Starting today through December 25, we’ll be posting Top 10 Albums of 2009 lists as determined by Loud Loop Press editors and contributors. Then beginning December 28 through January 1, we’ll up the ante by posting Top 10 Albums of 2000-2009 lists once again determined by our esteemed writers. Today we kick things off with Associate Editor Andrew Kahn’s list for Top 10 Albums of 2009.

1. Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs

I’ve already written a review of this album for this site, and wrote a review of their show at the Vic from October for my favorite show of the year over at HiddenTrack, so needless to say I think Yo La Tengo had a good year.  I realize I may be the only one who feels so strongly about Popular Songs.The album hit me on a truly personal level, and from so many different angles, that the album stayed with me more than any other this year. I could write a book about “More Stars Than There Are In Heaven” easily my favorite track on the album – it’s also my favorite song of the year, by anybody.  It’s nine and a half minutes of ambient melody and pure, unadulterated noise rock. It’s also delicate and detailed with the some of the best guitar riffs from Ira Kaplan that make my spine tingle just thinking about them. I’ll take the first half of the album for its Motown-esque excursions, its notable Yo La Tengo quirkiness and the beautiful singing of Georgia Hubley. I’ll take the second half for some of the deepest, smartest, gutsiest and gut wrenching minimal-post-rock of the year. But what’s great is that I’ll take both halves and get a whole that’s greater than its parts, and some top-notch songwriting and production. To me, that’s the makings of a nearly perfect album.

2.  Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Much will be written about and many Best-Of lists will be topped with Merriweather Post Pavilion the electro-psychedelic-post-modern master work from the most creative band in the game right now. Animal Collective are clearly doing something new and damn exciting on Merriweather Post Pavilion and in short, it deserves the hype. The songs are sonic layers of syncopated rhythms, mad synthesizers, alien sounding samples and drum machines weaved together so intricately and brilliantly each listen turns up something new and amazing.  For instance on “My Girls,” the digitized landscape of sounds augmented with a simple pounding beat just builds and builds tension with a sense of urgency and ease.  A close listen where you break down the individual parts and layers reveals many basic structures combined in a manic process an outcome of which is vibrant and fresh. None of the tracks are ‘songs’ in the normal sense, typical forms and structures are absent in favor of linear digressions. Often the lyrics, and what could be a called chorus is delivered like a chant, melding into the music and forming another layer of sound. It’s like if the Beach Boys and their harmonies had been East Coast art students instead of West Coast surfers and had access to all the studio tricks rather than having to invent them on the fly.

3.  Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Present: Dark Night of the Soul

Full disclosure: I’m not familiar with Sparklehorse’s other albums. But when I heard Danger Mouse was involved with this album and then saw the list of guest performers attached to the album I had to hear it. On first listen I was blown away.  Each song is unique with a subtle undercurrent from Danger Mouse and a coolness that Sparklehorse exudes. David Lynch, Iggy Pop, Frank Black, Wayne Coyne, Suzanne Vega, and Julian Casablancas are among the artists that appear on the album, and each track has a special appearance from someone on vocals. The album is dark and sexy and the mood and themes are heavy and personal.  Each singer delivers an impassioned performance. Jaykub, featuring Jason Lytle of Grandaddy is softer but haunting, the chorus lingers even after the song ends. And the Vic Chestnutt featuring “Grain Augury” is eerie and smooth, giving the album a bit of slow funk and an air of jazz. A conflict between EMI and the label Danger Mouse is signed to, Lex Records, is apparently preventing this album from being properly distributed. NPR streamed the album and there’s hope that someday it will get out to the public via normal distribution. David Lynch, who appears on the album also created a photo book to accompany the album and provide a visual representation of the music. Just more reason this album deserves to be given the attention it so clearly deserves.

4.  The Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

The Dirty Projectors often get labeled as experimental pop which doesn’t do them nearly enough justice because what does “experimental” mean anyway? In the case of Bitte Orca it means abstract songs structures, peculiar rhythms and idiosyncratic flourishes. The album is packed with great harmonies and light melodies.  It’s both airy and at times disjointing due to odd changes and difficult turns. Great string arrangements of violins, cellos and violas are sprinkled throughout the 41 minute long disc. The subjects and tone of the songs aren’t particularly deep, but they have a weightiness about them that shows the group had focus and achieved its goals in forming the sound that is uniquely their own. The first track “Cannibal Sunrise” is probably the most accessible and danceable number on the album. It’s smooth and poppy with a bouncy pace and cool background vocals. Front-man David Longstreth demonstrates a clear vision for taking the band in new directions, and is sublimely supported by the eloquent harmonies of Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian. For this to be the 8^th full length release from Dirty Projectors and to sound so new and exciting is an accomplishment in and of itself.

