End of 2009: 40 – 31

And the list goes on…

40. Andrew jackson Jihad – Can’t  Maintain (Asian Man Recordings)

What? Folkpunk opens their bloody doors to wider horizons.

Andrew Jackson Jihad have made my list before in 2007, cause back then they made a huge impression on me with their Fuck-in-your-face Folk punk. The songs were about murders, misantropy and other difficult words that we can’t spell properly. This year they have released at least 2 albums (but I think more), which shows progression in the musical genre. ‘Can’t Maintain’ is no longer 1.2.3 and then 2 minutes of guitar ragging, but it’s got trumpets and kazoos, and all other instruments. They seemed to have traded in some energy for empathy (i just say that because it sounds good, it does not make sense), and made a good album while doing so. Is that the Mountain Goats yelling “This is our sound!”?

Andrew Jackson Jihad – Sense, Sensibility

39.  Haruko – Wild Geese (Bracken Records)

What? The usual folky woman in my list.

I think that if you compare all my end-of-year lists, you will always find at least 1 folky woman in it. Although I can remember that I once said to one of my friends that I don’t listen to female singers that often (I really don’t), the female artist I do listen to, are mostly mesmerizing. Haruko certainly is. I must admit: I don’t know much more about her, and I haven’t listened to ‘Wild Geese’ that often, cause I only discovered it late in the year. But after a first listen, I decided that it HAD to be in the list. That doesn’t happen that often. For fans of Alela Diane, Mariee Sioux and the rest of the bunch.

Haruko – Goodbye My Love, Goodbye

38. Volcano Choir – Unmap (Jagjaguwar)

What? Justin Vernon’s trip down memory lane

I wonder if ‘Unmap’ would ever had been released if Bon Iver hadn’t been so famous? It wouldn’t be completely fair, cause I’m pretty sure that this album will eventually prove to be more timeless than ‘For Emma, Ever Again’, although that could be because we’ve played that last album a time too many. Volcano Choir is too experimental for most people I guess, with songs that don’t have a chorus or just are based upon sounds, but that also means that there is much more to discover by each listen. Everytime I listen to this, it seems that it’s something I’ve never heard before, like some strange new species that looks a lot like a crane bird or a dog, but just not fits the description.

Volcano Choir – Island, Is

37. Gregory Alan Isakov – This Empty Northern Hemisphere (self-released)

What? Heartbreaking singersongwriter eternity

We’ve been doing for about a century now, or even longer, and still people can pull it off to be amazing. Just making simple songs with guitar and sparse instrumentation, and then still getting to the core of things. Gregory Alan Isakov is a name that has to be known by everyone who loves singersongwriters, because he’s one of the best out there, but no one has any clue about who he is. He doesn’t even have a label (order his cd on CD Baby). The songs are heartwarming, without ever being all that special or weird. Just songs. I like that at times.

Gregory Alan Isakov – Evelyn

36. The Cave Singers – Welcome Joy ( Matador Records)

What? Beard fights!

The beard has become a fashion statement in the indie scene. It separates the city slickers from the hippies, it separates the cool poppunk-sound from the folky-rock sound. It is probably no surprise that the Cave Singers have beards.  Next to folky songs with banjos, they have foot stomping folkrock. oh my oh my, what an amount of foot stomping I have done listening to ‘Welcome Joy’. So hard that my foot has turned into a stomp. Am I by the only one who sometimes has to think of Kings of Leon?

Cave Singers – At the Cut

35. Dent May & His Ukelele – The Good Feeling Music Of Dent May and His Ukelele (Paw tracks)

What? Melo-drama on a ukelele

Guys who play the ukelele are wussies (I play one too, so I’m allowed to say that). They are dreamers, who make cut-out hearts and spread them anonymously in the streets, hoping to find their true love this way. Dent May sounds in love. He’s actually the twin brother of Jens Lekman, who can be sooo amazingly corny that you feel ashamed in his place. But that doesn’t mean it’s not good music. Dent May is this guy who walks in the streets of Paris with Jens Lekman and Stephan Merritt. Actually, a lot of songs of this album could have been one of the 69 tracks on ’69 Lovesongs’ by Magnetic Fields. Oh, and the canary loves this the most so far.

Dent May – Oh Paris!

