five albums i loved (and you may have loved as well!) released in 2009

Animal Collective : Merriweather Post Pavilion

Upon first listen I knew it would be special. Fragments of memories I didn’t think existed flooded between my ears.   I knew there was another world possible.

In The Flowers/My Girls/Summertime Clothes/Bluish/No More Runnin/Brothersport

Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Who would have guessed?  I was reminded that joy is contingent and arrives like a pure gift.  Clean, calculated, somber, intimate, arrogant, and yet all so giddy.  There is no excess in these tracks, but rather a serialization of punctuation.

Lisztomania/1901/Love Like a Sunset/Rome/Countdown (Sick for The Big Sun)

The xx : xx

I used to sleep with the lights on.  I used to be afraid of outlines and foreign shapes.  But this air seems to be saturated with something that can not be fully captured by my senses.  Darkness has never been this lovely.

VCR/Crystalised/Islands/Basic Space/Stars

WAVVES : WAVVVES

I dare my limbs not to move, but they do anyway.  Under the sun, my skin gets a little darker.  I can feel the grass beneath my fingernails, crushed by digits and the overwhelming feeling of nothing.  But you were right and wrong.  There is truly a lightness in being, but for about a half hour it’s bearable.

To the Dregs/Gun in the Sun/So Bored/No Hope Kids/Weed Demon

Grizzly Bear : Veckatimest

This is either a monstrosity or a leviathan.  A montage constituted by past lives and future fantasies.  Perhaps it is a catachresis, able to conjure something out of nothing.

Two Weeks/All We Ask/Ready, Able/About Face/While you wait for the others

Some other albums that occupied my time:

Major Lazer : Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers do

YACHT : See Mystery Lights

Girls : Album

Neon Indian : Psychic Chasms

The Very Best : Warm Heart of Africa

Atlas Sound : Logos

Real Estate : Real Estate

Fever Ray : Fever Ray

Raekwon : Only Built for Cuban Linx…Pt. II

Advertisement