Since the calendar has flipped to December, it’s made me think about not just how the past 12 months have gone in my life (in crazy and unpredictable ways, as usual) but it also reminds me that it’s time to put a list together. I know we’ve allllllllll been waiting for this and so it’s time to do “Josh’s top albums of the year” list. As opposed to last year’s list, this is going to be a top 5 one. There were apparently more new albums I got last year, which scares me a little bit because I don’t want to turn into, “Guy who’s settled into his music and no longer buys anything new because new music is weird/scary/stupid etc.” Anyway, I had a haaaard time even deciding on 5 so I though I should keep it at that…live with it.
However, before I get to #5, I wanted to say a word of two on a few that didn’t make it. I was looking forward to the New Flaming lips album, Embryonic, but at the end of the day it was a little too trippy for me (which is kind of saying something) and they have made a decided turn away from their style from earlier in the decade (so *not* anything like my fave, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, which is a shame) so they didn’t make it. I also had hopes for the Bad Lieutenant album, Never Cry Another Tear, which features Bernard Sumner of Joy Division and New Order fame. Even though I liked that was a surprisingly cooperative effort, most of the songs are good/fine enough, but nothing over the top so no dice there. And then, riiiiight at #6, was the Monsters of Folk (Jim James, M. Ward, Mike Mogis, and Conor Obest…look ‘em up) self titled album. The only real reason it didn’t get in was because of who I went with at #5. I liked the melding of four different music voices but at the end of the day, it turned out that one of these voices also put out his own album and so I went in that direction, which brings me to #5 so let’s get started…
Josh’s Top 5 albums of 2009: #5 Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band – Outer South
At the end of the day, I love Conor’s stuff and if I was going to choose between an album with a quarter of his songs next to one with 80% of his work (more on that in a minute) I was going to go with Outer South. His work as/with Bright Eyes is still some of my favorite musical moments from the past ten years and his first solo album (2008’s Conor Oberst) was in my top five last year so it’s no surprise I took rather well to this disc. Now I *did* mention this 80% business and one of things that threw people off when the album was released was that there are a few songs *not* written/sung by Conor on the disc (the audience is aghast). Now how are the results on that end? Mixed, I think. A few are perfectly great (Bloodline, Big Black Nothing, and Worldwide to name a few) although there’s a tune or two (Air Mattress and Snake Hill) sung by a guy who sounds a lot like the lead singer for Apples in Stereo and that’s not a compliment.
Now the Conor tunes are a slight progression from the last album although if you’re a Bright Eyes fan and hadn’t realized it, dude has changed gears although songs like Classic Cars (from the last Bright Eyes album, Cassadaga) would fit in perfectly with this set so it’s not a total about face. I think maybe some people would be bummed that his writing has moved away, to a degree, from hyper introspective songs to covering lots of other territory. I kind of think that you could into be *that* intense for so long before needing to move on artistically, if for no other reason than to gain some internal relief. Anyway, as for Outer South, as always it’s best to just take a listen or two so here are a few clips from the album:
Spoiled
Nicorette
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