Top 5 Albums of 2009

[blade]

Here are my five best albums of 2009. Please post your Top Five lists and it would be good if you could give a bit of a description about each one. It would also be good if you could include a picture of the album cover.

No.1 SAD DAY FOR PUPPETS – “Unknown Colors”
Swirling guitars and glacial vocals in this debut from dreamy Swedish popsters.




No.2 HOWLING BELLS – “Radio Wars”
No description necessary.




No.3 THE JOY FORMIDABLE – “A Balloon Called Moaning”
How this three-man band (well, two men and one woman) can produce this much sound is mind-boggling. All sorts of guitar effects from Howling Bells’ Welsh tour mates.




No.4 LENE MARLIN – “Twist The Truth”
More acoustic loveliness from this angelic Norwegian songstress.




No.5 SCREAMING MIMI – “Leap Into My Fervent Arms”
Imagine Blondie crossed with the B52s and Cyndi Lauper and you’ll get the drift of this zany Sheffield five-piece.

[mattchew]

Don't have much to contribute here myself, aside from Radio Wars.
More into old school rap and 60 and 70's music. ;D
I'll check out some of your suggestions though.

[chrome3d]

From your list I might check Sad Day for puppets first. I already know what to expect.

The Church released 2 albums and Howling Bells released 1 so my list starts from #4:



4. Doves: Kingdom of Rust.
The ethereal guitars are my main attraction here and their blend of anthemic, poppy, dancey and atmospherical. There really is nobody else doing this kind of dreamy stuff better than them.



5. Mew: No More Stories...
From the finest of Denmark. This is actually mainstream stadium stuff in nordic countries. More mature and melodic than their previous albums. Some people claim it was too weird and artistic but it was exactly what I was looking for!



6. The Mummers: Tale to Tell
What a lovely journey in the magic forest with a big band in the background! Like a soundtrack to Alice in Wonderland. Björk, Emilia Torrini etc. might be the clues what to look for here.



7. Asobi Seksu: Hush
Many dream pop bands don´t know how to create a tune but the leading duo of Asobi Seksu really can. Their carefully constructed glacial mini-symphonies made me to listen them again and again.



8. Wild Beasts: Two Dancers
I was a bit suspectful over this at first but the simple and strong melodies and the theatrical singing have recently won me over big time. This is currently on my heavy rotation more than anything else.

I had couple of others still but I try to limit them to these.

[blade]

Hi chrome3d - just checked out some of your top 8 on Myspace. Don't be put off by my comments because music is such a personal thing!

Doves have been around for about 15 years and they have just passed me by. I've heard of Wild Beasts but never heard their music and don't want to hear it again! Sorry, but I don't like them at all!

I know Asobi Seksu and I think they're pretty good. I'd never heard of the The Mummers and Mew. The Mummers are a bit too Bjork-ish for me but I rather liked Mew, despite them having a male singer!

[chrome3d]

I never expect anybody to fully comprehend my decisions so I´m rarely put off. I can see Wild Beasts being a strange one and it was like that for me too. Something pulled me back to it even though I thought at first that it was total bs. After being quite familiar with Antony & The Johnsons (the Crying Light is a good 2009 album too) and the rather odd singing style there I soon became friends with it. They truly have a style of their own, something I always like.

In fact I like Bells too because they sound exactly like themselves. There really is nobody else out there doing the same kind of stuff. I don´t seek out similar kind of music than Howling Bells, I just want something that can´t be mistaken for being someone else, style is a secondary issue. Although adjectives like psychedelic, narcoleptic, dreamy etc. seem to pop out more than often.

I have tried out Sad Day for Puppets a couple of times but haven´t yet gotten in to it. There is certainly potential though.

You don´t yet have Spotify? Almost everything is there, full albums too. After I got that I think I have visited MySpace only couple of times.

[riseandfall]

my favourite albums from 2009 were (in no particular order):

1.Placebo - Battle For The Sun


One of my all time favourite bands, I thought overall it was a much stronger effort than 2005's Meds. I have great memories of seeing them live last year. One in particular was a warm up show in Shepherd's Bush before the album was out with a fan who travelled down from Ireland to come with me.

2.Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!


Adore this album. I fell out of love with the YYYs after Show Your Bones but this along with the ISIS EP rekindled my love of this band. I saw them live for the first time over two consecutive nights last year and was just blown away by Karen O - again another special record for me.

3. Pet Shop Boys - Yes


This was a new band for me last year thanks to my bf. He got us tickets for a show at London's O2 and I'd only heard their most famous songs and did not consider myself a fan at all. I'd heard this new album and thought it was really good but the shows confirmed me as a fan. They are amazing - such a fantastic back catalogue. Great pop album. Ended up seeing them again at Christmas at the O2 again (and I'm on the DVD lol!)