5.  The Flaming Lips – Embryonic

Embryonic is a more than apt title for the Flaming Lips 12^th studio album.  Sounding little if anything like the band that gave us Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and At War with the Mystics, the band seems to have been reborn as a low-fi ambient post-rock beast taking shape in the form of a double album that firmly establishes the Flaming Lips as one of the most important bands of the past 20 years. Coyne’s vocals remain low in the mix throughout the album, and are paired with distorted drum tracks and big thick bass lines. This pairing gives the album a mysterious and eerie mood as you strain to hear the lead singer’s words only to be worked over by the pounding instruments. The fuzzy beats push you to the brink all the while hypnotizing you as the grooves dig deeper and songs drive harder. This produces a retro psychedelic sound that rather than sounding stale give a nervousness and sense of intrigue to the Lips. The album has the feel of a soundtrack to an old Hitchcock film. There’s no elaborate stage show, no bubble for Wayne Coyne to traipse around in, there’s only the hypnotic drum beats and dark themes that give you the evocative Embryonic.

6. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoneix is the best purely pop album of the year 2009 and if Phoenix is the future of pop music (aside from the Katy Perrys and Miley Cyruses of the “biz”) it’s hard to complain after what they produced on this album. One of the things popular music should do is make you want to dance and that seems to be the goal of Phoenix on this album. While “Lisztomania” and “1901” have become ubiquitous commercial hits it’s hard to deny their disco beats and sunny pop melodies don’t make you want to get up and boogie. For as dance-centric as the album is, there are still a fair amount of big rock-guitar riffs, like on the punchy “Lasso.” Phoenix doesn’t try to be the most unique or the most experimental sounding group, yet they shape a personality and sound that’s all their own. Sometimes you don’t need a bunch of studio tricks and samples and odd sounds and time signatures to break out from the crowd. Phoenix does just that on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, making a strong statement that pop music can be relevant and vital and do more than shape the image of the artist by focusing on the sound and quality of the product.

7.  Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship

I’ve stated what I like and dislike about this album at times here on the site, the fact remains, there’s still not much of anything to complain about. The album is dense and intense – there are no wasted seconds, no wasted notes, everything counts. Gone are the mallet instruments and in their place are synthesizers, lots of them, all elaborately layered creating mostly up-beat popping songs. Genres are blended and explored from hip-hop and dub to rock and pure prog.  There’s the post-rock minimalism Tortoise is known for but there’s also plenty of new and bright sounding embellishments that tell the listener the band still has much left to offer. Fans of the band will find familiarity in the odd time signatures and turn-on-a-dime changes like on the epic 8-minute, “High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In,” and on the proggy “Yinxianghechengqi”. The band purposely avoided the xylophone and vibraphone in order to not be labeled as a mallet band but also to push them into creating something exciting and challenging as well as cutting edge and unique. It took them five years between this and their last album, one can only hope it doesn’t take them that long for the next LP, but if it’s as good as Beacons it’ll be well worth the wait.

8. Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk

Supergroups can be hit or miss (I’m looking at you Audioslave and Chickenfoot) but Monsters of Folk manage to avoid the lack of focus and vanilla-ness most conglomerations suffer from and instead put out a top notch collection of songs that most regular bands would kill for. Jim James, Connor Oberst, M. Ward and Mike Mogis are the Monstes of Folk and each shine on the album in their own unique way. James takes the MVM award (Most Valuable Monster) as his lead vocal tracks stand out and demand attention. He has the most soulful and affectionate voice in the group and his unique sound steps forward and demands to be noticed. Mogis provides excellent production and instrumentation, it’s apparent his hands are involved in many aspects of many of the tracks.  Oberst and Ward balance each other by keeping the other in check, never allowing one to take the band too far into their solo realms.  The parts of the album that do lack in continuity are the ones that seem more like solo M. Ward or Bright Eyes songs. But on songs like “Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)” where each member contributes a part that makes up a spectacular whole, the group proves its worthiness for the title it bestowed upon themselves.

9. Wilco – Wilco (the Album)

In my review back in June I said Wilco (the Album) was “good not great” and I must now say the album has grown on me since then. I still wouldn’t call it great, but I’ve found more elements of greatness or least I am willing to give the band more credit for their product.  At a time when bands seem to be competing to see who can sound the most eclectic and break the furthest from conventional forms, Wilco does the opposite, rather stoically on Wilco (the Album). On the opening track “Wilco (the Song)” they quickly assure the listener not to be worried for the band is there and will love them no matter what.  And for the rest of the album if you don’t worry about it, and just take it for what it is, you’ll find simply the best songwriting band in America cutting track after track of pure and true songs. I hate even calling them tracks, because what this band crafts and what they crafted here are songs and some pretty damn good ones at that. This more mature and confident album so far is getting better with age and with each listen.

10.  jj – jj no.²

The debut full length album by this mysterious band clocks in at just over 26 minutes but contained within that short burst of music is a great collection airy dance-pop songs.  So little is known about jj it’s a bit difficult to comment on “them” or what “they” did on this album, regardless, as Dan Henshaw so eloquently put it, this album is “joyful, perfect-for-summer, Balearic-tinged pop music that’s easy to love and endlessly enjoyable.”  When the album finishes you want to start it over again, and get re-lost in the wistful melodies and sexy females voices.  The grooves are thick and bubbly and the hooks contagious. They sample Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” on the ode to club drugs “ecstasy” – easily the hottest track on the disc.  Check this album out if when want to be or already are feeling mellow.