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Dr. No's Ethiopium - Oh No [2009]
Instrumental hip-hop with okay beats. Kind of hit or miss song-wise.

Real Estate - Real Estate [2009]
Sounds like a Death Cab for Cutie demo, but with more post-rock and a dash of shoegaze influence.
The vocals are distorted so that it sounds like your in the room next to the singer, and you've got your head pressed up against the wall struggling to hear him sing.
I do like Snow Days quite a bit though.

Aceyalone & The Lonely Ones - Aceyalone [2009]
A rap tribute to 50's/60's pop music.
A fun album, with an interesting idea, that's executed well.

Collaborations ep - Amon Tobin and guests [2009]
A rather unremarkable release for amon tobin, but excellent release for anyone else.

Get Color - HEALTH [2009]
Catchy mixture of rock and electronic with dreamy, disconnected vocals and delicious jungle drums.

The Bay of Future Passed - Microfilm [2009]
One of my favorite post-rock bands.
I didn't like this as much as their previous releases.
Blood Sample is such a good track though. I suppose the band thought so as well since they included a piano rendition of the melody as the last song on the album.

an anxious object - Mouse On The Keys [2009]
Post-rock with piano and sometimes jazz too.
Wavers between boring and bad.

Polly Scattergood - Polly Scattergood [2009]
Gentle indie pop with female lead singer
There's a heavy emphasis on the lyrics, which kinda suck
There's not very many female-fronted bands I like, and I feel bad about this.

There Will be fireworks - There Will Be Fireworks [2009]
Post-rock with a singer who has a heavy Scottish accent.
The accent makes me dawwwwww.

Daisy - Brand New [2009]
A pistache 90's alt rock sound with a little bit emo/screamo vocals thrown in.
Not that great.

Gutter Tactics - dälek [2009]
Moody rap with rock/metal samples.
Almost sounds like they sample SUNN O)) or Sleep or something similar on Who Medgar Evers Was...
Los Macheteros / Spear of a Nation has a power electronic feel to the beat.

3P - MNDSGn [2009]
Clumsy mixing of beats that don't really go together

just A moment - 凛として時雨 [2009]
j-rock/pop
I'm not very knowledgeable about Japanese music, but it doesn't stick out to me as being very good or bad.

Moen - Immanu El [2009]
Post rock with hushed, crooning vocals. Has that typical Christian band sound.
I have nothing against Christian bands; I'm just against boring ones.

Further Complications - Jarvis Cocker [2009]
Terrible, like 70's rock, but without any of the soul.
I hate the lead singers voice so much.

Seek Magic - Memory Tapes [2009]
Neo-disco sound with ambient and idm undertones
Good, but not for me.

Eating Us - Black Moth Super Rainbow [2009]
J-pop plus Boards of Canada and 70's prog.
Enjoyable twee album.

Jarvis Cocker

なんか気になるわ～この人。

ROのインタビューも、いい意味で力の抜けた感じだし、
そうなると、どんな曲作ってんのかも気になる。。

もう４５歳らしいけど、痩せてるのはともかく、
なーんかこのビジュアルも好きなんよね～～･････

気になる。。。

Vote for your favourite LP cover from 2009 over at;

http://www.artvinyl.com/en/nominate/nominations.html

You can see the images over there - didn't want to go through and grab them all for here - but here's the list;

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Baroness - Blue Record
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Clark - Growl's Garden
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Engineers - Three Fact Fader
Fanfarlo Resevoir
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Horrors - Primary Colours
Iron And Wine - Around the well
Kelpe - Microscope Contents
Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Pet Shop Boys - Yes
Smith Westerns - Smith Westerns
sunno))) - Monoliths And Dimensions
Teeth Of The Sea - Orphaned By The Ocean
The xx - xx
Various Artists - New Tales To Tell: A Tribute To Love And Rockets
Volcano Choir - Unmap
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
Atlas Sound - Logos
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions
Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe
Editors - In This Light And On This Evening
Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Florence & The Machine - Lungs
Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
Jamie T - Chaka Demus
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
Jay Z - The Blueprint 3
La Roux - La Roux
Massive Attack - Splitting The Atom
Muse -- The Resistance
Skunk Anansie - Smashes Trashes
The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant
The Hours - See the Light
The Mars Volta - Octahedron
The Prodigy -- Invaders Must Die
The Rakes - Klang
Thee Vicars - Back on the Streets
Weezer - Raditude
White Lies - To Lose My Life
Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

As explained earlier, here's the second half of the first part of my rundown of 90s songs.

