Check out the mixtape kills released by the Swedish duo jj. Comprised of Elin Kastlander and Joakim Benon, jj has a penchant for making electronic covers of popular rap and hip-hop songs. Their unique style caught the attention of Pitchfork, which gave their debut album an 8.6. They’ve even toured with The xx, back in March and April of this year.
The Top 10 Overlooked Albums of 2009
Now that 2010 has arrived, most of the major music publications have finished putting out their picks for the top albums of 2009. Each newspaper, magazine, and blog uses their own criteria to determine their rankings, leading to an infinite amount of subjectivity. In the words of my boy Alex, these lists are more or less “an exercise in futility.” 2009 did have its share of great, universally acclaimed albums (you’d be hard-pressed to find an indie outfit that didn’t list Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Phoenix, or Dirty Projectors in their top ten), but there were more than a handful of albums that flew below the radar. Here are the top ten LPs that fell through the cracks in ‘09: