Well, “Heart of Stone” is not quite my favorite Raveonettes song, but I can easily say the just-released video for it is the best of their music videos so far, thanks to the terrific animation from Blind’s Chris Do and his team. The video tells the story of a dejected young man’s trek through a surreal steampunk world, and does so with great style and heart. Blind has some storyboards and concept art here. Great work all around.

This is probably the first year that I’ve listened to enough current music that I feel comfortable making a top ten list. Some of my favorite bands released new records that I loved, a few released records that I don’t love as much as I wanted to, and I found a bunch of new bands that took me by surprise, overwhelmed me, and wouldn’t let me go. This list reflects both the bigger bands (though still not big by mainstream, stadium-going standards) and the local bands that I’ve grown to love – I’ll admit my bias for mixed-gendered bands with a focus on female vocals right now, because you’ll notice it anyway.

Click through for my top ten albums of 2009, some honorable mentions, and a rundown of some of favorite live shows of the year.

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Danish duo The Raveonettes released their fourth full album In and Out of Control yesterday, and it’s a good one. I’ve been holding a spot for it on my top albums of the year list since I heard the first few tracks months ago, and I’m glad to say it hasn’t disappointed me one bit. The combination of evocative, often sad lyrics and upbeat, danceable music strikes exactly the right chord, and I basically haven’t stopped listening to it since I bought it yesterday.

The video for the first single, “Last Dance” (which is also my favorite song so far), surfaced last week. I only didn’t post it right away because the first version I saw had censored the words “overdose” and “addiction,” which pretty much ruins the entire point of the song. Thankfully, there’s an uncensored version. I’m not as big a fan of the video as I am of the song itself, but it’s fun to see Sune and Sharin pop up at the end.

LINKS:

• Myspace
• Amazon MP3 (“Last Dance” is free right now)
• Amie Street

Danish duo The Raveonettes are due to release their fourth album In and Out of Control in the US on October 6th, and mp3s are starting to drop from it already. Hopefully that means we’ll hear some of it when they play at Lollapalooza on Sunday.

This one is titled “Suicide,” and its lyrics tend a little toward the dark side, as apparently the whole album has a tendency to do, from what I’ve heard. The music, however, is infectiously poppy in The Raveonette’s distinctive lo-fi way.

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Their previous album Lust Lust Lust has been sort of a slow burn for me – not one that I immediately fell in love with and played over and over, but every time I play it I’m reminded how much I like it. Judging from my past experiences with bands, seeing them live will be just the little push over the edge that has me breathlessly awaiting the new album’s release.

Links:
MySpace
Twitter
Amazon.com