Welcome to the third installment of our Modern Mystery Holiday party! Today our list is filled with our favorite up and coming indie bands that will be making huge waves in 2010. Sit back with your glass of eggnog and enjoy reading!

Neko Case-Middle Cyclone
Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
Kings of Convenience- Declaration of Dependence
Atlas Sound-Logos
Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Camera Obscura- My Maudlin Career
Yeah Yeah Yeahs-It’s Blitz!
Yacht- See Mystery Lights
Wye Oak-The knot
M.Ward-Hold Time …
Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse-Dark Night of the Soul
Black Moth Super Rainbow- Eating Us

Krista De La Rosa-Modern Mystery Writer

Top 10 Albums of 2009

1. Reservoir – Fanfarlo
2. The First Days of Spring – Noah and the Whale
3. Hospice – The Antlers
4. Actor – St. Vincent
5. Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk
6. Mean Everything to Nothing – Manchester Orchestra
7. Hold Time – M Ward
8. Aim and Ignite – Fun
9. 2.0 – The XX
10. My Maudlin Career – Camera Obscura

Ivy Weir- Modern Mystery Writer

The best albums of 2009 (in Ivy-Noelle’s humble opinion)

5. God Help the Girl- s/t
I love Belle and Sebastian…so of course I love this weird indie-musical written by Stuart Murdoch. Catherine Ireton’s voice is absolutely beautiful, especially when giving new life to an old Belle & Sebastian staple, “Funny Little Frog”. Plus, the eponymous track is essentially the themesong to my entire life, haha.

4. Handsome Furs- Face Control
I’m in love with Dan Boeckner. And his wife, too! Handsome Furs have a truly unique sound and they’ve perfected that on their second album. It’s different enough from Boeckner’s other band, Wolf Parade, to be interesting- but similar in the repetetive guitar hooks and almost yelped vocals. Seriously great.

3. The Duchess & The Duke- She’s the Duchess, He’s the Duke
I almost didn’t give this album a chance, but boy am I glad I did. It’s raw, lo-fi, garage acoustic indie rock goodness. The male vocals are purely rock-n-roll, and meshed with the female back-ups it’s a great, vintage, 1960s feel. The lyrics are blunt and honest and work extremely well with the overall sound.

2. M. Ward- Hold Time
In my mind, M. Ward can do no wrong (well…She & Him. But that’s just because of my irrational hatred for Zooey Deschanel). “Hold Time” is classic M. Ward at his best- soaring melodies that somehow still seem as simple as the Appalachian folksongs from which he draws influence. Production value on this album is much higher than his past works, but it works- and Ward’s raspy, unique voice still shines through. Indie superstar collaborations make this one of the best albums of the year, and certainly of M. Ward’s career.

1. Matt & Kim- Grand
This is the album that broke Brooklyn’s Matt & Kim onto the mainstream scene- with “Daylight” featured in a Bacardi commercial, many of their hardcore followers accused them of selling out. But who cares? They are making unique, perfect pop music and if they’re also making money, good for them! This album is fantastic- there’s not a bad track on it. The whole thing flows like one crazy dance party from beginning to end. I also had the pleasure of seeing the duo in concert in July, and it was one of the craziest experiences of my life. I hope these two keep making music for a long time.

Songs:
5. “All We Want, Baby, Is Everything”- Handsome Furs
4. “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare”- Matt & Kim
3. “Insane Lullaby (ft. James Mercer)” -Dark Night of the Soul
2. “Empire State of Mind” – Jay Z and Alicia Keys
1. “Two Weeks”- Grizzly Bear

Tucker Riggleman-The Demon Beat

Top 10 Albums of the Year

1. Japandroids – Post-Nothing
2. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
4. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
5. Bon Iver – Blood Bank EP
6. Dandelion Snow – It’s Just A Bad Dream
7. Lucero – 1372 Overton Park
8. Dead Weather – Horehound
9. Stephen MacDonald & The Okay Win – We Are Bound
10.Kevin Devine – Brother’s Blood

Explanations:

1. This record had such a huge impact on me that I braved it to D.C. to catch them at a small club, which is hard to do since I hate D.C. – my car was broken into and I had some valuable things stolen. I was barely upset because their show was so awesome.

