Top 30 Albums of 2009

Yes, it’s time for my annual rundown of my personal favourite albums of 2009. I actually found sticking to 30 difficult this year (hence the list of ‘honourable mentions’) but I’m also surprised by how homogenous it is, age is obviously leading me to get stuck in my ways…

1. God Help the Girl- God Help the Girl

A soundtrack to a movie which hasn’t even been written yet? In many ways that is misleading, this is less of a soundtrack and more of a (that dreaded term) concept term. The strange thing about it is the concept is one which is omnipresent in all of Murdoch’s albums: young girl desires to break free from her small town and along the way find love in the mundane and an impossibly pretty (wo)man. What makes this different is in many ways it forms a bridge across all of Murdoch’s work; the delicate storytelling of Tigermilk is here (Come Monday Night; A Down and Duksy Blonde; God Help the Girl) along with the more obtuse-Kinks influence of later B&S (Perfection as a Hipster; Musician, Please Take Heed; Act of the Apostle). A year and career highlight since it delights in its own simplicity and depth at the same time. There was also the five-track Stills EP this year, of which The Psychiatrist Is In seemed to add most to the story

2. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart/Higher Than the Stars EP

So much about this band should lead you towards hatred, that name is just awful and the more I hear it the more I hate it. Then there’s the obviousness and ‘on the nose’ nature of their influences. Finally there’s what seems to be a strong effort to appear cool. Despite all that however I think it’s hard to deny the charms of their album and its partner EP. The way the vocals work together was actually my first hook for this album, two voices that compliment each perfectly. Then there’s the songs themselves, perfectly constructed 3 minute pop-songs. And it’s sunny, sunny in the same way The Jesus and Mary Chain, in that way which is both submerged and obvious at the same time, mostly since it is buried under the instruments. Songs like Come Saturday, This Love is Fucking Right, A Teenager In Love and Higher Than the Stars are the kinds where you kind of forget how good they are until you have another listen

3. Camera Obscura- My Maudlin Career

Camera Obscura have had a career arc where you describe them in the sense of who they sound like at that point, so the shift from Belle & Sebastian to The Concretes. I think this was really the first album which sounds like them. It all began with my pick for song of the year, the title track, with its Spector-lite feel and the kind of bittersweet lyrics which fill the album (‘you kissed me on the forehead in Spain, now these kisses give me concussion, we were love at first sight, now this crush is crushing’). Even with the bitterness there was also the Sweetness (French Navy, Honey in the Sun). When I went to see them this year my realisation was that now they’re a ‘rock’ band, rather than a twee-pop one, and now people can say ‘they sound like Camera Obscura’

4. Acoustic Ladyland- Living With A Tiger

I’ve been with Acoustic Ladyland since (almost) the beginning and thus it’s been strange watching them grow and evolve. You got the feeling with Skinny Grin they were trying to become more of what they thought a ‘band’ was like, a major label, production from Paul Epsworth (and Scott Walker!) and vocalists. It was good, but inevitably they lost something. Then they lost their bassist and keyboardist, the latter a huge blow who was replaced with a guitarist. The result was a reminder of the shocking brilliance of Acoustic Ladyland on Last Chance Disco, all power and energy but with the amazing technical profiency which shows their jazz background. In many ways this band is so good you wonder how anyone could even attempt their brand of punk jazz or ‘death jazz’ as its become known

5. Manic Street Preachers- Journal for Plague Lovers

‘Oh mummy, what’s a Sex Pistol?’ I’m on record as being a post-Richey Manics fan but listening to this reminded me of Richey’s ability to create great couplets, both ironic and engaging (‘Falcons attack the pigeons in the West Wing at night’). Plus the band seemed engaged and alive in the way they haven’t since, really, The Holy Bible. I guess the key is this sounds much more angry and less insular since the stuff Wire writes. But even amongst all this we got the simply beautiful William’s Last Words, a reminder that sometimes, just sometimes, having someone without the incredibly powerful voice of James Dean Bradfield sing one can have a real impact, even if that person can’t sing.

6. Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective have reached that point of almost universal critical adulation combined with some decent record sales. In many ways it’s easy to see why, there’s an awful lot going on here, some of it very avant-garde in both its conduct and intent. At the same time songs like My Girls and Summertime Clothes are universal, timeless and simple pieces. Hence they’re kind of having their cake and eating it. From the start this album kinds of proves that. In The Flowers is a perfect example, it sucks you in and then bursts forward in an orgy of noise and, dare we say it, happiness. For a band of such supposedly highbrow tastes and goals the one emotion with pervades this album is joy, unbridled joy in fact. Showing that ‘difficult’ music need not be difficult. The Fall Be Kind EP, released in the last shopping week of the year, was another perfect example of this

