My limbic system took in the sounds of 2009 and sent me into some distant world. Passing the sounds to my cerebellum as I danced the year away. Now I am back with my most “nerdy” excel sheet, straight from the cerebrum, giving my take on The Top 20 Albums of 2009.

Enjoy!

(just in case you have no clue what I am talking about find my top albums from 2000 – 2005, my intro will explain how “nerdy” this process is)

1.  The Pains of Being Young at Heart:  The Pains of Being Young at Heart

2.  The XX:  XX

3.  Lookbook:  Wild at Heart

4.  …and You Will Know us by the Trail of the Dead:  Century Self

5.  Girls:  Album

6.  Cold Cave:  Love Comes Close

7.  Matt and Kim:  Grand

8.  The Little Girls:  Concepts

9.  A Place to Bury Strangers:  Exploding Head

10. Animal Collective:  Merriweather Post Pavilion

11. Sonic Youth: The Eternal (that’s right, they are easy to pass up but they still have it!)

12. Bear in Heaven:  Beast Rest Forth Mouth

13. Throw Me the Statue:  Creaturesque

14. Say Hi: Oohs & Aahs (I am a sucker for the “hook”)

15. The Wooden Birds: Magnolia

16. The Papercuts: You Can Have What You Want

17. Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs

18. Cymbals Eat Guitars: Why There Are Mountains (Bring me back to the beginning of it all)

19. Fanfarlo: Resevoir (Sound like many but sound good)

20. Julian Plenti: Julian Plenti … Is Skyscraper (Who cares what everyone else says!?!?)

Others to listen to, not that they were next in line but wanted to pint them out.  Some great songs on these albums and some bands that deserve attention:
Minor Kingdom: My Back Will Bend (any folk music fans?); Jack Penate: Everything is New (Pure Pop from the other side of the Atlantic); Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros (2 of the top 10 songs of the year off one album?); Washed Out: Life of Leisure – EP (waiting for the full length); The Mumlers (from my neck of the woods and a lot of fun)

Thanks for reading.

These are my Top 25 favorite albums from 2000-2005.  As you can guess, much of this was difficult to do as I have many albums I thought were my favorites but after listening during this past summer, some did not stand the test of 4 to 9 years.

To find results I made sure all albums were imported into iTunes (30gb total) and I rated (1-5 stars) each song.  I then averaged out the ratings for each album giving bonuses for 5 stars and smaller bonuses for 4 stars.  This took a while but most of the collection was in iTunes and 80% of the songs were already rated.  I would say I changed about 15% of the ratings as I listened again. I AM A NERD!

As I went through my collection I noticed that the year 2005 was a great year for music.  2002 was my least favorite of the years.  Not sure what that means to you, just an observation of my own collection.

Here they are, my top albums of 2000-2005

1.  Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)

2.  Rogue Wave: Descended Like Vultures (2005)

3.  The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema (2005)

4.  Broken Social Scene: Broken Social Scene (2005)

5.  The Strokes: Is This It? (2001)

6.  Brian Wilson: Smile (2004)

7.  The Shins: Oh Inverted World (2001)

8.  Modest Mouse: Moon & Antarctica (2000)

9.  Pinback: Summer in Abaddon (2004)

10. Sleater-Kinney: The Woods (2005)

11. Stars: Set Yourself On Fire (2005)

12. Mark Eitzel: The Invisible Man (2001)

13. The Radio Dept.: Lesser Matters (2003)

14. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Clap your Hands Say Yeah (2005)

15. Elliot Smith: Figure 8(2000)

16. Kings of Convenience: Riot on Empty Street (2004)

17. Architecture in Helsinki: In Case We Die (2005)

18. The American Analog Set: Know By Heart (2001)

19. Liars: They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top (2002)

20. Okkervil River: Black Sheep Boy (2005)

21. M. Ward: Transfiguration of St. Vincent (2003)

22. Bloc Party: Silent Alarm (2005)

23. Sonic Youth: Murray Street (2002)

24. Arcade Fire: Funeral (2004)

25. The Twilight Singers: Twilight as Played by the Twilight Singers (2000)

I tried to play some songs from each album before posting this list to try and get that perspective…except on Built to Spill I didn’t bother with the Doug Martsch guitars…just barre chords.

