10: Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
9: Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men
Should have won the Mercury.
8: Miike Snow – Miike Snow
Swedes in top album shocker.
7: Anoraak - Nightdrive With You
Channel the spirit of Giorgio Moroder.
6: Portico Quartet - Tesla
Yet more superb jazz/minimalist musings. Nice.
5: Delphic - Acolyte
Okay, it’s not out for two weeks but it is the soundtrack to 2009.
4: White Lies – To Lose My Life
Who said Power, Corruption and Lies was dead?
3: The Cribs – Ignore the Ignorant
Two words – Johnny Marr is back. Okay four words.
2: Doves – Kingdom of Rust
Superb.
1: The XX – xx
Not 'alf.
Overrated
Muse - The Resistance
This lot channel the spirit of Queen in a horrid caught-with-a-copy-of-Razzle-by-yer-mum-in-yer-bedroom style.
Tuesday 29 December 2009
Thursday 24 December 2009
James Gray-King
10: Gallows - Grey Britain
9: Thursday - Common Existence
8: Metric - Fantasies
7: Mastodon - Blood Mountain
6: White Lies - To Lose My Life
5: Karen O And The Kids - Where The Wild Things Are
4: Editors - In This Light And On This Evening
3: Brand New - Daisy
2: Isis - Wavering Radiant
1: Frank Turner - Poetry of the Deed
9: Thursday - Common Existence
8: Metric - Fantasies
7: Mastodon - Blood Mountain
6: White Lies - To Lose My Life
5: Karen O And The Kids - Where The Wild Things Are
4: Editors - In This Light And On This Evening
3: Brand New - Daisy
2: Isis - Wavering Radiant
1: Frank Turner - Poetry of the Deed
Joe Ayling
Disclaimer
While my choices in previous years have been inspired by live gigs, a swathe of new British bands and even the invention of the iPod, 2009 saw me subscribe to Mojo magazine. While the move filled in the cracks of my shaky archive, including Californian country rock from the 70s and early Blues and Motown, it has left my contemporary collection a bit thin on the ground. For this reason, and due to my early ignorance of Spotify, the following 2009 list is basically the only ten CDs I bought last year, plus one I got free with a newspaper.
10: The Enemy - Music For The People
Pretty lame follow up to We Live And Die In These Towns, which was one of my favourite albums of the decade. It's almost like they got out a copy of Be Here Now and said: "Right, if we can mix this with Status Quo..." Never mind lads.
9: Florence + The Machine - Lungs
Will always be known for You've Got The Love cover, but the whole album has plenty else to offer and glad I've found a female-led band to enjoy for once.
8: Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
Quite a Bluesy album, is there no end to this man's musical longevity? Maybe his Christmas album will be just that.
7: Frank Turner - Love Ire & Song
Glad I've discovered Frank Turner - right up my street. The songs are all quite folky and if he's not slagging off his ex-girlfriend, its infrequently the state. Look forward to going through his first few albums now.
6: Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Great live band and this serves as their most listenable album in my view. Although Where Did All the Love Go feels a bit Fatboy Slim for some reason.
5: Noel Gallagher - The Dreams We Have As Children
And you thought I wouldn't be able to squeeze an Oasis album in this year? A free giveaway in The Times, it includes live performances of Strawberry Fields and (look away now Olly) There is a Light that Never Goes Out.
4: The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant
The addition of Johnny Marr gives them more depth, but haven't lost any swagger by having an old man on board either. The opening track We Were Aborted and We Share The Same Skies are both excellent.
3: The Twang - Jewellery Quarter
One of the few bands I got out and saw live amid 2009's dire recession, but there's no violins on this album. As a Brummie, the appeal here is obvious, while the album name will surely go alongside Moseley Shoals in a future pop quiz question. Songs Barney Rubble and Encouraging Sign hold their own too, and who else can fit lines like "double trouble Barnie Rubble chitchat" into a song?
