At first consideration, 2009 was not exactly a landmark year for music. There were no major, universally agreed-upon classics that we will be celebrating in twenty or thirty years. But, looking at the diversity of the lists our staff came up with, one begins to see that, rather than one or two dominant albums, there were several smaller releases that were truly worth listening to. In fact, one could argue there was so much worthwhile music in 2009, it was almost impossible to get to all of it. If that’s the case (it probably isn’t, but for the sake of argument), our rag-tag group were so divided in tastes and selections it could only be the force of chance. Not one album appeared on every list. In fact, only a scant few albums appeared on more than one list, and those that did were scattered about in terms of placement; to see the top three selections of every list is to see fifteen completely different albums.
Maybe our staff is simply that diverse (we are, really). But the result of polling every writer was that a consensus list became obviously more and more impossible. So, we decided to go for broke: Every writer’s individual list. The best part of all of this is that no one is wrong; everyone has a good reason for choosing the way they did, and it’s a testament to the personal impact of music that no two people, let alone five, can decide, definitively, what the best album of 2009 is.
Enjoy:
COOPER FOYT -
1. Merriweather Post Pavillion by Animal Collective
The album that keeps on giving, Animal Collective’s opus was an early leader in many best-of lists and in the end was mostly unchallenged over the year. It’s hard to imagine a few years ago that anyone would request their music on the radio or that even my mother would be caught humming the melody to any Animal Collective song, but that was the magical power of Merriweather. But what can you expect when a group makes the most positive, listenable, danceable, singable, enjoyable, put-on-at-any-time-and-feel-betterable albums of the year. It’s just unequivocal excellence.
2. Eskimo Snow by WHY?
Recorded in the same session as their excellent Alopecia, WHY? Released this sister album (think Amnesiac) which takes the subject matter of the former and strips away the hip-hop bravado and replaces it with piano centric chamber pop. This album was definitely a grower for anyone who gave it a chance, but the reward was a lush album with complex emotions coming from the best neurotic lyricist around. “This Blackest Purse” transitioning into “Eskimo Snow” and the interaction of meanings was easily my favorite moment of any album of the year.
3. Oh, Glory. Oh, Wilderness. by Holopaw
Everyone may not agree that this was the best album of the year, but it was definitely the best punctuated. On their third album Holopaw ditched the electronic slants of their earlier work in favor of a live band sound akin to The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow. John Orth’s lyrical eye is as sharp as ever, finding poetic moments in football game in the snow with the boys, and a grade-school trip to an art museum. Filled with recurring characters and a patchwork storyline, the real heart of the album is about finding beauty in experiences everyday and the people who transcend them with you.
4. Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear
Sparse and winding song structures, ethereal vocal harmonies, air-drum inducing percussion, and clarinets all added up to one of the most pleasant listens of the year. Veckatimest was one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year and Grizzly Bear completely blew everyone away with their follow up to Yellow House. Songs felt spacier yet more focused, looser yet more precise, and on songs like the criminally infectious “Two Weeks” just all around better.
5. Embryonic by The Flaming Lips
So The Flaming Lips used to be really weird and loud. Then they changed and made some really weird and pretty music. Then some really weird and pop-y music. And then on Embryonic they devolved back into the weird and loud like a collapsing star and it was fucking incredible. Few opening tracks have scared me the way “Convinced of the Hex” did and no albums sustain that anxiety over the course of an entire double album (insert Stadium Arcadium joke here). Along with the help of Karen O and MGMT the fearless freaks of Oklahoma created something wholly shocking and unexpected. And totally scary.
6. There is No Enemy by Built to Spill
After a disappointing album in You in Reverse, Built to Spill follow the “Rocky Workout Plan” and go back to basics on There is No Enemy. On top of having my favorite album cover of the year they also boasted some of the best songs of the year. “Aisle 13” contains allusions to many fan-favorite songs over their career, while “Nowhere Lullaby”, “Life’s a Dream”, and “Things Fall Apart” all deliver in spades on the heart-breaking ballad front. Along with God-defying jam “Oh Yeah” and the blistering “Pat”, Built to Spill truly returned to form on this release.
