The Best and Worst Albums of 2009
Rain’s Top 5 Albums of 2009
1) Propagandhi – Supporting Caste
Never underestimate the power of a prairie-upbringing on one’s creative abilities. Winnipeg’s own Propagandhi has long been one of the most intense (in studio and in concert) acts around, and this year saw their release of the tongue-in-cheek Supporting Caste (get it?): one part brutal riffs plus one part aggressive percussion plus one part witty and cutting lyrics equals Best Hardcore Album of 2009. Our favourite Winnipeg HxC kids offered sinful delights on Supporting Caste such as a response to Don Cherry’s moral indiscretions (xenophobic/sexist remarks and his heavy-handed support of the “War on Terror”), “Dear Coach’s Corner”, and a social and political statement on the hypocrisy of eating meat, “Human(e) Meat (The Flensing of Sandor Katz)”.
2) Mastodon – Crack The Skye
Josh Homme, I love you, but Brann Dailor et al. are totally kicking your ass in the heavy stoner-rock arena this year. Like almost all their past albums, Mastodon’s 2009 release was Epic, with a capital “E”. Astral travel, alternate histories, the time-space continuum, and the infinite spirit are all themes delved into during the nearly hour-long rock insurgence. It draws you in slowly, feeds you sugar-dipped apples, then slams you with a meteorite and takes your disembodied spirit beyond the sun and beyond time. Oh, and you get to witness the carnage of the Russian Revolution firsthand. How’s that for a metalcore album?
3) Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels
Toronto-based Great Lake Swimmers had one hell of a year: They released fourth full-length album Lost Channels, were short-listed for the prestigious Polaris Prize, and were featured in the interactive, public-transit documentary City Sonic. Tony Dekker, the vocalist/guitarist and main songwriter, loosened his grip on the proverbial reins this time around, allowing more collaboration in the rehearsal space and studio. “With this one I gave up more of that creative control,” Dekker elaborated in Exclaim Magazine earlier this year, “and allowed everyone to add their own unique creative touches.” At once as engrossing as it is filled with melancholy, Lost Channels shows with quiet confidence a brighter framework for Dekker’s forlorn songwriting style.
4) Gallows – Grey Britain
Just as they were being tapped by British media as safe-bet cover-page darlings for NME and Kerrang! Gallows chose to turn everything on its head by releasing the nihilistic and borderline treasonous Grey Britain. I can only imagine the heart attack it must have given the CEOs at Warner. Proudly calling themselves the “rats,” Gallows fills Grey Britain with themes of religious hypocrisy, racism, social unrest, economic meltdown and the egocentric Monarchy. Album art (courtesy frontman/tattoo artist Frank Carter) was banned as it featured, among other images, a swine-incarnated policeman receiving fellatio and a pious woman impaling herself on a Union Jack flagpole. With no room granted for pussy-footing, frontman Frank Carter presented us with such seething lyrics as “Forget yourselves/ You’re all going to burn in hell/ You have no redeeming features”, “We read the filth and forget the names”, and “Nail the bodies to the crucifix/ Slit the throats of all the priests”. Most of this album is an outright condemnation of the religiously complacent British citizens, but what would you expect with a closing track entitled “Crucif**ks”?
5) The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Wayne Coyne might possibly be an alien, but if he is, he comes in peace… and music! The Flaming Lips have an insatiable desire to sample all corners of the musical galaxy and distill their impressions into new songs. Each release is different from the last – either as an extension of, or a response to – and Coyne never rests on any particular style for very long. Embryonic is childlike in its whimsical melodies, but pairs it with complex, psychedelic instrumentation. This is the fourteenth studio album from the Lips. Can Coyne do no wrong? Will intelligence and kindness return to the galaxy? Does anyone besides Coyne get to walk across the audience in the giant bubble? Only time will tell…
Best Album Honourable Mentions:
The Deep Dark Woods – Winter Hours, Peasant – On The Ground, Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion, Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Tegan and Sara – Sainthood, Everytime I Die – New Junk Aesthetic, Black Feather -- Silhouette
Lisa’s Top 5 Albums of 2009
Clutch – Strange Cousins from the West
This is my new favourite band by far, and this album has so much rock and roll variety in it that it will blow you away. From country twang to hard rock to even a touch of rap, these guys bring the house down. The songs on this album will stick in your head like glue and will never get old, featuring rock and roll lyrics that show heart. To top it off, the album cover even has a story behind it, and opening it up was like opening a present. The artistry and thought that was put into this album and album cover makes this one an collector’s piece.
Metric – Fantasies
It’s been a long wait for Metric to come out with a new album, but a totally worthwhile one given the result. This band just keeps getting better with brilliantly catchy songs that make you just want to get up and dance. I’ve always loved Metric since I first heard the song Dead Disco and even more so since I recently saw them live in concert. Metric’s Emily Haines has a way of screaming out her feelings that gives each song it’s special vibe, and that aspect is fully heard in this collection of 10 tunes.
