A collection of ten records from the year that I either felt weren’t up to some of the incredible hype they received, were letdowns from a band’s previous release, or just ended up as personal disappointments. It’s been a great year and I couldn’t ask for any more excellent albums, but there’s always going to be some bad with the good, and 2009 wasn’t any different.

10.

Discovery – LP

XL Recordings

Released: July 7

Hey, I love Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot just as much as the next pretentious indie douche bag, but this side project, between VW’s Rostam Batmanglij and Riot’s Wes Miles, was an ill-advised dip into Auto-Tuned-to-hell pop mania that only reinforced the stereotype that side groups are where bad ideas go to die. Unable to decide whether it wants to be unironic pop or tongue-in-cheek hipster mockery, it fails miserably in both respects.

9.

Peter Bjorn and John

Wichita

Released: March 31

For their fifth album and first proper one after their breakthrough record Young Folks, Peter Bjorn & John inexplicably decided to tone down the sunny Swedish indie pop that made them famous and go all in on a bunch of dark synths and bad drum machine beats. The hooks are still there, but they’re mired under a layer of minimalist bleeps and boops and undercooked lyrics. While an admirable effort, Living Thing ultimately collapses under the weight of its own experimental tendencies.

8.

The Dodos – Time to Die

Frenchkiss

Released: September 15

Time to Die is a good record, but after last year’s ridiculously awesome The Visiter, this release seems more like a stopgap effort or, worse, an attempt to cash in on their blogosphere hype while it still lasts. There’s nothing wrong here, but it pales in comparison to its predecessor and never really brings anything new to the table.

7.

Tinted Windows – Tinted Windows

S-Curve Records

Released: April 21

Tinted Windows debut should’ve blown the roof off power pop, considering all the players involved. Unfortunately it turned out just the opposite, a rote piece of work that is enjoyable for a spell but largely reveals itself to be less than the sum of its parts.

6.

Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3

Atlantic

Released: September 8

Judging from Jay-Z’s habit of following a decent record with a subpar one, it should come as no surprise that The Blueprint 3 doesn’t match up to the American Gangster soundtrack, but it is a bit shocking that this may be Hova’s worst record since The Blueprint 2. Lackluster rhymes, vanilla production, and guest stars who routinely outshine the host, it’s a middling affair by a talent who seems content to let the young guns all pass him by.

5.

Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South

Merge Records

Released: May 5

Fresh off the riveting success that was his first solo album not under the Bright Eyes moniker, Conor Oberst decides to celebrate with his buddies in the Mystic Valley Band, and, less than a year after his self-titled, results in Outer South. And that’s exactly all it sounds like: a celebration that tends to find Oberst and friends fucking around in the studio and throwing together an over-long collection of half-baked Americana. Too much Mystic Valley Band, not enough sober Oberst.

4.

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

Domino

Released: June 9

The hype surrounding this album was immense, but for all its intriguing edges and occasional flashes of clarity, it still remains an impenetrable mess of an album. From the discordant singing and random instrumental flourishes to the hyperactive song structures and lack of anything resembling a natural flow, it’s an album that tries too hard and ends up as merely a confusing jumble of experimental ideas.

3.

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

Warp Records

Released: May 26

A record that immediately drew me in with the fantastic “Two Weeks” and whetted my appetite for more with “All We Ask” and “Cheerleader,” I was ultimately disappointed with the overall results. It’s not that Veckatimest isn’t a good record; I can appreciate the meticulous songwriting and sharp production, as well as the rustic sort of experimental folk Grizzly Bear have mastered. But the album drags on for far too long without the kind of persistent hooks that the above songs promised, resulting in an album far better at lulling me to sleep than anything else.

2.

Clipse – Til The Casket Drops

Star Trak 2009

Released: December 8

Another fine example of artists at the top of their game coming up woefully short to matching the high standards now expected of them. Til The Casket Drops is, in regards to most drug-happy rap releases of the year, an excellent release, but considering the massive success of Hell Hath No Fury and the three years the Thornton brothers have had to work on a follow-up, it still comes up dreadfully short to what I’ve come to expect from Clipse.

