The year is winding down, and like any self-respecting narcissist, that only can mean one possible thing for me; it’s list time here at HItV. In the next couple weeks I will be counting down some of my favorite things of the year, mostly (if not exclusively) involving both music and film. After all, what is the holiday season good for if not counting down the things that you enjoyed, or even the things you hated?
First up is the year’s ten best EPs. There were a number of new bands that caught my eye, as well as a few solid outings from groups that I already would have called myself a fan of. There were a number of releases that I really quite enjoyed but couldn’t find room for on the list (sorry Wild Yaks and The Drums), but there was just a big number of great Extended Plays released this year. Before I get started, a quick eligibility note, I didn’t include singles off of albums or remixes (which is why you won’t see any Dirty Projectors or Yeah Yeah Yeahs here), but everything else is fair game. With that disclaimer, and apology for leaving whatever favorite band of yours that I overlooked, I present Hollering Into the Void’s top ten EPs of 2009! Click below to read on!
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10. The Middle East – The Recordings of the Middle East
Wolfmother or the Temper Trap may have produced Australia’s highest profile releases this year, but The Middle East might have released the best music from down under in 2009. The Queensland band, who was last seen opening for Grizzly Bear in Melbourne, provides a laid back indie-folk alternative to Wolfmother’s power rock and the Temper Trap’s soaring emotionalism. Their EP, The Recordings of the Middle East was previously released as a full-length last year as a last hurrah for the band, but after a reevaluation they rerecorded some of the music as an EP and gave it wider release. Lucky for us. The music is dark, heartfelt, and subtle from start to finish. Tracks like “Blood” and “The Darkest Side” boast haunting falsetto vocals and soothing acoustics that will stay with you long after the album has played itself out.
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9. Best Coast – Make You Mine
On Bethany Cosentino’s (you may know her by the title of Best Coast) MySpace page, she describes her music as being “surf/pop.” This is precisely fitting. The opening track “In My Room” hits you like a hazy burst of pure musical happiness (holy hyperbole Batman!) and the EP doesn’t let up until the last track “Dreaming My Life Away” fades slowly out. Cosentino is going to spend most of the next couple months touring with Vivian Girls, and after comparing both respective bodies of music this year, I would be nothing short of shocked if she didn’t end up stealing the show more often than not. I don’t say this to tear down Vivian Girls at all, but rather to build Best Coast up. Is Cosentino the most exciting act to come out of California this year? At the very least, it’s a possibility worth discussing.
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8. No Age – Losing Feeling
It feels like lifetimes ago that No Age would have been included on this list as a “new band.” Yet in reality it was just back in 2007 that they released their debut LP Weirdo Rippers and provided a shot in the arm to California’s rock scene. Perhaps it’s only fitting that these Los Feliz rockers come immediately before Best Coast on this list, as Bethany Cosentino so clearly owes them some debt of gratitude. If after one listen to the title track “Losing Feeling,” you’re not completely convinced that No Age is very much still on the very forefront of their musical scene, then “You’re a Target” will hammer the point home to you. If this is what they’re recording for an EP release this year, I can only lick my chops and imagine what they have in mind for their next full-length.
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7. Florence & the Machine – A Lot of Love. A Lot of Blood.
This was the first that I had heard out of Florence Welsch before she went on to release her fabulous full-length Lungs later in the year, and this EP couldn’t have left me any more excited. There are a number of monster tracks on the EP that absolutely demand your attention, starting right out of the gate with “Dog Days Are Over.” As soon as the buzz from that track subsides, she hits you with (no pun intended) “Kiss With a Fist,” which is almost equally mind blowing. While both of these great tracks also appeared on Lungs, it may just have been her cover of Cold War Kids “Hospital Beds” that left me most tickled pink. It not only showed that Florence Welsch had an amazing voice and great taste, but the cojones to make interesting musical choices as well. It signaled a swagger that not only would serve her well on this debut EP, but would help to propel her to global fame of the course of one incredible year.
