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Coup De Main's BEST ALBUMS OF 2009: 20-11...

Written by Shahlin Graves, Elle Hunt, Sarah Mudgway & Luke Oram

Friday, 01 January 2010 21:42

50-41 40-31 30-21 20-11 10-1 20. LILY ALLEN - It's Not Me, It's You [ LO ] The grime princess of Hammersmith having already made waves with her 2006 debut 'Alright, Still', decided to pursue a ‘new direction’ for her sophomore follow-up. The result; a warped wonderland trip through genres, from the electropop-coated ‘The Fear’, to ‘Not Fair’ - a barnstorming country-swing tribute to, errr, early explosions in the bedroom. The masterful thing about 'It’s Not Me, It’s You' is Allen’s ability to strike a dichotomy with social commentary delivered in the guise of sweet-shop pop songs. There’s no-one else this side of London who can make a bitter political diatribe the catchiest chorus of the summer (see ‘Fuck You’ for proof). MUST-LISTEN: ‘Fuck You’, ‘22’, ‘Not Fair’, 'Everyone's At It', 'The Fear', 'Who'd Have Known'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: The Streets, M.I.A., Kate Nash, The Ting Tings... and wearing sneakers with dresses. WATCH: While Johnny Cash spins in his grave... the 'Not Fair' music video. 19. MATT & KIM - Grand [ EH ] Matt & Kim’s minimalistic synth-punk sets anthemic choruses to a frenetic pace: Matt Johnson plays keyboards, Kim Schifino is a tattooed powerhouse at the drums - and both sing. Their songs are for the disenchanted optimist, challenging ideas of growth, expectation, and responsibility (“I bought my first watch, but it feels all wrong”) - and have that same sense of energy and power that you’d expect from a live performance, not a recording. Their unpretentious, down-to-earth music reminds listeners of life’s simple pleasures, such as driving with the windows rolled down, and having “nothin’ but time”. ‘Daylight’ champions a simple rebellion from society’s constraints; ‘Cutdown’ talks of a “red Cadillac, top down”. Considering that they belong to a genre that’s well-known for its posturing (viz: electro-pop’s pop figureheads Lady Gaga, MGMT), Matt & Kim are refreshingly genuine and playful. MUST-LISTEN: ‘Cutdown’, ‘Cinders’, 'Daylight', 'Don't Slow Down', 'Lessons Learned'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Passion Pit, Discovery, Handsome Furs, Los Campesinos!, Peter Bjorn and John... and closing your eyes and pointing at random on a map. WATCH: 'Daylight' music video. 18. TEGAN AND SARA - Sainthood [ SG ] Tegan & Sara; heart-on-sleeve wearers and solace for the broken-hearted since 1995. The twins describe their sixth album as addressing "secular themes of devotion, delusion, and exemplary behaviour in the pursuit of love and relationships". Further explaining that; "Sainthood is about obsession with romantic ideals. In the service of relationships we practice being perfect. We practice our sainthood in the hope that we will be rewarded with adoration." Like their last album 'The Con', 'Sainthood' was produced by Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla. Unlike 'The Con' though, 'Sainthood' is the first Tegan & Sara album ever, to feature a song co-written by both twins. The two, usually choose to write separately. The album also includes co-written songs from Tegan's side-project with Hunter Burgan of AFI. Although lyrically more abstract than 'The Con', 'Sainthood' still feels familiar instantly - thanks to Tegan & Sara's modus operandi of twenty-first-century empathy. MUST-LISTEN: 'Alligator', 'Hell', 'The Cure', 'Sentimental Tune', 'The Ocean', 'On Directing', 'Someday', 'Arrow'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Sleater-Kinney, Death Cab For Cutie, An Horse, Chris Walla, Northern State, Kaki King... and polaroid photos. READ: Our interview with Tegan Quin - click HERE... as well as our 2007 interview with Sara Quin HERE. WATCH: 'Hell' music video. 17. AN HORSE - Rearrange Beds [ SG ] The first night I saw An Horse live, was in Sydney last January - Kate Cooper and Damon Cox were the main support on Tegan and Sara's 2009 Australian tour. I wasn't entirely sold, I was headliner impatient. By the second night in Melbourne, I was head over heels, butterflies and giggly in love. On-stage, Cooper projects a wistful omnipresence that belies her jockey-suitable height. An Horse's debut album, is a keeper. But don't take my word for it - Sara of Tegan & Sara assisted in the A&R of 'Rearrange Beds', proclaiming that “Kate’s lyrics about love, relationships and the tendency to fixate on disabling neurosis in oneself have become my mission statement. I get goose bumps, electrical currents running up my arms listening to them - I love this band.” Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard declared once, that “they’d only come to Australia if they could play with An Horse." - Need I say more? MUST-LISTEN: 'Horizons', 'Little Little Little', 'Camp Out', 'Postcards', 'Shoes Watch'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Tegan & Sara, The Like, Lisa Mitchell, Dash & Will, The Grates... and that neurotic pet you have had forever and can't bear to be parted from. WATCH: 'Camp Out' music video. 16. THE SECRET HANDSHAKE - My Name Up In Lights [ SG ] Luis Dubac channelled 'Family Matters', 'Step By Step' and the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles', in the creation of the latest 'Secret Handshake record. On track two of 'My Name In Lights', Dubac broadcasts that - "I just wanna live my life like it's the 90's / Like it's a TV show / There could be problems but we would solve them on next weeks episode..." The ten bop-tastic tracks of 'My Name In Lights' were all wrote, played, recorded, programmed and produced by Dubac himself in his home studio - narrowed down from a pool of sixty songs. MUST-LISTEN: 'Saturday', 'All For You', 'Last Song', 'TGIF', 'Brand New Love'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Cobra Starship, Hellogoodbye, A Cursive Memory, A Rocket To The Moon, The Summer Set... and 90's roller skates. WATCH: Live cover of Skee-Lo's 'I Wish' followed by 'Saturday'. =15. HONOR SOCIETY - Fashionably Late [ SG ] This is the album that the Jonas Brothers should have released in 2009. 'Fashionably Late' playfully contemplates all matters of the heart, without being bitter. Considered as the Jonas Brothers v2.0 by some - drummer Alexander Noyes drummed for the Jonas Brothers from 2005-2006 and the band are signed to Jonas Records - it's ironic that perhaps the understudies have surpassed the originals? Rolling Stone named Honor Society as one of six breakout bands to watch, from Bamboozle music festival 2009 - and with the band's personal mission statement being to "connect with as many fans as possible" via various online and offline connections with fans, Honor Society could very well be the boyband to watch in 2010. MUST-LISTEN: 'Two Rebels', 'Over You', 'Why Didn't I', 'Full Moon Crazy', 'Where Are You Now?', 'Here Comes Trouble', 'Sing For You'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: 'N Sync, Backstreet Boys, Jonas Brothers, The Higher, Danger Radio, Mitchel Musso... and holding hands with your better half. WATCH: 'Over You' music video. =15. TINTED WINDOWS - Tinted Windows [ SG ] I'mma let you finish, but Tinted Windows had the most underrated album of 2009. A very different kind of boyband to Jonas Brothers protégés Honor Society, Tinted Windows are aloof - seemingly determined not to take their band seriously. Members; Taylor Hanson of Hanson, James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle-fame, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains Of Wayne and Ivy, plus Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos - fashion powerpop-gems that need to be heard to be believed. MUST-LISTEN: 'Dead Serious', 'We Got Something', 'Messing With My Head', 'Kind Of A Girl', 'Take Me Back'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Jonas Brothers, Fountains Of Wayne, Butch Walker, Everybody Else, Cheap Trick, Hanson... and cruising highways with the top down. WATCH: 'Dead Serious' live from SXSW 2009. 14. KASABIAN - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum [ LO ] Kasabian’s masterstroke for their third album came in the form of unlikely producer Dan The Automator (of Gorillaz fame) – the resulting record sounds like the score of a Victorian, arsenic-fuelled romp through a madhouse. In a good way, mind. Voted Q Magazine’s album of the year, 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' is Brit-indie through a crooked genius lens. There’s the cheeky romp and vigor of ‘Where Did All The Love Go?’, the fuzzed-out car-chase vibe of ‘Fast Fuse’ and the vaudeville swagger of ‘Thick As Thieves’. 