)This album had a lot of hype on its release and had several critics calling it 2009's best album before February even began. That's just crazy. I waited until March or April (of '09) to [legally] download it and I enjoyed it. It's not my favorite album of the year, but it's good and "My Girls" was one of my favorites from the year (as I listened to it about 200 times):
#14. David Gray: Draw the Line (listen to it here and by it here
)I've been a big DG fan since White Ladder -- which isn't saying much since he had some great albums before that -- but Draw the Line was a Gray's first album since 2005 (Life in Slow Motion) and far better than 2002's New Day After Midnight. I'm not sure if Gray will ever recapture the magic of Sell Sell Sell (my personal favorite), but DtL is a decent record and I hope Gray continues to make music like "Jackdaw":
#13. Dan Auerbach: Keep It Hid (listen to it here and buy it here
)I love me some Black Keys, so I was excited when I heard Dan was striking out on his own. His solo stuff is different (rootsier?) than TBK and that's fine (why make a solo album that sounds like your other stuff?). I still prefer TBK, but Dan's solo work on KIH is good and is worth a listen for any TBK fan, especially to stand-out tracks like "Heartbroken, in Disrepair" (which is one of the more TBK-esque tracks):
#12. Royal Bangs: Let It Beep (listen to most of it here or buy it here
)I didn't come across this until April of 2010, so I'm glad I waited to make this list. Beep was produced by Patrick Carney, the drummer from TBK. However, unlike Britt Daniels' influence on White Rabbits, the effort from Royal Bangs sounds nothing like TBK and that's absolutely fine. They rock out, but there's an electronica aspect that's absent from TBK's sound, with some jam band tendencies to boot. This album also had some songs that had to grow on me (mental note: catch these guys live!), but "War Bells" was love at first sound:
#11. Choir of Young Believers: This is for the White in Your Eyes (buy it here
)I've already written about this album, so I won't say much more. I've grown a little tired of it since that post, but I still think these guys are way under the radar and I can't wait to see what tragically gorgeous tunes they produce next if they keep putting out songs like "Why Must it Always Be this Way":
No comments:
Post a Comment