Music Dork's Best Records of 2009: Part 3

Music Dork's Best Records of 2009: Part 3 12/21/2009

Music Dork's Best Records of 2009: Part 3

This is it: Part 3 of 3 -- My 5 favorite records of 2009. Thanks everyone for reading and a special thanks to Speakertree records for making it all possible! Enjoy.

-Dork

5. Thee Oh See's - Dog Poison

Dog Poison is noisy, chaotic, improbably tuneful, and slightly less than 23 minutes in length – pretty standard stuff for John Dwyer (who records under too many names to even begin listing). Though this is certainly the shortest record on my list, I assure you, it contains several full album’s worth of ideas. Dog Poison has the same spastic brilliance and split personality of early Os Mutantes records, but here Dwyer opts for fuzzy simplicity rather than grand arrangements. Not to knock his writing -- The songs themselves are fundamentally sound, which I suppose helps them stand up to being sped up and distorted in many cases. Though I usually give the highest marks for songwriting, Dog Poison breached the top 5 for its energy, ambition, and experimentalism. For these reasons, Dog Poison is perfect for the A.D.D. inflicted – if for some reason you don’t like what you hear, wait 30 seconds.

(No myspace or Lala, Sorry!)

4. Woods - Songs of Shame

For your average singer/songwriter, Neil Young is a pretty good idol to have. At some point however, you’ll probably have to face facts: You aren’t as good ol’ Shakey and emulating his straightforward delivery is just going to make that more obvious. Woods circumvents this hard truth by being well above-average songwriters and by delivering their tunes in an unlikely way – A way that actually sounds terrible on paper: Meek falsetto vocals accompanied by fumbling guitars rife with room noise and lack of fidelity. Ouch. Against all odds, it shakes out to be on the short-list of my favorite records from this year. Straight from the first spin, its easy to hear that “Songs of Shame” was designed to be timeless – Tracks like “Rain On” and “The Number” would be hard to peg to a decade without prior knowledge and its hard to imagine their style ever seeming out-of-date. The WWII references of “Military Madness” add to the time-period confusion, but somehow avoid sounding anachronistic. In essence, these songs appeal to classic sensibilities, but are executed in a very contemporary way – in my mind that’s a recipe for a great record. Though Woods’ 2006 debut had more along the lines of slap-dash charm and unbridled emotion (“God Hates the Faithless” anyone?), “Songs of Shame” is a more unified presentation with better songs on the whole. I encourage you to come find out what a thousand smug, bearded Brooklynites already know.

Listen HERE

3. Atlas Sound - Logos

Atlas Sound mastermind Bradford Cox is a strange looking dude, a fact that he is aware of and notably insecure about. As a result of a genetic disorder called Marfan syndrome, Bradford is exceptionally tall and impossibly thin -- even today he is heckled at shows for his appearance. So what makes Bradford so confident that he would paste shirtless photos of himself on the front and back of his latest record? Perhaps it’s the fact that Logos is the long-awaited realization of this tortured prodigy’s potential. In 2007, “Cryptograms” put Bradford on everyone’s radar, revealing him to be a talented songwriter with a very specific aesthetic. Two years later, after honing his craft and building some much-deserved confidence, Cox has reached a critical mass. The haunting ambience that made Deerhunter and Atlas Sound so special is still present on “Logos”, but the best moments come when Cox flexes his traditional pop song-craft. “Walkabout”, the product of a collaboration with Noah Lennox, is the record’s run-away single, showcasing Cox’s newfound interest in sampling. It ‘s upbeat tone and danceable beat marks a decidedly poppier direction for the historically introspective Cox. Based on his trajectory so far, I think we can expect big things from Bradford in the years to come.

Listen HERE

2. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Meet the new Kings of Pop. From day one, these audacious long-time friends have been bent on world domination. Consider the facts: When a no-name French pop group releases their debut album in English, its not because they want to win friends at home. Nine years later, Phoenix’s dreams have been realized in the form of an SNL appearance, a spot on Rolling Stone’s top 100 records of the decade list, and boatloads of TV ad exposure. Yes, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is just the kind of glossy pop masterpiece that can catapult a career. On your first spin, you probably won’t make it all the way through – most folks can’t help but loop the dual openers “Lisztomania” and “1901” until their needle wears out. Three months later, you’ll finally get around to the rest of the record, including the 7½ minute motorik-inspired “Love Like a Sunset” and the underrated would-be hit “Lasso”. This is the perfect pop record that Phoenix hinted at with their debut “United”, and nearly achieved with “It’s Never Been Like That”. Who would have guessed that in 2009, the year that fidelity forgot, banner year of the “Shit-Gaze” movement, the most hyper-produced record in the bunch would out-do them all?

Listen HERE

1. Ganglians - Monster Head Room

Maybe the popular press didn’t hype this record to death, but that hasn’t stopped Ganglians fans from buying up every copy of the first and second vinyl runs of “Monster Head Room” (which now goes for >50$ online). The secret is out; this record is damn near perfect – It’s catchy, it’s breezy, and it’s just dissonant enough to make it interesting. Stylistically, MHR takes notes from Brian Wilson and even the great Ennio Morricone, but it keeps an energetic and spontaneous feel that differentiates it from it’s idols. Though the sound is consistent throughout the record, the varying song structures on MHR keep the tracks from blending together. As such, Ganglians are just as convincing with mid-tempo stoner ballads like “Cryin’ Smoke”, as they are with ominous show-down epics like “Valient Brave”. Almost every single track on MHR could grace the A-side of a 7-inch -- only the two off-tempo jams “To June” and “The Void” would be forced to the back for pacing reasons. Lyrically, Monster Head Room isn’t breaking any new ground, but like Pavement before them, Ganglians emphasize words that sound right, even if they don’t read well on paper. Furthermore, the lyrics are only included with the discontinued vinyl edition and they don’t reveal anything about the record that it doesn’t already imply musically. For the most part, my top 5 rewards those who dare to write perfect pop songs – style can make or break a record, but the songs have to come first. From where I’m sitting, this is the best batch of would-be chart toppers I’ve heard (and heard, and heard) all year.

Listen HERE

Comments

speakertree

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:00:12

amazing list!...and your write ups are fantastic - thanks

////MusicDork////