7. The Field- Yesterday and Today

When I first listened to The Field I got the same feeling I got listening to artists such as Four Tet and Caribou (neé Manitoba) for the first time. The idea that electronic music is automatically ‘cold’ because of non-organic nature is destroyed by such bands. This album’s masterpiece The More That I Do is a perfect example of this, its layered and constructive nature can suck you in and keep you paying attention in the same way any well-crafted verse can. It was in fact hearing that song in a shop which introduced me to The Field and, much like the song itself, there’s always more to discover here

8. Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

After many years of plugging away this was the year Phoenix finally broke through. It turns out what they needed was a couple of top-notch singles, which Lisztomania and 1901 provided here. Lisztomania in particular was a great sign of all Phoenix can do well, yes it does have a comfy apeing of the Beach Boys via ELO, but Air had those similar influences at the same time in Paris, what’s different about Phoenix is that rather than view that brand of American music through French eyes is that instead they take the American music and add French touches, hybridisation rather than assimilation is the order of the day here

9. Jonsí and Alex- Riceboy Sleeps

Beautiful. That’s the best word to describe this album, but the way that beauty demonstrates itself is telling, whereas Jonsí’s day-job band are beautiful partly because of all they contain, this band is beautiful because of the minimal nature of what is on display, ambient whereas Sigur Ros are rock of a particular kind. Happiness is a perfect example of this, ambient may not allow for the greatest amount of experimentation, but when done well, and its done very well here, it can help create the kind of relaxed beauty it intends to do

10. Franz Ferdinand- Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

I feel sorry for Franz Ferdinand, they create that one great song which achieves them fame, they then prove they’re not a one-hit wonder. But this is where the problems begin because that early ‘hit’ still seems to be what they are measured by. Their second album was miles better than their first, but without Take Me Out or Michael no-one really seemed to notice. As a result their ‘change-in-direction’ (which really amounted to ‘added synths’) was going to get a rough reception. A undeservedly tough reception, much like the previous albums this contains what Franz have always done well, singles, Ulysses, No You Girls and Can’t Stop Feeling being perfect examples of this. But there was some surprises here, most notably the extended electronic breakdown of Lucid Dreams and Katherine Kiss Me, a song which does something Franz haven’t done much, delicacy, and does it very well, more of the same yeah?

11. Girls- The Album

Glo-fi is here to stay! This was probably the best of that emerging genre. It takes a brave band to front-end their album with two of the best tracks they’ll ever write (Lust for Life and Laura), luckily they were able to follow it up across the length of an whole album

12. Tyondia Braxton- Central Market

In lieu of a new Battles album this is what we get, and enjoyable it was. You do get the feeling of a very overactive mind at work here creating what seems like classical music, except feed through a contradictions and electronics before hand

13. DOOM- Born Like This

For a man who used to churn out multiple albums in one year an almost 4-year wait between albums can seem like an eternity. Luckily DOOM (with another name change) was no worse for wear, when he bought his A-game (Gazillion Ear (of which the Thom Yorke remix ranks among his best tracks), Ballskin, Cellz) there’s still very few who can compete

14. Brendan Benson- My Familiar Friend

Benson must be one of the few people who can go to Nashville and become less country influenced. Much like his other solo-efforts, power pop is the name of the game here. But obviously being outshone in the Raconteurs has been good for him since he upped his song-construction a notable notch here

15. Peter, Bjorn and John- Living Thing

Well this was unexpected, in come the 808s and Heartbreak style drum machines and out go the previous power-pop sentiments. In reality it was the kind of change more bands should make, whilst you remembered this were the same people behind Young Folks, it tested your memory at times. That being said I could have done with less singing from the non-Peter members

16. Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest

In past years I’ve never really got into Grizzly Bear, this however was the album that caught my attention, caught it fully actually. With songs like Two Weeks and While You Wait for the Others, how could you ignore it?

17. Efterklang and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra- Performing Parades

This is Efterklang followed through to their logical end, where their sub-Sigur Ros sound gets fully flushed out, turns out it works as well as you’d also assumed it would do. The original version of Parades is now pretty much redundant

18. Jarvis Cocker- “Further Complications”

Wow, what happened? Jarvis on this record got (even more) obsessed with sex and self-consciously more ‘rock’. The title track was a magnificent example of this, unlike what Jarvis has recorded before but by now we know he can still craft some very witty verses, which he didn’t let us down on

19. Bill Wells, Annie Whitehead, Stefan Schneider and Barbara Morgenstern- Paper of Pins

Although Bill Wells has been called ‘the Scottish Sun-Ra’ this kind of underplays the delicate nature of his music. This is, surprisingly, best on show when he moves out of his natural environment and combines with these three musicians by taking his place behind the computer as well as the piano. I just wish they’d make a full-blown, 40 minutes plus album someday

