2009 Top 10

[reldnahkram]

10. Ox - Burnout
Canadian band spins a sleepy, airy alt-country album featuring some great harmonies and some down-and-out characters. A great late-night album, but I wish there were more than seven songs.
Tracks: Burnout, Prom Queen, Ojibway Diner


9. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Beware
Part traditional country, part freak-folk, Will Oldham's strange perspectives and interesting arrangements wouldn't hold up if the song writing weren't so good. It takes a little getting used to, but there's a lot to like here.

Tracks: Beware My Only Friend, Death Final, You Don't Love Me, I Am Goodbye


8. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
No two songs are alike on this album, but the general formula of jangly indie guitar work and soaring three-part vocals works really well. A little like the B-52s in the way the two female vocals are set against the male vocal, but the similarities end there.
Tracks: Cannibal Resource, Stillness is the Move, Two Doves, No Intention


7. Lightning Dust - Infinite Light
Warbly vocals are a wonderful contrast to the warm arrangements on this laid-back effort from a pair of Black Mountain alumni. Not exactly uplifting, but it still leaves a good feeling.
Tracks: Antonia Jane, I Knew, The Times, Wondering What Everyone Knows


6. Samantha Crain - Songs in the Night
This album jumped out at me because of the similarities in the artist's name to a friend's. Her voice is little rough in spots (and I can't place her accent - sounds vaguely British, despite her being from Oklahoma), but that just helps the overall folksy alt-country feel.
Tracks: Songs in the Night, Bananafish Revolution, Scissor Tales, Devils in Boston, The Dam Song


5. Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti is...Skyscraper
Dark but lovely solo debut from the Interpol front man (I don't know Interpol, so I can't compare the styles). It took some time away from the album for me to really appreciate it. There are strong tracks both with a full band sound and in more sparse, often haunting settings.
Tracks: Only if you Run, Games for Days, Madrid Song, No Chance Survival


4. Mark Olsen & Gary Louris - Ready for the Flood
The Jayhawks co-leaders have reunited for a fantastic album full of solid songs featuring their trademark melodic and harmonic excellence. A little folkier than most of their previous work together, it feels like an outgrowth of Olsen's solo album from 2007.
Tracks: Rose Society, Saturday Morning on Sunday Street, Doves and Stones, Cotton Dress


3. Strand of Oaks - Leave Ruin
Stop me if you've heard this one before: guy breaks up with his fiance, moves to NE Pennsylvania, has his house burn down, ends up teaching physics at and driving the school bus for an orthodox Jewish school. Didn't think so. But that's Timothy Alexander's life story, and he used the darker times as the inspiration for this album full of songs full of longing and a little regret, but tempered by a willingness to keep looking forward.
Tracks: End in Flames, Two Kids, New Paris, Sister Evangeline, Leave Ruin


2. Taken by Trees - East of Eden
Victoria Bergsman, who you may know from her guest vocal on Peter, Bjorn, and John's "Young Folks", went to Pakistan and recorded a gorgeous album with local musicians. The blend of Western singer-songwriter sensibilities with the exoticism of the local sounds is fantastic, and Bergsman voice fits in perfectly.
Tracks: To Lose Someone, Watch the Waves, Greyest Love of All, My Boys, Day By Day


1. Tim Easton - Porcupine
A very enjoyable album from a fine singer and songwriter. The bluesy rockers and the atmospheric folky tracks are the best, the poppier tracks are hit or miss. Somehow, it manages to fit into whatever mood I'm in when I'm listening, and often that mood will have changed by the end.
Tracks: Burgundy Red, The Young Girls, Stone's Throw Away, Northbound, Goodbye Amsterdam



The compilation CD for the year is just about done, let me know if you want a copy of that and I'll make it happen.

Comments

[eclectic-boy.livejournal.com]

I'd love a copy; I've never even heard of most of these folks....

[crystalpyramid]

Ooh. ::wants one::

[irilyth]

> The compilation CD for the year is just about done, let me know if you want a copy of that and I'll make it happen.

Me! Or rather: Us!

[crystalpyramid]

Dumb question — is this the track list for the compilation CD? I don't know if the tracks knew their names, but my computer doesn't seem to be able to find them.

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

The tracks did not know their names. You should be able to ID half of them from this entry, the rest I'll have to tell you (or you can try to puzzle them out).

[crystalpyramid]

Ok, puzzling.

The first track does not have lyrics posted on the internet, although someone quotes it somewhere without saying what it is. (Appalachian farmer, noted charmer...)

Track 6, Hiram Hubbard is a folksong, which is going to make it hard to figure out whose recording this is.

Track 16, The Man I Love, appears to be an Ella Fitzgerald song which has been covered by a zillion people.

The rest I think I've got.