1. Built To Spill- Perfect From Now On- This choice did not take a lot of thought. Although when I listened to it again I just thought “fuck you Doug”…he’s too good. My absolute guitar hero without compare. 

3. Velvet Underground-Loaded- Sweet Jane brings back great memories of the “90′s when I was living in a teepee. I had my cd collection and my amp plugged in from a plug that popped up from under the ground right through the dirt floor. 

2. Bright Eyes-I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning- I’m feeling somewhat apologetic about this because I did not listen to it for at least a decade, but the guy is a phenomenal poet. Once, ok maybe a lot of people can do that, but three or four albums later he seems to be getting no less profound. And his hat at Coachella was evil, in a good way.

1. Pavement-Brighten The Corners- As I stated previously, using the word “Korea” and “career” interchangeably  is ridiculous. Malkmus has been untouchable for a long time. The album was all I listened to in 1998 along with some personal pain, two packs of reds per day and a great World Cup soccer tournament.  

2. Paul Simon-Paul Simon- This album has been on my list the longest. Paul is such a great writer and he can play the guitar like he was from the Delta…He is at the top of his incredible game here in 1972. 

1. Tom Waits-Small Change- Mr. Waits is so playful, witty, and badass here with such a huge piano and gravel in his throat. It reminds me of seedy, smoky piano bars in the 1950′s and I was born in 1974. Some old guy in a music shop in San Francisco came up to me and said, “Do you have Small Change?”. I said “no”. He looked at me sadly and said “Get it”. I did as I was told. When God speaks one must listen. 

3. Dinosaur Jr.-Where You Been- This album is so great for so many reasons. It’s sad, cathartic, and still crunchy. Even his cover art is brilliant. This album taught me how to be sad and violent at the same time. 

2. Modest Mouse-The Lonesome Crowded West- I love where this album takes me. It’s funny because of the cowboy named Dan, the cockroaches, the pornographer cinematographer, etc. If I see a kid in a music shop I will ask him if he has this album. It has it all, for all seasons. 

1. Pixies-Surfer Rosa- If I see the girl in the photo on the cover of this album I will make out with her then start a band. She’s so beautiful that I would introduce her to my mother even though she has no shirt. (I’m not talking about my mother). Whatever. This album made me cool when I was young and ignorant and knew nothing of politics. It still makes me feel dirty, like I’m in the basement in the daytime with nothing to do. 

2.Lucinda Williams-Car Wheels On A Gravel Road- This is one of the best albums of the ’90′s. If I were a poor white girl growing up in the ’60′s in the Mississippi Delta I would be Lucinda Williams. This is about as close to country as I get these days, but I could listen to her voice ’til the cows come home. She sings about guitars, barbed wire, eggs, bacon, and Macon. Are you kidding me? Her subsequent albums have not entered the same mesosphere as this one. Yes, she really does “talk like that. It’s real”.

There Captain, I put them in order. You’re welcome. I’m sorry, but numbers 4 through 10 didn’t make the list. Which one of these is my favorite changes depending on if my kids are sick then it’s a sad one, or if I get in a fight with my bride then it’s another and so forth. 

-Idwind

A song by the Celine Dion?  I hated Titanic for a lot of reasons but chief amongst them was that theme song.  (A pan flute solo:  are you fucking kidding me!?!)  A Lionel Ritchie song?  Chicago?  How about Shiny Happy Dogshit by REM?  Or perhaps it’s the most least convincing party song of all-time, Party All the Time.  (Ugh, Eddie, okay you made two funny movies but seriously wtf?)  And lest I forget Starship, who Built This City on Rock ‘n Roll and permanently damaged my eardrums in the process.

