top albums of 2009:

so, just cause i know tyler wants to see it, i shall put up a list of what i think the best albums from last year were/are. here's the format, the top ten are in ranked order. then everything after that will just be in alphabetical order cause their rank pretty much depends on what kind of mood i am in at the moment.

001. p.o.s. - never better

his best album yet. in my top five favorite rap albums of all time. which pretty much means it's in my top five any kind of albums of all time. he just keeps getting better. and doing things almost no one else does with rap. pretty much if i had the musical talent to make an album it would want it to be quite similar to this.


002. themselves - crowns down

if this were an olympic race of some sort, this album would only be like .05 seconds away from first place. i've always been a bigger fan of dose one in theory than in practice. and a lot of anticon stuff is just a little too out there for me, but for some reason this one hits the spot perfectly. including proper (and not over) use of vocal processing in a rap song. i'm pretty sure if there comes a day when i can actually understand the incredibly fast rapping of dose i will appreciate this even more.


003. deastro - moondagger

this is a delightful electronic surge of joy to me. it's my go to working-on-a-poster or i'm-really-bored-and-sick-of-my-tedious-job music. always lifts my spirits and puts me in a good mood.


004. why? - eskimo snow

over the last two years why? has become one of my favorite groups. yoni's lyrics are always incredible to me. they are super specific but somehow applicable to anyone's life. totally relatable (or maybe that's just to me). at first i wasn't huge on this album. i think i just want to hear a rap album by yoni, so when it was so completely not rap i was disappointed. then i got over it and realized there are tons of great songs. with hooks for days.


005. brother ali - us

brother ali has the unique ability to be completely corny or talk about things that should make him seem preachy without it feeling corny or preachy. plus he's got some of the best multi-syllabics and cadences around. he can brag about how good he is or rap about the ramification of slavery on current and past society with equal skill. and equal entertainment value. this is rare. also, this is some of ant's best production yet.

006. the dear hunter - act iii: life and death

007. cecil otter - rebel yellow

008. yeah yeah yeahs - its blitz

009. brand new - daisy

010. cunninlynguists - strange journey volume one

the rest of the top twenty, in alphabetical order:

abstract rude - rejuvenation
the big pink - a brief history of love
cage - depart from me
depeche mode - sounds of the universe
flaming lips - embryonic
the juan maclean - the future will come
mayer hawthorne - a strange arrangement
shark speed - sea sick music
sol.illaquists of sound - no more heroes
various artists (danger mouse, sparklehorse and various singers) - dark night of the soul


**special note: shad's album the old prince would have been high on this list, but i decided it didn't qualify because although it wasn't released in the u.s. til this year, it came out in canada before this year.


and now as a special bonus, here are some albums that i found disappointing or overrated (and sometimes both). note: disappointing does not necessarily mean bad. it just means i wish it was/expected it to be better.

animal collective - merriweather post pavilion
girls - album
the xx - xx
the pains of being pure at heart - the pains of being pure at heart
mos def - the ecstatic
cage - depart from me
felt - felt 3: a tribute to rosie perez
eyedea and abilities - by the throat
mr. lif - heard it today
doom - born like this


and, yes, i am, for the most part, going to ignore the fact that i haven't posted anything in half a year. hope you enjoyed this fascinating listicle. to the point that it makes you feel ever so much closer to me and my life. good evening.

posted by adam @ 11:11 PM