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Ohmpark’s Top 40 Albums of The Decade
I wouldn’t claim this is the most comprehensive list of the ’00’s best albums, but everything on here I consider part of the canon. I spent months and months obsessed with each and every record on this list. These albums helped shape my music taste. They define a generation that might have produced the best art in pop music history. Here’s one last list:
Click here to read the entire post…
- Posted by Davy Minor on January 10, 2010 at 7:36 pm
- 1 Comment
Ohmpark’s Top 50 Albums of 2009
As this decade comes to a close, there is no doubt it will be remembered for the rise of Indie music and the enormous influence the Internet has had on the course of music history. 10 years ago the independent music scenes of the United States were fragmented by location and genre. But thanks to technology, they have all coalesced into one huge melting pot phenomenon unlike any other before it. There was no giant explosion as with underground scenes of the past. It was a slow, steady crawl that still goes unnoticed today by a large portion of pop culture despite unlikely widespread commercial success from weirdos like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear. And thus 2009 marks the high point so far in this golden age of music. The money may be draining out of the industry faster and faster, but the art is getting better, and there’s a whole lot more of it.
Last year I felt other Blogelites’ end of year lists were rewarding commercial viability over music quality and I was worried that Indie music as whole may have been moving towards the mainstream a little too much. It turns out my slight pessimism may have been unfounded, at least for now. This year I agree with the hipster consensus picks for the most part, and my list lines up with others’ lists much more so than in the past two years. I still think things are moving in a poppier direction overall, but that may not be all that bad of a thing if it results in albums like Merriweather Post Pavilion, Veckatimest, and Bitte Orca, all of which were the most accessible efforts to date from their respective artists. You have to figure this Indie thing is going to eventually burn out and something else is going to come along, but so far there is no sign of it slowing. I continue to suspect that there is something fundamentally different about this music movement than its predecessors.
Up until this year, one phenomenon that was prevalent in former scenes that was not a primary characteristic of the Indie world was artists collaborating and teaming up with one another. But in 2009, that seemed to change. Two of the greatest compilations of all time came out this year, Dark Night of The Soul & Dark Was The Night. Both Dark comps featured a vast cast of Indie stars all working together in new configurations, and the music world began to fell a little smaller and more tightly knit together. You had My Brightest Diamond joining The Decemberists and Beach House joining Grizzly Bear. There was Karen O’s Kids, there was the Monsters of Folk, there was Zach Hill working with as many artists as he can. Certainly there have been plenty of team-ups before, but this year it just felt different to me.
Last year’s trend was the No Agey distortion lo-fi sound, and that bled into 2009 for a bit helping propel Wavves into Indie celebrity. This year’s trend would be “chill-wave”, characterized by bands like Real Estate, Neon Indian, and Washed Out. This stuff sounds nice, but for the most part it is way too boring to amount to anything more than a passing fad.
Even though I agree with the P4kish lists more this year, I still think there are plenty of overrated records getting way too much love. Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Fever Ray bored me to death. Girls was good for a crappy punk record, but that’s like winning the Special Olympics. The new Baroness was weak, and I think people were overcompensating for overlooking the stellar 2007 Red Album. And you’ll find my list absent of any hip-hop records for the first time, as I could not find a single one that felt special. I absolutely hate that I cannot find anything worthwhile in a genre I used to love, but all I hear is unimaginative garbage or borrowed styles done better 15 years ago. One thing that always appealed to me about hip-hop was how one beat and one rhyme could express so much, but now I feel this style is overwrought with limitations and constricting expectations. Innovators could always come along and revive this thing, but right now I don’t hear a heartbeat.
