So we’re halfway through 2009! Seems like as good a point as any to look back at the musical goodness of the year so far. I’ve written before about the best local albums of the past six months: Corporate Lo-Fi, Duster, Pasta Groove, Zach Lucero, and the upcoming Outerhope album, in case you were wondering. This time let’s take a look at what the rest of the world (or, all right, certain parts of the rest of the world... mainly English-speaking parts) has to offer.

La Roux. La Roux

Every morning I think of La Roux, because when I stagger from bed and look at myself in the mirror, I find that sleep has shaped my hair into a forward-swept plume not unlike that of La Roux frontwoman Elly Jackson. Beyond that, however, La Roux’s self-titled debut is a great get-up-and-go set of pop songs, particularly if you enjoyed the ‘80s and miss synthesizer-happy acts like the Eurythmics, Human League and the Pet Shop Boys. “Bulletproof” is an amazing track, confrontational and catchy and blessed with an absolute killer of a chorus. Approximately the whole first half-plus of the record is irresistibly dancey and outrageously ‘80s-influenced, but La Roux is not all about retro revivalism; there’s something about the pruduction and delivery that is also unmistakably now, undeniably fresh. Later tracks like “Armour Love” and “Close My Eyes” show that this pop duo for the 2000s can slow things down, too.

Dinosaur Jr. Farm

So yeah, I had the Green Mind and Where You Been albums in the ‘90s, and enjoyed the hell out of them. Dinosaur Jr. was one of those perfect acts for the time—they looked like slackers, sang and slurred like they couldn’t be bothered, and yet consistently whipped out amazing heavy slabs of guitar sound and tunes that staggered like Swamp Things and could not be denied. Kind of scary to think that they’re still around almost twenty years later, and as good as ever, judging by newest album Farm. They haven’t changed their sound much, but this is one of those cases where that’s actually a good thing. Early favorites include “Over It” (and its skateboardy video), “Plans,” and “Friends” (not, as I had hoped, a guitar-drenched remake of the Mike Francis song, but excellent nonetheless).

Phoenix. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

I know I’ve used the made-up word “poptastic” many times in the course of this column, but never has it been more appropriate than when used to describe the latest album from Phoenix. Let me tell you about when I first heard this band: it was while I was watching Lost in Translation in the movie theater, during that part where Bill Murray’s character spends a fun night out on the town with Scarlet Johansson’s character, and dancing and videoke and running through the streets of Tokyo and all sorts of other hijinks are involved. There’s a scene at a party, and the song “Too Young” by Phoenix starts playing in the background, and for ten seconds or so it sounds like the best song in the world ever. Well, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is full of songs like that.

Metric. Fantasies

I can’t really write an honest review of this album yet, as whenever I listen to it, I just keep putting certain songs on repeat—they’re that good—so there may be one or two tracks that I haven’t even heard. I know that Metric has been around for a few years now—friends have been pointing me towads mp3s of their stuff almost since the turn of the millennium—and that they share a lot of history and connections with a bunch of other bands, like Broken Social Scene and frontwoman Emily Haines’ solo outfit. Funnily enough, I don’t care about all that. It’s hard to explain, but Fantasies seems to me less the culmination of a process and more like something that has burst onto the scene full-blown and shiny and fantastic. From the absolutely infectious “Help, I’m Alive” to the ready-to-soar “Stadium Love,” this is very close to a perfect meld of rock and pop, timeless and thrilling.

N.A.S.A. The Spirit of Apollo

You know and I know that it’s all about who you know—and N.A.S.A. knows it too. In this case, N.A.S.A. stands, not for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (although there are rockets and astronauts on the album cover), but for North America/South America, signifying the creative synergy between duo Sam Spiegel (Squeak E. Clean) and Ze Gonzales (DJ Zegon). Did I say duo? While this is essentially the brainchild of the two musical masterminds, it would be more appropriate to say that these 18 tracks—spanning soul, electro, funk, rap and any number of other genres, blending them all into songs that sound fantastic blasted from giant speakers—are the work of a small army of superstar collaborators. The talent assembled is astonishing; the combinations unlikely and exciting. To quote the PR, “Tom Waits growls over Kool Keith, Karen O taunts while Ol’ Dirty Bastard gives shout-outs to Wu Tang and N.A.S.A from the grave, and David Byrne, Chuck D and others expound on the evils of ‘Money.’” Just to mention two of my favorite tracks: “Gifted” throws together Lykke Li, Santogold, and Kanye West at his most amusingly egocentric (“I’m gifted/ Merry Christmas”), and “Strange Enough” has messy sexy (and at one point, giggly) vocals by Karen O, and booming braggadocio from ODB and Fatlip.

Send questions and comments to Luis at thekingofnothingtodo@yahoo.com.