Previously: My top 100 tracks 1990-99 Pt.01a: 200 to 181

180
dEUS
Sister Dew
The Ideal Crash
1999

An impossibly sad song, a slow, minimalist track that lyrically deals with a man confessing to the titular character his crime. dEUS have never come close to the naked emotions of this track since, or to that matter before it, either, and it's such an affecting track that I can only listen to this once in a while.

179
The Dandy Warhols
Every Day Should Be A Holiday
...The Dandy Warhols Come Down
1997

Way back before they were soundtracking Vodafone adverts, this band of American slackers were writing wonderful summer pop songs like this, psychedelic electro-pop that hooked me from the first moment I heard it (and I ended up buying the album on import months before it was eventually released over here).

178
They Might Be Giants
Birdhouse in Your Soul
Flood
1990

One of the greatest and most enduring indie pop songs, perhaps, the reason it is a bit further down this list is that it does every now and again grate if overplayed. But still, it's probably the only song ever sung from the point of a nightlight, has a quirky video and the kind of chorus that bolts itself behind a sturdy door in your head...

177
The Future Sound of London
My Kingdom
Dead Cities
1996

The lead single from FSOL's darkest album, this beautiful, elegant track brought together Blade Runner samples and a feeling of a decaying London on a soft bed of electronics that carries the listener along for five blissful minutes. The video, with London being invaded by all kinds of computer-generated aliens, is well worth a look, too, even if some of the effects have dated a little.

176
Downset
Empower
Do We Speak a Dead Language?
1996

A little surprised, I have to say, that this band lasted as long as this year. But then, seeing as they were formed originally from the ashes of one of the very first rap metal bands (Social Justice) I guess it's kinda apt that they should outlive most of their followers, too. This song also has the "honour" of being the first song I saw performed live in London once I'd gone to Uni (and also that was the first gig I ever reviewed, too. Happy days...), and that makes it a little special to me - but either way, this is searing stuff that like much of Downset's material, features lyrics that are considerably less destructive than many other rap-metal acts. Vocalist Rey Oropreza instead chose lyrics that encouraged listeners to make a positive difference to their life - and this song's message was no different, as it simply burns with it.

175
Roni Size / Reprazent
Brown Paper Bag
New Forms
1997

When drum'n'bass kicked off in a big way in the mid-to-late 90s, it was remarkable that each of the names that broke through to the dance mainstream all had such different styles within the same broad remit. Roni Size may not have had success on the same level as Goldie, but his winning of the Mercury Music Prize twelve years ago for the extraordinary New Forms perhaps gained him greater musical recognition. And it was tracks like this that were really special - the broad, jazzy sweeps fused perfectly with the charging drum'n'bass, and the full nine minute version passes in a flash.

174
Snog
Hooray!!
Buy Me... I'll Change Your Life
1997

David Thrussell's strange, strange band welcomes the end of world…in pop form. Well, I say pop. This is twisted, strange stuff, but it does have a habit of burrowing into your head and becoming one of those earworms that won't quite shift. For all it's apocalyptic lyrics, too, it's bright and summery as his songs go - but then, perhaps that's the point...

173
Marion
Time
This World And Body
1996

To some, this fact that this band never had the success of other bands lumped in as "Britpop" was criminal - and I'm one of them. Infinitely more talented than certain other north-west based peers, with a clutch of killer singles, they sadly vanished into a haze of drug problems, and their (also brilliant) second album limped into view some years later with barely a wimper, and sank without trace. Something of an unlucky band, really, and tracks like this remind me of what could have been: a glorious, aching lament to lost love and reflections on past mistakes, and Jaime Harding's vocal performance is something to behold.

172
Mercury Rev
Chasing a Bee
Yerself Is Steam
1991

Way back in the mists of time, before Mercury Rev cleaned up, kept off the drugs, kicked out original singer David Baker and turned to (blissfully great) Americana, they were a very odd band indeed, drenching completely "out there" pop songs in masses of fuzz and feedback. And sometimes, those pop songs would fight to the forefront - and Chasing A Bee is one of those moments. It's epic, beautiful and wonderfully mental.

