This year’s penultimate battle was waged between two long-awaited discs: The Mercury Program’s Chez Viking and Blueneck’s The Fallen Host. Each had been promised for years. Delays, broken promises, and a paucity of updates had begun to turn anticipation into ire. And yet, here they were, proof that the bands were still alive, and more importantly, that they were still relevant. Some good things take time: home-cooked meals, long-term relationships. These albums were their sonic equivalent. They were anything but rushed, and in the end, all was forgiven.

TMP’s victory underscores another recent trend: the rise of the half-hour album. Peter Broderick, Johann Johannsson, Years, and now TMP have offered us tiny treasures in the past few months. Perhaps the recession is the cause, perhaps wise editing, perhaps the realization that downloaders prefer tracks to albums. Whatever the reason, 2009 has been the year of brevity. We’ve always known that quality is preferable to quantity, but now the lesson seems to be hitting home. Let’s hope we see more of these fat-trimmed, vitamin-rich releases, and our other favorite groups won’t make us wait so long for their comebacks.

 

It’s been six years since we last heard from The Mercury Program, and I’m not the only one who has sorely missed their presence on the post-rock scene. But if Chez Viking is the result of those six years, then I’m not complaining. Those who remember the gentleness of A Data Learn the Language may be surprised at how active this band can be. Opener “Chez Viking” reminds us once and for all that TMP has a drummer, and that he is incredible. But fear not: this is still The Mercury Program, and subtlety still rules the day, even within these more active structures. Though the album only barely makes it past the thirty-minute mark, this is surely one of the finest half-hours to be found in music all year. (Tom Butcher)

Blueneck’s moody instrumentation may be familiar, but its steadfast direction and compositional poignancy are striking. A cloud of cymbals vaults cello and piano to the heavens in the parenthetical opener to The Fallen Host. What ensues is premium songwriting. The Fallen Host’s production and mixing are top-notch, allowing for each song’s natural momentum to unfold. From the gate-busting statement “Seven” to the rock-bottom mantra of “The Guest” to the amazing two-song closing suite (including staff favorite “Lilitu”), no soft spots are to be found. The vocals have improved and the electronic touches offer a richer experience than on the surprising debut Scars of the Midwest. The deeper one treads, the more rewarding each listen becomes. It’s impossible not to hold one’s breath and grip hard as the saxophones, drums and guitar relentlessly raze the world in the finale, “Revelations.” Blueneck’s triumph over the most epic of sadnesses is irresistibly compelling. (Nayt Keane)

 

Upon hearing the prog-stoner riffs of Firewolf, Embers fans will wonder if their album sleeves are correct. UpCDownC has opted for an album full of grit, rather than ravishing their post-rock fan base with Embers II. Firewolf seems to follow Bill Hicks’ advice: “Play from your fucking heart!” This move took cojones. The result is an album that dips into generation’s most epic series for title inspiration, grabs the listener by the lapel, and smacks him around with bursts of pure, raw emotion. “Agent Cooper” and “Black Lodge” are the dynamic highlights. UpCDownC has reinvented itself with this bone-grinding monster, proving to listeners that their previous effort was only foreplay. (Jurgen Verhasselt)

Radian’s newest album is “about control and the loss of control,” according to the Austrian trio. This would certainly seem to be the case, as the album is less a studio session than a computer creation: snippets of guitar, bass and drums electronically shuffled and processed in seemingly precise fashion. And yet, during the album’s many cacophonous moments, one can imagine a beast behind the controls. This tension between the raw and the pristine is what makes Chimeric so appealing. All hell is breaking loose, and then it’s not, as if chaos were confined to a very long leash. The album is itself a chimera (head of a lion, body of a goat, tail of a dragon), providing different impressions at different angles, ready at any moment to breathe sonic fire. This fire may burn, but it’s such a lovely light. (Richard Allen)

5) The Necks ~ Silverwater

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A single seventy-minute work might sound massive, but it’s really not enough. This jazz trio moves in three dimensions, flowing in and out of melodic constructions with patient dedication. These improvisations are abstract, almost dronelike, as if the band were deconstructing and reconstructing music itself, step by step, brick by brick. At the end, the piece falls down in a slow motion gesture of ultimate clarity and musical transparence. Silverwater continues the band’s decade-long linear progression. Crossover jazz has never sounded so good. (David Murrieta)