Dream World

We first caught wind of Jack Tatum's bedroom pop project Wild Nothing when the Virginia native put out a shoegazing cover of Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting" earlier this year. He employs the same introspective melancholy on "Live in Dreams" - a hauntingly hazy love song that has Tatum sounding like a sedated Morrissey singing about cigarettes and suicide. "Pretty face, could you make the jump with me? I'm dying just to let things go," he begs with such a poignant sentimentality that after listening you'll be left dazed and dreaming of forgotten first kisses and warm summer rain. Wild Nothing's debut LP is due out on Brooklyn's Captured Tracks sometime next year.

"Live in Dreams" - Wild Nothing

BW's Best of 2K9

Looks like Grizzly Bear is taking home Backwash gold for crafting one of the most beautiful, artistic albums EVER, and the clear defining record of the year. Breakouts Small Black nabbed track of the year for their hypnagogic '09 anthem "Despicable Dogs" (official video below). Scan the rest of the round-up and tell us what ya'll like and what we might of left out. Also, be sure to check out any of these albums/EPs/songs that you might have missed this year while you were too busy worrying about Balloon Boy.

ALBUMS:

15. White Lies - To Lose My Life
14. Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
13. Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
12. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
11. Girls - Album
10. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
9. Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light
8. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
7. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
6. Woods - Songs of Shame
5. Real Estate - Real Estate
4. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3. Passion Pit - Manners
2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
1. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

EPs:

5. Caddywhompus - Caddywhompus
4. The Drums - Summertime
3. Surf City - Surf City
2. Animal Collective - Fall be Kind
1. Delorean - Ayrton Senna


SINGLES/STANDOUTS:

10. "Velvet" - The Big Pink
9. "Something in the Way" - Best Coast
8. "You Are The Blood" - Sufjan Stevens
7. "Anna" (feat. Noah Lennox) - Taken by Trees
6. "Vacation" - Beach Fossils
5. "Psychic City" - YACHT
4. "Belong" - Washed Out
3. "Never Have Fun" - That Ghost
2. "Walkabout" (feat. Noah Lennox) - Atlas Sound

1. "Despicable Dogs" - Small Black

Thirst For Blood

Surfer Blood is a 5 piece power-pop act out of West Palm Beach, Florida that reaped a bit of buzz after playing 12 well-received gigs at this years CMJ showcase. Casual Fridays took a break from shooting stunning skate videos to bring us this stripped down version of Surfer Blood's playful, catchy-as-fuck guitar jam "Floating Vibes". Watch the vid with headphones and plunge into the bouncy, surf harmonies - then compare it to the washed out echos on the electrified mp3 below. The group's debut LP, "Astro Turf", is set to drop Jan 19 on Kanine Records.

"Floating Vibes" - Surfer Blood

Sea Everything

We don't know much about Ryan Trott aka Family Trees apart from his friendship with Backwash Whiskey favorites Eternal Summers and his affinity for making some irresistibly simple surf-pop. "Nature Girl" is a minimalist love letter, raw and straightforward - a few acoustic chords enhanced only by hand-claps and a dreamy recorder melody. "I want to see everything/can you show me all the gifts the city never gives?" Trott sings sadly, either stricken with the Brooklyn blues or just head-over-heals for some beautiful beach bum hippy with feathers in her hair, you decide.


"Nature Girl" - Family Trees

Disappear Here

Tiny Microphone is the pseudonym for the solo project of Kristine - a Chicago indie pop princess better known as the front-woman of the band Very Truly Yours. Her first track under this alias - "You Dissapear" - takes listeners on a heartbreaking journey through time by evoking the post-punk sensibility of groups like The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Telescopes, and more recent Brooklyn contemporaries The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The fuzzy guitars are paired with Kristine's timeless voice and tragically visual lyrics ("If my heart explodes in the sky/will it give you piece of mind?") creating a sad, dreamy song that could seamlessly soundtrack the climax of Sofia Coppola's next film.

"You Disappear" - Tiny Microphone

Lay Out In Heaven

Fall is succumbing to winter's wrath faster than ever and amidst our last feeble attempts to cling to something warm comes this sun-soaked track from Florida's Mike Diaz aka MillionYoung. "Hammock" is an unstoppably upbeat pop jam that starts slow and unravels into a gorgeous layered love song full of echoing vocals, bouncy synths, and an infectious riff that takes hold of your heart and doesn't let go till winter is long gone. Have a listen and for 3 minutes remember how it feels to sip spiked lemonade in tall green grass on the hottest day of summer, and then download the entire EP here.

"Hammock" - MillionYoung

Feel the Fright

Beach House is the dream-pop project of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally - you may remember them from their highly publicized tour with 2K9 buzz champs Grizzly Bear or from the haunting howls Legrand lent to GBear's "Slow Life" featured on the New Moon soundtrack. All of this becomes redundant once you hear the cathartic track "Used to Be" - a mesmerizing, melodic ballad highlighted by Legrand's smoky vocals and a simple melody that plays out like the musical equvalent of a photograph that you found in your attic, one that makes your eyes itch with dusty nostalgia. The song will get the release it deserves on the group's third full-length album - Teen Dream - on Sub Pop in 2010, but until then grab the mp3 and watch the incredible live video below.

"Used to Be" - Beach House