1000 Times Yes

309)Telekinesis/Telekinesis!: Drummers make great quirk-pop. Ask Dave Grohl and Gary “Plantman” Young.#7

In case you haven’t been diligently following along all year, here’s a quick guide to the highest rated records on 1000TimesYes

++++NINE POINT FIVE (#9.5)++++

Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
The Who and Big Country for the fourth generation thinking “Blank Generation” is about them.

++++NINE (#9)++++

Kevin Drumm - Imperial Horizon
Float on.

Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt II
Relentless, blustery Betamax blow-fi about everyone in “King Of New York” besides Frank White.

SunnO))) – Monoliths And Dimensions
Ecstatic horns and apocalyptic choirs fill frequencies not eaten up by sucking abyss. Just. Huge.

Extra Golden – Thank You Very Quickly
Cross-continental Benga-rock band (not project) embraces rock half like jubilant, heavy Battles.

Antony And The Johnsons – The Crying Light
Death-obsessed white “Maggot Brain” where trembling, crystal vibrato is Eddie Hazel’s guitar.

++++EIGHT POINT FIVE (#8.5)++++

Playboy Tre – Liquor Store Mascot
The thrilling midpoint between David Banner’s Southern angst and Devin’s everyman narrative.

Stórsveit Nix Noltes – Royal Family – Divorce
Deadly, demented strain of Papozov-style Balkan jazz played with quasi-metal crunch

Miranda Lambert – Revolution
This is a rock album. Fuck you.

Horseback – The Invisible Mountain
The logical, glorious step of turning Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Trio into a metal band

Pissed Jeans – King Of Jeans
Sludgy, summer of sophomore year switch from naval-gazing self-loather to total asshole.

Vieux Farka Touré – Fondo
Malian guitar royalty summons the most hypnotic, circular riffs; plays fiery solos to cut through them.

Future Of The Left – Travels With Myself And Another
Walking on art-wave sunshine and dry Dada via feral, screechy punk gnarl.

J Dilla – Jay Stay Paid
Pete Rock and Mom Yancey curate some of his most hard-rock-heavy, grungy, neck-snappingest boom-n-pop.

Wardruna – Gap Var Ginnunga
Doomy, mystic, goat-horn-and-deer-skin version of Nordic traditions like Bohren And Der Club Of Runes.

Themselves – theFREEhoudini
Just when the alts tired of Killa Cam; Percee P fast-rap with nods to Morr, MBV, glitch, nonsense.

Nite Jewel – Good Evening
Tom Tom Club, Lisa Lisa and Debbie Deb recast as tape-warping ghosts in Gary Wilson leaky attic.

Jana Winderen – Heated: Live in Japan
High brow field recordings and sound design, but really bugs-and-thunderstorms dark ambient.

Zu – Carboniferous
Roman squonk-wonks join Team Patton and go sludge-pudge. Morphine via Naked City via Karp via Lightning Bolt

++++EIGHT (#8) “RECOMMENDED”++++

Talk Normal – Sugarland
Liars’ Swansiest tendancies aimed for maximum syncopation, hypnosis and unease.

Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Finally the arena rockers are taking acid again.

Beak> – Beak>
Young Marble Giants-style minimalism gets a John Carpenter zombie make-up makeover.

Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
Casio demolition derby duo find Kompakt, leave 16-bit fuzzbox nirvana intact

Gregg Kowalsky – Tape Chants
Miasmic tape loops interlock in the most fragile of drones.

Isis – Wavering Radiant
Crescendo-metal standard-bearers start in the clouds, stay there.

Yob – The Great Cessation
So immaculate, it’s a disservice to call it “sludge.”

Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Suddenly the Kate Bush for the David Sitek era. Sorry, Scarlett!

Kylesa – Static Tensions
Huge double-drummer triumph-sludge can’t out-melvin the Melvins, but makes Fucked Up look totally pointless.

Bruce Springsteen – Working On A Dream
The anti-808s And Heartbreak. Hard work pays off in life and love and DC. Dream, baby, dream.

Dan Deacon – Bromst
Spasmodic electroacoustic id sheds Atom And His Package image by going Terry Riley, loses no tweak-hedonist joy.

Dälek – Gutter Tactics
Noise-hoppers discover breakbeats, guitars, closer to shoegaze than ever. Rev. Wright samples are ‘09 Farrakhan

++++EIGHT (#8) OTHERWISE++++

Mamer – Eagle
Xinjiang dombra player blisses his way into the Young God axis

SND – Atavism
Somewhere between Pierre Schaeffer, microhouse and simply watching sounds crunch against silence.

Omar-S – Fabric 45
Detroit house genius packs a Fabric mix with his own bonecrushing tracks, out art-glooms most dubstep.

Nicky Minaj – Beam Me Up Scotty
Hip-hop’s Betty Boop has more character than skills—and that’s a lot because she’s got her share.

Screaming Females – Power Move
Riotous, churning, occasionally funky, always gritty punk-rock prequel to Sleater-Kinney’s The Woods.

Gucci Mane – The State Vs. Radric Davis
The big, expensive “rap event album” of 2009 that we all figured Gucci Mane was going to make.

