Top Five Stellar Albums of 2009

Last week I blogged a list of 25 Stellar Albums of 2009 (and purposefully left out the last five). I saved the remaining five because they deserve the respect of a more focused blog post.

For this mix, I included 2 songs from each album. Enjoy!

5. "Reservoir" by Fanfarlo. In October of last year I traveled to New York for some job searching/networking. The week I went just so happened to be during the CMJ Festival. The College Media Journal week-long event is for college radio where "indie" bands (large and small) play showcases hosted by blogs, labels, promotion companies, etc. I saw Fanfarlo at a pre-CMJ party, and they blew my mind somewhere between the well organized songs and passionate singing. I swiftly went to find a copy of their debut album "Reservoir." It did not let me down. Some "indie" bands have this very egotistical "we're so much better than you and we're just in it for the money and the fame and the Pitchfork street cred." I didn't get that vibe from Fanfarlo's live show or from their album. The album sounds like the members put forth a passionate effort to make music they believe in, and the result is an album that sounds like they didn't have to try hard to make quality music. Fanfarlo can best be described as a more soothing, less chaotic, European Arcade Fire.

4. "Broken" by Soulsavers. Soulsavers first caught my ears with "It's not how far you fall, it's how you land" which included the beautiful single "Revival." "Broken," Soulsavers' third album and second to feature Mark Lanegan on vocals, was created in an attempt to create the live sound the band discovered when touring with Lanegan to promote "It's not how far..." The album continues the same dark path in the previous albums with even deeper journeys into folk, rock, gospel, trip-hop, and soul. Mark Lanegan is featured on most of the songs, but the album also features contributions from Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Jason Pierce, Mike Patton, Richard Hawley, Gibby Haynes, and a few songs featuring the beautiful voice of a young Australian singer who goes by the name "Red Ghost." The Soulsavers duo keeps the music tight, lush and incredibly well mixed with beautiful instrument production while Lanegan maintains a nice balance by adding his raspy, dark disposition.

3. "200 Years of Bad Luck" by Crippled Black Phoenix. CBP is composed of members of Mogwai and Electric Wixard. While the members come from a post-rock background and CBP is considered post-rock, the album has a few progressive rock elements thrown in. The songs range from sort of short to really long, and all are top quality. Songs like "Burnt Reynolds" and "Rise Up and Fight" have an epic, soulful rock sound while other songs like "Time of Yer Life / Born for Nothing / Paranoid Arm of Narcoleptic Empire" and "Wendigo" reflect the post-rock background with slow, icy strings and swirling guitar. In between songs there are also occasional Monty Python-esque circusy songs to balance out some of the darker tones.

2. "Cheer Me, Perverts!" by Flat Earth Society. I stumbled upon FES while looking for modern groups that reflect Frank Zappa-like personalities. Flat Earth Society is a jazz orchestra from Belgium. Unlike a lot of avant-garde jazz, Flat Earth Society is highly listenable, and nowhere as freaky as Sun Ra or John Zorn. The pieces are well arranged, making chaos sound like clockwork with the tight relationships between all of the instruments. It's an instrumental album, but you can tell that there is a sense of humor involved with the songwriting. The music is lighthearted yet incredibly cerebral. While this album may not be appreciated on the first listen by those unaccustomed to this style of jazz, it is definitely something that can grow on the active listener and very deserving of the #2 slot.

And finally... drumroll please...

1. "Troubadour" by K'naan. Somalian rapper K'naan blew me away with his incredibly raw and angry debut "The Dusty Foot Philosopher." "Troubadour" finds K'naan covering the same topics of the troubles of Somalia and mainstream rappers who act like gangsters but don't know shit. The difference between the two (fantastic) albums is that "Troubadour" has a much softer, more-produced sound. Now, there is a difference between a more-produced sound and an over-produced sound (cue anything T-Pain or the like). The difference with the two K'naan albums is that "Troubadour" reflects a more optimistic light than "Dusty Foot." It's a much happier sounding album, yet it is still addressing the issues K'naan is passionate about (like the Somalian pirates, growing up in a violent place as a kid, leaving his family behind, etc). I don't like one album over the other, but "Troubadour" definitely stands out as 2009's top album. K'naan sings beautifully and many different styles are explored along with other featured musicians such as Mos Def, Damian Marley and Kirk Hammett (Metallica's guitarist with a stunning solo featured in the re-working of "If Rap Gets Jealous" from K'naan's first album). The thing I probably love the most about "Troubadour" is that it sounds like a fantastic mainstream hip-hop album, yet it is socially, politically and culturally aware. It's real. Proving that music can be mainstream and can have some sort of fiber unlike 99% of music currently on the pop/rap charts.

I hope you get a chance to sample the 25 albums I've posted, and I hope I provided you with some new music to fall in love with.