Music
Blockhead—The Music Scene
Blockhead is a young grasshopper in the giant scheme of sampling but it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that he is approaching mastery. The Music Scene, his fourth solo album, can slay the mightiest of instrumental music snobs with its rolling rhythms, obscure vocal samples, and blending of genres. This is most obvious on a track like “The Daily Routine,” featuring street shouting that moves from a driving, devilish chant to a beautifully jazzy, almost Latin-like, rhythm and finally to a dreamy, electronic beat. The seamless interaction of these elements throughout the album is the mark of a genius.
—Lola Landekic
Girls—Album
In these troubled times, who better to turn to for solace than an unemployed, shaggy haired fuck-up bumming around San Francisco trying to forget a childhood spent in the Children of God cult? In 2009, Christopher Owens was the voice of a generation, tired and disappointed and maybe a little stoned, trying not to be bored with everything—the 00’s very own Paul Westerberg. But there’s still hope: the sunshine surf riffs, the promises of ex-lovers to be “friends forever,” and the paean of the so-catchy-Iggy-would-be-proud “Lust for Life”: “If I really tried with all of my heart, I could make a brand new start in love with you.” It may be a “Hellhole Ratrace,” but if we want to do some dancing too, here’s the soundtrack.—WYNDHAM BETTENCOURT-MCCARTHY
HEALTH—Get Color
Two years after the overplayed “Crimewave” was appropriated by Toronto’s
electro-darlings Crystal Castles, HEALTH’s sophomore release stands strong and separate from most of the electronic hipster bullshit they’re associated with. Expanding on their self-titled debut, Get Color explores the dynamics and crescendos not fully realized in their first effort. Tracks such as “Die Slow” (which boasts one of 2009’s heaviest intro riffs) and “We Are Water” have a more self-contained and finished feel to them. The album is decidedly more focused, and admittedly a little darker.—DAVID PIKE
Converge—Axe to Fall
The fragmentation and specialization of heavy and aggressive music, particularly in the last year, has become almost unbearable as bands create disparate genres differentiated only by particular riffs, time signatures, and tonal qualities. Their 2009 release Axe to Fall recalls the ferocity of 2001’s masterful Jane Doe (which still overshadows their subsequent releases), adding a more timeless, classic metal feel—all the while maintaining Jacob Bannon’s signature vocal style and Ballou/Newton’s unmistakable song writing.—DP
Dirty Projectors—Bitte Orca
Those irresistible grooves, those acrobatic vocals. If Paul Simon and David Byrne and Mariah Carey had a threesome, something like Bitte Orca could be the result. It’s more likely, though, that it could only be the product of Dave Longstreth’s genius, already demonstrated on 2007’s shimmering Rise Above. No band alive plays with rhythm the way the Projectors do—just try not to feel the beat of “No Intention” in your hips. Even the songs packed with sounds and short guitar thrash always have a cleanness and precision. Tambourine, reeds, and driving drums pulsate the elasticity of 2009’s best song, “Stillness is the Move,” with Amber Coffman’s voice building a bridge from “a diner in some remote city off the highway” straight up to heaven.—WBM
Grizzly Bear—Veckatimest
The pop gem of “Two Weeks” caught our ears first, sailing on choir harmonies so effortless they might send Brian Wilson back to bed yet again. But the magic truly happens in the vast soundscape of melancholy that builds throughout the album, quietly exploding on the magnificently orchestral “While You Wait for the Others.” Everyone has had a broken heart, but few musicians capture loss with such eloquence while saying so little. Thom Yorke’s robot heart dreams about making music this affecting, where the simplest words and sounds coalesce into an island of sentiment and longing, drifting in that cold East coast sea.—WBM
We Were Promised Jetpacks—These Four Walls
The introductory track, “It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning,” was proof enough that We Were Promised Jetpacks is taking both indie rock and Britpop in a completely new direction. Reminiscent of American Midwest indie rock bands from the 1990s, Jetpacks have produced a consistently driving, yet inoffensive or abrasive gem of a record that is simultaneously introverted and extroverted. Tracks like “Quiet Little Voices” get one’s heart going without fail, and “An Almighty Thud” resonates far deeper for me sonically or personally than many of the records making everyone else’s year-end lists.—DP
Little Girls—Concepts
Little Girls seems to have snuck up on this city like a fog: heavy, enveloping, and more than a little mysterious. Though the album can be repetitive, the allure of Concepts comes from its combination of inarticulate lyrics, sharp fuzz, and sweet drum lines. It’s a hard little gem of noise and pop that stokes the embers of Joy Division’s legacy.—LL
Phoenix—Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
2009’s theoretical “best new band” was actually on their fourth album this year, but buzzy synth anthem “1901” made the masses pay attention to Phoenix like never before. The band’s poppiest effort to date, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix played into eighties revivalism with massive bursts of energy and charisma. “Lisztomania” was a particularly appropriate soundtrack for a John Hughes mash-up video.—Shoshana Wasser (because they couldn’t agree on a 10th album!)