34. Julie Doiron – I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day (Jagjaguwar Records)

What? Great-Grandmother of female singer-songwriters waves at Kimya Dawson on the bus

Julie Doiron is special to me, but in some weird kind of way none of her previous albums was good enough to end up at my end-of-years list. But this one…oh my, there are no fillers here. It sounds all amazing. It’s especially fun to hear how she pulls out the electric guitar once in a while, to end up with a song that grabs you by the balls (and who doesn’t love that, especially if it’s Julie Doiron). She seems to sound a bit more like Kimya Dawson, with that difference that Doiron can sing. Doesn’t the song Consolation Prize by the way sound like something by Of Montreal?

Julie Doiron – Consolation Prize

33. Intelligence – Fake surfers (In The Red Records)

What? We hired a garage and made ourselves look like retards

Intelligence hired a garage and then made songs the way they have to sound when you’re making songs in a garage. Actually my first plan was to put Eat skull and Intelligence next to each other on spot 33, because of their fake feud this year, but actually ‘Fake Surfers’ was just a bit more convincing than the Eat Skull-record. So flatten your hair, put on your corduroy trousers and dance the polka, you golly fellows.

Intelligence – Moody Tower

32. Deer Tick – Born On Flag Day (Partisan Records)

What? cowboys don’t cry.

Bob Dylan made a christmas album. Fuck. Enough with that senile guy already. No matter how much people say it’s quite good, as soon as you start making christmas albums, you are off my list. Then you’ve got Richmond Fontaine, who didn’t really impress me with their newest album. Luckily there is Deer Tick, who manage to find the perfect balance between Countrysongs and Rocksongs. I guess the singer’s voice has got a lot to do with that. He sounds as if he smoked a pack of cigarettes (and by that, i mean the package instead of the cigarettes). Every album his voice gets rougher and rougher.

Deer Tick – Hell On Earth

31. Phosphorescent – To Willie (Dead Oceans)

What? Even more cowboys!

A Willie Nelson coveralbum! Yihaaa! Phosphorescent turned away from multilayered melancholy and made this album inbetween. You know how cowboys sound. I went to see their show in Antwerp last year, and ran into a colleague there. Then the show started and a couple of days later, the colleague came to me and said “what the hell was that? I felt like I ended up in a redneck bar”. He didn’t enjoy that, but well, he enjoyed the awful opening act (that’s the reason he was there even), so I didn’t take him all that serious. This album is fun.

Phosphorescent – Reasons To Quit

2008 Galore!, pt. Almost there: 20 -11

So, another addition to my big list. I’ve already started listening to stuff from 2009 (hello Andrew Bird), and some albums that maybe could end up in the 2008-list if i’d made it next year, but right now, we’ll just keep on going.

20. Scary Mansion – Every Joke is Half The Truth (Zum Records)

Sounds like: There can never be enough Early Cat Power-clones, if they are as good as this.

Scary Mansion is probably unknown to most of you, but that’s absolutely blasphemous of all of you (well, that’s not the right word here, but it gives my message more strength). Scary mansion is like a scary mansion, but warming and emotional at the same tmie. It’s one of those albums that you listen to a first time and think “god, this is not really special”, and then  a second time “wow, this is pretty good”, until you end up finding it better than the original. For everyone who doesn’t like Cat Power’s career change. A bit of PJ Harvey t0o sometimes.

Scary Mansion – Go To Hell

19.  These United States – A Picture Of The Three Of Us At The Gate to the Garden of Eden/Crimes (United Interests => Self-released)

Sounds like: soothing folkpop that makes people feel warm in cold days.

There is something amazingly calming in the voice of These United States’ vocal parts. I’m too lazy to look up who the singer is, but his voice seems always in doubt, and that sounds kinda cool. A bit like the Shaky Hands debut album last year, although this is even better. At least the ” A Picture Of the Three…”-album. I haven’t listen enough to Crimes, which got released later this year.  Very Nice guys, and the fact that Paleo plays along, is just another Hooray for These united States extra

These United States – At First Sight

18.  She & Him – Vol. 1 (Merge Records)

Sounds like: M. ward just adding a little magic to an already amazing album.

