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CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD BEST CENTRAL BEST OFCD 2009 CENTRAL CD CEN TRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 - OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST CD OF CEN 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRALBEST BEST OF OF2009 2009 CD CENTRAL TRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST - OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CEN TRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 CD CENTRAL BEST OF 2009 WELL, HELLO!

It’s been another fun year at CD Central! Certainly one filled with ups and downs (thinking about the Limestone road project here) but the bottom line is we’ve enjoyed bringing some great music to Lexington, both live and on disc. This booklet is our annual recap of some of the year’s brightest musical highlights. One of the great things we can look back at this year is our participation in Local First Lexington. All of the members of LFL are locally-owned, independent businesses who do great things for our community. These are the businesses that make Lexington a unique place among a sea of national chain stores. Please make it one of your New Year’s resolutions to “Think Local First” when making your buying decisions in the coming year. It feels good to shop local and it makes Lexington a better place. Thanks!

Happy Holidays, the cd central staff

For more info, visit www.localfirstlexington.com! TOP 12 KENTUCKY RELEASES OF 2009

1. Chico Fellini - Chico Fellini 2. Everyone Lives Everyone Wins - In This Moment We Are Infinite 3. Alegionnaire - Realms 4. Goldenrod - Paintings for Prophets 5. Very Emergency - The Getaway 6. Tee Dee Young - I’ve Got to Move 7. Jack - Giants’ Newground 8. Englishman - Taxidermy 9. Spooky Q’s - Winterband 10. Rudies - Rudies 11. Robbert Bobbert & the Bubble Machine - Self-Titled 12. Brassknuckle Boys - Appalachian Industry

