How I Got Cult Rich: My Favorite Releases of 2009

Like last year's list, this is just as hard and frustrating to complete and I will probably regret a lot of my choices in a few months time, but oh well. Like last year, there are many releases that didn't quite make it on my list that I would like to give praise and thanks to. Also, note that I haven't received my copy of the Bastard Noise/The Endless Blockade LP in the mail, so that's why it's absent from my list. Anyway, here are the notables:

Nomos - Demo - One of the few Brooklyn hardcore bands that I'm really into. This release was a very solid start (I think I like their live show and where they've come more than the release itself) and now that the band has become better and better live, I expect really great things from them. Don't fuck it up, Michael. The 7" version of their demo is still available here.

Slavescene - Demo II - The band's recordings have finally caught up with their live show. This demo and the b-side of their 7" are mindblowing. I am so excited for what this band churns out next.

On Various Days - Demo - I normally hate when people include their own material in record deals, but this was so good I can't even remember what I initially traded for. This is Andy from Brain Handle doing dreamy/shoegazey stuff. I'd feel bad including this in the top ten because it's only three songs, so I'll put it here because it's really worth your time. "Fall Behind" is one of my favorite songs of the year. Word.

Brain Killer 7" - One of the sweetest bands going at the moment. I didn't like their 7" as much as the demo, but they're both fucking incredible and their brand of punky hardcore just rules so hard. You can get this 7" here and the demo 7" here.

Social Circkle - City Shock - Definitely my favorite No Way release of the year and a certainly a punk favorite, this rager is full of mini-gems. Because it blows by so quickly and is so addicting, you'll be listening to this endlessly. The mysterious G-Baby was supposed to review this, but he never did...

Punch LP - While it didn't have as much lasting power as I had hoped, I still really enjoy this record. Fast, female-fronted hardcore done right.

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. 2 - This sequel to the 1995 classic is nearly as perfect as its predecessor. I suppose I had given up on every Wu member other than Ghostface (though, I'm close at this point), so this was a most unexpected surprise.

Human Mess - Follow You Home - Violent hardcore on No Way bearing similarities to very early Poison Idea. Coming in at around ten minutes, this is a super sweet listen. Get into it.

Incapacitants - Box Is Stupid - An amazing boxset of some old and some new material by the Japanese noise legends. It took me forever to get through it, but it was well worth it. My brain still hurts. I would like to provide this to you, but it's more than eight hours and 900 MB of music, so go fuck yourself.

Drunkdriver - Knife Day 7", Fire Sale 7", Mattin Collaboration - 2009 was an incredible year for this band. I can't really rank their releases because they were uniformly excellent. One of the best bands going today.

And there was the list for all those who weren't quite good enough to cement a place in my heart. Here are the real winners:

10. Wasted Time - Futility

Nothing revolutionary here: just the best straightforward hardcore release of the year. Wasted Time's first two 7"s were really cool, but holy shit is this LP incredible. I even like it more than the new Government Warning album! Richmond continues to be the best source of 80s revival hardcore. Some people may be tired of it, but there are always bands that excel and are truly something special. Someone's gotta keep carrying the torch...

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9. Pollution - n.s.DRUGS CS

When I first saw Pollution I was so stoked. These 30-something longhair (and one shaved head) metal dudes managed to merge the *shredding* of metal with the attitude of hardcore and are just as excited about their craft as a bunch of fifteen year-olds who just started their first Minor Threat cover band. Existing above most of the plagues (pun!) that pervade underground music, Pollution's n.s.DRUGS tape towered above most of their peers from Brooklyn. Similarities to Black Flag, Rorschach, and Born Against have been thrown around, but Pollution is their own beast. I am so excited for what this band does in the future! Did I mention one of them is a dad???

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Buy 7" Version Here



8. Merchandise - Terminal Jagger Jane's Addiction Boxset

Merchandise is one of my favorite bands going at the moment. Their first CD-R was mostly excellent and ended with one of the coolest songs I'd heard in forever. So, when I put in their new tape I was expecting to be let down just because "It's A Man's World" was the perfect song for me. Was I disappointed? Yes, at first, but then the tape began to grow on me and I realized that it's actually far superior to the CD-R. The band has progressed so much, as well as had their hearts broken in ways far worse than on the CD-R. For the sake of the music, I hope terrible things happen to these dudes. :-*

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7. Paintbox - Trip, Trance & Travelling

Here's where the list jumps great bounds ahead in quality. I knew that Paintbox was great, but this great? Trip, Trance & Travelling is seriously one of the year's grandest accomplishments. Forerunners of the "Burning Spirit" punk subgenre in Japan, Paintbox have created a psychedelic hardcore masterpiece with this double LP. This album is the sound of triumph put to music.

