Well My 2009 is contained in these 10 albums.
Indeed it is a fairly unoriginal top ten ( as the Inrocks and Chronic'art will prove), and most men will go tssssss what a fu*king girl, how typical. But quite honestly, if an album hasn't made me cry, laugh,punch or snog someone, then it just ain't worth being here.
1. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE- Merriweather Post Pavillon
Released in January 2009, it announced the beginning of a year, of renewal, forgiveness, maturity and mutual effort. Girls is the sort of song that reminds me why I was born a girl and why we were made to be sang to, and why i'ts just marvellous to have a pair of boobs and interpret music in a way that no man ever could.
2. DIRTY PROJECTORS- Bitte Orca
Everytime I listen to this album riding the underground it takes me to the top of Norwegian mountains, and has the knack of making me feel insanely sexy in a " au natural"way attired in a grubby swedish woolly jumper. And no matter how many times I will hear " Anne-Sophie you look so unsexy in that fat moth eaten jumper", if I am listening to Dirty Projectors than you can plainly bugger off, because I'll be strutting the strut all the way down the street.. OK!
3- ATLAS SOUND- Logos
A collegue from work was listening to this in october, and as I came down the stairs I litterally threatened to burn his mogwai cd collection ( he is a hardcore fan) if he didn't tell me who was singing ( oh you know just the guy from DEERHUNTER).
I really would have liked to put this first just for Walkabout, unfortunatly I do not like all the songs equally so I forced myself to place it third. Walkabout is a real work of art. The concert was stunning as Bradford Cox was haloed by lights that just made every thing seem as if magic had decided to make a sudden come back into this dismal and bleak period of uncertainty.
Tears really did roll down my face as half of the concert gazed in amazement at a show that to me was the biggest concert of 2009. An album to listen to whilst dancing around with the one you love in underwear around the flat, or under the covers where you play tie the knot with his feet.
4- PHOENIX- Wolfgang Amadeus
Simply because Phoenix reminds me of some very good times, and because they sing under eiffel towers ( cf. Blogothèque sessions) without looking corny.
5- DEAD MANS BONES- Dead Man's Bones
Ghouls, ghosts and a kids choir. If you have a minimum of a heart or childhood spirit, if a pack of kids dressed up in their mums old sheets, belting out " My Bodies a Zombie for you" and an inclination for men with breaches is the kind of "assemblage" that makes you go awwwwwww, ,then you know why this album deserves to be in 5 place.
Amazingly composed this album is an ode to the type of love that can cripple a soul " I won't go whistling by your grave". Beautiful, difficult, and heart wrenching coateded with pink iceing. A sweet nightmare delivered by a pack of starry eyed kids, proud to be singing next to Ryan Gossling. Keep your eyes open because this will probabally go internet viral before long.
6- JONSI AND ALEX- Rice Boy Sleeps
Released in July 2009, This album, composed by Jonsi ( Sigur Ros) and his boyfriend Alex, makes every hair stand on end. It's probabally the saddest album I have listened to in a few years, and do not expect it to mend a broken heart. Filled with echoeing choirs, reminding us of the wonders of scandanvian shyness and magnificence that western europeans like us will never begin to understand, it delivers tracks that remind us of the cinammen hot chocolate our mother used to make when we scraped our knees, and messing around with grubby fingers in the compost heap in the back garden.
Many people will not understand my choice in placing this album 6th but its beauty to me is completly and utterly undeniable, and on a snowy day like this, there is nothing, nicer than walking through parks with this playing in my ears.
7- WILD BEASTS- Two Dancers
Their concert was fantastic ( although if I recall there was a pesky man blocking my view who smelt like a wet dog and was playing it arty with a lomo), they are witty, sassy, modest and have made an album stuffed with addictive hits. "All the Kings Men" is one of the catchiest songs that 2009 has had to deliver. It reminds me of a song that you could find on the now hits 1998 compilation. Your parents would buy it for you, but in the end there was only one song out of the 40 others that you would play repeatedly on your cd player.
Well this song is exactly the same.
8- GRIZZLY BEAR- Veckatimist
Because you gotta love the geek album, with their shiny skin, and songs about falling hopelessly in love in between two games of world of warcraft and Nintendo Wii. And preppy is very this season, I could have one of those hanging off my arm.
9- THE DODOS- Time To Die
Because we all like a bit of néo- folk even if indie hardcorers will scoff in their checkered lumber jack shirts (*scoff scoff scoff Fleet Foxes, it could be on a swiffer advert now scoff scoff scoff*).
10- FUCK BUTTONS- Tarot Spirit
Just because the guy plays a massive drum and looks hot doing it, because the Bristolian duo do drone and electro like no other. Because playing parrot sounds over a voice ressembling Children Of Bodom is amazing. And because mixing violence with a relaxation tape from the nature store Maison du Monde, well no one else can do it quite like them.
PS; VERY IMPORTANT, I swear with my little pinkie that I haven't seen the Pitch fork rating ....... yet
