By: David Schultz
30. Paul McCartney at CitiField
As The Beatles played the most historic concert in the history of Shea Stadium, it was only fitting that Paul McCartney would play the first live shows at its successor, CitiField. For three balmy (and rainy, well drizzly) nights in July, McCartney gave a show for the ages that appealed to all generations, covering all areas of his Beatles career, offering up the best from his days with Wings and touchingly honoring his wife Linda, George Harrison and John Lennon. Returning the favor from his “Last Play At Shea,” Billy Joel joined McCartney for his opening night encore, adding his own “whooo” to “I Saw Her Standing There.”29. Metric: Fantasies
On “Gimme Sympathy,” Emily Haines poses the age old bar question, “Beatles or Rolling Stones?” Namedropping such classic rock titans gives you a sense that Emily Haines has some grand ambitions for her post Broken Social Scene career. By the time the arena rock bombast of “Stadium Love” closes the album, you can be sure of it. You never love to see any of your underground favorites make an album so broadly appealing that the mainstream homogenization process becomes inevitable. Fantasies makes it a little more bearable.28. Future Of The Left: Travels With Myself And Another
“Come on, Rick,” you didn’t hear of Future Of The Left in 2009? A shouty little band from Cardiff, Wales that boasts 2/3 of mcclusky, Future Of The Left bashes out erudite three minutes bursts of politicized punk; its like The Clash, only without the bouncy traces of ska. Like every great band with punk leanings, attitude and volume can only carry you so far. Without a whit of intelligence, whether academic or street savvy, its all sound and fury signifying nothing. Future Of The Left has the complete package; never has a band’s boast that we need Satan more than he needs us sounded so rational . . . and loud.
The memory of LeRoi Moore, who passed away in the midst of the Big Whiskey recording session, looms large throughout the Dave Matthews Band seventh studio release. All of the trademarks you would expect from a DMB album are present - intricate musical arrangements, Matthews’ cycling through his gruff to falsetto vocal range, Carter Beauford’s booming drums – but they seem to be working at a more inspired level. The result is the Matthews Band's most entertaining and ambitious album since their 1994 debut.26. The Dead Weather: Horehound
I think we’re at the point where nothing Jack White does should be surprising. One side project not being enough, White jumped behind the drums, recruited Allison Mosshart from The Kills and Dean Fertita from Queens Of The Stone Age and created yet another great band with hard hitting drums, concise guitar licks and impassioned lead vocals permeating the album. As it has the gritty "Hang You From The Heavens" and the cocky "I Cut Like A Buffalo," it seems like nitpicking to complain that Horehound omits their marvelous cover of Gary Numan’s “Are Friends Electric?”25. Japandroids: Post-Nothing
On their first full-length release, the Canadian guitar and drum duo of Brian King and David Prowse envelop all the wondrous dreams and grand expectations that can only be maintained by the young in a magnificent haze of beautiful noise, drowning shoegazing guitar work in oceans of reverb. On “Wet Hair,” they envision themselves going to France so they French kiss a French girl and on “Heart Sweats,” the chorus needs nothing more than the quaint “xoxoxoxo” to get its point across. Their North American tour was derailed by a medical emergency before it could get off the ground, so 2010 will be the year they bring their music to the people.24. Antony & The Johnsons: “Aeon”
With his ghostly, ethereal voice and herky-jerky stage contortions, gender-neutral Antony Hegarty has always eluded simple definitions He does fall in the category of those performers that need to be seen, if only to prove to yourself that that voice comes from a human being and not an otherworldy aesthete. Probably the most startling track from The Crying Light, which easily wins the prize for the year’s most disturbing cover, "Aeon" puts Hegarty's indescribable talents in their finest light. An absolutely gorgeous song, Hegarty sings with an urgency rarely found in his airy poetic commentaries, his passion rising above the lush orchestration to provide one of the year's most moving songs.23. Living Colour: The Chair In The Doorway
Don’t call it comeback, cause they didn’t go nowhere; Living Colour reemerged in 2009 with the same sonic assault that made them a genre-busting revelation in the pre-grunge era. On The Chair In The Doorway, bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Will Calhoun operate at a staggering level of speed and sophistication, Vernon Reid crunches through the avant-metal riffs that have become his calling card and Corey Glover offers his customary array of trenchant observations. A cerebral funk-metal band, Reid’s tapping of the spiraling guitar hook to “Behind The Sun,” his slide work on “Bless Those” and Glover’s knockout vocals on “Not Tomorrow” help make this Living Colour’s most eclectic album in years.22. tUnE-yArDs: BiRd-BrAiNs