4. PJ Harvey and John Parish - A Woman A Man Walked By


I feel I shouldn't put this on here in a way as I barely listen to it compared to the others mentioned so far but "Black Hearted Love" is such an amazing song in particular I played it heaps last year and the record is very very good!

5. Howling Bells - Radio Wars


Not much to say over what I have already said about this already to be honest.

6. Skunk Anansie - Smashes and Trashes


I know its a greatest hits collection but it was a favourite of mine from last year and it does have 3 new songs on it. I was so unbelievably excited when I heard one of my favourite bands had reformed and I finally got to see them live as a fourpiece (just incredible on stage). Anyway its a great retrospective and the new tracks recorded stand well againt the classic older material

[blade]

Good to hear from you again riseandfall. You've been away too long.

Interesting that you have selected a number of 'older' artists. I remember listening to Skunk Anansie back in the mid/late 90s and I couldn't quite work out whether I liked them or not.

I never got into the Yeah Yeah Yeahs before (despite them having a female singer). Somebody burned me a copy of "It's Blitz" - the first two tracks were great but the rest of it did little for me.

[Deleted]

I'm late in the game, but here's my list anyway (which is a bit different from the list I would have compiled at the end of 2009):

1. The Church - Untitled #23



2. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns



3. Wye Oak - The Knot



Imagine a big gap here, then in no particular order...

Howling Bells - Radio Wars
Steve Kilbey & Martin Kennedy present... - Unseen Music Unheard Words
The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Engineers - Three Fact Fader
M. Ward - Hold Time
The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Duckworth Lewis Method

I didn't mention several EPs by The Church here, which they released 2009 as well, because I don't consider them "albums", though they are outstanding but would have made my list ruled by more or less 1 band only

[blade]

Welcome back timetunnel - you've been away too long!

I'm amazed that you have discovered The Duckworth Lewis Method. Not that I'm a fan, but I am a big cricket fan, and the Duckworth Lewis Method is a complex mathematical rule to decide the winner of rain-affected games - I bet you didn't know that! Duckworth and Lewis (the real ones) are both university professors of mathematics.

The titles of their songs (that's the musicians, not the professors) also reference cricket:

Meeting Mr Miandad
Gentleman and Players
The Nightwatchman
The Sweet Spot

are all cricketing expressions (Javed Miandad was a famous Pakistani cricket player).

Your other choices:- I know The Church and Bat For Lashes well, but I've never heard of Wye Oak before, and I'm just listening to them now on Myspace. I think I could get to really like them.

[Deleted]

You won your bet! I've absolutely no idea how cricket works and didn't know that Duckworth and Lewis have something to do with Math. One never stops learning! Actually I've seen cricket being played here on the university's lawns several times while I was doing some jogging nearby, but I couldn't find out any hint about the rules. At least the people seemed to enjoy themselves

I discoverd TDLW on The Church forum's best of list and was interested in them immediately when I realized that Thomas Walsh (from Pugwash) was involved.

As for Wye Oak: they are from Baltimore, US, and the two songs "Siamese" and "For Prayer" on their current MySpace profile are good examples of their songwriting and soundscapes on "The Knot". Their debut album is good, but the successor "The Knot" is mind-blowing.

[chrome3d]

Duckworth Lewis Method is really excellent. The Divine Comedy has been a big artist for me and DLM is more than good alternative in between real TDC albums.

[lespino]

Far from 09 but that was such a remarkable year for great releases if you ask me
Now for my two cents...

Radio Wars- Howling Bells
It's Blitz- YYY
Manners- Passion Pit
As Day Follows Night- Sarah Blasko
Wonder- Lisa Mitchell
Guns Don't Kill People, Lazers Do- Major Lazer
Merriweather Post Pavilion- Animal Collective
Rombarama- The Bloody Beetroots
Veckatimest- Grizzly Bear
Lungs- Florence
(can't remember the title)- Kasabian
Swoon- Silversun Pickups
It's Frightening- White Rabbits
Wolfgang Amadeus- Phoenix
La Roux- La Roux
Fantasies- Metric
Conditions- Temper Trap

[tealovertoma]

Yeah West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was pretty damn good. Awesome list in general, I love Florence (her new songs are even more awesome!), Phoenix, Metric, etc

Can't believe no one mentioned Humbug though! I don't remember all the releases from '09 but I think it was my favourite.

[incoasterble]

Oh I love WRPLA by Kasabian - not only a fantastic album but named after a defunct hospital about ten miles up the road from me... Had this beautiful striking architecture but they knocked it down and it's a housing estate now there's some wonderful stories about the place and these parties they had though.
Metric's Fantasies was cool, yeah I'll definately have to check out summa those other bands on lespino's list there.
I know The Temper Trap supported Howling Bells once based in Australia based on an old tour poster that's on my wall.
Oh & I rather liked Humbug - songs like Crying Lightning and My Propeller really stuck with me.