The 2009 Magazine Albums Of The Year Thread For Posting Lists and Discussion.

I think he has although I forget his verdict as this was back in Jaunary iirc

(even longer ago than January)

Good choice for the Rock-A-Rolla winner. It's a monster album.

AV Club ran a best of the decade albums list recently but I'm pretty sure they haven't run a best of '09 list yet.

xp I like a lot of the albums in there and it's cool that people have picked up on stuff that I thought was completely ignored, like the Gnaw album has been a total 'is it just me' since the spring now

I can never properly articulate what I find sort of... skeezy about Rock-a-Rolla as a mag but I think it's something like, why do their limits of what they cover stop where they do? In theory you can say this about almost every music publication and even in practice they're far from alone but theirs is the niche I understand least

The writing has got a lot better though for def

the verdict was that it was very good fwiw

Zu is def gonna make my top 10.

it will probably make my top 5 but then i haven't actually heard an awful lot of records

I can never properly articulate what I find sort of... skeezy about Rock-a-Rolla as a mag but I think it's something like, why do their limits of what they cover stop where they do? In theory you can say this about almost every music publication and even in practice they're far from alone but theirs is the niche I understand least

Rock-a-Rolla seems to cover some pretty unconnected subgenres and yet doesn't seem at all interested in sketching out the territory between them or having any consistent sensibility as to how it treats them. Like, whenever I've bought it most of the reviews have been metal of some kind or other which hasn't really appealed to me, but the featured articles will be about how THIS harsh noise dude furrows his brow hard so he's cool, and THIS glacial ambient drone dude is OK with us, and so is THIS weirdo pronkoid math-skronk band, but THESE broadly similar acts are not within our remit, and any middle ground between them is, like, a sellout. Kind of frustrating to someone like me, who likes the outliers who get on the cover more than the bulk of the stuff reviewed.

Anyway I am pleased to see Part Chimp, Zu and Pissed Jeans, so who cares, I guess.

I am really missing Plan B magazine because I feel like there is probably music out there I would love but I haven't heard about it and I don't know how to hear about it. Obviously ILX helps with some stuff, but it's hard to get any overarching feel for what's out there when you pretty much have to have heard of a band to bother clicking on their thread.

I am really missing Plan B magazine because I feel like there is probably music out there I would love but I haven't heard about it and I don't know how to hear about it. Obviously ILX helps with some stuff, but it's hard to get any overarching feel for what's out there when you pretty much have to have heard of a band to bother clicking on their thread.

Don't worry yer pretty lil' head, that's what these year-end lists are for. I have found the most interesting ones to be from The Wire, Quietus, Silent Ballet, Brainwashed and Fact Magazine. And if those aren't enough, there should also be some interesting entries in Drowned In Sound, Muzzle of Bees, Cokemachineglow, and of course Pitchfork.

I guess you're right. I always find year-end lists a bit overwhelming, is all. Too much at once. I could certainly stand to check some or all of those publications more often if I wanted to know what was going on, of course.

Maybe I mean "I miss reading about bands who might still play a 150-capacity pub venue for a fiver in my uncool UK hometown", and suspect that year-end lists are not where those acts hang out.

I used to look forward to the MM/Kerrang/NME/RAW albums of the year lists every year and I'd usually save up xmas money n stuff and buy 5 or so of the top albums i liked the look of that i didnt have.
I wonder if kids still do that or if they just d/l the albums on the list.

Yeah, I wish The Wire would hurry up.

Or wait for the spotify playlist of the highlight tracks.

Is what the kids might do now, I mean.

Rock-a-Rolla seems to cover some pretty unconnected subgenres and yet doesn't seem at all interested in sketching out the territory between them or having any consistent sensibility as to how it treats them.

that's because there isn't really a central 'IT' to sketch out these connections or possess a consistent sensibility... and tbh I'm not sure why such a thing would be desirable from a magazine, which is after all a compendium of individual perspectives. plan B's strength was exactly its collective spirit and lack of a definable remit.

I think the thing is that RaR's area of interest seems at once narrow and nebulous - essentially, it's that fuzzy-bordered and fairly vast hinterland between the wire and terrorizer.

anyway, have to say that I'm pretty amazed and delighted to see richard youngs at no.3 in the RaR list.

I didn't even vote for that one - Ultrahits was on my list, maybe my vote got transferred?

from the looks of the write-up, it's a joint result for ultrahits and stellar stream.

Stellar Stream may well be great, I just haven't had anything like long enough with it yet. It'll be next year at least before I can really make a judgement on it.

rateyourshit delivers

#1 album: mpp
#1 ep: fall be kind
#1 single: brothersport
#2 single: my girls

lololol

Yeah, I wish The Wire would hurry up.

― and Susan Gucci as Erica Mane (Whiney G. Weingarten),

I hope someone else types it up this year. My fingers are still sore after typing out the rockarolla.
I'm looking forward to the Terrorizer end of year list, should be some good stuff in that.

Mojo Magazine

via: Swear I'm not Paul: List: Mojo Magazine's Top 50 Albums of the Year

50. Max Richter - Waltz With Bashir OST
49. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt II
48. Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid
47. Bruce Springsteen - Working On a Dream
46. The Black Crowes - Before the Frost...

45. Cate Le Bon - Me Oh My
44. Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics - Inspiration Informaton
43. Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones
42. Doug Paisley - Doug Paisley
41. Mos Def - The Ecstatic

40. Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
39. Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band - Between My Head and the Sky
38. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
37. BLK JKS - After Robots
36. White Denim - Fits

35. Portico Quartet - Isla
34. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
33. Leonard Cohen - Live in London
32. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
31. Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens - What Have You Done, My Brother?

30. Staff Benda Bilili - Tres Tres Fort
29. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
28. Vetiver - Tight Knit
27. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula
26. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

25. Alasdair Roberts - Spoils
24. Vieux Farka Toure - Fondo
23. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
22. The XX - XX
21. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

20. Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
19. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Diamonds
18. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
17. The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage
16. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

15. Kasabian - The West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum
14. Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement
13. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
12. The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
11. The Cribs - Ignore the Ignorant

10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
09. Madness - The Liberty of Nolton Folgate
08. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
07. Florence & the Machine - Lungs
06. Bob Dylan - Together Through Time

05. Tinariwen - Imidiwan: Companions
04. The Horrors - Primary Colours
03. Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter
02. Bill Calahan - Sometimes I Wish I Were An Eagle
01. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Q: for the stats fans: How many albums are both in the Mojo and Uncut lists?

Terrorizer list is good imo, haven't heard quite a bit of it but nothing that made me go 'waht'

(no I'm not posting it)

in the meantime...

Top 1000 metal albums of 2009 on rateyourmusic.com - custom chart
http://bit.ly/hhfrz

only heard one of these albums listed so far.

Will be doing the ilx metal albums of 2009 this year with Glenn again. Hopefully more people will vote this year. Will open up a nominations thread soon. (maybe even today if people want me to)

I'm surprised I didn't know Cornershop put out an album this year (not that I like them, but I would think I would have heard about it and registered the fact)

chris martin

bloke from keane
bloke from snow patrol

oops wrong thread

djmartian get your hugeassed metal nominations list ready and i'll open the metal poll nominations thread with your list

i will compile a selective list at the weekend, you can start it before

What one's have I got up my sleeve here.

Do we want to see Q's again?

The Fly magazine.

1/ Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
2/ The Big Pink - A Brief History Of Love
3/ Florence + The Machine - Lungs
4/ YYYs - It's Blitz!
5/ The Horrors - Primary Colours
6/ Bombay Bicycle Club - I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose
7/ The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant
8/ The Temper Trap - Conditions
9/ ...Trail Of Dead - The Century Of Self
10/ Future Of The Left - Travels With Myself And Another
11/ White Lies - To Lose My Life
12/ The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead
13/ Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
14/ The XX - XX
15/ Japandroids - Post-Nothing
16/ Joy Formidable - A Balloon Called Moaning
17/ Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
18/ The Maccabees - Wall Of Arms
19/ Muse - The Resistance
20/ Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone!
21/ Swimming - The Fire-Flow Trade
22/ Manics - Journal For Plague Lovers
23/ Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
24/ Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream
25/ Passion Pit - Manners
26/ Doves - Kingdom Of Rust
27/ Animal Collective - MPP
28/ The Invisible - s/t
29/ Howling Bells - Radio Wars
30/ Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - s/t
31/ The Virgins - The Virgins
32/ Kasabian - West Ryder etc
33/ Dizzee Rascal - Tongue 'N Cheek
34/ Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand
35/ Blue Roses - Blue Roses
36/ Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
37/ Noah & The Whale - First Day Of Spring
38/ Julian Plenti - ...is Skyscraper
39/ Jamie T - Kings & Queens
40/ Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
41/ The Boxer Rebellion - Union
42/ PJ Harver & John Parrish - A Woman, A Man Walked By
43/ Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
44/ Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
45/ La Roux - La Roux
46/ HEALTH - Get Color
47/ Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy
48/ Golden Silvers - True Romance
49/ Girls - Album
50/ Chairlift - Does It Inspire You

Rough Trades EOY list

1 - XX, The - XX
2 - Low Anthem, The - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
3 - Horrors, The - Primary Colours
4 - Fever Ray - Fever Ray
5 - Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
6 - Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
7 - Leisure Society, The - The Sleeper
8 - Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
9 - Forest Fire - Survival
10 - Very Best, The - Warm Heart Of Africa
11 - Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
12 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
13 - Atlas Sound - Logos
14 - Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
15 - Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
16 - White Denim - Fits
17 - Jónsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps
18 - Terry Lynn - Kingstonlogic 2.0
19 - Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
20 - Mountain Goats, The - The Life Of The World To Come
21 - Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
22 - Portico Quartet - Isla
23 - Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do
24 - Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
25 - Florence + The Machine - Lungs
26 - Girls - Album
27 - Alela Diane - To Be Still
28 - Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
29 - Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
30 - Taken By Trees - East Of Eden
31 - Mos Def - The Ecstatic
32 - Shitty Limits, The - Beware The Limits
33 - Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones
34 - Fanfarlo - Reservoir
35 - Lindstrøm & Christabelle - Real Life Is Not Cool
36 - Kid Congo And The Pink Monkey Birds - Dracula Boots
37 - Big Pink, The - A Brief History Of Love
38 - Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
39 - A Place To Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
40 - Martyn - Great Lenghts
41 - Young Republic, The - Balletesque
42 - Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter
43 - Cate Le bon - Me Oh My
44 - Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
45 - Mummers, The - Tale To Tell
46 - Smith Westerns, The - The Smith Westerns
47 - Ganglians - Monster Head Room
48 - Micachu And The Shapes - Jewellery
49 - Irrepressibles, The - From the circus to the sea
50 - Telepathe - Dance Mother
51 - Decemberists, The - The Hazards Of Love
52 - Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
53 - Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
54 - Vivian Girls, The - Everything Goes Wrong
55 - Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
56 - She Keeps Bees - Nests
57 - Soulsavers - Broken
58 - Acorn, The - Glory Hope Mountain
59 - Japandroids - Post-Nothing
60 - Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Q: for the stats fans: How many albums are both in the Mojo and Uncut lists?

25 albums, or 50%.

A consensus emerges - there are seven albums which appear on the Uncut, Mojo, Fly and Rough Trade lists:

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
The Horrors - Primary Colours
The XX - The XX
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

Correction - eight albums:

Florence & the Machine - Lungs

Correction - NINE albums:

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers

(I'm not very good at this.)

at this rate 'The Future Will Come' will be my first 'favourite album of year to not get on ANY mag eoy list'

From Norway

Nettavisen (a Norwegian online news portal)

http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3172289350&frmid=10&msgid=1017909&cmd=show

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
2. Doves - Kingdom of Rust
3. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
4. Rihanna - Rated R
5. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
6. Narum - Samma hen du fær
7. Nirvana - Live at Reading
8. Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand
9. La Roux - La Roux
10. El Caco - Heat
11. Leonard Cohen - Live in London
12. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
13. Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3
14. Tommy Tee - Studio Time
15. Dinosaur Jr - Farm
16. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
17. 50 Cent - Before I Self Destruct
18. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
19. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
20. Jonas Fjeld & Chatham County Line - Brother of Song
21. Jaa9 & OnklP - Sellout!
22. Florence and the Machines - Lungs
23. Drake - So Far So Gone
24. Eminem - Relapse
25. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

Planet Sound (UK teletext service)

so far
http://bit.ly/51PHeE

11) Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast Cornershop
12) It's Blitz Yeah Yeah Yeahs
13) Hazards Of Love The Decemberists
14) Epcot Starfields Windmill
15) We Ain't Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain Liam Frost
16) Two Dancers Wild Beasts
17) Junior Royksopp
18) My Maudlin Career Camera Obscura
19) Empire Of The Sun Empire Of The Sun 20) Until The Earth Begins To Part Broken Records

21) Monsters Of Folk Monsters Of Folk
22) Forget The Night Ahead The Twilight Sad
23) Hundreds Of Lions Erin McKeown
24) Origin Orphan The Hidden Cameras
25) Everything Is New Jack Penate

26) New Worlds Charlotte Hatherley
27) The Liberty Of Norton Folgate Madness
28) Bitte Orca Dirty Projectors
29) Kingdom Of Rust Doves
30) Turning The Mind Maps

31) Tarot Sport F*** Buttons
32) Don't Stop Annie
33) Beginning Middle End The B Of The Bang
34) Fantasies Metric
35) Yeah So Slow Club
36) Travels With Myself And Another Future Of The Left
37) Room 7½ Dot Allison
38) Wilco (The Album) Wilco
39) To The City From The Sea Beat The Radar
40) Gorilla Manor Local Natives

41) Truelove's Gutter Richard Hawley
42) Lonely Road Liam McKahey And The Bodies
43) Hands Little Boots
44) The Real Feel Spiral Stairs
45) The Last Laugh Joker's Daughter

46) Which Bitch? The View
47) Once Kid Harpoon
48) The Duckworth Lewis Method The Duckworth Lewis Method
49) The New Pop Sound Of DON'T MOVE!
50) I'm OK Gable

Planet Sound still exists?! huh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Sound
It was announced on the 17th of July 2009 that Planet Sound is to end in January 2010

wow. lots of stuff on the planet sound list I've never even heard of...

NOMINATIONS THREAD for ILX METAL ALBUMS Of 2009 (Closes December 20)

various lists from Cargo Records Distribution UK

Cargo Staff Picks 2009
http://cargorecords.blogspot.com/2009/11/cargo-staff-picks-2009.html

updated today:

rateyourmusic.com - top 1000 albums of 2009
http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/2009

still at number 1: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

i bet it updates every day

Radio K Top 77 albums of '09

http://radiok.cce.umn.edu/top77/

seems like less local stuff than usual on the radio k list

Xgau (w/ P&J predictions):

http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Rock-Roll/Resuscitations-and-Business-Plans-The-Best-Albums-of-2009/ba-p/2032

Forty-nine years younger than Nelson at 27, Nellie McKay reached back half a century to reinvoke the spunk, optimism, and beauty of Hollywood nice gal Doris Day, dumbfounding her contemporaries in the process

You can't dumbfound people who don't care at all.

Wow, he really loves that late '08 Baseball Project cd. I've been meaning to check that out but haven't paid much attention to Steve Wynn since his early '80s Dream Syndicate days.

Mostly a good, interesting read.

If I can be nitpicky, am I the only one intrigued by Christgau describing the the xx as "electropoppers" (a term which he then uses to describe Lady Gaga, lest we have any doubts about his meaning)? Is it because of the band's background? Is it because they're from the UK? Is all eighties revivalism swept into this category? Are the rhythms on "Basic Space" really such a shock to the rock mindset?

Animal Collective are (these days) more "electropop" than the xx when you get down to it, but the term would never be applied to them. I don't think Christgau means the term as a compliment or an insult, but I'm curious as to what Christgau does mean by it.

OTOH I love Christgau on the Brad Paisley album: http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Rock-Roll/Paisley-s-Progress/ba-p/1695;jsessionid=DF668A4729C68A6D83677028A764B67C

At least he didn't call them "techno."

Hold up-- The xx are 80s revivalists?

I think so. They sound something like The Cure to me.

Animal Collective are (these days) more "electropop" than the xx when you get down to it, but the term would never be applied to them. I don't think Christgau means the term as a compliment or an insult, but I'm curious as to what Christgau does mean by it.

I think Christgau means "electropop" in an '80s sense of the word, while even if Animal Collective may now use programming alot, and added a bit more pop, he and many think of them more as rock.

What is the 80s sense of the word?

I would have thought any sense of the word would suggest, like, primarily electronic arrangements, but maybe not?

New wave, synth pop, new romantic...

it just amuses him to bracket the two together since they have programmed drums and synth sounds, esp. since he's riffing on being an old fart.

more concerned about the critically esteemed hip hop of the year consisting of "Raekwon, Mos Def, and possibly Jay-Z", did no one review say the quik/kurupt?

don't know Serengeti that he mentions.

"three recent NYU grads" - is that a joke?

At least the B&N site looks decent-- the presentation of the Consumer Guide on MSN is appalling.

Quik & Kurpt haven't appeared in EOY lists for shit (except maybe p4k and a couple others). Sad thing.

am I the only one intrigued by Christgau describing the the xx as "electropoppers"

You know I can totally hear the xx in songs like Yazoo's 'Nobody's Diary', but it does involve erasing the synth tracks. There is a bit of a New Order thing too I guess.

i kinda like his list!

Yeah, I d/l'ed The Panic Is On, still have to play--never heard of it before. His lists always have some reissue or compilation I haven't heard of and end up loving.

Our list (Porcys, Poland) http://porcys.com/Others.aspx?id=247

Jane Dark, top 25 songs

http://janedark.com/2010/01/top_25_songs_of_2009_in_a_sing.html

Do we have a PAZZ AND JOP 2009 thread yet?

imo jane dark is terrible

The Best Southern Soul 2009. I wish Pitchfork would give this guy a column

http://www.southernsoulrnb.com/corner2010.cfm

Still wanna hear that Ben Frost album.

― The bugger in the short sleeves (NickB), Tuesday, December 8, 2009 9:12 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark

searched "ben frost," he hasn't got his own thread, but man I am getting to this album this afternoon and it is WAY cool.

speaking of Ben Frost:

Ben Frost is one of six young talents to have been hand-picked “for a year of collaboration and inspiration” in the international Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

The 30-year-old composer, producer and musician has been chosen as the scheme’s “music protégé for 2010-2011″. He will be mentored by none other than Brian Eno, former Roxy Music member, ambient pioneer, multidisciplinary artist and producer for the likes of Talking Heads, Jon Hassell and U2.

Melbourne-hailing, Reykjavik-based Frost received much acclaim for his 2009 album By The Throat, released via his own Bedroom Community label. Over the years he has collaborated with the likes of Tim Hecker, Nico Muhly and Bjork; he is currently working on the score for multi-player online game World of Darkness and “a reworking of Tarkovsky’s Solaris“. More info on the latter here. [thanks, Enter]

The Arts Initiative has six disciplines: dance, film, literature, music, theatre and visual arts. Each protégés receives their own individually tailored programme, with time provided across the year for unique personal access to, and creative dialogue with, their assigned mentor. Furthermore, each protégé receives a grant of $25,000 USD each and is eligible for a further $25,000 towards the cost of creating a project following their mentoring year.

The other protégés and mentors for 2010-2011 are:

Literature: American poet Tracy K. Smith; mentored by Hans Magnus Enzensberger (Germany)
Visual arts: South African artist Nicholas Hlobo; mentored by Anish Kapoor (United Kingdom)
Theatre: Lebanese actor, writer and aspiring director Maya Zbib; mentored by Peter Sellars (United States)
Film: Annemarie Jacir, a Palestinian film director and poet living in Jordan; mentored by Zhang Yimou (China)