MGMT goes Wavves (Congratulations album art)

Because surf punk is the new freak funk.



I think this song leaked or something.

Late to the Party: The Antlers - Hospice

I try, but I can't keep up with every single album that comes out. Hospice came out last August and I haven't heard it until this past week.

I would definitely have put this in my best albums of 2009 post if I had heard it sooner. I mean it's at least better than that Dirty Projectors album.

It's sorta half post-rock. For the most part, it sounds like a post-rock record except it has more lyrics and a bit more conventional song writing than the average Godspeed album. It sounds like a movie.




Amazon / eMusic / MySpace / Free MP3s of the band's older music

The 63 Best Indie Albums of the 00's

 Making a list of the best albums of an entire decade is a bit different than doing one for a single year. With single year best of lists, you can just throw whatever albums you feel like in and say "Who cares? It's just a trivial year-end list." but with decade lists you have to be at least partially objective.

  You never realize how long a decade is until you're making a list of albums and you're like, "Should I include Bright Eyes? I mean, nobody listens to it now, but we used to." Ten years is a long time, man.

  Then, there's always that "What really should be considered indie?" question. For this list I've used the "any good alternative music, that's not Radiohead" definition.

  The 00's were crazy. So crazy we don't even know what we're calling it. Some say "naughts", others say "aughts". Me? I'm just using 00's because it works well in text form and is relatively idiot proof. For the first time, you could had unlimited access to all music ever and didn't have to worry about paying for it or anything. You can spend weeks just digging through music websites trying to find something new and amazing.

  That said, I feel like these are my favorite indie albums of the past decade:

(See the full list after the jump.)

63. Everything All the Time - Band of Horses

62. One Beat - Sleater-Kinney

63. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys

60. Boys and Girls in America - The Hold Steady

59. Domestica - Cursive

58. Summer in Abaddon - Pinback

57. Nouns - No Age

56. Oh, Inverted World - The Shins

55. Murray Street - Sonic Youth

54. Atlas - Battles

53. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix

52. Microcastle - Deerhunter

51. Give Up - The Postal Service

The 10 Best Indie Albums of 2009

It seems like all I do is lists now. I'm tired of doing them and I'm sure some of you are tired of reading them, but it's my responsibility to do at least 10 best of lists at the end of each year AND I haven't even started on all those decade lists. Blogging is harder than you think.

So here's what I thought were the best indie albums of 2009. The year was pretty good. (Especially after last year. 2008 sucked. I mean seriously, Fleet Foxes is great and all if you're in the mood for it, but if you're not, it sucks.)

10. Logos - Atlas Sound

Yeah, the cover sucks.

9. Catacombs - Cass McCombs

For some reason my internet is being slow. Uploading all these album covers is not as easy as it should be.

8. Post-Nothing - Japandroids

Cool band name. 

 












7. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix

Remember The Faint? Phoenix is kind of like The Faint only a lot poppier. Eh, maybe not.

6. Embryonic - The Flaming Lips

5. ...For the Whole World to See - Death


I still can't believe this was recorded in 1975. Not really indie, but whatever.

4. Album - Girls

3. Farm - Dinosaur Jr

When most bands reunite or keep putting out music when they're old, it usually sucks. Dinosaur Jr's latest two albums are a notable exception. 

2. Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective

I think I misspelled it. Oh well.

Animal Collective does it again! They make another awesome album that sounds different than all their other albums, but is still as awesome as the rest of their albums.

The trippy album art is pretty cool too.

1. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear

I'm pretty sure I misspelled this one too. Why can't bands make their albums easier to spell? I mean the whole elitism thing about hard to spell albums felt tired years ago.

I remember when this album leaked. I was like "Meh, MPP is better." but now I'm like "MPP is okay but it's not the best Animal Collective album. That new Grizzly Bear album grows on you after repeated listening."