the paladisiac

dellrock's top 61 albums of the 2000s

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:54:58 GMT

Here there are. It took me 3 different iterations this year to come up with a list of my favorite albums of the decade, aided by my dellrock retrospectives of course. And i'm not fully satisfied with what i see now but i think any such list is always in flux, so here's my musical flux capacitor fluxing today...

dellrock's top 61 albums of the 2000s:

#	Artist	Album	Year
01	radiohead	kid a	2000
02	modest mouse	moon & antarctica	2000
03	the decemberists	picaresque	2005
04	wilco	yankee hotel foxtrot	2002
05	radiohead	in rainbows	2007
06	radiohead	amnesiac	2001
07	eminem	marshall mathers lp	2000
08	ryan adams	heartbreaker	2000
09	the arcade fire	funeral	2004
10	ryan adams	gold	2001
11	bright eyes	lifted...or the story is in the soil, keep your ear to the ground	2002
12	radiohead	hail to the thief	2003
13	the postal service	give up	2003
14	kanye west	late registration	2005
15	death cab for cutie	the photo album	2001
16	the decemberists	the crane wife	2006
17	the stills	logic will break your heart	2003
18	the arcade fire	neon bible	2007
19	new pornographers	mass romantic	2000
20	the shins	chutes too narrow	2003
21	the jayhawks	smile	2000
22	modest mouse	good news for people who love bad news	2004
23	kanye west	the college dropout	2004
24	the new pornographers	electric version	2003
25	belle & sebastian	the life pursuit	2006
26	hot chip	made in the dark	2008
27	!!!	myth takes	2007
28	sufjan stevens	illinoise	2005
29	vampire weekend	vampire weekend	2008
30	the minus 5	[the gun album]	2006
31	the decemberists	her majesty the decemberists	2003
32	girl talk	night ripper	2006
33	belle & sebastian	dear catastrophe waitress	2003
34	the national	the boxer	2007
35	neko case	blacklisted	2002
36	the mountain goats	heretic pride	2008
37	ryan adams & the cardinals	cold roses	2005
38	girl talk	feed the animals	2008
39	the new pornographers	twin cinema	2005
40	spoon	ga ga ga ga ga	2007
41	wilco	a ghost is born	2004
42	josh ritter	the historical conquests of	2007
43	of montreal	hissing fauna...are you the destroyer?	2007
44	animal collective	merriweather post pavilion	2009
45	of montreal	satanic panic in the attic	2004
46	andrew bird	armchair apocrypha	2007
47	poe	haunted	2000
48	whiskeytown	pneumonia	2001
49	daft punk	discovery	2001
50	the new pornographers	challengers	2007
51	franz ferdinand	franz ferdinand	2004
52	andrew bird	noble beast	2009
53	outkast	stankonia	2000
54	cut copy	in ghost colors	2008
55	modest mouse	we were dead before the ship even sank	2007
56	conor oberst	conor oberst	2008
57	why?	alopecia	2008
58	razorlight	up all night	2004
59	the jayhawks	rainy day music	2003
60	monsters of folk	monsters of folk	2009
61	josh ritter	the animal years	2006

1983 albums

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:14:23 GMT

So here i am, doing another music retrospective, this time covering the years preceding my dellrock countdown (established mid-July 1984). I start with 1983.

1983 was a tough year for the most part. 7th grade sucked. Everyone, including my best friend at the time, Brian Marti, decided to pick fights with me. Keith Chaffee, who died a couple years ago, directed his ire at me often. But i somehow survived without actually being roughed up in a fight. I'm not sure if the kids liked me just enough not to fight me, or were worried what their parents would say, or if they were at all "aware" of my health situation, or if it was dumb arse luck.

genesis - genesis: "mama" shreds with sort of an "i don't care anymore" attitude and is a great opener to an otherwise half-pop / half-"prog"-shoutout album ("nu prog" in the sense of Duke/Abacab), and is a definite precursor to what would become invisible touch. i didn't hear this album until i bought a cassette of it in college and LOVED it. IMO, this is a very good pop album. Read these hits: "mama", "that's all", "illegal alien", "taking it all too hard" and "just a job to do". Five hits across nine tracks. And two of those tracks are the more proggy pieces, "home by the sea" and "second home by the sea", which in some ways eclipse the "domino" two-parter on invisible touch. In fact, this could've easily taken off the way invisible touch did. Poppy genesis catches flack for being so shallow, simple and daffy compared to their 70s prog era, not to mention being taken over by phil collins, but the only track on this album i think is near daffy is "illegal alien", a track i still like despite of, and because of, its goofiness. "just a job to do" tries to reprise the "mama"-grit. This probably ranks as #5 from the bottom on my overall genesis album list. (...calling all stations... is the only one i've reviewed so far in the bottom 4.)

def leppard - pyromania: This is one of only two albums that i actually bought/had at the time. Someone made a cassette recording for me and i really like this album. (i ended up loving my hysteria cassette copy a few years later.) The hits, "rock rock (til you drop)", "photograph", "foolin'" and "rock of ages", are uncoincidentally the best tracks on the album. "too late for love" is the decent ballad hit on this album. "comin' under fire" is probably the best "non-hit" with its smooth-harmonized, catchy chorus. despite not being the best song on the album, "action! not words" is in the top 50 of songs (for the chorus) stuck in my head of all-time. They all remind me of grade school, hanging out at Brian Marti's watching videos and Friday Night Videos. They were considered so cool by my classmates in the midst of a (poppy) metal mania that included another artist that i'll review (below). It's classic cheese that i'll never tire of.

the police - synchronicity: i heard and liked a bunch of these songs in grade school so i don't know why i didn't consider this album for my 1-to-3 yearly cassette purchases or a cassette recording. Outside of the 3 hits tucked away at the back, "every breath you take", "king of pain" and "wrapped around your finger", "synchronicity II" is the standout track with the others being quite solid.

motley crue - shout at the devil: I never had a recording of this album back then, but i heard and enjoyed it often as the pop-metal rage swept through my 6th grade class, one of many pop-metal albums i listened to at the time. The title track and "looks that kill" SLAY for its genre. This album reminds me of being on the school bus, either to/from home or during field trips. i also dig their take on "helter skelter" and "too young to fall in love" is pretty cool too. Not one of my favorite albums today, but i felt worth mentioning.

u2 - war: This entire album feels gritty and somewhat spiritual. The rest of the album has the feel of hits "sunday bloody sunday" and "new year's day" but not the same flash. i like the horn on "red light". This all sounds "fresher" and less calculated than the supposed "retro", "comeback" albums by u2 of late. "40" is a nice closer.

r.e.m. - murmur: What alt music junkie doesn't know "radio free europe"? i like the harmonies on "catapult". This is a good debut from the grandfathers of alternative music where the rest of the album is pretty strong by itself (but not as good as "radio free europe"). i don't think i even knew of r.e.m. at the time (when i was 12).

Could my favorite album of 2010 be wrapped up already?

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:27:29 GMT

It seems as though Radiohead is back at work on a new album. Given the usual gestation period for an album, a September/October release is not out of the question. They've already broke the "july barrier" for winning dellrock album of the year with their in rainbows album in 2007. I. CAN'T. WAIT.

fantasy football 2009, week 16

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:05:39 GMT

Going into MNF, i was virtually tied in my money league's superbowl. Winner takes $500, loser $300. He had two Minnesota defenders who average 20 pts + per game. I had a recently-slumping alex brown out-of-position and a recently-slumping brett favre in chicago's last gasp superbowl to take down a division rival.

Alex brown barely did anything early on so i wrote him off and hoped for Favre to win me $200. (Favre actually won 1 or 2 games for me during the season.) After Minnesota's first 3 drives, Favre had 36 yards and a lost fumble. Between my fantasy players i had a net 0 fantasy points after the first half. My opponent had 20. i figured i was sunk but decided to stick it out til halftime. As of the half, brown did nothing more and favre was up to 60-ish yards. I turned off the game convinced i lost a THIRD superbowl in SIX years of the league's existence.

So i played lego star wars with my boy for a while then headed upstairs to give him a bath. Before heading up i checked the game stats to find alex brown on 5 fantasy points (up 2!!) and favre passing for 171 yards and a touchdown. i didn't even check my opponents defenders thinking they just kept building their stats.

After putting my boy to bed i rechecked the game stats. The first thing i noticed on the nfl.com's crappy gamecenter was favre's 299 yards & touchdown. i found that interesting. Then the screen flashed 4th & [something] with 20ish seconds left down 23-30 in what was basically a goal-line situation. Minnesota took a timeout. i quick-sprinted to the tv to find Chicago took a timeout after that. Figuring i had a shot to win my fantasy superbowl if favre could score, i anxiously watched the 4th down play with my thumb on the "off" button, ready to switch my fantasy season off in disgust with a favre sack, fumble, incompletion or pick, whichever he had in store for me. But FAVRE FOUND SIDNEY RICE IN THE ENDZONE and with the bears kneeling with their remaining time, the game went to OT.

i quickly shot back to my computer to find that i pulled into a decent (10-ish) point lead basically with that ONE throw. (6 points for the TD, 1 point for yardage and 2 points i believe for throwing for 300+ yards). From there i stood in basically the same pose throughout OT waiting for some poor Favre fumble or pick and a few more tackles from my opponent's players. But that bad luck never came. Favre kept pace with his defenders and alex brown tacked on a SACK! Once Adrian Peterson fumbled with a short field i was pretty certain i had won.

