Transmit 01001: Favorite Albums & Songs of 2009

Songs (click song to listen)

1) “Walkabout” by Atlas Sound featuring Noah Lennox – A bouncy, summery song with a big hook courtesy of Animal Collective’s Panda Bear (Lennox).

2) “Give Blood” by Rain Machine – Could have been an awesome TV on the Radio song, but Kyp Malone kept it for himself and instead it’s an awesome Rain Machine song.

3) “Kettering” by The Antlers – From one of 2009′s more overrated albums, a haunting and beautiful song.

Albums (click, listen)

10) Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear – Backed by a string quartet on Letterman this past summer, Grizzly Bear performed any amazing version of one of Veckatimest‘s best tracks, “Ready, Able”. Here are some other excellent Grizzly Bear videos: Transmit09013.

9) xx, The xx – Mellow, simple, good. In this video that doesn’t sync perfectly with the audio, The xx perform acoustically their debut single “Crystalised” and the album closing “Stars.“

8) Two Suns, Bat For Lashes – Sort of a combination between Sarah McLachlan and Bjork.

7) Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Phoenix – Pretty straightforward dance-rock. They were damn good at Rumsey Playfield in September. The best song on the album is called “Love Like a Sunset.”

6) The Crying Light, Antony & the Johnsons – If you dig the album’s opening track, “Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground,” performed live in studio, dig deeper.

5) Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective – Transmit09002

4) Actor, St. Vincent – Earlier in the year, I wondered if she’d be good live as I have found that while there’s a ton of young indie artists out there these days who can make a really good album, many of them are unfortunately unable to deliver live all the subtleties and nuances that make the recordings so interesting. When I saw St. Vincent’s Annie Clark performing solo with an electric guitar a few weeks ago, she proved that she indeed delivers. She played three songs that night and these are videos of them: Nico’s “These Days,” The National’s “Mistaken For Strangers,” and “The Party,” a song from Actor featuring Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon on this night.

3) Bitte Orca, Dirty Projectors – I saw Dirty Projectors twice this year and they are one of those bands that I was talking about who have so much going on in the studio that it’s hard to nail all the parts and little details live. Lead Projector Dave Longstreth, though raw and chaotic at times, is a phenomenal guitar player and a great composer. Check out “Two Doves” and “Useful Chamber,”, my two favorite tracks from Bitte Orca. And here’s a song that’s not on this album but did come out this year and has been an encore staple ever since, deservedly: Transmit09008.

2) Octahedron, The Mars Volta – Volta left the long jams behind in order to let their tight songwriting, huge hooks, and hauntingly beautiful vocal harmonies take center stage on this record. As far as I can tell, it has gained them no additional mainstream exposure. If you’ve only been frustrated by their noodly instrumental explorations (I’m looking at you everybody) and are scared of their sometimes “shrieking” vocals and wild guitar solos, let this be the last chance you give The Mars Volta. Check out the album’s opening track, “Since We’ve Been Wrong,” “Desperate Graves,” and “With Twilight as My Guide,” please.

1) The Hazards of Love, The Decemberists – I’m a sucker for a great concept album – unified narrative, love story, conflict, recurring musical themes – and the progressive folk masterpiece that is The Hazards of Love has it all. (The plot is explained really well HERE). Highlights include “The Hazards of Love 2,” where forbidden lovers Margaret and William unite one more time before the abduction of Margaret (now with child), and the album-closing “The Hazards of Love 4,” where the couple accept their tragic fate together.

Current Listening: Joanna Newsom’s “’81″

Transmit09013: A Routine Malaise

Within a few days of Grizzly Bear’s jaw-dropping performance with the Brooklyn Philharmonic this past February, their new album was all over the internet nearly three months early. Full of the kind of vocal interplay and haunting harmonies any Grizzly Bear fan will love, Veckatimest has since proven its worth time and time again no matter what unseasonably cold month it may be, ultimately debuting at number 8 on the Billboard album chart at the beginning of June. Check out these videos for a taste of Grizzly Bear:

“Two Weeks” – The official video for Veckatimest‘s first single. Sweet video.

“Ready, Able” – One of Veckatimest‘s finest tracks performed with the Brooklyn Philharmonic in Fort Greene 2/28/09.

“Colorado” – The closing track from Grizzly Bear’s last album, 2006′s Yellow House, taken from that same GB/BP show. This song was one of the best performances I’ve seen in a long time.

(Refresh this page after watching two or three videos. It sucks like that.)

Current Listening: múm’s Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK

Transmit09012: Talking Science, Episode 1

The pilot episode that started it all.

Current Listening: “Reba” from Jones Beach

Transmit09011: Copernicus

Transmit09010: Dinner

Nathan’s Hot Dog, 1.5 Slices of Kraft White American, Martin’s Potato Bread Roll

Currently Watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCXlCkY4Y5g

Transmit09009: Wishing Never Solved a Problem

Here’s an outstanding live performance of another one of Dark Was The Night‘s standout tracks, Yeasayer’s “Tightrope”. From the top:

Current Listening: Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca

Transmit09008: Dirty Projectors

Bitte Orca, the new album from Dirty Projectors, came out yesterday.  I haven’t listened yet but it’s getting pretty solid reviews. Here’s the band performing a song that was released earlier this year as part of the Dark Was The Night benefit compilation.  Though it lacks the accompaniment of David Byrne from the record, this live take actually manages to improve upon the studio version with band member Angel Deradoorian handling Mr. Byrne’s parts.  You’ll have to skip forward to the two-minute mark to get to the beginning of the performance, but this “Knotty Pine” is well worth it.

“Knotty Pine”

Current Listening: Deradoorian’s Mind Raft

Transmit09007: Talking Science, Episode 2

Talking Science, Episode 2: “Transmission Properties”

The second installment in a multi-part series starring everyone’s favorite scientist.  See him blog his brains out at www.blogforyourbowels.com.

Current Listening: Octahedron, it’s great.

Transmit09006: Beach House

Beach House performing “Gila” at Webster Hall 4/17/09

Current Listening:  Dungen’s 4

Transmit09005: Birds

Download Absorption/Transmission’s version of Neil Young’s “Birds”

Current Listening: Yeasayer’s All Hour Cymbals