Journal

Top 10:

1)Amorphis - Skyforger

2)The Red Chord - Fed Through the Teeth Machine

3)Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue

4)Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

5)John Frusciante - The Empyrean

6)Nemo - Barbares

7)Ch'aska - Pururauca

8)Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know

9)Callisto - Providence

10)Megadeth - Endgame


Other releases that could be in this list:

Pure Reason Revolution - Amor Vincit Omnia
Umphrey's McGee - Mantis
Wolf- Ravenous
Isis - Wavering Radiant

Worth mentioning:

Cattle Decapitation - The Harvest Floor
Mastodon - Crack The Skye
If These Trees Could Talk - Above the Earth, Below the Sky
Scale The Summit - Carving Desert Canyons


Top songs:

Alice in Chains - A Looking in View
Amorphis - Sky is Mine
Be'lakor - Venator
Callisto - Eastern Era
Cattle Decapitation - Tooth Enamel & Concrete
Ex Deo - Romulus
Heaven & Hell - Bible Black
Irepress - Diaspora
Isis - Ghost Key
John Frusciante - Unreachable
Karnivool - Simple Boy
Long Distance Calling - The Nearing Grave
Mastodon - Divinations
Megadeth - This Day We Fight
Pure Reason Revolution - Victorious Cupid
Scale The Summit - Glacial Planet
The Red Chord - Hour of Rats
Umphrey's McGee - Mantis
Wolf - Speed On

Disappointments:

Behemoth - Evangelion
Devin Townsend - Ki
Devin Townsend - Addicted
Ex Deo - Romulus
Gory Blister - Graveyard of Angels
Katatonia - Night Is the New Day
Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Pestilence - Resurrection Macabre
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition
Skyfire - Esoteric
The Dear Hunter - Act III: Life and Death

THE FUCKING HORROOOOORRRRR!!!!!

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
BeardFish - Destined Solitaire
Devin Townsend - Addicted
Ensoph - Rex Mundi X-Ile
Nightrage - Wearing a Martyr's Crown
Obscura - Cosmogenesis
Pestilence - Resurrection Macabre
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
The Agonist - Lullabies for the Dormant Mind
The Tyrant Lizard Kings - Six Shooter
Yngwie Malmsteen - Angels of Love

10 najczęściej słuchanych zespołów w 2009 roku
1. Myslovitz (3,849)
2. Radiohead (2,453)
3.Arctic Monkeys (1,875)
4. The Beatles (1,712)
5.Kombajn Do Zbierania Kur Po Wioskach (1,417)
6. Hey (1,303)
7. Muse( 1,233)
8. Cool Kids of Death (1,011)
9. Animal Collective (842)
10. Sigur Rós (816)


10 najczęściej słuchanych płyt w 2009 roku

1. Kombajn Do Zbierania Kur Po Wioskach - Lewa strona literki M (808)
2. Radiohead - OK Computer (750)
3. Myslovitz -Happiness Is Easy (727)
4. Myslovitz - Z rozmyslan przy sniadaniu (718)
5. Myslovitz- Korova Milky Bar (621)
6. Radiohead - In Rainbows (610)
7. Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion (601)
8. Hey - Milosc! Uwaga! Ratunku! Pomocy! (562)
9. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations (550)
10. Arctic Monkeys - Beneath the Boardwalk (546)

10 najczęściej słuchanych piosenek w 2009 roku

1.Björk –All Is Full of Love (399)
2.The Beatles –Help! (306)
3. Radiohead – All I Need (246)
4. Band from TV– You Can't Always Get What You Want (233)
5 .The Beatles – She Loves You(224)
6. Plumb –Cut(217)
7. Snow Patrol– You Could Be Happy (215)
8. Muse –Supermassive Black Hole (205)
9. Duffy – Stepping Stone(177)
10. Myslovitz– W deszczu maleńkich żółtych kwiatów (174)

5 największych odkryć 2009 roku

1. Stina Nordenstam
2. Animal Collective
3. Kings of Convenience
4.Beirut
5. John Frusciante/ Tori Amos

ARTISTS:
01 Pearl Jam 2,715
02 Nine Inch Nails 2,700
03 David Bowie 1,458
04 The Smashing Pumpkins 1,414
05 Barenaked Ladies 1,301
06 Porcupine Tree 1,102
07 R.E.M. 974
08 Bob Dylan 877
09 The Beatles 833
10 Tool 736
11 Faith No More 537
12 A Perfect Circle 528
13 Prince 462
14 Coheed and Cambria 398
15 Red Hot Chili Peppers 359
16 Led Zeppelin 337
17 The Doors 318
18 Johnny Cash 277
19 Opeth 248
20 Meshuggah 214
21 Tomahawk 194
22 Mr. Bungle 169
23 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 147
24 Slipknot 93
25 Incubus 82
25 Killswitch Engage 82
27 Alice in Chains 76
27 John Frusciante 76
29 Alison Krauss & Union Station 55
30 Alanis Morissette 44
31 Yoko Kanno 34
32 Mogwai 30
32 Puscifer 30
34 Jimi Hendrix 23
35 Metallica 19
35 Van Halen 19
37 Hirasawa Susumu 16
38 Paramore 13
38 System of a Down 13
38 The Beach Boys 13
41 Bif Naked 12
41 Stereophonics 12
43 Joe Satriani 10
44 Steve Vai 7
45 Sonata Arctica 6
46 Pink Floyd 5
46 Steven Wilson 5
48 Fantômas 3
49 Lenny Kravitz 2

