Dude, this guy has the best guitar/O-face of all time.

Hi kids, I’m still alive. I’m in NYC with my good friend Edward Gottfried. Being in NYC grants me access to all kinds of fun and awesome things. Like seeing Cap’N'Jazz and Lightning Bolt and No Age for free. Or eating ungodly amounts of delicious burritos. Or being bothered on the street by a shivering gentleman who is holding his nose for fear of it falling off. Or not showering and having no one notice how bad I smell because the garbage behind me is emitting the foulest of foul odors (3 week old shrimp that’s been basting in an old canvas shoe resting in a literal river of shit). Or going to Siren fest.

Siren fest was fantastic. There was a nice mix of middle-to-mainstream bands playing decently long sets for the best price: nothing. Also, it was at Coney Island, so if the bands were dull, you had an ocean to play in or a freak show to watch. Man, what a great place. Suck it Pitchfork Fest. Although I did not make it there in time to catch one of my favorite new bands, Dom, I did get to see the likes of Ponytail, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Apache Beat, and Holy Fuck. But my favorite performance by far was Cymbals Eat Guitars. I was ecstatic the hear them open their set with the words “we’re going to play a few new songs” because I was honestly afraid of Cymbals Eat Guitars being a one-and-done band. For those who are unaware (all of you), I was a huge fan of CEG’s debut Why There Are Mountains. Although many called it overly-derivative, I preferred to think of it as a positive expression of postmodern pastiche. In a year filled with fairly excellent releases, Why There Are Mountains is one of the only albums that continues to get regular play 1.5 years later (for the record, Edward has expressed similar sentiments). A debut as strong as WTAM that received as much press as it did often results in lofty expectations from fans and critics a like. It can also influence an artist to develop in an unnatural way, either experimenting too much or lying too dormant to be a followup worthy of similar praise. Luckily, Cymbals’ new material sounds just as strong as their previous stuff, with no influence rising above the others to pull their music in an unnatural direction. The Pavement is still there, but so is The Modest Mouse, Guided By Voices, Explosions In The Sky, Tullycraft, Cap’N'Jazz, etc. All of their songs retain the baroque-strength of WTAM while adding an unexpected maturity in both song structure and song writing that is beyond the band’s average age (25). Below the jump you will find the videos of these as-of-now-untitled songs, in decent quality, for your viewing and critiquing pleasure. All the videos were taken by Jay “Shapster7″ Sharp, who apparently like, “Glam, wacky shit, and acoustic covers.” Thanks Jay.

Of the new songs on YouTube, this is by far the best. Lead singer Joseph D’Agostino said that it might be the lead-off to their as-of-now-untitled and undated and officially unannounced 2nd album. It has the same intensity as Wind Phoenix, though it feels a little more contained and makes use of the synths a bit more. It’s thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended by yours truly.

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There’s usually a tendency for year-end lists to lean towards more winter-feeling albums — Bon Iver syndrome. I couldn’t be happier that our top 5 albums were all released before 2009 even hit its daylight apex. In hindsight, we probably could have predicted in January that 2009 would be a great year for music, but it’s hard to know these things. I can’t recall the last time I was so pleasantly surprised by a year in music — great debuts, strong followups, game-shaking mood changes. It’s a diverse list, and one which I couldn’t be happier with. Make the jump to see how they all shook out when push came to shove:

#5: Veckatimest – Grizzly Bear

Rarely have I ever heard an album that tried so hard to be perfect. Grizzly Bear clearly spent hours meticulously debating every sound and layer, and you know what? They came damn close to creating a perfect cd. Was the album hyped beyond belief last spring? Definitely. Was the hype completely accurate and warranted? I say yes. You know why, because although Grizzly Bear may have contested Sufjan for most hours spent in the editing room (surely an admirable distinction), they sounded just as polished live. Their performance at NYC’s Town Hall was just as mesmerizing and stunning as Vecky is on my Bose Companion II speakers. Ed Drost and Daniel Rossen were incredible, and their mic-less encore of “All We Ask” was truly mind-blowing. Grizzly Bear created one of the most sophisticated and striking albums of the decade, that also lent itself to the best mashup (“Two Weeks of Hip Hop” by the Hood), and the best remix/cover of the year (“While You Wait for the Others” by Michael McDonald and Grizzly Bear), which should count for something. – DFJacobs

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While You Wait for the Others – Grizzly Bear (YSI)

