Scenestar

It’s the end of the year, which for The Scenestar means it’s time to look back at what made us move to the groove in 2009. With such a diverse group here at The Scenestar, those of us who were brave enough decided to make lists of our favorite albums, shows, photos and songs of 2009 for you to dissect and evaluate at your leisure!

The end of the year also means it’s time for The Scenestar to thank YOU the reader for motivating us to bring you the music news that gets you out to your favorite record store or iTunes to scoop up some new music or go see a band we recommend. We believe that through music, we can connect as a city and also as friends. We hope you enjoy reading our lists, and Happy New Year from your friends here at The Scenestar.com!

JONATHAN BUCHANAN’s Top 12 Albums

1. Warpaint: "Exquisite Corpse EP"
2. Bat For Lashes: "Two Suns"
3. White Denim: "Fits"
4. Nite Jewel: "Good Evening"
5. The Horrors: "Primary Colours"
6. CFCF: "Continent"
7. Band Of Skulls: "Baby Darling Doll Face Honey"
8. Fever Ray: "Fever Ray"
9. Bon Iver: "Blood Bank EP"
10. Junior Boys: "Begone Dull Care"
11. Black Moth Super Rainbow: "Eating Us"
12. Vetiver: "Tight Knit"

GREG CARUSO’s Top 10 Albums

1. Phoenix: "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
2. Band Of Skulls: "Baby Darling Doll Face Honey"
3. The XX: "XX"
4. Neko Case: "Middle Cyclone"
5. Silversun Pickups: "Swoon"
6. Monsters Of Folk: "Monsters Of Folk"
7. Florence and The Machine: "Lungs"
8. Miike Snow: "Miike Snow"
9. Them Crooked Vultures: "Them Crooked Vultures"
10. Flaming Lips: "Embryonic"

GREG CARUSO’s Top 10 Shows

1. Phish @ Empire Polo Fields
2. Monsters Of Folk @ Greek Theatre
3. Nine Inch Nails w/ IO Echo @ Wiltern
4. Pearl Jam @ Gibson Amphitheater
5. Phoenix w/ Metric @ Greek Theatre
6. Pixies @ Hollywood Palladium
7. Dr. Dog @ Henry Fonda Music Box
8. Andrew Bird w/ Heartless Bastards @ Greek Theatre
9. Allman Brothers @ Greek Theatre
10. Neko Case @ Greek Theatre

MYCHELLE PETERSON’s Top 10 Albums

1. A Place To Bury Strangers: "Exploding Head"
2. Metric: "Fantasies"
3. The Vandelles: "Del Black Aloha"
4. Wilco: "Wilco"
5. White Rabbits: "It's Frightening"
6. Julian Plenti: "Julian Plenti Is…Skyscraper"
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: "It's Blitz!"
8. Japandroids: "Post-Nothing"
9. Quest For Fire: "Quest For Fire"
10. All The Saints: "Fire On Corridor X"

SOPHIA PORTIER’s Top 10 Albums

1. A Place To Bury Strangers: "Exploding Head"
2. Neko Case: "Middle Cyclone"
3. The XX: "XX"
4. Florence And The Machine: "Lungs"
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: "It's Blitz"
6. The Thermals: "Now We Can See"
7. Justin Townes Earle: "Midnight At The Movies"
8. Metric: "Fantasies"
9. Camera Obscura: "My Maudlin Career"
10. Elvis Costello: "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane"

OSCAR RANGEL’s Top 15 Albums

1. Miike Snow: "Miike Snow"
2. The Horrors: "Primary Colours"
3. Fever Ray: "Fever Ray"
4. Morrissey: "Years Of Refusal"
5. Florence And The Machine: "Lungs"
6. Phoenix: "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: "It's Blitz!"
8. The Big Pink: "A Brief History Of Love"
9. Bat For Lashes: "Two Suns"
10. The XX: "XX"
11. Dirty Projectors: "Bitte Orca"
12. Animal Collective: "Merriweather Post Pavilion"
13. Silversun Pickups: "Swoon"
14. Band Of Skulls: "Baby Darling Doll Face Honey"
15. The Whitest Boy Alive: "Rules"