2: The View - Which Bitch
Much like The Twang, another great second album and these songs sound awesome live. The View's gigs don't attract as many drunken teenagers as you'd think. 5 Rebeccas and Covers are two songs that show the versatility of Dundee's finest.
1: The Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Josh Homme added a new dimension to the band's music after a slightly lazy second album. A real grower and Alex Turner hasn't lost his lyrical magic either, sounds quite poetic these days. Cornerstone and Dance Little Liar are the highlights.
It's Good, But Not That Good
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight; Franz Ferdinand
Emperor's New Clothes
Olly from X Factor
Isn't he just Will Young?
While my choices in previous years have been inspired by live gigs, a swathe of new British bands and even the invention of the iPod, 2009 saw me subscribe to Mojo magazine. While the move filled in the cracks of my shaky archive, including Californian country rock from the 70s and early Blues and Motown, it has left my contemporary collection a bit thin on the ground. For this reason, and due to my early ignorance of Spotify, the following 2009 list is basically the only ten CDs I bought last year, plus one I got free with a newspaper.
10: The Enemy - Music For The People
Pretty lame follow up to We Live And Die In These Towns, which was one of my favourite albums of the decade. It's almost like they got out a copy of Be Here Now and said: "Right, if we can mix this with Status Quo..." Never mind lads.
9: Florence + The Machine - Lungs
Will always be known for You've Got The Love cover, but the whole album has plenty else to offer and glad I've found a female-led band to enjoy for once.
8: Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
Quite a Bluesy album, is there no end to this man's musical longevity? Maybe his Christmas album will be just that.
7: Frank Turner - Love Ire & Song
Glad I've discovered Frank Turner - right up my street. The songs are all quite folky and if he's not slagging off his ex-girlfriend, its infrequently the state. Look forward to going through his first few albums now.
6: Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Great live band and this serves as their most listenable album in my view. Although Where Did All the Love Go feels a bit Fatboy Slim for some reason.
5: Noel Gallagher - The Dreams We Have As Children
And you thought I wouldn't be able to squeeze an Oasis album in this year? A free giveaway in The Times, it includes live performances of Strawberry Fields and (look away now Olly) There is a Light that Never Goes Out.
4: The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant
The addition of Johnny Marr gives them more depth, but haven't lost any swagger by having an old man on board either. The opening track We Were Aborted and We Share The Same Skies are both excellent.
3: The Twang - Jewellery Quarter
One of the few bands I got out and saw live amid 2009's dire recession, but there's no violins on this album. As a Brummie, the appeal here is obvious, while the album name will surely go alongside Moseley Shoals in a future pop quiz question. Songs Barney Rubble and Encouraging Sign hold their own too, and who else can fit lines like "double trouble Barnie Rubble chitchat" into a song?
2: The View - Which Bitch
Much like The Twang, another great second album and these songs sound awesome live. The View's gigs don't attract as many drunken teenagers as you'd think. 5 Rebeccas and Covers are two songs that show the versatility of Dundee's finest.
1: The Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Josh Homme added a new dimension to the band's music after a slightly lazy second album. A real grower and Alex Turner hasn't lost his lyrical magic either, sounds quite poetic these days. Cornerstone and Dance Little Liar are the highlights.
It's Good, But Not That Good
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight; Franz Ferdinand
Emperor's New Clothes
Olly from X Factor
Isn't he just Will Young?
Dan Foster
10: Lightning Dust - Infinite Light
This just doesn't sound like a side project. Think Mazzy Star, think Patti Smith, think Nick Cave… Warm and comforting, it's as close as you're going to get to the soundtrack of a hibernation. Perfect for those long and cold winter nights. Not quite what you would expect from a Black Mountain-associated offshoot. Class.
