If you didn’t notice, while we’re going through our Best of 2009 List, we’re going to limit our posting to once per day. This gives us a break from the demands of writing throughout the holidays too, and will allow us to hopefully be more exact with our praise of the year’s best albums. With that out of the way, let’s start the countdown:
40. St. Vincent – Actor
Andy: Unranked :: Dave: 28
Annie Clark has a confidence easily discernible in her steady singing voice. On this, her sophomore effort, an artist clearly comfortable in her craft has constructed an album full of songs with characters putting on airs. Facing a myriad of issues, our characters find themselves pretending to have it all together, and not doing such a great job with it. Written while immersed in the fantasy of Disney fairy tales and their soundtracks, Clark is more interested in the turmoil with her lyrics and the musical accompaniments rarely falter in exacerbating these senses. Despite the focus of much of the album’s material, the level of skill and precision on display in this very solid release belies the subject matter in that it does not appear to be an act.
St. Vincent – The Party (mp3) from Actor
39. Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk
Andy: 24 :: Dave: Unranked
From the opening looped drumbeat, one realizes that the quartet self-dubbed as Monsters of Folk isn’t sticking exactly to the prescribed folk formula. Comprised of folkie-heavyweights Conor Oberst, M. Ward and Jim James – and joined by Bright Eyes member and Saddle Creek producer Mike Mogis, Monsters of Folk is a showcase for each member without being an exclusive vehicle for any particular individual.
The result is a surprisingly cohesive album; often, when disparate musicians collaborate, it ends up sounding like an amalgam of their styles where nothing ends up working particularly well (see: Jay-Z/Linkin Park’s Collision Course). Conversely, Monsters of Folk works because no one works too far outside of their respective niches – if it sounds like an M. Ward track, it won’t stray far from his style. It may be that this may be the only record of this supergroup having ever actually been a band in anything other than rumor form. And if this is all we ever hear from this group, it’s a debut and final album that they should be proud of.
Monsters of Folk – Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.) (mp3) from Monsters Of Folk
goddamn i love this blog.
you are just so on-point with all of your selections.
Thanks a lot Jamie. Best comment yet.
good taste.