And i did, 463-443. In my THIRTY-FORTH (full-season) attempt since the year 2000 to win an EFS superbowl, i FINALLY WON one. Favre provided me an ending that i never expected and truly gave up on at halftime of the MNF game -- he pulled a win out of his @ss for my fantasy team!

For that, Brett Favre, the now-hated enemy of the minnesota vikings, is my team's season MVP. Pretty good for a February-ish UFA pickup who i tried for a couple months to trade but never was offered good enough value for. I decided to give up trading him approaching Matt Ryan's BYE week thinking that Favre'd give a good effort against the Pack that week. UNDERSTATEMENT. Favre trailed off a bit in weeks 13-15 but awarded me an extra cool $200 bucks shaking off a poor early start and frigid temperatures in the MNF game. Thank you, Brett Favre. (Of course, this won't change my desire for the pack to break his neck if they meet in the playoffs.)

So finally, in my 10th year in EFS, after 34 games across 5 different EFS teams, i am now an EFSports Superbowl champion. Congratulations, me. I know it's a money league and the same rules don't apply as they do normal leagues, but i will now DEMAND an EFS champion t-shirt from Stan. in as much as this can be true, i've earned it.

I look good heading into 2010 too with most of my key players signed through 2010 and 3 draft picks in the top 2 rounds including the overall #9.

Here's the roster that helped me become the #3 team by total points and award me my first EFS trophy:

Champ Bailey CB DEN: I picked this guy up about 1/2 of the way through the season off waivers. He had a hefty salary at $6M but i could afford that at the time and i was worried QJam was injured.

Quentin Jammer CB SD: This original vet draft pick had a down season from last year as a lot of teams picked on "the other guy" so i rarely started him.

Tracy Porter CB NO: I picked this guy up from UFA last year. Once i was convinced he was all-the-way back from injury in 2009, i started this guy often.

Chris Houston CB ATL: I traded a low-round pick for this ORC in 2009 and he wasn't worth more than depth once ATL lost their other starting CB to I.R.

Vontae Davis CB MIA: i've started him often down the stretch including my superbowl victory. he's been worth around 20ppg ever since will allen went on I.R. Nice 3rd round addition to bolster a playoff run.

Anthony Bethea S IND: I picked this guy up off waivers around the beginning of the 2008 season and he's consistently been my best safety since. i had to bench him once Indi clinched homefield, and i suspect he dinged himself a few weeks prior, but he's been a cornerstone to my last 2 playoff seasons.

Nick Collins S GB: So i passed on the guy with a 7th round pick, ended up paying trading away a 2nd rounder for him, then he had a tank year (when bigby broke out), then kicked butt last season. In 2009, he was on-and-off in terms of dependable production.

Dashon Goldson S SF: This guy, who i picked up off of waivers around the start of the 2009 season, saved me at safety down the stretch with Indianapolis shutting its starters down (bethea), collins's inconsistency and brodney pool going on I.R. (and being taken out of the starting lineup just before that).

Brodney Pool S CLE: Wish Mangenious would catch a clue. If he could just decided on week-to-week starters, that'd be helpful. Brodney eventually lost his starting job then went on I.R. Being a 1 year contract projected to not be worth anything in RFA, i cut him. Early on, he was dependable depth.

Kenny Phillips S NYG: This guy tore off a 60+ point day in week 2 before going on I.R. with a foot injury. Looked to be a GREAT early 2nd round pick (in 2008). Now, i'll have to wait and see. If he can't come back AND Goldson leaves in RFA, i might have to address the safety position somehow.

Julius Peppers DE CAR: One of the main candidates for 2009 MVP of my superbowl-winning team, Julius kicked arse most of the season, finishing as a top 5 DE. Hopefully he doesn't trail off under a new NFL contract as i have him locked up for a few more years.

Dwight Freeney DE IND: For the first half the season, i could write this guy down for at least 1 sack of game, guaranteed. Part of the SouthPaw Killer trade of a few season ago, he's continued to be fairly dependable when not injured, and he was barely nicked in 2009.

Chris Kelsay DE BUF: Traded for him for peanuts (i think a 6th & 7th rounder), he stepped up well this season across from Schobel with Ryan Denney fading and Maybin mostly sucking. With a low salary around $1M, i'll have a tough decision between him and an RFA 3rd rounder.

M. Kiwaunuka DE NYG: i couldn't really use this guy early in the year as he was a situational runner with Osi back, but Osi never produced for the Giants, and they returned Kiwaunuka to the starting lineup. Overall, the Giant defense wasn't as good this year, which translated into lower numbers for Kowabunga.

William Hayes DE TEN: Knowing kearse wouldn't have enough to start, i took a flier on Hayes and Ball in the preseason. Once i saw Hayes win the job, i promoted him and started in a couple times in situationally-advantages matchups. i'll wait until 2010 to sign him long-term

Alex Brown DE CHI: i traded for this guy just before the trading deadline with Peppers sporting a hand injury and with the likelihood of Freeney sitting the last few Indi games. He was NOT worth the 2nd rounder i paid for him until the final game of week 16 when he cemented a superbowl win for me, the icing on top of Favre's cake. If he's not worth a #2 in RFA, then i'll probably franchise this guy.

[Note, i don't have any defensive tackles. Early on in the season, i cut mebane deciding to start my strong DEs out-of-position for most of the season.]

Karlos Dansby ILB ARI: This guy cost me a #2 a few seasons ago and has easily been worth it. He's a strong inside man in a solid arizona defense. The toughest part about starting him or not has been deciding between him and the rest of my ILB cast. Given my season-long hole at RB, i'll probably try to trade this guy for an RB upgrade.

DJ Williams ILB DEN: Another very good inside linebacker that cost me a 2nd rounder a few years back. My inside 'backers are da sh|t.

Lawrence Timmons ILB PIT: Another very good inside linebacker who scored just as much as my others when discounting games he was out due to injury. This guy cost me a #2 and #3 a couple years ago.

James Lauriniatis ILB STL: Not 5-star excellent, but this guy really impressed me this season taking command of that defense and amassing a ton of tackles. (He had a 70+ point game where i didn't start him.) I love the depth him and the rest of my ILBs afforded me this year, often swinging one of them out-of-position often this season. I'm surprised i didn't receive any trade offers for any of these guys. Lauri was my best 2009 (#1) draft pick.

Daryl Smith OLB JAC: I ALMOST let this guy go in RFA. I'm glad i didn't as he has been rock-solid dependable this season for 21+ppg. My other OLB had various issues.

Clay Matthews OLB GB: He started the year on GB's bench, rotating in, but eventually won a spot as a starter as i hoped he would as he walked on in college. I missed his first couple of big point games but eventually decided to stick with my early 2009 2nd rounder late in the season.

Chike Okeafor OLB ARI: Injured early, he scores well when in the lineup. On a minimum 2 year contract.

??? another ???

Jason Spitz OC GB: Spitz helped me early on with OL points but then became injured going on I.R. Too bad, i sure could've used him in the playoffs as i've had to cobble together some mediocre options since.

Jason Brown OC STL: Needless to say this guy was not an option this year. I kept him despite being useless hoping STL can at least rise to an average offense next year.

Brad Meester OC JAC: Traded a 4th for this guy to return to my lineup once i figured Spitz was done. Jacksonville then decided to go pass-heavy away from MJD and suck on offense for most of the time.

Jason Grove / Joe Berger OC MIA: I plucked Grove off of waivers looking for better options. He wasn't much better than Meester. Once Spitz went down, the center position was an obvious hole for me.

Ryan Lilja OG IND: Lilja was a weekly must-start guard, probably the MVP of my OL. If no one bids on him in RFA, i'll welcome him back.

Chris Chester / M.Yanda OG BAL: Chester was a great play early in the season before the Ravens offense puttered out (mostly due to Flacco).

Brandon Moore OG NYJ: Moore was worth good depth when the Jets/Sanchez weren't killing themselves offensively.

Nate Livings OG CIN: I took a UFA pick flier on this guy. Started him in week 16.

David Joseph OG TB: Good guard who wasn't worth starting in 2009.

Kareem McKenzie OT NYG: This original vet draft pick was the cornerstone to my tackle rotation when he wasn't injured.

Willie Colon OT PIT: He was worth a lot for the first half of the season. I traded for him for peanuts.

Jordan Gross OT CAR: Good depth player who wasn't worth as much as i hoped mostly due to Delhomme, then went on I.R.

Evan Mathis OT CIN: Another CIN UFA who i started more than once.

Brett Favre QB MIN: Considering i beat Soggy Bottom Boys and Chris Johnson in the superbowl, Favre should be the league's MVP. I picked him up early in the preseason and actually tried to trade him after drafting Sanchize, but no one would give me good enough value in return. So i kept him. He probably won me 1-or-2 games during the season and topped off his 40-year-old comeback with a week 16 MNF comeback that won me my first EFS superbowl.