9: Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Investigated on the back of his contribution to the mightily awesome Dark Was The Night compilation, Noble Beast doesn't disappoint. Catchy songs, witty and insightful lyrics. Could have been higher up the list if it wasn't for a slight lull in the third quarter. We'll let him off for that, though. Almost too clever for his own good, Bird even manages to make whistling sound cool.
8: The XX - xx
Four south Londoners making miserable songs about sex and relationships. Stripped back and honest, xx is so refined that it comes off sounding more like a good band's third or fourth effort devoid of any unnecessary over production. Perhaps quiet is the new loud? Keep music miserable, I say.
7: Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Bit of a surprise this one. Downloaded on impulse and turned out to be the catchiest record of the year. Album opener Lisztomania makes me want to dust off my best Footloose moves and head down the local discotheque to start a dance-floor riot. Quite simply perfect pop. Sits somewhere between 'Is This It'-era Strokes and Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna.
6: Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
Memory Tapes is the work of one man, Dayve Hawk. Imagine a fusion of the Cocteau Twins' atmospheric spacial awareness, Yeasayer's spiritual core and New Order at their prime and you're not far off. Track Bicycle has to be one of my highlights of 2009. Quite simply brilliant. Even more so when you consider it's the work of just one man.
5: Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors is an amazing songsmith. Or should I say composer? Bitte Orca is the first album for the Dirty Projectors which cements their pop flair and wildly inventive capabilities. It's one of those all too rare albums that manages to be instantly catchy, challenging and technically impressive all at the same time. Every track's a winner but if I could only have one it'd be Useful Chamber.
4: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
This is where I get all boring and predictable. It's unusual for me to form an emotional connection with what to all intents feels like a dance record, but tracks like My Girls, In the Flowers and Brother Sport have an almost instant classic feel. Take the very best of the Beach Boys and pass it through the Euphoria-iser (if ever there was such a thing) and maybe this is what you'd get. Original and good. Very good. Not often you can say that these days.
3: The Antlers - Hospice
"I wish that I'd known in the first minute we met, the unpayable debt that I owed you. Because you'd been abused by the bone that refused you and you hired me to make up for that.” The opening lines from Hospice set the mood for what has to be the most desperate and emotionally destroying record since the Arcade Fire's Funeral. Gorgeous and hauntingly beautiful.
2: Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
One of those albums you'll either love or hate. For me, Two Dancers is one of the best UK albums to have been released in recent years. Musically there are some parallels with Elbow's Asleep in the Back (particularly when Tom Fleming steps up to lead vocal duties on All the Kings Men) but it's Hayden Thorpes' eccentric operatic delivery that gives the band their real identity. If you can get to grips with that you'll love it. Nice lads and great live too.
1: Dragonslayer - Sunset Rubdown
Ever wondered what might happen if David Bowie and Meat Loaf made babies? And then they left those babies in a cave to be brought up by wolves? Those feral children would grow up to make music that sounds like Sunset Rubdown. It's wild, it's exciting and it's my most listened to album of 2009 - hands down. If you want something a little different, check it out. Life tastes better with Sunset Rubdown in it.
Tracks of the year
10: The XX - Crystalised
9: Cursive - From the Hips
8: Dirty Projectors & David Byrne - Knotty Pine
7: Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
6: Phoenix - Girlfriend
5: Wild Beasts - All the Kings Men
4: The Antlers - Two
3: Memory Tapes - Bicycle
2: Animal Collective - My Girls
1: Sunset Rubdown - Idiot Heart
Emperor's New Clothes
The Cribs - Ignore the Ignorant
It's Good, But Not That Good
Girls – Album
This just doesn't sound like a side project. Think Mazzy Star, think Patti Smith, think Nick Cave… Warm and comforting, it's as close as you're going to get to the soundtrack of a hibernation. Perfect for those long and cold winter nights. Not quite what you would expect from a Black Mountain-associated offshoot. Class.
