Tag: best of 2009

All Things Considered: Best L.A. Music with Foreign Born, Nosaj Thing and Nite Jewel

Care to hear  the best songs from the L.A. underground in 2009? Click on over to KPCC, where I visited last week in order to talk to All Things Considered host Alex Cohen about three of my favorites. Discussed: Foreign Born’s “Vacationing People,” Nosaj Thing’s “Coat Of Arms,” and Nite Jewel’s “Artificial Intellience,” as well as the scenes/movements each artist represents. Listen to the audio by clicking the little play button at the top of the article, and feel free to download each song via the side panel.

Foreign Born take a victory lap.

Further reading:

– An interview with Foreign Born’s Matt Popieluch (via The A.V. Club)

– A feature on Nosaj Thing (via LA Weekly)

– Various items about Nite Jewel (mostly via LA Weekly)

The Best Albums Of 2009

Everyone’s gotta have a list, right? Well, we critics for The A.V. Club were given the opportunity to write on any of our personal favorites that didn’t make the publication’s official countdown. Despite the presence of Fall Out Boy on said countdown, it was assembled democratically, with each critic having received 100 points to distribute as she/he saw fit on up to 15 records (with no more than 15 points for any single album).

The individual ballots have been published, and this link goes directly to mine, which includes writeups on game-changers like Neon Indian and Fool’s Gold, overlooked moments of greatness from DM Stith, Wallpaper, and Themselves, quieter things like Tiny Vipers, and creepy stuff like Fever Ray (plus a few others).

DM Stith, 'Heavy Ghost'