171
Apoptygma Berzerk
Deep Red
7
1996

One of Apop's earlier singles, I have to admit that I didn't know this even had a video until I was trying to find a link for this. With the changes this band have gone through stylistically in the past ten years or so, this sounds like almost a different band entirely - a thumping electro-goth track that rightly is still part of Apop live sets even now (and it reminds me, I must use it in a DJ set again sometime...).

170
Rocket from the Crypt
Middle
Scream, Dracula, Scream!
1995

RFTC: one of the greatest rock bands of the 90s. Fact. Also a fact: one of my biggest regrets is never seeing them live. Anyway, rather than choosing perhaps one of the more obvious singles, this is the short (minute-long) opener to their breakthrough album Scream, Dracula, Scream. A torrent of gang vocals, a surging beat, and a clever pacing that steps up the track each verse until it bursts into life...before stopping way too quickly. Either way, if you ever wanted a reminder as to whether rock'n'roll can still be great decades after it first began, here's your pointer.

169
Jocasta
Change Me
No Coincidence
1996

Not all mid-90s indie in the UK was Britpop. One of the bands on the fringes for a while were Tim Arnold's first stab at the pop world, followed by a prolific solo career that has seen some unusual influences. Not that Jocasta were particularly normal - although like other bands I'm mentioning here, both my girlfriend and I are struggling to remember anything other than this song (I did have the album way back in the mists of time) - mixing in poetry influences (the lyrics are marvellous) as well as a harder, rockier sound than many other indie bands of the time. Anyway, this song is simply a perfect example of why there was so much more to the mid-90s indie scene than Blur, Oasis and Pulp.

168
Evil Superstars
B.A.B.Y.
Boogie-Children-R-Us
1998

I can remember little about this band, other than this track. What I do recall - they were a Belgian band who supported both dEUS and Girls Against Boys over here at some point, and they had a handful of great songs, of which this in particular stood head and shoulders above the rest. A strange, really quite sleazy drawl over an electronic backing, this was good fun if nothing else.

167
Meat Beat Manifesto
Radio Babylon
Original Fire
1990

An absolute stone-cold electronic classic, the year it comes from depends on which version you have. I have it on Original Fire, which dates from 1997, but sonically it's obviously older, and in fact dates from around 1990. A dub-influenced, quasi-breakbeat underpins things, and it's tracks like this that make me wonder how exactly they were ever lumped in as industrial (signing to Wax Trax! seemed to be the main reason!). MBM's influence is huge, though, and while they may have had better songs, to me they never made a better dancefloor track than this, period.

166
Stone Temple Pilots
Silvergun Superman
Purple
1994

A band perhaps somewhat unfairly maligned at the time - seen as riding on the coattails of the grunge bands, and perhaps also because they ended up with greater success than many of them. Whatever the reason, their mix of hard rock, whimsical pop and much, much darker moments certainly caught the ear of many. This was always my favourite song, though, a perfect balance of the elements above, the brusing verses and melodic, lighter chorus contrasting well. It was the opener on their comeback tour in the US, too (a shame they never came over here).

165
Pulp
I Spy
Different Class
1995

1995 was Pulp's year in Britpop terms, without a doubt - Different Class was probably the finest album of the Britpop period, and that wasn't just down to the singles (as great as they all were). It was down to tracks like this - the 60s film-soundtrack sweep, and the fuming, spiteful lyrics detailing a tale of suburban jealously and revenge. In fact, I'm not sure Jarvis Cocker ever wrote lyrics better than this.

164
Primal Scream
Come Together
Screamadelica
1991

No, not the truncated and butchered single version, but the original, epic album centrepiece. Screamadelica may have been endlessly dissected over the years, but at it's heart it is simply an awesome fusion of rock and dance that perhaps just came along at the right moment. This track's blissed-out dub textures and gospel samples (and, perhaps, it's oh-so-slightly hippyish tendencies) make it a glorious summer track - so writing this in a cold mid-November perhaps it loses a little of it's impact. Still, the fact that I'm still listening to this eighteen years on perhaps helps to explain just how good this is.

163
Monster Magnet
Powertrip
Powertrip
1998

Where Dave Wyndorf proclaims his desire to become a full-time rock star, and let's be honest, this sure as hell sounds like the deal worked out well for him. A massive, stadium rock track, a world away from their more stoner rock beginnings, but frankly the sound suits Dave and the band well. The over-the-top video is a hoot, too...