In years past, I flexed my writing muscles by doing individual write-ups for all 50 albums on my list, but this year I decided to spare you readers the overkill. For the most part, I’ve already said everything I want to about these records, and if I haven’t the other 5 billion bloggers sure have. Enjoy the final product of a year’s worth of research:
Click here to read the entire post…
- Posted by Davy Minor on December 29, 2009 at 7:13 am
- 3 Comments
2009 In Pictures – Part 2: Photos by Kevin Griggs
Abby Go Go:
A Fight To The Death:
Atlas Moth:
Attention System:
Book of Colors: Click here to read the entire post…
- Posted by Kevin Griggs on December 23, 2009 at 4:34 am
- 1 Comment
2009 In Pictures – Part 1: Photos by Clint Miller
Baroness:
Boris:
Hawks:
Dan Deacon:
Wilco: Click here to read the entire post…
- Posted by Clint Miller on December 21, 2009 at 7:13 pm
- No Comments
Ohmpark’s Top 10 EPs of 2009
10. Deastro: Grower
9. Washed Out: Life Of Leisure
8. Bibio: The Apple & The Tooth
7. Tealights: Take Us By Sea
6. No Age: Losing Feeling
5. Deerhunter: Rainwater Cassette Exchange
4. Destroyer: Bay of Pigs
3. Animal Collective: Fall Be Kind
2. Au: Versions
1. The Octopus Project: Golden Beds
- Posted by Davy Minor on December 19, 2009 at 1:00 am
- 1 Comment
Ohmpark’s Top 10 Favourite Concerts of 2009
I try my best to be as objective as possible on all of my other lists, but this one is completely about my subjective experience. Of the roughly 70 days I caught a show this year, here are my ten faves:
10. Animal Collective @ State Theater
This show set a new personal record in distance driven to see a single show all by myself. Driving to St. Pete, Florida, waiting outside in the line for hours, and hating the opener made this a steep price for a concert. But when Animal Collective came out and put on the best show I’ve seen them do, it was all well worth it.
Videos, Photos, and Review Here
9. Saturday @ SXSW
Photos by Clint Miller
I spent the final day of South By Southwest this year hustling as hard as I could to take in the last moments of the festival. After I caught a great Crystal Antlers set, I sprinted across Austin to see The Dirty Projectors for the first time. Then, Clint and I both jogged across the river to see Explosions In The Sky’s 10th anniversary show, capped off by a huge fireworks display. It was the exclamation point on an amazing spring break.
Videos, Photos, and Review Here
8. The Other Sound
Photos by Kevin Griggs
This was Atlanta’s best single day lineup of local acts of the year, plus it had Yo La Tengo. It seemed like all the superstars made it out to represent at this one despite the terrible weather, and I had an absolute blast getting blasted.
7. St. Vincent @ Ambient Studios
The setting for this show was so weird. It was sponsored by a car company, located in a classy warehouse space in a horrible part of town, and there were as many police and security people as there were audience members. This was my third time catching St. Vinny live over the course of the year, and it was still totally mind-blowing.
6. Ponytail @ 529
Photos by Clint Miller
I didn’t really know what to expect from this show, as I only sort of liked their album. But they were one of the most thrilling live acts I’ve seen in a long time. Just crazy intensity. It was also one of my first times at 529, which has since become one of my favourite bars, so this was completely good times.
5. Evangelicals, This Piano Plays Itself, Sound On Film @ Drunken Unicorn
Photos by Kevin Griggs
Evangelicals might be the most underrated band in the world right now. In the five times I have caught them live, this was the best I’ve seen, plus both local acts on the bill were wholly impressive. As a bonus, the Evangelicals kids came and hung out at an after-show house party, so it was a legendary night of ‘09.
4. Friday @ Harvest Of Hope
Harvest Of Hope featured some great sets, like Summerbirds In The Cellar, Deerhunter, and Health, but what made this festival special to me was the overall experience. I went by myself and ended up meeting a ton of fun of people. The biggest highlight of the weekend for me was the chaotic, insane party in the campgrounds the first night, of which I’ve never seen anything like.
3. Wednesday @ SXSW
Photos by Clint Miller
We started Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day drinking beer and watching the parade in Savannah and then hit the road that afternoon without stopping until we hit South By. We ended up making it within minutes of catching Anathallo kick off the fest for us at noon Wednesday. That night we got to see wonderful sets from M Ward, Department of Eagles, St. Vincent, and Camera Obscura in a church while sitting next to Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear. Such an Indiegasm!
Photos, Videos, and Review Here
2. This Piano Plays Itself @ Detroit House Party
Just about every night of the three weeks I tagged along on This Piano Plays Itself’s summer tour was memorable, but the best show was definitely a Saturday night house party in Detroit. The set was rough and every person in the room was wasted out of their minds, but the crowd and the band were feeding off each others’ energy, and the entire night was just a total rager. This little tour run will probably go down as one of the funnest experiences of my entire life.
