AZIZ ANSARI
BEST ALBUM
4. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
2. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
G-Baby - "Welcome To Heartbreak" and Kanye West - "We Were Once A Fairytale" and Major Lazer - "Pon De Floor" (3 way tie)
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
This really hot girl I saw buying a hot dog at a Phoenix show
BEST NEW ACT
Drake
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
In alphabetical order...
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
Kanye West - Graduation
LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The Rapture - Echoes
BEST TV SHOW
Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Summer Heights High, Mad Men, Delocated, Eastbound And Down (7 way tie)
BEST MOVIE
Inglourious Basterds
BEST WEB VIDEO
Aziz Ansari plays Tom Haverford on NBC's Parks And Recreation and will star in a Funny People spinoff as his character RAAAAAAAANDY. His stand-up special Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening airs on Comedy Central 1/17 (with CD/DVD to follow), and his mixtape with Dave Sitek drops in February. He's bros with Kanye and James Murphy, but we knew him first!!
FRED ARMISEN
BEST ALBUM
3. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
2. Lou Barlow - Goodnight Unknown
1. YACHT - See Mystery Lights
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Dirty Projectors - "Stillness Is The Move"
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Elisabeth Moss
BEST NEW ACT
The xx
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Sleater-Kinney - One Beat
BEST TV SHOW
Mad Men
BEST MOVIE
Up
BEST WEB VIDEO
Gathering Of The Juggalos Infomercial
One of Saturday Night Live's most versatile cast members, Fred Armisen began his comedy career accidentally at SXSW '98. He frequently collaborates with indie rockers, most notably in the Web video series ThunderAnt with Carrie Brownstein. He married his indie rock crush earlier this year. (Awwww.)
MARGARET CHO
BEST ALBUM
3. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
2. Ani DiFranco - Red Letter Year
1. Tegan & Sara - Sainthood
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Susan Walker (aka Liam Sullivan) - "I Like To Tinker"
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Fiona Apple
BEST NEW ACT
Among The Oak & Ash
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Garrison Starr - The Girl Who Killed September
BEST TV SHOW
Mad Men
BEST MOVIE
Antichrist
BEST WEB VIDEO
Between Two Ferns With Charlize Theron
Margaret Cho is currently working on Guitarded, a comedy music album due in 2010 and featuring collaborations with folks you've heard of, including Andrew Bird, Jon Brion, A.C. Newman, Tegan & Sara, and Amanda Palmer. Her new stand up concert film Beautiful is now available on DVD.
ZACH CONDON (BEIRUT)
BEST ALBUM
3. Burial & Four Tet - Moth/Wolf Cub. Though to be honest I only have one song.
2. El Perro Del Mar - Love Is Not Pop. Our bassist Paul explains this record pretty well... "It's like a great dance album where the beat never drops."
1. WHY? - Eskimo Snow. I've been a fan of his a long time. I used to hang around Amoeba Records in Berkeley when I went on Californian skate trips so that I could run into Doseone (when he was doing "Themselves" with Yoni Wolf from WHY?). Really nice guy.
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
"Cooking By The Book" Lil Jon mashup
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Totes. It's between Brandon Stosuy and Brody Condon and Sasha Grey ha
BEST NEW ACT
Tune-Yards. And I'm getting into Washed Out...
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Yikes. Mitch Hedberg's Mitch All Together, or Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's I See A Darkness. But most likely Sufjan Stevens' Illinoise. That's the most honest answer.
BEST TV SHOW
The Mighty Boosh?
BEST MOVIE
I blew it. I've been to the theater TWICE this year. That's it. I heard Inglourious Basterds and The Hurt Locker were good.
BEST WEB VIDEO
No Mas Presents: Dock Ellis & The LSD. You should check that video it's amazing.
Zach Condon's younger than some of this year's Best New Act finalists, but he's a veteran in blog-cycle terms. His globe-trotting releases have drawn on Balkan folk (Gulag Orkestar), French pop (The Flying Club Cup), and with this year's fantastic The March Of The Zapotec/Holland double-EP release, Mexican dirge music and synth-pop, respectively. Zach's said he'll "look inward" for inspiration on his next full-length, which is both exciting and much cheaper than traveling around the world looking for it. Can't wait.
