The best local music of 2009

1. P.O.S., Never Better
(Rhymesayers Entertainment)
Stef Alexander opens his third album with a down-to-earth apology for the three-year gap between Never Better and 2006's Audition—"sorry I took so long," he says, before launching into "Let It Rattle." It's the only thing the Doomtree rapper needs to be humble about when it comes to his music. Drawing energy as much from his punk-rock background as his hip-hop side, P.O.S. is as verbally propulsive and nimble here as Savion Glover, the dancer he namechecks on Never Better's third song. The Twin Cities is not exactly hurting for talent when it comes to underground hip-hop, but here's a solid sign that P.O.S. will be counted in the highest echelons of that group for a long time to come.

2. Brother Ali, Us
(Rhymesayers Entertainment)
That album title isn't chosen idly: Brother Ali's Us is about celebrating connections and finding sympathy for people in hard circumstances. The original title, Street Preacher, is still plenty apropos too. Ali is a storyteller at heart, and a deeply empathetic one. Us adds new chapters to his continuing autobiography, capturing his joy over his new family and continued personal success, but the most powerful songs here are his stories of people struggling on the margins, from the triptych of troubled teenagers in "Tight Rope" to the legacy of slavery in "The Travelers," seen with an understanding heart and an unblinking eye.

3. Grant Hart, Hot Wax
(Condor Records)
What was P.O.S. apologizing for? Grant Hart took a full decade to make a new album after 1999's Good News For Modern Man. The former Hüsker Dü drummer may be operating on his own unhurried timeline these days, but Hot Wax is a welcome reminder that there was another great songwriter in that iconic punk trip besides Bob Mould. Echoing the flight of Icarus alluded to in the album title, the best songs here allow Hart's imagination to take whimsical flight—and also express his solidarity with the eccentrics of the world, as on "Barbara," a story about a mischievous imaginary friend that's reminiscent of the happily kooky woman Hart profiled in Hüsker's "Books About UFOs."


4. Mason Jennings, Blood Of Man
(Brushfire Records)
Singer-songwriter Mason Jennings wrote and recorded Blood Of Man largely on his own in a home studio in just a few weeks, playing all the instruments himself. The approach steered him away from the overproduction that's sometimes been apparent on recent discs, but more importantly, the rougher, rawer sound was accompanied by some of the strongest (and darkest) material he's written in years. Ironically, he attributes his confidence in writing about spiritual troubles to the inner clarity provided by his recent embrace of yoga.


5. Andrew Broder, I Must Fix All The Problems; Experts, Specialists; Raw Bulb; We Had To Eat The Owl; Suture; Unqualified; Think About Every Problem You Have At The Same Time; Rap Ballads; Spiraling; Remaining
(Self-released)
After the dissipation of his trio Fog, which had evolved from an instrumental solo project into an experimental take on the power-trio format, Andrew Broder returned to his roots for this 10-album series, using turntables and guitar to create nearly seven hours' worth of sweepingly epic soundscapes reminiscent of black metal and '70s Eno/Fripp collaborations like No Pussyfooting. Free from the commercial expectations of working with a label, Broder self-distributed the set via e-mail and the web asking only for donations. But if the decalogy is unlikely to show up on the Billboard charts, it's clear that creatively it's where Broder ought to be.

6. The Pines, Tremolo
(Red House Records)
With each successive album, Ben Ramsey and David Huckfelt have grown as songwriters. On Tremolo, they embrace an aesthetic that takes in both the heartland folk-blues they grew up with and the melancholy indie-roots sound of Bon Iver. The saying that still waters run deep is true here.

7. Vampire Hands, Hannah In The Mansion
(St. Ives Records)
Psychedelic quartet Vampire Hands conjures up spirits on this loose-knit concept album, inspired by a broken-down, aged mansion in Missouri where the band overnighted while on tour. Hannah In The Mansion is dreamlike, dark, and quietly unsettling, sustaining a floating and ethereal nighttime mood that moves to the rhythms of the deep ocean. With chief songwriter Colin Johnson now living in Montana but still collaborating with his bandmates, it's hard to say where Vampire Hands might go from here, but whatever changes may come, Hannah is an achievement that stands on its own.

8. Michael Yonkers And The Blind Shake, Cold Town/Soft Zodiac
(Learning Curve Records)
Guitarist brothers Jim and Mike Blaha and drummer Dave Roper of St. Paul trio The Blind Shake found both a mentor and an excellent creative foil in underground psychedelic guitar wizard Michael Yonkers, and the partnership struck oil again on their second collaborative full-length disc. The energy and collaborative give-and-take between them is undeniable; Yonkers' stratospheric riffery is perfectly anchored by the Shake's hard-driving post-punk, whirring and grinding and zinging at different speeds like some kind of surreal industrial machinery. Yonkers was forced to retire permanently from live performance just before CT/SZ's CD-release show after his decades-long struggle with a spinal injury worsened; hopefully more studio work might still be in the cards.

9. Red Pens, Reasons
(Grain Belt Records)
Two-piece shoegaze-punk combo Red Pens is one of the most buzzed-about new local bands of the year, and it's easy to hear why. Reasons' forceful attack is simultaneously so simple and direct that it's hard not to be swept up in its wake, and yet layered and complex enough that it never seems to run out of new surprises. Laura Bennett's fast-slow-fast drumming creates a rolling, changing tempo that guitarist-vocalist Howard Hamilton overlays with impassioned, feedback-heavy shredding, something like what it might have been like if Jack White had been a bigger fan of My Bloody Valentine than garage rock. 

10. Brad Senne, Aerial Views
(Self-released)
The gentle, sweetly sad acoustic folk on Brad Senne's second solo album doesn't go out of its way to grab your attention; it sits quietly at the back of the room, weaving its spell. But music doesn't have to be cranked up to 11 to have power; with his ethereal voice and keen sense of beauty and melody, Senne creates the kind of ghostly magic that Bon Iver and Nick Drake did before him.