Fury”
Video: “Accidental Claustrophobes”
5. The Dirty Projectors
Bitte Orca
I picked up on these tastemakers one album ago and went: I get why people like them on a technical level…but on an emotional level…they aren’t there. They are now. And I don’t doubt that the increased role of Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian have something to do with this response.
MP3: “Stillness Is the Move”
Video: “Stillness is the Move”
4. Micachu & the Shapes
Jewellery
Mica Levi is the most masculine sounding female that I’ve listened to in some time…so much so that at first…I didn’t quite put two and two together and realize…that’s a chick singing those songs. Doesn’t matter. The slightly out of tune sounding guitar mixed with clanging liquor bottles, vacuum cleaners and a riff straight of “Tequila” made me realize…this is something special. I can’t wait to hear more from Mica.
MP3: “Golden Phone”
MP3: “Lips”
Video: “Lips”
Video: “Golden Phone”
Video: “Turn Me Well”
3. Thee Oh Sees
Help
A lot of people made upbeat garage rock albums this year with varying degrees of popularity and success. Wavves blew up, the Black Lips let us down and out in San Francisco a group of high energy veteran noisemakers brought The Mamas & The Papas up to speed and up to date with great male/female vocal collaboration and some ragged guitar riffs to back those “bah bah bah bah”s. Perhaps this year’s most criminally overlooked disc.
MP3: “Ruby Go Home”
2. Future of the Left
Travels With Myself and Another
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: “I wish I’d gotten into McLusky BEFORE they broke up.” Andy Falkous’ prior trio took the most squealing and screeching Pixies numbers and gave them a snottier edge and a cult following. But this isn’t a McLusky album. The same energy and heaviness that made me love McLusky are still there as are Falkous’ throat searing roars but this is an album full of satanic keyboard riffs, funeral procession-style drumbeats and songs that are meant to give a lasting impression for more than 2 minutes. This very nearly took album of the year.
MP3: “Arming Eritrea”
Video: “The Hope That House Built”
1. Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavilion
The swirling optimism and dance ready beats of songs like “My Girls” and “Brother Sport” got me through many a long winter day. I was moved to sobering heartache during “Almost Frightened,” driven to run and jump for joy during “Summertime Clothes,” and looking no further for perfect bedroom rock than…well…the entire thing. There is a serious mid-album slump on this disc but it wins the battle of emotional impact. I will always listen to this and remember who I had fallen for, the walk I took from my friend’s place to the metro during election week and how much I fear walking over the ice as I hear the slightly spooky coo of “I’m getting lost in your curls” or the call to arms of “You’d better open up your, open up your, open up your throat.”
MP3: “My Girls”
Video: “In the Flowers”
Video: “My Girls”
Video: “Summertime Clothes”
Honorable Mentions:
Jay Reatard :: Watch Me Fall
Neko Case :: Middle Cyclone
Angry that this was actually released in 2008:
Kurt Vile :: Constant Hitmaker
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Nathan’s List
10. Placebo
Battle for the Sun
Video: “Bright Lights”
Video: “For What It’s Worth”
9. Silversun Pickups
Swoon
Video: “Panic Switch”
8. Loney Dear
Dear John
Video: “I Was Only Going Out”
Video: “Distant Lights”
7. Jay Z
The Blueprint 3
Video: “Empire State of Mind”
Video: “Run This Town”
6. Peter, Bjorn and John
Living Thing
Video: “It Don’t Move Me”
Video: “Lay it Down”
5. Florence & the Machine
Lungs
MP3: “Kiss With A Fist”
Video: “Dog Days Are Over”
Video: “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)”
Video: “Drumming Song”
Video: “Kiss With A Fist”
Video: “You’ve Got The Love”
4. Great Northern
Remind Me Where the Light Is
3. Phoenix
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
MP3: “1901″
Video: “1901″
Video: “Lisztomania”
2. Pet Shop Boys
Yes
Video: “Love Etc.”
1. Ben Lee
The Rebirth of Venus
Video: “I Love Pop Music”
Honorable Mention:
Fanfarlo :: Reservoir
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zero :: Up from Above
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Bianca’s List
10. Jonneine Zapata
Cast the Demons Out
9. Dead Man’s Bones
Dead Man’s Bones
8. The Big Pink
A Brief History of Love
MP3: “Velvet”
Video: “Velvet”
Video: “Dominos”
7. Phoenix
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
MP3: “1901″
Video: “1901″
Video: “Lisztomania”
6. Devendra Banhart
What Will We Be
5. Arctic Monkeys
Humbug
4. Julian Casablancas
Phrazes for the Young
3. Gliss
Devotion Implosion
MP3: “Morning Light”
Video: “Morning Light”
2. Girls
Album
MP3: “Hellhole Ratrace”
MP3: “Lust For Life”
Video: “Hellhole Ratrace”
Video: “Lust For Life”
Video: “Laura”
Video: “Morning Light”
1. The xx
XX
MP3: “Basic Space”
MP3: “Crystalised”
Video: “Basic Space”
Video: “Crystalised”
Additional posts you may be interested in:
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Great post! Definitely agree with the silversun pickups inclusion – and the xx. Some of those bands I haven’t heard of so will need to check out. Thanks.
Bianca, we share taste! Email me some time, maybe to cohost my show on utahfm if you are interested.
I just realized that I totally forgot to put Choir of Young Believers on my list! I do that to some album I really like every year!