ED DROSTE (GRIZZLY BEAR)
BEST ALBUM
3. Here We Go Magic - Here We Go Magic
2. The-Dream - Love Vs. Money
1. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
All Fever Ray videos
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
All of the Maccabees
BEST NEW ACT
Neon Indian
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Björk - Vespertine
BEST TV SHOW
30 Rock
BEST MOVIE
Haven't seen that many movies this year
BEST WEB VIDEO
After tallying your ballots, it's clear you guys need no introduction to Ed Droste: He's your #5 Indie Rock Crush, his band Grizzly Bear released the top two best videos by your votes, and oh yeah the spellbinding Veckatimest is the #2 album of the year. So, 2009 went pretty well.
GREGG GILLIS (GIRL TALK)
BEST ALBUM
3. Lil Boosie - Superbad
2. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
1. Project Pat - Real Recognize Real
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Lady Gaga - Paparazzi
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Kim Gordon
BEST NEW ACT
Nicki Minaj
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Daft Punk - Discovery
BEST TV SHOW
Roseanne on Nick @ Nite
BEST MOVIE
Twilight: New Moon
BEST WEB VIDEO
Plies throwing out $50,000 at his show
Song-splicing specialist Gregg Gillis dropped the ultimate party mix in 2008 with Feed The Animals and spent the better part of this year on a victory lap, playing riotous sets at nearly every major music festival in the country. Gregg's said his next collection may eschew his past albums' template in favor of "actual songs" on a new record due out whenever he feels like it.
SASHA GREY
BEST ALBUM
3. HTRK - Marry Me Tonight
2. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
1. Current 93 - Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Devendra Banhart
BEST NEW ACT
Get Back Guinozzi
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Coil - Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 2
BEST TV SHOW
30 Rock
BEST MOVIE
Antichrist or Watchmen
BEST WEB VIDEO
Kids Play Folsom Prison Blues The Darndest Things. It was hard not to pick Bangs, but that kid is just gangstaaaaaa.
You best know Sasha Grey as the birthday girl in the video for the Roots' "Birthday Girl." JK, you know how you best know her. Aside from her day job of being the most awesome, culture-crashing adult film star in ages, this year Sasha starred in Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience and contributed vocals to Current 93's Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain (i.e., her favorite album of the year). You can learn more about Sasha via her website, her twitter, and via other, less SFW mediums.
NORAH JONES
BEST ALBUM
Elvis Perkins In Dearland - Elvis Perkins In Dearland and Monsters Of Folk - Monsters Of Folk
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Orin Lavie - "Her Morning Elegance"
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Andrew W.K.
BEST NEW ACT
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
BEST TV SHOW
Curb Your Enthusiasm
BEST MOVIE
District 9
BEST WEB VIDEO
Keyboard Cat. Hell yeah.
Norah Jones's The Fall is out now via Blue Note. You can check out Santigold and Snotty's remix of lead single "Chasing Pirates" here, and dates for Norah's 2010 U.S. tour at norahjones.com .
TED LEO
BEST ALBUM
3. Future of the Left - Travels With Myself And Another
2. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
1. St. Vincent - Actor
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
All vegan bakery boys and girls
BEST NEW ACT
JEFF: The Brotherhood
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Celtic Frost - Monotheist and Daft Punk - Discovery (tie)
BEST TV SHOW
Battlestar Galactica
BEST MOVIE
Inglourious Basterds. The opening 20 minutes, an obvious but amazing homage to The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, was enough to make this one of my favorite movie-watching experiences of the year.
BEST WEB VIDEO
Keyboard Cat. I haven't been able to get the Cleveland Tourism Video song out of my head all year, but Keyboard Cat really sums up the internet like nothing has before or since... Keyboard Cat.
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists's The Brutalist Bricks is out 3/9 via Matador Records. You can download the excellent "Even Heroes Have To Die" here.
