KSUN Music Director’s Top Picks of ‘09

2. Fever Ray “Fever Ray”
I don’t remember digging the Knife album as much as most people did (sounds like a prime candidate for a re-listen!), but this is just awesome. Total eerie mood builder here, and then she throws out weird tossed off lyrics about love and dishwasher tablets and it takes me to Weirdsville.

3. Cave “Psychic Summer”
This is the easiest thing for me to groove to, just like the most rocking motorik band around, making the most driving record of the summer. I got it over summer, blasted it all summer, and still don’t understand what a psychic summer is, but damn this rules.

4. Matrix Metals “Flamingo Breeze”
This was a cassette release on Not Not Fun (but I think it’s on vinyl now) and it’s awesome. It’s like one giant long lost warped 80s game show soundtrack. It’s like music that would play over an incredibly awesome montage of people just winning prizes and dinette sets and stuff.

5. Dinosaur Jr. “Farm”

I saw these guys (and sometimes gal) for the first time in February 2009, and then I saw them four more times in 2009, and they’ve come out with 4 albums in that span (counting Tim’s rad solo album). If I was forced to pick a favorite, I would probably go with the Bomb Wombs cassette on Fuck It Tapes. All their albums are all killer no filler, but this one just really packs a punch. And “Red Light, Green Light” is my favorite song of theirs. These songs are all awesome though. I can’t wait for 4 more albums this year!

7. Bat for Lashes “Two Suns”

I liked her last album a lot, but this just took it to the next level for me. It has the most epic Karate Kid song ever, and it just flows so nicely and sounds so cool. My sister heard “Daniel” while at the grocery store! I always just hear Toto or something.

8. Japandroids “Post-Nothing”

I’m not a big lyrics guy. I can’t tell good lyrics from bad lyrics. Unless they’re really bottom rung (Nickelback’s “Photograph”), as long as the music sounds decent I’ll sit there bobbing my head. I love the clattering noise these two dudes make, but their lyrics also really speak to where I’m at right now. There’s nothing revelatory about them, but maybe that makes them better. “We used to dream/Now we worry about dying.” Yeah, I get that shit. I’m 28. Out of college I had dreams, it’s easy to dream. But plans change, goals change, what makes you happy changes. I used to dream, but what I’m doing makes me happy NOW. Shit gets old, you adjust to it. “Will we find our way back home?/I don’t know.” Yeah, I feel that. You can’t go home again. Past lives can haunt you, but you can’t go back to them. What’s home? Shit, I don’t know. I just like the clattering these guys make.

9. The Dead Weather “Horehound”

Allison Mosshart is a damn dynamic frontwoman and now that she’s got more muscle behind her hopefully even more people will notice. She’s the coolest Kim Gordon ever here, and Jack White is a personal hero of mine. Whenever his voice blends with hers it’s magic, but this is her show. She is all sultry and sleazy and powerful.

10. Flaming Lips “Embryonic”

This is a giant hot mess that threw me for a loop the first time through, but every listen since then new things keep jumping out at me. My mind was blown when I listened to this on headphones. I don’t do drugs, but I imagine it sounds like this. The way the play with all ends of the sonic spectrum are just amazing.

11. Sonic Youth “The Eternal”

I just cannot get sick of their schtick. I love Lee and Thurston’s dueling guitars, I love the variety of lead vocalists (you’re way into a Kim song, and then you get an awesome Lee song!! And then Kim…but then Thurston!), and the grooves and jamz they bust out on this are some of my favorite of their career. They ain’t reinventing the wheel they already invented, they’re just giving me more consistently high-quality wheel for my dollar. “Poison Arrow”, “Anti-Orgasm”, Thurston jamming, Kim cooing, Lee’s songs still being arguably the best…this is the dependable Sonic Youth I know and love.

12. The xx “xx”

I completely bought into the hype. I am stunned this is their first album. It makes me feel so worthless and uncreative. I know I would totally blow it if this was my first record. It would sound dated immediately upon impact. This album is chilling and romantic all at once, and it’s so quiet and conversational that it’s really quite striking. It certainly is the makeout album of the year. That or the Sunn O))) record.

13. Sun Araw “Heavy Deeds”

This album is dangerous. It’s a droney and tropical and hypnotic. It’s so hypnotic that when I had it blasting in the car driving home from work one night, suddenly I was just at home. I had no memory of any of the 10 minutes between work and home. I got scared. What could have happened? I was lost in a world of droning hammock naps and distorted guitar and fruity slushy drinks and suntans and noise, meanwhile leaving a wake of run-over pedestrians and wrecked cars and screaming moms and other destruction, happily oblivious. All thanks to Sun Araw. Thanks Sun Araw.

14. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart “S/T”

I really love the whole being in love thing, and this album captures that really nicely. It makes me feel really warm and it’s a nice quick listen. Not only are the tunes cute and boss, but their titles are magnificent. “Young Adult Friction” and “This Love is Fucking Right!” make me especially buzzy.

15. California Raisins/Cave split

OK. I admit that the only reason I bought this 10″ was because one of the bands was called the California Raisins. My dream is to form a new noisy band and steal the name of an older band whose copyright has lapsed. My doom metal project would be called “USA for Africa” and my noise project would be called “The Chicago Bears Super Bowl Shufflin’ Crew”. Those names could switch projects, it wouldn’t matter. Anyway, I bought this because I HAD to hear the California Raisins, and had no idea what to expect…and it was completely awesome scorching rock and roll. Only a few songs from them, but it’s pretty easy to let side A play through over and over. But then the Cave side kicks total ass too and you’re left just wanting more and more of both bands. This might be the only thing the California Raisins have done…I think they’re from Chicago.

