Earlier this week we took a magnifying glass to Pitchfork’s Top 100 Songs Of 2009. Most of those songs appeared on albums, which leads us to the site’s Top 50 Albums Of 2009. For starters, metal creeps in via Baroness and Sunn O))), but not Mastodon or Isis’ Best New Music-awarded Wavering Radiant. On that front, it’s interesting to go back through the BNM archives and see which bands didn’t make the cut. At a quick glance I spotted Wavves, Dark Was The Night, Camera Obscura, Sunset Rubdown, YACHT, Volcano Choir, and Delorean. Bon Iver shows up elsewhere via Blood Bank, so the lack of Volcano Choir makes sense. And you don’t want too many comps on a best of list (DWTN got an “Honorable Mention”). I do feel bad for Spencer Krug, who stays strong on a review-by-review basis, but plummets off these lists, for whatever reason. Etc., etc. The most glaring omission, for various reasons, is Wavves. Poor Nathan Williams: You build me up just to beat me down and leave me off your fucking list. As far as other new voices: Real Estate place higher than I thought they would (no complaints). tUnE-yArDs continues her post-Dirty Projector coming-out coronation. Neon Indian trumps Memory Tapes. Japandroids should start paying Lync royalty checks. Really, there are quite a few newbies and relative newcomers in the top 25, but once you get closer to the final countdown, some “old-timers” (a couple of which work well without the quotes) make their presence known. If you’re surprised by the no. 1, you didn’t pick up a blog this year.
50 Woods – Songs of Shame
49 Cass McCombs – Catacombs
48 DOOM – Born Like This
47 Zomby – Where Were U in ’92?
46 Dan Deacon – Bromst
45 The Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come
44 tUnE-yArDs – BiRd-BrAiNs
43 Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains
42 A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Ashes Grammar
41 Baroness – Blue Record
40 Mos Def – The Ecstatic
39 Jim O’Rourke – The Visitor
38 Major Lazer – Guns Don’t Kill People– Lazers Do
37 The Antlers – Hospice
36 Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
35 jj – jj n° 2
34 Passion Pit – Manners
33 Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
32 Bear In Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
31 Sunn O))) – Monoliths & Dimensions
30 Röyksopp – Junior
29 Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
28 Micachu and the Shapes – Jewellery
27 Various Artists – 5: Five Years of Hyperdub
26 Bon Iver – Blood Bank EP
25 DJ Quik & Kurupt – BlaQKout
24 Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
23 Memory Tapes – Seek Magic
22 Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
21 Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
20 Real Estate – Real Estate
19 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
18 Atlas Sound – Logos
17 The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa
16 Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light
15 Japandroids – Post-Nothing
14 Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
13 St. Vincent – Actor
12 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
11 Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
10 Girls – Album
09 Fever Ray – Fever Ray
08 Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
07 Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
06 Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
05 Raekwon – Only Built for Cuban Linx… Pt. II
04 The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
03 The xx – The xx
02 Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
01 Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
You can get the explanations at P4K.
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Anyone else enjoy The Manic Street Preachers record? I played the hell out of Journal for Plague Lovers.
Also enjoyed the No Age and Deerhunter EP’s, though understandable that they’re not on here since they’re not full-lengths
Glad to see Cymbals Eat Guitars on here, though I feel Why There Are Mountains ought to be at least top 30. That record sounds great live too.
I object to this list because my opinion as an anonymous indie rock blog reader wasn’t consulted. Pitchfork should listen to me because I know lots of stuff.
Two Dancers, Hospice and Why There Are Mountains are just way too low. Glad to see some recognition for It’s Blitz!
Also, what up with MPP
Sucks for Krug. Dragonslayer was one of my favourites this year.
Dragonslayer was an epic album. It is his best work of the Sunset Rubdown collection. It is second favourite after the new Handsome Furs album.
Judging by the readers responses here it looks that Pitchfork is wildly out of touch with the rank and file indie crowd.
