Salt Lake City’s Best Albums of 2009

One facet of music blogs that I’ve always admired is the community aspect in regards to highlighting the best of what a city has to offer. It’s something that I always wanted to support and be a part of, but never truly experienced due to living in a much smaller town. Though, I was somewhat nearby the Atlanta area, I was still only on the fringes of that community.

Now, living here in Salt Lake City, albeit only a few months, I had an idea in early December to gather as many lists as possible from the many people involved with the music scene here — ranging from bands, venues, stores, radio, etc.

At first, it didn’t look like it would come to fruition due the fact that I knew absolutely no one here in SLC. No contacts, connections, zero, zilch. In fact, all of the heavy-lifting and thanks is due to the help of Anna Brozek, who is co-owner of the lovely record store Slowtrain. She took the time out to email some folks, and surprisingly enough, got a few replies back that didn’t involve “Who the fuck is this Yellow Stereo guy?” or anything of the sort.

The amount of lists is rather short, but for what it’s worth, it’s still a great starting point for something we can add to next year, or the year after. Thanks to everyone who submitted their lists and hopefully everyone who reads this realizes that Salt Lake City has great taste in music!

Who: Vanessa Wardy
What do you do: Slowtrain manager

1. Girls, Album [mp3]
2. Devendra Banhart, What Will We Be
3. The xx, XX [mp3]
4. St. Vincent, Actor [mp3]
5. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest [mp3]
6. Bill Callahan, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
7. Various Artists, Dark Was The Night [mp3]
8. Pink Mountaintops, Outside Love
9. The Dutchess and The Duke, Sunrise/Sunset
10. Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Elvis Perkins in Dearland

Who: Chris Brozek
What do you do: Co-owner of Slowtrain

1. Davis Williams, Western Interior Seaway
2. Laura Gibson, Beasts of Seasons
3. Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Elvis Perkins in Dearland
4. Cotton Jones, Paranoid Cocoon
5. Cass McCombs, Catacombs
6. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest [mp3]
7. Girls, Album [mp3]
8. Pink Mountaintops, Outside Love
9. The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love
10. Norfolk & Western, Dinero Servero

Who: Anna Brozek
What do you do: Co-Owner of Slowtrain

1. Cass McCombs, Catacombs
2. David Williams, Western Interior Seaway
3. Cotton Jones, Paranoid Cocoon
4. Laura Gibson, Beasts of Seasons
5. Here We Go Magic, Here We Go Magic
6. The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love
7. Joshua James, Build Me This
8. Wye Oak, The Knot
9. Shelley Short, A Cave A Canoo
10. Alexis Gideon, Video Musics

Who: Grant Ruby
What do you do: Music Director/Marketing Director/Afternoon Jock at 101.9 The End [blog]

1. Florence + the Machine, Lungs [mp3]
2. Them Crooked Vultures, Them Crooked Vultures
3. Death Cab For Cutie, The Open Door EP
4. Silversun Pickups, Swoon
5. Passion Pit, Manners
6. NOFX, Coaster
7. White Rabbits, It’s Frightening
8. Cage the Elephant, Cage the Elephant
9. The Dead Weather, Horehound
10. Muse, The Resistance

Who: Joshua James
What do you do: Singer/songwriter, also runs North Platte Records

1. Phosphorescent, To Willie
2. Dan Auerbach, Keep It Hid
3. Bonnie Prince Billy, Beware
4. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest [mp3]
5. Miniature Tigers, Tell It To The Volcano
6. Various Artists, Dark Was The Night [mp3]
7. Vetiver, Tight Knit
8. Mountain Goats, The Life of the World To Come
9. Cass McCombs, Catacombs
10. Desert Noises, Desert Noises

Who: Jamie Gadette
What do you do: Music editor for Salt Lake City Weekly and weekday morning host at KRCL 90.9 FM

Lightning Dust, Infinite Light
Hopewell, Good Good Desperation
Alexis Gideon, Video Musics
Mayer Hawthorne, A Strange Arrangement
Leslie and the Badgers, Roomful of Smoke
Dan Auerbach, Keep It Hid
Devendra Banhart, What Will We Be
The xx, XX [mp3]
Sonic Youth, The Eternal
Pink Mountaintops, Outside Love

The Yellow Stereo’s Albums of 2009

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Kilby Court (Salt Lake City, UT)

Andrew Bird and Josh Ritter Live in Salt Lake City – 07/17/2008

This Week @ The Bottletree

Bunny Lake – The Church of Bunny Lake

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Featured, Highlights, Lists, Local, The Yellow Stereo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.