In August, played at CD Central. MATT G’S TOP 10 10. Flaming Lips: "" are creating some of the most pleasantly Some people have the misconception that interesting music beyond most of their indie are a pop band, and it's rock peers. simply not true. The Flaming Lips are a weirdo band, they always have been, and 7. James Blackshaw: "The Glass "Embryonic" is their newest reminder of that Bead Game" often-overlooked fact. Instead of resting in "The Glass Bead Game" is composed of the hipster-harvesting fields of indie-rock, five absolutely gorgeous instrumentals fea- the Lips have taken a trip further out into turing Blackshaw mainly on acoustic guitar, the mind-space where sound textures trump but also , playing intricate songs with traditional melodies. They haven't given up a passionate instrumental lyricism. The all of their funkiness, there are a hand-full accompanying string sections fill out the of jams on the , but "Embryonic" is sound beautifully, and the all-acoustic per- designed as a full listening experience, formance comes across with great clarity. instead of a collection of singles. Three The album builds to its crescendo in "Arc," cheers to the Flaming Lips for continuing a swirling luminescent piece for piano and their musical evolution into the stratosphere strings that will leave you reeling. Black- and being about the coolest dudes ever. shaw conveys complex emotions in "The Glass Bead Game" that most popular music 9. Om: "God Is Good" cannot even approach. The heaviest Peace you can find, Om jam out another slab of righteous meditation- 6. : " / metal on "God Is Good." Their first full- Weird Era Continued" length with new drummer Emil Amos of I slept on this one for a couple of months Grails was again recorded immaculately by after it came out, but as soon as I tuned Steve Albini at Electrical Audio. "Thebes" in, I was glad to find out what I had been is the long-player of the album, starting off missing. "Microcastle" is one of the coolest, slow, just sitar drones and soft bass, adding most-fun of the year. It's not over- a new layer of hippie-bliss on the already- the-top sweet or under-the-covers intimate chill stoner jam. Soft sung vocals persist but a good mix of the two. If I use the word and lull for many minutes. Fuzzed-out "dreamy" too many times it will start to bass kicks in around minute 8, and then the sound weird, but really that's the best word heavy side of Om comes out. Al Cisneros for it. The melodies are catchy but not trite, riffs with big, thick bass textures while Amos and experiments just enough to lays heavy on the ride and changes it up keep things interesting. Plus it comes with on snare. In "Cremation Ghat I" a funky a whole extra album, "Weird Era Contin- bass line leads into middle-eastern rhythms ued," which is awesome as well. "Micro- and shows heavy Grails influence. With castle" is my have-fun pick of the year. its diverse sounds and influences, "God Is Good" provides peace for the metalheads 5. Lightning Bolt: "Earthly De- and excitement for the gurus. lights" One of the most adventurous bands of our 8. Grizzly Bear: "Veckatimest" time, Lightning Bolt released another sonic "Veckatimest" emerges from an aura of explosion of crushing riffs and atom-smash- mystery and leads the listener out into a ing beats in their fourth full-length, "Earthly blissful, friendly landscape with angelic Delights." Few other groups can match this vocals designed to draw you in. The band bass & drums duo for intensity and unpre- plays with such measured reservation dictable jaw-dropping jams. Brian Chippen- that even the slightest movements create dale's drumming defies all traditional rhythm noticable mini-crescendos. Grizzly Bear or reason, and Brian Gibson's overdriven bass lines shred and shift continuously. "Earthly Delights" will rock you in ways you pick-of-the-year for 2007, and "Set 'Em didn't know existed. Wild, Set 'Em Free" continues their mystic quest into the great unkown. Drawing from 4. Earth - "Radio Live" 2007-2008 influences as disparate as Aphex Twin and Earth understands the significant nuances Jimi Hendrix (and the cover making an obvi- of the live album better than most bands. ous reference to Sly and the Family Stone), They provide unique variations from the Akron/Family succeeds in synthesising dif- album versions of songs, and by "varia- ferent elements to make it all sound familiar tions" I mean that unlike just about any and exciting. There's real emotional sensi- other band, when Earth plays live, they play tivity captured here, and repeated listenings their songs EVEN SLOWER. There were no elicit richer and richer rewards. accolades too lofty to bestow upon 2008's near-perfect "The Bees Made Honey In 1. SunnO))) - "Monoliths & Di- The Lion's Skull," and Earth gives dynamic, mensions" passionate live renditions of four of those SunnO))) exist in the far, uncharted ter- songs (including the still vinyl-only track ritories of the musical spectrum where "Junkyard Priest") on "Radio Live." Randall heavy metal, avant-garde and drone music Dunn handles the live sound brilliantly, his meet. Widely regarded as the loudest band ears sharply honed after handling Earth's in the world (at least by anyone who has last few studio recordings. "Omens and seen them), SunnO))) have also made a Portents II: Carrion Crow" is played with reputation for conveying their heaviness glacial slowness, each note ringing out to tape. The riffs are massive, the choirs in full heart-wrenching purity. "The Bees are haunting, and the strings and horns are Made Honey..." has extended pauses that gorgeous. Atilla Csihar's vocals are super- seem to last aeons, but the band retains its human and the input from Oren Ambarchi, exceptional tightness. "Radio Live" is heavy Steve Moore, Stuart Dempster and Eyvind with passionate instrumental expression Kang bring these complex ideas to their and shines with a glorious light. full potential. "Monoliths & Dimensions" is SunnO)))'s masterpiece, the result of artists 3. Converge - "" confidently achieving their unique artistic Converge stopped being just another goal. Plus the packaging and artwork are hardcore band in 2001 when they immaculate. No detail is overlooked to released their career-defining album, create a perfect physical representation of "Jane Doe." Its mix of intense speed and the one of the most ambitious albums of anguished vocals paired with a fearless the decade. Look deep into the blackness; and energetic live show set Converge apart find texture in the void. And don't forget: from a sea of immitators. "Axe To Fall," the MAXIMUM VOLUME YIELDS MAXIMUM group's third full-length since, is their best RESULTS. work in years. Insane riffs crash and shift over a relentless percussive assault from Top 10 Shows of 2009: one of the best drummers in metal. Jacob 10. Zoroaster/Bongripper - the Dame Bannon's vocals are as indecipherable and 9. Mission of Burma - Busters visceral as ever. "Axe To Fall" admits more 8. - - heavy metal influences than their earlier Knoxville, TN hardcore releases, but the sound is decid- 7. Evelyn Glennie with Lexington Philhar- edly 100% Converge. Their rich combi- monic - Singletary Center nation of innovative talent and insatiable 6. Akron/Family - 21c Hotel - Louisville, KY passion keep Converge at the top of the 5. Jesus Lizard - Exit/In - Nashville, TN heavy metal genre. 4. Deerhunter, , No Age - Southgate House - Newport, KY 2. Akron/Family - "Set 'Em Wild, 3. Shellac - 930 Listening Room - Louisville, Set 'Em Free" KY Another psychedelic adventure into the 2. Coalesce - Scion Rock Fest - , GA realms of the human spirit from Akron/Fam- 1. SunnO))) - Southgate House - ily, purveyors of good vibes and heady trips. Newport, KY A/F's last album, "Love is Simple," was my MATT J’S

