danal's 2009 Top Ten
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1.
Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain Is A Mouth
The Bruce Peninsula is a small peninsula in Ontario, Canada that lies between the Georgian Bay and the main basin of Lake Huron. The Bruce Peninsula is also a band that hails from Toronto, Ontario, Canada that has produced quite simply the most beautiful, awe-inspiring, and underappreciated experimental/avant-garde/folk-indie record of 2009.
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2.
Converge - Axe To Fall
Converge’s Axe To Fall quickly grew to become a monster comparable to the likes of 2001’s Jane Doe, arguably the bands best release. For 30 minutes the monster is force-fed abrasive screams from a variety of guests, blast beats from Ben Koller's unforgiving kit, and technically sound guitars. Ironically enough, what I find to be the two best tracks on this record are the tortured avant-garde closers “Cruel Bloom” and “Wretched World”. Axe To Fall is truly an axe that fell. -
3.
Heather Woods-Broderick - From The Ground
Hailing from the seemingly glum and sparse, but picturesque Portland, Oregon, the sister of Peter Broderick paints a perfect canvas of her surroundings through the use of minimal instruments and beautiful vocals on her debut full length, From The Ground. -
4.
Lewd Acts - Black Eye Blues
Black Eye Blues truly showcases Lewd Acts as a band fully capable of unleashing a full out assault on their audience laced with vigor, experimentation, and melody, without sounding like a fatal car collision on an expressway. To say that it doesn’t sound like a car wreck isn’t to say that it won't feel like you’ve just been in one after having listened to Black Eye Blues. -
5.
Government Warning - Paranoid Mess
Government Warning kick it old school, recreating the fast and aggressive sounds of 80’s hardcore punk one would usually find when listening to Jerry’s Kids or The Adolescents. Richmond, Virginia seems to be a breeding ground for great hardcore, and this is no different.
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6.
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
The third studio record from the New York based Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest, is also the name of one of the Elizabeth Islands, part of the town of Gosnold in Dukes County, Massachusetts. This makes it the second landmass on this top ten list, and has a land area of 0.0675 km² (0.026 sq mi, or 16.675 acres) and remains an uninhabited area today. If you want more information on this island, please do not ask me for help as I gathered all this information from Wikipedia.org. Oh yeah, the album’s quite good too. -
7.
Tegan and Sara - Sainthood
The end result of Sainthood is one that leaves the listener in an odd state of mind where nostalgia is met with growth and progression caused by the charming struggles with romantic ideals coupled together with the maturation of the Quin sisters. -
8.
Social Circkle - City Shock
More 80’s hardcore punk revival from the Massachusetts area that could play along side the classics like SSDecontrol, Circle Jerks, Gang Green, etc. This album is the jam and one of the most fun I've heard since Career Suicide's Attempted Suicide in 2006. -
9.
Tim Williams - Careful Love
Though he's got another two full lengths and two EP's, this is the first time I had heard of Tim Williams, but what a great introduction it was. In May of 2008, Williams underwent intensive open-heart surgery that left him bedridden in recovery throughout most of the fall. Once he got out of the hospital, he quickly began writing and rehearsing new material that has lead to one of the most incredibly personal and emotional, yet enjoyably fun records I have heard to date. -
10.
Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon: The End Of Day
This is an uncharacteristic choice on my behalf, as I usually don’t enjoy too much hip-hop anymore, but this one is an entirely different type of hip-hop all together in both musical and lyrical terms (“The moon will illuminate my room and soon I’m consumed by my doom”). Cudi has a way of crossing genres subtly to attract those who aren’t particularly fond of the hippin’ and a hoppin’, and a bippin’ and a boppin’. And now I’ll refrain from sounding any more unintelligent as I don’t know all too much about the genre in itself.
