Had you wandered past my door of an evening at some point late in 2008, there would have been a chance you'd have heard me muttering and grumbling about the relative paucity of excellent albums in that calendar year. But something is most definitely in the water in 2009. It started almost immediately with all the deserved excitement over Merriweather Post Pavilion. Since then it's been an eye-popping few months of delicious albums.

I'm still flailing about in the midst of it all trying to catch a breath really, but here, in rough order, are those over which I've been most frequently bowled.

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Emeralds - What Happened
The first time I heard Damaged Kids I was on the top deck of a 2A to Steyning, gazing out of the window at crenellated chimney pots and fading seaside architecture. I don't remember much else, but I missed my bus stop and several more after that.

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