Is it just me, or were precious few good albums released in 2009? Even those fags at MetaCritic practically admit defeat with this lame-ass list. There’s not a lot on there you should bother with, trust me, I’ve heard enough of them to realise MC is grasping at straws.
So, dear reader, was there a good album released in 2009? To be honest, my favourite for the year so far is “The Boy Who Knew Too Much” by Mika. It pains me to call such mainstream sugar-pop the album of the year but where’s the alternative?
Tags: music
December 2nd, 2009 at 5:50 pm
that is a crap list. can’t believe the latest clientele album made it – they made a brilliant 2nd album (“Strange Geometry”) but the last one is a disappointment.
I would rate the debut album from the xx. i’ve really enjoyed it. another debut, by megafaun, is excellent – ‘gather form and fly’. surprisingly, i loved ‘years of refusal’ by morrissey. with lyrics such as “I was driving my car / I crashed and broke my spine / so yes there are things worse in life than never being someone’s sweetie” it’s typically cynical. i suppose you’ll hate it though, don’t imagine you getting into morrissey. here’s one you won’t find easily – the self titled album from melbourne artist darren sylvester. it’s very 1979-81 bowie meets bolan meets ferry. definitely in my top 5 for the year.
December 2nd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Actually I liked the XX debut as well, but my favourite from the MC list is the Grizzly Bears. Still, there’s precious little there that’s “send-it-to-everyone-i-know omg you gotta hear this” kind of good. It’s just, hm, I like this, not “omg geniuses walk the earth” level jaw-dropping shit like I always hope to find.
BTW I see you went with mindawn for your digital fulfilment. How have they been? I’ve been writing a lot of shopping carts recently, and a lot of media processing stuff recently, and wondering if I should throw together a digital music fulfilment site to compete with the woefully crap ones currently around.
December 2nd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
to be honest i have barely checked into mindawn since i set that up. i’ve probably sold zero copies given my zero profile. but the set up process was painless enough. agreed about the albums list – perhaps pitchfork will produce a more inspiring selection when they compile theirs. unless i’ve missed it. it couldn’t be worse than the list you linked to.