ALBUMS:
1 Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral 723
2 Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile 418
3 The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness 361
4 Pearl Jam – No Code 359
5 David Bowie – Hunky Dory 352
6 Porcupine Tree – In Absentia 337
7 Barenaked Ladies – Maroon 321
8 Pearl Jam – Riot Act 315
9 Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero 297
10 A Perfect Circle – Thirteenth Step 286
11 Pearl Jam – Binaural 284
12 Pearl Jam – Yield 273
13 Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth 271
14 Faith No More – Angel Dust 265
15 Pearl Jam – Lost Dogs 264
16 David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars 260
16 David Bowie – Aladdin Sane 260
18 Tool – Lateralus 255
19 Pearl Jam – Vitalogy 250
20 Porcupine Tree – The Incident 249
21 Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam 244
22 Prince – Purple Rain 233
23 Nine Inch Nails – The Slip 221
24 Pearl Jam – Backspacer 218
25 Tool – Ænima 205
26 Faith No More – King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime 196
27 Tomahawk – Tomahawk 194
28 R.E.M. – Document 192
29 The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream 191
30 R.E.M. – Automatic for the People 184
31 Barenaked Ladies – Born on a Pirate Ship 180
32 Pearl Jam – Ten 175
33 The Doors – Strange Days 172
34 Johnny Cash – Walking the Line: The Legendary Sun Recordings 169
35 Pearl Jam – Vs. 166
36 Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home 165
36 David Bowie – Low 165
36 Barenaked Ladies – Stunt 165
39 The Beatles – The White Album 158
40 Barenaked Ladies – Barenaked Ladies Are Men 157
41 Nine Inch Nails – And All That Could Have Been 154
42 A Perfect Circle – Mer De Noms 147
42 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Safe as Milk 147
44 Prince – The Hits/The B-Sides 142
45 Mr. Bungle – California 140
46 Porcupine Tree – Stupid Dream 136
46 David Bowie – Diamond Dogs 136
48 Barenaked Ladies – Gordon 135
49 Porcupine Tree – Deadwing 133
49 Meshuggah – obZen 133
51 The Smashing Pumpkins – Adore 126
51 The Beatles – Rubber Soul 126
53 Barenaked Ladies – Everything to Everyone 124
54 The Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist 123
54 Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet 123
56 The Doors – The Doors 122
57 Bob Dylan – Infidels 120
58 Bob Dylan – Blonde On Blonde 113
59 R.E.M. – Monster 106
60 Tool – 10,000 Days 104
61 The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour 99
62 Coheed and Cambria – Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness 97
63 The Beatles – Abbey Road 96
63 Tool – Undertow 96
65 Barenaked Ladies – Maybe You Should Drive 95
66 Nine Inch Nails – Broken 94
67 Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine 93
67 Coheed and Cambria – No World For Tomorrow 93
67 A Perfect Circle – eMOTIVe 93
70 The Smashing Pumpkins – American Gothic 92
71 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium 91
72 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication 89
72 Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks 89
74 The Carter Family – At San Quentin 88
74 Coheed and Cambria – In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 88
76 The Smashing Pumpkins – Machina II: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music 86
77 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik 84
78 The Smashing Pumpkins – Gish 83
79 The Beatles – Revolver 82
80 Meshuggah – Catch Thirtythree 81
81 David Bowie – Space Oddity 77
82 Tool – Opiate 76
82 Opeth – Damnation 76
82 Faith No More – The Real Thing 76
85 R.E.M. – Murmur 73
86 Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV 72
86 Bob Dylan – Hard Rain 72
88 Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile (disc 1: Left) 69
89 The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 68
90 Barenaked Ladies – Barenaked Ladies Are Me 65
91 Pearl Jam – Live At The Gorge [2006.07.23] 63
92 Porcupine Tree – Insignificance 62
92 R.E.M. – Green 62
92 Nine Inch Nails – And All That Could Have Been (disc 1: Live) 62
95 R.E.M. – Out of Time 60
96 The Smashing Pumpkins – Pisces Iscariot 59
97 Coheed and Cambria – The Second Stage Turbine Blade 58
98 R.E.M. – Up 56
99 Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile (disc 2: Right) 55
99 R.E.M. – Lifes Rich Pageant 55
101 Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II 54
102 Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin III 52
102 R.E.M. – Reckoning 52
102 Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral (disc 2) 52
105 Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy 51
106 David Bowie – Reality 49
107 R.E.M. – Fables Of The Reconstruction 48
108 Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti 45
108 Pearl Jam – Ten (Legacy Edition) 45
110 Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill 44
110 The Beatles – The Beatles (White Album) [Disc 1] 44
112 The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness: Dawn To Dusk 43
112 Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited 43
112 The Smashing Pumpkins – Machina/The Machines of God 43
112 Porcupine Tree – Signify 43
116 Alice in Chains – Jar of Flies 42
117 Slipknot – Slipknot 40
118 David Bowie – "Heroes" 39
118 Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin 39
118 Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan 39
118 Prince – Diamonds and Pearls 39
122 Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage 37
123 Nine Inch Nails – Lost Highway [Explicit] 36
123 David Bowie – The Man Who Sold The World 36
123 David Bowie – 1.Outside 36
123 Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV 36
123 Nine Inch Nails – Further Down the Spiral 36
123 Bob Dylan – Desire 36
129 Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Uplift Mofo Party Plan 35
129 Opeth – Still Life 35
131 Alice in Chains – Dirt 34
131 Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness 34
131 The Beatles – Let It Be 34
131 The Beatles – Help! 34
131 Slipknot – Iowa 34
131 Yoko Kanno – Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex O.S.T 1 34
137 Bob Dylan – Time Out of Mind 33
137 R.E.M. – Accelerate 33
139 Opeth – Watershed 32
140 Mogwai – The Hawk is Howling 30
140 The Beatles – Please Please Me 30
140 Puscifer – V is for Vagina 30
140 Bob Dylan – Oh Mercy 30
140 John Frusciante – To Record Only Water For Ten Days 30
145 Mr. Bungle – Mr. Bungle 29
146 The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness: Twilight To Starlight 28
146 John Frusciante – DC EP 28
146 The Beatles – Beatles for Sale 28
146 Nine Inch Nails – Things Falling Apart 28
146 R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi 28
151 Pearl Jam – Lost Dogs (disc 2) 27
151 Alison Krauss & Union Station – So Long So Wrong 27
151 Alison Krauss & Union Station – So Long, So Wrong 27
151 Barenaked Ladies – Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits: 1991-2001 27
151 Bob Dylan – John Wesley Harding 27
156 David Bowie – Heathen 24
156 Opeth – Deliverance 24
156 The Doors – L.A. Woman 24
156 Bob Dylan – The basement tapes 24
160 The Smashing Pumpkins – Machina I: The Machines of God 23
160 Red Hot Chili Peppers – One Hot Minute 23
162 Prince – 1999 22
162 Opeth – My Arms, Your Hearse 22
162 Coheed & Cambria – Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness 22
165 Barenaked Ladies – Rock Spectacle 21
165 Opeth – Blackwater Park 21
165 Incubus – S.C.I.E.N.C.E. 21
168 Johnny Cash – At San Quentin 20
168 Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin' 20
168 Bob Dylan – Nashville Skyline 20
168 Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream 20
172 Pearl Jam – Live At The Gorge [2006.07.22] 19
172 Porcupine Tree – Nil Recurring 19
172 Red Hot Chili Peppers – By the Way 19
172 Slipknot – All Hope Is Gone 19
176 The Beatles – With the Beatles 18
176 John Frusciante – Shadows Collide With People 18
176 Killswitch Engage – Alive or Just Breathing 18
176 R.E.M. – Reveal 18
176 Incubus – Morning View 18
176 Prince – Batman 18
182 Killswitch Engage – As Daylight Dies 17
182 Incubus – Light Grenades 17
182 Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland 17
182 Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin [Disc 2] 17
186 Incubus – A Crow Left of the Murder... 16
186 Opeth – Orchid 16
188 Led Zeppelin – Presence 15
188 David Bowie – Let's Dance 15
188 Smashing Pumpkins – Adore 15
191 Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness: Twilight To Starlight 14
191 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium: Jupiter [Disc 1] 14
191 Smashing Pumpkins – Pisces Iscariot 14
194 Opeth – Ghost Reveries 13
194 The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds 13
194 Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan 13
194 System of a Down – System of a Down 13
194 Coheed and Cambria – Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 2: No World For Tomorrow 13
194 The Beatles – The Beatles (White Album) [Disc 2] 13
200 Bif Naked – I Bificus 12
200 Paramore – RIOT! 12
200 Stereophonics – Word Gets Around 12
200 Bob Dylan – "Love and Theft" 12
200 Susumu Hirasawa – Paprika Soundtrack 12
200 Bob Dylan – MTV Unplugged 12
206 Barenaked Ladies – Rock Spectacle (Live) 11
206 Led Zeppelin – Mothership [Disc 1] 11
206 Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist 11
206 Pearl Jam – Live At The Gorge [2005.09.01] (Disc 3) 11
210 The Smashing Pumpkins – Rarities & B-Sides 10
210 Joe Satriani – Surfing With the Alien 10
210 Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache 10
210 Nine Inch Nails – Quake 10
210 Van Halen – Van Halen II 10
210 Incubus – Fungus Amongus 10
210 Smashing Pumpkins – Gish 10
210 Coheed & Cambria – The Second Stage Turbine Blade [Bonus Tracks] 10
218 Bob Dylan; Hamid Hamilton Camp; The True Brethren – John Wesley Harding 9
218 Opeth – Morningrise 9
218 The Smashing Pumpkins – Teargarden by Kaleidyscope 9
218 Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin [Disc 3] 9
218 David Bowie – Earthling 9
218 Van Halen – 1984 9
224 Prince – Dirty Mind 8
224 Metallica – Master of Puppets 8
224 Coheed & Cambria – In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 8
224 Coheed & Cambria – Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness 8
224 Metallica – Ride The Lightning 8
229 The Smashing Pumpkins – That's The Way [My Love Is] 7
229 Steve Vai – Alien Love Secrets 7
231 Nine Inch Nails – NINJA 2009 Tour Sampler 6
231 Sonata Arctica – Reckoning Night 6
231 Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced? 6
231 R.E.M. – Around the Sun 6
235 Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here 5
235 Steven Wilson – Insurgentes 5
237 Susumu Hirasawa – Planet Roll Call 4
237 Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness: Dawn To Dusk 4
237 Smashing Pumpkins – That's The Way [My Love Is] 4
237 Smashing Pumpkins – American Gothic 4
241 Fantômas – Delìrium Còrdia 3
241 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Mother's Milk 3
241 Nine Inch Nails – Fixed 3
241 Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin [Disc 1] 3
241 Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin [Disc 4] 3
246 Metallica – ...And Justice For All 2
246 Led Zeppelin – Mothership 2
246 Pearl Jam – Live At The Gorge [2005.09.01] 2
246 Lenny Kravitz – Baptism 2
246 The Beatles – A Hard Day's Night 2
251 Metallica – Black Album 1
251 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Single 1
251 The Beatles – 1967-1970 1
251 Paramore – Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (International Version) 1
251 Alison Krauss – So Long So Wrong 1
251 Coheed & Cambria – Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 2: No World For Tomorrow 1
251 R.E.M. – In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 1