1. Friday @ Bonnaroo
The best day of music all year came on Friday of Bonnaroo. In only a matter of hours, I saw the three best live indie acts of 2009: The Dirty Projectors, St. Vincent, and Grizzly Bear. I was up close and under the proper amount of intoxication for all three. To close out such a perfect day, that night Phish played the one song I had been wanting to hear live for 10 years.
- Posted by Davy Minor on December 17, 2009 at 6:28 am
- 3 Comments
Ohmpark’s Top 20 Atlanta Albums Of 2009
Most of the time in this city, bands rise and fall based on who they know and how exciting they are live. But for this list, I’ve considered only what is contained on their recordings. Over the course of the year I’ve given roughly 75 records from inside the perimeter a spin, and these are the essential twenty that I recommend listening to most. There are actually many records that I really liked that just missed the cut, so this was very tough to piece together, especially the final spots.
Looking at this list and comparing it back to my favourite local stuff over the two years before, it’s apparent that music in this city just keeps getting better. Atlanta’s independent music scene is running deeper than ever both in terms of quality and quantity of music being produced. Outside of Brooklyn, you’d need quite a compelling argument to convince me anywhere else in America has a better scene right now. Promising young bands keep popping up out of nowhere, and the veterans keep delivering the goods. It sure makes my job here a lot easier to have so much great music to blog about.
On a technical note, anything that has been released over the holidays I’m grouping in with my 2010 lists, and so a couple of albums on this list were released over the holidays last year. Take a gander:
20. Noot d’ Noot: Cash For Gold
19. Harken The Hands Askew: Thou
18. Slushco: Sometime Tonight
17. Sound On Film: The Eloquent Reginald
16. Thy Mighty Contract: Thy Mighty Contract
15. Club Awesome: Dynamos
14. Jungol: Places
13. Lee Harvey Oswald: Lee Harvey Oswald
12. The Selmanaires: Tempo Temporal
11. Tealights: Take Us By Sea
10. Deerhunter: Rainwater Cassette Exchange
9. Slushco: The Silver Surface Demos
8. The Orphins: Wish You Well
7. Mastodon: Crack The Skye
6. Lotus Plaza: Floodlight Collective
5. From Exile: Monolith
4. Nomen Novum: Paradises
3. Untied States: Instant Everything, Constant Nothing
2. Atlas Sound: Logos
1. Nomen Novum: November
In the Atlanta music scene, 2009 was the year of Nomen Novum. While most musicians take a whole year to scrap together enough decent songs to fill a good EP, the prolific Nomen Novum were able to drop two virtually perfect full-lengths, plus a great live EP, and they’re already posting new stuff to their myspace.
Although, all five records at the top of my list were legitimate contenders for Atlanta album of the year, and I would have probably been content with any ordering between them. The other 3 records to round out my top 5 each happened to be crafted over about 2 years, and the extra time and care in putting them together just right payed off. A big mistake I notice younger bands make is trying to push out a record too quickly on some arbitrary time scale and in the end get stuck with something that is less than what they are capable of producing. Atlas Sound, Untied States, and From Exile all spent more time than they probably wanted to on their respective albums, but the extra effort was well worth it in the end.
Looking back over this list after I finished it, I noticed that it is almost entirely dominated by veterans of the scene, and mostly by artists I was already familiar with before starting this blog. There is only one true first recording from its respective musicians to make the list. If I were to make a “Best Atlanta Artists of the Decade” shortlist, most of those artists would have an album included on this list, so I feel like it is a good snapshot of not just where the scene is at today, but where it has been heading for the latter part of the ’00s. There is so much diversity in sound and so much talent in this city, and if you have any interest at all in Atlanta’s music scene, don’t let anything on this list slip by you, because all twenty are well worth giving a listen.
- Posted by Davy Minor on December 13, 2009 at 10:20 pm
- 3 Comments
Photos: Tealights, Venice Is Sinking, This Piano Plays Itself @ The Earl (11/9/09)
This Piano Plays Itself:
Click here to read the entire post…
- Posted by Kevin Griggs on December 13, 2009 at 3:35 pm
- No Comments