9: Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Investigated on the back of his contribution to the mightily awesome Dark Was The Night compilation, Noble Beast doesn't disappoint. Catchy songs, witty and insightful lyrics. Could have been higher up the list if it wasn't for a slight lull in the third quarter. We'll let him off for that, though. Almost too clever for his own good, Bird even manages to make whistling sound cool.
8: The XX - xx
Four south Londoners making miserable songs about sex and relationships. Stripped back and honest, xx is so refined that it comes off sounding more like a good band's third or fourth effort devoid of any unnecessary over production. Perhaps quiet is the new loud? Keep music miserable, I say.
7: Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Bit of a surprise this one. Downloaded on impulse and turned out to be the catchiest record of the year. Album opener Lisztomania makes me want to dust off my best Footloose moves and head down the local discotheque to start a dance-floor riot. Quite simply perfect pop. Sits somewhere between 'Is This It'-era Strokes and Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna.
6: Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
Memory Tapes is the work of one man, Dayve Hawk. Imagine a fusion of the Cocteau Twins' atmospheric spacial awareness, Yeasayer's spiritual core and New Order at their prime and you're not far off. Track Bicycle has to be one of my highlights of 2009. Quite simply brilliant. Even more so when you consider it's the work of just one man.
5: Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors is an amazing songsmith. Or should I say composer? Bitte Orca is the first album for the Dirty Projectors which cements their pop flair and wildly inventive capabilities. It's one of those all too rare albums that manages to be instantly catchy, challenging and technically impressive all at the same time. Every track's a winner but if I could only have one it'd be Useful Chamber.
4: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
This is where I get all boring and predictable. It's unusual for me to form an emotional connection with what to all intents feels like a dance record, but tracks like My Girls, In the Flowers and Brother Sport have an almost instant classic feel. Take the very best of the Beach Boys and pass it through the Euphoria-iser (if ever there was such a thing) and maybe this is what you'd get. Original and good. Very good. Not often you can say that these days.
3: The Antlers - Hospice
"I wish that I'd known in the first minute we met, the unpayable debt that I owed you. Because you'd been abused by the bone that refused you and you hired me to make up for that.” The opening lines from Hospice set the mood for what has to be the most desperate and emotionally destroying record since the Arcade Fire's Funeral. Gorgeous and hauntingly beautiful.
2: Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
One of those albums you'll either love or hate. For me, Two Dancers is one of the best UK albums to have been released in recent years. Musically there are some parallels with Elbow's Asleep in the Back (particularly when Tom Fleming steps up to lead vocal duties on All the Kings Men) but it's Hayden Thorpes' eccentric operatic delivery that gives the band their real identity. If you can get to grips with that you'll love it. Nice lads and great live too.
1: Dragonslayer - Sunset Rubdown
Ever wondered what might happen if David Bowie and Meat Loaf made babies? And then they left those babies in a cave to be brought up by wolves? Those feral children would grow up to make music that sounds like Sunset Rubdown. It's wild, it's exciting and it's my most listened to album of 2009 - hands down. If you want something a little different, check it out. Life tastes better with Sunset Rubdown in it.
Tracks of the year
10: The XX - Crystalised
9: Cursive - From the Hips
8: Dirty Projectors & David Byrne - Knotty Pine
7: Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
6: Phoenix - Girlfriend
5: Wild Beasts - All the Kings Men
4: The Antlers - Two
3: Memory Tapes - Bicycle
2: Animal Collective - My Girls
1: Sunset Rubdown - Idiot Heart
Emperor's New Clothes
The Cribs - Ignore the Ignorant
It's Good, But Not That Good
Girls – Album
Monday 21 December 2009
Jo Mason
10: The Temper Trap – Conditions
9: Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream
8: Silversun Pickups – Swoon
7: Metric – Fantasies
6: Regina Spektor – Far
5: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
4: My Latest Novel – Deaths and Entrances
3: Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
2: The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
1: Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
9: Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream
8: Silversun Pickups – Swoon
7: Metric – Fantasies
6: Regina Spektor – Far
5: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
4: My Latest Novel – Deaths and Entrances
3: Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
2: The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
1: Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
Olly Wehring
10: Doves - Kingdom of Rust
Finally, they've done it. On each of their last three albums, Doves have been hamstrung by the annoyingly even balance between spellbinding and ho-hum. For every 'The Man Who Told Everything' there's been an 'A House'. For every 'Pounding' there's been a 'Friday's Dust'. For every 'Snowden' there's been an 'Almost Forgot Myself'. Even those last two could be interchangeable.