Tinariwen - Imidiwan: Companions
Tuareg revolution rockers are less funky than their last, but just as sunny and explosive.

On Fillmore – Extended Vacation
Cinematic rhythm study where tender gamelan-style vibes entwine with haunting bird noise.

Etienne Jaumet – Night Music
French electronic savant makes Goblin groan big enough for dance halls, opera houses.

Lissie – Why You Runnin’
Bombastic young Lucinda with aggro-indie reverb slap-back

JHawk - Jerkin’ With JHawk Vol. 1
Spirit of ‘85 beat skeletons and raps about cunnilingus—the dilettantish flows only make it better.

Jesu – Opiate Sun
Weezer with a feedback problem.

Amerie – In Love And War
Post-”1 Thing,” we get at least half an album of singular, quirko art-funk and rock riffs.

Tegan & Sara – Sainthood
Formerly folkie duo find out love is a battlefield, blood is on the dance floor.

Majeure – Timespan
One half of Zombi takes John Carpenter and Vangelis to the disco.

5: Five Years Of Hyperdub
A Dubstep 101 compilation that hits all the right morose, smoky, booming, overlong, kind of samey notes.

Julianna Barwick – Florine
Drone-heavy, molecular gastronomy version of Kate Bush soaring up to the rafters of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Fire! – You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago
Mats Gustafsson squonks against the tribal dizziness of post-punk and sour moods of doom metal.

Mavado – Mr Brooks… A Better Tomorrow
Dancehall as gangsta rap devotional, gospel exultation, bluster machine, radio killer.

Amadou & Mariam – Welcome To Mali
Western pop and Planet Rock wax ecstatic over already dreamy Mali grooves.

Patton Oswalt – My Weakness Is Strong
English major finesses words, often in joke form.

Jónsi & Alex – Riceboy Sleeps
Maximal ambient duo blasts out slurring choirs, sucking strings, drifting clouds, Oval textures.

Music Go Music – Expressions
A 46-minute window where ABBA melodies and ELO harmonies are punk as fuck.

Grief No Absolution – Eurostopodus Argus/Crypsis
Completely decimated black-out blizzard feedback that’s more rust than metal.

Those Darlins – Those Darlins
Chicken-and-whiskey Carter Family harmonies distorted through Vivian Girl anti-hero gnash.

DJ Quik & Kurupt – BlaQKout
West Coast legends play Timbaland in reverse, transform minimal stutterfunk into lusher weirdness than Grizzly Bear.

DJ Paul – Scale-A-Ton (Skeleton)
Triumphant sunshine hooks, bassy boom, three-minute headbanger blasts… Rap gets a Torche record.

Thee Oh Sees – Help
Light years beyond the internet-hyped no-fi bands because they have hooks, can play, can sing and GIVE A SHIT.

Hex Machine – Omen Mas
Precise and skate-ready sludge like the Melvins’s Bullhead ate its own tail and came out a punk album.

Art Brut – Art Brut Vs. Satan
Grown adults channel the milkshake-addled Undertones and are self-aware enough to have fun with it.

Wooden Shjips – Dos
Stoned on the Stooges/Suicide axis but every song is the 10-minute one in the middle.

Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas – II
More Jan Hammer chase-scene house, but with half the beach-kissed bliss of Where You Go I Go Too.

UGK – UGK 4 Life
Sixth classic record, still ebullient about weed, cars, grooming habits.

A-Trak – Fabriclive.45
Fun, kitchen-sinky dance mix without Diplo-style cooler-than-thou posturing. And actual scratching!

Agoraphobic Nosebleed – Agorapocalypse
Veteran grind scab-pickers somehow even more devastating when doing Disfear-style nu-D-beats.

The Lonely Island – Incredibad
Genre parody approached with conviction and attention to detail is always more convincing than a wink.

Boredoms – Super Roots 10
Their not-so-secret history as rave band and drum circle revealed in both Sensurround and Technicolor.

Alva Noto – Xerrox Vol. 2
SunnO))) samples hurled into the laptop gauntlet, emerging fuzzier than Fennesz.

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
Pop gambit didn’t stick, so wear their Summertime best, Pied Piper us with smiley noise.

308)Still Flyin/Never Gonna Touch The Ground: Vampire Weekend ushers in goofball high-five-’n'-pizza-party Peter Pan white reggae.#0.5

307)God Help The Girl: Belle & Sebastian member’s widescreen twee battling showtune arrangements. Cardigans: The Musical?#7

Stop drinking the Times New Blank Dog Wavve Condo Eat Fuckadile Skull Kool-Aid. Thee Oh Sees are the real deal shaquille o’neal of this.

306)Thee Oh Sees/Help: Light years beyond the internet-hyped no-fi bands because they have hooks, can play, can sing and GIVE A SHIT.#8

305)Boston Spaceships/The Planets Are Blasted: By definition, power-pop should be way, way, way more fun than this.#4.5

304)Odawas/The Blue Depths: Band Of Horses go X-Files with enough reverb to echo through the cosmos.#6.5

303)Pete Doherty/Grace/Wastelands: Sandinista! for assholes.#2.5

302)Superdrag/Industry Giants: Beasting bubblegum like Foo Fighters channeling Hüsker Dü, without the chops to back either up.#7