In no specific order:

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest - Merriweather Post Pavilion M Ward - Hold Time - Middle Cyclone - Intelligence - Fake Surfers St Vincent - Actor Local Natives - Gorilla Manor Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains? Portugal the Man - the Satanic Satanist TOP 10 ALBUMS & SHOWS OF MATT J’S 2009

Top 10 live shows of 2009:

#1: @ Bonnaroo #2: Flaming Lips @ #3: Grizzly Bear w/ @ SXSW #4: @ Bonnaroo #5: M. Ward @ SXSW #6: "No Deachunter" [No Age, Dan Deacon, Deerhunter] @ Southgate House #7: @ Bonnaroo #8: @ Boomslang #9: Black Keys @ Forecastle #10: Dirty Projectors @ Bonnaroo MIKE’S PRINCESS PICKS OF ‘09

Alegionnaire - Realms Portal - Swarth Sunn0))) - Monoliths + Dimensions Yob - The Great Cessation Weedeater - God Luck & Good Speed LP Headdress - Lunes Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder Zoroaster - Voice of Saturn Bongripper - Hate Ashbury Laudanum - Coronation Stormcrow/Laudanum - Sacred Death Coalesce - OX EP Converge - Axe to Fall Om - God is Good Wolves in the Throne Room - Malevolent Grain/Black Cascade Cadaver in Drag - Breaking & Entering Moss - Tombs of the Blind Drugged Black Math Horseman - Wyllt Nadja/Black Boned Angel - Nadja/Black Boned Angel Dark Castle - Spirited Migration Ahab - Divinity of Oceans Favorite shows: Sunn0))) & Eagle Twin @ Southgate House Zoroaster/Bongripper/Alegionnaire/Everyone Lives Everyone Wins @ the Dame Dark Castle @ the Drone Temple Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta LAUREN’S FAVS OF 2009 1. Sea Wolf // White Water, White Bloom 2. John Vanderslice // Romanian Names 3. St. Vincent // Actor 4. Ben Gibbard & // One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Music from Kerouac’s Big Sur 5. // The Life of the World to Come 6. // I & Love & You 7. Monsters of Folk // Monsters of Folk 8. Phoenix // Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 9. Mos Def // The Ecstatic 10. The xx // xx

The Avett Brothers at the Kentucky Theater in Lexington Honorable mentions (in no particular order): Health, Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Lil’ Wayne, Jay-Z, Girls, Dutchess & the Duke, The Antlers, The Decemberists, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Atlas Sound, Le Loup, Dirty Projectors, AA Bondy Shows: - the Mountain Goats & John Vanderslice, Gone Primitive tour @ The Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC; @ Buskirk-Chumley Theatre in Bloomington, IN (w/ Tallest Man on Earth); and @ University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, IL (yes, 3 times on the same tour) - the Mountain Goats w/ Larkin Grimm & Final Fantasy @ Mercy Lounge in Nashville, TN (yep. 4 Mountain Goats shows in one year) - John Vanderslice w/ Tallest Man on Earth @ Southgate House in Newport, KY (and 4 JV shows in one year. dedication.) - The Avett Brothers New Years Eve celebration w/ Jason Webley, , @ Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, NC - The Avett Brothers @ the Kentucky Theatre in Lexington - , and Ra Ra Riot @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, CO - St. Vincent w/ Pattern is Movement @ the Dame in Lexington WINTERS PRESENTS... NOT-SO-BRUTAL PICKS OF ‘09 BEST OF 2009 01. Mastodon - Crack The Skye 02. Converge - Axe To Fall 03. As Cities Burn - Hell Or High Water 04. Coalesce - OX 05. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - S/T 06. Polar Bear Club - Chasing Hamburg 07. Brand New - Daisy 08. - New Junk Aesthetic 09. The Life And Times - Tragic Boogie 10. Brother Ali - Us

