Journal

Albums

20. Converge – Axe to Fall [mathcore/hardcore]
19. Portugal. The Man – The Satanic Satanist [indie]
18. Holding Onto Hope – To The Sea [post-hardcore]
17. Propagandhi – The Supporting Caste [punk]
16. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse [grindcore]
15. Mastodon – Crack the Skye [prog metal]
14. Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer [indie]
13. Cursive – Mama, I’m Swollen [indie]
12. Trapped under Ice – Secrets of the World [hardcore]
11. A Place To Bury Strangers – Exploding Head [noise rock/post-punk]

10. Anaal Nathrakh– In the Constellation of the Black Widow [black metal]

This is for me the hardest album of the year. The grindcore-esque black metal of this english duo blasts me away from the first second to the last one without getting boring. They have to ability to make songs that don't sound the same, yet all sound very brutal.

9. Another Breath– The God Complex [hardcore]

This hardcore album totally got me by surprise this year. I never heard of this band before and this album immediatly grabbed me by the balls. It's a very personal album and you can tell there is a lot of anger in this music. I love it when a band can put this anger into their music.

8. Alpinist – Minus. Mensch [screamo/crust]

Another band that got me by surprise. This unknown German DIY band has delivers some amazing tunes on Minus. Mensch. They have a very dark and heavy hardcore sound, not similar to anything I have heard before.

7. Lacrosse – Bandages for the Heart [indie/twee]

Your bike got stolen or your girlfriend broke up? Don't worry, just listen to some Lacrosse and you'll be fine. This is the happiest music I've ever heard.

6. Bat for Lashes – Two Suns [pop/indie]

Amazing conceptalbum. Took a while before this album finally grew on me, but Natasha Khan really has an amazing voice that combines very good with the dreamy vocals on this album.

5. Thursday – Common Existence [post-hardcore]

I never thought much of this band. Especially after their performance on groezrock '08, but after reading some positive things about this album I did gave it a try. And needless to say, this is an amazing album. Really great post-hardcore tunes without sounding too overtly faggy.

4. Silversun Pickups – Swoon [indie]

A random download that turned out to be one of my biggest finds of 2009. SSPU bring amazing indie with some hints of shoegaze. The vocals are something you might have to get used to, but once you do there is nothing left then to fall in love with them. The songwriting ability in this group is also very good. The way they build up to climaxes in a song like The Royal We is just immense.

3. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion [folk]

Freaky, experimental, electronic folk music with some extremely addicting melodies. I know it's a little too hipster approved, but I can't help but loving this stuff.

2. Sonic Youth – The Ethernal [alternative]

Hard to define the genre of this band. They have a bit of this grunge-esque sound going on, but there is alot of noise rock and other stuff going on as well. Anyway, this year Sonic Youth has been become one of my favourite bands and this album has definatly helped alot with that. This album breaths fun and there are basicly no weak songs on here.

1. Metric – Fantasies [indie]

Emily Haines totally stole my heart this year. First with this fantastic album that contains 10 very danceable and adorable songs I can't stop to sing along with. And after that also with her performance on Lowlands. Simply breath taking.



Gigs

15. Silversun Pickups @ melkweg
14. Have Heart @ moshvalley
13. Lacrosse @ ekko
12. Trapped Under Ice @ patronaat
11. N-Type @ dour
10. Burn Down Rome @ patronaat
9. Ligeia @ WATT
8. Amenra @ baroeg
7. Alexisonfire @ melkweg
6. Rise Against @ melkweg
5. Craze and Kelver @ dour
4. Pendulum @ pinkpop
3. 65daysofstatic @ dour
2. Metric @ lowlands
1. xRepresentx @ moshvalley

I've written the first part of a non-chronological, vaguely thematic look at some of the best albums of the last decade

The Rapture - Echoes

Before the post-punk revival hit the big time a few years later, these lads from America melded the tight rhythms and lacerating guitars of Gang of Four to modern dance textures with the help of the now-fashionable-but-then-unknown DFA production. The album wears its influences on its sleeve (aside from the extremely favourable comparison above, they cross-reference countless songs and bands throughout this set; from the Detroit-bound retro drum machine and acid synths of ' Olio ' to ' Echoes ', which rips off the tune of Public Image Ltd.'s ' Careering ' before breaking down into something resembling a Dead Kennedys song) but it comes out sounding fresh even after more than six years since it was released, its many musical hyperlinks appearing more like homages than anything derivative. If only they could ever recapture this gem of an album.

LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver

And then we had this extravaganza.
A 'proper album', 'Sound of Silver' has a real structure. From the opening bubbles of 'Get Innocuous' to the very end of the closing track, the entire album works as a perfect whole. In fact, 'New York I Love You' is one of the best finales to an album since David Bowie's 'Rock 'n' Roll Suicide', the song to which James Murphy's ode to the great metropolis owes an awful lot. But in between the beginning and the end, there is a genuine substance which is rare in the disposable modern world of downloads and MP3 players – a cohesive backbone of consistently brilliant songwriting. 'Someone Great' is a beautiful song about loss. Its musical backing was lifted from the previous release 45:33 but it fits the stunningly emotional lyrics very naturally, every bittersweet ping of glockenspiel (?) oozing with regret as much as the way Murphy recounts his loss. Nothing breaks my heart as much as the line “Because, what's the difference”. The world does keep turning even when we are in grief or in total internal emotional turmoil, as impossible as it seems to the person who feels such a void. Theories conflict over this song and its meaning but to me, it must be about death. Only something so final, so hopeless could provoke words like this.
It is followed by the wonderful plod of 'All My Friends', a song about how our experiences (i.e. bereavement etc.) change us as people and cause us to lose touch with our friends and our former lives. Aptly, I think Murphy recaptures some of those good times with this song.

Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

I have to make a confession at this point. When I first heard 'In Ghost Colours' on the day it was released while doing some revision on a boiling hot day, I didn't like it very much. It took a long time for me to like this album, perhaps because it had moved on so much from their previous release ' Bright Like Neon Love ' that it frightened me. Thankfully, something made me see sense and I spent the summer of 2008 starting to adore it.
They were never going to produce something with the lyrical maturity of 'Sound of Silver' but that really doesn't matter, as these sixteen tracks (I'm including the bonus track 'Cold Youth' here) encapsulate some of the most joyous electronic pop music I have ever heard, providing a voyage through the history of synth pop and dance music at the same time. 'Out There on the Ice' walks straight into the club, condensing the acid synths, the romances and the drugs of a long, urban night into a mere five minutes with one of the sturdiest electronic rhythms of the decade. The genius in Cut Copy, however, is their ability to weave all kind of magnificent melodies and gorgeous synth textures into such a solid rhythmic framework. Numerous short, beatless segues link all of the main tracks, giving the album the feel of a mix without ruining songs by constantly fading them in and out of one another. And, for all of their ability to make the hipsters dance, songs like 'Lights and Music' deserve a place in the (sadly underpopulated) category of quality pop music. In spite of its unfortunate misuse in a sofa advert, 'Lights and Music' still excites me after dozens and dozens of plays. The dramatic drop before the thudding chorus makes my hair stand every time. It's taken me through infatuations, through floodlit nights, through drunkenness, through the lot, and it feels just at home in the clubs as in the charts. The mileage that this album has given me and the ridiculous number of times I have played it (many on CD so they won't be logged on Last.fm) has given me a ridiculous number of associations. Similar to Pavlov's dog, certain sounds trigger certain thoughts. “If you believe a hand on your sleeve can pull you over” from 'Far Away' is definitely a football line, which makes me think of someone clumsily conceding a penalty for shirt-tugging in the box; 'Nobody Lost, Nobody Found' makes me think of arriving in a very warm, very nice Mediterranean country in front of a beautiful red sunset.
Definitely not guitar-phobes, Cut Copy plunge their closing evocation of teenage infatuations 'Cold Youth' into a mess of Sonic Youth feedback. I love these guys.

1. Placebo 18,886

2. The Cure 4,920

3.IAMX 1,670

4. Muse1,571

5.Angelo Kelly 1,379

6. Pearl Jam 1,288

7. PJ Harvey 1,206

8. Goo Goo Dolls 1,030

9. Marilyn Manson 991

10. Sonic Youth 827

11. Kings of Leon 693

12. Coldplay 660

13.R.E.M.653

14. David Bowie 623

15. Patrick Wolf615

16. Brian Molko 405

17. 30 Seconds to Mars 363

18. The Kills333

19. Indochine 318

20. The Smiths 303

woot, my (almost) first year on last.fm XD

this is just for me to compare my most played of 2009 to my most played of 2010 by the end of this year.

