Miércoles 30 Dic 2009, 11:41

I can't even begin to take on a Best of the Decade (White Blood Cells) list, but below is my attempt at the best of 2009, complete with pretentious annotations. I kept changing the order, but then I realized that no one is reading this anyway and just let it be:

10. The Dead Weather - Horehound
It pains me to put Jack White so low on the list: some songs are awesome, and the live show was great, but … yeah, that's it.

9. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
Had to grow on me a bit, but I love Spencer Krug. Even the Moonface EP was kinda cool.

8. Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones
Another awesome live show and surprisingly awesome album. Would be even higher if Name in Stone were on it.

7. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
A spotty album: there, I said it. But occasionally fantastic.

6. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
True Magic set the bar low, but this was awesome. What a cool guy.

5. DOOM - Born Like This
Dark, funny, excellent mask-wearing Bukowski-sampling album. Totally seeing him in January with Mos Def.

4. Jeffrey Lewis - 'Em Are I
Another excellent, endearing live show and an excellent album about how we're all bags o' guts that don't mean anything that somehow manages to be uplifting.

3. St. Vincent - Actor
She's just getting better. I want another one in 2010.

2. Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
Awful band name, and initially seemed like a poor man's Jeff Mangum. But what a great album that all hangs together.

1. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
I had been cooling on them a bit, but a combination of awesome guitars, epic narrative, and Shara Worden brought me back.

Atlas Sound and Handsome Furs are close behind these, along with a few others I'm just finding now. Man, is everything I like vaguely bleak or dark? I don't think so, so I'll chalk it up to coincidence.

Happy New Year!