Not Many Experts

Condensing an entire year of music that you’ve listened to is an absolutely impossible task. And yet, it’s so tempting to gaze at the year that hasn’t even gone and attempt to squash it all into one post. At the same time, end of year lists are exceptionally popular, and yet all anyone seems to do is complain about them. “What the hell? I was expecting your top 50 to be exactly the same as mine!”. Which, blatantly, is a ridiculous way to look at things. Personally, I think that end of year lists are more than a romantic glance back at a year, they’re simply the best way to introduce people to music that they might have missed. I guess that it’s also a great way to stimulate debate about albums, and an interesting way to think about the ways that we find music. For example, I had something of an epiphany back in 2007 when everyone’s end of year lists made me realise that I had better start using blogs to find music and the NME only for mopping up spilt coffee.

Most of all, though, we’re all guilty of using end of year lists as a sort of test. How many of my favourite albums are there? All I can ask is that you take into account that I am not saying that these are not the best albums of 2009. They are my favourite albums of 2009, nothing more. I’m sure you’ll disagree, and I’d love to hear your thoughts below. However, at the end of the day, I couldn’t allow myself to be anything less than 100% honest. These lists aren’t the place for posturing or flexing your musical muscles; the only question I asked myself when ordering these incredible albums was which one I liked more. At the end of the day, the whole compiling of end of year lists process is very time consuming and complicated, but it really shouldn’t be anything more complex than a question of which albums you liked the most. And that is all I intended this to be, so please let me hear your thoughts and which albums I missed that would be on your list, but all I can say is that I am absolutely and completely correct, because these are 1/2 of my 27 favourite albums of 2009: (read the quite epic second half here)

#27 Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young

The substitution of Strokesian guitar for 80s synths produced one of the most effortlessly and shamelessly pop records of the year.

Julian Casablancas – Left And Right In The Dark

#26 Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

More accessible, but balanced with incredible instrumentation, “Bitte Orca” amounted to one of Dirty Projectors finest, earnt huge amounts of critical praise, and won over a new legion of fans.

Dirty Projectors – Cannibal Resource

#25 Maximo Park – Quicken The Heart

A sore thumb in a sea of more obvious choices, but “Quicken The Heart” genuinely demonstrated a slightly more mature Maximo Park who are more than a lingering hangover from the heady days of 2005’s indie-rock, without losing the youthful vigour that made us fall for them in the first place.

Maximo Park – Let’s Get Clinical

#24 The Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love

Quite simply, hype deliverers. A staggering accomplishment for a debut album.

The Big Pink – Velvet

#23 Bat For Lashes – Two Suns

Again nominated for the coveted Mercury Prize, with “Two Suns” Natasha Khan continued to establish herself as one of the most talented British singer-songwriters.

Bat For Lashes – Daniel

#22 The Invisible – The Invisible

Looking back, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that The Invisible’s unassuming beats were so epicly under-appreciated by the masses, but they were vindicated by their nomination for the Mercury Music Prize, and their breathless live shows confirm that we can expect much more from the three piece.

The Invisible – London Girl

#21 Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue

Confusing in parts and beautiful others, we just wouldn’t expect anything else from a Warp Records artist. Probably conceived on an impressive array of Class C drugs, but where Bibio really excelled was his marriage of new electronic arrangements and traditional acoustics, which made “Ambivalence Avenue” completely peerless.

Bibio – Fire Ant

#20 White Denim – Fits

A more focused and concentrated effort than “Workout Holiday”, White Denim’s sophomore LP was a well rounded masterpiece of brains and brawn.

White Denim – Regina Holding Hands

#19 Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Laddish? Uncultured? Not at all. Kasabian’s steps into psychadelica and committal to more progressive arrangements brilliantly refuted all of their stereotypes, whilst retaining a level of immediate appeal.

Kasabian – Underdog

#18 The Maccabees – Wall Of Arms

It would have been easy to trot out “Colour Me In Part II”, but the band struck out into a darker and larger sound, and produced an album that was near impossible not to love.

The Maccabees – One Hand Holding

#17 Passion Pit – Manners

Seemingly unfazed by the eyes of the assembled media, Passion Pit released another tremendous debut that contained a succession of brilliant singles that extraordinarily failed to break them into the big time in the UK.

Passion Pit – Sleepyhead

#16 Japandroids – Post-Nothing

Garage rock. Big deal? Generally not, but Japandroids’ anthems of teenage laziness and hedonism really couldn’t have been sound-tracked by anything else so poignantly. Completely deserving of the critical acclaimed heaped onto them.

Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire

#15 Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream

“Walking On A Dream” was always going to be one of the best songs of the year, but I genuinely didn’t think that Empire Of The Sun had such a complete album in them. The songs mix effortlessly into each other, all tied together by an obvious musical genius.

Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream

#14 The Cribs – Ignore The Ignorant

2009 was the year that The Cribs received both their first top 10 single and heavy radio support from Radio 2, but they also gained a certain Mr Marr and released another characteristically honest and punchy album. Pretty good year, then?

The Cribs – We Share The Same Skies

Check back tomorrow for #13 – #1! Let me know which albums aren’t in my top #27 to #14 that you’re expecting to see in the top 13.

Although… I have to let you know that these albums didn’t make it; they are the honourable mentions for 2009. The ones with an mp3 attached came the closest – they were initially on my list, but I later decided that I just didn’t love them as much as all the rest.

Honourable mentions: HEALTH, Volcano Choir, Atlas Sound, Bombay Bicycle Club, Florence & The Machine, Wave Machines, Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Virgins, Black Lips, Franz Ferdinand, Yuksek, Doves, White Rabbits, Jack Penate, Gui Boratto, Moderat.