7. Bromst by Dan Deacon
You may not realize while listening to Dan Deacon’s intense electro-spaz sugar-high first album Spiderman of the Rings that he is someone truly in love with nature, a passion usually reserved for the freak-folk genre. But it is truly a deep message of his music (read the lyrics for “Wham City”) and this intriguing disconnect continues with Bromst. Recorded at the beautiful SnowGhost Studio in Montana, the album takes on a much more austere and grandiose persona than its predecessor and becomes the perfect accompaniment for driving in a vast cityscape or a hike through the mountains.
8. Dragonslayer by Sunset Rubdown
Spencer Krug (a la Wolf Parade, Swan Lake) continues his exceptional streak of putting out solid albums under his mostly solo group Sunset Rubdown with Dragonslayer. Essentially prog-rock for indie kids, Krug takes us back into his world of kings and queens, gods and goddesses, black swans and dragons, and of course metaphors about fires. Standout track “Nightingale/December Song” was one that was always close to my heart with Krug’s album and band spanning discussion on people as fires.
9. theFREEhoudini by Themselves
The anticon crew has always been favorites of mine. Their blend of heady stream-of-consciousness rap over left-field production always appealed to me. All the artists on the label, including Themselves, give off a sense that they are in on something no one else is getting and it gives them an earnest desperation to convey these messages. On theFREEhouidini, a mixtape that preceded Themeslves’ CrownsDown, we get a who’s-who of anticon artists and indie rappers coming together on an album so catchy and energetic it literally outshone the album it was meant to hype.
10. Jewellery by Micachu
Jackson Pollack has always been a favorite artist of mine because he was a very accomplished realistic painter, but chose to embrace the wild and abstract art that he became known for. This willingness and ability to turn away from something “beautiful” towards something “ugly” has always been an aesthetic I’ve loved and identified with a “true” artist. And this is exactly what classically trained Mica Levi does on this experimental indie-pop album. Through the creation of unexpected instruments she achieves an idiosyncratic sound that is refreshing and exciting to see in a new artist.
CHRIS POLLEY -
1. Gui Boratto – Take My Breath Away [Kompakt]
Two years ago, The Field changed the landscape of electronic music with his phenomenal record From Here We Go Sublime, but that same year his Brazilian labelmate Gui Boratto also put out a worthy effort entitled Chromophobia Unfortunately, it was largely unnoticed because of the game-changing arctic soundscapes the aforementioned Swede concocted. Here we are adjusting to a new decade and once again Boratto’s gone under the radar, but this time with no solid reason why other than electronic music was put on the backburner for most critics’ palettes this year. Well, despite this, I found Take My Breath Away to do just what it title demands more than any other record in 2009. Its warm textures, melodious underpinnings, and sprinklings of simultaneously sad and hopeful guest vocals turn it into the most overwhelmingly enjoyable and distinctly original release of the year.
2. The Wooden Birds – Magnolia [Barsuk]
Andrew Kenny is the quietest rock god that has ever lived. He whispers instead of wails, he soothes instead of jars, and he smirks instead of scowls. And yet, the power his music has over me is not dissimilar to the kind of unyielding adoration a teenage girl has for your archetypal axe-wielding sex machine frontman. From his days in the much-missed American Analog Set to this, the Austin native’s brand new outfit, the gentle strum of simple chords and lilting hesitance of his cherubic croon is more hypnotic and rewarding to the soul than any brash and jagged exercise in rawk. The delightfully dusty, bare, and refined take on the old Amanset sound, showing that maybe, just maybe, Kenny has gone through so much just to start up a new project where he finally has found his voice.
3. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns [Astralwerks]
I didn’t think much of Natasha Khan upon my initial listens of 2007’s Fur & Gold, but what I did notice was her instrumentation. Though many of the melodies on that album didn’t grab me, the woman clearly knew her away around enough orchestral and electronic flourishes to create a rich and complex atmosphere, something too many artists are afraid to do for fear of losing or straying from their signature sound. Well, London-raised Khan proved she just needed a couple years to train her voice and find a style that matched her outrageous desire for eclecticism, as Two Suns succeeds at both varying wildly from the eerie and gloomy to the bombastic and heavenly on almost every track, all while firmly retaining a foothold on an ethereal quality that makes every song manifestly a Bat For Lashes song.