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6. Washed Out – Life of Leisure
I’m not even sure where to begin when trying to describe the litany list of influences that I thought I heard in this band’s music. I definitely detected some heavy 1980′s homage throughout, from Genesis to Talking Heads, just give “New Theory” a listen for audio evidence. Yet moments later I would spin a track like “Feel It All Around” and I would find myself hearing a little bit of J Dilla and early 1990′s West Coast hip hop mixed in, and suddenly I wouldn’t have such a clear handle. Crazier still, songs like “Hold Out” and “Lately” had me convinced that maybe the band was trying to channel the likes of modern day electronic bands like Cut Copy or Hot Chip. Could this veritable blender of sounds and influences possibly work? Could it possibly gel into some kind of enjoyable and cohesive mold? Surprisingly enough, the answer to that question is “yes,” and a resounding one at that.
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5. BLK JKS – Mystery
Earlier this year, an unknown group from South Africa released a wonderfully weird and mysterious EP that blew listeners away and put the music world on notice. Unfortunately, BLK JKS’ debut EP was so good that it would eventually overshadow their own LP that they would release later in the year, but that’s a conversation for another day. People, including myself, have compared BLK JKS music to some of TV on the Radio’s more out-there work, and it still seems an accurate simile these many months later. Tracks like “Mystery” seem to wander out of a fog, only to quietly gaze at you for a spare moment and disappear back into that from whence they came. But the real gem on this release has to be “Lakeside,” a track that tantalizes you with the band’s obvious talent, and confounds you with their experimentation and vision.
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4. Drake – So Far Gone
There’s a new great hope for rap… and he’s Canadian? Believe it or not, it’s true. The biggest new splash in the rap game this year undoubtedly came from Toronto’s favorite rapper and actor (he is best known for playing Jimmy Brooks on the popular Canadian television series Degrassi: The Next Generation). So Far Gone may have featured a rapper that caught Lil Wayne’s eye, but in all truth, if you listen to Drake’s music, you will probably discover that it’s more parts Yeezy than it is Weezy. The young rapper may as well be talking about his own future in hip hop on his smash hit “Best I Ever Had” when he says “we can do it real big, bigger than you ever done it,” as there are a lot of people expecting huge things from his debut LP later next year. Given what I heard when listening to So Far Gone, it’s not hard to see why.
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3. Suckers – Suckers
There’s a whole ton to love about this debut from Brooklyn’s Suckers, and consequently, there are a whole heap of people that love it. While the band has yet to be discovered by a large portion of mainstream music fans, they have certainly excited almost everybody who has heard them both in their home burrow in NYC, and across the rest of the country. With tracks like the harrowing eighties-influenced “Beach Queen” or the bleary eyed, and dare I say drunken, ballad “It Gets Your Body Moving,” it’s pretty crystal clear that this excitement is very justified. Anchored by lead singer Quinn Walker and impressive production from the likes of Chris Moore and Anand Wilder, these four Brooklynites have recorded an EP that started them well down the path of an exciting and promising musical career. It’s going to be a blast listening as they travel the rest of the way together.
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2. Bon Iver – Blood Bank
“Well I met you at the blood bank, we were looking at the bags.” With those haunting words, Justin Vernon opened his fabulous EP, and largely ushered in the musical year of 2009 as a whole. The line really serves as an excellent microcosm for Bon Iver’s body of work, it’s literary but subtle, beautiful to hear and read, but there is more emotion and story being told then what is floating just on the surface. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Blood Bank is that it managed to replicate all of the things that Vernon did so well on For Emma, Forever Ago while adding in a few new layers to that winning formula, and helped to propel his work even further forward. Just give “Woods” a listen if you need convincing. If you would have told me in 2008 that Bon Iver would record a track that employs the autotune, I would have called you crazy. If you had told me that it was going to be the best track on the album, I might have flatly laughed in your face. I would have been dead wrong on both counts.
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1. Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind
Was there really ever any doubt who was going to be number one? Animal Collective could have just released a perfunctory victory lap here, but instead they chose to release a wonderful little EP that was almost every bit on par with their amazing 2009 album Merriweather Post Pavilion. While none of these five tracks have the same pizazz of songs like “My Girls” or “Summertime Clothes,” all of them posses the very same qualities that were present on every track from their LP, and that made it so amazing. ”Graze” is mixed bag of electronic awesomeness. ”What Would I Want? Sky” is complicated and catchy. ”Bleed” feels simultaneously epic and soothing. ”On a Highway” is lyrically simple but oh-so-genuine and poignant. ”I Think I Can” is both dizzying and uplifting. I hate to be too hyperbolic, but the year that Animal Collective had is nothing short of staggering, and this EP is the very characterization of it.
