The D Man's Top Twenty Albums of 2009

Showcasing a better overall musical output than the Nineties (although perhaps not as transitionary in a mainstream sense), the Aughts proved to be a dynamic shift into technology-driven listening habits, rendering the notion of a proper album near extinction. Music stores died, singles (and iPods) ruled, and the listening monoculture, if it ever existed, collapsed.

As the decade in music comes to a close, 2009 seemed to be a fitting and paradoxical end. The finest recording efforts and artistic achievements of the past year were created by an exciting and diverse group of artists. Yet these artists still proved that music can be elevated to a unique and powerful level when single tracks are packaged together in a cohesive, "meant-to-be" format.

Nevertheless, when considering the effects technology has had on music, and in the wake of his recent long-form opus, The BQE, even the faith of one of our greatest album makers has been shaken. In an interview with Paste magazine, Sufjan Stevens shared his recent philosophical dilemma.

"I'm wondering, why do people make albums anymore when we just download. Why are songs like three our four minutes, and why are records 40 minutes long? They're based on the record, vinyl, the CD, and these forms are antiquated now. So can't an album be eternity, or can't it be five minutes? (He pauses). I no longer really have faith in the album anymore. I no longer have faith in the song."

This legitimate concern has The D Man worried about the future of popular music. Perhaps naive or sentimental, the loss of the album means more than the loss of an era. It would be the loss of a meaningful aesthetic expression that cannot be achieved in any other fashion. The D Man is aware that artistic mediums change, evolve, and even circle back around again. But music has always been enlightened by a cohesive approach, whether it be the canto, the opera, the suite, or the modern album. Unifying themes can extend and empower smaller musical moments into something different, unique, or inspiring. The album can transcend a mere collection of songs.

In literature, we need the poem, the short story, and the novel. Brilliant prose, standing alone, may be less brilliant than it otherwise might have been with the unifying power of the novel. Perhaps the same truth applies to the single, no matter how glorious it might be.

So The D Man says take courage. We need great songs and we need great albums. We need you, Mr. Stevens, our album maker. Technology also enabled independent music and aesthetic achievement to reach more listeners than ever before, inscrutable as those listeners may be. The likes of Grizzly Bear, Kings of Convenience, or Cass McCombs were far more indelible--and accessible--to the savvy music listeners of their time than their Nineties' counterparts were, say Neutral Milk Hotel, Red House Painters, or the Jayhawks. Indeed, "indie" music in the Aughts has ended up in more homes--and indie artists have made more money--than in any other decade.

The vitality of albums like Veckatimest, Merriweather Post Pavillion, and Embryonic suggest that news of the format's death may have been premature. Please remember, The D Man does not care if you ever make another album about a State in the Union. He just cares if you never make another album again.

1. Veckatimest / Grizzly Bear

Veckatimest is a record filled with little, meticulous musical moments embedded within large-scale arrangements and harmonies. It is at once challenging and accessible, beguiling and pleasurable. It is an exquisite record that showcases intricate musicianship and a savvy sense of songcraft. The songs are put together, and the sequencing is impeccable. Veckatimest's tangible, timeless quality will hold up after decades of listening.

Easily one of this year's best songs, "Two Weeks" is an effortless, ageless pop song, displaying the sunnier qualities of Grizzly Bear's baroque melodies and indie-orchestration. The way lead vocalist Ed Droste hits those three notes in yesterday reminds The D Man why he loves great pop music in the first place. Grizzly Bear are great lyricists, even though the album's oblique lyrical refrains, as in "Two Weeks," primarily serve as another part of the ensemble, another place to enhance the mood or melodies of a given passage.

"Cheerleader" is a deceptively groovy piece of psychedelia. "About Face" will stop you in your tracks with its lilting acoustic buildups. "While You Wait For The Others" is a perfect ten out of ten on any song scale worth its salt. And "Ready, Able" is simply The D Man's favorite track on the record.