4. Kill The Vultures – Ecce Beast [Self-Released]
Minneapolis has been the go-to place for independently-minded and independently-financed hip hop for a long time now, but the nationwide access understandably can only go so far: at first Rhymesayers (Atmosphere, Brother Ali) got all the buzz and now the spotlight’s turning to Doomtree (the crew of P.O.S., who has publicly said “I learned to rap from [Kill The Vultures’] Crescent Moon”). And while I love many of these artists, I think the much more contemplative and modestly brilliant hip hop release from Minneapolis (and across the country) comes from the duo Kill The Vultures. The cinematically jazzy riffs that back the dark and despairing rhymes are almost as genius as the more in-your-face intellectual/emotional verbiage, constructing a cohesive and eternally moving background, bringing hip hop back to a place it hasn’t been in so long: a solemn corner of the room where put down people lament the woes of living in the city.
5. Signal Hill – More After We’re Gone [Self-Released]
My seemingly never ending obsession with modern guitar-led instrumental music has brought me to the close of 2009 with not an album that transcends or reinvents the genre, but merely perfects it. When the unassuming California quartet Signal Hill self-released its debut EP a few years ago, I immediately started waiting for a full realized long-playing album. And when it rained down in its sparkling and precision-fueled glory this year, it poured. Every single song encapsulated everything I love about using the guitar as the main driver of melody: when played correctly and with equal amounts zest and caution, it can communicate the most complex and fervent emotions that human ear is capable of translating. This is a collection of splendid melodies (the rhythm section’s no slouch either) that cull together memories, feelings, and images that so few bands with lyricists could ever accomplish.
6. Japandroids – Post-Nothing [Polyvinyl]
And sometimes you just gotta rock out. No one did that better this year than Canada’s Japandroids, whose raucous debut is about as fun as rock music can get with only three instruments: a guitar, a drum kit, and a pair of vocals straining from underneath the volume to be heard and felt. This is not to say we should commend every band that yells emotively over fuzzy chords and rollicking drum fills, but when a band comes along and does this with pointed earnestness and honesty, that’s when the consumption of rock becomes more than just swelling passion and ego posturing. It becomes an aural feast that compels and excites, breaks hearts and bobs heads like no one’s business. Let’s just hope that the duo doesn’t trade in the vehemence for watered down “maturity” or amped up “ferocity”, because neither would be true to the invigorating sounds of Post-Nothing.
7. The Dodos – Time To Die [Frenchkiss]
San Francisco’s The Dodos make music that, unlike most artists, satiates two ends of a spectrum: the need for music that is pleasant and the need for music that is primitive. Many think the band achieved this with their more buzzworthy previous release Visiter, but I firmly believe that their journey toward this apex of unique acoustic-driven music wasn’t reached until this year’s more polished follow-up Time To Die. Because at the heart of it, The Dodos have taken the fretboard-shredding, tom-heavy wandering of their last record and transformed it into an assortment of beautiful balladry and pop pageantry. Their sound is fuller now too, with xylophones and keys rounding out the formerly thin-sounding romps. All this, though, and it’s still one hell of a guttural listen, with syncopation and triplets skittering through the headphones with enough energy to keep both the head and the heart busy for repeated listens.
8. Reigns – The House On The Causeway [Monotreme]
Culling from seemingly every vein of spacious and haunting genres of outsider music (neo-classical, darksider spoken word, and ambient folk), the underexposed UK duo Reigns have created a masterpiece in their third album, The House On The Causeway. If this sounds pretentious, it’s because it is. But it’s such a breath of fresh air in the world of genre trendiness (plus it sounds pretty) that it’s also accessibly absorbing. The juxtaposition of styles may also sound illogical and messy on paper, but in execution, it’s positively stunning. The concept record (something I traditionally despise, but obviously we’re not working with straightforward tradition here) follows a fictional history of a mysterious home built on a fog and ocean-enshrouded precipice that juts out into the English Channel, which is more naturalistic and ominous than your average highfalutin concept album, which I can fully get behind.