Matt Ryan QB ATL: I went into 2009 thinking this guy would be my every-week starter with Favre the backup. Instead, Ryan hit the sophomore slump nearing the season's midpoint, about where i switched to Favre.

Matt Sanchez QB NYJ: When he's looked good, he's looked pretty good. When he's looked bad, he's looked horrible. I'm hoping he can learn his NFL position better this offseason. If Favre returns to MIN, i might dangle Sanchez for help at other positions. Despite his slow start, as of 1 year i think i had the better part of the Michael Crabtree -for- Matt Sanchez and Clay Matthews trade.

LaDainian Tomlinson RB SD: Runningback has been my sore spot all season. If i had a top-10 RB, i might've had a shot at the total points prize. Going into the fantasy regular season, i hoped i'd find ONE starter between my 4 guys. LDT was the closest to a dependable guy in the second half of the season being the main goal-line option for the chargers. He's leaving in RFA. Thank you for the HUGE 2006 season you gave me.

LeSean McCoy RB PHI: With Westbrook's concussion and other injuries, i actually started my 2009 2nd round pick 3-or-4 times, half of the time he gave me good (~18) points.

Reggie Bush RB NO: Between nagging injuries, ineffectiveness and a Saint running power running shift (when they weren't tossing the ball constantly), Bush didn't do much in 2009. Before his 2008 injury, i thought he was that team's MVP. Now, i don't know what to think. I'll probably hold onto him in his last contract year for RB depth.

Michael Bush RB OAK: Late in the EFS regular season, i fell into a capology crunch and had to cut this talent back. I felt i couldn't wait for him. I figured between Al Davis not trading his draft picks, whatever coach is back there not settling on a runningback, and darren mcfadden around, M.Bush wouldn't ever see a fair shot. So i cut him and then he put up 150+ yards. Whatever. I still think he'll never be given a fair shake.

Owen Daniels TE HOU: When Daniels fell to injury a little past mid-season, i thought my superbowl shot was done. He was a top 3 TE and mephisto MVP candidate, and his loss also meant double-coverage would swing more toward Andre Johnson. Picked up as a UFA a few seasons ago, he's the leader of my rebuilt TE corps, and i hope he can come back fully healthy.

Heath Miller TE PIT: i picked this guy up at $3.6M x 3 just before the EFS season started. With Cutler and the Bears offense's poor play, he quickly eclipsed Greg Olson as my #2 TE, stepping up in the passing game for Ruthlessburger while their running game sputtered. Depending on RFA & the rookie draft, i may-or-may-not try to trade him.

Greg Olson TE CHI: i had such high hopes for this guy. He definitely is Cutler's favorite target. However, none of the other receiving options are that great and their OL sucked. Hopefully with a couple upgrades Cutler can light up Olson even more in 2010.

Brandon Pettigrew TE DET: Pettigrew, a guy i traded up for in the 1st round of 2009, was just starting to click and click big just when he went on I.R. Here's to hoping Detroit fortifies its OL for 2010.

Travis Beckum TE NYG: Of all my top-3-round 2009 picks, this is the only guy that didn't make a dent. Should've left him on the practice squad, at least for 2009.

Andre Johnson WR HOU: On the shortlist for my team MVP, he led the NFL in receiving yardage compiling two sub-200 yard games in weeks 15 & 16 and persevered through his nagging injuries, still a very good start when Owen Daniels went down.

Vincent Jackson WR SD: VJax, as i called him, translated a monster playoff season with a monster 2009 regular season (as i predicted). At this point, my trade of Schaub for VJax looks even. Schaub scores about double the points of VJax, but enhanced leagues can start 3 WRs versus only 1 QB. And Schaub is always an injury case waiting to happen.

Donald Driver WR GB: i traded a #3 for this guy for my 2008 playoff stretch and he was HUGE for me for the first half of the season, easily outscoring an often double-covered Greg Jennings. He's old, but he still has speed and has nice hands and route running ability.

Kenny Britt WR TEN: The third of my three 2009 #2 picks, Britt came on big for 4 games near the end of the 2009 nfl season with Vince Young at QB. Solid 2nd round pick considering wide-receivers fail about 50% of the time. All of my (top 4) receivers are signed through 2010.

Laurent Robinson WR STL: He looked good before going on I.R. I'll see if he recovers from his injury.

Andre Caldwell WR CIN: i was hoping he'd be a big-play guy, about 75% of what Housh was, but the Cincy passing game never really materialized at all in 2009. (Carson Palmer thew 11 times for 1 yard in the season finale.) Not sure what's needed here because i like their offensive pieces.

Mason Crosby XK GB: He hurt me a couple times this season with his inconsistency, but showed up for me in week 16 nailing a 52 yard field goal. An original rookie draft pick, i have to decide whether to let him go in RFA.

Shane Lechler XP OAK: He's the best punter in the NFL which almost translates to the best punter in EFS. About midway through the season, i decided to start this guy every week no matter what.

Brandon Fields XP MIA: Good punter but i didn't really need him once Lechler's BYE was over. Both of my punters are going to RFA.

more dellrock retrospective, incl. 2009 dellrock singles revisited

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:00:51 GMT

So 2009 was the 25th anniversary of my countdown of which i started back between the end of grade school (some say junior high, but i never attended one of those, so i simply say "8th grade") and the beginning of high school. In saluting the long duration of the dellrock countdown, i reviewed every year from 1984 and on every 2 weeks of last year. I already shared my favorite 39 albums of 2009 as well as the top 39 singles of 2009 based on the weekly top 20 chart. Below you can find my top 39 singles of 2009 based on a weekly top 10. (I'll have more to say after the countdown.)

dellrock's top 39 of 2009 (based on weekly top 10):

Pos.	Title	Artist	Total
1.	raindrops	basement jaxx	144
2.	the girl and the robot	royksopp	129
3.	summertime clothes	animal collective	128
4.	it don't move me	peter bjorn & john	120
5.	this tornado loves you	neko case	101
6.	idiot heart	sunset rubdown	90
7.	genesis 3:23	the mountain goats	85
8.	my girls	animal collective	85
9.	tokyo	telekinesis	77
10.	brothersport	animal collective	77
11.	so insane	discovery	71
12.	train song	feist and ben gibbard	67
13.	say please	monsters of folk	66
14.	rooks	shearwater	64
15.	lisztomania	phoenix	62
16.	bits & pieces	junior boys	57
17.	daniel	bat for lashes	55
18.	hazel	junior boys	53
19.	zero	yeah yeah yeahs	53
20.	lion in a coma	animal collective	47
21.	laura	girls	46
22.	lust for life	girls	46
23.	gifted	n.a.s.a.	46
24.	with every heartbeat	kleerup	46
25.	get better	mates of state	45
26.	people got a lotta nerve	neko case	45
27.	all the pretty girls	fun.	44
28.	heads will roll	yeah yeah yeahs	42
29.	on board	friendly fires	39
30.	this blackest purse	why?	39
31.	this must be it	royksopp	39
32.	move	q-tip	37
33.	666	ohtis	36
34.	far away	cut copy	35
35.	anonanimal	andrew bird	34
36.	cult logic	mike snow	33
37.	what would i want? sky	animal collective	33
38.	mr. wobble's nightmare	kid 606	33
39.	the wanting comes in waves / repaid	the decemberists	31

For 2010, i will be reviewing my favorite albums released from 1983 and prior. Predating my countdown as well as my birth, i'll review what those albums mean to me now, possibly filling in some personal historical narrative as i feel like it. I've already prepared for this retrospective so i know that there'll be a lot of albums from a small handful of artists. If you know me, then you'll know there'll be a lot of genesis coming. Maybe a couple of the others will surprise you.

Also, in the next couple weeks, i plan to reveal my favorite albums of the last past decade, 2000-2009. This favorites list has undergone a few overhauls since the first one i did of 2000-2003. Then, i will continue to reveal my favorites of every prior decade, including the 90s, the 80s and then bunching the 70s together with the 60s (since there's not much in the 60s that i like). Then i will come up with a new (and improved?) list of my all-time favorite albums. Hopefully we both will enjoy this experiment in personal trivial nonsense.

2009 dellrock awards

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:28:17 GMT

Here it is, the final post reviewing what i liked the most about music in the year that was 2009, another year i dug the club/house/dance/electronica/IDM and listened to more white boy indie pop/rock.