*According to me.

If i've realised one thing this year it's that i'm a little too obsessed with music. Not necessarily a bad thing, but i know it's got to simmer down at some point. This year takes the cake for sure…, as i think this stupidly long list will prove.

Decided not to include a section of albums i didn't like… theres already too many to mention of the good stuff, so what's the point.

In alphabetical order...

THE STANDOUTS (My absolute favourite albums of 2009)

Artist: Alexisonfire
Album: Old Crows/Young Cardinals

Alexisonfire are the quintessential hipster emo/screamo scene kid band-of-choice, and as such i have generally avoided them for years. Was given the album and didn't really give it much play, but the heavy rotation of the 'Young Cardinals' single on the radio eventually hooked me and made me listen again, and this is a great album. I think its funny that the scene kids will have to share their now mainstream band with noobs like me. Ah, i remember when noobs started listening to my bands….






Artist: Alice in Chains
Album: Black Gives Way To Blue

Alice in Chains and Smashing Pumpkins were my two fave grunge-era bands, so i was more than willing to accept this no matter how average… but it turned out to be exceptionally good, which pushes it up into my standouts. The new singer doesn't add much apart from sounding like Layne Staley, which doesn't interfere with the band's original sound, so they haven't tarnished the band's name in my books, which is always my greatest fear with comebacks like these.






Artist: The Avett Brothers
Album: I And Love And You

These are the kind of albums i love finding… alt-country gems like this that get overlooked. This album isn't overly serious, consists of beautiful folky melodies and the second half almost breaks into party mode with a few indie rock moments, which for me, gives it a bit of an edge over other alt-country releases this year.






Artist: Baroness
Album: Blue Record

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than Red Album. If they improve again over this, holy shit.






Artist: Black Math Horseman
Album: Wyllt

Melodic stoner/doom with female vocals…. yes please. Apart from that, its also really, really, really good.






Artist: Converge
Album: Axe To Fall

Hardcore+Punk+Metal… sounds like the usual recipe for disaster, but this is so far above average its not even funny. The final two tracks on this album show they could probably make any genre of music and still be exceptional.






Artist: Dark Castle
Album: Spirited Migration

Awesome female metal vocals for this exceptional sludge metal album, a winner with me.






Artist: Dinosaur Jr.
Album: Farm

Aware of the slew of highly rated reviews for this, i decided to check it out. Definitely deserves the acclaim. Fantastic guitar record.






Artist: dredg
Album: The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion

My first impressions of this were a mixed bag. On one hand there were some amazing songs with amazing lyrics, like 'Pariah', or 'I Don't Know' - and then there were some others that sound straight up top 40 punk-pop, particularly 'Information' that really put me off. But it was one of those albums i just had to keep listening to, now i really love the whole thing.






Artist: Ha Ha Tonka
Album: Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South

So damn good.






Artist: The Handsome Family
Album: Honey Moon

Aw mah gaaaawd yeh.






Artist: Kylesa
Album: Static Tensions

Fuck me, this is fucking killer. One of my favourite albums ever!






Artist: Little Birdy
Album: Confetti

I've got a soft spot for Little Birdy, they write great pop songs and they've thankfully returned to their original country inspired sound, and mixed in a bit of white R&B for good measure. There's not a bad song on the album.






Artist: Mastodon
Album: Crack The Skye

One of my favourite bands. Crack The Skye is definitely their most cohesive, focussed album, resulting in less tracks and longer songs. I don't think i could choose a favourite album of theirs, they're all different and excellent.






Artist: Metric
Album: Fantasies

These songs really stood out to me this year, amongst all the other indie pop… fun songs.






Artist: Neko Case
Album: Middle Cyclone

Neko Case rules my world. I LOVE HER!







Artist: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Album: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Album: Higher Than the Stars [EP]

Another totally perfect record, quickly became one of my favourites ever. Totally my exact kind of pop-rock record. Elements of My Bloody Valentine, The Strokes, The Stone Roses, The Smiths and Silversun Pickups all come to mind when listening to it. Pure bliss.

They also released an EP, Higher Than the Stars, which was a bit disappointing only because the songs on it all sound kinda similar to other songs on the eponymous LP.






Artist: Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses
Album: Roadhouse Sun

Another amazing alt-country discovery.






Artist: Scale The Summit
Album: Carving Desert Canyons

Instrumental, post-rock, progressive, with elements of metal… i think this is my favourite instrumental album ever. I don't really enjoy instrumental albums that much. There are a lot of amazing bands out there who choose this path, but my main complaint is that, for me, it just gets boring after awhile. This album never get boring and is a total blast to listen to.






Artist: Silversun Pickups
Album: Swoon

Carnavas is up there with my most favourite perfect albums ever, and i knew it would be a hard act to follow. No, its not as good as Carnavas. But this is still really, really good. I really love this album and it's still miles better than most stuff around at the moment, it's just that Carnavas set the bar too high and i find it hard to get too excited about this.






Artist: a textbook tragedy
Album: Rain City State Of Mind [EP]

I have absolutely listened the dog shit out of their EP this year. I can't get enough. Something about this EP clicks with me more than the 2008 Intimidator LP did, i can't put my finger on it. It totally obliterates anything in its path, and makes it hard to downgrade to other similar hardcore technical math-metalcore bands out there… this is as good as it gets.






Artist: Those Darlins
Album: Those Darlins

Country + Punk + Girls = win.






Artist: Tucker B's
Album: Nightmares In The Key Of (((((Wow)))))

Well, finally an Aussie band that totally delivered. These guys are so slept on, its criminal. I guess that's how they can manage to produce yet another album of such sheer brilliance, because there's absolutely no pressure. I thought 2005's Chubby LP was amazing, and now this, the songs are still as punchy, catchy, unpretentious and bizarre as ever. I've always kinda thought they sound like Pixies meets Radiohead sans thom yorke. I dunno, they're just the Tucker B's. Fucking legends.