9. Telefon Tel Aviv –Immolate Yourself [Bpitch Control]
If for no other reason than the music world lost a true talent in Charlie Cooper, aka one-half of the Chicago electronic two-piece, in the earlier portion of 2009, the final release under the TTA moniker (for now anyway – many are urging Joshua Eustis to keep the name in tribute as he continues to pursue solo music) shall always be remembered. But even before Cooper passed away, I immediately fell for the vibrant textures and colorful pulses of Immolate Yourself, a record that can only be described as dance music for people who prefer to listen to music on headphones. It has beats to make bodies writhe, but its biggest achievement is in its ability to cascade miles of synths from the right channel to the left in waves of beauty. The fact that it now serves as an astonishing monument to a beloved musician is just icing on the cake.
10. An Horse – Rearrange Beds [Mom & Pop]
So the queens of pop-rock (at least in my mind – Tegan & Sara) found a band that kinda sounds like them. Big deal, right? Except when that band’s debut is brimming from beginning to end with non-stop hooks that track after track, make you want to jump into the proverbial rafters and shout along with until the veins in your neck become visible from a distance and your face reddens with passion, anguish, and all the factors of youth that usually wind up deflated by the mid-20s. It’s just a catchy guitar and drums record with killer sing-along verses and choruses, yes, but every moment that might otherwise describe an amateur record as skeletal or not full formed is actually raw and simply powerful, never stylized or mapped out with an aesthetic in mind other than two Aussies’ love for a memorable hook.
CHRISTIAN HAGEN -
1. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest [Warp Records]
Grizzly Bear is an enigmatic group. They avoid flash in favor of reservation and simplicity in their performances. Yet listening to their songs evokes a feeling of being thrust into the grand vortex of the unknown, of a surrounding rush of air. Musically, they are the view of the Earth from the moon. Yet Veckatimest, their third album, is more than simply a beautiful piece of music. Contained here, in 12 of the best space-folk songs ever written, is the soul of 2009: Fear, longing, hardship, but amidst it all, hope.
2. P.O.S., Never Better [Rhymesayers Entertainment]
Minneapolis rapper P.O.S. explores the dark, dirty edges of hip-hop and punk and creates a strikingly intense mixture. From his call-to-action lyrics, which he laces through each song with an organic flow, to his beats, which strive to hit ever harder and ever faster as they go, nothing about P.O.S. is easy, ordinary, or ignorable. No track is out of place; never once does the listener question his motivations. It is, in this way, possibly the closest thing to a perfect hip-hop album released this year, and it’s a clear indication of the future of the genre.
3. The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love [Capitol Records]
While Colin Meloy’s rock opera could have easily become a bloated beast, another whipping post for those naysayers who believe that concept albums belong on the shelf, the literate singer and his merry band of players could hardly have crafted a more brilliant work than this. If it were to receive its due, The Hazards of Love would be a destined cult classic that would resound through the years as a mark of storytelling in a rock and roll medium. For those who take the time, and give this album what it deserves, The Hazards of Love will not disappoint. It will lift the spirit and the mind alike, and leave an indelible mark on indie rock fans yearning to hear a new story instead of the same old nothing.
4. Mos Def, The Ecstatic [Downtown Records]
Mos Def’s latest is uncompromising and mostly melodic, experimenting constantly with new forms of expression through which hip-hop can present itself. He holds his good book up to the world, but rather than shouting down the demons, he invites us in to sing with him. Even when he lets his irony show, as on “Workers Comp,” we can hear his smirk, and we know that we can follow where his heart is guiding us.
5.Dark Was The Night compilation [4AD Records]
The Red Hot Organization made a compilation to benefit HIV/AIDS awareness, and what the world got was a time-capsule. Over two discs and 31 tracks can be found the best and brightest of the indie rock compendium of today and tomorrow, from Sufjan Stevens’ jarring “You Are the Blood” to powerful tracks from Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, Feist, Antony, My Morning Jacket, and more. If you were curious about what all this independent rock music was about, you’ve got one hell of an answer here.
6. Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Elvis Perkins in Dearland [XL Recordings]
Elvis Perkins’s story is one of transformation through tragedy; his father died of complications due to AIDS in 1992. Nearly 9 years to the day later, his mother died in the attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. To deal with loss through music can be a powerful way to relieve one’s sadness. Yet, on the first release with his full band, Perkins tries a different route: Let the past settle in peace, and try to have a good time while we’re here. Death still lingers in the corners, but the ideas shine through: Life’s a party. Maybe death is too.
7. Wilco, Wilco (The Album) [Nonesuch Records]
Wilco has continued their reign as the alternative scene’s Great American Band for over a decade, but, when listening to the ironically titled Wilco (The Album), it would seem as if this is the first time they’ve stopped to realize just what a long crazy trip it’s been. Who knows where they will go next, but for those wondering where Wilco has already been, Wilco (The Album) is a good place to start.
8. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Outer South [Merge Records]
Once the poster child for the emo generation, the purveyor of all things morose, Conor Oberst has made an album loaded to the 16-track brim with sun and country air. Oberst has many times over been painted as his generation’s Bob Dylan, a lofty mantle to carry, but one which he now seems to take with swagger and possibility; now, like Dylan, he’s messing with the formula of his sound and, like the older singer did with The Band, even taking a backseat now and then in favor of letting his backing group shine. Outer South is a surprising and highly satisfying album, the kind of shining music you never thought the singer of Bright Eyes would make.
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz [Interscope Records]
Gone are the days of shrieking art-punk noise explosions that fans may remember wistfully from Yeah Yeah Yeahs breakout record, Fever To Tell. Indeed, the new sound has more in common with the song that was (let’s be honest) almost entirely responsible for that breakout, “Maps.”. YYY’s have always been driven in equal measure by Karen O’s brazen energy and audacity, Nick Zinner’s steady riffing, and Brian Chase’s proficient drum work. But on It’s Blitz, keyboards and even strings can be added to that list.
10. Arctic Monkeys, Humbug [Domino Records]
Humbug, is, against all expectations, slower, dirtier, looser, and, one might say, sultrier. Likely due to singer Alex Turner’s affinity for Jimi Hendrix and Cream, the Monkeys have returned with a classic understanding of the guitar rock swagger that has carried through every generation of popular music for the past five decades. Another trend that can be traced to Turner’s musical tastes, the band appears to have been washed in the runoff of the singer’s most recent side project, Last Shadow Puppets, whose songs each sound like they would fit in perfectly as the theme to a Bond movie. Many of these new tracks slide smoothly from a challenge to a come on, soaked in the musk of danger and possibility. It takes a certain confidence to be so daring, and this band seems to have it in spades.
FELICIA -
1. Gossip, Music for Men – Gossip’s fourth album, Music for Men, was my favorite of 2009. I was able to see them live in Madison, WI last fall. Unfortunately the queen of lesbo punks, Beth Ditto, was sick. She still put on a kick ass show so I can only imagine how great it would have been if she was 100% healthy. Music for Men was produced by Rick Rubin and has been highly criticized for the overproduced sound quality of the album. Compared to Gossip’s prior albums, it does have a more polished sound. But I think Ditto walks the fine line between soul and punk/rock perfectly. And she kicks major ass!!!!
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz! – The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been making great music for years now and I’ve always been a fan. But this year they majorly caught my attention with It’s Blitz! Along with a headlining spot to fill in for the ailing Beastie Boys at 2009’s Lollapalooza (which I attended), it was the year of their coming out party. It’s like they went from moody solitude rock to freaking disco balls and feather boas and it was fucking fantastic! Karen O also proved to be one of the strongest front women in music today. Hell, she is probably one of the strongest front PEOPLE in music today.
3. The Swell Season, Strict Joy – When I saw Once last year (yeah I know I was late on that one) I only fell in love with it after it was over. I found the film itself to be quite boring pretty much up until the final scenes. The winning point of the film was of course the music. Strict Joy is the follow-up and it brings more of the same heart wrenching Irish-folk feel. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová mesh incredibly well together. It’s as if their voices were meant to be paired. A bonus if you buy the deluxe edition of the album, it includes many songs from the Once soundtrack performed live in Milwaukee. The best part of the live tracks is hearing various assholes in the audience shush people during “Say It To Me Now.” For the record, if anyone tried to shush me at concert I would tell them to go suck a dick.
4. Bon Iver, Blood Bank EP – Justin Vernon: making my list yet again two years in a row. Even though Blood Bank was only an EP it still holds its own against full albums. It seemed to be an extension of 2008 favorite For Emma, Forever Ago with his distinct falsetto and lyrics of love and heartbreak. Vernon’s music still goes perfectly with a cold snowy day for me, which is perfect for us here in Minne. Vernon also collaborated with Collections of Colonies of Bees in 2009 with the band Volcano Choir. Their album Unmap might have made my list as well if I had taken more time to listen to it.
