@In Review Online: Top 25 Songs of 2009

Well, this is a little late in coming, but it's certainly worth a look. We've just posted our collective "best songs of the year" post over at In Review Online, and there's a little of everything on there. I contributed to the list, but it's very different than my "songs" list would have been (had I submitted one), which is a good thing.

Read the full thing HERE.

Here are the songs I included:

Dirty Projectors - "Stillness is the Move"

Animal Collective - "Brother Sport"

Miranda Lambert - "Airstream Song"

Bill Callahan - "Jim Cain"

Sunset Rubdown - "Idiot Heart"

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Skeletons"

Harlem Shakes - "Strictly Game"

Tiny Vipers - "Dreamer"

Best of 2009: 10 - 1

The best of the best albums released this year in my humble by usually correct opinion:

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10: Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Veckatimest is the second great album by Grizzly Bear and - in some ways - a more ambitious work than its predecessor (though it's difficult to say which is really better). With its detailed arrangements, mind-blowing vocal harmony and just exceptional songwriting, Veckatimest is a truly accomplished album.

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9: Wildbirds & Peacedrums - The Snake

There's a certain primal element to the music of husband and wife duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums that isn't capture often in music. Their limited palette of drums and vocals (mostly) is striking, and somehow never feels lacking or bare on The Snake, which is a uniquely fantastic record. (More from me)

There Is No Light (MP3)

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8: Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer

Dragonslayer is Sunset Rubdown's most epic statement yet, an indie rock album made in the fashion of late 80s metal records - eight songs totaling 48 minutes of grandiosity and excess. Yet somehow it doesn't seem too over-the-top or dramatic, it's just a thoroughly compelling experience. (More from me)

Idiot Heart (MP3 via Pitchfork)

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7: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

A divisive record among fans of the band, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' It's Blitz is, to me, their most accomplished record yet, despite the very different approach used here. Instead of jagged guitar lines and yelping, we mostly get a mixture of synths and beautiful melodies - I'll take it. (More from me)

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6: Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Another band that broke out in a big way this year is Dirty Projectors, who had previously existed more on the fringe before vaulting themselves into the indie spotlight with tunes like "Stillness is the Move." Bitte Orca finds just the right balance between the group's avant-garde style and pop accessibility.

Solange Knowles' cover of "Stillness is the Move" (via Stereogum)

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5: P.O.S. - Never Better

Stefon Alexander (P.O.S.) hasn't really made a rap-rock album with Never Better, he just bleeds a punk attitude into his stellar rhymes and organic beats. He's ferocious yet positive, abrasive yet approachable, disgusted at the current state of affairs but hopeful for a better future. Simply amazing. (More from me)

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4: St. Vincent - Actor

Annie Clark, a former Polyphonic Spree member, has made serious headway with her sophomore solo effort, Actor. The arrangements are strange, but entrancing, and her lovely voice adds a layer of mystique to the music that begs for repeated and careful listens. It's a wholly absorbing and beautiful album. (More from me)

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3: The Antlers - Hospice

I just kept coming back to Hospice, the latest from indie newcomers The Antlers, coming away each time feeling more affected by the experience than the last. From the opening wash of "Prologue" to the echoed refrain of "Epilogue," it is a haunting and emotionally rich listen unlike any other.

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2: DM Stith - Heavy Ghost

It's difficult for me to overstate how much I love this album. DM Stith's debut, Heavy Ghost, sounds like nothing I've heard before. It's dark and moody, yet expressive and full of life - and full of remarkable musicianship from a guy I hope to hear much more from in the future. (More from me)

Pity Dance (MP3 via Asthmatic Kitty, upper right corner)

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1: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

I'm kinda tired of writing about Animal Collective, but they deserve all the praise they've received for this truly special album and their great EP, Fall Be Kind, which came out late this year. Released in January, the LP remains the best of this year and one of my favorite of the decade. (More from me)
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Review: Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer (* * * *)

Spencer Krug remains one of the most prolific of rockstars, following the Wolf Parade and Frog Eyes family tradition of joining enough bands that you can release multiple albums per year while somehow keeping the quality level respectably high for almost everything you do. While not everyone loved this year's Swan Lake release, Krug's work stood out as the brightest of the three musicians ( the other two being Carey Mercer and Daniel Bejar) and continued his exceptional musical streak which includes 2008's fantastic Wolf Parade record, At Mount Zoomer. Now, back at the helm of what can hardly be considered his side project, Sunset Rubdown, Krug and his band have created a monstrously great rock 'n' roll album that marks the group's best work to date and showcases some of Krug's best material produced from any of his notable indie music collectives.

Dragonslayer is the perfect title for and introduction to the kind of epic, grandiose collection of eight songs that makes up the record's 48 minutes. Everything here is expansive, overblown, and endlessly entertaining, but somehow focused and refined in a way that Random Spirit Lover was not. Krug has never been one for understatement, but this time around everything is bigger, bolder, and louder - and the results are excellent. Perfectly representative of the record's character is the infectious first single, "Idiot Heart," in which Krug does his best Bowie impersonation over a danceable two-guitar riff and stomping percussion. The song, like many a Sunset Rubdown tune, never stays in one place for very long, but its energetic immediacy is retained throughout the six minutes while each member of the band is allowed some room to shine. It may be the best cut on the album and is certainly among my favorite rock songs released this year.

Elsewhere, Krug and company keep the tempo and style somewhat varied on Dragonslayer and the energy stays in high gear. The bizarrely titled "Apollo And The Buffalo And Anna Anna Anna Oh!" and the lovely "Paper Lace," which Krug borrowed and rerecorded from Enemy Mine, are relatively light and nimble, while "Black Swan" features a more dramatic and heavy-handed approach, but the high-quality musicianship and Krug's improved vocal delivery stay constant. Most of the songs are long and complex, featuring several movements and breaking up verses and choruses with interjected guitar solos and funky keyboard flourishes, but songs like the fantastic and accessible "You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)" keep the record grounded and enjoyable without having to dig too deep into the material. That's not to say that Dragonslayer is easy listening, but the album's combination of guitar-heavy rock with Krug's quirky, signature pop style is both exciting and genuinely entertaining.

The record's final, ten-minute power ballad, "Dragon's Lair" may cross the line into overindulgent noodling, but - once again - it's Sunset Rubdown's sharp delivery and gleeful ignorance of boundaries that helps the record to succeed so completely. And as Krug croons lines like "You're such a champion" with all the fervor he possesses, you'll be glad for the dose of triumphant absurdity that made rock 'n' roll music such fun in the first place. With a few listens and a little patience, Dragonslayer reveals itself to be an exceptional record from one of indie rock's stalwart stars.

Check out Pitchfork to download "Idiot Heart"

Sunset Rubdown - "Idiot Heart"

If you haven't heard this, you need to do so right now. Sunset Rubdown are offering a free download of "Idiot Heart" from their upcoming album, entitled Dragonslayer, which will be released on June 23rd.

Quite simply, one of the better singles I've heard this year so far! Head to Pitchfork to stream and/or download the song. Oh, and new tour dates for North America below:

6/11/09 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Downstairs
6/12/09 Brooklyn, NY - Studio B
6/13/09 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
6/14/09 Washington, DC - Black Cat
6/15/09 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
6/16/09 Atlanta, GA - The Drunken Unicorn
6/20/09 Austin, TX - Mohawk
6/22/09 Tucson, AZ - Plush
6/23/09 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
6/24/09 San Francisco, CA - The Rickshaw Stop
6/26/09 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
6/27/09 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
6/28/09 Victoria, BC - Sugar Nightclub
7/02/09 Calgary, AB - The Marquee Room
7/06/09 Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry
7/07/09 Chicago, IL - Epiphany
7/08/09 Bloomington, IN - Jake's Nightclub
7/10/09 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
7/11/09 Montreal, QC - Il Motore

New Sunset Rubdown album on the way!

The boys of Wolf Parade have been quite busy as of late, with Dan Boeckner's Handsome Furs releasing their second disc and Spencer Krug working with indie supergroup Swan Lake on last month's Enemy Mine. Oh, and we shouldn't forget WP's excellent sophomore album, At Mount Zoomer, that we were graced with last year. Apparently it's not enough for the uber-prolific Krug, who's other project, Sunset Rubdown, will be unveiling their third album (second on the Jagjaguar label) on June 23rd.

The album marks the debut of bassist/drummer Mark Nicol who will be joining the lineup of Jordan Robson-Cramer on drums, guitar and keys, Michael Doerksen on guitar and bass, and Camilla Wynne Ingr on keys and percussion and vocals. The record is titled Dragonslayer, and the gloriously weird album art is what you see above.


Tracklisting:
1. Silver Moons
2. Idiot Heart
3. Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!
4. Black Swan
5. Paper Lace
6. You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)
7. Nightingale / December Song
8. Dragon's Lair

Also, while the band are planning some U.S. tour dates, they're making their way through Europe first - tour dates below.

04/18/09 Paris, France - La Maronquinerie
04/20/09 Haarlem, NL - Patronaat
04/21/09 Wetzlar, Germany - KuZ
04/22/09 Stuttgart, Germany - Manufaktur
04/23/09 Prague, CZ - 007
04/24/09 Krems, AT - Danube Festival
04/25/09 Moscow, Russia - Avant Festival
04/27/09 Zagreb, HR - Teatar & TD
04/29/09 Krakow, PL - Manggha
04/30/09 Warsaw, PL - Hydrozagadka
05/02/09 Aarhus, Denmark - Pop Revo Festival