My top five albums of 2009

Can you believe it's twenty-flippin'-ten? We is livin' in da future, man! Science, why do we not have hover-boards yet? Or teleportation? Or microscopic robots rebuilding our bodies continuously from the inside?

I was quite looking forward to those little nano-squidlets being injected into my bod to exercise me from the inside, fixing all the shit bits as they go, while I bumble on on eating too many biscuits.

Stupid science. To music!

(Click on the pics to link to my favouritest song off that album)

Lungs by Florence and the Machine



I've already gushed a waterfall of praise over this woman and her heavenly music... the love affair continues, growing more impassioned with each listen.


The First Days of Spring by Noah and the Whale



Possibly the most lovely break-up album of all time. Best listened to from start to finish if you are suffering from heart-break, otherwise you may never get past the doleful I have nothing to witness the first glimmers of sunshine showing through by Love of An Orchestra. Almost makes having a broken heart worth it (almost).


Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear



A sumptuous, complex and wide-ranging album which unfurls its charms slowly, like a flowering tea. Truly original, despite the "new Fleet Foxes" tag.


Two Dancers by Wild Beasts



Strictly speaking, I have only just listened to this properly in the last week or so, but I adore it and I can't make a list of the best albums of 2009 without including it. Swooping and stunning (while hooting and howling).


Middle Cyclone by Neko Case



Heartfelt and brave. I have a lot of respect for this lady, and I could happily listen to her honeyed gospel vocals til I'm 90, when I plan to die in my rocking chair on a porch somewhere, listening to my ipod (or future incarnation thereof).

* * * * *

Oh, and then there is this dirty little secret which I'm too ashamed to file under my top 5, even though I have listened to it a fair bit this year. I can't explain. Please don't ask me to. The lyrics are truly awful, it's "dance" music which falls under some kind of newfangled "electronic" genre, and Calvin himself is the biggest, dorkiest nerd in popular music since Moby - but damn if he doesn't put a big goofy smile on my face.

I think I just destroyed all the indie credit I'd built up in my top 5 right there, haven't I? Sh*t-sticks.