While the steady hand of democracy steers most end-of-year best of lists towards not only the very good but also the very well known, we here at Austinist feels it's important to give a little face time to the lesser knowns, especially now that 2009 has closed the door on that last year that happened, whatever it was called. So while we were plenty pleased with our own official list, we thought it important to take note of those albums that shook us this year, even if they didn't make it through the primaries--let's consider them the Dennis Kuciniches and Mike Gravels of the race, if only those guys were any good. As a result, this list is unnumbered, obscure, sometimes strange, and features those underexposed greats that shouldn't be forgotten even though the calendar's turned.
Juana Molina - Un Día (Domino)
In the United States, our ever-salivating media would be breathing pretty heavily if a one-time television star transformed her career over a number of years from actress-in-sketch-comedy to widely-respected-musical-dynamo. For example, imagine if ten years from now Tina Fey were releasing critically acclaimed records of innovative (and notably punchline-less) psych-pop--a pretty damn unlikely scenario, yes? Well, to find this type of startling career transformation do no more than steer your eyes southward, to Argentina, where toils the still largely slept-on (by Americans, that is) ball of intrigue that is Juana Molina. Molina, who, of course, made her name on the tube, has been making very serious albums that are serious in the way that the music is good, and not serious in the way that Scarlett Johanssen covers Tom Waits or William Shatner sings Christmas tunes while downing a glass of whiskey.
The songs on Un Día, Molina's fifth LP, mark some of her best work yet, as the looping vocals and guitar of the title track set the mood at an uncharacteristically frenzied pace. And when the horn drops in, ooh boy, it's like Panda Bear but with a welcome shot of the organic. While the album as a whole tends to be a bit more on the patient side, with swelling tides of guitar and sweeping atmospherics, it's "Los Hongos de Marosa" that pushes Un Día over the top with its stunning marriage of the gorgeous with the strange. So maybe it's a good thing Molina hasn't gotten more exposure in the U.S., because albums like this seem best listened to very, very late at night, on a beach, and alone. -Nick Courtright
