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.