My favourite music of 2009, wherein I list things I like and make pithy comments. See also, from 2008. Not a great year in music, but as always, a bunch of new artists on the scene with a fistful of good tracks – will you remember them next year?
Top 10 Albums of 2009
10. Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian Prefuse 73
Like Flying Lotus’s Los Angeles (2008), Prefuse 73 offers an album suitable for narcoleptics, schizophrenics and those otherwise suffering from attention deficit disorders. Micro-songs chock-full of texture and beats, each its own little rush.
9. Embryonic The Flaming Lips
Sprawling across two CDs, the Lips cover a broad sonic and emotional landscape. Perhaps the the most musically rich and interesting albums of the year.
8. It’s Blitz Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Still darlings of the indie rock world, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound less raw in this release, but turn out some well-tuned pop-rock songs with a hint of disco.
7. Sketch on Glass/Maybes Mount Kimbie
Incredibly well-executed electronic music that has elements of dubstep, minimal techno and ambient. One of my favourite discoveries of 2009.
6. Tarot Sport Fuck Buttons
The Fuck Buttons continue their excellent form, following on from 2009’s Street Horrsing. Sit back, turn it up, and let it wash over you. Each track takes you somewhere, sometimes through harsh, brutal terrain, but you are always rewarded for it.
5. Fever Ray Fever Ray
There’s not a whole lot of difference between Karin Dreijer Andersson as “Fever Ray” and Karin Dreijer Andersson plus brother Olof as “The Knife”, but who cares. Distorted, creepy vocals and superb synth work. Also, the best live show I saw all year.
4. Junior Röyksopp
I am at risk for losing my visa if I do not include a Norwegian band, so I’m delighted that Röyskopp released the excellent Junior this year. An incredibly solid pop/dance release brimming with stand-out tracks.
3. The Crying Light Antony and the Johnsons
A little less bombast (by Antony standards), it took me quite a few listens to appreciate the sublimeness of this release. An album that lifts your spirit in parts but still offers lots of opportunity for crashing down in melancholy.
2. First Love Emmy the Great
Another discovery of 2009, First Love is both a hugely under-appreciated release and hugely impressive debut. Singer-songwriter/pop-acoustic kind of a thing, with excellent lyrics, catchy melodies and good production.
1. Merriweather Post Pavilion Animal Collective
No surprises here I suppose as Merriweather Post Pavilion topped most best-of lists for 2009. It indeed includes some excellent tracks, although disappointing as an album. If you ignore some of the filler tracks but bundle in Fall Be Kind which was released later, you can make your own Animal Collective Ultimate 2009 Album.
X. Veckatimest Grizzly Bear
In a rash oversight, my original list of 10 albums omitted Veckatimest. Rather than revise history and replace an album, Vekatimest will have to be at rank X. But anyway, the album: beautifully-crafted, richly-textured soft rock that manages to hold interest for an entire 50-odd minutes.
Best compilations
- 5: Five Years of Hyperdub: An excellent primer on the general dubstep scene with some of the best.
- The Sun Came Out 7 Worlds Collide: Collection of world-class musicians getting together in New Zealand to bang out some tracks for charity. A highlight is the singing and song-writing of Phil Selway (Radiohead’s drummer).
- Dark was the Night: Hipster heaven.
Also enjoyed were…
Didn’t quite make my top 10, but are worth a listen were:
- Arrivals Worriedaboutsatan: Sparse, atmospheric, brooding techno.
- Bitte Orca Dirty Projectors: When its good, its very good, but a bit scatter-shot.
- Dragonslayer Sunset Rubdown: Tortured rock
- Flashmob Vitalic: French house music to the letter
- In and Out of Control The Raveonettes: Same Raveonettes shtick of 50s-styled surf rock and dark lyrics
- Miike Snow Miike Snow: Long-time producers and remixers, the Miike Snow project debuts with a decent electronic pop effort.
- My Maudlin Career Camera Obscura: Warm and glowing tweeish pop.
- Numbers Lucent Squarepusher: The EP is a return to form after the diversion of 2008’s concept album Just a Souvenir.
