sexy japanese favorite music of 2009

Well, Facebook has done it: not only has it totally eclipsed MySpace, but it has taken over nearly the entire internet (at least the interesting part). Blogging has become a remnant of Web 2.0, made passé by Twitter -- a key player in FB's success, the midwife of microbloggery. You can only give Twitter so much credit; all you have to do is load FB and you can see what are essentially tweets from all your friends, plus you can play games (erg!) and share your media-related preferences. Oh, but don't get me wrong, I think Facebook's great! I'm just noticing a trend I want to exploit. Which is where this post comes in. Now that the limelight is off of blogging, I want to make a new year's resolution to bring the blog back to life -- after all, being unselfconscious is a major boon to creativity. Here's to blogging, now an outmoded technology, the internet's newest equivalent to ham radio.

So here's my list of my favorite albums of the year. They're not in any order, at least not exoterically. There probably will be more added as other year-end lists pile up, as always seems to happen. Originally I intended to make a favorites of the decade, with far more detail. That may yet happen; but, uh, for now here's this! Enjoy!


Broadcast & The Focus Group: Broadcast & the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
Ok, I lied right off: this is my favorite album this year. Like walking through Emily Dickinson's brain while she's lying in a field high on mushrooms. Track 21, "Let It Begin/Oh Joy" is... well, that pretty much sums it up.


Yesterdays New Quintet: Angles Without Edges
Madlib plays all the instruments in the jazz quintet in his mind. As far as the flavor of his jazz, it's somewhere between post-funk and, uh, post-post-post-bop?


Medeski, Martin & Wood: Radiolarians 3
Track two, "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down," starts like Cecil Taylor summoning Beelzebub, and transmogrifies into a raucous spiritual. Good times!


Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
"My Girls," ecstatic soundtrack of summer. This might be the secret best album, just don't tell Broadcast.


Tyondai Braxton: Central Market
Anthony's kid makes a good bid for a name in modern ensemble composition. You can tell from the title of "Uffe's Woodshop" that this album sounds like a cuckoo clock, in the mind of Emily Dickinson, lying in a field, still out of her mind on mushrooms.


Vijay Iyer: Historicity
American/Indian (not Amerindian) jazz pianist works out his own versions of some great songs, including some by Stevie Wonder, Julius Hemphill (my favorite) and... M.I.A? Well, it works. Original compositions also included! See store for details!


Nisennenmondai: Destination Tokyo
Their name means, roughly, Y2K bug. Girl-group from Japan's excursions into post-no wave territories.

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tUnE-YaRdS: Bird-brains
Who? So lo-fi, their allmusic entry says their album sales have already broken the thousand dollar mark! Congratulations, kids! Sweet arpeggiated guitar melodies, strange found sounds here & there. Beautiful.


Swan Lake: Enemy Mine
I love Dan Bejar. That is all. Ok, two more words: Warlock Psychologist.


A Hawk & a Hacksaw: Délivrance
Neutral Milk Hotel's drummer goes on a folksploration, comes back with eastern European jam band; sounds like the best Romanian wedding party you've ever been to.