Girls are still imitating Liz Phair, recording full length albums in the comfort of their own bedroom, only now they have Pro-Tools at their disposal. Merrill Garbus’ uncomfortably capitalized usage is just part of her wonderfully skewed musical vision. Whether it's methodically introducing layered instrumental loops over her sweetly innocent mediations as she does on “Sunlight” or unleashing them in a raga-infused burst like on “Hatari,” With its emphasis on recorded repetition and lack of reliance on guitar riffs and drum rolls, BiRd-BrAiNs offers a glimpse at the lush music textures that will be springing out of home studios across the globe and gives purist's a reason to not dread the future.21. Pearl Jam: Backspacer
Pearl Jam has always been at their best when they feel slighted or unheard, the role of the feisty underdog suiting them better than perhaps any band that's come before them. Now that the Obama era has seemingly left Pearl Jam without a villain to fight, they seem oddly happy. A compact little album, Backspacer zips along, full of moody Eddie Vedder elegies and thrashy little rockers that serve as a pleasant reminder that Mike McCready and Stone Gossard can build a song like no other. Having taken over the means of their own production, the grunge rock stalwarts are settling nicely into their role as stately rockers. 20. Wooden Shjips: Dos
On Dos, the band’s second album, Wooden Shjips offer another dose (see the title works on so many levels) of hallucinatory garage rock, stretching five songs over a quickly paced forty minutes. On “Down By The Sea” and “Fallin’,” the albums two lengthiest jams, bassist Dusty Jermier and drummer Omar Ahsanuddin lock in to a repetitive rhythm, hitting it early and not wavering from it one iota. The subtle repetition lulls you in and when Ripley Johnson unleashes his reverb heavy guitar licks on top Nash Whalen’s Ray Manzarek inspired organ melodies, you get a sense of what the 21st Century Doors should really sound like.19. The BPA: “He’s Frank”
Always the master of finding the right sample for whatever groove he’s working on, Norman Cook nee Fatboy Slim broadened his horizons for I Think We’re Going Need A Bigger Boat, his first offering under the moniker of The Brighton Port Authority, by working with singers instead of snippets. Hearing something in The Monochrome Set’s new wave obscurity “He’s Frank” heretofore unheard, Cook brought in Iggy Pop to lay down his inimitably droll vocals over a revved up funky beat. No one released a more enjoyable song that drips with this much credibility.18. Levon Helm: Electric Dirt
Expanding on the quaint folksy sound of The Dirt Farmer, his Grammy-winning effort from 2007, Helm livened up some standards, introduced a few Americana-sounding originals and plucked “Tennessee Jed” from The Grateful Dead for his follow-up, Electric Dirt. By keeping the recording within his Midnight Ramble family, all of the staples of Helm’s Rambles are present: the horn section busts out a true New Orleans flair on Randy Newman’s “Kingfish” and Larry Campbell’s violin brings out every bit of pathos in Helm’s distinctively raspy voice. Electric Dirt would work in any era but coming now, following his battle with throat cancer, it shows that Helm still has a lot of music left in his soul.17. Dan Auerbach: Keep It Hid
One half of the Black Keys, Auerbach’s debut solo effort was a sparkling affair. The baleful, empathetic acoustic blues of “Trouble Weighs A Ton,” “When The Night Comes” and “Goin’ Home” are filled with a naked emotion and a touch of pathos, generating earnest pleas from the depths of soul. It’s a fine contrast to the menacing stomp of songs like “The Prowl,” “I Want Some More” and the superlative “Heartbroken In Disrepair,”which shows that wherever Auerbach goes, reverb-heavy guitars will follow.16. Fuck Buttons: Tarot Sport
Naming themselves in such a fashion that assures they will never be written about in mainstream publications, Fuck Buttons work on a level of industrial intensity few others can match. On Tarot Sport, Brits Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power refine their abilities to concoct hypnotic soundscapes out of psychedelic drone, tribal click-clacks and mechanized noise. Tinkering with each song as it unfolds, adding sounds that didn't seem like they were missing until they appear, Fuck Buttons shatter all modern song structure conventions. Tarot Sport will make you wish you did Ecstasy or at least wonder if their a tab of acid left over from the college days.
