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Best Albums of 2009 /// Honorable Mention & EPs

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I’m too tired and you’re too anxious. Let’s get this show on the road. I’ll drop some kind of ’09 wrap up speech in “The Best Albums of ’09 / The Top 15” which should be out soooon. In the meantime, nibble on these biscuits. And leave your comments! You guys have piped up louder than ever lately and I love hearing what Team TBE thinks. Cause if two brains are better than one, well than imagi…. ok, we get it, let’s do this!

Oh, and since ranking albums is for wieners (songs are OK) I just alphabetized these lists. I don’t believe in favorites so it would be dishonest of me to attempt some sort of ranking system here. These joints are just the business, each in their own way.

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Remix Roundup Vol. 14 – 12.10.09

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Disco X Mas

It’s the holiday season and we all know that you are behind on your schoolwork/shopping/lovemaking/etc so let’s skip the niceties and get down to business.

Oh, and I cant be bothered to include those “[Original Post]” links that I am sure nobody actually used so for more on an artist just click on their tag link at the bottom of the post. Cool beans?*

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KINGS OF CONVENIENCE make music for a quiet BOAT ride. I can get BEHIND that.

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KOC-DOD

through the air there’s a fluffy cloud falling down as rain

♫ Kings of Convenience – Boat Behind

Kings Of Convenience’s new album, Declaration Of Dependence, is the perfect album for chilly Sundays. It’s light, tender, and intimate; perfect for nursing your body back to reality after a Saturday’s worth of BAC-alteration. I first fell in love with Kings’ 2002 groovy remix album, Versus, which set me up for some disappointment when I discovered how sparse and mellow their music really is. Except for “I’d Rather Dance With You,” I never got into 2004’s Riot On An Empty Street, and sort of wrote Kings off as too downer for my tastes. In recent years I have fallen much harder for Erlend Øye’s dancey, full-band, side project, The Whitest Boy Alive, and that pleased me just fine. Then I heard the Declaration and got down with it. Sure, it was the bouncy “Boat Behind” (above) that sucked me in, but the rest of the super sparse (two voices, two guitars, and the occasional string instrument) album has found a home in my ears. Pitchfork has some more to say on the album’s themes and genesis, etc, but if you are like me you just want to sit back with some hot tea and soak in the music.

♫ Kings of Convenience – Peacetime Resistance

Bury your face in MySpace

Whitest Boy Alive’s new album!

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whitest

you only need to be more certain what it is you’re living for

Whitest Boy Alive – High On The Heels

Whitest Boy Alive would have been featured on my favorite albums of 2008 list except that their debut Dreams came out in 2006 and I only discovered it last fall. And what a discovery it was! I have a hard time finding music to chill out to because I often find that kind of mellowness to be boring or uninspired. Dreams is the perfect album for chilling without funk-killing. The kind of album you can throw on when you have people over and the music wont overtake the conversation. Oh, and if the vocals sound familiar that’s because it’s Erlend Øye from Kings of Convenience. Anyway, WBA just released their second album Rules and I am digging it. It hasn’t grabbed me like Dreams did but I am giving it time. “High On The Heels” is the first track to jump out at me so far. Also check out my favorite from Dreams, “Fireworks.” But seriously folks, I can’t stress the top-notchedness of Dreams enough, it’s like instant ear-therapy. Get on it.

Whitest Boy Alive – Fireworks

Whitest Boy Alive on MySpace