But this year, Doves hit the jackpot – despite having set the bar screamingly high with the opening two tracks of this album. Slow-burners like 'The Greatest Denier' and 'Spellbound' ensure the momentum doesn't let up. At last.
9: The Temper Trap - Conditions
Debut of the year. When we saw these guys at the Great Escape in Brighton back in May, they blew the other bands off the stage that night. Since then, The Temper Trap have gone on to line up three sold-out nights at Shepherd's Bush Empire for early next year.
Solid guitar-based pop with an ability to invoke dancing - of sorts - Conditions also holds the song of the year – 'Sweet Disposition' – and another contender in 'Science of Fear'. A pity about the closing track ('Drum Song'), however, which, boringly, does exactly as it says on the cover.
8: The Veils - Sun Gangs
Another Great Escape stand-out from May. So good we saw them twice over the weekend, when each time they produced one of the live tracks of the year in 'Three Sisters'. Sun Gangs has just the right balance of light ('The House She Lived In') and dark ('Larkspur'), with one of the best opening tracks of the year thrown in to boot ('Sit Down by the Fire').
Granted, there are one or two “so what?” moments, but the good is good enough to warrant a top ten place.
7: Metric - Fantasies
6: Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
5: The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
4: Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream
3: Maps - Turning the Mind
2: Loney Dear - Dear John
1: The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
Finally, they've done it. On each of their last three albums, Doves have been hamstrung by the annoyingly even balance between spellbinding and ho-hum. For every 'The Man Who Told Everything' there's been an 'A House'. For every 'Pounding' there's been a 'Friday's Dust'. For every 'Snowden' there's been an 'Almost Forgot Myself'. Even those last two could be interchangeable.
But this year, Doves hit the jackpot – despite having set the bar screamingly high with the opening two tracks of this album. Slow-burners like 'The Greatest Denier' and 'Spellbound' ensure the momentum doesn't let up. At last.
9: The Temper Trap - Conditions
Debut of the year. When we saw these guys at the Great Escape in Brighton back in May, they blew the other bands off the stage that night. Since then, The Temper Trap have gone on to line up three sold-out nights at Shepherd's Bush Empire for early next year.
Solid guitar-based pop with an ability to invoke dancing - of sorts - Conditions also holds the song of the year – 'Sweet Disposition' – and another contender in 'Science of Fear'. A pity about the closing track ('Drum Song'), however, which, boringly, does exactly as it says on the cover.
8: The Veils - Sun Gangs
Another Great Escape stand-out from May. So good we saw them twice over the weekend, when each time they produced one of the live tracks of the year in 'Three Sisters'. Sun Gangs has just the right balance of light ('The House She Lived In') and dark ('Larkspur'), with one of the best opening tracks of the year thrown in to boot ('Sit Down by the Fire').
Granted, there are one or two “so what?” moments, but the good is good enough to warrant a top ten place.
7: Metric - Fantasies
6: Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
5: The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
4: Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream
3: Maps - Turning the Mind
2: Loney Dear - Dear John
1: The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
Sunday 20 December 2009
Phil Gardin
8: Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
As a lover of Josh Homme (see below), I was excited to hear that Sheffield's finest were producing their next album with the BIG GUY!