Album: True Blood - Music From The HBO Original Series [Soundtrack]

One of the best soundtracks ever! Perfect for any mood or occasion. Try it out!




LOVED (awesome albums! - just not quite the standouts)

Artist: Ahab
Album: The Divinity of Oceans






Artist: Ancestors
Album: Of Sound Mind






Artist: The Armed
Album: These Are Lights






Artist: Between the Buried and Me
Album: The Great Misdirect






Artist: The Black Dahlia Murder
Album: Deflorate






Artist: Bloodhorse
Album: Horizoner






Artist: Buried Inside
Album: Spoils of Failure






Artist: Callisto
Album: Providence






Artist: Chevelle
Album: Sci-Fi Crimes






Artist: Drive-By Truckers
Album: The Fine Print (A Collection of Oddities and Rarities) 2003-2008






Artist: Gallows
Album: Grey Britain






Artist: Gifts From Enola
Album: from fathoms






Artist: He Is Legend
Album: It Hates You






Artist: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
Album: Through The Devil Softly






Artist: The Horrors
Album: Primary Colours






Artist: HORSE the band
Album: Desperate Living






Artist: Hull
Album: Sole Lord






Artist: Irepress
Album: Sol Eye Sea I






Artist: Isis
Album: Wavering Radiant







Artist: Jesu
Album: Infinity
Album: Opiate Sun [EP]






Artist: John Frusciante
Album: The Empyrean






Artist: Karnivool
Album: Sound Awake






Artist: Kongh
Album: Shadows Of The Shapeless






Artist: The Low Anthem
Album: Oh My God, Charlie Darwin






Artist: Minsk
Album: With Echoes in the Movement of Stone






Artist: The Number Twelve Looks Like You
Album: Worse Than Alone






Artist: OM
Album: God Is Good






Artist: Patterson Hood
Album: Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs)






Artist: Reverend Horton Heat
Album: Laughin' & Cryin' With The Reverend Horton Heat






Artist: The Scare
Album: Oozevoodoo






Artist: Shrinebuilder
Album: Shrinebuilder






Artist: The Temper Trap
Album: Conditions






Artist: Thrice
Album: Beggars






Artist: Wilco
Album: Wilco (The Album)






Artist: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Album: It's Blitz!






Artist: YOB
Album: The Great Cessation




NOT BAD, NOT GREAT (disappointing, but worth a mention...)

Artist: Alela Diane
Album: To Be Still






Artist: Among the Oak & Ash
Album: Among The Oak & Ash






Artist: Bury Your Dead
Album: It's Nothing Personal






Artist: Coalesce
Album: OX






Artist: Dead Man's Bones
Album: Dead Man's Bones






Artist: Disappearer
Album: The Clearing






Artist: The Gossip
Album: Music For Men






Artist: Heaven & Hell
Album: The Devil You Know






Artist: Howling Bells
Album: Radio Wars






Artist: Manatees
Album: Icarus, The Sunclimber






Artist: Maserati
Album: Passages






Artist: Megadeth
Album: Endgame






Artist: Narrows
Album: New Distances






Artist: Peaches
Album: I Feel Cream






Artist: Pelican
Album: Ephemeral [EP]






Artist: Poison the Well
Album: The Tropic Rot






Artist: Q-Tip
Album: Kamaal The Abstract






Artist: Riverside
Album: Anno Domini High Definition






Artist: Russian Circles
Album: Geneva






Artist: Slayer
Album: Son Volt






Artist: Son Volt
Album: American Central Dust




OTHER ALBUMS I wanted to check out - for future referenceA Storm of Light - Forgive Us Our Trespasses
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
Across Tundras - Herds of the Fathomless Valleys
And Then There Were None - Who Speaks For Planet Earth?
Arbouretum - Song Of The Pearl
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer [EP]
Black Cobra - Chronomega
The Bottle Rockets - Lean Forward
Bridezilla - The First Dance
Chali 2na - Fish Outta Water
Children - Hard Times Hanging At The End Of The World
The Church - Untitled #23
Clan of Xymox - In Love We Trust
Dappled Cities - Zounds
Dave Alvin - Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women
Dexter Romweber Duo - Ruins of Berlin
Double Dagger - More
Echoes Of Yul - Echoes of Yul
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below
Fall of Efrafa - Inlé
Five Finger Death Punch - War Is The Answer
Florence + The Machine - Lungs
Gaza - He Is Never Coming Back
Guy Clark - Somedays The Song Writes You
Heavy Trash - Midnight Soul Serenade
Hot Panda - Volcano… Bloody Volcano
I Was A King - I Was A King
Iron Age - The Sleeping Eye
James Hand - Shadow on the Ground
Javelina - Beasts Among Sheep
Jets Overhead - No Nations
Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies
Kieran Kane - Somewhere Beyond The Roses
Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy
Langhorne Slim - Be Set Free
Latitudes - Agonist
Litmus - Aurora
Living Things - Habeas Corpus
Loney Dear - Dear John
Lucero - 1372 Overton Park
Lullabye Arkestra - Threats/Worship
Mac McAnally - Down By The River
Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People… Lazers Do
Maplewood - Yeti Boombox
Mariachi El Bronx - Mariachi El Bronx
Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Mos Def - The Ecstatic
N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo
Naam - Naam
New Keepers of the Water Towers - The Chronicles
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Speed of Life
Oceansize - Home & Minor [EP]
Oh Mercy - Privileged Woes
Oneida - Rated O
Paul Burch and The Wpa Ballclub - Still Your Man
Pearl Jam - Backspacer
Pelican - What We All Come To Need
Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
Shadows Fall - Retribution
Sights & Sounds - Monolith
Sonic Youth - The Eternal
Starlight Mints - Change Remains
Sugar Army - The Parallels Amongst Ourselves
Taint - All Bees To The Sea [EP]
The Psyke Project - Dead Storm
Tift Merritt - Buckingham Solo
To a Skylark - To A Skylark
To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie - Marlone
Two Tongues - Two Tongues
Weird Owl - Ever The Silver Cord Be Loosed

To był dobry rok, a na pewno lepszy od poprzedniego. Wydano kilkadziesiąt albumów na naprawdę przyzwoitym poziomie, w tym sporo udanych debiutów. Nie znalazłem wydawnictwa, któremu mógłbym dać maksymalną notę, ale pojawiło się kilka na 4-4,5/5. Niespodzianek było raczej niewiele i w większości były to miłe zaskoczenia. Ponadto w przeciwieństwie do roku ubiegłego nie było wysypu informacji o przesunięciu daty wydania albumu na rok następny.


Nie było tego wiele, ale do rzeczy. Zacznę od tych miłych niespodzianek. Na pewno The Church, którzy wydali swój najlepszy album od 1988 roku, czyli świetnego "Starfish". Miło zaskoczył mnie też Moby, który po ostatnich słabiutkich albumach nareszcie nagrał coś dobrego. Roczarowania? Na pewno "Backspacer" Pearl Jamu, który jest ich zdecydowanie najsłabszym albumem. Następni w kolejności są Air z bardzo przeciętnym "Love 2", Archive z "Controlling Crowds" i Porcupine Tree z "The Incident". Nie porywają także solowe dokonania dwóch Julianów - "Julian Plenti Is... Skyscraper" i "Phrazes For The Young"


Po bardzo dobrym "Part-Monster" Piano Magic wydało kolejny bardzo dobry album. Nie porywa tak jak "Low Birth Weight", ale nadal trzyma wysoki poziom. Do Piano Magic miałem zawsze jedno poważniejsze zastrzeżenie - męski wokal (poza kilkoma albumami np. wcześniej wspomnianym "Low Birth Weight"). Tutaj tego zastrzeżenia już nie mam, bo wokalu udzielił gościnnie na większości utworów jeden z najlepszych wokalistów jakiego nosiła Ziemia - Brendan Perry, znany przede wszystkim z legendarnego Dead Can Dance.


