Sound Fix | Best Albums of 2009

Best Albums of 2009

1. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
We knew this day would come. The Dirty Projectors were one of those bands that just got better and better with each new release, and on Bitte Orca, 2009’s indie breakout hit and the Projector...read more
2. The Flaming Lips: Embryonic
At War with the Mystics was a respectable placeholder, and instrumental soundtrack Christmas on Mars holds an auspicious place in the Flaming Lips’ catalogue, but to fans who’ve been waiting years ...read more
3. Yacht: See Mystery Lights
Be right with you, I’m having a low-grade psychedelic experience with the cover of Yacht’s new See Mystery Lights. Wow, it’s — I see them, the mystery lights! Once you stop your d...read more
4. Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest
It’s hardly a revelation at this stage that Grizzly Bear had a good year in 2009. When a Brooklyn psych-folk act makes the Billboard Top 10 (we’re not kidding), that’s news. But i...read more
5. Bibio: Ambivalence Avenue
What a year for the UK artist known as Bibio, a.k.a. Stephen James Wilkinson. Not long ago he hovered just under the folktronica radar as a Boards of Canada acolyte. This year he jumped from Mush t...read more
6. Woods: Songs of Shame
Words will never quite be enough for Woods. Not to suggest this Brooklyn outfit is The. Greatest. Thing. Ever!, just that when I tell you Songs of Shame is a collection of ramshackle floaty folk-ro...read more
7. Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Only French people could do something so clearly unoriginal and yet make it seem perfectly right and natural and cool. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix sounded best during the warm months, but it’s a...read more
8. St. Vincent: Actor
St. Vincent (Annie to her family, the Clarks) returned this year to prove her debut was no fluke. On Actor, Clark leads with her cute, pointy chin, updating the ambitiously composed songs that made...read more
9. Neko Case: Middle Cyclone
Artists who’ve been around as long as Neko Case, and who’ve been roundly celebrated by critics and cash registers alike, tend to get taken for granted after a certain point. Yet Middle ...read more
10. Dinosaur Jr.: Farm
It is very rare that a band returns from a 16-year hiatus and makes as much of an impact as Dinosaur Jr. have since reforming. Granted, J Mascis never went anywhere in the interim, but truth be tol...read more
11. Bat for Lashes: Two Suns
Everyone who fell under the spell of UK hippie-goth siren Natasha Khan’s 2007 debut, Fur and Gold, had the same worry: Would the attention paid to it (and its not very unattractive creator) s...read more
12. Thee Oh Sees: Help
Thee Oh Sees on In the Red: In this age of suffering and unenlightenment, finally, something just plain makes sense. John Dwyer & Co.‘s latest follows in the style of their lastest, ??The...read more
13. Cass McCombs: Catacombs
One of Gertrude Stein‘s keenest quotes: “For a very long time everybody refuses and then almost without a pause almost everybody accepts.” This year is when things pivoted for Cas...read more
14. The Antlers: Hospice
Blog-rock of the most adorable stripe, the Antlers’ Hospice — originally self-released before being plucked by French Kiss and becoming a genuine indie hit — is full of highly ant...read more
15. Real Estate: s/t
Don’t blink: Between now and when you finish this paragraph, Real Estate, a young North Jersey quartet, may have released another album, an EP and a couple of side-projects. But before they b...read more
16. Junior Boys: Begone Dull Care
This Canadian duo’s ongoing fame and acclaim are due to the fact that, deep within their Internationalist techno-pop, you can still hear their early-period bedroom-beat sensibilities. Put Jun...read more
17. Here We Go Magic: s/t
What’s in a name? Here We Go Magic is the new nom de musique employed by indie singer-songwriter Luke Temple, whose previous work was solid if a bit unremarkable. Things have changed: The reb...read more
18. Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career
Scot-pop outfit Camera Obscura is one of the few bands to whom we’ll give a pass on making the same record a coupla-few times. Which is good, because My Maudlin Career, the group’s four...read more
19. Sonic Youth: The Eternal
Sonic Youth’s return to the indie ranks resulted in no major changes from their previous song album, 2006’s Rather Ripped. The Eternal still features lots of moody mid-tempo grooves; the text...read more
20. The Mountain Goats: The Life of the World to Come
The Mountain Goats’ sixth album on 4AD finds them in trio formation: John Darnielle and Peter Hughes are here joined by *Superchunk*’s Jon Wurster on drums. It’s the most dynamic “full-band” Mounta...read more
21. Papercuts: You Can Have What You Want
We don’t like it when someone tampers with a good thing, so we weren’t sure at first what to make of the Papercuts’ latest, You Can Have What You Want. Few bands can deliver the k...read more
22. Sunn O))): Monoliths & Dimensions
Monoliths & Dimensions is a fantastic display of that hugeness you’ve likely read about in stories on this band and the new avant-doom-metal scene that orbits it. What no amount of hype c...read more
23. Cymbals Eat Guitars: Why There Are Mountains
Fans of canonical indie-rock: If you haven’t already hupped to it with Cymbals Eat Guitars in the wake of the notice Pitchfork gave to this album, well, it’s not too late. This scattere...read more