Tuesday 8 December 2009

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR, 2009

Everyone else is at it - so why not me?

Great stuff filters from the ether every day, so this was pretty tough...

Really.

Fever Ray (Rabid) and Vince Taylor - Jet Black Leather Machine (Ace) are missing, but I couldn't work out where to put them.
TOP ELEVEN ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
1. The Soundcarriers - Harmonium (Melodic)
2. The Amazing – same (Subliminal Sounds)
3. Benjamin Biolay - La Superbe (Naïve)
4. Shogun Kunitoki - Vinonaamakasio (Fonal Records)
5. Blk Jks - After Robots (Secretly Canadian)
6. Oh No Ono – Eggs (Morningside)
7. Soap & Skin - Lovetune For Vacuum (PIAS Recordings)
8. Papercuts - You Can Have What You Want (Memphis Industries)
9. Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement (Stones Throw)
10. Pierre Lapointe - Sentiments Humains (Audigram)
11. Múm - Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know (Morr Music)

TOP ELEVEN REISSUES OF THE YEAR
1. Various - Where The Action Is (Rhino) - Andrew Sandoval and Alec Palao deserve medals for this.
2. Harmonia & Eno ’76 - Tracks and Traces (Grönland)
3. Various - Clap Your Hands Stamp Your Feet (Excelsior Recordings)
4. 13th Floor Elevators - Sign Of The 3 Eyed Men (Charly) - hugely spotty mastering and the utterly useless reunion live tracks aside, this is what you've needed for 30 years.
5. The Inner Space (i.e. Can) - Agilok & Blubbo (Wah Wah)
6. Various – Saint Etienne Present Songs For The Dog & Duck (Ace)
7. The Master’s Apprentices – same (Aztec Music)
8. Various – Britain Learns To Rock (Fantastic Voyage)
9. Jacques Dutronc – Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi (RPM International) – It’s one of mine, but it’s great, so there.
10. Heldon – same (Wah Wah)
11. Pari Zangeneh – The Series Of Music For Young Adults Iranian Folk Songs (Institute For The Intellectual Development Of Children And Young Adults) – OK, it’s a bootleg, but how else are you going to get a 1976 Iranian album that sounds like the middle-eastern Stereolab?