Champion
sounds and the
reject-pile-bound

The Mirror’s music critics select the
best and worst of 2009

HOT TOPIC: Flaming Lips

by MIRROR MUSIC STAFF

Rupert Bottenberg

Top 10 albums
The Flaming LipsEmbryonic (Warner)
King Khan & the Shrines What Is?! (Vice)
Major Lazer Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do (Mad Decent/Downtown)
Dengue Fever Sleepwalking Through the Mekong CD/DVD (M80)
Madness The Liberty of Norton Folgate (Yep Roc/Outside)
Ocote Soul Sounds & Adrian Quesada Coconut Rock (ESL/Select)
Bonjay Gimme Gimme EP (independent)
Giri Kedaton Projet Bali X (independent)
Music Go Music Expressions (Secretly Canadian/Sonic Unyon)
The Slew 100% (Puget Sound/Outside)

Bottom 3 albums
Air Love 2 (Virgin/EMI)
Booker T Potato Hole (Anti-/FAB)
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson Break Up (Atco/Warner)

Best Song: Madness, “Idiot Child”
Worst Song: Brokencyde, “Freaxxx”
Best Show: The Ex & Getatchew Mekuria, la Sala Rossa, Sept. 16
Worst Show: n/a

“The ragged yet sturdy grind, crunch and stomp of elder Dutch anarcho-punks the Ex dovetailed exquisitely with the searing North African mystery skronk of venerable Ethiopian sax-meister Mekuria for a show that was far more than the sum of its parts. Those parts also included a thrilling clarinet tantrum and, to the amazement of all, the Ethiopian dancer—a quivering, quadruple-jointed khat freak in a ferocious frenzy. “Show” is too mundane a term for this event. It was a mystical, mind-melting maelstrom of transcendental tones and timbres.”

Jonathan Cummins

Top 10 albums
Elvis Costello and the Attractions Live at the El Mocambo (Universal)
Nadja The Bungled & the Botched (Blocks)
Sunn O))) Monoliths and Dimensions (Southern Lord)
Baroness Blue Record (Relapse)
Do Make Say Think Other Truths (Constellation)
Overmars Born Again (Crucial Blast)
Wolves in the Throne Room Black Cascade (Southern Lord)
Oneida Rated O (Jagjaguwar)
Shrinebuilder self-titled (Neurot)
Mono Hymn to the Immortal Wind (Temporary Residence)

Bottom 3 albums
Stereos self-titled (Universal)
Lynryd Skynryd God and Guns (Roadrunner)
Hedley The Show Must Go (Universal)

Best Song: Nadja, “The Bungled and the Botched”
Worst Song: Stereos, “Summer Girl”

Best Show: Jesus Lizard, le National, Nov. 13
Worst Show: Nadja, Casa Del Popolo, Sept. 16

“Although Wolves in the Throne Room’s performance at Sala Rossa in the spring was particularly devastating, and the Ex with Getachew Mekuria had me squealing with glee, Jesus Lizard really had me electrified and proved one last time that they are still the most unsung band in rock. On the other hand, through no fault of their own, Nadja at Casa was just a bummer in the summer. Hoping to get my codeine nod on, the sound man’s insistence on keeping the volume at hush levels really grounded what should’ve been a searing night of drone and slow-moving psych.”

THE KIDS AREN’T ALRIGHT:
Brokencyde

Lorraine Carpenter

Top 10 albums
The Raveonettes In and Out of Control (Vice)
You Say Party! We Say Die! XXXX (Paper Bag)
Neko Case Middle Cyclone (Anti-)
Deerhunter Microcastle (Kranky/4AD)
Bat for Lashes Two Suns (Echo)
Grizzly Bear Veckatimest (Warp)
Handsome Furs Face Control (Sub Pop)
The XX self-titled (Young Turks)
The Veils Sun Gangs (Rough Trade)
Franz Ferdinand Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (Sony)

Bottom 3 albums
The Decemberists The Hazards of Love (Capitol/EMI)
Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band Outer South (Merge)
Regina Spektor Far (Sire/Warner)

Best Song: Revolucian, “Bale Out”
Worst Song: Katy Perry, “Waking Up in Vegas”

Best Show (tie): Glasvegas, la Tulipe, April 2/Grizzly Bear, le National, June 4
Worst Show: Jane’s Addiction at Lollapalooza, Chicago, Aug. 9

“Pop Montreal hosted my favourite show of the year, when Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds stormed the Metropolis. Things did start off a bit ugly, though, with local opener Tam, whose monotone vocals were submerged under her bar-rock pick-up band’s retread grunge, which was as interesting as watching paint dry. Tam did manage to shake her stupor at the end, fucking up the words and arrangement to “Anarchy in the U.K.,” soaking members of the audience with her beer and taunting them before receiving a storm of boos. At least she gave bloggers and the local press something to talk about. Cave then took the stage and really yinged Tam’s yang with the razzle-dazzle only he can deliver. Even with his trusty sidekick Blixa Bargeld no longer to stage right, Cave and Dirty Three’s Warren Ellis were all smiles. With such a long, varied career, the set-list was jam-packed with plums that received new arrangements and seemed to be played with a newfound energy. This is what rock ’n’ roll is supposed to be like.”