Grizzly Bear has produced two of the best albums of the past five years, and for that the group deserves high praise for evolving and innovating in a very natural way. Yellow House's spare instruments, reverbed melodies, and dreamy rhythms resulted in a hazy, elusive classic, which then gave way to the large-scale production and sweeping ebullience of this year's Veckatimest. There is something impressive that occurs when a band goes into the studio to make a great and important record--and then actually makes a great and important record. Veckatimest is the sonic manifestation of a talented group of musicians doing just that. And it happens to be the best album produced in 2009.

2. Merriweather Post Pavillion / Animal Collective

Animal Collective have been cutting into the edges of popular music--or just plain cutting edge--for most of this decade, from Sung Tongs to Feels to Stawberry Jam to this year's Merriweather Post Pavillion, arguably their best album to date. Without sacrificing any of their inventive sonic identity, Animal Collective thrust themselves into the mainstream--or rather, pulled the hip masses into their unique pop realm--by the shear force of their creative powers. To have conceived and produced an album so strange and accessible is a masterful accomplishment.

If you had skipped forward in time even a decade--say from 1999--you might not even recognize some of the sonic origins of Animal Collective's latest musical effort. But a decade experimenting in throbbing and swelling electronica while worshiping the harmony-drenched pop of yesteryear has yielded inspiring results. The mercurial trio incorporates everything from African polyrhythms, ambient music, late-decade dance rock, and sixties-pop into a brainy mix that seeps its way into your synapses. Throw in the fact that "My Girls" is one of the best fifteen songs of the last decade, and you have an album that is nothing short of a certifiable classic.

BONUS: Check out the incredible song "What Would I Want? Sky" from Animal Collective's Fall Be Kind EP.

3. Embryonic / The Flaming Lips

Remember when you found that dusty copy of Dark Side of the Moon in your old man's closet and realized that he might have been pretty cool after all? Well, fifteen years from now when your son is listening to bizarre techno-punk and finds Embryonic in the back of your collection, he will share the same feelings. His old man listened to some pretty cool music.

Yes, with Embryonic The Flaming Lips made perhaps the most left-turn album of their left-turn career. Yes, there are songs called "Aquarius Sabotage," "Gemini Syringes," "Sagittarious Silver Announcment," and "Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast." Yes, the album cover should simultaneously freak you out and freak you out. And yes, the music is striking.

Embryonic is The Flaming Lips darkest record to date, a strange amalgamation of the band's early psyche-rock and more recent Yoshimi ponderousness. The music is played with absolute abandonment and spins out of the studio, live and intense, almost out of control. Yet the incredible production values are able to rein in the songs despite the overwhelming and free-wheeling approach. The end result is an utterly fearless and fresh sonic dissonance that leaps past any of the band's creative peers. Twenty-five years into musicmaking, bands are not supposed to make something this vibrant and different, both compared to their previous work and peers. Indeed, listeners cannot overstate how surprising the record sounds from a band that many believed could (and would) never do surprising again. With Embryonic, The Flaming Lips have cemented their status as one of the most important bands of the past twenty years, and one of the most enjoyable bands of all time.

4. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix / Phoenix

A few years ago The D Man overlooked Phoenix's phenomenal album, It's Never Been Like That, and decided to send the band the only apology that he will ever make to the French.

"Your recent record is really good. It is smart, precise, urban-cool rock'n'roll. It is put on your tight jeans and denim jacket and strut down the street rock'n'roll. It is hang out with hot hipster chicks backstage rock'n'roll. It bounces, shuffles, and strums. It's guitars go "Da-Da, Da-Da, diddy-diddy-diddy-diddy!" Buddy Holly would have dug it. Or maybe the Kinks. So don't worry if one critic called you the "soft-rock Strokes"--that band is envious and only wish their last two albums were as good as yours. Your nonchalant cool is the genuine artifact, not so thoroughly manufactured. Indeed, your music will soon be used during a SoHo storefront montage in some hip movie. Even if you are from Paris. And that's just it--perhaps I was holding it against you, the fact that you are Frenchmen. Because you should have made my Top Twenty last year. So this time, let me raise the white flag, surrender, and say I'm sorry."

