2009 Year-End List #8: Honorable Mention Albums

Now we get to the good stuff. I care much more about entire albums than individual songs. Seems like I'm a dying breed. I don't care, I'm still going to share with you my passion for 50 particular albums that were released in 2009. I will post links to download zip files of songs from my top 40 albums, when I type out those lists (which, ideally, will be later today).

Until then, here are ten honorable mentions that didn't quite make the cut.


Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free - Akron/Family (Dead Oceans)
As I stated on my 20 favorite songs of 2009 post, Akron/Family's Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free was a bit underwhelming. I was expecting more experimentation and weird time signatures and stuff like that, but those are few and far between here. Instead, there is a balance of southern gospel infected folk tunes and some slightly interesting guitar pop. Unfortunately, they blow their load within the first three tracks. "Everyone is Guilty" is a bit jammy but in a really sweet way, "River" is gorgeous, and "Creatures" is weird, disjointed pop. There are a few other highlights and outliers later on, but nothing touches those first three.
Top jams: "Everyone is Guilty," "River," "Creatures," "Many Ghosts," "They Will Appear"


By- - Bygones (Sargent House)
Bygones are a new collaboration between Hella's octopus drummer Zach Hill and Tera Melos guitarist Nick Reinhart. These songs are completely insane, bad ass, mathy guitar rock. Think a more melodic and tolerable version of Hella, or simply a better version of Marnie Stern. The musicianship these boys show is bone blowing to say the least, and it helps that most of the songs are damn sweet.
Top jams: "Click on That (Smash the Plastic Death)," "Fool Evolved," "Spray You With Your Own Trip," "Up the Shakes," "Error"


My Maudlin Career - Camera Obscura (4AD)
On My Maudlin Career, Camera Obscura continue their more bittersweet, reverb-y version of 2000s Belle & Sebastian. I'm not going to complain, because this is some really well done pop. Most of the songs are pretty slow and mellow, but "French Navy," "The Sweetest Thing" and "Honey in the Sun" are awesome upbeat numbers. Unfortunately, nothing touches 2006's "Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken."
Top jams: "French Navy," "The Sweetest Thing," "Away With Murder," "Careless Love," "Honey in the Sun"


Paranoid Cocoon - Cotton Jones (Suicide Squeeze)
I am completely shocked at how much I like this record. Cotton Jones primarily features Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw, formerly of Page France, who's Hello, Dear Wind I loved, but was completely bored by everything else they did. Paranoid Cocoon doesn't stray too much from the Page France formula, but is bluesier, uses more reverb (and it works really well) and most of the songs are beautiful while not sounding as juvenile.
Top jams: "Some Strange Rain," "Gone the Bells," "Photo Summerlude," "Cotton & Velvet," "Blood Red Sentimental Blues"


Why There Are Mountains - Cymbals Eat Guitars (self-released)
I didn't care for this much until I saw them at the Pitchfork Music Festival this past summer. On Why There Are Mountains, Cymbals Eat Guitars play epic and dynamic odes to the best of 90s indie rock.
Top jams: "And the Hazy Sea," "Some Trees," "Indiana," "Wind Phoenix"


God Help the Girl - God Help the Girl (Matador)
God Help the Girl is a dramatic, twee pop opera composed by Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch. I instantly liked it, but I could see how it would be difficult to get over how cheesy the majority of the album is, and that element weighed down on me as time went by. But, there are enough moments where Murdoch's talent with orchestration and melody overcome the corniness, and I can still admit that it has some worthwhile pop songs, namely the title track and "Come Monday Night."
Top jams: "God Help the Girl," "Pretty Eve in the Tub," "If You Could Speak," "Perfection as a Hipster," "Come Monday Night"


Mecca - Office (Quack!)
Office's Scott Masson decided to give Chicago the ol' "fuck you" and moved back to Michigan, making the local scene here even better. Mecca is his first release since being back, and it is a doozey of a power pop record with brit-pop undertones.
Top jams: "Sticky Dew," "Nobody Knows You," "Trainwreck DJs," "Aphrodisiac Missiles," "The Silent Parade"


The Loud Wars - So Many Dynamos (Vagrant)
I think So Many Dynamos really love The Dismemberment Plan and Q and Not U, and have absolutely no shame about it (which makes me love them). This comes through much more on 2006's Flashlights, making this year's Vagrant debut, The Loud Wars, a more original affair. My heart still prefers Flashlights, though.
Top jams: "Artifacts of Sound," "Glaciers," "New Bones," "Friendarmy," "The Formula"


Tight Knit - Vetiver (Sub Pop)
If I had actually tried to put these honorable mentions in order, I think Vetiver's Tight Knit might have been #41. On first listen, I was taken aback by it. There isn't really anything special about it, it's just very nice, slightly odd folk pop. I like it a lot, and I'm not exactly sure why.
Top jams: "Rolling Sea," "Sister," "Everyday," "Through the Front Door," "More of This," "At Forest Edge"


Eskimo Snow - Why? (Anticon)
After my first few listens of Why?'s latest, Eskimo Snow, it seemed like a melodramatic afterthought that didn't contain any of the things I loved about their previous two records. Much like 2008's Alopecia, it lacked the bright atmosphere and chimey guitar sounds of 2005's Elephant Eyelash. It also lacks the most important elements of both of those albums: the hip hop beats and melodically brilliant sung rap vocals. Eventually this came to earn credit as its own entity: still melodramatic, but a beautifully dark, orchestrated indie pop album all to its own.
Top jams: "January Twenty Something," "Against Me," "Even the Good Wood Gone," "Into the Shadows of My Embrace," "Berkeley by Hearseback"