The best CD of 1989 was released 20 years late! This b-list hair metal band brought original singer Ted Poley back for a reunion album filled with big hooks (“Hearts on the Highway”), bigger choruses (“That’s What I’m Talking About”), songs about girls (“Rocket to Your Heart”), guitar solos (“Ghost of Love”), and power ballads (“Fugitive”). Def Leppard and Bon Jovi’s recent efforts didn’t sound nearly this good.
Spread Eagle’s Ray West was my favorite singer from the sleaze-glam era (early ’90s). His solo debut may have been 15+ years in the making, but it was worth it as he updates Spread Eagle’s sound (which was similar to Skid Row, Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue) by making it heavier and more aggressive (ala Godsmack, Disturbed, Killswitch Engage). I listened to this CD more than anything else this past summer.
My fears that The Damnwells were done were unjustified and proven false when the band released this FREE album in February. The older carryovers (“55 Pictures”, “Bastards of Midnight”, “Down with the Ship”) were my favorites initially but I grew to love the collaborations Alex Dezen did with his wife, Angela (“Dandelion”, “Like it Is”), just as much as anything the band has previously done.
Halfway through 2009, this album was my favorite. Though it’s billed under Lytle’s name, it’s really just an extension of the singer’s Grandaddy sound (spacey/dreamy indie-pop) and “Brand New Sun” may be one of the best, simplest pop songs released this year.
Blake Smith and Mike Willison hinted at their electro-pop/sample fascination as members of the short-lived alt.rock band Caviar but bring that fascination to full fruition (along with Local H’s Scott Lucas) on The Prairie Cartel’s long overdue debut (most of these songs were on a demo CD the guys gave me at SXSW back in ’07). The versatility of the music allows The Prairie Cartel to perform it live as either a full band or in a DJ setting with Lucas singing over pre-recorded sounds loaded onto an iPod.
This swirling and noisy blend of dark, gothic southern-rock and psychedelic-tinged grunge evokes comparisons to artists such as Blind Melon, Dead Confederate, Mother Love Bone, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Kings of Leon.
Within the first 5 minutes of listening to The Knot, I emailed the band’s publicist and said something like, “Is it possible to fall in love with an entire CD before the second song has even ended? If so, I’ll drop to one knee and propose to Wye Oak on the spot.” With most songs going from soft to loud and then loud to soft, it’s little wonder that Wye Oak’s earned comparisons to Yo La Tengo, My Morning Jacket, and The Spinanes. The Knot is a beautiful sounding, and at time loud and chaotic, CD that knocked me out from the get-go.
This collective of UK musicians was assembled by ex-Electric Wizard drummer Justin Greaves who was encouraged by Mogwai bassist (and CBP contributor) Dominic Aitchison to record the “endtime ballads” he’d been writing for years. Though you can pick up an abbreviated compilation of these 2 CDs boiled down into one package (200 Tons of Bad Luck), it’s worth spending a few extra bucks for both CDs that I’ve described as “Mogwai covering Pink Floyd for a movie soundtrack”.
Tom Araya may feel like he’s closing in on retirement age but you couldn’t tell by the breakneck thrashing Araya, Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman and Dave Lombardo serve up on Slayer’s 10th studio album, their best since 1990′s Seasons in the Abyss. Typical subject matter is tackled throughout World Painted Blood (death, blood, war, evil) and Araya comes off as the creepy vocal counterpart to real-life villains like Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy.
At it’s songwriting core (Solon Bixler, Rachel Stolte), Great Northern is still the same band that topped my “Favorites of 2007″ list; however, the departure of the rhythm section during the construction of this sophomore release may be partially responsible for the darker turn Great Northern took in 2009. If 2007′s Trading Twilight for Daylight was the soundtrack to a late Friday afternoon, then Remind Me Where the Light Is is the soundtrack to driving home after a night of indulgence.
I won’t lie. 
It’s a rock n’ roll cliché and a PR flack’s dream: Guy breaks up with girl, drinks heavily, pisses off all his friends, eventually sobers up and retreats to his parents’ house to record an album on a four-track. But man does this cliché jangle with some of the best in-the-red pop songs I’ve heard in a while. Stuart McLamb’s Chapel Hill band signed to Merge in October and is slated to have a new release in August, and after seeing the full band (now a 7-piece) put on a terrific show at the Wexner Center in the fall, McLamb’s next outing could be even better with a little help from his friends.
Every aspect of Andrew Bird just keeps getting better—his voice; his gorgeous, multi-layered violin arrangements; his whistling. It makes for a backdrop so compelling that he can sing about proto-Sanskrit Minoans, porto-centric Lisboans, Greek Cypriots and Hobis-hots and have you nodding your head in agreement instead of scratching it in confusion.
Hospice is one of only a few albums this year that completely transports me whenever I give it my full attention. (
We’ve talked about Bazan a lot recently, so I’ll let this 
Yo La Tengo’s performance at Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville was my favorite show of the year. It helps that they played a whole lot from this record. I love that no matter how many perfect, three-minute pop songs Ira, Georgia and James write, they’re still not afraid to beat your ass with 10- and 15-minute feedback-laden wallops. 
“Well I used to be darker, then I got lighter, then I got dark again.” This is post-Smog Callahan at his best — sinister and sweet. And the pristine production on this record complements his deep deadpan perfectly. (P.S. It’s been a good year for Drag City.) (P.P.S. Remember that 
The great thing about Dirty Projectors is that anything that may come across as high-minded is balanced with something high-spirited. No other band is this brainy and this fun.
I know, if you’re a blog reader (or even if you’re not), you’re likely beyond tired of this band and this album. But seriously. The deliciousness of this record cannot be denied.
“Walkabout” just may be the best song released this year. More Bradford Cox/Noah Lennox collabs, please.
Steve Earle’s boy plays country- and blues-inspired folk songs with the conviction of a modern-day Leadbelly, yet his take on the Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait” shows that though he’s indebted to Americana music, it’s more of a gate than a fence.
I wrote 
John Darnielle’s best songs capture the darkness of the human condition yet still feel uplifting in some way—a thread of human dignity facing an overwhelming heartache or obstacle. This Biblical concept album is no different.
Justin Vernon’s collaboration with Collections of Colonies of Bees proves his voice goes well with anything and everything. Even when he’s talking gibberish in a digital haze.
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