Wbrew temu, co próbują wmówić niektóre serwisy muzyczne nie jest to dzieło wybitne. Bardzo dobre, ale nie wybitne. Psychodeliczny folk, nieco mniej udziwniony niż Animal Collective na wysokim poziomie. Wszystkie piosenki na płycie tworzą spójną całość. Jednak brak tu czegoś, co porwałoby słuchacza.


Kolejny już album SY. Tym razem powrót do niezależnej wytwórni. W kontekście ostatniego albumu grupy była to dobra decyzja. Album jest równy, dobry. To wszystko, niestety. Mamy doczynienia raczej już z rutyną i fachowością niż już artyzmem "Daydream Nation" albo "EVOL". Nadal mamy instrumentalizm na najwyższym światowym poziomie, dobry wokal, eksperymenty, punkowy wykop, ale to wszystko już nie porywa tak jak robiła to twórczość SY z lat 80. i 90.


Ten album zdecydowanie odstaje od pozostałych w zestawieniu. Neon Indian to muzyka specyficzna. Kiczowate syntezatory znane z popu lat 80. i taneczność disco połączone i podniesione do n-tej potęgi. Ta muzyka zwyczajnie wprowadza w dobry nastrój i można się przy niej naprawdę dobrze bawić, a poza tym nie traci na oryginalności i walorach artystycznych, co jest niezwykle trudne.


Tak jak każdy album Mono i ten stoi na wysokim poziomie. Całość bardzo spójna i równa ze zdecydowanym jasnym punktem w postaci "Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn". Muzyka ta momentami potrafi porwać i wywołać sporo emocji. Jednak brak tu "tego czegoś", co mają na przykład albumy GY!BE czy Explosions in the Sky. Szkoda.


Po kilku nieudanych albumach (szczególnie fatalnym "Hotel") Moby nareszcie wydał album na wysokim poziomie. Spokojny i bardzo ambientowy album, ale to wychodzi mu zdecydowanie na plus.


Gdzie się podziała zadziorność poprzednich płyt YYYs? Tutaj na pewno jej nie ma. To właściwie jedyny zarzut, który można mieć przeciw "It's Blitz!", bo poza tym album jest bardzo dobry. Świetne, chwytliwe i jak zawsze dobrze zaśpiewane utwory. Tym razem jednak gitary musiały ustąpić syntezatorom, ale nie obniżyło to poziomu piosenek.


Na szczęście Editors nie poszli drogą Interpolu i nie grają prawie tego samego na każdym albumie. Zmiana stylu jest wyraźna, ale zdecydowanie wyszła na dobrę. Nie ma tutaj już chwytliwych gitarowych utworów jak na "The Back Room", które zostały zastąpione przez elektronikę. Płyta jest niezwykle równa, może nieco aż za równa, bo nie ma żadnego utworu, który jakoś szczególnie mógł oddziaływać na człowieka. Solidnie przede wszystkim.


Po średnim "4" nie spodziewałem się po tym zespole niczego specjalnego i podszedłem do "Automatic Movements" sceptycznie, ale byłem bardzo pozytywnie zaskoczony. Płyta jest niezwykle równa i każdy utwór stoi na wysokim poziomie. Może nie jest to najoryginalniejszy album jak na post-rock i daleko mu do klasy choćby Godspeed You! Black Emperor, ale to nadal naprawdę solidna pozycja i w tym roku chyba najlepszy post-rockowy album.


Jedna z najlepszych płyt pop w ostatnich latach. Interesujące, oryginalne brzmienie oparte na wokalu (niczym za dawnych lat Kate Bush). Wszystko owiane jest jakąś aurą tajemniczości, a muzyka jest niczym czary wyczyniane przez szamankę, czyli Bat for Lashes. Niestety są 2-3 utwory, które w pewnym momencie zwyczajnie nudzą i przez "Two Suns" dopiero na 11. miejscu.


Najlepsza płyta popowa roku i zarazem jedyny głośniejszy debiut z tego kręgu muzyki, który nie zawiódł. Nie skończyło się jak np. u La Roux i Little Boots na 1-2 dobrych utworach, ale cały album wypełniony jest świetnymi, wpadającymi w ucho utworami. W przeciwieństwie do wydawnictw Timbalanda muzyka nie ma udziwnień (ale taki właśnie ma być pop) i nie jest pusta, sztuczna jak wzdychania Rihanny, Beyonce czy innych.


Wielki powrót do formy australijskiego zespołu. Zdecydowanie najmocniejsza pozycja w dyskografii The Church (zaraz po "Starfish" oczywiście). Liryczna, romantyczna muzyka w stylu dream popu i łagodniejszego post-punka.


Najpiękniejsza płyta tego roku. Łagodne, folkowe utwory i wszystko owiane melancholijną atmosferą. Już za samo otwarcie w postaci "The First Days of Spring" ten album musiał się znaleźć na tej liście. Kolejne już nie są tak cudowne, ale nadal trzymają bardzo wysoki poziom.


Swoisty hołd złożony shoegaze'owi przez The Horrors. Wszystkie utwory na płycie są naprawdę wysokim i równym poziomie. Muzyka należy do grona najoryginalniejszych w tym roku - znakomite połączenie shoegaze'u (raczej tego brudnego spod znaku pierwszego albumu MBV niż łagodnego, zmysłowego jak u np. Slowdive) z gothic rockiem i post-punkiem niczym z "Pornography" The Cure.


To już kolejny album duńskiego zespołu i mogą go zdecydowanie zaliczyć do udanych. Na szczęście nie nagrali kolejnej długiej piosenki jak na "And the Glass Handed Kites" i mamy oddzielne utwory. Całość wiele nie odbiega od poprzednich albumów grupy, jest jedynie powolną ewolucją i udoskonaleniem znanego już dream popowego brzmienia.


W tym roku niezwykle modne stało się nawiązywanie do muzyki shoegaze. Również tym tropem poszli The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Melodyjna, wpadająca w ucho muzyka z okazyjnie pojawiającymi się ścianami dźwięku tworzonymi za pomocą gitar. Co jest tutaj takiego niezwykłego? Nie wiem, ale album wprowadza w jakiś błogi sentymentalny nastrój niczym przyroda młodego Wertera z powieści Goethego.


Płyta roku według Pitchforka (to akurat było pewne jeszcze zanim ten album się ukazał), ale poraz pierwszy zachwyty tego serwisu na płytą Animal Collective nie są przesadzone. Piosenki tutaj są nieco mniej "dziwne" niż na poprzednich albumach zespołu, ale nadal w eksperymentalno-folkowo-popowym stylu, którego słyną. Całość prezentuję się naprawdę dobrze i przede wszystkim oryginalnie (co zawsze było zaletą Animal Collective).