Honorable Mention (EP/Single): Thom Yorke: "Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses / The Hollow Earth"

OSCAR RANGEL’s Top 25 Shows

1. Fever Ray w/ Harlem Shakes @ The Glass House*
2. Yusuf Islam @ El Rey Theatre
3. Thom Yorke @ Orpheum Theatre*
4. Bon Iver w/ Tibetan Monks @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery
5. Nine Inch Nails w/ HEALTH @ Henry Fonda Music Box
6. Bat For Lashes @ Henry Fonda Music Box
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs w/ The Breeders and YACHT @ Greek Theatre
8. Gustavo Dudamel @ Hollywood Bowl
9. Phoenix w/ Metric and The Soft Pack @ Greek Theatre*
10. Morrissey w/ Doll & The Kicks @ Pomona Fox Theater*
11. Jarvis Cocker w/ Little Joy @ Wiltern
12. Royksopp @ Club Nokia
13. Death Cab For Cutie w/ Tegan & Sara and The New Pornographers @ Hollywood Bowl
14. Lykke Li @ Bardot
15. Band of Skulls @ The Hotel Cafe*
16. Miike Snow w/ Jack Penate @ Echoplex*
17. Adele w/ Chaka Khan @ Hollywood Bowl
18. Regina Spektor @ Greek Theater
19. The Sounds @ Key Club
20. The Big Pink w/ IO Echo @ Detroit Bar
21. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions @ Hollywood Forever Masonic Lodge
22. Dirty Projectors @ Jensen Recreation Center (Early Show)
23. U2 @ Rose Bowl
24. Happy Hollows w/ Julian Casablancas @ Spaceland*
25. Gogol Bordello @ Pomona Fox Theater

*Honorable Mention: Fever Ray @ Henry Fonda Music Box, Thom Yorke @ EchoPlex, Nine Inch Nails w/ Mew and Queen Kwong @ Hollywood Palladium, Nine Inch Nails w/ HEALTH @ EchoPlex, Mew @ Troubadour, Metric w/ Band of Skulls @ Wiltern, Morrissey w/ Doll & The Kicks @ Gibson Amphitheater, Band of Skulls @ Bardot, Art Brut w/ Miike Snow @ Spaceland and Julian Casablancas @ Downtown Palace Theater (I didn’t want to repeat bands I saw more than once in 2009 on the list, so I posted the favorite of the bunch for each artist).

OSCAR RANGEL’s Top 10 Festivals/Events

1. Coachella
2. KCRW's Masquerade Ball
3. FM 94/9 Holiday Hootenanny
4. Eagle Rock Music Festival
5. Sunset Junction
6. Rock The Bells
7. KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas Night #2
8. FYF Fest
9. Sunset Strip Music Festival
10. HARD Haunted Mansion

DREW REYNOLDS’ Top 15 Albums

1. Wild Beasts: "Two Dancers"
2. Robin Guthrie: "Carousel"
3. The Twilight Sad: "Forget The Night Ahead"
4. The Horrors: "Primary Colours"
5. The XX: "XX"
6. Piano Magic: "Ovations"
7. The Veils: "Sun Gangs"
8. The Big Pink: "A Brief History Of Love"
9. A Sunny Day in Glasgow: "Ashes Grammar"
10. HEALTH: "Get Color"
11. Fever Ray: "Fever Ray"
12. We Were Promised Jetpacks: "These Four Walls"
13. The Antlers: "Hospice"
14. Bear In Heaven: "Beast Rest Forth Mouth"
15. Led Er Est: "Dust On Common"

Honorable Mention (EP): Washed Out: "Life Of Leisure"

DREW REYNOLDS’ Top 10 Shows

1. The Veils @ Spaceland
2. The Twilight Sad w/ We Were Promised Jetpacks @ Empty Bottle
3. Shellac @ Echoplex
4. The Antlers @ Subterranean
5. The Big Pink w/ IO Echo @ El Rey Theatre
6. Glasvegas @ Hollywood Forever Masonic Lodge
7. Cymbals Eat Guitars @ Logan Square Auditorium
8. Jack Penate w/ Miike Snow @ Empty Bottle
9. School Of Seven Bells w/ The Depreciation Guild @ Empty Bottle
10. White Car @ Empty Bottle