You know the drill: post your picks below.

On a positive note, William, it’s better than the Ricky Martin version.  So you’ve got that going for ya.

Here is a list of my personal favorite albums. These are albums that I Respect, Praise, enjoy, and cannot get enough of. I would never trade these albums away for anything…Drum roll please…

1. The Beatles- The White Album

2. David Bowie’s- Ziggy Stardust

3. Lungfish’s- Rainbows from Atoms

4. A Tribe Called Quest’s- Midnight Marauders

5. Modest Mouse’s- Lonesome Crowded West

6. Jimmy Hendrix’s- Are you Experienced?

7. CAN’s- Tago Mago

8. Pavement’s- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

9. Steely Dan’s- Aja

10. The Sea and Cake’s- Everybody

….may subject to change lol

As many of you probably read two weeks ago, George Pants gave the cyber world an exclusive insight into the underpinnings that have sculpted his musical palette. Next, he asked each of us to dive within our own playlists to discover those secret gems which lay hidden beneath the surface of common day music sites. Here is an abridged version of my response to his call to arms as well as the disc download he requested:

Download : Capt AKAK’s Top Ten Esoteric Tracks

10. The Ohsees – Quadrospazzed
Found out about this band when they opened for Dodos on one of their first tours.

9. Isotope 217 – Beneath the Undertow
Jazz song for my life as a character in a David Mamet movie or the real song that should have been playing for the Beastie Boys Sabotage video.

8. James Chance – Almost Black Part 1
Just cant help myself with this one.

7. Daniel Higgs – Living in the Kingdom of Death
The first time I heard this song it was 1 am, I needed to sleep but started copying the song to my itunes library. I had the option on autoplay once it is copying. So it started playing without me telling it. I was sent into a trance. I sat staring at my screen for an hr within surfing the internet. I just listened and looked at the screen.

6. Fire on Fire – Grin
I am just mad I missed them playing at the knitting factory 5 wednesdays ago.

5. Gastr Del Sol – Dictionary of Handwriting
John McEntire on drums to this song speaks to that 12 year old girl you spoke of GP. This song just fucking rocks.

4. James Blackshaw – The Cloud of Unknowing
One minute into the song I always want to float into space, too bad about gravity.

3. Shrimp Boat – Collecting Me
This one is perfect (well near perfect or I would have it number one)

2. Seth Olinsky – Dirt Road Cloud of Light
Tantric. His lyrical style and tone speaks to my core. “You hold on til its safe”

1. Michael Gira – Blind
Buy this song off some site if you dont have it. It is my life. It is my darkness. It is my truth. It is my hope. It is my never again. Basically take the first four chapters of the Big Book and replace it with the lyrics to this song.

For my full response:  Comments Section for George Pant’s Post&lt

While we all seem to have a lot of music in common on TSoS we also seem to have wildly divergent tastes at the same time.

There are a lot of different ways to do a top-ten list like this but for the sake of organization I’ve chosen these criteria:

1. artist that most people might have heard of but haven’t ever listened to or haven’t heard of at all. I had almost put a song by Buffalo Springfield on this list but while most people had probably never heard of the song they had definitely listened to the band’s other music before…that doesn’t count.

2. you probably discovered by accident, not from recommendations or magazines, etc. Most of these artists I heard randomly or liked the cover art of the album and bought it without listening to it first.

3. should reflect your eccentricities. We all know you’re really a 12-year old girl inside, now’s the time to let it out.

4. should be a song that you really, really like…I mean really like. No filler. You might make decisions in life based on this song.

For better or worse I excluded tracks that weren’t on iTunes because I wanted everybody to be able to listen to them if they wanted to. You obviously don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. The ultimate top-ten list would be “the top-ten tracks not available on iTunes”.

Here are mine…arranged in order:

Position, Song, Artist, Album

10. Man O’ War, Erich Bachmann, To the Races

I can’t remember where I heard this originally…but it’s pretty and I can’t figure out what it means.