Nareszcie pojawił się w Polsce młody zespół, który może spokojnie i z dobrym skutkiem rywalizować z zagranicznymi wykonawcami. Najlepszy i jeden z najoryginalniejszych polskich debiutów ostatnich lat. Bardzo charakterystyczny wokal i dobre kompozycje, wyraźnie odwołujące się do shoegaze'owego grania. Oby zespół na kolejnych albumach trzymał tak wysoki poziom jak na "Before It Is Too Late".


Miałem pewnie obawy, co do tego albumu. Czy Isis będzie w stanie po 4 znakomitych albumach nagrać kolejny? Byli. Wyraźnie widać, że zespół ma już swój rozpoznawalny styl i tego się trzyma, ale też nie chce zatrzymać się w rozwoju i każdym kolejnym albumem wnosi do swojej twórczości coś nowego. Także "Wavering Radiant" tak czyni - odświeżone brzmienie gitar i perkusji oraz powrót, po raczej lżejszym "In the Absence of Truth", do nieco cięższego grania z częstym (jak na Isis) growlem.


Może będę tego później żałował, ale zdecydowałem, że to właśnie "Exploding Head" jest najlepszym albumem tego roku. Strasznie hałaśliwy, ale mi to nie przeszkadza. Juz po pierwszym utworze na myśl przychodzą My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain i No Age. Jednak APTBS nikogo nie kopiują, stworzyli własny niepowtarzalny styl ze ścianą gitarowego hałasu wysuniętą na pierwszy plan.

Więcej tutaj: KLIK


Mam dosyć mieszane uczucia, co do tego albumu. Teksty są dosyć specyficzne i są pod tym względem słabszą wersją Cool Kids of Death. Pod względem muzyki jest już lepiej, sporo dobrych gitarowych piosenek. Ze względu na kilka świetnych utworów warto zwrócić na to wydawnictwo uwagę.


Nowy album Hey można zaliczyć do udanych. Ten, kto oczekuje kolejnego "Fire" albo "Ho!" będzie rozczarowany. Skromny w aranżacjach, raczej liryczny album. Ponadto Nosowska udowadnia, że jest obecnie jedną z najlepszych i najoryginalniejszych polskich wokalistek.


W przeciwieństwie do California Stories Uncovered George Dorn Screams nie zawiedli i nagrali jeden z najciekawszych polskich albumów raczkującego dopiero u nas post-rocka. Duża różnorodność, a zarazem żaden utwór drażniąco nie odstaje od reszty dzięki czemu całość brzmi bardzo spójnie.


Może nie jest najbardziej oryginalny album roku, może jest momentami banalny i naiwny w swojej treści, ale nie potrafię odnosić się do niego obiektywnie. Strasznie chwytliwe utwory, świetnie łączące brzmienie w stylu Myslovitz i shoegaze a la Ride.




Teraz czas na tych, którzy popisali się w tym roku, ale z nieco innej strony. Przyznam, że jak usłyszałem nowy album Krzysia Cornella to byłem pewien, że większego g... nie da się zrobić. Wtedy był to mocny kandydat do tytułu największej chałtury w dziejach muzyki. Jednak nasz rodzimy "artysta" udowodnił, że można stworzyć coś "wybitniejszego" (bynajmniej nie była to nawet Agnieszka Chylińska). Oczywiście mam na myśli Jacka Stachurskiego Łaszczoka, znanego ostatnio także jako 444. Żadne słowa nie oddadzą tego jak "wielkie" jest to dzieło. Trzeba posłuchać:



25. The xx - Crystalised
24. The Big Pink - Crystal Visions
23. Mew - Silas The Magic Car
22. Animal Collective - My Girls
21. Wolfmother - Violence Of The Sun
20. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
19. Phoenix - 1901
18. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
17. U2 - Fez - Being Born
16. Piano Magic - The Faint Horizon
15. A Place to Bury Strangers - In Your Heart
14. John Frusciante - Unreachable
13. Isis - 20 Minutes / 40 Years
12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
11. Saluminesia - Herbata z cytryną
10. Hey - Boję się o nas
9. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday
8. Steven Wilson - Harmony Korine
7. Mono - Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn
6. Florence + The Machine - Cosmic Love
5. Hatifnats - Horses From Shellville
4. The Horrors - Mirror's Image
3. U2 - Cedars Of Lebanon
2. Noah and the Whale - The First Days Of Spring
1. Bat for Lashes - Daniel



Do ewentualnej polemiki zapraszam w komentarzach.

That's right, this is the third time I'm doing musical summary of the year, although nobody cares. Anyway, this time a number of albums rated is the highest so far (I'm too lazy to count though)... yet, I haven't managed to give a listen to every album I wanted, maybe I'll get better luck next year.
Please, note that 7/10 isn't really a high mark - let's say that 6 is for albums which are flawed, yet listenable. 7 means good, but forgettable. 8 is reserverd for very good CDs, and, as you may or may have not figured out, 7.5 is something in between.

I've decided to give one perfect 10. Actually, I do not believe in pure perfection, so let's say - 10 here means 'as close as it gets'.


4/10
Show Your Colors - Amoral

6/10
A-Lex - Sepultura
Chickenfoot - Chickenfoot

6,5/10
The Empyrean - John Frusciante
Wicked Maiden - Impellitteri

7/10
1,5 - Los Pierdols
9 Degrees West Of The Moon - Vision Divine
Angels Of Love - Yngwie Malmsteen
Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion - Eluveitie
Halford III - Winter Songs - Halford
Monoliths & Dimensions - Sunn O)))
Night Castle - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Sunless Skies - Pathosray
The Visitor - UFO

7,5/10
All Ends In Silence - Dark the Suns
Chained To The Nite - Cauldron
For Lies I Sire - My Dying Bride
Here Waits Thy Doom - 3 Inches of Blood
Last Look At Eden - Europe
Living for Death, Destroying the Rest - Rumpelstiltskin Grinder
No Sacrifice, No Victory - HammerFall
Science of Annihilation - Cage
Spirit Black - Jorn
Through My Dog's Eyes - Ephel Duath
To The Grave - Iron Fire


8/10
A New Constellation - Nahemah
A Taste Of Extreme Divinity - Hypocrisy
Across the Dark - Insomnium
Animals As Leaders - Animals as Leaders
Ape Uprising - Slough Feg
Archangels in Black - Adagio
Babylon - W.A.S.P.
Back From The Dead - Spinal Tap
Ballads Of A Hangman - Grave Digger
Battle Sluts - Destroy Destroy Destroy
Black'N'Roll - Black River
Black Sails at Midnight - Alestorm
Blood - OSI
Cosmic Egg - Wolfmother
Crógacht - SuidAkrA
Dark Matter Dimensions - Scar Symmetry
Enemies - Marionette
Esoteric - Skyfire
Everyday Demons - The Answer
Freedom Comes - Vicious Crusade
Hordes of Chaos - Kreator
Idmen - Indukti
In The... All Together - Skyclad
Japanese Hospitality - Warmen
Linoleum - Pain of Salvation
Massive Aggressive - Municipal Waste
Necropolis - Vader
Pine/Cross Dover - Masters of Reality
Re-Creation - Carnal
Slaughterhouse On the Prairie - Buckethead
Skeletons in the Closet - Children of Bodom
Sonic Boom - KISS
Strażnik Światła - Turbo
The Century of Self - ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
The Days of Grays - Sonata Arctica
The God Behind the God - Spiritus Mortis
The Incident - Porcupine Tree
The Restless Memoirs - Disarmonia Mundi
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
Wavering Radiant - Isis
Wearing A Martyr's Crown - Nightrage
With Echoes in the Movement of Stone - Minsk
When Death Comes - Artillery
World Painted Blood - Slayer
Waking Into Nightmares - Warbringer

8,5/10
Addicted - Devin Townsend Project
Amor Vincit Omnia - Pure Reason Revolution
Dead Harvest - This Ending
Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us - Paradise Lost
Into the Labyrinth - Saxon
Ki - Devin Townsend Project
Sad Day On Planet Earth - Lillian Axe
Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious - Diablo Swing Orchestra
Strange Cousins From The West - Clutch
The Devil You Know - Heaven & Hell
Visionism - Rootwater

9/10
Black Clouds & Silver Linings - Dream Theater
Death Magic Doom - Candlemass
Endgame - Megadeth
Evilution - Chainsaw
From Afar - Ensiferum
HellWood - Hunter
Skyforger - Amorphis
Shin-Ken - Persefone
The Isolation Game - Disarmonia Mundi

9,5/10

Anno Domini High Definition - Riverside

10/10 and the title of The Album Of 2009 goes to...

