Friday, March 5, 2010

Year End Best of Music - 2009 Part 2

This is mainly going to be a post simply for record keeping of the year. I'm not going to get fancy and add anything outside of brief descriptions to the artist/album names. This will likely be updated (with additional parts) as I come across (if I do) other albums I missed from 2009.

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Reverie Sound Revue - Reverie Sound Revue

Languid, twinkly indie pop with a female vocalist. Songs tend to blend together, but are good, nevertheless.

Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange

The cassette EP released last year during the summer reflects the season. Hazy tropicalia pervades this release. The album is weaker than Lotus Plaza's or Atlas Sound's respective releases last year.

My Milky Way Arms - Lightsaber Circuit Breaker

Dense synthpop or indie pop, it's so dense it's hard to really make the distinction. The difference with this release and other "dense" albums last year (see: Deastro) is that My Milky Way Arms is carried by strong melody and great vocal performances on the majority of the tracks. Arguably a contender for top 10 of 2009, but it's obviously too late for that, plus I haven't had too much time with it.

YAWN - YAWN

A great debut EP from these experimental pop newcomers with fantastic vocal harmonies. Puts many full length releases to shame from last year.

The Republic of Wolves - His Old Branches

The band that managed to make a better Brand New album than Brand New. Daisy was my disappointment of the year last year, but this debut EP more than makes up for it. The Republic of Wolves do their best to follow up Brand New's "The Devil and God...", and really manage to pull it off. While "The Devil and God..." is certainly the better of the two albums, His Old Branches is undoubtedly a worthy pseudo-successor.

Cloud Nothings - Turning On

Lo-fi indie rock. I've only listened to it once, but there wasn't anything particularly offensive about the release.

Weed Diamond - Sweater Kids

I didn't even end up listening to this because I never received a digital download. I e-mailed the guys (Mirror Universe Tapes) that put out the tape about it, and they said they'd send me a download, but I never received one after that. I'd just look like a dick if I e-mailed them now, so it's too late. Anyway, I have faith that this was a nice release. One day I will actually listen to the tape, I guess, to verify that.