The reason for the nomination, however, is as a result of "Crying Lightning" where Mr Turner manages to add the following products to his lyrics: "Pick and Mix", "Cracker Factory", "Strawberry Lace" and "Gob Stopper".
7: Jack Penate - Everything is New
On the basis that this, his second album, is a million miles away from his first (and I loved number one) he deserves a place in the Top Ten.
6: Muse - The Resistance
Only five words sum this up - "Super Gay Dr Who Rock"
5: Doves - Kingdom of Rust
Special this one - my first LP download from iTunes and a Doves album that I have genuinely liked every track!
What makes it even more special is that Stu in my team is in a band with the brother of Jez and Andy from said Doves - and they claim Doves nicked the melody for Winter Hill from them!
4: Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
I don't think I need to explain... Their best album since Holy Bible.
3: Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men
The band that should have won the Mercury award, with 218 iPod plays since I downloaded it "Truth only Smiles" is my third most played song of the year for one reason and one lyric only: "Tell me we're leaving all this far behind us. Tell me the lights still flicker when we kiss."
Holy Crap - the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up after listen 219 - AND THEY USE A BANJO!
2: Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
Homme, Grohl and the fella from Led Zep - just awesome!
1: The Leisure Society - The Sleeper
It all started with the fourth song off the album, "A Short Weekend", when I saw them on Youtube doing a busking gig in Northampton, I think. The combination of guitar, banjo (AGAIN) and strings made me swoon!
To then find out that the band were nominated for an Ivor Novello award (the first time ever a nominee has not had a record contract) was even more special.
However - the real GEM is the song "Last of the Melting Snow". I am really finding it hard to explain why I love this song so much, but I do, I Bloomin well do and I would go so far to say that only Morrissey and
the Cinematic Orchestra have ever written a line in a song that brings me to tears every time - NOT SOMETIMES - But every time I hear it.
The lyric? "In no doubt as I leave this town, I will not return."
As a lover of Josh Homme (see below), I was excited to hear that Sheffield's finest were producing their next album with the BIG GUY!
The reason for the nomination, however, is as a result of "Crying Lightning" where Mr Turner manages to add the following products to his lyrics: "Pick and Mix", "Cracker Factory", "Strawberry Lace" and "Gob Stopper".
7: Jack Penate - Everything is New
On the basis that this, his second album, is a million miles away from his first (and I loved number one) he deserves a place in the Top Ten.
6: Muse - The Resistance
Only five words sum this up - "Super Gay Dr Who Rock"
5: Doves - Kingdom of Rust
Special this one - my first LP download from iTunes and a Doves album that I have genuinely liked every track!
What makes it even more special is that Stu in my team is in a band with the brother of Jez and Andy from said Doves - and they claim Doves nicked the melody for Winter Hill from them!
4: Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
I don't think I need to explain... Their best album since Holy Bible.
3: Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men
The band that should have won the Mercury award, with 218 iPod plays since I downloaded it "Truth only Smiles" is my third most played song of the year for one reason and one lyric only: "Tell me we're leaving all this far behind us. Tell me the lights still flicker when we kiss."
Holy Crap - the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up after listen 219 - AND THEY USE A BANJO!
2: Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
Homme, Grohl and the fella from Led Zep - just awesome!
1: The Leisure Society - The Sleeper
It all started with the fourth song off the album, "A Short Weekend", when I saw them on Youtube doing a busking gig in Northampton, I think. The combination of guitar, banjo (AGAIN) and strings made me swoon!
To then find out that the band were nominated for an Ivor Novello award (the first time ever a nominee has not had a record contract) was even more special.
However - the real GEM is the song "Last of the Melting Snow". I am really finding it hard to explain why I love this song so much, but I do, I Bloomin well do and I would go so far to say that only Morrissey and
the Cinematic Orchestra have ever written a line in a song that brings me to tears every time - NOT SOMETIMES - But every time I hear it.
The lyric? "In no doubt as I leave this town, I will not return."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)