Spinnerette – Self-Titled
There’s a lot of talent behind this band with former members of the Distillers Brody Dalle and Tony Bevilacqua, Jack Irons, former member of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam and Eleven and Alain Johannes who has also played in Queens of the Stone Age and Eleven. This new band is so jam packed full of amazing musicians that one just expects it to be something out of this world and you aren’t disappointed. Having been together since 2007 with this being their first album release, Spinnerette has already hit US charts at number 20 with their two popular singles “Ghetto Love” and “Sex Bomb” two songs that have been getting constant radio airplay.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
Yes, those crazy rock chicks are back with yet another fantastic album and this disc is, in a word, badass! From the dance anthem “Zero”, to the mellow dramatic disco song “Skeletons”, this album has a way of making you want to move from start to finish. The ladies even top this album off with four acoustic versions of the fantastic songs. I have been a fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs since they started, and they always have a way of never disappointing their fans and It’s Blitz garnered even more attention for this New York band with several chart-topping singles.
Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
In my opinion this is Camera Obscura’s most brilliant album yet. The front woman, Traceyanne Campbell, who also does most, if not all of the writing, certainly knows how to tell a story with heart. She makes you understand and feel exactly what she was feeling at the time. Their songs also have unique melodies and sweet memorable lyrics. This is their first release with their new label and their fourth overall album and it couldn’t be better. Their lines up changes along with the sweet sad and timid voice of Campbell make this album stunning.
Lucid Forge Picks for Worst Albums of 2009
Just like the Best List, it was a challenge to narrow down our selections for Worst List… there were just so many contestants! In the end, however, we chose these harrowing five. Warning: Do NOT try to seek out these albums, unless (of course) you are an aural masochist.
1) Nickelback – Darkhorse
I know it’s almost too easy to pick on our favourite CanCon rockers, but Darkhorse was such a schizophrenic exercise in songwriting that I cannot ignore this one. Do we want to boast about our sex-drugs-and-rockstar lifestyle? Or do we want to share our tender feelings on true love and friendship? Are they one and the same? Can they co-exist? Good God, Nickelback! I feel like you’re taking me through an audio tour of an existential crisis! -RRP
2) Jet – Shaka Rock
Let’s start with the obvious: What the hell is a “shaka” anyways? Still present is the obvious 60s rock influence, but gone is the energy and personal attitude that made Get Born so vibrant in 2003. So tangibly lazy is Shaka Rock one can only imagine how they actually managed to come up with these “songs.” Did they try playing over the phone to each other after smoking too much dope? Is it the drugs? Is it the heat in Melbourne? Or has this Aussie band finally decided they can’t be bothered anymore? ACK! It’s so frustrating! - RRP
3) Chris Cornell – Scream
Didn’t know the ex-frontman for Soundgarden released a solo album this year? Consider yourself one of the lucky ones.Oh, God! Where to start with this monstrosity? Here’s a good question: Why the desire to flaunt his “experimental” side with Timbaland of all people? Mr. Cornell has had a good run of things in his day: Member of an influential grunge band; singer for wildly popular Audioslave; and founder of the prolific group Temple of the Dog.
Scream has the widest collection of annoying sound effect “hooks” I’ve heard on one album in ages. How could this atrocity be taken seriously by any music fan? How will this affect Cornell’s reputation in the ‘biz? Will Cornell seek to refine his Ne-Yo impression (heard lustily on the title track)? Will Timbaland continue to throw down even more throwaway beats from Timberlake’s debut? And will “Watch Out” be crowned Most Annoying Song of 2009, beating out even Jonas Bro’s “Paranoid”? I honestly don’t care about the answers to any of these. – RRP
Jonas Brothers – Lines, Vines and Trying Times
I don’t even have to hear the entire album to make my judgement call on this. I am a fan of some pop bands, and admittedly I did like The Backstreet boys when they were all the rage, but The Jonas Brothers are, ironically, getting old. This is only their third album and these young men are already full of themselves despite being younger guys without a lot when it comes to life experience, yet all of their songs are about their sorted, rather limited, experience. So it’s getting old, all the songs sound similar and there is not much change in the sound. When they say they have musical influences such as Coldplay and Elvis Costello, I wonder why they don’t utilize those influences and take advantage of the variety that those bands have in their albums. And then I get bored and get something to eat. - LMK
Bon Jovi – The Circle
I used to be a big fan of Bon Jovi, but after awhile I just started disliking them because they have no variety in their albums anymore. It all sounds so similar that it just gets boring after awhile. Why not mix it up a little? And if this is their attempt to mix it up a little, with their fancy contemporary country mixes, feel good happy-go-lucky lyrics and cheesy, ever so expected ballads, the band is now predictable more than anything. They are now more than ever a truly a radio band, and it seems like that’s not ever going to change much. - LMK
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