DREW REYNOLDS’ Year In Pictures 2009

Click HERE to see Drew's Year In Pictures 2009

JENNIFER RUIDERA’s Top 10 Albums

1. Franz Ferdinand: "Tonight: Franz Ferdinand"
2. Phoenix: "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
3. Miike Snow: "Miike Snow"
4. Bat For Lashes: "Two Suns"
5. Gossip: "Music For Men"
6. Silversun Pickups: "Swoon"
7. The Sounds: "Crossing The Rubicon"
8. The Decemberists: "The Hazards Of Love"
9. Imogen Heap: "Ellipse"
10. The Veils: "Sun Gangs"

JENNIFER RUIDERA’s Top 10 Shows

1. Franz Ferdinand w/ Born Ruffians @ Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel
1. Depeche Mode w/ Peter Bjorn & John @ Hollywood Bowl (Night 1)
3. Phoenix w/ Metric and The Soft Pack @ Greek Theatre
4. Friendly Fires w/ The XX and Holly Miranda @ The Casbah
5. Editors w/ The Maccabees and Wintersleep @ Razzmatazz
6. Kylie Minogue @ Hollywood Bowl
7. We Are Scientists w/ The Blood Arm @ Detroit Bar
8. Röyksopp @ Club Nokia
9. Thom Yorke @ Orpheum Theatre
10. Muse w/ Biffy Clyro @ Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad

JENNIFER RUIDERA’s Top 9 "Discoveries"

1. Loney Dear (Opener): Andrew Bird @ Orpheum Theatre
2. Telekinesis (Opener): Ra Ra Riot @ El Rey Theatre
3. The Astroids Galaxy Tour & We Are The World @ The Echo
4. Born Ruffians (Opener): Franz Ferdinand @ The Moore Theatre
5. Plasticines (Opener): Patrick Wolf @ The Roxy
6. Neverever (Opener): Franz Ferdinand @ Hollywood Palladium
7. The Phenomenal Handclap Band (Opener): Friendly Fires @ The Glass House
8. Music Go Music (Opener): Little Boots @ The Roxy
9. Local Natives (Opener): White Rabbits @ El Rey Theatre

JESSICA STRASSMAN’s Top 15 Albums

1. Grizzly Bear: "Veckatimest"
2. St. Vincent: "Actor"
3. Phoenix: "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
4. The XX: “XX”
5. The Big Pink: "A Brief History of Love"
6. Animal Collective: “Merriweather Post Pavilion”
7. jj: “jj n° 2”
8. Fanfarlo: "Reservoir"
9. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros: "Up From Below"
10. Neon Indian: "Psychic Chasms"
11. The Dodos: "Time to Die"
12. La Roux: "La Roux"
13. Dirty Projectors: “Bitte Orca”
14. Passion Pit: “Manners”
15. Real Estate: “Real Estate”

JESSICA STRASSMAN’s Top 10 Shows

1. Dr. Dog w/ Jeffrey Lewis @ Brookdale Lodge
2. The National w/ Cass McCombs @ Wiltern
3. Simian Mobile Disco @ Mayan Theatre
4. Grizzly Bear w/ Here We Go Magic @ Wiltern
5. The Flaming Lips w/ Ghostland Observatory & Stardeath and White Dwarfs @ Fox Theater Pomona
6. Menomena w/ Wavves and Vampire Hands @ The Crepe Place
7. Sondre Lerche @ Great American Music Hall
8. The Bird and The Bee @ Broad Stage
9. The Mountain Goats w/ Final Fantasy @ Henry Fonda Music Box
10. Little Dragon @ The Rio Theatre

AMELIA TABULLO’s Top 5 Albums

1. Miike Snow: "Miike Snow"
2. Passion Pit: "Manners"
3. Swell Season: "Strict Joy"
4. Iron & Wine: "Around The Well"
5. Morrissey: "Years Of Refusal"

DANIEL TURNER-LLOVERAS’ Top 3 Shows

1. Lollapalooza @ Grant Park
2. Q-Tip @ Central Park
3. Calle 13 @ Central Park