The RiO!B Top 5 albums of 2009
It’s that time of year again. The weather gets chilly, the gifts are exchanged and the punches are thrown because you think an album is better than your friend’s album. Yes it’s the season of top five, ten, twenty, fifty and even hundred lists of the best albums of the year. We figured we would make it easy on ourselves and everyone else by only subjecting you to our top five albums of 2009. So if everyone’s ready we’ll begin.
#5) Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
2009 started off not with a bang but with a sonic wave of sound. Animal Collective jump started our eardrums with ambient noises, other-worldly beats and songs about summertime clothes and girls that needed four walls. Surprisingly, you don’t really need heavy doses of MDMA to enjoy this record. You just need to be able to broaden your musical horizon a bit…but being under an influence won’t hurt.
#4) Muse – The Resistance
One of the more anticipated albums of the year, Muse followed up their previous album, Black Holes And Revelations, with The Resistance. A big record that summoned the spirit of Freddy Mercury on tracks such as “United States of Eurasia + Collateral Damage” and offered us rock anthems/rally cries like “Uprising”. Not to mention that there’s a three part symphony, “Exogenesis”, that ends the album. How many rock bands do you know that write symphonies? My guess is not that many.
#3) The Dead Weather – Horehound
It’s one thing for Jack White to start a band but it’s another when he starts it and doesn’t take center stage. White mans the drums for The Dead Weather while rock n’ roll hottie Alison Mosshart of the Kills takes care of the vocal duties on Horehound. With a dirty blues-rock sound mixed with Mosshart’s raspy voice, the songs are heavy, loud and unforgettable. Songs like “Treat Me Like Your Mother” and “Cut Like A Buffalo” take you out of your comfort zone and and make you wonder why bands haven’t been making music like this for a while. A solid listen and an even better live show if you get the chance.
#2) Mastodon – Crack The Skye
A heavy-metal record that talks about souls entering the body of the Russian mystic Rasputin? Sign me up! Crack The Skye is a massive record that only has seven songs on it for fear that should you listen to more your head may explode. Ranging from the single “Divinations” to the four part epic “The Czar”, Mastodon comes crashing down on your head with the guitar stylings of Brett Hinds and the drums of Brann Dailor. This is a record that requires repeat listening in order to get the references and because it’s just that good.
#1) Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vutures
One word is needed to describe this album: Monster. The “supergroup” consisting of Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme on vocals and guitar, the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl smashing the drums and legendary Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones equals a concoction unlike any other.
From the first track, “Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I”, the album takes your auditory canals and all your other senses on a rock music roller coaster. From songs like “New Fang” and “Scumbag Blues” to the groove of a tune like “Gunman”, you’re never really sure what to expect from the music. It doesn’t follow the rules of the radio single (3:35 minutes with a verse/chorus/verse set up), but rather it’s like your invited to an exclusive jam session.
The album came out in November but the hype and build up surrounding it began almost at a fever pitch in the middle of 2009 and it definitely didn’t disappoint. It’s one of the few records that I’ve listened to on a daily basis and I still can’t get bored of it.
So there you go. We humbly present our top 5 albums of the year 2009. Please feel free to discuss and let us know what you think of our little list. This was no easy task as there were a lot of great records that came out this year. But these five, we felt, best represented the top of the rock music world this time around.
Tags: Animal Collective, Mastodon, Muse, The Dead Weather, Them Crooked Vultures
December 21st, 2009 at 12:11 am
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