Cybion - Kalisia



Despite (for some people perhaps too) high ratings, I hope that the 2010 is going to be even better. I wish that to myself and to all of you.
Happy new year, motherfuckers.

Album Internacional:
The Very Best of Ray Charles [203]
The Dock Of The Bay (The Definitive Collection) [163]
El Cielo [148]
Beggars [141]
Unsolved [139]

Album Nacional:
A Propósito De Garfunkel [142]
B.S.O. 1999-2000 [93]
in-fidelidad [86]

Artista:
Ray Charles [203]
John Frusciante [181]
Thrice [175]
The Muffs [170]
dredg [167]

Tema:
El saben aquel que diu [31]
Hit The Road Jack [30]
WannaBe in L.A. [26]
Big Lump [25]
Lonely Woman [25]
I've Got a Woman [25]

- Favourite albums:

1. Archive - Controlling Crowds (I-IV)




I didn't expect any album to top Porcupine Tree's new record, but Archive managed to impress me most this year. I first got to know about the band on my last.fm recommendations and by seeing that they'd come to Munich in October. Loving concept records, I knew this could be an interesting album. At first, it didn't impress me that much to be honest.
The album really clicked for me while being on a 4-hour drive through the alps on my way to a five day trip to a glacier with my geography course. Somehow the landscape of the austrian alps matched perfectly with the album's sound - I even started to love the three songs with their rapper Rosko John (I'm usually not very fond of rapping).
I love the album's dense atmopshere created by both weird sound effects and the lyrics. I also never heard a band with four individual vocalists - all of them add so much variety to the sound of Archive.
Even the bonus tracks of the album, especially Killing All Movement, have the same quality of the album tracks.
Part IV, that was released seperately in October, has not really clicked for me yet, but I guess I just need a couple more listens to fully appreciate it, since I absolutely adore the first three parts.

I was lucky to see them perform the first two parts of the record live in Munich. Their live visuals even intensified the listening experience and especially Pollard Berrier stood out as a very charismatic performer.

Controlling Crowds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYVjjrpz-Ds
Collapse/Collide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IGWlPoIjpY

2. Porcupine Tree - The Incident Limited Deluxe Edition




Porcupine Tree's new album was of course the one I was looking forward to most this year. The idea of a 55 minute song-cycle got me very excited and I didn't want to miss the limited deluxe edition since I unfortunately missed the Insurgentes deluxe edition at the end of 2008. This time, I finally managed to order a copy soon enough. Even though I consider myself as a very patient person, waiting for the package to finally arrive was really straining, especially since I forced myself to no listen to any snippet or studio footage beforehand, because I wanted my first listen of the album to be in surround sound.
Both discs are incredibly inspiring: the recurring chord progression in "The Incident", the intuitive use of odd time signatures and the band compositions, where the other band members finally get a chance to shine: Flicker with a beautiful bass line by Colin Edwin (whose solo album Third Vessel narrowly missed my top 10), Bonnie the Cat with it's creative drum beat by Gavin Harrison and Black Dahlia, which was entirely composed by Richard Barbieri.
Listening to the record in 5.1 surround sound with the accompanying book of amazing artwork (done by Lasse Hoile as usual) and lyrics adds very much to the listening experience and absorbed me into it's dark atmosphere.
I also loved their full lenght live performance of The Incident, they managed to deliver it perfectly! I was lucky to see them live twice this year, one time focused on the visuals (once more, genius job by Lasse Hoile) and the second time more on the band performance. In connection with Stick Men opening for them playing King Crimson's Indiscipline amongst others, this second gig was my favourite concert this year.

Take a look at the book of artwork here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28584265@N06/sets/72157622269812675/

3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest



John Gourley, the lead singer and guitarist of Portugal. The Man highly recommended this album via their homepage, so I thought I should give it a listen on myspace since I never heard anything by Grizzly Bear so far.
As soon as Two Weeks started, I knew this could be an album for me. Then I discovered the site La Blogotheque - concerts à emporter and the gorgeous performances by them.
I really adore the album because of it's experimental use of uncommom chords while keeping the song structures rather simple (besides using a couple of odd time signatures). I think it's rare that music is catchy and experimental at the same time.
I just found an interesting track-by-track description by the band here.
Their concert in Munich was a highlight of the year, too - I loved the great performance as well as their simple but very beautiful lighting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Y9XETUKmE

Ready, Able (Official Video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Puph1hejMQE

4. Steven Wilson - Insurgentes



As mentioned above, it really was a bummer that I missed the deluxe editon of this album since I really enjoyed Lasse Hoile's artwork and the 18 minute excerpt of the accompanying documentary of the album which highly influenced my own view on packaging and albums as a journey.
At least the digibook release of the album contained a 5.1. surround sound mix, too. I love the way Steven Wilson mixes in surround sound and I doubt this album would be so high on my list if I only had a stereo mix.
I can't describe the intense goosebumps I get by listening to Get All You Deserve in 5.1 - it's such a simple but ingenious idea to start of with a beautifully calm piano ballad and then destroying the beauty with this eerie white noise he came up with.
I love the fact that this record covers basically every musical side of Steven Wilson ranging from Progressive Rock (Harmony Korine), Drone (Get All You Deserve), Trip-Hop mixed with Drone (Abandoner) and Experimental (No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun) to Ambient (Veneno Para Las Hadas), beautiful piano ballads (Insurgentes) and even Post-Rock elements (Only Child) while still somehow keeping an overall sound that makes the album best when listened to as a whole.

I also really enjoyed participating in the Abandoner Remix competition.

Harmony Korine (Official Video by Lasse Hoile):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BClzBQmZZBc

5. Isis- Wavering Radiant



Isis is a band I discovered a couple of years ago via youtube - I loved the sound of In Fiction but the vocals weren't my cup of tea at that time. After getting into growls a bit more through Opeth last year, I was looking forward to this album and hoping to dig the vocals, too.
The album didn't impress me much at the beginning, the growl parts seemed rather unfitting next to the melodic instrumental parts. But over the year, the album grew on me more and more, I started to really like the complex arrangements of the songs and the overall flow of the record. A couple of days ago, I was completely blown away by the album, so now I can say that it's definately one of my favourite "heavy" records ever!

Their concert in Munich was great, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DACI9vsZpqY

20 Minutes / 40 Years (Official Video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS3NkhjsBf0

6. Arms & Sleepers - Matador



Arms And Sleepers is a band I discovered through Last.fm.
I only bought the album at the beginnnig of this month but it never really left my hi-fi system since then and somehow it ended up being very high on my list.
I love it's calm, even fragile sound - exactly what I needed to guide me through this season. This is just perfect for cold snowy winter evenings, listening through headphones with goosebumps all over your body. Too bad I won't be able to see any of their concerts in Germany next year...

