2) Lambchop at XX Merge – You’ll find us in the front row, grinning and gawking. One of the happiest moments of the year.

3) Extra Golden at Floristree in Baltimore – Another fucking excellent show. Pure joy, and a full cardio workout. I didn’t stop twisting, bouncing and jerking with dance-spasms once in their entire hour and a half set. Additionally, their new record, Thank You Very Quickly, is totally great.

4) Lake – Let’s Build a Roof and Karl Blau - Zebra – Was fortunate enough to play with these guys here in Baltimore at the end of our last tour. Both released excellent new records. Both gave warm and inspiring performances. Both have received absurd amounts of late-fall early-winter play in our household.

5) Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca – Have y’all heard of these guys? They’re pretty good I guess.

6) Height With Friends- Baltimore Highlands – Love to our boy Dan “Height” Keech, who has been quietly releasing a string of totally under appreciated and completely excellent records, of which this is our hands-down favorite. Featuring many talented Baltimore “Friends”  (disclosure: includes minimal contributions from yours and yours truly. Don’t let that scare you off, though.) I guess you can call this rap, if you want to be boring about it, but I really like to think of it as Blues/Rap/Other. Or Other/Blues/Spoken Word. Or Other/Other/Other. Killer beats, simple delivery, minimalist lyrics- but packs a hell of a punch.

7) Cass McCombs – Catacombs – This record is the only reason I can ever imagine wanting to get married, so that I could dance to “You Saved My Life”. Wait, fuck that, maybe I’ll just listen to it thousands of times instead. BEAUTIFUL album.

8) Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion – Being from Baltimore, I have lots of great outdoor concert memories from Merriweather Post. This record is like that, minus the $45 lawn seats and shitty overpriced chicken fingers.

9) Dan Deacon – Bromst - More Bmore love. This record helped to pass a lot of darker-than-dark, late-night drives through the most desolate parts of Utah, Idaho and eastern Oregon.

10) Akron Family- Set Em Wild, Set Em Free - Our friend Amy did the flag on the cover. That’s awesome. The record is great, too.

11) Bonus: Bon Iver- Blood Bank EP- Just for that stunning last track. Best use of autotune, ever. And I even LIKE autotune.

And more: Old favorites Yo La Tengo, Built to Spill, and Dinosaur Jr. all released sweet records this year. I probably didn’t need to tell you that. Yep, they’re great. Just wanted to acknowledge that we were aware of this.

Cass McCombs: Catacombs
He continues to put out mega brilliant records. It scares me. PREfection is sloppy and enchanting, Dropping the Writ is unstoppable, but this new record is absolutely amazing. I am completely smitten with it.

Wild Beasts: Two Dancers
Friends of mine from the beautiful town that is the Lake District, England. I thought their last record was tops. Little did I know. This record is completely gorgeous. I really, truly hope they can break here in the U.S.

David Bazan: Curse Your Branches
A pretty daring record. The last song kills me every single time.

The Clientele: Bonfires on the Heath
This was my soundtrack to our October/November European tour. It’s a record all about fall, my favorite season. The title track is ridiculously good.

The Wooden Birds: Magnolia
Amazing whisper of a record.

Favorite Discoveries of 2009:

Scott Walker
I had no idea. I randomly downloaded the documentary about Scott Walker and the Walker Brothers, and watched it on a flight from North Carolina back to Seattle. When I got home, I immediately went to the record store and bought every Scott Walker record I could find. Scott 4 is pretty much pure genius. I’m absolutely in love with his records.

The Vaselines
I think I was a little young for the Vaselines. They were always one of those bands my older friends would talk about, and I would fake that I knew just to be cool, even though I had never heard them. Well, Sub Pop just put out this great retrospective, and I bought it, and had my mind completely blown up. I am in love with this band so very much.

Warsaw
Pre-Joy Division, but basically a punky-er Joy Division. Totally bratty and rad.