2009 Dellrock Awards:

The top 5 artists of 2009 were:

01) animal collective
02) andrew bird
03) neko case
04) royksopp
05) monsters of folk

dellrock award	recipient
no.1 artist	animal collective
no.1 song	"raindrops" basement jaxx
no.1 female artist	neko case
no.1 song by a female artist	"this tornado loves you" neko case
no.1 group/duo	animal collective
no.1 song by a group/duo	"raindrops" basement jaxx
no.1 male artist	andrew bird
no.1 song by a male artist	"anoanimal" andrew bird
no.1 new artist (new in 2009)	monsters of folk
no.1 song by a new artist	"so insane" discovery
no.1 album airplay by a new artist	"lp" discovery
no.1 album acquisition by a new artist (new in 2009)	monsters of folk
most consistent singles artist	animal collective
biggest song w/o reaching no.1	"this tornado loves you" neko case
most weeks at no.1, singles airplay	"raindrops", basement jaxx (9)
no.1 album acquisition (released/acquired)	"merriweather post pavilion" animal collective
no.1 album airplay (listened to)	"noble beast" andrew bird
most weeks at no.1, albums airplay	"merriweather post pavilion", andrew bird (23)
no.1 late album acquisition	"goodbye yellow brick road" elton john
biggest album airplay w/o reaching no.1	"middle cyclone" neko case
most singles in top 10	animal collective (6) (ties all-time record set by pearl jam and tied by radiohead last year)
most inspirational artist	animal collective
longest run on singles airplay countdown (top 10)	"raindrops" basement jaxx (19)
longest run on albums airplay countdown (top 10)	"noble beast" andrew bird (39)
no.1 singles artist	animal collective
most improved artist	junior boys
no.1 "pleasant surprise" artist	sunset rubdown "dragonslayer"
no.1 "pleasant surprise" album	"junior" royksopp
no.1 album acquisition, rap/hip-hop	"blaQKout" dj quik & kurupt
no.1 album acquisition, electronica	"merriweather post pavilion" animal collective
no.1 album acquisition, alt-folk/country	"noble beast" andrew bird
no.1 album acquisition, female-based artist, solo or group	"middle cyclone" neko case

2009 dellrock top 39 album sales

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 06:04:56 GMT

Last year, i started off the 2008 top album sales post by saying 2008 was a weak year. Yeah, right. 2009 makes last year look strong and 2007 a greatest hits package. I struggled often to rank clumps of albums because there were few strong contenders. Even the 3 albums at the top were so close -- all pretty good albums, but nothing in the league of most years of this decade. Artists with their highest placing year-end albums yet: andrew bird, animal collective, the avett brothers, basement jaxx, junior boys, peter bjorn & john, royksopp, simian mobile disco, sunset rubdown, tegan & sara, yeah yeah yeahs. This isn't to say that these albums are their best, but just highest-ranked on a year-end list. Animal collective and andrew bird both had an "unfair" advantage being released in january. (it's tough to fully-evaluate albums released/adquired in october-and-on.)

Even in a weak year, there were disappointments, including: conor oberst and the mystic valley band, THE DECEMBERISTS, the dodos, jay-z, modest mouse, the mountain goats, patrick wolf, why? and WILCO. Wilco was disappointing because they've basically released sky blue sky sequel with less interesting guitars and more emphasis on the adult contemporary. The decemberists album was a disappointment in light of the grand ambition of "the concept album" -- the storyline was well drawn out, but the song-by-song variety was plagued with 3 "wanting" songs and 4 "hazards of love".

With such a weak year, you'll see a lot of the "critic's darlings" on my countdown. Typically, i like to listen to all of the critical favorites to ensure i don't miss out on a good-to-stellar album. But with a limited supply of strong favorites outside the critics' circle of favorites, a lot of the album you'd see on best-of lists at pitchfork or tiny mix tapes wound up in my top 39 or just short. So i'm bandwagon by omission...sort of.

There were a couple "firsts" this year. dark was the night was the first soundtrack/compilation to place on my top 21 albums since 1997 (the saint soundtrack). Also, the fall be kind EP from animal collective is the first EP to ever place on my top 39 album sales end-of-year chart. If you don't count compilations and EP's, then the next two albums below #39 were, in order: dirty projectors bitte orca and bobby birdman new moods (RIYL: hot chip and blur).

And last, but surely least, i forgot to provide my top 5 disappointments earlier. In a weak year, the disappointments weren't as severe. Here they are:

05) ben kweller - changing horses

- "hey, i'm going to make an alt-country album. what should i call it?" Bland and expected for the type of album he made.

04) patrick wolf - the bachelor

- His previous album made my top 20 and i was expecting a lot of this kevin barnes associate. Glad i didn't "buy a piece of the profits" on this.

03) wilco - wilco (the album)

- After the conventional sky blue sky, i was expecting another left turn as previous albums delivered. Instead, this was pretty much sky blue sky 2.

02) the decemberists - the hazards of love

- With the billing of "rock opera" and a pretty good beginning to a "concept album" just completed (the crane wife), i had high hopes colin & co. could pull this off. They did well, but my expectations illustrated the hazards of (internal) hype.

01) conor oberst and the mystic valley band - outer south

- I like all of the bright eyes material i have ever heard and enjoyed his first solo album as a fresh take on his bright eyes sound. But when he shared songwriting with this mysterious "mystic valley band", he gave up a lot of the unique perspective that is conor oberst. This finished outside of my top 50.

i've provided RIYL's ("Recommended If You Like") but i'm bad at that sorta thing so forgive me if i'm way off-base with my artist comparisons.

