The 50 Best Records of 2009? : Introduction.

A couple of years ago, I could barely be bothered to right a “favourite albums of the year” list – with a couple of notable exceptions, it just seemed like a drag, distracting me from dredging up yet more old punk and psyche stuff to get into. Last year was a pretty great year for finding new stuff I liked though. I wrote a top 30, with numbers, for the first time ever, and it seemed to go down well. And 2009 – well, wow, 2009 has been a monster. It seems like there’s a whole new universe out there plugging into all the obscure variations of guitar/racket/trash/song music I love, and I’ve been sitting right here in the big city, with a broadband connection and money in my pocket, trying to keep track of it all.

So putting a list together this year, I’ve come up with a top 50, and even then it’s been hard work trying to figure out which records stay and which get kicked off the bottom. Ok, so the ‘music industry’ has continued its grim descent this year, some of our big indie heroes have turned out total snoozers, and sadly some my chosen stars from last year’s list have produced disappointingly dreary follow-ups (no names mentioned). But that aside, it’s been one HELL of a year for music, just like it always is if you’ve got the energy to go out and find it.

So, just like last year, we’ll be covering this in batches of five, spread over the next month or so. Included for consideration will be any release featuring music released for the first time in 2009 that features more than four songs OR is bigger than a 7”.

Apologies as ever for all the great stuff I inevitably will have missed, and will discover halfway through next year, or in twenty years. As always, numbers are pretty much arbitrary and I don’t think that the girl group pop album I deem to be no.37 is objectively better than the industrial noise opus I put in at no.39 or whatever, but it’s easier and more fun to do it this way than if I just listed them all in alphabetical order.

One more note before we commence: I’ve left two albums – The Flaming Lips “Embryonic” and Oneida’s “Rated O” – off the list, not because I don’t like them, but just because they’re such startling, unwieldy monster records that I just don’t know WHAT to make of them yet. Perhaps they’ll be future classics, perhaps I’ll just keep cringing until they go away, but either way – too soon dudes. Gimme time.

Clear? Ok, so my internet connection is pretty intermittent at present (thanks Virgin), but once it’s sorted out we’ll get this show on the road!

Labels: announcements, best of 2009