John Phillips
Papa John, from the Mamas and the Papas. He put out a solo record called John, the Wolfking of L.A., which is pretty scary good. You must try to find it at your local record store. You must!

Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra
Hadn’t ever heard their records, but “Sundown, Sundown” is a pretty incredibly genius song. I’ve listened to it endlessly for two months.

Jacques Dutronc
He sounds like he doesn’t give a shit. And that’s oh so very French. It’s like the French Rolling Stones. I love it.

1. Liam Hayes and Plush live at the Kings Head, London, 16th October
This was my musical experience of the year, no contest. Liam Hayes’ has a gift for writing these slowly unravelling, restlessly beautiful songs, and as great as they sound in the studio with a full horn section, drums etc. this performance in a tiny pub, with just a Wurlitzer and a Fender Rhodes was even better. Certain friends of mine would say he has a unique sense of harmonic progression, all I could think of was that I’ve never heard such gorgeous chords, I wanted to stop him and write them down. But the audience – many of whom were moved to tears -  would have murdered me.

2. Ubuweb
OK, this has been going since 1996, but I only discovered it this year, so it counts for me. It’s a free resource for avant-garde sound and video. It pretty much only features stuff that’s hard to get hold of commercially, so anyone wanting to stick it to the man in the shape
of multimedia conglomerates like Actuel Records or Cold Blue Music Recordings will be disappointed. But I found, among many, many incredible things, the uncharacteristic and haunting ‘Litany For The Whale’ by John Cage, ‘Body Meta’ by Ornette Coleman from 1975, where we find him playing free funk(!) and a scratchy but totally captivating 9 minute version of Erik Satie’s ‘Vexations’.

3. Destroyer – Bay of Pigs 12”
I always go on about Destroyer, but they keep getting better with every release. And the music is just as extraordinary as the words;
the sounds on this record are incredible.

4. Louis Philippe and Testbild!
This hasn’t been released yet, but he’s recording it in the same studio that Lupe and I are making our Amor de Dias record in, and as a work-in-progress it sounds fantastic. They’ve found a way to record a string quartet using fancy mic placements which make it sound like a Nelson Riddle string section.

4. Billy Mahonie live at the Lexington, London, 8th October
Howard from Billy Mahonie used to drum for the Clientele around the time of ‘Suburban Light’. His first love, though, was always Billy Mahonie, who split up in the early 2000s. John Peel loved them and the NME used to hype them but they never really achieved the success they deserved. They reunited for a one-off show this year, and once again I just watched in awe at the unbelievable, eerie telepathy between the musicians; I’ve never seen anything like it before or since. At times they were so in sync it was almost comical. Despite the fact they have no singer, they have to be the best live band I’ve ever seen; there’s an exquisite pace and economy to their stuff, I think they’re now being re-appraised as one of the best bands of their era, so good luck to them, better late than never.

photo by Jonathan Hawkins

Here are some of my favourite musics this year.

Susanna and the Magical Orchestra – 3
Cryptacize – Mythomania
El Perro Del Mar - Love is not Pop
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Fever Ray – s/t
Major Lazer – Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do
Metz – (7 inches)
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Suffocation – Blood Oath
Girls – Album
St. Vincent - Actor
Converge – Axe to Fall

worrrd.
xo jeremy

Get Up with the Get Down in 2009:

1. The Black Keys: Blak Rock
2. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
3. Trampled by Turtles @ Pour House (show)
4. The Heavy: The House That Dirt Built
5. The Moderate: The Rest Is Up To You
6. The Antlers: Hospice
7. The Love Language: The Love Language
8. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros: Up from Below
9. Lil’ Wayne: No Ceilings (mixtape)
10. Dark Was The Night

Sasha Bell & Julia Rydholm at XX Merge

2009 Favorites:

Reissue:
The Monks “Black Monk Time/The Early Years 1964-65″

Short Film:
“No Mas Presents: Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No” by James Blagden