HONORABLE MENTIONS Appleseed Cast - Sigarmatha - Darkness Comes Alive P.O.S. - Never Better Sleeping At Last - Storyboards ( - Beggars ) E. KOWALSKI’S 9 SONGS OF ‘09

Girls - "Summertime" from "Album" Ducktails - "Beach Point Pleasant" from "Ducktails" Atlas Sound - " School" from "Logos" Animal Collective - "Summertime Clothes" from "Merriweather Post Pavilion" Nudge - "Harmo" from "As Good As Gone" Juliana Barwick - "Sunlight, Heaven" from the EP "Bode" Toro y Moi - "Blessa" from the single "Blessa" Kurt Vile - "Freak Train" from "Childish Prodigy" City Center - "Bleed Blood" from "City Center" STEVE’S REVIEW OF THE YEAR

CD Central: 2009 in Review Picks: Neko Case - Middle Cy- …. And a few new releases that clone; – It’s merited repeat play in the store. Blitz

January: Watched President April: We had a huge Re- Obama being sworn in on cord Store Day party with the store TV; perhaps the a full afternoon of bands last news event we’ll ever headlined by Ben Sollee and see on it because we don’t Robert Schneider. One of have one of those digital the biggest days in store his- converter boxes. tory! Custom-printed record Picks: A.C. Newman – Get bags by Cricket Press were Guilty; James Brown – Live at a big hit. the Boston Garden 1968 DVD Picks: Felice Brothers - Yonder Is the Clock; Wussy - Wussy February: Joe the CD Cen- tral carpenter builds a couple May: CD Central joins the new CD racks, enabling us digital revolution by affiliating to expand the jazz and avant with the Think Indie down- garde sections. Most of the load site and gives iTunes a staff takes a road trip to a run for its money. Meanwhile, heavy metal festival in At- during a visit to Austin we lanta. spot a CD Central bumper Picks: Heartless Bastards – sticker on a pickup truck. Mountain; (The Picks: Vaselines - Enter ) - Vaselines (reissue); Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix March: Girl Scouts set up a cookie booth in the store, leading to heavy consump- tion of Thin Mints and Cara- mel Delights. June: Major rearranging ac- talent inside the store. Then tion. The new & used vinyl it’s Beatlemania all over section is expanded and again with the long-awaited moved to the right side wall release of the full Beatles and R&B takes up resi- catalog in glorious remas- dence where the LPs used tered sound. to be. We also painted sev- Picks: The Avett Brothers - I & eral walls a color other than Love & You; ! white. Picks: - The Eter- nal; Deer Tick - Born On Flag Day October: WRFL’s Booms- July: Our annual July 4 show lang Festival comes to town downtown at Phoenix Park is and we host a performance headlined by Moon Taxi, and by Wussy as part of the also features a rare perfor- event. Five bands on the mance by staff member Erik festival schedule include CD “Casino vs. Japan” Kowalski. Central staff members! A few weeks later the city Picks: Mission Of Burma – The shuts down South Limestone Sound The Speed The Light; for a never-ending construc- Built To Spill - There is No tion project. We grill hot dogs Enemy to celebrate. Picks: Those Darlins - Those November: A long-time Darlins; The Dead Weather - dream is realized when we Horehound acquire a vintage pinball ma- chine for the store. August: Two awesome Picks: David Rawlings Machine in-store shows this month. - A Friend of a Friend; Tom First, Cursive packs the Waits - Glitter and Doom house for a rare and excel- lent acoustic set. A week December: We’re looking later, country cuties Those forward to great things in Darlins rock the house. New 2010…. A newly-reconstruct- staffer Lauren dazzles us ed Limestone Street, our with ukulele skills. 15th Anniversary celebration, Picks: Fruit Bats - The Rumi- and lots more great music! nant Band; Arctic Monkeys – Humbug

September: The threat of rain fails to stop our annual Labor Day Cookout, and we host a fine lineup of local