Filter just released their top ten album list for 2009 and this is what it looks like
1. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
2. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote)
3. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest (Warp)
4. Miike Snow, Miike Snow (Downtown)
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz! (Interscope)
6. Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Elvis Perkins in Dearland (XL)
7. Cass McCombs, Catacombs (Domino)
8. Passion Pit, Manners (Frenchkiss)
9. The Antlers, Hospice (Frenchkiss)
10. White Rabbits, It’s Frightening (TBD)
While I agree with many of their selections I can’t get past two errors:
1) Not slotting The Antlers at number one. (OK it is official -They should go ahead and process that restraining order now.
2) Leaving off the XX.. The XX’s debut record is an amazing album that deserves a top ten slotting.
I don’t want to define this as a travesty against humanity because we should save that word for the abomination that is MTV’s Jersey Shore. Instead let us simply call this an oversight. Allow me to correct these mistakes now with my rushed top ten.
Del’s top ten of 2009
1 The Antlers – Hospice
2 Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3 Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
4 Coconut Records – Davy
5 Various Artists – Dark Was the Night
6 Muse – The Resistance
7 Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
8 Girls – Album
9 Miike Snow – Mike Snow
10 Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Shit, I just pulled a Filter. Glass houses, Del. Glass houses. OK, let me fix this by slotting The XX at 10 and moving Grizzly Bear down to 11. Lets try this again:
10 Grizzly Bear Veckatimest The XX – The XX
That’s better….but I can’t help but feel like I’ve still left off some amazing albums. Let’s keep this list going and we’ll push Grizzly Bear down a few more rungs…say to “20″ or so.
11 Passion Pit – Manners
12 Rain Machine – Rain Machine
13 Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
14 Cass McCombs – Catacombs
15 Fanfarlo – Reservoir
16 Dan Deacon – Bromst
17 Julian Casablancas – Phrazes for the Young
18 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
19 We Were Promised Jet Packs – These Four Walls
20 Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
You know what, I don’t really care for that entitled attitude that Grizzly Bear gives off. They’re like an NBA #1 draft pick . They’re off the list.
20 Grizzly Bear Veckatmiest DM Sitth – Heavy Ghost
21 Grizzly Bear
If Grizzly Bear is an entitled #1 draft pick then The XX are the Jon Starks of music. They’re Scrappy! They are young and unproven. They didn’t have the hype machine working for them the way Grizzly Bear did. Not helping matters was the the ridiculous stupid name they chose for themselves. I have to admit I’ll never understand the thought process that went behind going with the most nondescript band name, album name, and album cover ever. Lucky for them their sound is anything but nondescript and generic. They won me over the minute I heard “Intro”. Every album should hope to have a tone setter as cool as it. It’s true I didn’t know what I was getting into with them but after “Intro” I didn’t care. I welcomed them with open arms and was rewarded with moody boy/girl vocal exchanges and even moodier bass riffs. Choose Brand XX and don’t look back
Highlights: “Intro,” “VCR,” “Crystallized”