Singles:
Atlas Sound “Walkabout” (featuring Noah Lennox)
Camera Obscura “French Navy”
Animal Collective “My Girls”
Lionel Richie featuring Akon “Just Go”

Television:
“Mad Men” season three

Live shows:
Versus at the Knitting Factory, NYC
Alasdair MacLean’s solo set at Joe’s Pub, NYC
Linton from The Aislers Set and Henry’s Dress performing at the Slumberland Records Anniversary show, Bell House, NYC

And one for good luck:
The Merge Records 20th Anniversary celebration, Chapel Hill, NC

(in no particular order)

Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
Rose Melberg – Homemade Ship
Vetiver - Tight Knit
Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter
Cotton Jones – Paranoid Cocoon
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Telekinesis – Telekinesis!
Kings of Convenience – Declaration of Dependence
Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions – Through the Devil Softly

10. Music video: Bjork’s “Triumph of a Heart,” where her boyfriend is a cat
9. Poetry book: New Addresses by Kenneth Koch
8. Office supply: 1/2 inch Scotch brand “Magic” tape
7. Non-fiction book: The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross
6. Movie: “I Love You, Man” (was a lot funnier than I thought it would be)
5. Television: that show about obsessive hoarding
4. Food: Sweet potato tempura at Akai Hana in Carrboro, NC
3. Concert: Animal Collective w/ Grouper at the House of Blues in Boston (May 2009)
2. Song: “Little Secrets” — Passion Pit
1. Album: Middle Cyclone — Neko Case

Campari & Juice
Phoenix
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The XX
Hip-Hop
2007 Château de Saint-Cosme Gigondas Valbelle
The Economist
Tokyo
The Wire
Arthur Russell
Whitest Boy Alive
Hazelwood Bar in Seattle
Yo La Tengo If it’s true
Climbing the top of Helagsfjället

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bowerbirds – Upper Air
Circulatory System – Signal Morning
Cryptacize – Mythomania
the Dutchess & the Duke – Sunrise / Sunset
God Help the Girl s/t
the Love Language’s debut
Madeline & the White Flag Band - White Flag
Nesey Gallons – Eyes & Eyes & Eyes Ago
Still Flyin’ - Never Gonna Touch the Ground
Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies – EP II

Christina, 7 Ft Tall Metronome, & Julian Koster at XX Merge

This list excludes the 2009 Merge albums, because you already know they were the greatest!

Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band
The Love Language – s/t
God Help the Girl
Greece! – ferries, feral doggies, ancient ruins, beautiful beaches and lots of citron!
Ground Control Showcase @ CMJ ’09 – Surf City, Let’s Wrestle, The Love Language, and Pete & the Pirates!
The Generationals – Con Law
Discovering Julia Child – My Life in France is essential reading.
Mastering the perfect chicken & sausage gumbo
Kronhaus creations & Christinapalooza – every girl deserves a red silk party dress and a big party if she has to get older!
The Thermals – Now We Can See
Rediscovering Paul McCartney’s RAM
Neko Case & Crooked Fingers at Meymandi Concert Hall (And Neko’s fantastic new album, Middle Cyclone!)

Last, but most importantly – XX Merge!  As if we needed more proof that Merge bands & fans are the best!

Music:
Extra Golden: Thank You Very Quickly
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
The Movies: Based on a True Story
Trans Am: What Day is it Tonight
Kraftwerk: The Catalogue

Best TV Show:
Soft Focus

Nelson & Katie

My Top Ten in 2009 (in no order):

- Completing my first half marathon
- Surviving XX Merge
- Joining the Bowling League and getting my first turkey
- Shoe Dazzle
- The Secret History by Donna Tart
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- Escazu Chocolates especially the Sea Salt bar and the Goat’s Milk Bar
-  Graduating from UNC
- Traveling to Germany and Austria with one of my best buddies
- Adopting the best dog ever, Nelson

In lieu of a photo, we have Jay’s brand new music video! His band is Gossip Grows on Trees and the song is “Hollywood!”

