Some fantistic albums you never heard in 2009
Some albums, which did not get its fame in the public and did not get the critical or commercial love they merited in the last 12 months, can also be the fantistic albums.
Here are some of them.
DIRTY PROJECTORS - BITTE ORCA
From the Brooklyn school of open-minded art rock (see Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear), Dirty Projectors mastermind Dave Longstreth aims to push every boundary. He has
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worked with Bjork and David Byrne and Bitte Orca is Dirty Projectors' fifth LP.
After reconstructing Black Flag's seminal LP Damaged from memory, this time the odd-pop Brooklynites outdid themselves. With undulating guitars, slithery beats and harmonic sweetness, lo-fi rock somehow sounds like early-mid 90s R&B. In short, Dave Longstreth and his gang push pop in directions previously uncharted. |
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A CAMP - COLONIA
Eight years after their debut, The Cardigans singer Nina Persson has resurrected side-project A Camp. Working with her husband, she says the album was inspired by "the history of savagery",
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explaining: "The human urge to rape, conquer and pillage has always fascinated me."
This album was a delight. The dark undertones running throughout the lyrics (Persson sounds bitterly lovelorn at times) are all placed in front of a backdrop of lush and uplifting 60s-inspired pop arrangements. It surprised me how many times I returned to this album over the year.
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MELANIE FIONA - THE BRIDGE
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| Born to Guyanese parents in Toronto, Melanie Fiona made an impressive album of upbeat soul-pop. She has supported Kanye West on tour and has a Grammy nomination for best female R&B vocal performance.
If you're looking for crisp vocals and soulful vibes to chill out to then Melanie Fiona should do it for you. Highlights include the lead single Give It To Me Right and the euphonious Walk On By.
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THE LOW ANTHEM - OH MY GOD, CHARLIE DARWIN
This trio met at university in Rhode Island and have won fans with their fragile Americana. Their instruments include a WWI portable pump organ, a rusty saw, a nipple gong, a "gut-strung
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parlor axe" and "enough harmonicas to summon a swarm of locusts".
With a former Nasa employee among their ranks, it was surprising that The Low Anthem's glorious brand of moonshine folk shimmered with an otherworldly brilliance. One of the few albums to lead me to tears in '09 (in the best possible way, of course), this was a delicate, graceful addition to the host of records by the plaid shirts'n'beard brigade headed up by Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear.
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SKY LARKIN - THE GOLDEN SPIKE
After four years together, this Leeds guitar trio recorded their brisk, taut and spiky debut album
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| in two weeks in Seattle. It owe much to American alt.rock and was released by respected indie label Wichita.
This lot are simply an ace young British pop band, who recorded the most consistent power-pop album of 2009. The Golden Spike recalls the best bits of Sleater-Kinney, Death Cab For Cutie and Kenickie. It is a solid foundation for what could be a great future. |
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TUNE-YARDS - BIRD BRAINS
Made using a digital voice recorder and shareware software in her Montreal flat, singer and
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| instrumentalist Merrill Garbus' rich, intimate and unpredictable album is held together by DIY charm.
BiRd BrAiNs is the sound of one woman trying to find something that's her own. Merrill Garbus uses drum loops and effects pedals but makes beautiful additions - ukulele is put together with the most imaginative sampling of the year. It takes a brave person to mess with Always on My Mind but she effortlessly slots it into a patchwork of influences ranging from traditional folk to R&B slow jams. |
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