Best of 2009… So Far
Yep, it’s time again for the quintessential “so far” list — no music site is complete without one! 2009 is shaping up to be an interesting year, with old favorites and newcomers alike issuing strong releases. In an attempt to make some sense out of everything, our staff got together to vote on our favorites.
We’d love to hear your thoughts as well — what did we get wrong or miss? (For better or for worse, our cut-off date was June 15, 2009 — leaks DO count).
Results after the jump…
The Best of 2009 So Far:
- Various Artists – Dark Was the Night [Compilation]
- Grizzly Bear – Vecakatimest
- St. Vincent – Actor
- Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
- Passion Pit – Manners
- Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
- Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
- Laura Gibson – Beasts of Season
- William Elliott Whitmore – Animals in the Dark
- Fanfarlo – Reservoir
- Wilco – Wilco (the album)
- Steve Earle – Townes
- Vetiver – Tight Knit
- The Wooden Birds – Magnolia
- Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
- Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Everything with you
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
- Madlib – Beat Konducta Vols 5 & 6
- Dan Deacon – Bromst
- A.C. Newman – Get Guilty
If that’s not enough, here’s a list of honorable mentions that missed the big list (in alphabetical order):
- Allen Toussaint – The Bright Mississippi
- Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
- Asher Roth – Asleep in the Bread Aisle
- Bon Iver – Blood Bank [EP]
- The Crocodiles – Summer of Hate
- Dan Auerbach – Keep it Hid
- The Eels – Hombre Lobo
- Grand Lake – Nevermint
- Here We Go Magic – Here We Go Magic
- J. Tillman – Vacilando Territory Blues
- Junior Boys – Begone Dull Care
- Justin Townes Earle – Midnight at the Movies
- Lotus Plaza – The Floodlight Collective
- Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms
- Peter, Bjorn and John – Living Things
- The Thermals – Now We Can See
- Wavves – Wavvves
No disagreements here. would have loved to seen ‘paper route-abscence’ on this list as well as ‘empire of the sun’
truly remarkable.
Leaving Dan Auerbach’s solo release out of the top 20 is a travesty. I’d put it in my top 5, but it should be in anybody’s top 20. There’s also no way Wolfgang Amadeus should be so low on a mid-2009 list and definitely not behind Neko Case.
Also – Heartless Bastards: The Mountain should be somewhere in the top 20. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears probably deserve an honorable mention.
this list sucks. but it probably reflects what most bloggers will post as the best of ‘09 anyways.
Pretty solid list I think, and it’s best to start making such lists earlier in the year. Makes it easier at year’s end, I think. The ones on here that I haven’t heard I am going to check out. It is missing my favorites from the year thus far – Bat For Lashes, O+S, Telekinesis, and Drake.
Not bad, not bad at all, but it’s missing Mos Def.
and it needs more metal. \m/
Thanks for the feedback everyone.
Dustin – I’ll have to check both out. Haven’t heard either yet.
Ed – I was a little surprised that Auerbach made only one person’s list. I liked it the whole thing, but didn’t think it was anything new.
Hanan – Thanks for the constructive criticism. Plus, the top three bands on your site are Franz Ferdinand, Strokes and Pete Doherty. Not sayin’, just sayin’…
Will – I gotta admit, I just don’t get the Bat for Lashes hype. Haven’t given O+S enough of a chance yet.
Jeff – Seriously? Is Mos still releasing albums? Also, I was surprised Mastodon didn’t make anyone’s lists
Quality list, though while you’re not particularly on the Bat For Lashes bandwagon, I just can’t seem to get on board with Grizzly Bear or Animal Collective. And Patrick Wolf! After Passion Pit, he easily tops my album list for this year so far.
I think the best album of 2009 so far is missing here: Fever Ray.
Two suns from bat for lashes is also one of the greatest albums of the year.
[...] Stranger Dance gave us the best of 2009 so far, including Grizzly Bear, Phoenix, Wilco, Passion Pit … [...]
Oh, Stranger Dance, I was expecting so much more from you. You do such a great job featuring stellar new artists and releases every week and yet this list reads like a cut and paste from every other blog’s Best Of list. Putting Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective and Passion Pit in your top ten is like saying Jon & Kate are exploiting their kids. In other words every one else has already said it (to death). Your honorable mention list is much better. Impossible to listen to J. Tillman with getting chilled to the bone, right? But in all fairness this is a best ALBUMS list. I’d love to see you do a best SONGS of the year list. Albums aside, I’m curious to know what you guys thought the best singular songs were so far this year.
[...] Stranger Dance: “Best of 2009… So Far” Jay and Co. know how to walk the walk with that new website. Cheers to them. [...]
Good lists.
Would have liked to see Patrick Wolf too.
What about The Decemberists? Thats right up there in my Top 5
A few others that haven’t been mentioned.
Kingdom Of Rust-Doves
Never Gonna Touch The Ground-Still Flyin’
Outer South-Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band
Hands-Little Boots.
So many great releases so far this year.
Fever Ray (s/t), and ‘Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is’ by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears would be at the top of my list..
I think it’s funny when people complain about people’s musical tastes. So he likes a lot of the same albums (I do) and other bloggers do, should he/she (whomever runs this blog) lie just to look more obscure and “interesting”?
So stupid, these are the albums strangerdance likes, get over it!
Hombre Lobo is an amazing album!
‘That Look You Gave That Guy’ is such a sad sad song.
Btw, your background is sweeeet
Thanks ‘haha’ – we expect criticism (in this case I even asked for it up front), but I think you raise a good point: People often complain that lists are too “predictable” or like what someone else had, but is ‘predictable’ really that bad? How important is it to be the first to like a band? Do we need to throw in a few curve balls just to keep up our rep? The blogosphere is great at mob mentality (see the elbo.ws hot track list for reference), but do we really need to hide our tastes just because they’re too close to X, Y or Z’s?
Kish – thanks for the props. Our designer did a great job. I think the static background is pretty cool as well.
Yah for Fanfarlo!
Where’s Bat For Lashes, Matt & Kim, or Metric?
[...] Callahan is a rapper. Okay, not really, but kindasorta. I heard about Mr. Callahan from my man at Stranger Dance (which I recently blogrolled because it’s an excellent site), who picked “Sometimes I [...]