Nirvana - 3,000 Plays.
Placebo - 2,065 plays.
Hole - 1,239 plays.
Paramore - 441 plays.
Flyleaf - 310 plays.
Courtney Love - 273 plays.
Garbage - 267 plays.
The Distillers - 198 plays.
Veruca Salt - 190 plays.
L7 - 179 plays
Marilyn Manson - 174 plays
Be Your Own Pet - 157 plays.
Lilly Allen - 149 plays.
Three Days Grace - 149 plays.
Wipers - 133 Plays.

During The Last Week of December 2009 (or at least from 26 or 25 -ithink?- December till 2 January) , My "Last 7 days" Chart has been:

Nirvana - 261 plays.
Hole - 162 plays.
Regina Spektor - 33 Plays.
L7 - 33 Plays.
The Smashing Pumpkins - 26 Plays.
MDC - 26 Plays.
Mudhoney - 24 Plays.
Sonic Youth - 23 plays.
Wipers - 18 plays
Florence + The Machine - 14 plays.
Pixies - 13 Plays.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 9 Plays.
Flipper - 9 Plays.
Black Flag - 7 Plays.
Alice in Chains - 4 Plays.

I compiled these lists of my scrobbles in 2009:

Top Artists 2009 (compiled 30-12-2009):
1. Gogol Bordello - 2,272 scrobbles
2. Ленинград - 1,156 scrobbles
3. DeVotchKa - 991 scrobbles
4. Wipers - 907 scrobbles
5. Dinosaur Jr. -769 scrobbles
6. We Are Scientists - 672 scrobbles
7. Pixies - 668 scrobbles
8. Адаптация - 657 scrobbles
9. Sonic Youth - 625 scrobbles
10. Maxïmo Park - 588 scrobbles
11. Beirut - 541 scrobbles
12. Andrew Bird - 533 scrobbles
13. Johan - 526 scrobbles
14. Liam Finn - 497 scrobbles
15. Kultur Shock - 491 scrobbles

Top Tracks 2009 (compiled 30-12-2009):
1. Nomadic Chronicle - 128 scrobbles
2. Wonderlust King - 108 scrobbles
3. Samiao's Day - 100 scrobbles
4. Against the Nature - 84 scrobbles
5. I was Born Under Soviet Star - 74 scrobbles
6. Start Wearing Purple - 65 scrobbles
7. Haltura - 57 scrobbles
8. Be the One - 52 scrobbles
8. Gather to the Chapel - 52 scrobbles
10. SuperTheory of SuperEverything - 51 scrobbles
10. Alcohol - 51 scrobbles
12. Little Fury Things - 48 scrobbles
13. Girls Who Play Guitars - 46 scrobbles
13. Zina-Marina - 46 scrobbles
15. Mala Vida - 45 scrobbles

Screenshot Top Artists on flickr

Screenshot Top Tracks on flickr

Yesterday, I found two screenshots of lists I'd completely forgotten about. Since we started a new year, it seems only fair to publish these lists before I publish my 2009 lists. So, here they are.

Top Artists 2008 (compiled on 02-01-2009):
1. Gogol Bordello - 1,874 scrobbles
2. We Are Scientists - 1,174 scrobbles
3. Pixies - 807 scrobbles
4. Maxïmo Park - 738 scrobbles
5. DeVotchKa - 679 scrobbles
6. Hüsker Dü - 648 scrobbles
7. Sonic Youth - 612 scrobbles
8. The Killers - 570 scrobbles
9. Voicst - 530 scrobbles
10. Wipers - 465 scrobbles
11. Янка Дягилева - 428 scrobbles
12. Beirut - 382 scrobbles
13. Belly - 374 scrobbles
14. Dinosaur Jr. - 361 scrobbles
15. The Lemonheads - 347 scrobbles

Top Tracks 2008 (compiled on 02-01-2009):
1. Wonderlust King - 131 scrobbles
2. Nomadic Chronicle - 73 scrobbles
3. Печаль моя светла - 65 scrobbles
3. Really tried - 65 scrobbles
5. Kiss You Better - 62 scrobbles
6. Great DJ - 58 scrobbles
6. Girls Who Play Guitars - 58 scrobbles
8. Impatience - 56 scrobbles
9. Immigrant Punk - 55 scrobbles
10. The Coast Is Always Changing - 54 scrobbles
10. Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt - 54 scrobbles
10. Against the Nature - 54 scrobbles
10. Start Wearing Purple - 54 scrobbles
14. Zina-Marina - 53 scrobbles
15. It's A Hit - 52 scrobbles