- March of the Zapotec/Realpeople Holland Beirut: The first EP features some lovely instrumental pastiches from Zac Condon’s bender in Mexico, the second featuring some of his electronic tendencies.
- Scars Basement Jaxx: Nothing unexpected from the Jaxx duo as they continue doing what they do best.
- Two Dancers Wild Beasts: Electro-rock
- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix Phoenix: Excellent but oh-so sugary.
Overrated
The top three most overrated albums of 2009 are:
1. Actor St. Vincent
2. Album Girls
3. Real Estate Real Estate
Tracks
Some favourite tracks from albums not mentioned above:
- Babys Bon Iver ≡
- Belated Promise Ring Iron & Wine ≡
- Boat Behind Kings of Convenience ≡
- Crying Lightning Arctic Monkeys ≡
- Feel Like Taking You Home Brendan Benson ≡
- Gently Alcoholic Faith Mission ≡
- Hit the Wall Tada Tátà ≡
- I Have The Moon, You Have The Internet The Field ≡
- Jiggery Pokery Duckworth Lewis Method ≡
- Moth Burial & Four Tet ≡
- Walkabout Atlas Sound (with Noah Lennox) ≡
I’m not sure if this should really be included since its a cover album but gosh-darn if it isn’t fun. Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit team up to produce some fresh-sounding, afro-inspired takes on songs from the likes of Architecture in Helsinki, Vampire Weekend and M.I.A.
Masters of ambient electronica or so-called “intelligent dance music”, Autechre are back – not seen since 2005’s Untilted. Tracks are shorter and more digestible than usual, however this limits their appeal. Tracks don’t get the chance to gestate or for the listener to pick out subtle shifts.
Kevin Martin’s The Bug project serves up some crunchy dubstep in collaboration with a host of rappers. The album is notable in that each track has a unique sound, listening to the album as a whole is not as tiresome as say, the 
Simmering, shimmering static, primal beats and distorted, chanted lyrics. It would seem there’s a lot owing to Animal Collective et al. and there indeed some similarities. The Fuck Buttons have a bleak, acid-washed feeling to them that is somewhat unsettling to the belly.
Flying Lotus serves up bite-sized beats and dense musical textures, somewhat akin to Amon Tobin.
I’m not sure how Stereolab, around since the early ’90s, keep producing new music within their niche sound. They haven’t deviated much over years, yet still manage to find room for exploration and fresh takes.
Disco and Antony Hegarty: I’m not sure why so many people think that’s such an inspired combination, it seems such an obvious thing. Needless to say, Hercules and Love Affair‘s combination of a crisp, stripped-down classic disco/house sound with Hegarty’s vocals works wonders. It seemed to be the theme of the Norwegian summer 2008 – it was being played everywhere you went.
Sigur Rós continue to forge new territory, continuing the migration toward rock signalled by 2005’s Takk…. They’ve managed it beautifully, producing rhythmic, soaring, inspiring songs which are now a little more radio-friendly and approachable. Some might consider all of this heresy, that Sigur Rós are selling out and going mainstream. Indeed, the inclusion of an intelligible (English-language) track might provide an additional clue. Perhaps. But if they still sound like nothing else and give me goose bumps, that’s alright by me.
The Vamps seem to have been around forever, but have burst on to the scene relatively recently. It’s hard to imagine that this was even a 2008 release (it barely was). The Establishment repeatedly fell in and out of love with them and now they are faced with The Difficult Second Album. But if you ignore all the hype, anti-hype and personalities, you can’t deny the hooks, rhythm and surprisingly good lyrics of Vampire Weekend.
It’s an understatement to say that a new release by Portishead was hotly anticipated. After releasing two genre-defining albums, Dummy (1994) and Portishead (1997), and following it up with the beautifully-tasteful live orchestral performance of Live at Roseland fans couldn’t wait to see what Portishead would do next. They waited. And waited. Band members drifted apart, doing solo projects and producing, but none of it came close to the heights of Portishead. It seems that the magic of Portishead really is greater than the sum of its parts. I was one of the many who trawled the official forums over the years, looking for news or titbits that something, anything was happening in Portishead. And then, with very little prior notice, it was announced that a new album was ready, and it was called Third.