Apologies to Vivian Girls, Camera Obscura, St. Vincent, Passion Pit, Jay Reatard, Thee Oh Sees, Dirty Projectors, Fuck Buttons, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Julian Casablancas, Moon Duo, etc. If I made this list up tomorrow, there is a good chance you’d be on it, probably really high.

~Jay Reatard, 1/25/09, The Independent:

This was an awesome high energy show (go figure) and the bassist was wearing ridiculous tight pants and a purple leopard print muscle tee (also tight), and Jay threw a dumb drunk girl into the crowd after she tried to smash his flying V and it went by in a 35 minute blur of awesome.

~Juana Molina, 2/13/09, Great American Music Hall:

I was realllll curious how she would recreate all her harmonies and loops live, and lets just say she did and it was completely mesmerizing.

~Thee Oh Sees/Tyvek/Unnatural Helpers/The Fresh & Onlys, 2/26/09, Cafe Du Nord:

This was the ultimate bang for my buck. It was like $12, and there were 4 awesome sets, all played short and to the point. This was the first time I saw Fresh & Onlys, and it made me an obsessed super fan. Unnatural Helpers were totally awesome and might have been the set of the night. Tyvek is awesome punk from Detroit and had what appeared to be a 15 yr. old girl playing bass and a dude with a Lee Hazlewood mustache playing drums and they were all nerdy and fast and loud and more legit because they’re a skeezy band from Detroit. And Thee Oh Sees are awesome. I have seen them a bunch.

~Chad VanGaalen/Women, 3/31/09, Bottom of the Hill:

Chad was awesome and had all his merch confiscated at the border and instead made a giant hat out of garbage and tried to sell it. His songs were beautiful and haunting and Women backed him up, and they opened with a super awesome set of their own.

~The Vaselines/Dutchess and the Duke, 5/11/09, Bimbo’s:

I think I have a crush on Kimberely from Dutchess & the Duke/Unnatural Helpers. But this show was completely OWNED by the Vaselines. I’ve seen lackluster comeback shows, and this will NEVER fir into that category. Featuring the most awesome between-song banter I’ve heard EVER, and just an impossibly cute rapport between Frances and Eugene, this was too much fun. From her hysterical explanations of REAL meanings to the song, to her admission of using semen from 10 yr. old boys to keep up her youthful looks. Their interactions were inspirational and so wonderful. They seemed so happy.

~The Coathangers/The Mantles/The Splinters, 7/2/09, Hemlock:

This show ruled. First, the Splinters are so totally awesome. I was worried, as my amazing friend Caroline is in the band, and this was my first time seeing them. What if they were terrible? I’m a horrible liar. But luckily they totally ruled and I want to see them a bunch in 2010. The Mantles played a quick set of fine rock, and The Coathangers - while enjoyable on record - are an absolute BLAST live. Switching instruments and screaming and being the coolest 4 girls in the room.

~Dirty Projectors, 7/7/09, The Independent:

This was magical. Crazy guitar bouncing off some of the most intricate and gorgeous harmonies sung by the three cutest girls from NY. I was standing next to one of the girl’s parents, and they were enthralled. The vocals on “Stillness is the Move” were the most breathtaking thing I saw live all year. I was stunned.

~Thee Oh Sees/Meth Teeth/Buzzer/Ty Segall/The Fresh & Onlys, 7/16/09, The Eagle:

Yeah!! $10 for 5 awesome bands in a real inconvenient setting! F&O killed it as usual, Ty Segall is totally awesome and plays real hooky stuff in double time, Buzzer was a nice surprise, Meth Teeth were fun, and Thee Oh Sees just have it too easy playing their jamz in front of a drunk Eagle crowd. They could easily coast, but they don’t. This show went way long and was way worth it.

~Jay Reatard, 8/22/09, Amoeba:

This was a free Amoeba show and was so great. It was super hot and everybody was sweaty. This was ultra special as I got to take my sister, who was in town (and I always wish went to more shows with me) and she became a super Reatard fan.

~Frisco Freakout, 10/10/09, Thee Parkside:

Oh man this ruled. Wooden Shjips were as awesome as the other 9 or 10 times I’ve seen them, but this was my first time seeing Sun Araw and Barn Owl. Sun Araw played a nice set that threatened to have technical issues, but they persevered and we all appreciated it. Tape loops and dub-y guitar and totally hypnotic grooves. Awesome. Barn Owl played 35 minutes of growing, impending doom that built and built to some great guitar swank and pounding drums. I’m a big fan now.

~Thee Oh Sees/Dan Melchior/The Fresh & Onlys, 10/25/09, Bottom of the Hill:

Dan Melchior was really boring. But he was sandwitched between two scorching sets. F&O showed up three times on my list for a reason. You need to see them NOW and buy everything they release. This was the best Oh Sees show I’ve ever seen. They set up on the floor even though it was a sold out show, and tons of people watched from the stage. I was RIGHT in front of John Dwyer which was waaayyyy too close, but shoot it felt like I was in the freakin band. Their set was too good, and being RIGHT there made it even better.

~Barn Owl/Eternal Tapestry/Real Estate/Moon Duo, 11/22/09, Hemlock:

Bang for my buck!! This was probably the most excited I was for a show all year. I would have gone if it were JUST Moon Duo on the bill. This was Ripley (of Wooden Shjips) first show under this moniker, and I was not missing it. He stretched out on some great space jamz, and the keys complemented it nice and eerily. I will be seeing them again in 2010. Four days before the show, Pitchfork named Real Estate “Best New Music” and when they came on there was a real buzz. The place was packed tight and we were right up front, and they played a wonderful set of summery tunes. Then Eternal Tapestry was completely smoking and filled the void in my heart left when Comets on Fire stopped playing shows. I hope ET comes down here more, or it’s just a good excuse to go to Portland and visit Charlie and Annie more.