Top 50 Artists as of January 1st, 2010:

1 The Microphones 1,407
2 Animal Collective 1,339
3 Radiohead 1,322
4 Thanksgiving 1,040
5 Neil Young 1,009
6 Mount Eerie 846
7 Do Make Say Think 812
8 Boards of Canada 746
9 Elliott Smith 743
10 The Books 711
11 The Beatles 669
12 Tom Waits 656
13 Built to Spill 634
14 Cat Stevens 628
15 Why? 553
16 Joanna Newsom 531
17 of Montreal 510
18 Aphex Twin 480
19 Pavement 448
20 Caribou 434
21 Adrian Orange & Her Band 410
22 Talk Talk 404
23 The Fun Years 402
24 Songs: Ohia 398
25 Modest Mouse 392
26 The American Analog Set 391
27 The Velvet Underground 387
28 Guided by Voices 385
29 Mississippi John Hurt 376
30 Grizzly Bear 365
30 Brian Eno 365
32 Polmo Polpo 363
32 The Olivia Tremor Control 363
34 Björk 362
35 Miles Davis 353
36 José González 345
37 Nick Drake 343
38 Frank Zappa 333
39 Tortoise 332
40 Jeremy Enigk 331
41 Silver Jews 326
41 Sunny Day Real Estate 326
43 Leonard Cohen 323
43 Bonnie 'Prince' Billy 323
43 Pixies 323
46 Sonic Youth 322
47 Broken Social Scene 321
48 The Tallest Man on Earth 320
49 Wilco 317
50 Grateful Dead 315

Top 50 Artists of 2009:

1 The Fun Years 402
2 Songs: Ohia 291
3 Red House Painters 203
4 The Tallest Man on Earth 184
5 Juana Molina 178
6 Stars of the Lid 176
7 Deerhunter 175
8 Animal Collective 174
9 Mount Eerie 170
10 Sun Kil Moon 161
11 Bonnie 'Prince' Billy 158
12 Beck 157
13 New Found Glory 156
14 José González 155
15 Radiohead 154
16 Jeremy Enigk 153
16 Ryan Adams 153
18 Thanksgiving 150
19 Tim Hecker 148
20 Mission of Burma 147
21 Silver Jews 145
22 Timber Timbre 144
22 Cat Stevens 144
24 Animal Hospital 134
25 Palace Music 133
26 The Replacements 132
27 Built to Spill 125
27 Weezer 125
29 Aphex Twin 123
29 Akron/Family 123
31 Magnolia Electric Co. 121
32 Mississippi John Hurt 120
33 Jon Hassell 119
34 The Microphones 115
34 A.A. Bondy 115
36 Fennesz 114
37 Spoon 109
38 Polmo Polpo 108
39 Do Make Say Think 107
40 The Get Up Kids 104
41 Colleen 102
42 Grouper 100
43 Kreng 99
43 Grizzly Bear 99
45 Erik Satie 98
46 1900 97
47 Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros 92
47 Phosphorescent 92
49 Natural Snow Buildings 89
50 Johnny Flynn 88

MY 2009 HALO LIST of UNHEARD GOODNESS

OK, so here's the stuff that came out in 2009 that I had an inkling to listen and the opportunity did not present itself. Some of these may end up in my amended most of/best of chart next year; some I may not get to until I am old and wrinkled. Albums are not in any particular order.

Dirty Projectors -- Bitte Orca
Sloan -- Hit & Run EP
Matt & Kim -- Grand
Mastodon -- Crack The Skye
Manic Street Preachers -- Journal For Plague Lovers
Sonic Youth -- The Eternal
Street Sweeper Social Club -- Street Sweeper Social Club
Pete Yorn -- Back And Forth
Brendan Benson -- My Old Familiar Friend
Jay-Z -- The Blueprint 3
Kid Cudi -- Man On The Moon: The End Of Day
Pearl Jam -- Backspacer
The Flaming Lips -- Embryonic
Weezer -- Raditude
Them Crooked Vultures -- Them Crooked Vultures
Animal Collective -- Merriweather Post Pavilion
Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard -- One Fast Move or I'm Gone
Real Estate -- Real Estate
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart -- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Raekwon -- only built for cuban linx part II
Bill Callahan -- Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
The Antlers -- Hospice
Brother Ali -- Us

It is a pretty big list, but I would always welcome additions if something you loved can't be found here or on my big 15.