5. Ida Maria, Fortress Round My Heart – Ida Maria caught my attention in 2009 with “Stella.” When I first wrote about Ida Maria over at Pajiba a lot of commenters stated how annoyed they were by the sound of her voice. I actually like the gritty sound of her voice and I think it works perfectly for the short and sweet album. I also saw her at Lollapalooza last year where she drew a large crowd and was able to hold them for the entirety of her set. I think she would be even better at a club venue where you can get down and dirty. It would be quite the party.
6. Metric, Fantasies – This album isn’t as good as their debut Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, which is one of my favorites of all time, but it was pretty damn good for 2009. Coming out of Canada where, other than Scandinavia, they’re pumping out some great indie music. This album truly resonates better live than on the album. The show I was at last summer really brought to life singles like “Stadium Love” and “Help I’m Alive.”
7. Discovery, LP – Ok, so I know this album is pretty much comprised of 100% auto-tune and various sound machines, but I love it. It’s a mindless side project from Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot. Crank this at a party and it’ll probably do the trick if you want to amp it up a little. Or it will just cause fist fights.
8. Amazing Baby, Rewild – Amazing Baby brought a MGMT-like psychedelic sound with Rewild. To be honest, I didn’t really think this was the most terrific album. But the songs “Headdress” and “Pump Yr Brakes” alone carry this whole album for me. They’re smooth yet pull at my heartstrings at the same time. I also dig the guitar work in both songs. Ok, now I’m just starting to sound like a hippie so I’ll stop.
9. Dead Weather, Horehound – I don’t actually have this album, nor have I listened to it since the week it came out but I thought it deserved a spot on my list because when I did stream it online I was blown away. I even almost bought scalped tickets for the sold out show, and that’s saying a lot because I’m a cheap SOB. Alas, I didn’t. I just want to say that yes, I like Jack White and I think he’s a good musician but Alison Mosshart carries this band like a GD champ. I would even go as far to say that I don’t think this band would be as successful if she wasn’t the lead singer. She, along with all the other females on my list, KICKS ASS!!
10. Hockey, Mind Chaos – This pick is more like a “Look what 2010 has in store” pick. I’ve been waiting to see Hockey live for months now and I’ll finally get to see them in March. This Portland band’s single “Too Fake” is very Strokes-like but with more 80’s flavor, which is right up my alley. They might catch fire soon but I would be ok with them just staying slightly under the radar so I can keep them all to myself!
CASPAR -
1. Various Artists – Dark Was The Night. This was the album that made me really excited about music, in 2009. I just find this bunch of people, and what they’re doing on this record (the production, with its stripped down yet eccentric values; the choices of covers; the eccentric collaborations; the way these artists didn’t just toss off one of their lesser numbers, but often submitted really challenging, exciting material) completely thrilling.
2. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca. OK, so I came round to them. They’ll never be my favourite band, and in fact they can still get on my nerves like anything, but you’ve got to give props where props are due.
3. Mos Def – The Ecstatic. Dude completely kicked it with this one. Can I have a Black Star reunion please?
4. Micachu & the Shapes – Jewellery. The sound of a young, stroppy, uber-talented girl making punk spastic pop like there’s no tomorrow.
5. Taken By Trees – East of Eden. Swedish singer goes ‘world’ and doesn’t sound like a complete prick. A beautiful album.
6. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest. Lovely.
7. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone – Vs. Children. Really disquieting, lo-fi stories, set to excitingly lo-fi music.
8. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I love pop! ‘Liztomania’, for me, represented my late discovery of this wonderful, inventive band. They’re so exciting and interesting in everything they do, and this is marvellous.
9. Phosphorescent - To Willie. He rediscovered Willie Nelson, and made a beautiful, personal album out of his leftfield choices of cover songs. It’s entrancingly beautiful.
10. Raekwon - Only Built For Cuban Linx… Part II. Wow! Raekwon still has it. Henceforth, I absolutely forbid him to make an album that doesn’t have the words ‘Cuban’ or – er – ‘Linx’ in it.