There was no missing out for The D Man on Phoenix's fantastic 2009 album, Wolfgang Phoenix Amadeus Mozart. Maybe the slickest rock'n'roll album of the decade. The first two tracks are the best one-two punch of the year and are two of the finest pop-rock songs you've ever heard. Yes, "Lisztomania" and "1901" are as good as it gets. But the rest of the album doesn't stop bringing the ultra-cool hooks, with the likes of "Fences", "Lasso," and "Girlfriend" competing for your unfettered attention. Unlike many bands that vainly attempt to recreate their previous albums or recreate themselves entirely, Phoenix simply kept their core identity intact while incorporating synths and alternative rhythms to perfection. Voila. One of the best albums of the year.

5. Manners / Passion Pit

Pure brain candy. Passion Pit's debut album is like a vat of cotton candy that keeps spinning out reel after reel of sweet goodness. Big, sugary synth-pop hooks spill out over the sides of every song, the album bursting out of some sort of indie-dance-rock tacklebox. Singer and songwriter Michael Angelakos' falsetto is used as more of a heady musical instrument than a lead vocal, flying away to impossible climaxes alongside children's choirs and swervy samples. Those who dismiss the music as a lightweight confection have clearly never tasted the absolute joys of pop abandon. The instant pleasures of this record are only surpassed by its surprising durability, its surprising ability to keep you nodding your head and moving your feet over and over again. The co-opting of dance music by indie rock has been well-documented, but its possibilities continue to produce some interesting, and at times, even thrilling results. Manners is no exception.

6. Declaration of Dependence / Kings of Convenience

Declaration of Dependence is arguably the Norwegian duo's most quiet and holistic album to date. And it is absolutely delightful. Erlend Oye and Eirik Glambek Boe share vocal duties more than ever before, and while Erlend is typically the high voice in their harmonies (see "Second to Numb"), they also switch this dynamic around (see "Rule My World"). From the beautiful opener "24/25" to the album closer "Scars on Land," the record displays a hushed acoustic sophistication that encourages inward contemplation and repeated listens. Of course, not every song requires patient introspection: the first two singles, "Boat Behind" and "Mrs. Cold," are as fun to sing out loud as anything the Kings have written.

Many of the songs were created or arranged during soundchecks in concert halls during the duo's scattered touring over the past five years, and the extensive use of string reverb on the likes of "Renegade" adds a splendid richness to the small nuances in Erlend's and Eirek's guitar playing. There are no drums or percussion (unless you count a piano), but Eirik often hits his guitar while playing to a percussive effect. With the use of an upright bass and viola throughout several tracks, the album also has a significant live feel. After five years of waiting patiently, The D Man is grateful that the The Kings of Convenience delivered the most pleasurable listening experience of the year.

7. Two Suns / Bat for Lashes

Bat for Lashes' second album, Two Suns, lights up a lush underworld of lullabies, dreams, and dirges. Natasha Khan's subterranean voice floats over, through, and around seriously striking and beautiful songs. "Daniel" is one of The D Man's favorite singles of the past few years.

Rather than bore you with comparisons to other female singers (Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Bjork, The Cocteau Twins, etc.), Khan should be considered Peter Gabriel's daemon. (Indeed, The D Man would love to hear Khan cover So and Gabriel exchange the favor with a version of Two Suns). Khan has the same penchant for dark-hued pop accented by world rhythms and an even deeper affection for mystical allusions. Her singular voice is haunting and magical, like clouds passing over a brilliant moon. Or two.

8. xx / The xx

This London group was one of the most hyped bands of the year, and deservedly so. Sleek, minimal, midnight textures elicited praise from various corners of the indieverse. With exciting influences apparently stemming from modern R&B, electro-pop, and Interpol, among others, the young band was instantly praised before most people had listened to the record more than a few times. Throw in the intriguing vocal theatrics between Romy Madley Croft and bassist Oliver Sim--largely based on the sexual drama of interpersonal relationships--and you have one potent debut.