PATTON OSWALT
BEST ALBUM
3. Cheap Time - Cheap Time
2. Lady GaGa - The Fame
1. We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Beyoncé - "Single Ladies (Put A Ring on It)"
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Holly Golightly, now and forever
BEST NEW ACT
Cheap Time
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
The White Stripes - Elephant
BEST TV SHOW
Friday Night Lights
BEST MOVIE
In The Loop
BEST WEB VIDEO
Gathering Of the Juggalos infomercial
Patton Oswalt's comedy album My Weakness Is Strong was recently nominated for a Best Comedy Album Grammy. His acclaimed dramatic turn in Big Fan should earn him an Oscar nod too. Really! We're surprised he didn't vote for Crank: High Voltage.
OWEN PALLETT (FINAL FANTASY)
BEST ALBUM
3. tUnE-yArDs - BiRd-BrAiNs
2. Micachu & The Shapes - Jewellery
1. Hank - The Luck Of The Singers
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks" of course
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Matt Mehlan from Skeletons. He played a show in Toronto wearing short shorts and everybody in the room joined the "hands-free" club.
BEST NEW ACT
The Luyas from Montreal, and Brides from Toronto.
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
It's tough for me to separate my own musical tastes from my friendship with all the bands I love, so I'm gonna have to pass on this one.
BEST TV SHOW
Golden Girls
BEST MOVIE
Fantastic Mr. Fox
BEST WEB VIDEO
N/A
One-man string-ensemble Owen Pallett performs under the name Final Fantasy. His 2006 album He Poos Clouds won the inaugural Polaris Prize; its followup Heartland is out January 12th via Domino Records. So far, so good.
ALAN PALOMO (NEON INDIAN)
BEST ALBUM
3. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
2. Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
What an incriminating question! Natasha Khan. Shhh!
BEST NEW ACT
Toro Y Moi
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
The Avalanches - Since I Left You
BEST TV SHOW
Superjail
BEST MOVIE
A Serious Man
BEST WEB VIDEO
Business Card Guy Teaches Us How To Pack. This guys is just fucking hilarious in that Brett Easton Ellis sociopath kinda way.
Alan Palomo's Neon Indian is one of this year's breakout projects, ranking as the #7 Best New Act in this year's Gummys. The Psychic Chasms LP came out this year via Lefse and Alan's had his hands full since with everything from remixing Grizzly Bear to making nice with the seniors. Up next for Palomo is another album under his other alias, VEGA.
ROBIN PECKNOLD (FLEET FOXES)
BEST ALBUM
3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
2. Life On Earth! - A Space Water Loop
1. Tiny Vipers - Life On Earth
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
The only video I really saw this year was the one my brother did for Grizzly Bear so, null vote due to nepotism.
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Gustav Estjes (Dungen)
BEST NEW ACT
Here We Go Magic
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Joanna Newsom - Ys and Radiohead - Kid A (tie)
BEST TV SHOW
LOST
BEST MOVIE
Inglourious Basterds
BEST WEB VIDEO
Between Two Ferns With Charlize Theron
Robin Pecknold is the frontman for Fleet Foxes, the band behind last year's Gummy Album Of The Year. A followup LP is expected in late 2010.
SARA QUIN (TEGAN & SARA)
BEST ALBUM
3. The xx - xx
2. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
1. Alicia Keys - Element Of Freedom (Enthusiasm based on the head exploding single "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart")
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
All the cuties in Los Campesinos!
BEST NEW ACT
The xx
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Impossible, but a couple of my favorites...
Blur - Think Tank
Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls
The-Dream - Love Hate
BEST TV SHOW
30 Rock
BEST MOVIE
Anvil! The Story Of Anvil
BEST WEB VIDEO
Sara Quin is one half of Tegan & Sara, the twin-sister team-up that hit a serious stride with 2007's The Con and followed that in grand, non-spiritual fashion with this year's Sainthood. The Death Cab-infused LP (Chris Walla produces, Jason McGerr drums) is available in a deluxe set including ON/IN/AT, a three-book collection of writing and photos that captures the Sisters Quin during fruitful periods of touring and writing over the course of 2008 and 2009. Quite the page turner. That costs money; this guitar lesson with Sara doesn't.
ANDY SAMBERG
BEST ALBUM
3. John Mulaney - The Top Part
2. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
1. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Department Of Eagles - "No One Does It Like You" (Apparently this was made in '09, even though song is from '08, does that count? If not then Major Lazer - "Pon De Floor") [It counts! -Ed]
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
The "Crazy Hats" lady from the Fever Ray "Seven" video.