I know this album is mostly the effort of actress Zooey Deschanel (who looks amazingly cute in ‘A Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy’, that just as a male chauvinist pig sidenote). Anyway, She & Him is more she, and its incredibly warm songs make this album stand out from similar stuff that may got released over the years. That’s the M. Ward-production. (Is it obvious that i don’t have much to say about this album)

I’m not gonna give an mp3, cause you can fully stream the album here.

17. Mother Mother – Oh Mighty Heart ( Last Gang Records)

Sounds Like: The Easy to Get Version of THe Fiery Furnaces

Mother Mother really isn’t the sort of music i normally listen to, but i get completely hooked by this jumpy indie rock where man and woman fight each other most of the time.  IT’s something that could be very famous in Indie world if it just gets enough attention by bloggers. So let’s start the hype. Mother Mother, go listen you hip indiecrowd. Goddamnit.

Mother Mother – Body Of Years

16.  Adam Green – Sixes And Sevens (Rough Trade)

Sounds Like: The Childish Version of Frank Sinatra does it again.

I must admit: I’m kind of fond of the puberal wit of Adam Green. I used to when he was still in The Moldy Peaches, and I still do now that he’s this crooner with dirty songs. I know many people hate this guy, but he’s still the guy who gave the most entertaining show i’ve ever seen. (Gotta love his dance moves). Anyway, his previous album wasn’t that good, but on Sixes And Sevens he tries some other directions in some songs, and they all turn out great. The Panflute in “You Get So Lucky” is fucking awesome. (Never knew i would say that about a pan flute)

Adam Green – You Get So Lucky

15. Goldmund – The Malady of Elegance (Type Records)

Sounds like: The piano sounds to a trip in a never ending forest

Goldmund is the pianoproject of the guy from Helios, and he beats other neo-classical piano hero Max Richter this year with his album ‘The Malady of Elegance’. Piano music is something you shouldn’t be talking about if you don’t know anything about it, but just listen and enjoy. From the Great Type Records.

Goldmund – in A Notebook

14. Miss Autopsy – The Hill  (Lens Records)

Sounds like: people should really start taking my advice about this eerie nihilist singer-songwriter.

I’ve written about Miss Autopsy before on my blog, i’ve written a review about him in Gonzo Circus, i’ve told people to buy them on daMusic, and i’ll put them on the number 14-spot in my 2008 list. No, The Guy hasn’t given me any money to promote his music, but this is just a very underappreciated album. Maybe i should start to spread it on blogs and hope all those people listening to it will eventually buy it. Anyway, miss autopsy, you better go and listen now.  (also a great experiment to see how i can start a hype).

Miss Autopsy – The Doctor

Miss Autopsy – The Telephone Song

13. Chauchat – Upon Thousands (Yer Bird Records)

Sounds like: Your nineties indie gloom, good for the holidays and to beat hte financial crisis

Chauchat is the dark version of nineties bands like Built To Spill and Pedro The Lion. The guitars are sad (and loud at times),  and is really really underappreciated. They have released some albums for free on last.fm (downloadable too) and with what seems to be their first proper release on a label, they should be getting praise from all of you. But no, you just shut up and listen to all those daft bands. (yes, i’m in a very judging mood). So, beg for forgiveness and listen to the amazing songs from these indie-retro band. Sadcore.

Chauchat –  Fight Obscurity

12. David Karsten Daniels – Fear of Flying (Fat Cat Records)

Sounds like: Your average bible Belt-singersongwriter

Whether David Karsten DAniels believes in God or not, is not sure, but he at least struggles with faith. That was obvious in his previous album, and is so in this album too. He does that with a similar grandeur of Sufjan Stevens, although his songs are less all over the place (more like seven swans). He was in my list last year too, so this seems to be someone who’ll stay put in my musical favourites.

DAvid Karsten DAniels – Oh, Heaven Isn’t Real

11. Ghost Bees – Tasseomancy  (Youth Club)

Sounds like: Alela Diane & Mariee Sioux & Other neofolk female singers , Joanna Newsom

The Songs on ‘Tasseomancy’ have the grandeur of the songs on Joanna Newsom’s Ys. They Really have. It’s a bit musical-storylike telling. And because all of you voted that album to the number one spot in 2006, you should all be finding this amazing. folk, 2 girls, a lot of instrumentation. Wonderful.

Ghost Bees – Erl King

So, still ten to go.

Exciting!