On first listen, The D Man suggested that The xx was a co-ed cross between The Stills' updated new-wave and The Whitest Boy Alive's spaced-filled, guitar minimalism. But after further listens, xx is an album that ultimately dissipates into the darkness, with only shadows of ill-defined influences dancing about. The album retreats to its own negative, basic space. And it's all the better for doing so.

9. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The pleasures of this self-titled debut are so obvious, The D Man isn't sure there is much to discuss. With echoes of The Smiths, The Pastels, or early My Bloody Valentine, the Brooklyn band's first album is fuzzed-out dream pop that may make more than a few heads explode with giddiness. If you've been missing chimey guitars circa 1989, you may have to sit down at the 2:05 mark during "Everything With You." If you can't stop from bouncing around to uplifting shoegaze anthems, you may want to grab onto something before you listen to "Young Adult Friction." When considering that in 2009 the band also released an equally pleasing EP, Higher Than The Stars, there is little wonder how The Pains of Being Pure At Heart ended up finding the soft spot in the The D Man's . . . well, you get the idea.

10. No More Stories . . . / Mew

The D Man wishes there were more bands like Mew. Whimsical and wholly original, this Danish band keeps making records that defy explanation but hit the pleasure button track after track. Mew distills prog-rock's pretensions down to five-minute songs and still manages to sound epic and imminently listenable. Lush, swirling popscapes allow Jonas Bjerre's falsetto to pierce through your defiant armor and turn your cynicism to musical mush. Who else could sing the lines "You drew me cartoons / so playful" and make you want to hear it over and over again?

While No More Stories may not be as groundbreaking as And the Glass-Handed Kites, the record showcases Mew's arena-rock bonafides in an almost beautiful fashion. Guitarist Bo Madsen recently referred to Mew as "the world's only indie stadium band." And he's right. Too bad they will never play Giants Stadium, even though it would be bigger (and better) than watching an aging Mick Jagger strut around.

11. Hospice / Antlers

The Antlers "debut" album, Hospice, is a sprawling, disjointed, potent record with flourishes of noise-rock, lo-fi pop, and soft/loud wall-of-sound guitars. With drummer Michael Lerner and multi-instrumentalist Darbit Cicci joining singer Peter Silberman's previous solo efforts, The Antlers established themselves as one of the most exciting indie-rock bands of the year. The fierce emotional and lyrical content of the record lays bare both fictional and autobiographical accounts of 23-year-old Silberman's isolation, frustration, and desolation. But the music's aural power--and Silberman's ever-reaching voice--develops into something astonishing, sad, and soaring.

12. Middle Cyclone / Neko Case

Stark the Vinyl Shark burned The D Man a copy of Middle Cyclone (don't worry, no copyright laws were broken) only to have it become one of my most played records of the year. Indeed, Mrs. D Man fell in love with Neko Case's latest and arguably best record--she played track three over and over again and, surprisingly, we never grew tired of it.

Middle Cyclone is a vivid portrayal of country, folk, pop, and an altogether special brand of Americana that Case delivers with powerhouse vocals and an unusual lyrical fervor, touching on the elemental, physical, and, well, animal. "This Tornado Loves You" is a dangerous tale of a tornado's torrential love. "People Got A Lot of Nerve" is the best song about elephants and killer whales that you will ever hear. "I'm An Animal" is self-explanatory. "Magpie to the Morning" will wake you right up with its lyrical folk-pop brilliance--sorry, no youtube clip, so you may have to go pick up the album. Or have the Vinyl Shark burn you a copy.

13. My Maudlin Career / Camera Obscura

Intelligent, catchy, and warm as the summer sun, Camera Obscura evokes the girl groups of yesteryear without sounding forced or descending into pastiche. Tracyanne Campbell's voice carries the day on the Glasgow group's fantastic fourth album, My Maudlin Career, while imbuing lovely, well-played ditties with a sense of sweet vulnerability. Camera Obscura's well-crafted songs and throwback pop sensibility is not to be overlooked, however. The music's rich variation is surprising, especially considering what could have turned out to be a more narrow genre record.

