‘For All the Boys and Girls’
> Among other things, this past year in Boston music saw an unlikely dance band arise from defunct rock bands, a one man band, and a hip-hop collaboration that could ease Sox/Yankees relations >Local writers review 2009 in local music
Wild Light
“Adult Nights”
Label: Startime International/Almost Gold
The New Hampshire by way of Boston quartet kick-started the year with this lovely, sanguine pop release. As much as the band bops along and injects each song with a cute, alluring melodic hook, it's the sense of longing and loss that underpins many songs that makes this a thoroughly satisfying listen.
LINDA LABAN
Sidewalk Driver
"For All the Boys and Girls"
Label: Self-released
Sidewalk Driver's long-awaited debut LP perfectly channels their energetic live performances into a smartly crafted, deftly produced party platter. Bursting with flavors of glam rock and hook-filled pop that owe to the Cars, Elton John and the Pixies, there isn't a single skippable track on it.
SELENE ANGIER
Drug Rug
“Paint the Fence Invisible”
Label: Black and Greene
With the buzz that their debut created, they could have kept on with the same formula for their sophomore effort, but this Cambridge-based band centered around a couple decided to listen to their intuitions and to the ghostly voices from the 1960s that populate much of this album.
PAT HEALY
A&E (MASTA ACE & EDO G)
“Arts & Entertainment”
Label: Traffic Entertainment
Who says Boston and NYC can't get along? Two of rap's veterans connect to keep the good boom bap alive with neck-snapping results.
G. VALENTINO BALL
Animal Hospital
“Good or Plenty, Streets and Avenues”
Label: Mutable Sound
Led by Kevin Micka, Boston's most modest and multi-talented unsung hero, Animal Hospital is a one-man band that sounds like a well-skilled arsenal of seven. Personally mic-ing unlikely instruments and looping intricate layers of guitars and drums and other unthinkable noise makers, Animal Hospital's record moves from droney ambient teases and culminates with post-rock intensity.
NOLAN GAWRON
Taxpayer
“Don't Steal My Night Vision”
Label: Lunch Records
Hurtling close to the edge on sweeping guitar anthems like “We Have Just Arrived” the perennially underrated Boston indie rockers married their maelstrom of melodrama to a refined musicianship this time out.
LUKE O'NEIL
John Powhida
"Dirty Birdy and the Funny Bunny", "Kiku" and "The Soul EP"
Label: Camp Street Records
Powhida, the erstwhile frontman for the hiatused Rudds, released a trifecta of digital-only EPs that builds on the schizophrenic charms of his previous outtings, sharply combining forlorn soul, cheeky disco-rap, chunks of funk and classic rock riffs.
SELENE ANGIER
Caspian
“Tertia”
Label: Mylene Sheaf
This, the first recording to feature this savvy post-rock band's current three-guitar line-up, revealed Caspian had taken a darker, heavier turn on their second full-length. Standouts include the Gothic, languorous “The Raven,” and the swirling, intense “La Cerva,” homage to the naïve and doomed Adriana in “The Sopranos.”
LINDA LABAN
Esoteric
“Saving Seamus Ryan”
Label: Fly Casual
Think of this as “Seamus Grows Up”. The crate-digging concept album from one of the Boston underground's best is an emotional triumph.
G. VALENTINO BALL
Passion Pit
“Manners”
Label: Frenchkiss Records
Somewhere in the past few years, indie rock regained its sense of otherworldly grandeur. Albums like this consensus year-end list pick are a big part of the reason. “Sleepyhead” and “Moth's Wings” are the spritely, electronic soundtrack to our childhood dreams.
LUKE O'NEIL
Pants Yell!
"Received Pronunciation"
Label: Slumberland Records
Boston's own boyish pop-punks, Pants Yell! deliver another record of riveting, nerdy, danceable, sing-along twee-pop. Innocent, pure, unassuming and intelligent, many say this record may be their best, but sadly it may also be their last. Either way it's darn good.
NOLAN GAWRON
Deer Tick
"Born on Flag Day"
Label: Partisan Records
Providence's Deer Tick mines some choice alt-country on their sophomore record, "Born on Flag Day." The loose Americana ramble is tethered by frontman John McCauley's crusty croon and lyrical patina, and Andrew Tobiassen's resplendent guitar work.
SELENE ANGIER
Masspike Miles
"The Pursuit Of Happiness"
Label: Maybach Music
Rick Ross' signee and Roxbury resident brings R&B from the street perspective to give a strong preview of his major label debut.
G. VALENTINO BALL
Mystery Roar
Self-titled EP
Don't be fooled by the synth washes and electronic twiddling, this is a down and dirty funk party. Hand clap beats, filthy bass grooves and cooly effected vocals in a scandalous man on machine love affair.
LUKE O'NEIL
Sonic Youth
“The Eternal”
Label: Matador
Oh come on, Thurston and Kim have lived in Western Mass. for years. They're as local as the Pixies and this record is simply one of the band's best; a swift return to noise rock grandeur after the lackluster “Rather Ripped,” and with a renewed punk rock energy, too. Worth claiming as ours!
LINDA LABAN
Bodega Girls
s/t
You may have heard them in the clubs, but the truth is their record only found its way into the hands of a few. Although only the single "She's into Black Guys" is available as of now, the rest of their songs that leaked into other's ears are all that and a pack of Reds. An all-star roster from the wreckage of dead bands, the Bodega Girls walk a catchy and crooked path of self-destruction all the while reeking of sex, drugs and dance rock.
NOLAN GAWRON