Lighter Fare: My 10 Favorite Albums of 2009

I plan on doing posts about Sarah Palin and her ridiculous appearance on "Glenn Beck" last night and about Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson's blatantly racist comments about Haiti later today, but I wanted to do something lighter for now. So, I'm doing my top 10 albums of the last year. I'm a bit behind, but it took me a hot minute to get this thing started up properly. So blow me. I'll do a top 10 list when I damn well please. It's not like 2009 is going anywhere.

Ready?

10. Mandy Moore, Amanda Leigh

No, I'm not kidding. This is a surprisingly great album. She's come a long way from singing that awful "Candy" song. I started giving her a chance with her cover album from a few years ago, which wasn't exactly horrible. She had a couple of really inspired song choices, especially her cover of Joan Armatrading's "Drop the Pilot." But, I'm a sucker for all things Joan Armatrading, so there you go. But this new album is mature and folksy in a way that's a little hard to take coming from a former bubblegum pop princess. But it's great. She did a duet with Ben Lee back in 2007 called "Birds and Bees" which indicated a move in this musical direction, so I'm glad she followed up on it. Plus, her album is much better than her husband's effort this past year. (Her husband is Ryan Adams if you're not up on your celeb marriages. OMGZZZ!!!) You have to have an open mind to listen to this album, admittedly, because it is still Mandy Moore. Download "Merrimack River" and "I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week" to get an idea of what it sounds like.

9. Cass McCombs, Catacombs


Cass McCombs is a good dude. He's consistent, too. And this is a really, really good album. It's light and quirky. A good summertime record, in other words. He's been crafting this really laid back sound for a while now and I think it's his best. The first song, "Dreams Come True Girl," features Karen Black. You know, Karen Black, from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark? Yeah, no shit. It's interesting. I have no idea how they're connected, but it works, so who cares. Download that and "Don't Vote" to get a feel. They're similar in sound, but very different songs.

8. Levon Helm, Electric Dirt

Levon Helm is amazing. That's all there is to it. His voice is so distinct. I dare you to find me someone, anyone, especially from Appalachia, who can listen to Levon Helm and not like him. His music suits our region perfectly. Growing up in a state like West Virginia, one hopes that you would have great taste in bluegrass, REAL country music, et cetera, but it's not always the case. And if you think you don't like those things in your music, listen to Levon Helm. He'll make you feel good. All that said, I like Electric Dirt a little less than his first album, Dirt Farmer, but that album was bare bones and raw and sad and emotional. This new album is fun and is basically an album version of the shows he does on his property every Friday night. Download "Tennessee Jed" and "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" to get an idea. Embrace Levon!

7. Maxwell, BLACKsummers'night

Maxwell is one of the sexiest men to ever sing a song. He's just...well, he's it. He's been gone for too long. This is his first album in eight years. I loved Maxwell when I was in high school and college. He awakened feelings in me that I didn't even know existed, all with that sexy little (big?) voice of his. But, he wasn't just a sexy soul singer, he was emotional and interesting. He covered Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" about ten years ago and that is still, to this day, one of my favorite songs of all time, thanks to him. He's a beautiful creature. It was a given that this would be somewhere on any top ten album list thing I would compose, it was just a matter of where I would put it. BLACKsummers'night is a new Maxwell, but it echoes his older stuff at the same time. He's grown a lot. He cut off all of that amazing hair, too. Damn. But he's still fine as hell. Download "Bad Habits" and "Pretty Wings." And go enjoy some baby-making music.

6. Paolo Nutini, Sunny Side Up

Jesus. Speaking of sexy men. Paolo Nutini is a whole new breed. He has one of the most unique voices I've ever heard, I'm guessing due to his Italian-Irish background. I know, right? Sexy. If you don't know who Paolo is, you at least know his "big" song, "New Shoes." It was used in that shoe commercial from a few years ago. YouTube it, you'll see which one I mean. Adidas maybe? Either way, while I found that song horribly obnoxious, we saw Paolo on a British talk show a few months ago and he sang a new song, "Coming Up Easy," and Billy and I both had to pick our jaws up off of the floor. Incredible. And so it began. Sunny Side Up is a jazzy, rocky, poppy, folksy, soully album that just makes you feel good. It's peppy. And his voice has so much structure and pain and joy and character that you can't help but to at least be interested in what he's saying. Download "Coming Up Easy" and "No Other Way" to get a good feel. Those are the two jazziest songs, I think, and they showcase his voice the best.

5. fun., Aim and Ignite

The Format was (is, in fact) one of my favorite bands of all time. Like, top three or four. They were catchy and poppy but intellectual and Nate Ruess has one of the best voices in music, period. And then they broke up. Of course. That's how it always goes. But, then Nate Ruess formed fun. with Andrew Dost of Anathallo and Jack Antonoff from Steel Train. And now, we have this amazing little record, which is, for all intents and purposes, what the third Format album would have been. Fortunately, Nate got the rights to the music while the other Format members got the rights to the merchandising stuff, et cetera. This is a fun album. That's pretty much all there is to it. There's these insane chord changes and the lead song, "Be Calm," sounds like four songs combined to make one big, epic, fantastic joyride. Nate's a great leader. And this is just so much goodness to take in. Download "Be Calm" and "Benson Hedges." So good.

