tdoug’s slightly belated (and, as ever, unsolicited) top 10 albums of 2009
10.Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear The third album by these Brooklyn-based indie darlings loses the plot a little in the middle, but the high points are exhilarating. Mixing pop classicism (dig those Beach Boys harmonies) with the avant-garde ‘tude that defines the music scene in their home borough, the Bears have concocted a sound that’s as hummable as it is intricate. Top tracks: “Southern Point,” “Two Weeks.”
9. Tonight - Franz Ferdinand Libidinous, literate dance rock from Scotland’s cheekiest combo.Released in January of ’09, Tonight still sounds like the sexiest party on the planet a year later.Why the irresistible singles “Ulysses” and “No You Girls” didn’t storm the Top 40 with the force of their biggest hit, “Take Me Out,” is an exasperating mystery. Get these songs a Timbaland or David Guetta remix, stat!
Here is my highly biased list of the best albums of the decade. Leave your picks in the comment section below!
10. Pocket Symphony – Air
Released in the midst of a full-on Air backlash, this 2007 album was unfairly dismissed by critics. It’s the lone “serious” work by this cheeky French chill-out duo, and I think it’s gorgeous from beginning to end. Bonus points for deadpan guest vocals by Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon.
Rickie Lee Jones Balm in Gilead Fantasy. 10 Tracks. Rating: 3½ stars (out of 5)
2009 marks the 30th anniversary of Rickie Lee Jones’ self-titled debut album. It’s a weighty milestone when you think about it. That debut, stocked with boss tracks such as “Coolsville,” “Danny’s All-Star Joint” and her lone Top 10 hit, “Chuck E’s in Love,” clearly defined Jones’ unique jazz-pop vision and hinted at momentous things to come.Indeed, that vision has filtered down to a new generation of hipster warblers, including Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux and Corrine Bailey Rae, whose “Put Your Records On” in particular sounds like it was plucked straight from the R.L.J. catalogue.
KRISTEN THE YELLOW LAB VLOGS! THIS WEEK: ADAM LAMBERT'S NEW CD
Kristen vlogs a review of Adam Lambert's new CD "For Your Entertainment." Note: Kristen has no plans to be objective. She's a yellow lab, after all. They believe in subjective devotion and love to everyone and everything who keeps them in milk bones.
10. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear 
Here is my highly biased list of the best albums of the decade. Leave your 
The Bromance:
Rickie Lee Jones
THE DEATH OF A BROMANCE 2: EPI 6
So You Think You Can Dance, Season 5 by Murghi & Zsus
