-G$, Discoveries of '09, Favorites of the Aughts

Alright,

It's -G$ (part of the BC crowd). I'll get right to it.

Top Discoveries of 2009

For the past few years now, I have been downright terrible about keeping up with new music. 2009 has been no different, and so this list will be rather brief.

1. TAT, Soho Lights

- Easily, the best discovery I had this year, and the best (only?) album that I purchased. I caught TAT by pure happenstance. I was chaperoning my teenage niece at this year's Warped Tour, which was downright depressing. With the exception of Bad Religion, TAT, and some other band that I can't remember, every group was trying so hard to produce what were hackneyed, pre-packaged teenage rebellion, pseudo-anarchy promoting results. ugh. I was walking along at some point and saw a crowd gathered watching this 3-person band with British accents that had a genuine stage presence, real attitude, witty banter, and downright infectious hooks song-after-song. It was absolutely refreshing to see (& hear), and sure enough, the crowd kept growing as their set progressed. Their album did not disappoint (sample it here: <<http://www.myspace.com/tat>>). Great musicianship, smart lyrics, remarkable energy; about as good a pop-punk band as I've heard in a very long time.

2. Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak

- This album came out in late 2008, but whatever, I "discovered" it in 2009. Kanye, as we all know, has about as big an ego as we can stomach. But he has backed it up so far with one daring & inventive album after another. He's like the Charlie Kaufman of mainstream hip hop. This album in particular resonates strongly with me. It's the first one to come out since his mother's well-publicized death, but instead of taking the more obvious route of producing songs directly about his trials and tribulations over the matter, he's made this haunting work that's mostly about love gone wrong, loneliness, and bad encounters with women and whatnot. The songs are so well-written, that American Idol hack Kris Allen can perform a straightforward, solo acoustic rendition of "Heartless" and be rightly praised for the way it sounded. It's a stellar, mature album that makes a powerful impact.

That's it. I will now briefly list 2009 albums that I've sampled and which, had I delved into them more deeply, would have probably earned a more prominent spot on this list: Mastodon, Crack the Skye; The Decemberists, Hazards of Love; Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix; Silversun Pickups, Soon; maybe Muse, The Resistance.

Now, some killer singles hit the mainstream airwaves in 2009. It's fair to say that none came from Kings of Leon and that many of them came from Lady Gaga.

25 Favorite Albums of the Decade

These are listed in alphabetical order by artist, not in any particular order of preference. Listed here are the albums that I have turned to again & again, year after year, long after the initial buzz surrounding them has died down. There's a few more than 25 listed here. If more than one album is listed for a particular artist, then that's the way it worked out.

The Arcade Fire, Funeral (2004)

Coheed and Cambria, The Second Stage Turbine Blade (2002); In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (2003); Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (2005); Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 2: No World for Tomorrow (2007)

Colplay, X&Y (2005)

Daft Punk, Discovery (2001)

Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism (2003)

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, Once: Music from the Motion Picture (2007)

Green Day, American Idiot (2004)

Hot Hot Heat, Make Up the Breakdown (2002)

Interpol, Turn on The Bright Lights (2002)

Iron Maiden, Brave New World (2000)

Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American (2001)

Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak (2008)

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade, Live Frogs: Set 2

The Mars Volta, De-loused in the Comatorium (2003)

Muse, Absolution (2003); Black Holes and Revelations (2006)

My Chemical Romance, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004); The Black Parade (2006)

The Postal Service, Give Up (2003)

Radiohead, Kid A (2000); Amnesiac (2001)

The Smashing Pumpkins, MACHINA/The Machines of God (2000)

Stellastarr, Stellastarr (2003); Harmonies for the Haunted (2005)

The Stills, Logic Will Break Your Heart (2003)

The Strokes, Is This It (2001); Room on Fire (2003); First Impressions of Earth (2006)

Surferosa, Shanghai My Heart (2004)

System of a Down, Toxicity (2001); Mezmerize (2005); Hypnotize (2005)

TAT, Soho Lights (2008)

Tegan & Sara, If It Was You (2002)

The White Stripes, White Blood Cells (2001); Elephant (2003); Icky Thump (2007) [their other releases are great too]

-Finally, though "Hey Ya" can be justifiably considered the mainstream single of the aughts, Speakerboxx is the better of half of Outkast's bombshell of a mid-decade release.

-G$