BEST NEW ACT
Wild Beasts
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
The Strokes - Is This It
BEST TV SHOW
South Park
BEST MOVIE
Star Trek
Adventureland
Up
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
BEST WEB VIDEO
After a string of Digital Shorts that gave Stereogum an excuse to post about Saturday Night Live even on weeks where the musical guest was Nickelback or whatever, Andy Samberg finally opened it up big time in 2009, teaming with his Lonely Island writing partners Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone to bring us the laugh-tracks of Incredibad and their nonstop parade of genre spoofs and cameo all-stars: T-Pain, Julian Casablancas, even Norah Jones. Sadly the album hasn't received any Gummys this year, but it did secure a nomination from something called the Grammys? Never heard of it. But congrats Andy!
MICHAEL SHOWALTER
BEST ALBUM
3. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
2. Next To Normal Original Broadway Soundtrack
1. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
N/A
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Stereogum [;) -Ed.]
BEST NEW ACT
Dirty Projectors
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
The Strokes - Is This It
BEST TV SHOW
Top Chef
BEST MOVIE
Every Little Step (A Chorus Line documentary)
BEST WEB VIDEO
N/A
Michael Showalter stars with fellow State/Stella/Wet Hot American Summer alum Michael Ian Black in Comedy Central's Michael & Michael Have Issues. He's been so busy with the show he hasn't spent any time on YouTube this year! Stay tuned to his site for news on next year's followup to Sandwiches & Cats.
DEAN SPUNT (NO AGE)
BEST ALBUM
3. DEATH - For The Whole World To See
2. Black Dice - Repo
1. Mika Miko - We Be Xuxa
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Silk Flowers - "Shadows In Daylight"
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
Dinosaur Jr.
BEST NEW ACT
Protect Me
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
N/A
BEST TV SHOW
LOST
BEST MOVIE
Twilight: New Moon
BEST WEB VIDEO
Between Two Ferns With Charlize Theron, I vote for that. So funny.
Dean Spunt is the drummer and vocalist for Los Angeles experimental punk duo No Age. After a breakout 2008, this year saw their profiles rise by sharing stages with indie rock elders Bob Mould and Pixies, collaborating in round-robin concerts with Deerhunter and Dan Deacon on the No Deachunter tour, and releasing the four-track Losing Feeling EP on Sub Pop. A new No Age full-length is expected next year(!). Spunt also keeps busy with his label Post Present Medium, which has released music by Abe Vigoda, Gun Outfit, High Places, Wavves, and Mika Miko (RIP). All that, and the guy's practically an authority on veggie dogs to boot. Savvy.
ALEXIS TAYLOR (HOT CHIP)
BEST ALBUM
3. Joe Goddard - Harvest Festival
2. Group Doueh - Treeg Salaam
1. Chain And The Gang - Down With Liberty... Up With Chains!
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Riva Starr (Feat. Noze) - "I Was Drunk"
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
The Killers
BEST NEW ACT
Susan Boyle
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Matt Sweeney And Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Superwolf
BEST TV SHOW
Masterchef The Professionals
BEST MOVIE
William Eggleston's Stranded In Canton
BEST WEB VIDEO
N/A
Alexis Taylor is a member of British electro-pop outfit Hot Chip. The band's anticipated followup to 2008's Made In The Dark, titled One Life Stand, is due 2/9 via Astralwerks. Take it in.
ANDREW WK
BEST ALBUM
3. Birdman - Pricele$$
2. Hatebreed - Hatebreed
1. Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Beyoncé - "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
INDIE ROCK CRUSH
"N/A"
BEST NEW ACT
Aleister X ("The darkest and most depressing music I've ever heard and still felt happy")
BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
BEST TV SHOW
60 Minutes
BEST MOVIE
2012 and Knowing (tie)
BEST WEB VIDEO
Business Card Guy Teaches Us How To Pack
Andrew W.K. is as busy as ever with new TV show, DESTROY BUILD DESTROY on Cartoon Network, his great NYC concert venue Santos Party House, and an album of spontaneous piano pieces, 55 CADILLAC. He recently teamed with People Under The Stairs to cover The Simpsons theme for an episode (starring Chris Martin!) that airs 1/16.