9. The Dog Tomorrow, Nina Violet & The Invisible Orchestra, Self-Titled

This is a weird song but I heard it at a very specific moment and it stuck with me…I don’t know if anyone else will be able to get into it or not. She was playing with someone else who I can’t remember anymore. She lives on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, is some sort of hippie, and I always imagine her and I being in some heartbreaking relationship…don’t tell anyone.

8. Two Trains Running, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, East-West

I think my Dad had a Paul Butterfield record but I can’t remember specifically where I heard about the band…they’re sort of well-known but most folks haven’t actually listened to their music. One day in Amoeba I saw this album and said “fuck it”. That’s also what the song seems to be about.

7. Nocturne No. 15 in F Minor, Chopin, Nocturnes: Selections (Idil Beret)

This is a song that proves time travel is possible. If you put it on and don’t walk through marble-pillared hallways lit by candlelight in your mind then I suggest eating a bag of mushrooms at the Huntington Museum…acid’s probably not a good idea there.

6. Keleya, Moussa Doumbia, World Psychedelic Classics Vol. 3

This song came from somewhere in Africa…I heard it on the radio one day and then never heard it again. Impossible to describe.

5. Frozen, Daniel Lanois, Belladonna

A few people know this guy really well but I’ve found most people don’t seem to (might be a generational thing)…at least his later instrumental stuff. I got into him because he’s a master pedal steel player and in my opinion there’s no better instrument. I was searching online for modern pedal-steel players and his name came up.

4. Hoover, Holopaw, Self-Titled

I saw these guys open for Iron and Wine about seven years ago and was struck by this song. They never really got much attention, mostly because their subsequent album was not good.

3. The Last of the Arkansas Greyhounds, Leo Kotke, 6 and 12 String Guitar

Among some people this album is very well known, among most people it isn’t. This is a pretty esoteric song but it reminds me of walking through wheat fields at twilight, a la Days of Heaven. I bought it when I was 19 or 20 because I liked the cover art. It has an armadillo on it.

2. Smoking Signals, Sean Hayes, Alabama Chicken

This is a weirdo out of San Francisco. His songs either suck or are beautiful. This is one of the beautiful ones.

1. Call Me Doctor, The Glands, Double Thriller

I found this band in the $1.00 bin at Amoeba and I’ve subsequently found them there over and over again. I can’t figure it out. As with #3 on the criteria for this list, this song describes my inner-life about as well as it could be described.

So that’s the list. If anyone wants to listen follow the link below or if we’re going to see one another e-mail me and I’ll bring it on a thumb drive or something.

I think subsequent lists could be: best unknown albums, deep-tracks by well known artists, etc.

So I know we all have special albums that were soundtracks for particular moments of our lives. Which brings me to polling all of you dirty hippies what you think are the best break-up albums of all time. My top two are Gentlemen by The Afghan Whigs and Where You Been? by Dinosaur Jr. I know none of you can top those two but I would like your input anyway. Leave em in the comments. Following are some samples from both albums. First is My Curse by the Whigs (featuring Marcy Mays) and then Goin Home by the Jr.:

This is the final output of much internal deliberation. There are many things that went into picking my top ten albums that were outside the scope of actual music such as how groundbreaking the album was for its time or what it did when as far as changing my taste of music. I am sure that many readers would disaggree with all my picks, but it is hard to debate the facts of my ears.

1. Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe and Redux Edition
2. Brian Eno – Another Green World
3. Akron Family – Akron Family and Angels of Light s/t
4. Elliott Smith – Roman Candles
5. Tortoise – Standards
6. Modest Mouse – Lonesome Crowded West
7. Built to Spill – Perfect from Now on
8. Man Man – The Man in a Blue Turban with a Face
9. Can – Tago Mago
10. Seth Olinsky – Sparrow Trout Heart Sprout

~ Capt. AKAK

PS If you really do disagree with my picks, let me give you some suggestions: Buy some headphones, shut your pie hole, go out into nature and listen again.