By combining airy melodies, derivative of wistful Walt Disney soundtracks, with wicked Talking Heads new wave guitar riffs, St. Vincent nee Annie Clark has worked her way into the hipster circle of trust: criticize her at your own peril. The waiflike Ms. Vincent, who bragged about spending while Jesus saved on her debut Marry Me, still dips her toes in the pool of self-aware ennui, this time begging to be saved from her own desires on “Save Me From What I Want.” Take heed though, the Breakfast At Tiffany’s wide-eyed naiveté is all a show, Actor is a savvy little bit of new wavish pop.14. Leonard Cohen Returns To America
When ABBA is inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, Leonard Cohen will lose his title of being the most unlikely member of the institution. Returning to the stage after a lengthy absence, reportedly due to crooked financial advisors looting his retirement accounts, Cohen's unretirement tour finally made its way to America in 2009. As if ageless, Cohen mesmerized sold-out crowds with his neo-romantic visions, bohemian patois and preternaturally, oh-so-calm-and-reassuring deep voice. His ability to leave listeners spellbound should be required study for every American Idol candidate that thinks melisma and histrionics are the keys to the entertainment.13. U2: No Line On The Horizon
When you’re the largest and most relevant band in the world, any album, even one that doesn’t break through any barriers or mark a monumental shift in musical focus, rises like cream atop the rest of the year’s releases. No Line On The Horizon may be a bit more of the same from the Irish superstars, but its still a worthy effort. Made for the stadiums in which it would be played, Larry Mullen's drums on "Magnificent" come charging in as if on a thoroughbred and you can still recognize Edge's guitar work from its brilliant simplicity. Oh yes, and then there's Bono. Only the greatest live performer not named Springsteen could propound the simplistic sentiments of “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” and make them sound profound. 12. Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest
The Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver benefitted the most from Yellow House, Grizzly Bear’s 2007 release that paved the way for achingly beautiful, methodically evolving chamber room indie-rock. On Veckatimest, the meticulous progressions of “Two Weeks” and “Cheerleader” seem almost peppy by Grizzly Bear standards but at heart, it’s their ability to underscore bucolic harmonies with plaintive, haunting melodies that makes the album such a compelling listen. Depending on what strata of music you’re considering, Grizzly Bear rightfully deserves mention as one of the decade’s most influential bands; Veckatimest surely helps the cause.11. Bob Dylan: Together Through Life
Surprising everyone with his March announcement of its April release, Dylan continued his remarkable renaissance, taking his music to a Mexican border town and letting it wander around in the dust to soak up the atmosphere. Dylan’s forgotten more about traditional American music than most will ever absorb and on Together Through Life, his facility with blues, country and folk makes them all resoundingly come alive. From the Spaghetti western feel of “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” through the bluesy jazz of “Jolene” to the raucous barroom romp of “It’s All Good,” Dylan shows he’s still got a lot of fuel left in his tank.10. Andrew Bird: Noble Beast
Making use of a violin, xylophone, a looping machine and a marvelous ability to whistle, Bird makes fantastic music out of the instruments most people abandon after elementary school. From "Anonanimal" through "Tenuousness," Noble Beast offers a true cerebral experience, a highly literate effort that truly is one instead of a fancy way of saying that the punk rocker sounds smart. Quirky, almost to a fault, Bird’s masterful grasp of the language and penchant for creative wordplay make a perfect match for his intricately plotted songs. Available for only a limited time, Useless Creatures, an instrumental companion album, showed the even wider breadth of Bird’s creativity than revealed on Noble Beast.9. Leroy Justice: The LoHo Sessions
Leroy Justice is a rock and roll band, plain and simple. Jason Gallagher’s confident vocals, Sloan Marshall’s timeless organ riffs and Brendan Cavanaugh’s Skydog- quality slide guitar burrow into the recesses of the rock and roll soul. Evoking an instinctive yet familiar response that only fine classic rock can generate, The Loho Sessions may have arrived more than three decades too late. Were it 1972, we would be talking about it as reverently as we do Exile On Main Street and Eat A Peach. It’s a glorious revelation to know that bands still make this type of music.8. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
To take the term back from John McCain, Dave Longstreth and The Dirty Projectors are part of the New Mavericks of rock and roll. Rather than latching onto a genre, the Projectors simply make music and go in whatever direction it needs to go. If the song doesn’t need a chorus, one isn’t forced in; if a glockenspiel would make things sound better, no preconceived notion keeps it out. Bitte Orca gets better with each listen because there’s so much to hear. New York Magazine seemed to think so. Now that they've gotten around to realizing that there's a music revival going on in Brooklyn, they latched on to Longstreth and his band as the scene's poster children.7. Fever Ray: Fever Ray
A captivating effort, Karen Dreijer Andersson a/k/a Fever Ray has crafted the soundtrack for any episode of Miami Vice where Crockett & Tubbs pensively traveled down the highway in a convertible or required Don Johnson to dump a girlfriend who just happened to be involved with the drug dealer they were about to arrest. Practically subsuming her entire identity beneath studio distortion, Andersson uses her vocals to accentuate the album's wide swath of thumping ambient beats, warbling seductively just as often as she wails away with Bjork-like abandon. Fever Ray is a slyly seductive form of industrial raga, unleashing the Swedish pop demons that lurk beneath the slickest of mainstream hits in a manner destined to appeal to the denizens of the dankest of basement clubs.6. Black Crowes: Before The Flood . . . Until The Freeze
Recorded before a live audience in Levon Helm’s barnyard studio in Woodstock, New York, the Black Crowes rediscovered the Americana soul that has always simmered beneath their Southern soul stew. Luther Dickinson, now firmly in the fold, makes his presence felt adding a surfeit of gritty and sultry nuances to Before The Flood. However, it’s the bonus album, Until The Freeze, that is the true gem. With Larry Campbell sitting in, the music unfolds as if it’s being played around a campfire in the wee hours of the morning under a cloudy, smoky haze, the music spilling forth in a rustic mélange.5. The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Shows At MSG
Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen sitting in with U2, John Fogerty and Billy Joel joining Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Metallica welcoming Lou Reed, Ray Davies and Ozzy Osbourne, Stevie Wonder hosting Smokey Robinson, B.B. King, John Legend, Sting and Jeff Beck. Not a bad recipe for a memorable show. Add in Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Still & Nash and Aretha Franklin and you have not only the concert event of the year, but possibly of the decade. When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame wants to celebrate a 25th Anniversary, they sure know how to do it in style . . . even if they, once again, throw a little passive-agressive missive at Cleveland, Ohio by not hosting in the city they deem worthy to house their hall.
