Jamie from Group Tightener Records and Men & Women is next in my best of series.  Group Tightener is a label that I gained notice of earlier this year, and I had the pleasure of attending their un-official CMJ party at Monster Island (see videos of Best Coast at that show here).

Group Tightener Records has already released the Men & Women  LP (technically on War & Moon), and Best Coast’s Make You Mine 7″…and appears to have a big year in 2010 lined up. Upcoming releases include: Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, Fluffy Lumbers, Twin Lion, Fungi Girls, Cloud Nothings, Coasting, and a Forest Swords/High Wolf split.

Jamie from Group Tightener/ Men & Women’s Best of 2009:

real estate (band site/ album info)
- super great to see this band develop over the course of the year and release their awesome full length to cap it off.

rusko essential mix/joker purple wow sound mix (check it out here)
- in a year where i became pretty bored with dance music both of these artists pushed the envelope in different ways. joker laid down the buttery g-funk synths while rusko just went ape shit raving the fuck out – i picture this mix sound tracking some sort of intergalactic rodeo from the future…

salem (band site/ 7″ info)
- i think i subconsciously figured out why this band resonates with me so much the other night when i was talking to somebody about listening to music when i was younger. i was basically obsessed with 90s rap and grunge-y guitar music and this group meets 11 year old me in the middle. they only released three 7″s (and one of them had one song and was only in japan or something) this year and played like 2 live shows where they basically just smoked ciggs and looked at the ground while sketchy vhs tapes of drunk drivers played behind them, but for some reason all of that made sense.

brilliant colors (band site/ album info)
- even though i grew up in the northwest and went to college in olympia i was never all that into all the riot grrl bands to be honest. and truth be told out i wasn’t much into the first couple 7″s these ladies put out but that’s what made their full length that much more enjoyable to me.

wavves (band site / album info)
- my favorite shit all year was when i’d read people say stuff like ‘well it COULD be good but it just sounds like shit’ sorry that’s the point people – yeah, he may have had a limited range of recording options but it was definitely an aesthetic decision and i personally thought it ruled.

girls (band site / album info)
- this has been a pretty rough year for me personally and for some reason this album came around at the right time and made perfect sense to me. when i hear these songs later on in life i’m sure that, along with real estate, i’ll associate them with this time period. nostalgia in the making.

tim & eric awesome show great job (website)
- still the funniest and most forward thinking comedy around. this show has changed the way i think about all media. sort of like psychedelics -  i’ll never be the same.

fresh and onlys (band website / record info)
- they released two full lengths this year, and while i definitely think they would have gotten a stronger response if they edited both of them down to just one LP i’m never mad at listening to more music. some GREAT songs.

high wolf (band site / album info)
- along with ducktails, the high wolf tapes i was able to get my hands on were the best of the experimental/psychedelic stuff i heard this year. it encompasses everything i liked about early animal collective way before avey tare started yelling in my face. but beyond all those comparisons you can tell that he isn’t just fucking around and seeing what sticks – he is truly in the zone. excited to be putting out some of his first stuff on vinyl next year…

woods (band site / album info)
- this band really came into their own this year also. full length was awesome, 7″ was awesome, live radio record was surprisingly sophisticated and the live show just keeps getting better and better.

other stuff: ganglians – blood on the sand 7″, moon duo, memory tapes – bicycle, gary war, fever ray, blank dogs/dum dum girls/mayfair set, atlas sound, kurt vile, animal collective lp

7″ that should have happened: cold cave ‘life magazine/heaven was full’

Links:

• Group Tightener blog / twitter / myspace
• more on Group Tightener Records here.
• more on Best Coast here.
• more on Cloud Nothings here.
• more best of 2009 guest contributions can be found here.

thanks again to Jamie for contributing a best of list.  I look forward to the Group Tightener Releases to come, and ya’ll know I’m loving Cloud Nothings (I can’t wait for that 12″)!