dellrock's top 39 album sales of 2009

RIYL: q-tip, "lighter" ghostface killah, soul of aretha franklin, obama's rappin' little bro	39. brother ali - us The first track on the album, "the preacher", sets the tone for the rest of the album -- intelligent, confident, visionary and confrontational. Plus it's a damn fine backing track setting the perfect backdrop for a song about overcoming personal hardships. "fresh air" would be a good song for an early spring day with the family, boasting "I'm the luckiest son of a bitch that ever lived, I spend life doin shit I love / Got the world's most beautiful kids and don't nobody do it like us".
RIYL: sci-fi beck, yo la tengo, beach boys	38. the flaming lips - embryonic This album was just a bit too dense to be ranked any higher. The heavy production both unified this as a cool pseudo-concept album (on astrology) and weighed down the album in a thick pool of mirky molasses. Despite the dense and sprawling feeling of an album with 16 tracks, embryonic has a massive, concept album awe to it -- this is what the hair soundtrack would sound like if that movie was darker and focused on astrology students instead of hippies. But Wayne Coyne is a hippie at heart and this album channels his best shirley maclaine.
RIYL: elliot smith, josh ritter, sloan	37. telekinesis - telekinesis! When this guy busts a hit, it sounds simple but ultra catchy, built from the guitar and melody -on-up like on the stellar track "tokyo". He's kind of like Josh Ritter (I can hear Ritter singing "look to the east") that way except he doesn't have the lyrical chops of Ritter and keeps the production simpler. His voice can sound plaintive at time like Elliot Smith on the slower numbers, but mostly it's full-ethanol-ahead on this solid debut.
RIYL: the cure, interpol, 'til Tuesday, 70s r&b	36. the xx - xx Now a trio, the xx combine the gothy mope-rock of the cure and interpol with the grooviness of the dirty projector's "stillness is the move", especially on tracks "basic space", "vcr" and "crystalized". The duets are understatedly affective and combine with the lighter guitars from keeping this album from feeling too sullen, too south park goth kids.
RIYL: animal collective [I'll share more later]	35. animal collective - fall be kind EP This album really sounds like an extension of merriweather post pavilion, and that's the best compliment I think I can attribute to this EP. "what would I want? sky" is as good as any of the best stuff from MPP (and would've made my singles airplay top 39 with a ocuple more weeks in the year). "graze" borrows from its song structure starting atmospheric and mesmorizing until kicking in the party mix at the halfway point.
RIYL: wu-tang clan, dr. dre	34. raekwon - only built 4 cuban links ii The production and samples are tight. Check out the laid-back guitar-lick sample on "pyrex vision" or cooing woos on "new wu". (the opening "have mercy" sample reminds me of messiah's 21st century jesus.) The delivery is often commanding and in-your-face like opening song "house of flying daggers". Ghostface hits as hard as fishscale. But raekwon can also pull back smoove like on the praying track "have mercy". In a year where I didn't hear much rap/hip-hop and what I did hear didn't impress much, raekwon stood out.
RIYL: josh ritter, phoenix	33. das pop - das pop For being out-of-print, this is some fine indie rock/pop that doesn't care much for the indie conventions, slipping into fiddle for the best track "underground" and bringing the drums more foreground for many tracks. Indie pop wouldn't be brave enough to go here, possibly scared it'd come off cheesy (see "never get enough"). But some cheese just tastes too good to resist, and these jaunty, synth-backed indie pop tracks have gleaned the right amount of 70s/80s cheese to be gobbled up by this cracker.
RIYL: sarah mclachlan, the smiths, kate bush (again)	32. bat for lashes - two suns two suns is dramatic and haunting and heartbreaking. Check opener "glass" or "pearl's dream" for the proof. The restless drums and the beautifully-tense vocals of Natasha Khan lay a backdrop only mastered well by gothish male bands of the 80s and 90s, a comparison Natasha lemented herself, but she should be proud she's kicking arse with songs like "daniel", inspired by the karate kid, that have only been formally conquered in full by men like morrissey and the cure and interpol, etc. "daniel" itself plays out like a dream sequence from a movie of unrequited love at the beach -- two lovers racing to each other in slow-motion on the beach, never actually reaching each other's embrace.
RIYL: california pop, beach boys, belle & sebastian, raveonettes	31. girls - album The first two tracks, "lust for life" and "laura", make this album alone. Opening line "I wish I had a boyfriend. / I wish I had a loving man in my life. / I wish I had a father, / maybe then I would've turned out right." atop a gorgeous guitar lick seguing into some playful harmonies. The lyrics are often heartfelt and from-the-gut somewhat sad, but still makes for a feel-good time with such upbeat and playful arrangements. Often sunny and psychedelic, they even sound like a groovy 50s band (a la the raveonettes) on "big bad mean motherf*cker".
RIYL: 50s chamber pop, 70s pop/rock, animal collective	30. grizzly bear - veckatimest If the entire album gave me the beauty and vocal power of "southern point", "two weeks" and "while you wait for the others", then this album would be in my top 10. The harmonies and production of "two weeks" is sublime, especially at the chorus. But the rest of the tracks are no slouches, as instruments and vocals resonate, even the faint guitar of "all we ask". Grizzly bear melds a number of old-school styles of music (chamber pop, orchestral, waltz? -- heck, sometimes I think of them as a cool barbershop quartet) into their own indie pop style, creating music for both the indie hipster and the grandma who busted her hip.
RIYL: gary numan, air, hot chip	29. junior boys - begone dull care begone dull care bests the albums below it based on the strength of smash club tracks "hazel" and "bits & pieces" and a consistent quality throughout its soft-funky 8 tracks straddling the line between gary numan, 90s ambient and 00s house. "parallel lines" slinks out with soothing synth and drum machine with its "leers, jeers, whispers & tears". Same setting on "sneak a picture" with gurgly synths and effects. The other 6 songs are good, the booty-shaking dancefloor quality of "bits & pieces" and "hazel" really make this album. "hazel" has one of those awesome "silent moments" where the bridge stops in a mini-screamfest to a second of anticipatory silence before the chorus jumps back in. (I'm really surprised "hazel" didn't finish higher on my top 39 singles chart than it did.)
RIYL: vanessa carlton, tori amos, cyndi lauper, kate bush	28. florence + the machine - lungs This is one tough chick. Don't mess with her. She might be overproduced in spots, but don't let the frail opening of "dog days are over" fool you. As that song, and album, kicks in, you can find yourself caught up in the power and range of her vocal chops which will punch you in your chops on "kiss with a fist" ("a kiss with a fist is better than none"), a song that could fit on a rilo kiley album; but unlike rilo kiley, florence + the machine RAWK out with the attitude of joan jett. The "drumming song" brings RAWK attitude too with its tribal drums and loud, raucous chorus. Being a weak year for music, this album could as easily have been ranked at #19 as #31.
RIYL: cut copy, depeche mode, right said fred	27. simian mobile disco - temporary pleasure You might think "right said fred" is the most nuts "RIYL" I've ever made, but listen to "audacity of huge" and tell me you don't faintly hear "I'm too sexy for my car". Ranked at #27, the comparison is a favorable one as that right said fred was very fun and playful. Unlike that right said fred album, simian mobile disco have a true sense of the dance floor. Otherwise, they're more new-school house like cut copy. "cruel intentions" and "turn up the dial" could be basement jaxx songs sans their signature keyboard loops. "off the map" is a tough synth truck through your bedroom.
RIYL: wilco, willie nelson, old-school country meets new-school indie folk	26. bonnie "prince" billy - beware Often on beware, bonnie "prince" billy sounds like the harbinger of both the comedy and tragedy of a coen brothers movie filtered through hee-haw. "beware your only friend" who will become angry and defend you when times are tough. And when self-inflected, "you can't hurt me now". My favorite tracks are "you don't love me" where the singer isn't necessarily looking for love but a companion who simply accepts him for him, admiring "you say you like my eyes only or just the way I giggle / sometimes you like the smell of me or how my stomach jiggles / but you don't love me, and that's alright", and "I am goodbye", celebrating the end of existence saying "I'll likely never know the reasons why / you are hello, I am goodbye" "like the end of something wonderful sometimes / like the way a wound up toy top unwinds".
RIYL: tv on the radio, beck	25. why? - eskimo snow Why? still bring the same perspective found on eskimo snow, but something's missing. I still like the unique delivery and first-person lyrics that askew many songs into interesting places, but something's missing. The only thing I can figure is that the rapping is mostly absent and tempos are a little slower and that's not what I was expecting. "the blackest purse" is the standout track. Otherwise, you can look up last year's review and RIYL of alopecia and that applies just fine here. They are really of the same close lineage -- there's even a reprise from the previous album; but alopecia is peyton manning and eskimo snow is eli. Both good, but alopecia was closer to stellar.
RIYL: americana, will oldham, howe gelb	24. m. ward - hold time M. ward would be a good act to see in a big, rowdy bar. Songs like "never had nobody like you" and "rave on" would have the crowd smiling and singing along between slugs of beer. "jailbird" also shows off his playful side. The rest of the album shows that he's mastered his form of americana as I haven't heard a clunker album from him yet. His performance doesn't translate to the stadium setting, but I don't feel he was meant for or would want to play in madison square garden. Religion and God weigh on his lyrics from "fisher of men" to "epistimology", beit positive or negative religious experiences, making for his most deep and personal album yet.
RIYL: hot chip, air	23. peter bjorn & john - living thing I'm not sure why I like this album better than their last. I could say that they have more of a mastery of their craft as evidenced in "it don't move me", the slow-moving "just the past" and the obvious hit "nothing to worry about" (with kid-assisted chorus), and the self-titled track is pretty bouncing too, but I'm just as willing to go with the sorta-cop-out that this hasn't been that strong of a year and that the better albums look. Still, this album's carried by the hits and has some filler-type of songs plunked in at the end.
RIYL: the format, roman candle says pop, richard ashcroft's arrangements, queen, 70s/80s pop/rock	22. fun. - aim and ignite Remember the format? They placed an album, dog problems, into my year-end top 10 a couple years ago. The ringleader behind that group formed fun. and combined his carnival atmosphere with arena pop/rock harmonies like queen or styx. Track 1 feels like the morning after dog problems, awaking with a slightly-different idea for a band that doesn't fully formulate on waking. The additional vocals don't really work either until track #2, but "benson hedges" brings more energy and catchy structure, but lacks the lyrical chops displayed on track #3 and beyond. That track, "all the pretty girls", is probably the best song former-The Format frontman Nate Reuss has penned yet. The harmonies remind me of late 70s/early 80s pop/rock. Elsewhere, the harmonies, which is the big addition from The Format, are sprinkled throughout. They remind me of roman candle's says pop at times which is ironic in light of there being a track called..."light a roman candle with me". The "na na"'s in "walking the dog" are infectious and the horns and soulful vocals in "barlights" are downright...fun.
RIYL: new pornographers, the shins	21. a.c. newman - get guilty Between challengers and get guilty, a.c. newman has decided to slow down the tempo a bit. His trademark indie-pop catchiness and multiple choruses are still around, but my first impression of hearing lead offering "there are maybe ten or twelve" still remains -- the downbeat tempos are taking away from his music. Maybe he's running out of hooks? I don't know, but I was glad to hear from him that the next new porn album will "rock". Good, because he still has some fine pop ideas in him, like "the heartbreak rides", "prophets" and definitely "like a hitman, like a dancer" and "the palace at 4 a.m. And he still knows how to contrast his own vocals and show off female lead and backing vox, his wife doing a very good neko impression. (She's actually been appearing more-and-more on each new new porn album.)
RIYL: hip-hop down the LBC, early 90s rap	20. dj quik & kurupt - blaQKout Some of these songs remind me of a more sophisticated N.W.A. or snoop dogg, intellectualizing most songs, even those about putting "cream in yo panties". They can bring the funk-soul like in "do you know?". But mostly they're just down like funky for the ladies like in "whatcha wan do?", "cream" and "ohhh!". They let the ladies handle the chorus on "f*ck yall" and "hey playa!". If Dre, Snoop and Eazy-E are your thang, then check this album, my favorite rap/hip-hop album of 2009, out.
RIYL: clem snide, old crow medicine show, ben folds	19. the avett brothers - i and love and you These guys still play as sweet of pop-through-americana as they did on emotionalism, their last album which was a pleasant surprise discovery. They return with about as good of an album except this time around they come with crisper production and a few heightened gimmicks. Fortunately for them, all the gimmicks work, starting with the title track, "I and love and you", the love-song-by-addition which reflects the popular i-heart-NY t-shirt directed specifically at brooklyn. It's the ballad brother to ryan adams's "new york, new york". The other gimmicky songs are just as good. "kick drum heart" simulates the singer's love through a kick drum at the chorus. "slight figure of speech" has a stop-start quality and energy that recalls ben folds's playfulness abruptly jumping into a white-boy-"rap" at the bridge. This is probably the avett brothers at their peak -- enjoy.
RIYL: early 80s prog/rock/pop, friendly fires, hot chip	18. mike snow - mike snow I was very surprised to hear "animal" in one of those big-time corporate shopping mall clothing stores. I can hear the appeal -- it's like peter gabriel and early 80s prog/rock/pop (think some peter gabriel, GTR or yes) has been reborn to take on a softer version of live IDM. The first five tracks demonstrate this as well as opener "animal", with piano, bass and synth popping up throughout, along with vocal affects that add to, instead of distract from, the music. Outside of the mall song, try "burial" and "cult logic" to understand what I mean. Hopefully more music like this can reach the masses.
RIYL: john vanderslice	17. the mountain goats - the life of the world to come John Darnielle is probably in the top 5 of lyricist storytellers in the indie scene today. With the life of the world to come, he took 12 bible chapters and wrote songs (titled after the actual bible chapters) based on his interpretation of the biblic events therein. It's nothing new for Darnielle, he's been weaving religious themes in his music for years, but his focus on christian themes on this album gives this album the deepest resonance in his catalogue. Unfortunately, the album suffers from a sameness of down-tempo on many tracks unseen before on any other mountain goats album. If more tracks on the album had the impact and hooks of "psalms 40:2", "genesis 3:23", "isaiah 45:23" ("I'm not this body that imprisons me") or most of the rest of his back catalogue, then this would've been a top 5 album just like heretic pride was last year. "ezekiel 7 and the permanent efficacy of grace" could crush your heart.
RIYL: the strokes is this it?, the killers hot fuss, razorlight up all night	16. phoenix - wolfgang amadeus phoenix The first two tracks, "lisztomania" and "1901", are killer. Looking over my top 39 tracks of 2009, I'm surprised "1901", with its killers-like synths, is not in there. Classic situation of familiarizing myself with an album while the lead single qualifies for my album. By the time "lisztomania" qualified for my singles chart, I was diggin' this album. Nice bass and chorus makes "fences". "love like a sunset" will probably make-or-break this album as a 2009 fav for most people -- it's mostly a varying instrumental piece that ends "on the horizon". Almost all tracks are nearly as catchy as indie new wavey power pop as the first two tracks.
RIYL: wolf parade, shearwater	15. sunset rubdown - dragonslayer Spencer Krug's projects just keep progressing better-and-better. random spirit lover was a pretty good album that made the lower regions of that year's top 39 and his other main band wolf parade charted around the mid-section of my end-of-year countdown with at mount zoomer. Once again he has bested himself. The guitar playing and arrangements are deep but yet these songs and his delivery make these his accessible songs yet. "idiot heart" is one of those multi-sectional songs I love to sing along with, especially the line I attribute to george "dumya" bush -- "I hope that you die / in a decent pair of shoes / you've got a lot more walking to do / where you're going to". "apollo and the buffalo and anna anna anna oh!", expansive "dragon's lair" and "black swan" (with its grinding, fuzzed guitar) also share a broad prog-like scope and indie rockin' hooks. The female vox add a nice touch.
RIYL: underworld, daft punk, BT, oakenfold	14. basement jaxx - scars These guys have their own consistent house style despite of, and as a result of, the multitude of guest vocalists that adorn their club-ready jams. "scars" has this dramatic vacuum synth effect that Kelis rises above. Sam sparro gives "feelings gone" its upbeat-yet-coping soul. "my turn" features thumping bass and a plaintive delivery from lightspeed champion. "what a girl gotta do" sounds like old school basement jaxx (feat. Paloma faith). But this time around, the best track is the self-sung "raindrops". Yoko ono withstanding, this is one hot club rekkid. Spin this album to spin your booty.
RIYL: wilco, r.e.m., colin meloy	13. the minus 5 - killingsworth This is an album like fun. where there wasn't much fanfare from existing fans even though the new albums were about as good. killingsworth feels like a sequel to their self-titled gun album, even featuring the return of colin meloy (on a more upbeat tune this time) along with several members of the decemberists, presenting a strong country rock album that sounds like commonplace indie radio and grand at the same time. Knowing these two artists, you can imagine that the instrumentation and lyrical wit lift these oft-kilter indie pop/country/folk/rock songs to off-kilter poppy heights. I think "I would rather sacrifice you" perfectly represents the album, especially it's wit with the sentiment "I would rather sacrifice you than to miss sweet jesus's call".
RIYL: americana, the perfect soundtrack for driving across nevada	12. wilco - wilco (the album) Wilco still can produce solid albums. sky blue sky might've felt generic when compared to the experimentalism of their past, but sky blue sky still presented some interesting guitar textures from new-ish member Nels Cline. wilco (the album) has even less experimentalism than sky blue sky and is saved from falling further down this list (for a wilco album) by the playful humour of "wilco (the song)", the trick of the tail-sounding guitars of "deeper down", the breezy piano offing "you never know" and the old-school-wilco "bull black nova". I'm both attracted to and repelled by the 80s-cheese-duet-sounding "you and I" featuring feist. The rest is "just good Wilco" which still places it at the end of the top 10 in a weak year.
RIYL: rilo kiley, metric, mates of state?	11. tegan & sara - sainthood I still prefer the bareness of if it was you but they've evolved their sound in a more "professional" studio setting (partially helmed by death cab's Chris walla) to deliver some fun, new wavey lite girl punk that still finds a way to display their narcissistic view of love in a sunny, upbeat fashion. Songs like "don't rush", "hell" and "on directing" can be placed alongside any of their other best songs (and "hell" just might be my fav). There's not much else to say except that their music always seems to sound fresh despite sticking to their basic two-girl wavey formula.
RIYL: classically trained acoustic pianist meets computer dj auteur, the avalanches, early prodigy, 80s atari video games	10. dan deacon - bromst Deacon's mastery at melding synth, computer and sample compositions is pretty awesome. None of these songs are boring. There are so many interesting layers that build ontop of each other, it's nuts. Like embryonic, this album is pretty musically dense too, but while embryonic's density is a result of a "wall of fuzz'n'bass", deacon's is more a result of a ton of musical ideas layered into a frenetic whirlwind of saccharin-sweet delights. I'm kind of amazed at how much I like this album, because I'm usually partial to vocals and deacon's vocals are generally not the focus of each song. This is a testament to how good of songs he composes, mostly on computer. He's also not as cornball as he was on spiderman of the rings which gives his compositions more weight. This is noise pop at its finest.
RIYL: electro rock like... ladytron, pretty girls make graves	09. yeah yeah yeahs - it's blitz Like the phoenix album, this album storms out with its two greatest assets. For the yeah yeah yeahs, that's "zero" and "heads will roll". They've added some synthesizers to their new york indie rock sound and it pays off big in those two tracks. The other tracks have teeth and use synth well on-and-off throughout. "dull life" and storms through and "shame and fortune" closes with the same rawk. "skeletons" sets an eerie mood. "runaway"'s plaintive calls of desparation from Karen O's softer side are hard for me to resist. I've liked the yeah yeah yeahs before, but like the last pretty girls make graves album, this is where I felt they put their new york indie rock sound into a fuller context.
RIYL: current indie rock, the national, grizzly bear, sufjan stevens	08. various artists - dark was the night This is first time a compilation has made my end-of-year chart since 1996's the saint soundtrack. It's difficult for compilations to work -- soundtrack songs are often forced and soundtracks are usually padded with "incidental" instrumental music, covers compilations often pale in comparison to the original songs and other compilations, even if stacked with good songs, usually don't sound like cohesive ALBUMS. But this is the rare instance where a compilation album, and a TWO CD compilation at that, is not only packed with good songs but also feels like a collaborative effort with album-vision oversight, even with the usual compilation oddities of old-time performers combining with new stars (the dirty projectors create their best song this side of "stillness is the move" with david byrne), oddball covers (I really hope sufjan stevens follows the muse that created the castanets cover) and touching duets (that feist & ben gibbard duet is quite affecting). The challenge for ranking this album, kind of like ranking a girl talk album, is, how do I rank such a good album of disparate parts against "true", single-artist albums?
RIYL: 70s prog-rock filtered through charles dickens, colin meloy, heart	07. the decemberists - the hazards of love Three different decemberists mentions (they're on dark was the night) in the top 14, but nowhere in the top 5? Well, this is a good album, continuing in the "concept album" psychology of the crane wife. They wanted to do a rock opera broadway-kind-of piece but settled for a rock opera album. There are a handful of pretty good songs, but mostly I was disappointed by the lack of variety across the album. The concept idea both lifts the album as a whole but also weighs it down. It also becomes a bit boring to have 4 "hazards of love" and 3 "wanting" songs. But those pretty good songs, the concept album execution and vocal assistance from the "diamond girls" (who RAWK in concert) saves this album from slipping out of the top 10. Here's to hoping the next album has no preconceived notions going into the studio...
RIYL:	06. neko case - middle cyclone A combination of the neko heard on blacklisted and fox confessor brings the flood is on display here. "people got a lot of nerve" and "this tornado loves you" might just be the best 2 songs from any album. This album shows many sides to neko, from the poetic side "I'm an owl on the sill in the evening" to her girl power attitude "the next time you say forever I will punch you in your face" to her ironic side "I'm a maneater / and still you're surprised when I eat ya". I think the nursery bells of "middle cyclone" are a nice touch and her cover of "never turn your back on mother earth" beautifully fits the album and feels like it was made for her to sing. Chirping frogs withstanding, this is yet another very good neko album. (It also doesn't hurt that she had the best album art of the year.)
RIYL: basement jaxx, air, simian mobile disco	05. royksopp - junior I think the basement jaxx invented the house/club/IDM album replete with guest appearances and made it work like nobody before them. On royksopp's melody a.m. debut, they were at the opposite end of the spectrum, self-styling a textured electro-ambient rich in ideas but with not much energy. In 2009, amidst similar efforts by simian mobile disco and the new basement jaxx album, royksopp return melding the best of the all-star basement jaxx approach and their more low-key atmospheric approach. It makes for a split-personality feel at times from song-to-song, but I like the interspersed duality and the top songs on this album really hit hard. "the girl and the robot" is a great collaboration with probably-female-artist-of-the-year-runner-up robyn, "this must be it" is another very good collaboration on the female vox template that even induces some grade school humor on "tricky tricky" ("is 6 afraid of 7? Cuz 7 8 9.") First hearing this album in March, I've had more than enough to conclude this was one of my top favs.
RIYL: vampire weekend, ra ra riot, auto-tune, 80s r&b dance through synth pop	04. discovery - lp This must have been a fun experiment for vampire weekend and ra ra riot members Wes Miles and Rostam Batmanglij throwing a synth-heavy 80s music approach into the digi-grinder to see what came out the other end. This project, which seems a bit unlikely to succeed, actually began before those two groups came into existence. Amidst the cold, unfeeling synths and effects is some authentic-sounding emotion through some fine harmonies for guys (along with some guest appearances, including an auto-tuned ezra koenig), looped and processed through auto-tune to give this the soundtrack of a twitter-and-music-software generation. If daft punk weren't already signed up to soundtrack the tron remake, I'd nominate these guys. My favorite tracks are "so insane", the ra ra remake "can you discover?", "I wanna be your boyfriend", and "orange shirt". This album is just as good as albums from their respective groups, which doesn't surprise me.
RIYL: bright eyes, my morning jacket, travelling wilburies, crosby, stills & nash	03. monsters of folk - monsters of folk When I think of indie supergroups that work well, I think of the new pornographers, a group that combined the indie pop of a.c. newman, the country folk of neko case and the abstract indie avant of dan bejar and threw together a new indie power rock pop entity (with tons of energy replete with wall-to-wall choruses). If new porn leans to any identity, they lean to a.c. newman, and the same dynamic works for monsters of folk too as jim james, m.ward, conor oberst and his mogis producer combine for some old-school, pop/rock/folk that for the most part leans towards the vision of oberst/mogis except for the otherworldly opener "dear god (sincerely m.o.f.)". This combination clicks almost all the time, from plaintive lead single "say please" and it's strong harmonies to the stop-start "oohm bop" of "losin' yo head" to the country bar flavor of "the right place", only losing a little steam in an oberst-sung "temazcal". Often these projects turn out to be vanity projects like chickenfoot or that foo/floyd/queens group (as latest examples). But this one works because it sounds like all 4 members really put a lot of thought, feeling and creativity into this collaborative effort. Monsters of folk indeed.
RIYL: josh rouse, m.ward	02. andrew bird - noble beast As written at the 1st-quarter review: Just as solid as his last album. It might as well be a sequel. Consistent-but-not-great, so it's probable this will be overlooked by more ambitious albums later on. He has a way with twisting english idioms apparent in track names like "anoanimal", "souverian" and "nomenclature". He continues to be a clever songwriter. That pretty much sums up what i think now (although i should've added "tenuousness" and its "10 minus 7 equals 3" to the above list), except no album was able to surpass noble beast since. Andrew Bird even wrapped up the #1 album airplay award. Not too shabby for an indie pop/folk singer-songwriter.
RIYL: beach boys (again), (i really don't know who else to compare them too -- look up the RIYL for strawberry jam)	01. animal collective - merriweather post pavilion Before MPP, I had heard sung tongs (simple production kept me from liking it), feels (liked and saw potential for a much better album) and strawberry jam (made my 2007 top 39 in the 30s). Based on their progression, I joined in on the indie hype preceding MPP, scooping up a net copy a couple weeks before buying the album. They have a talent for combining the textual and atmospheric with more upbeat rhythms and pop that a lot of IDM artists probably only dream of without hitting with a blunt instrument in any of these areas. Just check out the contrast from pensive blipping chants of "no more running" ("it's what i hope forrrrrrr!") and the breakneck dual harmonies and stream of consciousness of "brother sport". This is where !!! could go with more IDM mixed in and a more psychedelic twist. One other point to mention is that part of the reason this album works for me is that this is a very family-and-friend-oriented album. The music is good but the lyrical subject material hits home. "my girls" is about really only wanting the simple family life with one's wife and child. "brother sport" was written about a deceased brother and about exploring your potential while you're alive / young. "in the flowers" is about someone who's often away from their loved one, wanting to dance in the flowers when returning. "summertime clothes" alleviates oppressing summer heat with a quick night swim with a friend. "bluish" lyrics (sample: "I'm getting lost in your curls / I'm drawing pictures on your skin / So soft it twirls") center on simply admiring a familiar lover's beauty. Yes, this might be my least favorite, year-end #1 album of the 00s, but after carefully considering solid andrew bird and monsters of folk albums, MPP is easily the standout and has soundtracked at least two-thirds of the year for me.