Ume—Sun-shower EP
SPIN picked Ume in March 2009 as one of seven undiscovered bands worth a listen and I completely agree! Dear readers, get a clue: this band deserves your attention. Ume’s Sunshower EP couples rough instrumentation with a soft delicacy that is wonderfully palatable. The only problem with it is that it’s too short. If you like Sonic Youth, The Pixies or cute girls, don’t sleep on this band.—LL
Honourable Mentions
Wyndham: Sunset Rubdown, Neko Case
Lola: The Xx, Jay Reatard
Dave: Volcano Choir, Mono
Film
A Serious Man
Following their nihilistic Burn After Reading, the Coen Brothers’ film about a Minnesota physics professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his attempt to find God in the wilderness of his compounding misfortunes is likely their most personal and insightful movie. Director of photography Roger Deakins finds sharp beauty in the greys and blues of the film’s suburban wasteland.—Chris Berube
Antichrist
For his first horror film, Lars von Trier tackled the most frightening topic of all: his own Catholic guilt. Opening with a scenario of deep sexual shame, Antichrist becomes a painful religious parable about a world where all creation is evil, and woman, the giver of life, is the evilest of all. Anchored by extraordinary performances by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, Antichrist is an unrelenting psychological horror film and an intensely personal artistic statement.—Will Sloan
The Bad Lieutenant—Port of Call: New Orleans
Hire Werner Herzog to direct a standard police procedural drama and you get…a Werner Herzog film. In collaboration with a hilariously unhinged Nicolas Cage giving his best performance in years, Herzog took the framework of a cops-and-robbers drama and turned it into a gonzo, hugely entertaining black comedy. Not just one of the director’s most pungently atmospheric films, but also one of his funniest.—WS
The Class
Laurent Cantet’s story of a year in the life of an inner city Parisian middle school wrings pathos out of a familiar kind of impotence in the modern education system. Watching well-meaning but jaded teacher François confront the contradictions and hypocrisy of a deeply fractured system—and his interactions with the kids stuck in the middle—is truly heartbreaking.—CB
Fantastic Mr. Fox
For his most recent film, Wes Anderson chose to forgo live-action in favour of animation. The stop-motion is jittery and the music is sparse, yet the movie never skips a beat. It feels entirely authentic and sure of itself with that characteristic Andersonian vibe present throughout. The lush, warm colours along with careful set and costume design are as pleasing to the eye as the characters’ voices are to the ear.—Tom Cardoso
In the Loop
There is a certain poetry to the feature-length blue streak of Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) in this British comedy about the lead-up to a fictional war in the Middle East. The withering send-up of modern ego politics makes this a work of high modern satire. Introducing shibboleths like “fuckety bye,” “let them eat cock,” and “I will punch you into paralysis” into the canon of obscenity helps, too.—CB
Inglourious Basterds
This revisionist WWII action-drama epic is packed full of film and music references, as is to be expected when dealing with Quentin Tarantino. Along with the excellence of its quintessential Ennio Morricone-laden soundtrack, Christoph Waltz gives one of the most stunning performances of the year as Nazi official Hans Landa.—TC
Taken
Bad-ass doesn’t even begin to describe Liam Neeson in this crazy action romp through the streets of Paris. After 20 or so brief minutes of plot development, the film shifts into overdrive, with an insane body count matched only by the sheer balls of Neeson’s character—at one point, he even shoots a French cop’s wife. After a while, you can’t help but feel sorry for Neeson’s enemies in the film.—TC
Tyson
Hollywood survivor James Toback was the perfect director for a documentary about another survivor, his close friend Mike Tyson. With no pretense of objectivity, Toback’s film simply lets Tyson deliver his life story in a monologue that is engrossing, revealing, often intelligent, and sometimes absolutely maddening. Freed from years of hype, scorn, and caricature, Toback finally gives us a chance to see that Mike Tyson is a man, warts and all.—WS
Honourable Mentions
Chris: Adventureland, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, Interior Design (Michel Gonry’s third of Tokyo!)
Tom: 35 Shots of Rum, Avatar, The Hurt Locker
Will: Bruno, Observe and Report, Where the Wild Things Are
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