Red-blooded Americans will want to live in Europe and fall in love with sailors after listening to "French Navy." And "The Sweetest Thing" is, well, the sweetest thing you've heard all year. "You Told A Lie" and "James" are pensive pop protests. And album closer "Honey in the Sun" will make you want to schedule your next getaway immediately. Obviously, this is a record that lesser men might hesitate to flaunt in their collection. But make no mistake, its absence will make afternoon drives with your lady much less enjoyable. Trust The D Man.

14. Horehound / The Dead Weather

Jack White's supergroup of Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age), and Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs) was more than a vanity project. White has deconstructed, recreated, and blown up again American roots and blues music more than any other person alive. The Dead Weather was White's latest vehicle to explore the dense, dark side of blues rock in all of its possible variations. A quick listen to Horehound (and the rest of White's unbelievable output this decade) demonstrates his complete command and reinventiveness of America's primal sounds.

Mosshart's lead vocals are sharp, slinky, and assertive. Fertita's heavy guitarwork is buttressed by Lawrence's workmanlike bassplay. And White's performance from behind the drumkit is plenty good, if not great. After seeing The Dead Weather rip it up live, The D Man can affirm that this collection of songs is a worthy addition to White's ever-growing canon.

15. Logos / Atlas Sound

Bradford Cox collected his personal demos after they were leaked over the internet and gave them a proper home on the album Logos. Thankfully the skinny frontman for Deerhunter shared his experimental bedroom projects--we properly received two of the best songs of the year as Cox continued to delve into the electronic-influenced possibilities of sixties-pop sounds. Indeed, the "duets" with Laetitia Sadier of Sterelab and Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear) are the best moments on Logos. With vocals from Sadier, "Quick Canal" plays to Cox's stream-of-consciousness strength and pulses its way through a decidedly end-of-the-decade experiment in what can be described as a kind of classic-lab pop. And with help from Lennox, "Walkabout" becomes another Pet Sounds-obsessed runaround.

16. Psychic Chasms / Neon Indian

The D Man tried to listen to this album as background music while he performed the legal (and oft-mundane) tasks of his day job. But the music was simply too good, too invasive. Neon Indian's Psychic Chasms (by Austin-based composer Alan Palomo) is the best lo-fi techno record you've ever heard, if you can call it that. It sounds like something your genius kid brother would have made in his makeshift home studio consisting of an Atari Commodore and a cassette player. But the genius of the record is that it has such a classic soul vibe, despite the futuristic soundtrack. It's too organic and melodic to be limited by the narrow trappings of laser beams or photon torpedos.

17. Noble Beast / Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird has appeared on The D Man's end of the year list before. His baroque, lyrically whimsical chamber-pop has no other peers, largely due to his violin virtuosity and looping build-ups performed with multiple instruments. (Xylophone included!) After enjoying the pop maestro in concert earlier this year, The D Man can attest that his immense talent just comes spewing all over the stage. Best line from Noble Beast: "I see a sea anemone / The enemy / See a sea anemone / And that'll be the end of me." Vintage Bird.

18. Unmap / Volcano Choir

Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) gathered his Wisconsin friends from the Collections of Colonies of Bees to make an unconventional, meandering record of guitar strings, choir swells, and electronic bleeps. On the aptly-titled Unmap, the music slowly unwinds and reveals a placeless beauty, somewhere in the void, where matter and sound are still taking shape, still fighting to combine with the emerging topography. The album cover implies a group of ancient, mysterious musicians and some sort of north woods escapism calling for large trees, heavy snows, endless nights, and gospel gatherings.

