FILTER's Top 5 Albums for the First Half of 2009

The FILTER staff have spoken and here are our Top 5 Albums for the First Half of 2009. This year is shaping up so well that Publisher & Founder Alan Sartirana felt that a Top 5 list was too limiting and that only a Top 10 list would do justice. We'd love to see what your favorite albums for the first half of 2009 are  so feel free to leave your Top 5 in the comments.

Alan Miller (Publisher & Founder)

1. Kasabian West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Red Ink)

2. U2 No Line On The Horizon (Interscope)

3. Moby Wait for Me (Mute)

4. Depeche Mode Sounds of the Universe (Capitol)

5. Franz Ferdinand Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (Domino)

 

Alan Sartirana (Publisher & Founder)

1. Other Lives Other Lives (TBD)

2. Bat For Lashes Two Suns (Astralwerks)

3. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote)

4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz! (Interscope)

5. White Lies To Lose My Life… (Geffen)

6. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino Records)

7. Miike Snow Miike Snow (Downtown)

8. White Rabbits It’s Frightening (TBD)

9. Doves Kingdom of Rust (Heavenly Records)

10. Morrissey Years of Refusal (Lost Highway)

 

Connie Tsang (Marketing)

1. Placebo Battle For The Sun (Vagrant)

2. White Rabbits It’s Frightening (TBD)

3. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears Tell 'Em What Your Name Is! (Lost Highway)

4. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote)

5. Anglos Anglos EP (Great Minds)

 

Eli Thomas (Events)

1. Grizzly Bear Veckatimest (Warp)

2. Black Lips 200 Million Thousand (Vice)

3. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino Records)

4. Miike Snow Miike Snow (Downtown Records)

5. Passion Pit Manners (Frenchkiss Records)

 

Ewan Anderson (Online Marketing)

1. Pains Of Being Pure At Heart  Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (Slumberland)

2. Silversun Pickups Swoon (Dangerbird)

3. Franz Ferdinand Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (Domino)

4. Bat For Lashes Two Suns (Astralwerks)

5. Röyksopp Junior (Astralwerks)

Jose Vargas (Advertising)

1. Juan Son Mermaid Sashimi (Universal)

2. Silversun Pickups Swoon (Dangerbird)

3. Hello Seahorse Bestia (MUN / Magic Marker)

4. Doves Kingdom of Rust (Heavenly)

5. Los Amigos Invisibles Comercial (Nacional)

 

Max Hellmann (Marketing)

1. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino Records)

2. Cymbals Eat Guitars Why There Are Mountains (Self-Released)

3. Passion Pit Manners (Frenchkiss Records)

4. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote)

5. Junior Boys Begone Dull Care (Domino Records)

 

Megan Healy (Online Marketing)

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz! (Interscope)

2. Doves Kingdom of Rust (Heavenly Records)

3. Metric Fantasies (Last Gang)

4. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote)

5. Jason Lytle Yours Truly, The Commuter (Anti-)

 

Mike Bell (Marketing)

1. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote)

2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz! (Interscope)

3. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino Records)

4. Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears Tell 'Em What Your Name Is! (Lost Highway)

5. Au Revoir Simone Still Night, Still Light (Our Secret Record Co.)

 

Patrick McGuire (Editorial)

1. Obits I Blame You (Sub Pop)

2. Elvis Perkins in Dearland Elvis Perkins in Dearland (XL)

3. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino Records)

4. Phosphorescent To Willie... (Dead Oceans)

5. Mos Def The Ecstatic (Downtown)

 

Patrick Strange (Editorial)

1. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino Records)

2. Elvis Perkins in Dearland Elvis Perkins in Dearland (XL)

3. Grizzly Bear Veckatimest (Warp)

4. Dan Auerbach Keep It Hid (Nonesuch)

5. Andrew Bird Noble Beast (Fat Possum)

 

Samantha Barnes (Online Marketing)

1. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino Records)

2. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote)

3. Grizzly Bear Veckatimest (Warp)

4. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Slumberland)

5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz! (Interscope)

 

Samantha Feld (FILTER US Recordings & Marketing)

1. Miike Snow Miike Snow (Downtown)

2. Bat For Lashes Two Suns (Astralwerks)

3. Empire of the Sun Walking On A Dream (Astralwerks)

4. The Juan Maclean The Future Will Come (DFA)

5. Doves Kingdom of Rust (Heavenly Records)

 

Tristen Gacoscos (Online Marketing)

1. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glass Note)

2. Passion Pit Manners (Frenchkiss)

3. Nosaj Thing Drift (Alpha Pup Records)

4. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino)

5. Drake So Far Gone Mixtape (Self-Released)

 

Wes Martin (Marketing)

1. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino)

2. Dan Deacon Bromst (Carpark)

3. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glass Note)

4. Akron/Family Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free (Dead Oceans)

5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz (Interscope)

Comments

[Chad Gardner]

Excellent lists! Aside from albums already mentioned, I would include Handsome Furs - Face Control.

[Adam D]

1. Illinois- The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe
2. Black Joe Lewis- Tell 'em What Your Name Is!
3. Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
4. Empire of the Sun- Walking on a Dream
5. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Self Titled
6. Motel Motel- New Denver

It is tough to narrow it down to 5, but these are the 6 I really enjoy!

[Jeff Partain]

1. Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
2. Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe
3. White Lies - To Lose My Life
4. Doves - Kingdom of Rust
5. Antony & the Johnsons - The Crying Light
(The first probably won't be released in America but it's an amazing album.)

[Mark]

You guys have terrible taste in music? The only one that I agree with is Dan Auerbach Keep It Hid. Just me though, and I have good taste, that's why i say anything.

[tt]

metric!

[Breanna]

1. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
3. Dan Deacon – Bromst
4. Crocodiles – Summer of Hate
5. Wavves - Wavvves
6. Vampire Hands – Virgin Dust American Lips
7. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating Us
8. Elvis Perkins in Dearland – Elvis Perkins in Dearland
9. J. Tillman – Vacilando Territory Blues
10. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast

[jgb]

no one picked decemberists-hazards of love?

[Darren]

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
2. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - s/t
3. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4. Pepepe - Robo Orgon De Plantas Y Animales
5. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Vs. Children
6. Matt & Kim - Grand
7. God Help The Girl - s/t
8. Peaches - I Feel Cream
9. Passion Pit - Manners
10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

[Kenny]

1. YYY - Its Blitz!
2. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - S/T
3. Passion Pit - Manners
4. The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules
5. Japandroids - Post Nothing

[Frostified]

1. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino)
2. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca (Domino)
3. Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest (Warp)
4. Mastodon: Crack the Skye (Reprise)
5. The Field: Yesterday and Today (Kompakt / Anti-)

[Mark]

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
2. Passion Pit - Manners
3. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4. La Roux - La Roux
5. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

[Casey]

Super Furry Animals - Dark Days / Light Years

one of their best ever, certainly best of their last few...

[Willshire]

1- Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
2- Volcano Choir: Unmap
3- Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest
4- Muse: Resistance
5- The Antlers: Hospice (TIE) Passion pit: manners

[ugg outlet store]

Achievement provides the only real pleasure in life .