VITAL REVERB: BEST OF 2009 — JANUARY By Nick McGregor
Forget what you’ve heard about the music industry’s
coming demise:
plenty of record labels have blessed our ears with rock-solid
albums in 2009. ESM waded through the
muck to spotlight the best so far.
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Death
…For The
Whole World To See (reissue)
Drag City
ESM Rating: 7/10
Seminal
1974 proto-punk album gets the reissue
treatment from Drag City Records.
Detroit natives the Hackney brothers (David, Bobby, and Dennis) gave up on
R&B and changed their band’s name to Death after witnessing Iggy & The Stooges incite early punk-rock anarchy; the
trio famously backed out of a deal with Columbia Records after head honcho
Clive Davis requested Death change
its name. David died in 2000, Bobby and Dennis now play reggae in Vermont, and
Bobby’s three sons make up Death tribute group Rough Francis.
Animal Collective
Merriweather
Post Pavilion
Domino
ESM Rating: 9/10
These
sonic architects have steadily transformed their rock-based electronica from
left-field noise experimentation to audience-friendly pop loveliness. Their
eighth studio album mashes fractured synths, ghoulish Beach Boys harmonies, and
pounding tribal drums into pure digital-age beauty. Forget impossible
classifications, your misplaced dislike for anything electro, and all the “Dane
Reynolds said they’re cool” hype — Animal
Collective creates some of the 21st century’s most breathtaking original
music.
Myka 9
1969
Fake Four
ESM Rating: 6/10
Full-throated,
tongue-twisting Los Angeles MC Myka 9 is
best known for his work with legendary underground collective Freestyle
Fellowship. But his fifth solo album, 1969, flows with the loose jazz spontaneity
and groove-heavy funk/soul influences of the year in question. In the age of
hip-hop ringtone singles, it’s refreshing to know cohesive, thematic rap albums
still exist.
Funeral Party
Bootleg
EP
Fearless
ESM Rating: 6/10
Infectious
three-song EP from these East Los Angeles dance-punkers — with the
emphasis on “punk” more than “dance.” Maybe it’s their working-class roots,
maybe it’s the jagged guitars and propulsive drums, but something about Funeral Party is endearing as hell.
Here’s hoping their full-length debut — recorded in The Mars Volta’s
studio and currently in label limbo — lives up to the hype.
A.C. Newman
Get Guilty
Matador
ESM Rating: 7/10
Head New
Pornographers songwriter ditches Carl and becomes A.C. Newman for his second solo album of upbeat, jangly power pop.
Knotty songwriting references, quirky organ and piano riffs, ringing acoustic
guitars, and lilting vocal melodies — what else would you expect from one
of Canada’s leading indie-rock luminaries?
Cotton Jones
Paranoid
Cocoon
Suicide
Squeeze
ESM Rating: 8/10
This
splendid slice of gauzy neo-psychedelia, courtesy of Maryland residents Michael
Nau and Whitney McGraw, will evoke nostalgia in even the most jaded
don’t-give-a-fuck. Give these haunting, dusty tunes a spin on your next
late-afternoon drive into the sunset, and Cotton
Jones’ unassuming Americana will become permanently lodged in your head.
Dälek
Gutter
Tactics
Ipecac
ESM Rating: 6/10
Grimy New
Jersey political rap/noise collage/doom rock duo Dälek return to plumb the depths of aural darkness with their
unlikely trinity of splintered beats, serrated guitars, and scathing lyrical
attacks. Gutter Tactics sounds like a
precursor to the apocalypse, especially with its Rev. Jeremiah Wright samples.
But at least somebody’s paying attention.
John Frusciante
The
Empyrean
Record Collection
ESM Rating: 6/10
Psychedelic
journey of a concept album from longtime Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, who nearly died in the
‘90s after a harrowing five-year-long addiction to heroin, crack, and alcohol. Fellow
Chili Pepper Flea and former The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr add texture to
this Zeppelin-like mix of orchestral rock, piano balladry, and (of course)
heavy-duty guitar noodling.
Peasant
On The Ground
Paper Garden
ESM Rating: 7/10
Pennsylvania
singer/songwriter Damien DeRose returns with a sophomore album full of tender
emotion, bittersweet remembrances, and a simple guitar/piano/vocals formula
that eerily resembles the solid canon of late folk master Elliott Smith. Like
Smith, Peasant turns what sounds
like misery into subtly exquisite joy.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Old Money
Stones
Throw
ESM Rating: 7/10
Only the
first of four solo albums The Mars Volta guitarist has released in 2009 alone
(!!), Old Money treads the familiar
(yet still mind-blowing) futuristic space/math/experimental rock course charted
by Volta in the past. And it’s all somehow centered on “exploitative
industrialist” families like the Bilderbergs, Rothschilds, and Rockefellers. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s explorations might not make much sense to the
average listener, but his compositional chops are simply unparalleled. Turn up
the volume and get ready to bliss out.