'Asylum’s got enough genius tricks and treats to revive even the most bored Brit-pop fan. Kasabian are also noted as being one of the unfortunate bands to be swiftly knocked off the top of the charts by Michael Jackson’s death. Bummer on both counts. Check them out at the Big Day Out 2010 too - click HERE for the official timetable. MUST-LISTEN: ‘Where Did All The Love Go?’, ‘West Ryder Silver Bullet’, ‘Fast Fuse’, 'Underdog', 'Ladies And Gentlemen, Roll The Dice'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: 'Sgt. Pepper'-era Beatles, Syd Barrett, Oasis, Editors, Arctic Monkeys... and LSD. WATCH: This is where all the love went. You’ll love it... 'Where Did All The Love Go?' 13. THE XX - The xx [ EH ] After the high-pitched reel of Passion Pit, the saturated sounds of Animal Collective, and the wail of Florence and her Machine - the minimalist and unfussy sound of London quartet The xx comes as a relief. With its sparse instrumentation (often, a clean guitar arpeggio set to just a gentle synth-beat and a bass-line) and brooding atmosphere, their self-titled debut ‘XX’ is one of the more modest releases of 2009; but also one of the best. The most beautiful moments of this album come from the friction of the gentle to-and-fro of the band’s two vocalists, a his and her exchange between Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim - best heard in tracks such as ‘Heart Skipped a Beat’ and ‘Crystalised’. There’s an infinite sense of space to ‘XX’, which, in an age where ‘more is more’, is refreshing. MUST-LISTEN: ‘VCR’, ‘Shelter’, 'Crystalised'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Young Marble Giants, The Antlers, The Big Pink, Hot Chip... and the kind of whispering you only hear at night-time. WATCH: 'Crystalised' music video. 12. ATLAS SOUND- Logos [ EH ] Atlas Sound is the moniker given to the solo project of Bradford Cox, the eccentric vocalist of noise-rock act Deerhunter. ‘Logos’ is a lot easier on the ear than Cox’s albums with his band; indeed, it’s easy to imagine The Beach Boys releasing something like it if they’d carried on writing pop in the 21st century. Certainly, Cox has made no secret of the enormous influence ‘50s and ‘60s chart-toppers (Elvis Presley and doo-wop pop in particular) has had on his song-writing process, and it’s especially obvious in tracks such as ‘Criminals' - which has a laid-back, reflective vibe. ‘Logos’ is a stellar example of technicolour, dreamy psychedelic pop for a modern age: a ‘Good Vibrations’ for this decade. It paints pictures of an ethereal, tranquil reality: just listen to the irresistibly gleeful ‘Walkabout’ (a collaboration with Animal Collective’s Panda Bear/Noah Lennox), and be transported. MUST-LISTEN: ‘Shelia’, ‘An Orchid’, 'Walkabout' (with Noah Lennox), 'My Halo', 'Logos'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Panda Bear, Grizzly Bear, Deerhunter, Dirty Projectors... and cassette mix-tapes. WATCH: 'Walkabout' unofficial music video. 11. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE- Merriweather Post Pavilion [ EH ] Few albums released in 2009 can be said to have genuinely pushed the envelope, but Animal Collective’s ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ is one of them. Since their first album, ‘Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished’, released in 2000, everything that Panda Bear, Avey Tare and Geologist have produced, has sounded original and innovative. And yet, by maintaining a fundamental pop-sensibility, they’ve managed to ensure the accessibility of their music: consider the ‘Good Vibrations’ vibe of ‘My Girls’, the sprawling romp that’s ‘Summertime Clothes’, and the heavy-handed beat of ‘Taste’. Indeed, many have touted ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ as being Animal Collective’s most user-friendly release to date - as it was the first of the band’s albums to make an impression on the commercial charts, peaking at #26 in the United Kingdom, and breaking into the coveted Top 20 in America. This is an amazing feat for a group that lies so left-of-centre, and it’s testament to Animal Collective’s expertise: they’ve balanced their inherent quirkiness with memorable melodies and infectious hooks, and the result is an album that won’t easily be bettered. MUST-LISTEN: ‘My Girls’, ‘Brother Sport’, 'Summertime Clothes', 'Bluish'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Grizzly Bear, Deerhunter, Foals, Late Of The Pier... and psychedelic kaleidoscopes. WATCH: 'Summertime Clothes' music video.

 

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