Fantasy football, week 16, pre-MNF

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:45:48 GMT

Looking at the superbowl in efs 666 as it stands now, I will most likely lose my THIRD superbowl in the last 4 years. I need Minnesota to dominate time of possession and favre to snap out of his 3 game funk.

I am the buffalo bills.

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2009 dellrock top 33 singles airplay

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 04:28:37 GMT

I decided to show the top 39 singles instead of 33 to be consistent with the final post of dellrock's best of 2009 -- the top 39 album sales list. The main things i noticed initially were: 01) as much as i like/d animal collective, they didn't penetrate the top 3, and 02) numbers 6 through 11 are packed in pretty tight as if i liked them all almost equally (which is kind of true). Another note is that, if there was just one more week in 2009, then "all the pretty girls" by fun. and "this must be it" by royksopp would've bumped the bottom two out.

Regarding ties -- i've applied the tiebreakers so the order is accurate.

top 39 singles airplay - year of 2009

Pos.	Title	Artist	Total
1.	raindrops	basement jaxx	356
2.	the girl and the robot	royksopp (feat. robyn)	327
3.	it don't move me	peter bjorn & john	323
4.	summertime clothes	animal collective	279
5.	this tornado loves you	neko case	274
6.	so insane	discovery	242
7.	lisztomania	phoenix	237
8.	idiot heart	sunset rubdown	230
9.	say please	monsters of folk	223
10.	my girls	animal collective	218
11.	tokyo	telekinesis	217
12.	train song	feist and ben gibbard	210
13.	genesis 3:23	the mountain goats	188
14.	daniel	bat for lashes	185
15.	gifted	n.a.s.a. (feat. kanye west, santigold & lykke li)	185
16.	brothersport	animal collective	176
17.	anonanimal	andrew bird	176
18.	cult logic	mike snow	176
19.	bits & pieces	junior boys	171
20.	this blackest purse	why?	164
21.	people got a lotta nerve	neko case	163
22.	hazel	junior boys	157
23.	zero	yeah yeah yeahs	155
24.	rooks	shearwater	152
25.	get better	mates of state	151
26.	audacity of huge	simian mobile disco	149
27.	with every heartbeat	kleerup (feat. robyn)	142
28.	heads will roll	yeah yeah yeahs	141
29.	on board	friendly fires	135
30.	laura	girls	134
31.	lion in a coma	animal collective	127
32.	i and love and you	the avett brothers	126
33.	southern point	grizzly bear	125
34.	lust for life	girls	124
35.	all the money i had is gone	deep dark woods	122
36.	tenuousness	andrew bird	115
37.	you never know	wilco	114
38.	mr. wobble's nightmare	kid 606	112
39.	jump in the pool	friendly fires	108

Fantasy football, week 16, post-fnf

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 03:08:07 GMT

Unfortunately my players that played on Friday night football, LDT and vjax, only did okay; whereas his SD and TEN players, particularly Chris Johnson, had strong games. I take weak solace in that Chris Johnson didn't score 50+ points as he has done before because i most likely will lose my THIRD superbowl in this league.

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2009 dellrock top 21 albums airplay

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:49:14 GMT

Here are my "most listened-to / most appreciated" albums of 2009.

Conor Oberst was the highest carryover from 2008. The dark was the night compilation (for charity) was the biggest comp. on my countdown in many years.

top 21 albums airplay - year of 2009

Pos.	Title	Artist	Total
1.	noble beast	andrew bird	719
2.	merriweather post pavilion	animal collective	659
3.	middle cyclone	neko case	434
4.	lp	discovery	409
5.	the hazards of love	the decemberists	329
6.	dark was the night	dark was the night, v/a	302
7.	it's blitz	yeah yeah yeahs	287
8.	dragonslayer	sunset rubdown	286
9.	junior	royksopp	284
10.	mike snow	mike snow	282
11.	monsters of folk	monsters of folk	277
12.	conor oberst	conor oberst	270
13.	kleerup	kleerup	266
14.	wilco (the album)	wilco	260
15.	beware	bonnie "prince" billy	249
16.	friendly fires	friendly fires	246
17.	living thing	peter bjorn & john	234
18.	telekinesis!	telekinesis	221
19.	blaQKout	dj quik & kurupt	213
20.	killingsworth	the minus 5	205
21.	the life of the world to come	the mountain goats	198

2009 dellrock top 13 singles artists

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:42:07 GMT

WOW. Even though i know i've been into the animal collective in 2009, i was surprised to see their total. They posted the greatest difference on the 2nd place finisher since radiohead in 2003 (over the jayhawks). WOW.

