The best albums of 2009
The best albums of 2009
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Rage Against The Machine's single Killing In The Name has won the hotly-contested race for Christmas number one. |  |
Tuesday, 22, Dec 2009 09:32
The ones-to-watch polls at the end of 2009 predicted the year of the girl and while GaGa and La Roux have made their mark in both maddening and thrilling fashion, both had their thunder stolen by Beyonce's release of her second classic single of the century, including, as Kanye West memorably lectured, "one of the best videos of all time".
And in comparison with last year's 'best of' list, there's a little more oestrogen to this year's countdown, even if the overriding theme of 2009's latest and greatest seems to be ambition and innovation.
While including just the two Mercury nominees, Lewis Bazley finds no room for big-quiffed electro queens, Irish corporate rockers, a mouthy mockney songstress or a foursome of maturing Sheffield rockers in his best of the year.
From 10 to 1...
10
Antony and the Johnsons: The Crying Light
A former Mercury winner then, with a four-years-in-the-making return that managed to disappoint - featuring less lachrymose soul-bearing than I Am A Bird Now - but also surprise and move. Intimate yet expansive, here the great Antony Hegarty finds parallels between the fragility of the environment and his own psyche while the spinetingling cry of "hold that man I love so much!" on paternal tribute Aeon is one of the most touching lines ever recorded.
Click here to read the inthenews.co.uk review
9
The XX - The XX
Much-loved in the blogosphere, this scarily youthful London quartet - currently trio after the departure of guitarist Baria Quereshi - have enjoyed a whirlwind year, their garage-recorded album of dreamy, sedated indie-pop landing quietly in August before an iTunes single of the week made them the next big things. And with beats this languid, harmonies this sultry and an eeriness that recalls the Pixies and the Cocteau Twins, it's not hard to see why.
8
Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest
Harmonies, critical acclaim, much loved among their peers? So far, so Fleet Foxes. Where this Brooklyn four differ from their Washington state counterparts is their strangeness, managing to evoke the Beach Boys as they channel Kid A-era Radiohead. Three albums in, one of Jay-Z's favourite bands and enough sonic richness to suggest an increasingly ethereal future.
7
Mastodon: Crack the Skye
Heralded as a breath of fresh air to a stale metal scene when their second album Leviathan was named album of the year by both Kerrang! and Metal Hammer, the Atlanta fourpiece are developing with frightening pace, gaining greater acclaim and commercial success as they near their creative peak. With stunning musicianship from every member, epic ambition and progressive concepts to give the tumbling riffs some cerebral substance, they're the driving force in metal.
Click here to read the inthenews.co.uk review
6
Jay-Z: The Blueprint III
Retired? Yeah, right. A year after proving just how out of touch the Gallaghers are by changing the world in 90 Glastonbury minutes, the elder statesman of rap closes a trilogy started with 2001 classic The Blueprint by combining the past and present as only he can. Collaborations with new hopes Kid Cudi and Drake are undoubtedly weak but when Shawn Carter can still define a city with a song (Empire State of Mind), create one of the tracks of the year by reteaming with the good girl gone bad (Run This Town) or dictate the direction of hip-hop with freestyled flow (Death of Autotune), you can't deny he's still a business, man.
Click here to read the inthenews.co.uk review
5
P.O.S.: Never Better
Because, as Scroobius Pip rightly pointed out, "guns, bitches and bling were never part of the four elements, and never will be". This third album from Doomtree founder member Stefan Alexander, intermittently known as 'Piece of S**t, 'Promise of Stress', Product of Society', etc, proves that away from the tired avarice and chauvinism of modern rap exists an intelligent, original sect of hip-hop artists, content to combine the medium with punk, jazz and prog. As the organ/D 'n' B surge of Purexed enters, you realise this is a life-enhancing album.
Click here to read the inthenews.co.uk review
4
Bat For Lashes: Two Suns
Get over the embarrassment of its accompanying press release - probably one of the most cringeworthy ever written in its discussion of Natasha Khan's alter ego Pearl, "a destructive, self-absorbed, blonde, femme fatale of a persona who acts as a direct foil to Khan's more mystical, desert-born spiritual self" -and Two Suns emerges as a dazzlingly ambitious and utterly entrancing second album, with the Brighton fairy queen taking in Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac while collaborating with Scott Walker and Yeasayer.
Click here to read the inthenews.co.uk review
Daniel - Bat For Lashes
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3
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
Tipped for the top by... well, me, in last year's 'ones to watch' feature, the Maryland four-piece have proved one of the most startling, awe-inspiring acts of the year, with a blissful collision of acid house, alt-folk and 60s pop on this eighth album.
Click here to read the inthenews.co.uk review
2
Mumford and Sons: Sigh No More
It would have been so easy for Marcus Mumford and his cohorts to produce a carbon copy of the melancholic folk they produced while performing as Laura Marling's backing band. But like peers Noah and the Whale - though reaching the same exhilarating heights an album earlier - this fourpiece have taken a step away from the scene and instead combined the sadness and rustic feel of Fairport Convention with the heart-on-sleeve honesty of Damien Rice and Conor Oberst. Strings, horns and choirs burst from the speakers to send seemingly sleepy ditties into life and as the four unite in full voice to cry lines of such sadness that you wonder what Mumford's been through in his 22 years ("And my head told my heart, let love grow, but my heart told my head, this time, no"), one thrilling fact abides; there's even better to come from this quartet.
Click here to read the inthenews.co.uk review
1
Florence and the Machine: Lungs
Speech Debelle's an undeniably talented and bold MC but the shock that followed her Mercury win - followed by the grudging acceptance that Florence didn't really need the publicity anyway - showed just how highly regarded the debut album from the leggy siren is. And quite right too - her vocal power is earthshaking and unparalled while Paul Epworth's intricate production layers beauty and glitter amid Florence's towering wails. Unlike her 'sound of 2009' sisters La Roux and Little Boots, Florence can't be pinned down to one genre and when you can count an album's hair-raising moments on two hands, it's clear one of the most promising artists of her generation has emerged.
Click here to read the inthenews.co.uk review