#4: Bitte Orca – Dirty Projectors

No album of 2009 was quite so beautifully bizarre as Bitte Orca. Dave Longstreth squares up at the mound like your everyday indie fastballer, but every pitch he throws comes like a Tim Wakefield knuckleball, darting and flitting unpredictably with such efficiency that you’re still swinging blindly even deep into the 8th inning. The harmonies on album opener “Cannibal Resource” grab you on your first at bat, as they come somewhat screechily and eerily harmoniously, a little off-tempo and yet undeniably perfect in their own idiosyncratic way. The transition into “Temecula Surprise” is similarly jarring, hard to follow, and yet beautiful. And it’s that way through the album — each song is a twist from the previous one, each seeing a different genre getting Dirty Projected, from afropop to electropop to new age to R&B and back again. The highlight may come in “Useful Chamber,” where an explosive chorus of “Bitte Orca”s leaves me with goosebumps every time. Bitte Orca shows a band developing its own sound and hitting its stride as a cohesive unit. A real gem. – Edward

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Useful Chamber – Dirty Projectors (YSI)

#3: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix – Phoenix

I listened to no album in 2009 as much as Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, an album so pop-perfect you can’t help but want to listen to it again by the time the synth riff of “Armistice” fades out of focus. Phoenix took their incredibly well-balanced formula from 2006’s phenomenal It’s Never Been Like That and inexplicably improved upon it, stringing together 9 songs which are each catchier than the previous one. I probably listened to “1901″ 50 times in the first two weeks I had it, and I honestly still get excited every time I hear the opening squelches of that synth line. That’s the albums real strength — each hook is brilliantly crafted, and each song in the album sequences perfectly with the previous and the next. Take, for instance, the slow build of “Love Like a Sunset,” which melts deliciously into the snare-kick pairing of “Lasso,” which itself snaps into the ticking guitar attack of “Rome.” Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is the kind of album where, by the time you reach the end, you realize your voice is completely shot from singing along. And, damn, it feels good. – Edward

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Lisztomania – Phoenix (YSI)

#2: Why There Are Mountains - Cymbals Eat Guitars

When discussing Cymbals Eat Guitar’s phenomenal debut album it is simply impossible not to mention the pastiche of influences that makes up their sound. Hints of Pavement, early Modest Mouse, Cap’n’Jazz, Jesus and Mary Chain, Explosions In The Sky, Guided By Voices, Tullycraft, and other 90’s indie superstars can be heard, but only in snippets, which makes it difficult to call Why There Are Mountains ‘derivative’ or ‘a rip-off of [instert band here] like so many of 2009’s revivalist bands were (yeah, try and tell me that The Pains of Being Pure At Heart isn’t dependent on their 90’s Twee Pop derivation…). Instead, CEG take these influences and profoundly expand upon them, creating an expansive sound that is lead by singer Joseph D’Agostino’s amazing vocal range. So many of their tracks sample vastly differing sounds and genres that it’s amazing that the album retains cohesiveness the whole way through, never slipping into a song that sounds out of place or too reliant on its influences. In that regard, the album truly is, as Pitchfork describes it, ‘the ultimate road trip album’: Why There Are Mountains travels over hills and through valleys, creating spectacular soundscapes and epic transitions that takes the listener on a true emotional journey.

Exploding out of the driveway with “…And The Hazy Sea,” the album happily descends down through the upbeat hillsides of “Some Trees” and “Indiana” before continuing through the brooding distortion filled valley of “Share” and creeping up the depressingly steep hillside of “This Is What Dogs See” to the pinnacle of the album: the beautiful scenic overlook of “Wind Phoenix.” Along the way D’Agostino’s surreal poetry gives the album a meaningful narrative aesthetic, with his emotional crooning and energetic screams pushing the album through any potential muddy ruts. Why There Are Mountains is truly a masterpiece of baroque pop, and a prime example of musical talent being more important than connections. Cymbals Eat Guitar’s sound is currently so perfect that to press stop once the album has started should be a felony offense. Truly an unlikely gem in a year filled with great music. -Marquis Meowmers IV

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Some Trees – Cymbals Eat Guitars (YSI)

#1: Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animal Collective

2009 began with a bang, as, on January 2nd, Marquis Meowmers and I received a delicious post-Christmas bundle of joy, which saved our own souls as much as any carpenter could: a zip folder containing 2 new Animal Collective songs. I can still remember the little shiver that crawled down my spine as I heard the first minute of “Brother Sport” for the first time. From the “ooh,” I was hooked. The other song was “My Girls,” and Marquis Meowmers and I argued for hours about which was the better song, him picking “My Girls”’s polyrythmic brilliance, and me pulling for “Brother Sport”’s undeniable catchiness. At this point, I probably agree with Marquis more, but we can both agree on this much: no album contributed as much to music in 2009 as Merriweather Post Pavilion. – Edward

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Brother Sport – Animal Collective (YSI)

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