New-To-Me Music From The Straight’s Top 10 Albums

Each year, each of the Georgia Straight’s music critics writes a list of their top ten favourite albums of the year. I usually skim these lists, and I’m overjoyed if I recognize more than three or four bands. This year, in my ongoing battle against total musical fossilization, I decided to examine the list in some detail, and to listen to any band that I thought might strike my fancy.

I ended up with four new bands that I liked. They are:

• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – How can you not like a band with a name like that? Like a lot of the bands I checked out, they seem to be influenced by the music of the eighties.
• Mirah – Her full name is Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, so it’s no wonder that she shortened it. Straight reviewer Mike Usinger writes “Think Cat Power before she started making music for Yaletown dinner parties.” Ouch, I kind of like Cat Power.
• Pink Mountaintops – Wikipedia calls them a “shoegaze psychedelic rock band from Vancouver”. They’re a kind of side project featuring many of the same musicians in Black Mountain.
• Lightning Dust – This band specifically identifies themselves as being from ‘East Van’ on their MySpace page. It turns out they’re another side project of some of the musicians in the aforementioned Black Mountain. They’re my favourite of the four bands I’ve listed here.

I was pleased to recognize a few more of the bands on the list than I usually do. Of those bands, I’d recommend The Hidden Cameras, M. Ward and The Low Anthem.

What other great albums from 2009 have I missed?

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