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6. Low Threat Profile - Self Titled 7"

OK, WTF? Good powerviolence being put out in 2009??? A miracle! Oh wait, this was recorded almost a decade ago. The planets have realigned. Phew. Andy from No Comment on vocals, Matt Domino of Infest on guitar, and, uh, that guy from Lack of Interest on drums. I hate that I can't remember his name, because he's just as responsible for the kickassness of this album as the others, if not more. SERIOUSLY, THE DRUMMING ON THIS IS INSANE! I would even say it rivals Downsided. But yeah, this EP is incredible, fast hardcore that, unsurprisingly, is light years ahead of anything trying to ape the style they revolutionized in their other bands. You need to get this.

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5. Slices - Self Titled 7" [16oh]

Don't get me wrong, dudes, I love Brain Handle, but I gotta put it to the Slices bois: they are the best thing going on in Pittsburgh right now. I missed their most recent D.C. show by minutes (dammit Megabus!) and then the blizzard kept me from traveling back to N.Y.C. to see them play my apartment. GODDAMMIT. Anyway, their two 7"s this year are both perfect, but I'm more partial to this one on 16oh. A-side is made up of three furious bangers, while the B-side is a heavy-as-shit, slow-build with an incredible payoff. Just wait for their LP, it's even better.

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4. Lotus Fucker - Self Titled LP

I'm predicting that this will be the release that really launches Lotus Fucker into a place of recognition that they deserve. After hearing their LP, I've realized that their demo, while awesome, didn't have the production values that served the band as well as this. With this album, I've realized what the band is actually trying to sound like: more stripped down and raw. This is some of the best American raw punk to come out this year. Not as noisy or as indecipherable as many of their Japanese counterparts, as well as steeped more in hardcore, the Lotus Fucker LP is hands-down an incredible achievement. I'm not allowed to post this yet, as there has been a delay at the record plant, but you can watch the band play the A-side of this record here.

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3. Weed Hounds - Demo

This was definitely the biggest surprise of the year for me. I randomly found their demo on a messageboard describing themselves as being influenced by Swirlies, Dinosaur Jr., etc., what I found was a band that sounds like a lost Slumberland shoegaze band. I was immediately blown away. These four songs were not only sufficient enough for a demo, but could have made an excellent (short) LP, as well. I'm so in love with these four songs and I'm so excited for all the new releases they have planned.

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2. Lady GaGa - The Fame

If Trey is going to count this, then so am I! I would be lying to myself and the reader if I didn't place this album so high on my list, as I have been listening to this album non-stop for months. I fucking love Lady GaGa. I own this and The Fame Monster on vinyl and I've found that half of my daily conversations revolve around the topic of our inevitable marriage. The Fame is one of the best pop albums I've ever heard from this decade. It loses some steam towards the end, but the first half is pure perfection. With her over-the-top presence steeped in electro-pop and queer theater, it's nearly impossible to hate on Lady GaGa. Still, her charm manages to elude many and I just can't understand it. Say one more word about my fiancé and I'll fuck you up and get high.

This was the last write-up I came up with for this list, mostly because I added it last minute (originally, The Fame Monster was #10). What else can I say? This is better than all the other clowns on my list.

Download Here??? (Never! I wouldn't want you stealing music from my benefactor. Plus, we don't want to get in trouble with Google.)

1. Cult Ritual - Self Titled LP

Boy, was this album a point of contention within the "punk world" (a.k.a. in the internet) in 2009. The band blew the fuck up and, as expected, there was the mandatory backlash. Even I knew kids who at one point liked them and owned some of their earlier material that not only pretended like they were never into them, but actively shit-talked them. Decried as hipsters (LOL, clearly these folk never met the herbs of Cult Ritual) or, even worse, as insincere, Cult Ritual was the target of str8 h8. And if hate wasn't bad enough, people were buying their records just to flip for exorbitant rates. It was an unfortunate fate for the band, but we should take a cue from a revered hardcore deity and let the past be the past.

None of this should matter, though, and I'm bummed that most of this write-up revolves around shit other than the music, because it fucking rules. I'm not too cool to continue to love this album and most of their other material. My past review of it may have been steeped somewhat in hyperbole, but I meant everything I said about it: this record really was the best record of 2009 and I absolutely love it.

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-Adam