4. Elvis Perkins, Elvis Perkins in Dearland

This is the son of Anthony Perkins, of Psycho fame. You know, Norman Bates. No shit. He's one of the best discoveries of the last decade. I thank Billy for turning me on to him. This has to be one of the best albums I've ever heard, period. His voice is lazy, but emotional and strained, like he's actually having trouble getting some of the words out. The opening song (and my personal favorite), "Shampoo," riffs off of the lyrics to Nina Simone's "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" (also one of my favorite songs) but laid over a methodical, driving beat with lots of harmonica. The best thing about the album is its flow, and the fact that, while the lyrics are obviously personal, it's not quite as heavy as his first album, Ash Wednesday. Download "Shampoo" and "I Heard Your Voice in Dresden," which is evidently about his mother and has some terrific, quirky lyrics. Fall in love with Elvis Perkins, seriously.

3. Devendra Banhart, What Will We Be

Devendra Banhart has become one of my favorite singers ever over the last 5 years or so. While this album is small time compared to what I think is his best, Cripple Crow, it's also probably his most casual album. There's a bit of a disconnect between the songs, and sometimes even within the songs ("Angelika") but it suits his style so you don't really think about it. He still has the same wavering, drifting, sometimes sexy and soulful voice he's always had, and the lyrics are still quirky and sometimes hard to grasp, but the music is more accessible. It's easier to move your hips to but he also keeps in touch with his Latin roots (though that influence isn't as heavy as it has been in his other albums) while using some sassy, driving guitar and drums right out of the filthy rock music of the 1970s. Which is my favorite kind of rock music. Download "16th & Valencia Roxy Music" and "Chin Chin & Muck Muck."

2. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone

Isn't that one of the greatest album covers you've ever seen? Neko Case has come a very long way, from her time with The New Pornographers (which was where I first heard of her) to her time with Her Boyfriends (the name of her old backing band), she's taken a lot of interesting roads. However, she's always maintained this country aesthetic, if not with the actual music on her albums, at least with her voice. She has a voice that tells the truth, or at least it makes you think it's telling the truth. She's an honest singer, a singer who lets it all hang out but doesn't take any shit from anyone. You listen to a song like "This Tornado Loves You" and tell me who else could sing that convincingly? It's a tragic love song from the perspective of, well, a tornado. Not really, obviously, it's metaphoric, but it's sung as though she is the tornado and the graphic imagery of a tornado's destruction is laced throughout the song. It's beautiful and this is up there with the best albums of the decade, let alone 2009. Download "This Tornado Loves You" and "People Got a Lotta Nerve." She's a better maneater than Nelly Furtado or Hall & Oates could ever dream of being!

1. The Avett Brothers, I and Love and You

This is not just my favorite album of 2009, but it's one of the best albums I've ever heard in my entire life. And that's a lot of albums. The Avett Brothers have been around for about a decade now, but this is their big, major label debut. They got Rick Rubin (Dixie Chicks, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers) to produce this album and he has maintained the quality he gives to everyone he works with. He never exerts influence, but he plays up the great qualities already inherent in the musicians. With the Avett Brothers, it's their relationship with one another, as brothers, and the love they share as family. It's a theme they've visited consistently on every album they've made, but the theme of family, both blood family and married family, is heavy here, especially on songs like "I and Love and You" and "January Wedding." They also visit the theme of friendship and growth and what it means to grow up and leave some friendships behind, especially on "The Perfect Space," which is one of the greatest studies of friendship and what it means to outgrow a friendship I've ever heard. It also features one of the best lyrics on the entire record toward the end, when Seth Avett proclaims, "I wanna have pride like my mother has, and not like the kind in the Bible that turns you bad." I mean, come on. Listen to him sing that line and tell me you don't choke up a bit. Then there's "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise," which I have proclaimed to be the greatest song I've ever heard. I'm not kidding. It's big, but not Celine Dion big. It features terrific lyrics and big vocals. They also go upbeat with songs like "Kick Drum Heart," which is jangly in a very Beatles-ish way. The themes are varied but the boys bring it all together and the album flows so well from song to song and theme to theme, that it's easy to forgive them for changing their sound, which seems to be the primary criticism from their long time fans. Sure, there's less banjo, but their voices and their personalities are at the forefront and that's what really makes these guys shine. Download "Laundry Room" and "The Perfect Space" for an idea, but just go ahead and get the whole thing after that, because there's no reason for anyone to not have this album. It's that good.

Of course, these are only opinions. But I have good taste, right?

Oh! And real quick, I want to give my friends Jess and Michelle credit where it is due for coming up with the name and subtitle for this blog. I put it to a vote and they had the best suggestions, by far. Thanks guys!