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well it's that time of year again. My usual disclaimer applies, IE: this list ULTIMATELY has no intentions of being exhaustive or hip or pointing out the most important or creative or even "best" albums of the year. This list is simply an honest list of the 10 albums that I listened to the most this year and will forever be remembered as the soundtrack to this year for me. Dig in.
1. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
preaching to the choir, as usual -- so I guess I don't have to convince anyone of anything, but (as much as I hate to sound like perhaps every rock critic that reviewed this record) HOW CAN A BAND BE ALMOST 30 FUCKING YEARS OLD AND STILL BE MAKING RECORDS THIS FUCKING GOOD? I mean seriously. This record kicks serious ass. It's edgy and dirty and fun and well, just great. There's yet to be any indication that the greatest band on earth will be slowing down anytime soon. Thank you for that.
2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
this record was actually announced as PFork's #1 this year. This is the closest that their list and my list have ever gotten. Maybe that would make you feel icky. Maybe it should make me feel icky. But denying this record would make me a total hypocrite. Generally there's things about Animal Collective that I point out as "interesting" or "weird" or whatever, but MPP's bottom-line is that it's just really great. It's catchy and strange at the same time. It's pretty and fucked up at the same time. It makes yr head nod -- which is a form of agreeing.
3. DJ Quik & Kurupt - BlaQKout
if a year ago you told me that either of these dudes would end up in my Top 10 I would've scoffed. Surely they're both washed-up almost-had-beens who are still struggling to hang on to their brush with G-Funk at it's height? But here's the thing -- BLAQKOUT was by far the most adventerous rap album released all year. It's an album that manages to take the BBQ-soundtrack fun side of West Coast Gangsta Rap and mix it with kid-in-the-candy-store production (Quik) and OMG-I'm-in-love-with-language rhymes (Kurupt). I don't remember the last time I was so instantly convinced by two rappers that I had spent a decade ignoring. This record is low-brow (almost every song is about getting laid) and high-brow (dude samples an episode of Andrew Zimmer's show and turns it into something insane). Must-have.
4. Lil Wayne - No Ceilings
okay here's the thing, Wayne's last release was 2008's DEDICATION 3, which basically found him auto-tune singing badly and passing the mic to his crew. For the bulk of the year since he talked about his rock album which (technically) has still not materialized. In the meantime the other Carter dropped a little single called "DOA" which was effectively an attack on Weezy. And then this mixtape was tossed off. And on it Wayne decided to just fucking do what he does best: kill you on yr own track. This tape was so overlooked and underappreciated, but man Wayne proved three things: 1. even HE cannot make a Black Eyed Peas song sound good, 2. he can however make a Mario song sound amazing, and 3. he is an unstoppable rebel force.
5. The Bad Plus featuring Wendy Lewis - For All I Care
Normally I hate (HATE) vocal jazz. I just don't think it's right. I mean the instruments should BE the vocals. But I'm a long-time Bad Plus fan and a sucker for cover albums, so I figured I'd give this a shot. And I'm glad I did. The album is pretty much a string of amazing versions (the fucked up tempo sliding in "Lithium," the catharsis of "Radio Cures," the isolation of "Comfortably Numb") -- it's all just so brilliant. I don't know who Wendy Lewis is (I bet you don't either) but her approach was to stay the fuck out of their way, and it works. It works big time.
6. Slim Thug - Boss Of All Bosses
before this I only knew Slim as the dude who spit "Like A Boss" and cameo'd on Ratatat's REMIXES VOLUME II. On the merits of the gimmicky single "I Run" I decided to pick up this album, and what I found was probably the Southern Hip Hop album of the Summer. Slim killed it this year, most notably by getting seriously emo about his place in the rap game and reuniting with the producers that made him an underground legend to being with. Solid beyond belief.
7. DOOM - Born Like This
when I first heard this record, I think I felt like every other MF Doom fanatic. A little letdown. I mean, he dropped the MF. He gave us a sloppy unfinished albums of demos. Half of the tracks use instrumentals that he released like 3 years ago. But with each listen something special was revealed. OMG. He gave us EXACTLY the record we've been waiting for. Much like OPERATION DOOMSDAY being the result of his absence from the game in the mid-90's, BORN LIKE THIS isn't the album that WE THE FANS demanded... it's the album that DOOM needed to make. It's real. It's him. It's what he honestly sounds like. And we love him for every second of it.
8. The Lemonheads - Varshons
I've been a Lemonheads obsessive for well over a decade, and can safely say that this was the first Lemonheads grower-album I ever heard. But boy did it grow. First off -- props to Gibby's production. It fit everything to a T. But of course, Evan's insane takes on these tracks. Pure bliss. It meshes country with physch with techno and ... well. Just get it.
9. Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
my wife and I have this saying that we paraphrase from time to time, which is basically SOMEDAYS I COULD JUST LISTEN TO SMOG ALL DAY. And it's true. He' just got this voice. He doesn't need to say much. It's all in the way he says it. But SOMETIMES I WISH WE WERE AN EAGLE is easily my favorite album he's made since KNOCK KNOCK. And believe me, that's saying a lot. Billy Smog is one of the NR-households most-played artists. This is a beautiful album of beautiful songs with beautiful lyrics beautifully recorded. I think you should have it.
10. Ben Weasel - The Brain That Wouldn't Die
okay so Ben records the (probably) best Screeching Weasel album live, without Screeching Weasel and then releases it. I'll pass. Right? No! Don't. It's awesome dudes. There's a couple subtle changes to the setlist, but really this is one of the greatest pop punk albums re-recorded without any studio bullshit. It's intense and fun and fast and makes me wish I was a teenager for an hour.
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