2. I played the fuck out of this record at work last year. I was a hall security guard type of a thing and I would just blare this stuff. Probably didn’t make me seem any tougher. The hooks are monumental.

3. Took a while to grow on me, but the slow pretty songs are gorgeous and abundant.

4. Great summer record. “Summertime Clothes” is one of my favorite songs of the past 5 years.

5. Justin Vernon could shit on a CD and I’d buy it.

6. Good friends of ours. Myself and BIG BULLET RECORDS helped put this out. I love the way Roger can take a song and make it so everyone feels something.

7. Their most well-rounded album to date, though I’ll still prefer the old classics.

8. Raunchy as fuck. Love it.

9. Another BBR artist, this one from Massachusetts. Steve is heavily influenced by Kevin Devine and I think his record is better than the one Kevin put out this year.

10. I still liked “Brother’s Blood”, but the demos that KD put out all year leading up the the album are more intimate and better overall in my opinion than the final versions.

Craziest Thing that Happened to You This Year?:

I’d say going to NYC and making a record in basically a day. It was surreal, and we are overwhelmingly happy with the results. Also, our first trip to NYC in late January was interesting. Jordan had a girl run on stage and stick a vial of weed in his shirt pocket while we were playing. Insane.

What do you love the most about the Holidays?

Seasonal alcoholic beverages.

Jordan Hudkins-The Demon Beat

JORDAN’S TOP TEN SONGS THAT HE LIKED OF THE YEAR:

1. Surfer Blood – “Take It Easy”

2. Henry’s Dress – “Zero/Zero/Zero”

3. Flake Music – “Sue Defender”

4. Kid Cudi – “Pursuit of Happiness”

5. The Who – “Tattoo”

6. Librarians – “Hard to Unwind”

7. Hammer No More The Fingers – “Nobody Knows”

8. Royal Bangs – “Poison Control”

9. Weezer – “Let It All Hang Out”

10. Enigma – “Return to Innocence”

Craziest Thing that Happened to You This Year?:

The craziest thing that happened to ME this year was a wild rickshaw ride I took in Raleigh, NC. The driver took me and two friends up into a parking garage, and then we sped down the spiral exit ramp. It was like a ROLLERCOASTER. Apparently, this kind of behavior is forbidden for a rickshaw driver, thereby exponentially increasing the thrill-index of our lil’ adventure.

What do you love the most about the Holidays?

Cranberry Sierra Mist…but I think that is always available now. C’est la vie!

Adam Meisterhans- The Demon  Beat

1. i didn’t like any records that came out this year. especially not kevin devine records.
2. i started taking anti-depressants.
3. egg-nog.

Jason Meeks-Binary Marketing Show

cass mccombs — catacombs
grizzly bear – vecktimest
antony and the johnson’s — the crying light
tUnE yArDs — bird-brains
jim o’rourke — the visitor
micachu and the shapes — jewellry
animal collective — merriweather post pavillion
bill callahan — sometimes i wish we were an eagle
st. vincent — the actor

Craziest Thing that Happened to You This Year?:

i guess it was breaking down in the middle of nowhere ohio while we were on tour and staying with complete strangers that told us their life stories. not to mention, some really weird secrets that we really didn’t want to know about..

What do you love the most about the Holidays?

i suppose the terrible holiday food to be consumed. it’s always fun to eat a 7 course meal that’s probably worth 5000 calories.

Abram Morphew-Binary Marketing Show

Craziest Thing that Happened to You This Year?:

seeing a naked gentleman painting himself white in a field of burning trash.

What do you love the most about the Holidays?

the silence that follows snow.

Bethany Carder-Binary Marketing Show

Sun City Girls- Napoleon & Josaphine
Alela Diane- To Be Still
Mount Eerie- Winds Poem
Castanets- Texas Rose,the thaw and the beast
Woods Family Creeps- Woods family creeps
Dear Olive- the ocean the sea
Diane Cluck- black with green leaves
Larkin Grimm- Harpoon
Orion Rigel Dommisse- What I want from you is sweet
Bacherlorette- my electric family

Craziest Thing that Happened to You This Year?:

Newton Falls Ohio. Being lifted atop a flatbed, while sitting inside a jeep watching the rapid lights, strange feeling…yes

What do you love the most about the Holidays?

Sharing a few moments with the ones ya Love, however far they may be..or near. it’s a swell feeling