Best Discoveries in 2009

Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star

AWATS is hands down the best thing I came across this year. I had been listening to Something/Anything? for a while and rediscovered it during my period of unemployment. Then someone recommended the follow-up and I was blown away. No other album has jumped as quickly into my pile of favorites. I'm also very glad my discovery of this album coincided with his tour where he played the album in its entirety. I've never cared much for Patti Smith, but in her review she declared that this album is "preparing us for a generation of frenzied children who will dream in animation." If only...


Van Dyke Parks - Discover America
Millenium - Begin

As far as Van Dyke Parks goes, Song Cycle gets the attention, but Discover America has gotten more playtime for me. Exploring the genre of late-60s chamber pop in the vein of Smile-era Beach Boys led me to plenty of great albums; above all, Begin is the one I cannot believe has gone overlooked for so long.


Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85

I had dismissed this album as too saccharine for so long, but I'm glad I finally came around to it. What a treat. So perfectly distilled and consistent, and not too far removed from the over-production of Rundgren or the orchestration of Parks. Another association I have with this is Destroyer's Your Blues, one of my favorite albums of the past decade. Although worlds away in tone, they both occupy a very specific niche on the music spectrum that, in my mind, overshadows anything within range.


Harmonia - Deluxe
Manuel Gottsching - E2-E4
Walter Wegmuller - Tarot

I made an effort to explore Krautrock beyond the canon of Kraftwerk, Can, Faust, Neu!, Amon Duul II, and a few others. Getting into Ash Ra Tempel was a big help, as I prefer the trippy rhythms and comic guitar that Ash Ra Tempel puts forth over the more experimental Krautrock of, say, Conrad Schnitzler. The transition as Ash Ra Tempel became Ashra and then just Manuel Gottsching was great to hear, as the end-point for Gottsching was basically arriving at a new genre.

I was familiar with Cluster but less so with another Neu! offshoot, Harmonia. Their debut album is interesting, but I find Deluxe more enjoyable. Its summer sunset cover perfectly suggests the ideal time to blast Deluxe as loud as possible.

Walter Wegmuller's Tarot is like a Krautrock SuperFriends double-album. And just to hedge their bets, they made it a concept album: each track is themed after a unique Tarot card. There are a few dull ambient moments to sift through, but the high points more than make up for it.


Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
Kevin Ayers - Bananamour

Soft Machine was something I found a bit ahead of my time. I'm not sure how I came across them, but I was really into their first three albums while in high school. I wasn't a music nerd then; I don't think I had even found the Velvet Underground or Pavement. At any rate, revisiting Soft Machine and further exploring the work of its solo members was a real treat this year.


Bill Holt - Dreamies

Arguably the biggest thing in music this year was about the Beatles, and the biggest thing on television was Mad Men. With the release of Rock Band: Beatles Edition, the remastering of their catalogue, and the death of Michael Jackson, it was a fairly good year for the Beatles. In the midst of all of that, I frequently listened to Bill Holt's Dreamies, an "auralgraphic experience" loosely constructed as an extension to "Revolution No. 9" from the Beatles' self-titled album. Over slow, Lennon-like guitar strumming, Bill Holt sings and occasionally interjects bursts from Beatles songs, as if your radio temporarily picked up a different station. Also sampled are speeches from JFK, LBJ, and news reports from the JFK assassination. For me, this coincided with Mad Men's third season, which took place mainly in late 1963 and (spoiler alert!) featured the JFK assassination heavily. Of all the great music that came out of that decade, Bill Holt's Dreamies seems like the one vintage looking-glass suited perfectly for use in 2009.

Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star

Undoubtedly the best album I discovered this year; it now reigns as one of my favorite listening experiences. Stick with it! --slowen

Something/Anything? proved that Todd Rundgren could write a pop classic as gracefully as any of his peers, but buried beneath the surface were signs that he would never be satisfied as merely a pop singer/songwriter. A close listen to the album reveals the eccentricities and restless spirit that surges to the forefront on its follow-up, A Wizard, a True Star. Anyone expecting the third record of Something/Anything?, filled with variations on "I Saw the Light" and "Hello It's Me," will be shocked by A Wizard. As much a mind-f*ck as an album, A Wizard, a True Star rarely breaks down to full-fledged songs, especially on the first side, where songs and melodies float in and out of a hazy post-psychedelic mist. Stylistically, there may not be much new -- he touched on so many different bases on Something/Anything? that it's hard to expand to new territory -- but it's all synthesized and assembled in fresh, strange ways. Often, it's a jarring, disturbing listen, especially since Rundgren's humor has turned bizarre and insular. It truly takes a concerted effort on the part of the listener to unravel the record, since Rundgren makes no concessions -- not only does the soul medley jerk in unpredictable ways, but the anthemic closer, "Just One Victory," is layered with so many overdubs that it's hard to hear its moving melody unless you pay attention. And that's the key to understanding A Wizard, a True Star -- it's one of those rare rock albums that demands full attention and, depending on your own vantage, it may even reward such close listening.

(Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star)