Disappointing Records of 2009

So it is the time of year for Best of 2009 releases at the usual suspects like Pitchfork and PopMatters, the latter of which I write for. It's pretty obvious what Record of the Year is, at least at Pitchfork. If the new Animal Collective full-length doesn't get it, as it was something like No. 14 in the Best of the Decade poll, I will eat my hat. (I expect a high showing from the new Grizzly Bear album as well, which may, just may, play spoiler.)

So I decided to do something different. Compile a list of disappointments from 2009, and, boy, were there a lot this year, as far as I can tell. Here are a list of the most notable ones from me:

Peter, Bjorn and John -- Living Thing

Is this the same band that brought us Writer's Block? What gives? This album takes a turn away from the baroque pop of the former album, and replaces it with a glitchy technological sheen. The only really memorable song is "It Don't Move Me", which was also the first single. The lyric sheet is especially embarrassing: "Hey, shut the f*ck up boy, you're starting to p*ss me off, take your hands off that girl, you have already had enough." (Cringe.) I'm not against new directions, but after almost completely abandoning their old sound, this band really alienated this listener. And Rolling Stone gave this four stars? What were they thinking?

The Fiery Furnaces -- I'm Going Away

This is not really a bad album, per se, but it is a bit disappointing as it is more straight-up and less discordant than their previous releases. There's not a lot on this one that grabbed me from the outright, and it just seems kind of bland and boring compared against Blueberry Boat, which is one of my favourite "weird" releases.

The Decemberists -- The Hazards of Love

This one gets my vote for Worst Album of the Year. While the Fiery Furnaces stepped away from the prog rock, these guys all but embraced it on this release. The problem is, there is hardly a proper song on this thing to be heard. It all sort of just blends together into one big mess, and the "concept story" really doesn't make a lot of sense. My eyeballs hurt just looking at the lyric sheet. I was really disappointed with this one, particularly since their former album, The Crane Wife, is so good and varied.

Bob Mould -- Life and Times

This is actually a pretty not bad album, but it just seems that Mould is sort of resting on his laurels and is just trying to rote rock out these days. Better this than the garbage he had to offer up on Modulate, I suppose, but I haven't really fully embraced a Mould record since The Last Dog and Pony Show, which came out 11 years ago. Perhaps people change and their tastes might grow, as my seem to have, but wouldn't it be nice if we could get another Warehouse: Songs and Stories out of Mould? Just one more like that one? Pretty please?

The Flaming Lips -- Embryonic

I would suppose that this is not a bad album, either, but it seems like such a comedown after Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. The songs pretty much blend together, and it goes on and on for about 70 minutes. I admire that they were trying to make a "double album", but it would have been nice if they had a few more proper songs, and not noise collages and off-beat experiments on this one. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite, considering what I said about the Fiery Furnaces above, but I just haven't been able to get into this one at all. Maybe it's a grower?

Yo La Tengo -- Popular Songs

Again, not really a bad album, per se, but I really haven't dug into the second half of the record at all, considering that it is nothing but three long, mostly instrumental pieces. I could have done with just one. Another album that I haven't really revisited much, but, then again, maybe this one is a grower ... .