2009 top 13 singles artists

pos.	artist	total pts
1.	animal collective	919
2.	royksopp	490
3.	neko case	439
4.	peter bjorn & john	419
5.	basement jaxx	393
6.	monsters of folk	371
7.	discovery	340
8.	friendly fires	332
9.	junior boys	328
10.	sunset rubdown	323
11.	andrew bird	317
12.	yeah yeah yeahs	296
13.	girls	258

2009 dellrock #1 airplay singles

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:28:21 GMT

Here are the #1 singles of 2009. About the time that fun. reached #1 i noticed a humorous trend -- there were a number of girls that peaked on my countdown. From "my girls" to robyn (twice) with "the girl and the robot" to "lust for life" by the artist called girls to a song about a girl's most prominent beautiful feature ("hazel" eyes) to a story about the first girl (and boy) of existence in "genesis 3:23". I also continued to love a lot of electronica/IDM and dance-sounding music. My interested in rap continued to decline and q-tip was my only rap #1).

2009 #1 airplay singles

song	artist	date range	weeks @ #1
far away	cut copy	01/03/2009 to 01/10/2009	2
move	q-tip	01/17/2009	1
my girls	animal collective	01/24/2009 to 02/28/2009	6
summertime clothes	animal collective	03/07/2008 to 05/23/2009	7
hazel	junior boys	03/28/2009	1
brothersport	animal collective	04/04/2009 to 04/25/2009	4
the wanting comes in waves / repaid	the decemberists	05/30/2009 to 06/06/2009	2
the girl and the robot	royksopp (feat. robyn)	06/13/2009 to 07/11/2009	5
idiot heart	sunset rubdown	07/18/2009 to 08/08/2009	4
genesis 3:23	the mountain goats	08/15/2009 to 08/29/2009	3
it don't move me	peter bjorn & john	09/05/2009 to 09/19/2009	3
raindrops	basement jaxx	09/26/2009 to 11/21/2009	9
lust for life	girls	11/28/2009 to 12/05/2009	2
all the pretty girls	fun.	12/12/2009	1
this must be it	royksopp (feat. Karin Dreijer)	12/19/2009	1
what would i want? sky	animal collective	12/26/2009	1

2009 dellrock #1 airplay albums

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:09:17 GMT

Here are the #1 albums from my 2009 albums airplay chart. There were 2 more #1 albums on this year's weekly airplay albums chart than last year for a total of 6. Hot Chip and conor oberst carried over from 2008.

2009 #1 airplay albums

album	artist	date range	weeks @ #1
made in the dark	hot chip	01/03/2009 to 01/10/2009	2
conor oberst	conor oberst	01/17/2009 to 02/21/2009	6
merriweather post pavilion	animal collective	02/28/2009 to 08/01/2009	23
noble beast	andrew bird	08/08/2009 to 09/19/2009	7
monsters of folk	monsters of folk	09/26/2008 to 11/07/2009 12/05/2009 to 12/26/2009	11
lp	discovery	11/14/2009 to 11/28/2009	3

2009 top 13 late album acquisitions

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:58:30 GMT

"Late album sales" are basically "old" albums not released in 2009, not counting bootleg-type of performance pieces.

This year i made a concerted effort to purchase the golden years of elton john and stevie wonder, then neil young when i found time. If you don't want to count the 3 compilations below, the next 3 after #13 were (in order): my morning jacket at dawn, elton john don't shoot me i'm only the piano player and elton john caribou.

top 13 late albums acquisitions - year of 2009

Pos.	Title	Artist	date acquired
1.	goodbye yellow brick road	elton john	02/27/2009
2.	innervisions	stevie wonder	08/26/2009
3.	tumbleweed connection	elton john	06/30/2009
4.	born in the u.s.a.	bruce springsteen	01/08/2009
5.	live at reading	nirvana	11/05/2009
6.	honky chateau	elton john	06/30/2009
7.	imagine	john lennon	04/02/2008
8.	the very best of	hall & oates	02/14/2009
9.	only dance 1980-1984	various artists	02/14/2009
10.	this is a long drive for someone with nothing to think about	modest mouse	02/02/2009
11.	celebration: the best of kool & the gang	kool & the gang	01/01/2009
12.	licensed to ill	beastie boys	03/07/2009
13.	war	u2	02/11/2009

1st itouch-sent post

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:31:41 GMT

Guess what came for Xmas? (you have 25 guesses)

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2009 month-by-month look at new discoveries, December

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:42:42 GMT

in the immortal words of soundgarden: spoon, man.

month	artist	album	explanation
December	white rabbits	it's frightening	With the help of britt daniels of spoon helming the board, the white rabbits have refined their focus to produce some tighter and funkier (for the white rabbits) indie pop/rock songs. Of course, they're not spoon so they often dawdle a little too long with some ideas, but it's better to have too many than too few ideas. I really like the piano work across the album -- playful yet foreboding, like frightening a rabbit.

2009 month-by-month look at new discoveries, November

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:39:49 GMT

Hot Chip crossed with Blur

month	artist	album	explanation
November	bobby birdman	new moods	I found this album thanks to the tiny mix tapes website. As says their "RIYL", the album reminds me of hot chip in parts, if one of their parts went solo (which they actually both did in 2009). It's electronica wrapped in an obsessively-introverted psyche, and probably would make my top 39 if I had a few more weeks to review.

2009 month-by-month look at new discoveries, October

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:37:27 GMT

Remember says pop?

month	artist	album	explanation
October	roman candle	oh tall tree in the ear	Roman Candle, a pleaantly-surprising find of umpteen years ago (this decade), FINALLY released a follow-up to says pop about as good as that former album but lacking the punch of songs like "baby's got it in the genes" or "sookie". It's still a good album, but easily lost in a year with few peaks but decent depth.

2009 month-by-month look at new discoveries, September

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:35:21 GMT

Both Atlas and Deerhunter are coming really close to having a breakout album (in my limited world) the likes of...oh, let's say...animal collective.

month	artist	album	explanation
September	atlas	logos	My subconscious (of which I'm somehow conscious of) wants to think of this album in the same thought as the full-length from animal collective this year, probably because the psychology behind both albums shares a trippy aesthetic (esp. for "walkabout" featuring Noah). But outside of a couple of numbers like "walkabout" and "sheila", atlas misses where animal collective mostly hits. I think it's because with animal collective I feel part of the swooning and partying, whereas with atlas I feel more like a bystander.

2009 month-by-month look at new discoveries, August

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:32:46 GMT

Thinking of these guys has me looking forward to the new yeasayer...

month	artist	album	explanation
August	wild beasts	two dancers	With the shimmering guitars of interpol, some of the drama queen of antony (of the johnsons) and a tribal pulse heard in pieces recently by the very best and yeasayer. They sound primitive and cutting edge at the same time. There's no clunker in the bunch, but if there were more songs as good as "all the king's men" on here then this'd make my top 39.

2009 month-by-month look at new discoveries, July

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:30:17 GMT

The ole americana bandwagon...sorta.

month	artist	album	explanation
July	deep dark woods	winter hours	These guys play highly-understated, subdued americana that reflects a south under the current times, struggling to live day-to-day, with finances and relationships strained. My favorite track is "all the money I have is gone", a song I could see done by the likes of tom waits as well as over the rhine. The majority of songs drive a slower road which takes a little from my enjoyment as I'd like more variety of tempo, but solid nonetheless.

2009 month-by-month look at new discoveries, June

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:10:19 GMT

Indie rock with the soul of hip-hop / r&b ?

month	artist	album	explanation
June	dirty projectors	bitte orca	What am I to do with an indie rock/pop album with obvious r&b-like hooks that don't fully-materialize on half of the tracks? When they do hit, they hit like "cannibal resource", the stop-start "temacula sunrise" or bowl over like the marvelously hip "stillness is the move", the obvious stand-out track (which I fear will unduefully miss my top 33 tracks of 2009). I really like the female harmonies (like on "temacula sunrise"), and based on half of the album, wish i could place this in my top 39.

2009 month-by-month look at new discoveries, May

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:06:14 GMT

There was very little representation from female solo artists and female-dominated bands on my countdown this year. Here's one that just missed the final (top 39) cut.

month	artist	album	explanation
May	st. vincent	actor	This is an improvement on her first album with a couple of her best songs to date ("actor out of work" and "marrow"), but will most likely fall short of my top 39 due to an ambling approach to songwriting present on her first album (something that feist improved on with her latest). She still has a lovely, off-kilter voice atop glowing arrangements that are captured quite vividly on her album cover.

2009 month-by-month look at new discoveries, April

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:32:41 GMT

Free sh|t that's good? No f*ckin' way!

month	artist	album	explanation
April	office	mecca	Radiohead whispers and the world jumps. The office shouts and no one notices they gave away their solid 2009 indie rock album mecca for free, at a high-quality bit rate to boot. Evoking nada surf, spoon, the helio sequence and ???, this album barely misses the quality of their last album by falling short a bit in hook development. "enter me, exit you" is a good entrypoint.