1.

The Flaming Lips – Embryonic

Warner Bros.

Released: October 13

I can understand what the Lips were trying to do here. I can even praise them for their boldness and persistent pushing of their own boundaries. But do I have to enjoy it? While I really, really, really wanted to say yes, multiple listens eventually rendered it impossible. A grand album that is undeniable in its scope and ambition, it’s also a schizophrenic beast of a record that shunned my attentions more often than it grabbed me. In trying to redefine music, Embryonic lost me in its own meandering world, one that I struggled to get immersed in and which ultimately repulsed me.

Tinted Windows – Tinted Windows

S-Curve Records 2009

Rating: 6/10

 

If Tinted Windows was an actual child instead of four men’s mad musical creation, it would no doubt have a very hard time staying still and restraining it’s emotions, not to mention its surefire penchant for sweets. Tinted Windows debut doesn’t come packaged with a free sample of Ritalin, but I wouldn’t have been surprised; this amalgam of power-pop experts keeps the tempos in high gear, the guitars crunchy and sharp, and the vocals full of harmonic “who-wohs” custom-built for infectious sing-a-longs.

Lead-off single “Kind Of A Girl” is a perfect microcosm of the Tinted Windows experience and the album as a whole:  a churning, workmanlike guitar line by former Smashing Pumpkins’ and current A Perfect Circle axe-man James Iha, buttressed by the surging drums of Cheap Trickster Bun E. Carlos, framing some deliciously arcing vocals by Taylor Hanson (!), all the product of Fountains of Wayne wordsmith Adam Schlesinger and his deviously simple verse/chorus lyrical machinations. That was a long and complicated sentence, but “Kind Of A Girl” is nothing if not the picture of brevity, ‘60s pop mixed with the electric sensibilities of late ‘90s alternative into the stereotypical 3-minute single. Does it work? As anyone familiar with the band member’s respective histories, it should come as no surprise that it comes off like a charm.

Tinted Windows follows the formula of “Kind Of A Girl” to a tee, with the up-and-down verses and hints of falsetto in “Messing With My Head” leading into the faux-ballad of “Dead Serious” and its stadium-sized hook. After the sugar rush of the relentlessly energetic “Can’t Get A Read On You” and the chiming, echo-laden “I-want-you-back-so-bad” cliché of “Back With You,” however, one begins to wonder if this is maybe the only gear Tinted Windows knows how to roll with.

The songs on Tinted Windows can quite easily be categorized into two genres. The first is the heavily-produced pop/rock ballad, as seen in the aforementioned “Back With You,” “Dead Serious,” or the very ‘90s-sounding “Doncha Wanna.” The rest, and the majority, can only be distinguished by a generally higher tempo and more affected vocals from Hanson (I get nostalgic shivers every time I write that). “Kind Of A Girl” is an admirable, if not earthshakingly great, power-pop gem, and so are many of the following tunes here, but there comes a point where Tinted Windows reaches a clear sugar overload.

One might think this could have been avoided looking at Tinted Windows’ pedigrees, but, like so many “supergroups” before them (Audioslave, Velvet Revolver, A Perfect Circle post-Mer de Noms), they often come off as less than the sum of their parts. Hanson knows his way around a pop song, distancing himself from “MMMbop” while at the same time establishing a modicum of rock credibility, but his material is substandard. Schlesinger, the writer of so many clever turns of phrase and deceptively fluid hooks with Fountains of Wayne and others, too often turns to tired banalities like “nothing’s gonna last / “we’re just going fast” or “when you call my name / it’s like a light out of the blue.” And Iha and Carlos just seems to be going through the motions for much of the album, the occasional lick or solo just seeming out of place. Of course, when Iha actually asserts himself, like on the excellent “Nothing To Me,” it’s a teasing taste of what could’ve been.

For a bit of meaningless springtime fun, Tinted Windows is just the perfect prescription, a melodically accomplished record with a terrific ear for a hook and little substance beyond commonplace boy-girl love. Just don’t take it on a road trip any longer than an hour; like candy, Tinted Windows are a taste one would be well advised to enjoy in small doses.