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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Paul Shugrue’s Best Albums of the Year

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Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 1:08 pm

Here at AltDaily we are suckers for great lists, particularly Best Of‘s.

Unfortunately since all we ever do is work and sleep, watch the Knicks and Top Chef, eat Yorgo’s and work some more, we have little idea of what was new in music this year. Our heads were enough above water, however, to have heard and loved the new Wilco and Yeah Yeah Yeahs albums. We were also fortunate enough to have caught the amazing performances by Neko Case and Grizzly Bear, both at the NorVa, to promote each of their latest.

But for all that we don’t have time to check out, we put our faith in Paul Shugrue, a man who knows what we like even before we do. Here is his list of the best albums of 2009.

  1. Wilco :: Wilco
  2. Monsters of Folk :: Monsters of Folk
  3. Neko Case :: Middle Cyclone
  4. Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears :: Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is! >>>
  5. Dave Matthews Band :: Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King
  6. Sara Watkins :: Sara Watkins
  7. Gomez :: A New Tide
  8. Mercy Creek :: Another Place to Start
  9. U2 :: No Line on the Horizon
  10. Eels :: Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire

  11. Delbert McClinton :: Acquired Taste
  12. Carbon Leaf :: Nothing Rhymes with Woman
  13. Grizzly Bear :: Veckatimest >>>
  14. Steve Earle :: Townes
  15. Phish :: Joy
  16. Buddy & Julie Miller :: Written in Chalk
  17. Depeche Mode :: Sounds of the Universe
  18. Bob Dylan :: Together Through Life
  19. The Avett Brothers :: I and Love and You
  20. Animal Collective :: Merriweather Post Pavillion

  21. Imelda May :: Love Tattoo >>>
  22. The Decemberists :: The Hazards of Love
  23. Levon Helm :: Electric Dirt
  24. Sons of Bill :: One Town Away
  25. Yeah Yeah Yeahs :: It’s Blitz!
  26. Iron and Wine :: Around the Well
  27. Matisyahu :: Light
  28. Todd Snider :: The Excitement Plan
  29. M. Ward :: Hold Time
  30. Bobby Blackhat Walters :: Wall Street Blues

  31. Sonic Youth :: The Eternal
  32. Elvis Costello :: Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
  33. Madeleine Peyroux :: Bare Bones
  34. Tommy Castro :: Hard Believer
  35. Tom Russell :: Blood and Candle Smoke
  36. Bruce Springsteen :: Working on a Dream >>>
  37. Eilen Jewell :: Sea of Tears

Got some choice picks of your own? Tell us what else we missed in the comments below.

Love it all, and want to find more? Check out the other Best Of lists from Out of the Box–including Acoustic Rarities, Reissues, Live Recordings, and Local Artists–now and in the coming days on whro.org/outofthebox. We’ll be sure to publish Paul’s Artists of the Decade here on New Year’s Day.

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  • Josh | December 15, 09 @ 8:19 pm

    15. Julian Plenti- Julian Plenti Is…Skyscraper
    Paul Banks, Interpol, NYC, Stella was a Diver, progress

    14. The Veils- Sun Gangs
    No Jesus for the Jugular, but great nonetheless

    13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- It’s Blitz!
    I like the direction. Not a weak song on the album.

    12. Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
    Impossibly catchy.

    11. Silversun Pickups- Swoon
    An evolved 90′s sound, perfect for my age demographic.

    10. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson- Summer of Fear
    Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio produced, Saddle Creek labelled greatness. MBAR was created for my ears.

    9. Monsters of Folk- Monsters of Folk
    I love this album. If they made it 12 songs instead of 15, instant classic.

    8. Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca
    More powerful than Disney- my 9 yr old daughter loves it.

    7. The XX- XX
    Would be shocked if we ever hear from these guys again, but wow.

    6. Miike Snow- Miike Snow
    Suprise of the year. Most listened to album for me of the year according to iTunes- got it in August.

    5. The Dead Weather- Horehound
    I thought Midnight Boom was music for the cool. I was wrong, this is.

    4. Handsome Furs- Face Control
    Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade) is. the. shit.

    3. Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion
    They’ve perfected the formula on this. Only problem, no one knows what the equation is yet.

    2. Sunset Rubdown- Dragonslayer
    Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade) is. the. shit.

    1. Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
    Not what I planned to place at the top. Can’t help it. Transcends genre. The American Radiohead. Amazing.

    Honorable Mentions: Discovery, The Flaming Lips, Yacht, The Field, Julian Casablancas, Avett Brothers, Eels, Rain Machine, Atlas Sound, A.C. Newman and Dan Auerbach

  • JAson | December 15, 09 @ 10:01 pm

    Definitely have to place Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective above Monsters of Folk. Also ,for me, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ “Up From Below” and BlakRoc’s “BlakRoc” would be on the top 10 of ’09.

  • Melissa | December 17, 09 @ 3:25 pm

    My top 25 of 2009 list:

    1. The Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come
    2. Edward Sharpe & and the Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
    3. The Pains of Being Pure of Heart- The Pains of Being Pure of Heart
    4. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
    5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
    6. Beirut – Gulag Orkestar
    7. Grizzly Bear – Vekatimest
    8. Dead Man’s Bones – Dead Man’s Bones
    9. Wilco – The Album
    10. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
    11. Langhorne Slim – Be Set Free
    12. Silversun Pickups – Swoon
    13. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South
    14. Wolfmother – Cosmic Egg
    15. Ida Maria – Fortress Round My Heart
    16. Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light
    17. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
    18. Julian Casablancas – Phrazes for the Young
    19. Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
    20. A. A. Bondy – When the Devil’s Lose
    21. Noah and the Whale – The First Days of Spring
    22. Thao with the Get Down Stay Down – Know Better Learn Faster
    23. The Swell Season – Strict Joy
    24. The Bird and the Bee – Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
    25. Passion Pit – Manners

  • Jim Roberts | December 20, 09 @ 9:22 pm

    St. Vincent? Anyone?

  • James Toscano | December 30, 09 @ 3:30 pm

    Yes, St Vincent, “Actor.” And others missed in no particular order…

    Andrew Bird, “Noble Beast”

    Compilation, “Dark Was the Night”

    Fanfarlo, “Reservoir”

    We Were Promised Jetpacks, “These Four Walls”

    Pete Yorn and Scarlet Johannson, “The Break Up”

    Regina Spektor, “Far”

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ABOUT THE WRITER
Paul Shugrue is the host of Out of the Box on 89.5 WHRV, keeping you up to date on all the great new music that’s being released but rarely played on the radio anywhere else. Listen to Out of the Box Monday through Thursday night from 7 to 9 and Saturday from 1 to 5 pm, and you’ll hear alternative, Americana, blues, reggae, singer/songwriters, Celtic, Cajun, world beat, electronica, local artists and more.
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