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Clean released their first new record since 2001, Mister Pop, this year! Order yours now in the Merge store.

Adam's doggie, Otis

Some of the things that made me happy in 2009 (in no particular order):

XX Merge – 33 amazing bands, hundreds of great people, new friends, unbelievable fun & excitement. Too many highlights to list. I’m still tired.
The Clientele: Bonfires on the Heath – I can’t talk about this band without sounding like a lunatic. They are very good.
Califone: All My Friends Are Funeral Singers – their best record yet?
M. Ward: Hold Time – probably my most played record of the year.
Wye Oak- the band, the people, the shows, The Knot. I love ‘em all.
“Please remove your spurs. Come to think of it, remove your antlers.“
“Bundle up my little urchin.”
Doves: Kingdom of Rust – so under appreciated. Need to come back to NC.
David Rawlings playing guitar – makes me want to run away & be a hippie.
CD Alley, Chapel Hill - I’m certainly their most annoying customer. Thank you Ryan, Brian, Thomas & Alison for tolerating me.
Excellent records from Chapel Hill including Ryan Gustafson’s Donkey LP & The Kingsbury Manx Ascenseur Ouvert!
The dude, the terrible little puppy & Sue.

1. Getting married
2. Friends
3. Buying a house
4. Man Day*
5. My new job at Merge
6. Cooking
7. Finishing my book**
8. Video Games
9. Beer
10. Bourbon

*Man Day is when I spend a day at my best friends’ house, and we partake of 10, 9, 8, & 6.
**Comics & Cocktails A through Z , an ABC book for people who like booze, comics and the alphabet. You can find all of the details at FeralChicken.com.

As a special holiday bonus, click to download Stu’s Street Hitz mixtape!

Track listing:
1. Floating Action- Don’t Stop (Loving Me Now)
2. Iyez- You Don’t Get It
3. Mrs.- Wet Am
4. Ryan Gustafson- Soul Train
5. Gross Ghost- Lurker
6. Soft Company- One Story Diamond
7. Spiderbags- Teenage Eyes
8. Veelee- Not Getting Nowhere
9. Tim Poovey- Spectacles
10. James Wallace- Night

Kelly Rosebud & Ross at XX Merge

I’m more of a “song” kind of guy, so most of my list is comprised of favorite tracks of 2009. However, there were a handful of records that I listened to on repeat. Also, I threw in a TV show, a webshow, and a music festival that really helped to make my year. Happy holidays to everyone and a happy 2010! (And, I hope it goes without saying, these are in no particular order.)

To Willie — Phosphorescent
“Lisztomania” — Phoenix
“Come Saturday” — The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
“Nothing To Hide” — Yo La Tengo
“Wilco (the song)” — Wilco
“The Fade” — Megafaun
“Coast of Carolina” — Telekinesis
“Learned to Surf” — Superchunk
Curse The Branches — David Bazan
“Southland” — TV SHOW
“Between Two Ferns (with Zach Galifianakis) – WEB SERIES (on funnyordie.com)
“The Switch Kids” — The Henry Clay People
“Shampoo” — Elvis Perkins In Dearland
“A Whole Lot Better” — Brendan Benson
Get Guilty — A.C. Newman
“The Right” – Lou Barlow
Love & Curses — Reigning Sound
XX Merge — (Maybe the greatest weekend of my life…especially Pipe, Lambchop and American Music Club.)

2009 Discoveries but NOT 2009 Releases

Palm Wine Guitar Music — S.E. Rogie
Santogold — Santogold
“Street People” — Bobby Charles (thanks to Justin Gage)

1.) When we played the Middle East Club in Boston this year I introduced our bass player Brad Cook (from Megafaun and Gayngs) to the crowd and they actually clapped for about five minutes straight without stopping.  They realized what they were all doing half way into it and just kept getting louder and louder and louder till the place basically erupted and we had to almost stop the show early

2.) Playing “Leaves Do Fall” every night with just Kelly Crisp on an accordion and me on an acoustic guitar throughout Europe this fall.

