THE BEST OF 2009 SO FAR
The SiS Rundown by Rusty Roberts & Dany Sloan

I know that this is something reserved for around the 4th of July, but we couldn't hold in our anticipation this year. We have already come up with a pretty formidable list of the Best Albums of 2009 already, and with so many other great albums yet to be heard (Eels, Sonic Youth, whatever else may end up on our desktops), we are sure this list will change at the half. After one quarter of play, here's what is taking up the play counts on iTunes.

The Answering Machine / Another City, Another Sorry
While Manchester's the Answering Machine may not be reinventing the wheel musically, I am not really reinventing the journalistic wheel by using that cliché. With that said, this four piece makes quality and addicting indie rock, the kind that made Ash and the Subways famous. Tracks like "Cliffer" and "Obviously Cold" are upbeat nuggets that will remain with you for days.

Cymbals Eat Guitars / Why There Are Mountains
Since I introduced myself to them at the beginning of the year, Cymbals Eat Guitars are showing up everywhere. Since I haven’t stopped spinning this little indie band that could’s self-released debut, they have been given the Best New Music seal of approval from Pitchfork not only for the jam “Wind Phoenix” but for Mountains itself. They recently played with Beep Beep, have upcoming shows at Bowery Ballroom with White Rabbits and are gonna play with The Antlers, too. Looks like my beginning of the year prediction was right that CEG will be the “It” band this year and I’ll get to keep my blogger license after all.

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
This leaked back in February and I felt like such a bad boy for listening to this on repeat for many weeks straight. As of the beginning of April I have put myself on a strict “No-Veckatimest-til-it’s-out” diet. Halfway in I have listened to at least half the album thanks to the fact that the songs are still trapped in my brain! Just the other morning I just had to listen to “While You Wait For The Others” because that epic KCRW version won’t suffice. And while I was there I just let “I Live With You” play as well. And “Two Weeks” is such a catchy, upbeat number that will be the great BBQ jam come Memorial Day. The whole thing is just glorious from start to finish. They can do no wrong in my book, ever.

The Joy Formidable / A Balloon Called Moaning
A few weeks ago, my fiancee joked that I have a propensity for both British and female-fronted bands. While she may be right, the reason I like this London-via-Walian trio has nothing to do with gender or nationality. This record is a fuzzy-pop masterpiece, harkening back to the gems of the mid '90s that were able to assign song structure to meandering shoegazers. Lead singer Ritzy Bryan has a voice that any band would covet, an antipop to and fro that is as instantly memorable as the music.

Peter Bjorn & John / Living Thing
When this album was first played for me inside a rented minivan driving from NYC to Boston, my jaw dropped. I was so confused as to what I just heard. No one whistled. No girl sang back to Peter. I had to play it again. And again. And again. If only one thing can be said about this album, it is that these guys should be lauded for the fact they have made the album they wanted to make. The title track channels Hot Chip and Graceland, while the guitar takes a back seat and the slow end of the night jam at the club “4 Out of 5” pumps through the stereosystem. Sure there are Writer’s Block-esque moments like “Lay It Down”, but for the most part it is all about experimentation in making an album that will challenge their listeners to like it for what it is.

Sky Larkin / The Golden Spike
Over the past few years, a handful of rough demos and singles surfaced from this Leeds band, slowly building them from local favorites to global buzz band of the year. I invited them to play a SXSW party in '07, but the band told me that they were staying home to focus on school, so it seems that they not only know how to write a tune, but they have their priorities straight as well.

Telekinesis / Telekinesis!
The self titled debut from one man in-studio band Michael Benjamin Lerner is all about him and being over in Japan somewhere. He talks about going to Tokyo (“Tokyo!”), booked flights to said country (“Awkward Kisser”) and being there (“Foreign Room”). But here’s the catch – he has never been there, ever! He’s just mildly obsessed with it. Like he obsesses over that, I am completely obsessed with this album, not just because every song is just covered in catchy hooks coming at you from all directions, but because of is honest and direct delivery of lyrics that I, and every listener, can totally relate to.

Various Arists / Dark Was The Night
Now this has caused some controversy around the office when I proclaimed it’s Top 5 for me so far because it’s a compilation but why not? I mean, it’s all new and unreleased songs, it’s not like it’s the soundtrack to some 80s-based film topped with the same 10 hits. The songs flow together like an album, thus I treat it as one, and the Dessner brothers can take stake in the fact that this might be the Best Album of the Year, no matter what you say. Oh, and as of this posting, Yeasayer’s “Tight Rope” is tied with Yo La Tengo’s cover of Snapper’s “Gentle Hour” for best song on said album. See, I don’t even refer to it as a comp because it’s not, it is an album, people!

Wintermute / Robot Works
This be the record and band that catapults the burgeoning UK math pop scene
into the stratosphere. I've said this before, and I'll say it again, but this record could have the same effect that Silent Alarm did -- it will spawn a million imitators and it will make these guys stars. I've been listening to some of these songs for the better part of three years and they just don't get old.