20. Hidden Cameras- Origin:Orphan

‘Gay Church Folk Music’, as it is self-described, in some ways that is pretty accurate and in many ways this does suggest the kind of Merritt-lite that label would suggest, but in other ways it is much fuller and more optimistic and playful than anything Merritt would produce, let alone anything you’d hear in a church

21. Bob Dylan- Together Through Life

In all honesty, this was a bit of a disappointment. It quickly takes it’s place amongst Dylan’s third-rate albums (with things like Nashville Skyline, Street Legal and Infidels) like all these albums its categorised by some magnificent songs (Life is Hard, This Dream of You, It’s All Good) but also some real average or bad moments which get hyped beyond belief (My Wife’s Hometown, Jolene, Shake Shake Mama). That being said this was still a solid album and something to be proud of. Dylan also released ‘Christmas in the Heart’ this year, an album so bad that at certain points it had my missing his born-again Christian work, this was not something to be proud of

22. Micachu- Jewellery

It’s inevitable that any music genre, no matter how bad it looks from the outside will have at least one excellent artist. Micachu is that artist for the whole Lily Allen etc. genre. Like them she marvels in the mundane and wants to set it to hybrid forms of music. Unlike them she has more wit and a produced (Matthew Herbert) able to help her do so

23. The Boy Least Likely To- The Law of the Playground

The band for which the word ‘twee’ was invented, here they remind you of why that was the case. But also they show their magnificent ability to combine what seems childlike and innocent in their music with some of the raw emotion and upset of their lyrics

24. Doves- Kingdom of Rust

Any year is better with an album from Doves, who I think are begin to hold a fondness in the heart of many. What was significant here was the attempt to combine what they do as Doves with what they did before as a house band, Jetstream being a perfect example of such an effort, well played

25. A Camp- Colonia

That voice! Although Mark Linkous was no longer involved with the band he wasn’t really that missed as the lyrics, and the way they were sung, more than made up for his absense

26. Jay-Z- The Blueprint 3

In Jay-Z’s ‘second, post-retirement career’ he’s at the same point as Vol. 3/The Dynasty in the first part, albums containing the pinnacle of hip-hop (D.O.A. and Haters two examples) with some awful tracks (Run This Town and Reminder). The first Blueprint followed The Dynasty in career one…

27. Atlas Sound- Logos

Perhaps the picture on the front gave it away, but this album did show someone a bit unsure about themselves, insecure and not as ready to have the light on them as they might suggest at some points. But in a year of AC, Girls and Grizzly Bear, this was another album that showed the balance of pop and avant-garde perfectly, Walkabout with Panda Bear being the perfect example

28. Taken By Trees- East of Eden

Okay so her year may have been determined by her cover of Sweet Child O’Mine appearing in the John Lewis adverts, but still there was a Taken By Trees album this year, one which mined the musical world of Pakistan and did so very well, a wonderful and effective experiment

29. Air- Love 2

Noted for its lack of outside talent this album found Air halfway between Talkie Walkie and 10,000HRZ Legend. Promising, but perhaps needed some flushing out

30. Au Revoir Simone- Still Night, Still Light

Except it wasn’t, it was dark, much darker than the previous effort from this band, but worthwhile because of it, the harmonies complimented such darkness well.

Honourable Mentions

Art Brut- Art Brut Vs. Satan; Badly Drawn Boy- Is There Nothing We Could Do? (so close to top 30); Dangermouse & Sparklehorse- Dark Night of the Soul; Dead Weather- Horehound; The Flaming Lips- Embryonic/Dark Side of the Moon; The Invisible- The Invisible; The Juan Maclean- The Future Will Come; Kings of Convenience- Declaration of Dependence; Madlib- The Beat Konducta Vols. 5&6; Squarepusher- Solo Electric Bass 1

Other notables

The year of reissues- The Beatles Boxset; Neil Young Archives Vol. 1; The Jesus and Mary Chain- The Power of Negative Thinking (B-Sides and Rarities)

I bought all these boxsets this year (in a year when record labels were desperate to make money off the CD before it disappears). The thing which I think amazed me about all of them was the depth of some acts material. I was blown away by early Beatles, which I had previously brushed off. Meanwhile the amount of material in the Archives was impressive in and of itself, when combined with the amount of artistic bases covered, it was mind-blowing

The year of Beck

I guess though I might remember one artist from this year. As part of the renovation of his website Beck started becoming Mr. Productive. We got an acoustic version of Modern Guilt (which showed the beauty of those songs) plus cover versions of albums: The Velvet Underground and Nico, The Songs of Leonard Cohen and Skip Spence’s Oar. Plus the single ‘Harry Partch’. A very impressive year and with his own album and Charlotte Gainsbourg’s album out next year (produced and written by Beck), it might be the start of an impressive run.