3.) Winning the Merge XX Festival 3 on 3 basketball tournament with Roy Bourne,  the man who wrote Nightshade, and Grayson Currin from Brome.

4.)Kelly coming up with a percussion part using car keys in the recording of “Second Bird of Paradise” at Flying Tiger Studio in our home town of Raleigh NC.  Then The Rosebuds playing that song live with the NC Youth Ballet  dancing onstage behind us.

5.) Walking into my hotel room over looking the river after our show in Ghanzhou China and seeing the city lit up like an episode of the 1983 not so hit TV series AUTOMAN.

6.)) Getting to sing on some of my favorite bands recordings:
Singing on the Megafaun record in my basement
Singing on the Bowerbirds record in my basement
Singing on the new Gayngs record in Eau Claire

7.)The day I finally listened to what Kelly said, and realized that the Fever Ray record is brilliant and my favorite record of the year.

8.) Watching and Listening to 800 Germans sing along to “Nice Fox” in Berlin Germany

9.)The Mark Eitzel performance at Merge XX this year was amazing and beautiful.  It hit me just right and I was hiding my tears the whole time.

10.) Practicing for one hour before the show and playing the bass with Michael and Matthew in Telekinesis at Merge XX and actually pulling it off.

11.) Writing and recording the Christmas song “I Hear (Click Click Click)” for the Holly Raleigh Kidsmas Benefit Record this year.

12.) Hearing the words, “I want your body on me” come in when Brad was tracking the bass on the Gayngs Record in the studio.

13.) Getting a copy of the the Screen Vinyl Image Lp in the mail from my friend Jake in DC.

14.)  Driving back from the Wilmington NC alone and listening to the third Phoenix album in my car and hearing the song “North” come on and remembering how much I love that song.

15.) Performing our show at the small Woodwinds repair shop Marsh Woodwinds in Raleigh NC.

16.) Our Duke Gardens show with Rob Lackey, Wes Phillips and the horn section from Lost in the Tress.

The Rosebuds will play two shows with Megafaun at The Pour House in Raleigh on January 8th and 9th. Tickets on sale now!

1 king khan – king khan
2 wade oates – the virgins
3 fuck buttons – together. they tied:  andrew hung + benjamin power
4 brian king – japandroids
5 mike lightning – let’s wrestle
6 devonte hynes – lightspeed champion
7 eugene hutz – gogol bordello
8 brent knopf – menomena
9 ed sharpe – ed sharpe and the magnetic zeros
10 patrick stickles– titus andronicus
+ stu is a contender, but i think it’s unfair to include him

The Love Language will play the Local 506 New Year’s Eve party in Chapel Hill! Their Merge debut will be released in 2010.

Scott Walker – The Drift
Peter Broderick – Home
Tim Fite – Fair Ain’t Fair
Samuel Barber – Songs
Carletta Sue Kay – Live at the San Francisco Eagle
Christopher Wheeldon - Within the Golden Hour – War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco CA
The Wrestler – Movie
Mahler: Symphony #5 In C Sharp Minor - 4. Adiagietto
Kath Bloom – various songs
Joe Henry – Blood From Stars
Into Great Silence – Movie

Our 2009 Year End List series begins today with Merge intern, Andrew Hamlet!

Songs:
Winter 2009: “My Girls” Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Spring 2009: “Meet Me in the Garden” Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele –
S/T
Summer 2009: “Girlfriend” Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Fall 2009: “Walkabout” Atlas Sound feat. Noah Lennox – Logos

Concerts:
Paul McCartney and MGMT – Fenway Park
WYS w/ Peter Pixzel – Fabric
The Selmanaires – Local 506
Lake Inferior – Local 506

Fun:
Vondelpark
UNC winning the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship