a reflection on the music of 2009 for ilx

i feel like in 2009 i was mostly listening to old music - i was working for the first time in a long time and had just gotten my first ipod. the new stuff i was listening to was mostly prog (some of which might even be up imago's alley - the cheer-accident is pretty much my absolute fave of theirs as well). here's a partial list of 2009 releases i feel like i was listening to in or around 2009:

tortoise, rubik, plush, mission of burma, miriodor, magma, litmus, knifeworld, joker's daughter, hypnotic brass ensemble, him, fucked up, curse ov dialect, circulatory system, cheer-accident, charlotte gainsbourg, cave, broadway project, bibio, andromeda mega express orchestra, anamanaguchi, alamaailman vasarat, "kind of bloop"

i don't think i even heard any of the gapdy records until at least 2011, although i might have heard "merriwether post pavilion" at the time and dismissed it. then again i might have dismissed it without hearing it. i can't remember. most of my music listening back then was on rym, where i was still regularly writing bad reviews.

blaqkout was my other album of the year iirc

this was the last year before hip-hop started getting Alex Da Kid'd out. there seemed to be a genuine dearth of new rappers and most of the best hip-hop seemed to be made by oldheads. DJ Quik, obviously, Raekwon, Cam'ron dropped a pretty good album that year, so did Camp Lo, Diamond District, DOOm, Mos Def. Gucci and Freddie were the main exceptions, younger dudes who doing their thing and doing it well. It was the year before Wiz/Cudi/Drake really made their mark on the mainstream.

Anyway, some more music I liked a lot at the time that I still like: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Phoenix, Wild Beasts, AnCo, Neko Case, Bat For Lashes, No Ceilings, Isis, The State vs. Radric Davis, Dinosaur Jr., Camera Obscura, Black Milk, Bill Callahan

I'm sure there are more

that's what 18/19-y.o. me was into--rap and rock and nothin' else.

xxp - Here's the 2009 voting thread:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~~~FINALLY - 2009 ILX Albums 'n' Trax Poll voting thread ahoy~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (VOTING CLOSED: lol Whiney)

And the 'post your ballots' one:

They Belong To You: Your ILM 2009 Track of the Year Ballots

tell me what you know about my votes: your ILM 2009 Albums of the Year ballots

I remember not liking a ton of new music in 2009. Taylor Swift's Fearless (late 2008, but year of impact 2009) was a big new record I listened to a lot. Haven't given old Swifty a spin in a while though.

Lists of nominations:

Albums

Tracks

My 2009 albums:

YOB - The Great Cessation
The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World To Come
Bloody Panda- Summon
Mayyors - Deads
SubArachnoid Space - Eight Bells
Ancestors - Of Sound Mind
Sula Bassana - The Night
Zu - Carboniferous
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 - Goodnight Oslo
Wiliie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel - Willie and the Wheel

I'd bump the Mayors to the top and switch Willie and Sula Bassana, but I still like and listen to all these records.

I forgot the nominations thread:

!~!~!~!~!~BOOM BOOM ALBUMS N TRAX POLL 2009: NOMINATIONS due Dec 31~!~!~!~!~!

the Dan Deacon album is still amazing

And now everything in one handy post:

2009 IN REVIEW:

2009 albums worth listening to
Favorite songs of 2009
2009 end-of-the year lists

ILM 2009 EOY POLL:

Nominations thread

Lists of nominations:
Albums
Tracks

Voting thread

Results threads:
Albums
Tracks

Final results:
Albums
Tracks

Ballots:
Albums
Tracks

I recall there were some extremely bad T.I. singles during this era

I must have been focused on school that year. It's mostly a blank for me music-wise.

What I ranked then and still love and listen to regularly:

Shackleton - 3 EPs
Marked Men - Ghosts
Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans
Lindstrom and Prins Thomas - II

What I wouldn't mind hearing right now but hasn't really stuck:

Emptyset - S/T
Niobe - Blackbird's Echo
Subway - II
Juan Maclean - Future will Come
Reigning Sound - Love and Curses
Serpentcult - Weight of Light

Doesn't seem as great now as it did back then:

Future of the Left - Travels with Myself and Another (my #1)
Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall (residual Blood Visions love)
Thee Oh Sees - Help
Distance - Repercussions
Death - For the Whole World to See

Actively do not like at this point:

Baroness - Blue Record

I was still holding The xx at arms length back then but fully embrace them now.

OTM that "Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer" is the definitive song of that moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkPy4yq7EJo

this song is still like... miraculous

describes a complex and ambiguous romantic situation, beautifully layered musically gradually morphing from textural bells into a more traditional r&b ensemble into horn arrangements which burst from the surface of the song like mountains in a relief map. and it was a hit

or was at least inescapable on r&b stations

Loved it then, still do: The xx, La Roux, Röyksopp, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gui Boratto, The Bird and the Bee, Annie, Horrors

Liked it then, less so now: Phoenix, Lily Allen, Girls

Hadn't heard then, love now: Discovery-LP, Fuck Buttons-Tarot Sport, Jon Hopkins-Insides

Have still never heard: Electric Red, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear

Can't find any lists I made at the time, but I know my favorite albums were Dananananaykroyd's Hey Everyone! and the Fever Ray s/t. I'll still vouch for the former, though I barely ever listen to it, while I increasingly think of the latter as a classic. My #1 single was "Daniel" by Bat for Lashes.

2009 was also the birth of chillwave, as coined by Carles to refer to Neon Indian, Washed Out, and Memory Tapes, all of whom debuted in 2008-09.

people moaned about GAPDYX but fuck me did the singles poll have a lot of Lady Gaga in it

had a look at the 2009 p4k eoy list today and discovered Warm Heart of Africa by the Very Best which i'd never heard or heard of before and have really enjoyed today

my favourite underappreciated 2009 indie albums are Why There Are Mountains by Cymbals Eat Guitars and Ashes Grammar by A Sunny Day In Glasgow which are both classics to me. i hadn't thought about jj in a while but jj no 2 still rules so much

This was the list I pulled together at the time...

1. Flaming Lips - Embryonic
2. Baroness - Blue Record
3. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
4. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
5. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
6. Oneida - Rated O
7. The xx - xx
8. Converge - Axe to Fall
9. Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
10. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
11. Kylesa - Static Tensions
12. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
13. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
14. Wooden Shjips - Dos
15. Isis - Wavering Radiant
16. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
17. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
18. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
19. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
20. Cobalt - Gin

For the most part, still fairly happy with the list. I'd probably bump Sunn O)) up to #2 now and push the Mastodon down a little bit. I'd probably swap out Kylesa for Eletrik Red (which I didn't hear until 2010). Definitely guilty of contributing to GAPDY love.

I listened to Rival Consoles on a recommendation the other day and thought, 'it's like Fuck Buttons never happened'

Obviously this year was a massive uk funky year for me and any time I think of the period 2008 - 2010 I will think of that music first. I think I voted for Marcus Nasty's official Rinse mix out of loyalty but I didn't listen to it much compared to all the radio sets (the best of which in 2009 was probably a DJ Mak-10 set with MC Shantie on Deja Vu FM (https://www.mixcloud.com/Classic_UK_Funky_Sets/dj-mak-10-mc-shantie-deja-vu-fm-26-march-2009/).

After that, definitely The-Dream/Electrik Red etc. is what I remember 2009 for.

I didn't keep any record of what I voted for, but looking at ILM's top 50 the albums I would have voted for and still listen to the most are Fall Out Boy and Meanderthals (which alongside the first Smith & Mudd album from 2007 is one of my two main balearic "background music" go-to records). DJ Sprinkles as well but I think of that as a 2008 record.

I think I was also really into the DJ Quik/Kurupt, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Animal Collective, Paramore, XX, Mungolian Jet Set, Fever Ray, Gucci Mane, Juan Maclean, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Dam-Funk albums.

Pretty sure I either didn't hear or underrated the Maxwell album until later. The other big album in that category would be Me'shell Ndgeocello's 'Devil's Halo' which is often my favourite of hers.

But looking at Matt DC's list upthread reminds me of how much more tracks-focused I was back then.

My favorite that year was Miranda Lambert's Revolution

Oh yeah and Miranda! Although it's not my favourite of her albums.

My favorite was and remains the Maxwell record.

Forgot that Dam-Funk album was 2009, that'd be on my updated list too - another one I didn't discover until the following year.

my ballots were

albums:
the-dream - love vs. money *
taylor swift - fearless
fever ray - fever ray*
junior boys - begone dull care
electrik red - how to be a lady vol. 1* (10 years old!)
DJ quik and kurupt - blaqkout*
OPN - rifts
the yeah yeah yeahs - it's blitz!
baroness - the blue album
dam-funk - toeachizown

tracks:

the-dream - fancy
darkstar - aidy's girl is a computer**
DJ quik & kurupt - 9x's outta 10
guido - way U make me feel**
hot toddy - I need love**
sade - soldier of love
joker & ginz - purple city**
joy orbison - hyph mngo**
kelly clarkson - my life would suck without you***
lady gaga - bad romance***

*still rate & listen to often
**have not listened to this since 2009
***waht

hah didn't realize that OPN's Rifts and Toeachizown came out the same year, those both struck me as spiritual cousins

It's depressing that so many artists who were a big deal 2009 are still a big deal in 2019. Or maybe I just mean Drake.

joker & ginz - purple city**

this is a good song

In my memory 2009 was a year I was really enthused about new music and there's a lot of stuff I still like, album-wise that would include:

Electrik Red
The-Dream
DJ Sprinkles
Flaming Lips
Animal Collective
Fever Ray
Gucci Mane (Burrprint)
Baroness
Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
Sunn O)))

The post-dubstep sound was the other thing I really took to at that time - the people mentioning 'Aidy's Girl Is a Computer' OTM, also 'Hyph Mngo' and the singles Joker put out that year.

I'm listening to Hey Playa now and it still bangs.

the whole album holds up pretty well, do you know, whatcha wan do, fuck y'all, 9x

JUELZ SEZ RELAPSE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl15PlIXHIk

This was during the era when I paid attention to everything Gucci Mane was doing, really focused in.

My top 2009 albums in no particular order. I didn't make a list at the time so I'm going on my recollection:
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
The Bads - So Alive
Dimmer - Degrees Of Existence
Githead - Landing
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 - Goodnight Oslo
Don McGlashan - Marvellous Year
New Model Army - Today Is A Good Day
Wheat Pool - Hauntario
Astrid Williamson - Here Come The Vikings
Dead Guitars - Flags

Probably could've swapped a few with Twilight Sad, Joe Pernice, Wild Beasts, Puressence and the whole family loved They Might Be Giants - Here Come Science.

God but it's hardly a 'classic year' for music is it? is there such a thing any more? I know we've had threads about this kind of thing, where people cite 1967, 1977, 1979, 1987, 1994 etc as iconic years for one reason or another like a new style bursting into the scene or a glut of fantastic albums... ILM even had a nice 'I love 1998' moment a wee while back..
But I don't really think of many years post-2005 as being particularly remarkable either way. they all just feel like a jumble of good/bad/okay music that aren't really marked by a pivotal event

I think we're just old.

oh yeah, that

cool thread deej. found my complete best-of doc for '09, I had italicized the ones that were top ten:

Rio en Medio, Frontier
Zombi, Spirit Animal
Laura Barrett, Victory Garden
Tombs, Winter Hours
Junior Boys, Begone Dull Care
Buried Inside, Spoils of Failure
Blackout Beach, Skin of Evil
Cattle Decapitation, The Harvest Floor
Matteah Baim, Laughing Boy
Blut Aus Nord, Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars
Defeatist, Sharp Blade Sinks Deep Into Dull Mind
Tiny Vipers, Life on Earth
Smog, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
James Blackshaw, The Glass Bead Game
Umberto, From the Grave
Reigning Sound, Love and Curses
Jon Hassel, Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street
Mark Lockheart, In Deep
Mgla, Groza
Eric Copeland, Alien in a Garbage Dump
Polvo, In Prism
Gwynbliedd, Nostalgia
Bloody Panda, Summon
Zola Jesus, The Spoils
Irritate, Ten Stabs of Demented Violence

I'd still enjoy any of these, most likely (though I don't remember Rio en Media AT ALL -- maybe something ambient? I'll look it up); what's interesting to me are the two that point toward what'll interest me most in 2019 -- Mark Lockheart (jazz), Eric Copeland (weirdo "noise" though not super noisy), Jon Hassell ("jazz" but also ambient, which has become a staple food for me). I also still listen mainly to metal, and will wholly rep for the Cattle Decapitation & Irritate records on this list, and the Buried Inside record and the Defeatist one too -- but none of those are really where I'm at metal-wise any more, I've gotten way more into oddball power metal & super chopsy stuff & of course the OSDM revivalist stuff that I feel weird repping but so much of it is GOOD.

Smog, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

oh forgot about this one, which is weird bc i stole my band's name from it. but maybe not so weird bc it seems to exist outside of time. the best callahan record imo

memoria vetusta ii too! my god

the best bill callahan record is always whichever one I'm spending a bunch of downtime with

2009 is the definition of a classic year for music. 2007, too

I feel like 2013 was when folk/primitive/drone/psych all coalesced into a scene or at least a POV that defines one side of this decade.

Jon Hassel, Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street

Was just listening to some of this last night. It sounds really good.

some albums/tracks that I loved back then that still sound great to me now:

DJ Sprinkles – Midtown 120 Blues
Sun Araw – Heavy Deeds
Jim O'Rourke – The Visitor
Oneohtrix Point Never – Rifts
Ben Frost – By the Throat
Shackleton – 3 EPS
The XX – xx
Moritz von Oswald Trio – Vertical Ascent
Emeralds – What Happened
King Midas Sound – Waiting For You

Joy Orbison – Hyph Mngo
Rustie – Bad Science
Darkstar – Aidy's Girl's a Computer
Cooly G – Love Dub
Untold – Gonna Work Out Fine
Joker – Digidesign
Joker and Ginz – Purple City
The XX – Crystallised
Burial & Four Tet – Moth / Wolf Cub
Girls – Lust for Life
The-Dream – Rockin' That Shit

oh yeah, that Jim O'Rourke album is great. i liked it in 2009 but came to really appreciate it more over time.

imo, 2009 is easily the worst year for music of the 21st century so far.

I went to last.fm to see what was my 2009 list, which I'm pretty sure I posted there, but apparently they removed this feature and deleted the old lists?

Good shout on the King Midas Sound - I still listen to that pretty regularly.

I liked (and reviewed) The Visitor at the time, but don't think I've listened to it in five years.