The opening sequence is perhaps the record's strongest passage. Check out opener "Husks and Shells," second track "Seeplymouth," and the video for the vivid "Island, IS." After releasing For Emma, Forever Ago, the best album of 2008, Vernon proves that his unique talents are more than a one-time creative accident. Indeed, Bon Iver's Blood Bank EP deserves serious praise as another fine recording in 2009.

19. Rules / The Whitest Boy Alive

Erlend Oye makes his second appearance on the list. And why not? The Whitest Boy Alive produced another breezy, funky treatise in vocal and guitar minimalism that proved to be the most reliable summer companion of the year. While still influenced by Oye's electronic/dance sensibilities, Rules expanded into a more traditional, keyboard-inflected Euro-pop vibe.

20. Catacombs / Cass McCombs

After bouncing around the country with his first three albums, the talented Cass McCombs really found his footing on his fourth record, Catacombs. (Had to happen sooner or later, right? His great album with that name?). McCombs' reedy voice and independent bedroom-folk are difficult to define but witheringly addictive. "You Saved My Life" just floored The D Man on the first listen. Floored me.

Christmas Sadness

Stewboy recently told me that Christmas songs are too sad. He doesn't like them. And he's right. Some Christmas songs are quite sad. Case in point: "White Christmas" and "I'll Be Home For Christmas." Who wants to be home for Christmas, if only in their dreams? Having experienced the latter, The D Man can tell you that dreams don't quite make up the difference.

Then again, those songs don't even come close to the profound sadness described in the aptly-titled "That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!" Devastating in its descriptions of familial discord and a lack of means (yet powerful in its ability to consider future redemption), Sufjan Stevens' narrative is maybe the saddest Christmas song ever. Unfortunately, this sad song plays out again and again throughout this country, and throughout the world, during Christmastime.

So maybe a sad song is entirely appropriate during this jolly season of silver and gold. Because The Baby that we celebrate eventually became The Man, we may rightfully consider His ability to mend broken things. Because He experienced all of our grief and every other emotion for our sake, from the poignant to the sacred, from the happy to the divine, we may sing songs to celebrate them all. Even sad ones.

Song of the Week

Not into the whole wasting away hipster look, The D Man likes his leading men with a little more backbone, something that Bradford Cox doesn't quite offer. But in Cox's case, he suffers from the rare genetic disorder Marfan syndrome, which often produces, among other things, long limbs with long thin fingers. (Joey Ramone shared the same disorder). Regardless, the frontman for Deerhunter and shockingly skinny dude is wrung out with talent. And there is no denying the dreamy allure of "Quick Canal" from a collection of demos that Cox recently released under his Atlas Sound moniker as the proper album, Logos.

With vocals from Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab (a muse of sorts), "Quick Canal" plays to Cox's stream-of-consciousness strength and pulses its way through a decidedly end-of-the-decade experiment in what can be described as a kind of classic lab-pop. Enjoy the video below.

BONUS: Check out "Walkabout," another delightful musical collaboration from Logos, this time with Panda Bear (Mr. Noah Lennox).

Pass the Mic

We often play a game where the first person names a band or singer, sings a song, and then passes the performance to the second person. The second person names another band or singer and, again, sings another song. The catch: the artist's name must start with the last letter of the previous artist. For example, if Schwarzy starts things off with Lionel Richie and "All Night Long" Mrs. D Man might take the "E" and sing her best version of Elton John's "Rocket Man." And so on. Great fun if you want to show off your musical chops, and even more fun when you get a perfect run of Lionel Richie, Elton John, Neil Diamond, and Dan Fogelberg. Highly recommended.

Other songs that we totally killed last night:

• Tesla (Rip)
• Starship (The D Man)
• Seal (Rip)
• Kriss Kross (Schwarzy)
• Christopher Cross (The D Man)
• Everclear (Mrs. D Man)
• Hall & Oates (Rizzo and Rip, an up-tempo duet no less)
• Styx (Rizzo)
• Yes (The D Man)

Best moment of the night: Schwarzy appropriately inserting Lionel Richie after every other song's chorus: Fiesta. Forever.