Nice short interview with the band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRD8_qBot4Y

Download the song [track artist=Arms And Sleepers]The Architekt for free legally here: http://www.pluginmusic.com/freemusic/armsandsleepers

7. Pure Reason Revolution - Amor Vincit Omnia



Here comes another artist that I discovered via Last.fm. The song The Bright Ambassadors Of Morning popped up on my recommendations radio and I instantly fell in love with the band's sound.
I bought their new record only knowing that one song, so I couldn't believe my ears when the intro synth riff of Les Malheurs started.
The album is very different to their first effort, but once you accept that, this album has so much to offer. Regarding the reviews, many people obviously couldn't deal with the industrial and even electronic sound of AVO, but I love when bands decide to make something completly different if they keep the quality on the same level. Combined with their beautifully arranged vocal harmonies, the overall sound of the album as a whole is pretty weird and nothing I've ever heard so far, which is probably also a main reason why I like it so much.

Their live performances of the album are amazing, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hCDv5kWd5E

8. Tortoise - Beacons Of Ancestorship



Tortoise has also been on my last.fm recommendations list for quite some time now, so their new album seemed like the ideal opportunity to finally get into them. Beacons Of Ancestorship really impressed me because of it's unique sound outside of any genre and it's experimental use of both synthesizers and two drums playing simultaneously.
Simple but very creative ideas like the rhythm of Charteroak Foundation (the guitar starts in triads giving the listener the impression the song is in 6/8 - then the drums kick in with a straight 4/4 beat and the whole thing turns around) make the album special for me.
Their concert in Munich this summer was one of my favourites this year, too.
It was very interesting to see how they play these songs live, especially with the two drums in the front of the stage. In addition, they seemed to dig their music very much which I always enjoy seeing. Last but not least their visuals created a very nice mood in connection with the music.

Check out a few live performances here:
http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/episode/2016-tortoise/1

Picture set of the band live:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanck/sets/72157622086726080/detail/

9. John Frusciante - The Empyrean



Over the last couple of years, I lost basically all of my interest in the Red Hot Chili Peppers and instead discovered that John Frusciante's solo albums were more than just a side project. When the rumours about John leaving RHCP came up which were verified by him only a couple of days later on his web site, stating that his interests changed into "making a different kind of music, alone, and being my own engineer" and that he thinks that "art has never been something done out of a sense of duty", my respect and adoration for him as a musician soared.

Here is an incredibly inspiring interview with him on the album, but also inspiring for life in general - at least for me ;):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lfw7YRpkfY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiSJKfLS75o

10. The Mars Volta - Octahedron



We all know that Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez has raised the standards when it comes to the quanitity of releases a year (he released 6 solo albums this year!), but regardless of that I didn't expect to hear another TMV record so soon after last year's The Bedlam in Goliath.
For this album, Omar decided to limit himself and write a more straight forward album without "adding 97 parts to the song". I really like the outcome, it's very different to the wall of sound of TBIG, it has a more pyschedelic and acoustic sound which adds even more variety to their sound. Of course this album is still very complex and innovative non the less.
It's a shame though that their amazing drummer Thomas Pridgen had to leave the band before the start of their european tour...but at least I could see him in action with them once more at the Southside Festival this summer!

Needless to say that the "simple" songs still kick ass live:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra8GIp2a3OI

- Favourite EPs:

- Kaki King - Mexican Teenagers EP



- Oceansize - Home & Minor



- Puscifer - "C" Is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here) E.P.



- Honourable mentions:

- Oceansize - Feed To Feed
- Long Distance Calling - Avoid The Light
- Colin Edwin - Third Vessel
- Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
- Tim McMillan - 2.13
- Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition
- dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
- Tosca - No Hassle
- Benny Greb - Brass Band
- múm - Sing Along To Songs You Don't Know
- Les Claypool - Of Fungi and Foe
- Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist
- Panzerballett - Hart Genossen Von Abba Bis Zappa
- Russian Circles - Geneva
- Sunn O))) - Monoliths and dimensions
- Eels - Hombre Lobo
- De-Phazz - Big

- Disappointments:

- God Is an Astronaut - God Is An Astronaut
- Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind

- Not listened enough yet or not at all:

- Air - Love 2
- Baroness - Blue Record
- Ben Harper & The Relentless 7 - White Lies For Dark Times
- Birdpen - On/Off/Safety/Danger
- Emergency Room - The Funky Side Of The Moon
- Jónsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps
- Medeski, Martin and Wood - Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set
- Pelican - What We All Come To Need
- Stick Men - Stick Men
- St. Vincent - Actor
- Tingvall Trio - Vattensaga
- The Cat Empire - Live On Earth
- The Flaming Lips - Embyonic
- Tord Gustavsen Ensemble - Restored, Returned
- The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead
- Zero 7 - Yeah Ghost

- Favourite album covers:

- Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition:



- The Mars Volta - Octahedron:



- Favourite packaging:

- Jónsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps Special Edition:




This deluxe edition was just too lovely to miss. Besides the album itself and the additional All Animals EP, the package contains the amazing Riceboy Sleeps book of artwork by Jónsi & Alex, a badge and on top of it, a coloring book and a set of pencils.

You can get an impression here:
Riceboy Sleeps Book
Coloring Book

- Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist:



Regarding the artwork, Portugal. The Man really came up with something unique for this record. As shown in the picture above, the artwork can be transformed in various ways in order to create new variations.
For me, this album is a perfect example of a nice package while keeping a reasonable and affordable price.

- Porcupine Tree - The Incident Limited Deluxe Edition:



This one, instead, is a perfect example of a really lavish package.
The deluxe edition of The Incident contains the album on 2 CDs, a 5.1 surround mix of the album on the DVD, a softcover book of pretty weird drawings by Hajo Müller and a very big hardcover book with extensive artwork and the lyrics all housed in a nice solid slipcase.

- Favourite concerts:

- 1. Porcupine Tree & Stick Men, Munich, Tonhalle
- 2. Archive & Birdpen, Munich, Backstage
- 3. Tim McMillan Band, Munich, Ars Musica
- 4. Grizzly Bear & St. Vincent, Munich, Theaterfabrik
- 5. Tortoise, Munich, Ampere
- 6. Nine Inch Nails, Southside Festival
- 7. Blackfield, Munich, Ampere
- 8. Zappa Plays Zappa, Munich, Theaterfabrik
- 9. Maceo Parker / Tower of Power, Munich, Muffathalle
- 10. The Twilight Sad, Munich, Atomic Café / Pure Reason Revolution,
Munich, 59:1 / Isis, Munich, Hansa 39

- special place for the Sunn O))) concert in
Munich, Hansa 39 – incredible experience (((((O)))))

- Discoveries:

Archive, Grizzly Bear, Isis, Tortoise, Long Distance Calling, Leech,
Pure Reason Revolution, Katatonia, Tim McMillan, Stebmo, Riverside,
Paatos, Tosca, múm, Earth, dredg, Russian Circles, Pelican,
Mike Dillon's Go-Go Jungle, Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet, Fleet Foxes,
Buckethead, Calexico, Sunn O))), Nneka, Chris Gall Trio, Benny Greb,
Tord Gustavsen Trio, Tord Gustavsen Ensemble, God Is an Astronaut,
Richard Barbieri, Colin Edwin, Stick Men, Ulver, Battles, Arms and Sleepers