It took a while for White Denim’s follow-up to Exposion to make its way to the States, initially being released overseas where the Austin, Texas trio has become quite the sensation. With Fits, they move in new and different directions while remaining true to their overriding mantra of distilling rock music down to its high-octane essence. Flying through songs at a breakneck pace that would impress Usain Bolt, “I Start To Run” percolates on Steve Terebecki’s bass and Joshua Block’s drums needing only shotgun blasts from James Petralli’s guitar and “Mirrored And Reverse” has a steamy undercurrent of garage psychedelia. This is a band that has a ton to offer in 2010.3. Phish Ends Their Hiatus
It wasn’t done with the simplicity of Michael Jordan’s proclamation of “I’m back” but it pretty much had the same effect. By announcing three shows at Virginia’s Hampton Coliseum in March of this year, the venerable jamband titans sent their fanbase, who had been awaiting confirmation of the rumored shows with unprecedented anticipation, into a joyous hysteria that ultimately resulted in the evisceration of Live Nation’s credibility as a major ticket vendor once ducats went on sale. Phish also released Joy, their first studio album in more than five years, but the simple fact that Phish was back, which overshadowed the return of The Dead, trumped everything else they would do in 2009.
2. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
On Merriweather Post Pavilion, one of the more anticipated releases of 2009, Animal Collective, toned down their wild inclination for experimentation and avant-garde screamfests in favor of an inviting swirl of sound that Panda Bear explored on Person Pitch. Rather than antagonize their listeners, Aminal Collective decided to bring them into their wild world, which turned out to be oddly domestic, albeit in a psychedelically day-glo fashion. In cultivating their electronic pulses and hypnotically repetitive rhythms in their most pleasing manner yet, Merriweather Post Pavilion remains challenging without the Collective having to greatly compromise their slightly lunatic bent. Like it or not, this is one of the more important albums of the decade, its influence will undoubtedly reach well into the next. Hipsters of the future: if you're not listening to this now, learn enough about it; in 2015, you will have to credibly pull off the patronizing declaration that you've been listening to Merriweather Post Pavilion for years.
The Decemberists created a rock opera in every sense of the word. A fractured fairy tale that combines the fantasy of a Narnia Chronicle with the fatalism of a Shakespearian tragedy, The Hazards Of Love tells the tale of a swan named Margaret and her star-crossed lover, a shape shifting faun of adopted royal heritage. Exquisitely crafted, the story packs an understated emotional punch, engendering sympathy for its main characters over the course of a one hour album. On the four versions of "The Hazards Of Love," Meloy builds on the thematic and musical structure of the song much as symphonic masters have done for centuries. My Brightest Diamond's Shana Worden gives voice to the evil Queen and Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark brings the avian heroine to life, adding to the theatrical quality by relieving Meloy of the onus of voicing every character. Prog-rock indulgences and bizarre story lines aside, Meloy and The Decemberists have put together a momentous album.Disappointments: These events just didn’t live up to expectations. Enjoyable though they may be, we desired more.
Arctic Monkeys: Humbug
Ben Harper & The Relentless 7: White Lies For Dark Times
Kanye West At The MTV Awards
Bruce Springsteen: Working On A Dream
The Felice Brothers: Yonder Is The Clock
Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown
Monsters Of Folk: Monsters Of Folk
Wilco: Wilco (The Album)
Lou Reed: The Metal Machine Trio
The reaction to Michael Jackson’s death
The Best Of Earvolution: In case you missed it the first time.
Living Colour Returns
Woodstock: 40 Years On
Gov’t Mule: Rockin’ It Fine At The Hammerstein (a review in verse)
Michael Jackson: What Are We Mourning?
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