http://amillionmonkeys.blogspot.com/2009/12/merry-christmas-from-david-bowie-and.html

Merry Christmas from David Bowie and Bing Crosby:

http://amillionmonkeys.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-insophisticate-is-here.html

The new Insophisticate is here! The new Insophisticate is here! We talked about year-end things. Dino argued for Blakrok, I made the case for Brad Paisley, Andy talked games. Listen and throw things at your ipod because you disagree so vehemently. It will be fun.

http://amillionmonkeys.blogspot.com/2009/12/robert-mentzers-certified-finest_15.html

BONUS CATEGORIES!!!!

WORST SONG OF 2009
Down with Webster, "Rich Girl$"
To me a really terrible song has to be one that you like just a little bit, or want to like or something. In this case, the sample reminds me of a song I like a lot, "Rich Girl" by Hall & Oates. But this song is way cheesy. For the line "you're supposed to laugh, that's a joke, hon," alone, this shit is unbearable. A big no, a wasted idea.


BEST BEEF
Mariah Carey vs. Eminem.
Mariah's single "Obsessed" is quite good, and it came with a bizarro Mariah-as-drag-king video. Eminem, meanwhile, followed his usual "go nuclear" rule with a massively embarrassing story involving premature ejaculation. Who knows if it is true or not, but I am sort of inclined to think it is.

Runner-up: Wayne Coyne vs. Win Butler
Flared up hilariously, died down disappointingly, then came roaring back. Great stuff.

IN A WEIRD WAY 2009 SORT OF BELONGED TO
Lady Gaga. Am I wrong? As music, sorta so-so. As postmodern performance art? Kind of interesting!


NOT-NEW ALBUMS THAT WERE AMONG MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2009
Talking Heads, Speaking in Tongues
Michael Jackson, Thriller
Michael Jackson, Off the Wall
Michael Jackson, Bad
The Beatles, Let it Be

Two good times of year were a.) around the time the Beatles reissues were coming out and everyone was talking about the Beatles for a minute there, and b.) just after Michael Jackson died, and the outpouring of emotion took the form of an ocean of unreleased demos and DJ mixes that were all amazing. Those were sad days, but they were also some of the greatest days for music listening I think we will ever experience.

http://amillionmonkeys.blogspot.com/2009/12/robert-mentzers-certified-finest.html

I am going to do a best of the decade list, too. Why not? So argue with my choices below, or send links to your own lists and I will post 'em.

Without further ado, my favorite albums and songs of 2009.

--
ALBUMS
I know, what is an album? But collections of song do either hang together or not, and there is still something to records that work on a 45+ minute loop.


10. Rancid, Let the Dominoes Fall
Like the Raekwon record (#3), a total throwback. Hey everyone, it is 1995! No, I am not complaining.

9. J Dilla, Jay Stay Paid
Posthumous Dilla still better than 99 percent of the cats out there.

8. Lil Wayne, No Ceilings (mixtape)

7. Flaming Lips, Convinced of the Hex

A fuzzy, jammy session. Just what we haven't heard in a long time.

6. Jay-Z, The Blueprint 3

5. Amadou and Mariam, Welcome to Mali

4. Steve Earle, Townes
Sad songs in tribute to a sad man, Townes Van Zandt, a great and underappreciated songwriter.

3. Raekwon, Only Built for Cuban Linx Pt. II

Wu aesthetic lives on. I would not have thought the best rap record of 2009 would sound almost like it came out in the mid-'90s. But here we are.

2. Rihanna, Rated R

1. Brad Paisley, American Saturday Night

People, it is not even close. This is absolutely the best, best-crafted album of 2009. Soaring choruses, shredding guitar solos, funny lyrics. Brad Paisley is big-hearted, likable, honest. They're just perfectly constructed songs built around sweet conceits. ... Just a stray thought, but how much better would that movie "It Might Get Loud" have been if it had swapped in Brad Paisley for Jack White?

I understand that many people's ears are not really tuned to modern Nashville country. Get them in tune.


SONGS
21. Britney Spears, "If You Seek Amy"
Hey, let's see you release a song that spells out a curse word.

20. Flo Rida w/ Ne-Yo, "Be On You"
Hey, let's see you release a straight R&B ballad that is based on a scene from "Anchorman."

19. Drake w/ Kanye/Eminem/Lil Wayne, "Forever"
Eminem wins this one, but all the verses are pretty good.

18. Jay-Z, "Run This Town"

17. Kelly Clarkson, “My Life Would Suck Without You”

16. Rihanna feat. Young Jeezy, "So Hard"

15. Mariah Carey, "Obsessed"

14. Tortoise, “High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In”

13. Miley Cyrus, "Party in the USA"

12. Wilco, “Wilco (The Song)”
Kind of sly in a way. Nice song.

11. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, "Afraid Ain't Me"

10. Major Lazer, "Hold the Line"

9. The Flaming Lips, "I Can Be a Frog"


8. Black Eyed Peas, "I Gotta Feeling"
I think conceivably the Black Eyed Peas will be the Hootie & the Blowfish of 2019 -- mega-popular band that no one now admits to ever liking. (Btw, isn't it about time for a critical reappraisal of Hootie?) Whatever. They are good. Both "I Gotta Feeling" and "Boom Boom Pow" are monster singles.

7. Lady Gaga, "Paparazzi"

6. Amadou & Mariam, "Masite Lady"


5. Brad Paisley, "Then"

4. Steve Earle, “Pancho and Lefty”

It's weird but because it's the best-known Townes Zan Vandt song, it's also somehow the most personal of Steve Earle's covers. And it's just a great goddamn song.

3. Jay-Z, "Empire State of Mind"

2. Raekwon "10 Bricks"

1. Rihanna, "Russian Roulette"
Taut! As soaring and suspenseful as pop music can be.

http://amillionmonkeys.blogspot.com/2009/12/portrait-of-thomas-pynchon-as-young-man.html

Short but good piece in London Review of Books:

One of the things Pynchon liked was to be driven around LA by one of the young women from the neighbourhood while rehearsing his theories about the defence industry. His favourite hangout was a joint called Tommy’s which had good chilli cheeseburgers and Tom would always eat two in a hurry. He stuttered, and when he was excited, the words didn’t always flow. He told me at one point, almost vengefully, that one of his quests was to ‘keep scholars busy for several generations’. He said he had written The Crying of Lot 49 under the influence of Borges and for money, but it didn’t make money, and he dismissed it. He thought V a good effort. He was at work that summer on Gravity’s Rainbow, which he felt had real prospects. There was a pile of papers on a desk – scraps, handwritten notes, different coloured paper – and he would add to it if you said something he thought worth keeping. He said he didn’t go to the beach anymore.