I?m already starting to see hype fatigue around merriweather post pavilion. More and more people are coming out of the closet and admitting yeah, it?s actually not that great of an album. (protip: I like animal collective but not as much as you or your girlfriend) Pitchfork is going to regret talking it about it so much in a year or so when everyone calms down, turns off the internet, and actually listens to the album. But whatever, that?s how it works in the media. I?m happy not listening to grizzly bear. But the inclusion of the xx in the top three? That?s inexcusable. MPP is bland, but the xx is fucking awful. Ugh. I?m going to listen to Cobalt?s Gin and then put zoo psychology/all my friends are going death/green mind on repeat until indie rock gets good again. Maybe I?ll listen to sung tongs just for the hell of it. Fuck it indie rock, see you when you grow up. I?M OUT
Preach it bro…
Grizz>>>>>>>xx
xx suck a nut
No foreign born? I thought person to person was awesome. But i guess it wasnt as good as quality releases such as DJ Quik & Kurupt – BlaQKout? What is that? Pitchfork does have the final say on what music will set trends i guess.
I agree. I was a little surprised that it wasn’t on the list. Nothing on the songs list either. Best Coast was on that list. They’re fine, but I saw them open for Foreign Born in L.A. last night, and there’s no comparison. I really thought Vacationing People or Winter Games would make the songs list. When that didn’t happen, I figured they wouldn’t show up here. Too bad. When they reviewed it, Person to Person got a respectable 7.9.
pitchfork fails big time, huge surprise
PORT O’ BRIEN.
PORT O’ BRIEN.
why did andrew bird not make it? he is one of the most talented musicians alive. did pitchfork not watch their own cemetery gates feature on him?
st. vincent’s absence is suspicious too. also surprised that Patrick Wolf’s effort didn’t make it…but i guess pitchfork’s review wasn’t good enough for top 50. at least he keeps it interesting, unlike say…the XX. they’re awful.
Grizzly Bear’s ‘Veckatimest’ is the best album of the year.
Animal Collective is the most overrated band in the galaxy.
The Antlers doesn’t deserve to be in any list.
HAHA
Oh wow.
Kill yourself.
Fully Agree—veckatimest FTW
1. MPP
2. Veckatimest
3. Bitte Orca
Animal Collective are the icon…the album you like if you like “this” kind of music. It’s assumed a totemistic property by encapsulating a lot of what people value in music right now.
Unfortunately, checking points off a list does not a good album make. It DOES, however, make for something people are eager to identify with, stand up for, and define their personal aesthetic politics around. Expressions of quality or longevity have more to do with enthusiasm than insight. Remember how The Beta Band was “changing music” in the early 2000s?
That Animal Collective record…seriously, I tried. But Goddamn, that record is BLAND. It’s useful as shorthand for a certain subcultural aesthetic, but I ran out of reasons to actually listen to the thing REAL fast.
Finally, someone who knows what they are talking about. Amen.
I’m glad to see A Sunny Day in Glasgow crackin the list! And I’ll shut the hell up now.
Sung Tongs… made me so biased I can barely play MPP but I do like AC…however, in no list imaginable would they be a top 1 band, ever, no matter what. Top 10 maybe, sure. But really?
I want Pinback to make a new album.
and they aren’t the number one band either. You know, when you think about it, our standards are pretty fucking high…
who could ever be THE CHOSEN ONE!
i’m glad I don’t have to write these things. what a burden.
So what, another 6 months before the backlash against MPP turns back into everyone proclaiming it the album of the decade again?
Finally some love for The Antlers.
Thought Logos didn’t live up to the hype, personally. Not top 20.
Disgraceful! Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast has to be somewhere on this list, if not in the top ten.
couldn’t agree more!
it is totally moving! i thought it was just me.
So yeah, i guess it’s safe to say most of us don’t exactly think MPP is worthy of the #1 spot on this list. Hey Pitchfork, what’cha smoking?
Other Lives should have been on this list…
I didn’t read through the bazillion posts, so someone probably already mentioned this…but omitting Camera Obscura is criminal!!
someone did but it should be said again, and again.
yeah wheres Brand New? The song daisy is one of the best songs i’ve heard all year!
http://perpetua.tumblr.com/post/293484776/pitchfork-top-10-albums-in-us-sales
P4k, try this on for size….
[50] Passion Pitt – Manners
Key tracks: “Little Secrets” & “The Reeling”
[49] Peter Bjorn & John – Living Thing
Key tracks: “If It Don’t Move Me” & “Nothing To Worry About”
[48] Handsome Furs – Face Control
Key tracks: “Legal Tender” & “I’m Confused”
[47] jj – n° 2
Key tracks: “Things Will Never Be The Same Again” & “Ecstasy”
[46] Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Key tracks: “Antenna” & “Sacred Trickster”
[45] Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
Key tracks: “Peeled Apples” & “Journal For Plague Lovers”
[44] Islands – Vapours
Key tracks: “Switched On” & “Vapours”
[43] M. Ward – Hold Time
Key tracks: “For Beginners” & “Rave On”
[42] Franz Ferdinand – Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Key tracks: “Ulysses” & “No You Girls”
[41] Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Key tracks: “Carries On” & “Home”
[40] The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Key Tracks: “Convinced Of The Hex” & “I Can Be A Frog”
[39] Mastodon – Crack The Sky
Key tracks: “Oblivion” & “Quintessence”
[38] Camera Obscura – The Maudlin Carreer
Key tracks: “French Navy” & “Honey In The Sun”
[37] Dan Auerbach – Keep It Hid
Key tracks: “Trouble Weighs A Ton” & “I Want Some More”
[36] Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
Key tracks: “I Want To Know” & “Pieces”
[35] Volcano Choir – Unmap
Key tracks: “Island, Is” & “Husks & Shells”
[34] Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
Key tracks: “Life Is Hard” & “I Feel A Change Coming On”
[33] Built To Spill – There Is No Enemy
“Hindsight” & “Oh Yeah”
[32] Doves – Kingdom Of Rust
Key tracks: “Winter Hill” & “Kingdom Of Rust”
[31] Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Key tracks: “Crying Lightning” & “Cornerstone”
[30] Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
Key tracks: “Heads Will Roll” & “Zero”
[29] Raekwon – Only Built For Cuban Linx Pt. II
Key tracks: “House Of Flying Daggers” & “Pyrex Vision”
[28] Japandroids – Post-Nothing
Key tracks: “The Boys Are Leaving Town” & “Young Hearts Spark FIre”
[27] The XX – XX (Album)
Key tracks: “Crystalised” & “Basic Space”
[26] Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
Key tracks: “Oh No” & “Effigy”
[25] Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus
Key tracks: “1901″ & “Lisztomania”
[24] Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Key tracks: “Daniel” & “Pearl’s Dream”
[23] The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Key tracks: “Young Adult Friction” & “Contender”
[22] Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
Key tracks: “One Wing” & “You And I”
[21] Tiny Vipers – Life On Earth
Key tracks: “Eyes Like Ours” & “Slow Motion”
[20] Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light
Key tracks: “Aeon” & “Another World”
[19] The Horrors – Primary Colours
Key tracks: “Who Can Say” & “Sea Within A Sea”
[18] Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Key tracks: “People Got A Lotta Nerve” & “This Tornado Loves You”
[17] Mount Erie – Wind’s Poem
Key tracks: “Through The Trees” & “Wind Speaks”
[16] Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
Key tracks: “Silver Moons” & “Black Swan”
[15] Girls – Album
Key tracks: “Lust For Life” & “Laura”
[14] Real Estate – Real Estate
Key tracks: “Pool Swimmers” & “Suburban Beverage”
[13] Cymbal Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains
Key tracks: “And The Hazy Sea” & “Some Trees (Merritt Moon)”
[12] The Antlers – Hospice
Key tracks: “Bear” & “Atrophy”
[11] Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Key tracks: “Cannibal Resource” & “Stillness Is The Move”
[10] Amadou & Mariam – Welcome To Mali
Key tracks: “Sabali” & “Masiteladi”
[09] Isis – Wavering Radiant
Key tracks: “Ghost Key” & “Hand Of The Host”
[08] Sun O)) – Monoliths And Dimensions
Key tracks: “Alice”
[07] Lightning Dust – Infinite Light
Key tracks: “Antonia Jane” & “Dreamer”
[06] Atlas Sound – Logos
Key tracks: “The Light That Failed” & “Walkabout”
[05] Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
Key tracks: “Hooting & Howling” & “This Is Our Lot”
[04] St. Vincent – Actor
Key tracks: “Black Rainbow” & “The Party”
[03] Fever Ray – Fever Ray
Key tracks: “If I Had A Heart” & “When I Grow Up”
[02] Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Key tracks: “Two Weeks” & “Ready Able”
[01] Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
Key tracks: “In The Flowers” & “My Girls”
…you’re welcome.
good list man, i think alot would agree yours is suited for everyone! and not just the staff of whoever is making a f-ing list.
One thing though, should i seriously try and force myself to listen to fever ray……..i listen like to the album 3 times, and stillllll i do not get it….but alot of my friends love that album.
Music advise please??
Fever Ray’s album is definitely a grower. Listen to it once or twice a week, then comeback to it a week later and listen to it again. You might also want to listen to two or three songs from the whole LP more than the rest for a period of time. Repeat listens seem to help me appreciate the little details found on a particular song. I totally understand where you’re coming from, many indie bands are not meant for a wide audience and therefore will not have the pop-appeal found on some mainstream band like U2 or whatever. Anyway, I had the same thing going for me when I first started listening to Animal Collective years ago. One just needs to be patient and… “let the music find YOU”.
Here’s my top 5 musicians of the decade:
1) Radiohead
2) Jay Z
3) White Stripes
4) Wilco
5) Kanye West
I based this list both on personal taste and impact the artists had on popular culture.
Daft Punk
I like your inclusion of Tiny Vipers.
While Blood Bank was definitely one of the year’s best releases, I would like to point out that an EP is not an album. It’s a plain and simple matter of semantics.
I am convinced Bell Orchestre – As Seen Through Windows is the most overlooked album of the year. It’s amazing, close to perfect imo.
But I am more surprised Dark Was the Night didn’t make top 50.
YES TO both of your comments, first, bell orchestre has always been overlooked when it comes to list like these and DARK WAS THE NIGHT needs to be on this list because alot of the music on the album was brand new songs from some of everyones favorite artist, not to mention JUSTIN VERNON(BON IVER) constibuted 2 great tracks to it.
A compilation of largely accessible songs from mostly established artists? please, that can’t be on the list. Two main reasons,
A: it’s not grime/dubstep/housbox/craptrap/ghettoglue,
B: not a single animal collective/panda bear track? impossible, it’s just not music without them.
Morning Everyone
Since Stereogum is failing on posting anything new, and i’m one of those unlucky bastards that has to work during the holidays, i thought it would be fun to make a new topic….
“TOP 5 Musician or Bands of the 2000′s” this does not need to include and album, just a band or musician that defines this decade.
IF any body else has any cool ideas, post some up!
My biggest surprise is omission of the Isis album, in my top 10 for sure.
“The pains of being pure of heart” is #1 if the aforementioned criteria of most listened to is used.
a bit surprised at all the AC backlash, what would you put at #1. I’m not saying it is definitely #1, but top 5 (at least 10)
the phoenix album is where it should be – recall it is not as good as their last album
Bat for Lashes is wildly overrated – I cannot listen to it.
All in all, a bit of a down year for music – i spent much of my time becoming acquainted/reacquainted with sonic youth and stereolab
I used to be a RealEstate-TheXX-BearInHeaven Hater. Then I listened to their albums a few times, they’re actually high quality albums once you get to know them. Not my top picks for best of the year by a long shot, but they definitely deserve a place on this list.
Top 5 musicians of the decade
1) Noah Lennox
2) Ed Droste
3) Yorke/Greenwood
4) Kevin Barnes
5) Craig Finn
My subjective list is a bit different than my objective. I’ll post my subjective.
1. Owen Pallett
2. Deerhunter/sideprojects
3. Arcade Fire
4. Animal Collective/Panda Bear
5. Sufjan Stevens
1. Radiohead/Thom yorke
2. Atlas sound/ Deerhunter: Bradford Cox
3. The Dodo’s- all their albums
4.Sufjan Stevens
5. Animal Collective/ Panda Bear
sorry man, are list are pretty similar but its you hit it right on the head.
You all know that p4k ratings are a joke right? The rating is given before the reviewer even hears the record. How many times have you read a review and looked at the rating and saw an irreconcilable difference between the two? This is not a far-fetched theory; it is from the mouth of a disillusioned p4k reviewer I spoke with. Pitchfork blows
So..am I the only person on the planet that didn’t care for the Animal Collective album
nope, there are many just like you out there. They just don’t often comment on Stereogum. You are not alone.
I love Merriweather Post Pavilion.
I also love the new A.R.E. Weapons album ‘Darker Blue’. Unfortunately only available only on iTunes.
1. Johnny Greenwood
2. Thom Yorke
3. Spencer Krug
4. Bradford Cox
5. Jack White
EVERYONE!
What is the Best soundtrack for a movie in the 2000′s?
aaaaand go….
As always I have to tout this brilliant Sholi debut, the last great record to be released on Touch and Go. Critics from Spin, Drowned in Sound, Pop Matters calling it one of the most criminally overlooked records of the year on Prefix: http://www.prefixmag.com/media/sholi/all-that-we-can-see-video/35675/
Other brilliant records of ’09 not on this list:: Andrew Bird, God Help the Girl, Junior Boys, DM Stith
Does anyone else think that Pitchfork should start a “best EPs” section to make more room for all of the year’s great long-players? If videos, bad album covers, songs, and even “indie crushes” get lists on these sites, why not one for EPs?
This list is whack. The Coke Machine list reads a lot better, though. Like a 4-k list might once have read.
the xx, embryonic, and fever ray are truly boring, and antony needs to stop recording his creepy voice. MPP was good, and a happy departure from Strawberry Jam, but not in my top 5. It may just be that Real Estate is freshest in my mind but i’d put it in my top 3.
My two albums of the year were Veckatimest and Journal For Plague Lovers. I think JFPP has been wildly overlooked, though being a Manics “super-fan” I could be being biased. Still, I’m glad that Veckatimest has been so successful. So what if Grizzly Bear are gaining more recognition? It’s a beautiful record (though my favourite GB record is Yellow House) and it deserves to have sold well and to be near the top (if not at the top) of the list.
The xx album is ok. Not top 10, but it’s nice to listen to now and again.
I also have a confession – I have never listened to Animal Collective. No real reason why, I just never got round to it I guess.
I’ve given up on Pitchfork ever including Andrew Bird on a year end list. But I’m not bothered because I think he’s got enough exposure (I came to him because of their review of Weather Systems). I think most people likely to appreciate him will have some opportunity to hear of him. He’s not likely to get lost in the shuffle.
Exclusion of Face Control was a little disappointing though.
But in general I can’t really complain about the list. I don’t have a lot of time to spend on a variety of blogs so I tend to just read pitchfork (hasn’t let me down too frequently since 1998 Pulp’s This is Hardcore). In other words, since most of my buys are based on pitchfork best new music recommendations, my faves tend to be their faves.
i have never posted on the comments tab of anything, but feel compelled to here because you are so incredibly wrong. Spencer Krug is one of the most brilliant artists alive, and certainly the most brilliant named on this website. Inability to appreciate sunset rubdown is surely a sign of low intelligence or lack of effort. listen closely to a song like winged and wicked things.
I personally liked Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros’ “Up from Below” as the best best album of the year.
The fact that Mew’s “No More Stories…” is not on this list is ridiculous.
MPP deserves that spot..
if some plausableeone can give me just one legit reason to why pearl jams backspacer didnt make this list i will cut my balls off.
I loved the XX album, but there is no way i would place it higher than Phoenix and The Horrors. anyway BRING ON 2010. ah no wait its allready here. anyway vampire weekend, yeasayer. it will be epic.
Why do people people even pay attention to the stupid lists. Seeing as music is one of the more subjective things in life, the lists are bound to piss everybody off a little bit. Can’t we all just listen to what ever we like and not care is some idiotic critic agrees with us?
the strange dreams of paul white anybody?
i mean THE STRANGE DREAMS OF PAUL WHITE has to be one of the best releases last year.
i wouldn’t be surprised if pitchfork and most of it’s readers overlooked J DILLA’S DONUTS when that came out.
Why does Pitchfork pretend to have an ear for this genre? Whatever, I guess I shouldn’t complain. Wu Tang 4 life
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