162
The Delgados
Pull the Wires From the Wall
Peloton
1999

A now long-departed indie band from Glasgow, who were much more spiky than their sometimes dreamy sound often suggested. Often it was Emma Pollock's casually detached vocal delivery - and caustic lyrics - that made the difference, as here. Although the sweeping orchestral backing helps too.

161
Autechre
Second Bad Vilbel
Anvil Vapre
1995

Nearly fifteen years old, and probably still ahead of it's time, this track's mechanised, pounding rhythms thrilled then and they still thrill now. I've never dared try to play this in a DJ set at an industrial club, perhaps I should sometime - but it's steadily shifting pace probably would scare the dancefloor away. Shame, as enjoyed really loud this track is extraordinary.

Friday: My top 200 tracks 1990-99 Pt.02: 160 to 121

Playing with the top generator....

discsmasher's top albums (6 months)
1. Grateful Dead - American Beauty (103) 2. The Coup - Party Music (57) 3. Beach House - Devotion (49) 4. Peter and the Wolf - Lightness (41) 5. CocoRosie - Coconuts, Plenty of Junk Food (39) 6. Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications (37) 7. Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs - You Can't Buy A Gun When You're Crying (35) 8. J Dilla - The Shining (33) 9. Johnny Cash - The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983 (Disc 1) (31) 10. The Dodos - Visiter (30)

Wed 4 Nov – Gonzales vs Jarvis Cocker

A bit of a review of the Chilly Gonzales gig at The Pigalle Club can be found over at my blog. Features a special appearance from Jarvis Cocker.

http://thesvelteone.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/chilly-gonzales-the-piano-chat-show/

In an effort to organize myself for the arduous task of compiling a “Best of 2009” list or two (Albums? Tracks?) I have, here, a list of all the albums released in 2009 that I have listened to.

Without further ado, in reverse alphabetical order:

Yuksek - Away from the Sea
Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
Various Artists - Dark Was the Night
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz!
YACHT - See Mystery Lights
xx - The XX
Woods - Songs of Shame
Wooden Shjips - Dos
Wild Light- Adult Nights
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
WhoMadeWho - The Plot
Whitest Boy Alive - The Rules
White Rabbits - It’s Frightening
White Lies - To Lose My Life
The Warlocks - Mirror Explodes
The Veils- Sun Gangs
Thomas Function - In the Valley of Sickness
Therapy? - Crooked Timber
The Temper Trap - Conditions
Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men
Swan Lake - Enemy Mine
Superdrag - Industry Giants
Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years
Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
St. Vincent - The Actor
Sondre Lerche - Heartbeat Radio
Soap & Skin - Lovetune for Vacuum
The Snake the Cross the Crown - On A Carousel of Sound, We Go Round
Sky Larkin - The Golden Spike
Röyksopp - Junior
The Rifles - The Great Escape
Richard Hawley - True Love’s Gutter
The Raveonettes - In and out of Control
A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
PJ Harvey & John Parrish - A Woman A Man Walked By
Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love
Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing
Pet Shop Boys - Yes
Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
ThePains of Being Pure at Heart - S/T
Nouvelle Vague - 3
Neon Indian - Psychic Charms
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
My Latest Novel - Deaths and Entrances
Muse- The Resistance
múm - Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know
MSTRKRFT - Fist of God
Mr. Lif - I Heard it Today
Morrissey - Years of Refusal
Monsters of Folk- S/T
Modest Mouse - No One’s First, And You’re Next
Moderat - S/T
Miike Snow - S/T
Metric - Fantasies
Maxïmo Park/artist] - Quicken the Heart
Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
Mando Diao - Give Me Fire
The Maccabees - Wall of Arms
M. Ward - Hold Time
Lucky Fonz III - A Family Like Yours
The Legends - Over and Over
La Roux - S/T
Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy
Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti….Is Skyscraper
JJ - jj N° 2
Jónsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps
Joker’s Daughter - The Last Laugh
Jarvis Cocker- Further Complications
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Jack Peñate - Everything Is New
J Dilla - Jay Stay Paid
It Hugs Back - Inside Your Guitar
Islands- Vapours
Idlewild - Post Electric Blues
Heartless Bastards - The Mountain
Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Graham Coxon - The Spinning Top
God Help The Girl- S/T
Girls - Album
Generationals - Con Law
Ganglians - S/T
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band
Florence + The Machine - Lungs
The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
The Field - Yesterday and Today
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
The Felice Brothers - Yonder is the Clock
Engineers - Three Fact Fader
Elephant Stone - The Seven Seas
Eels- Hombre Lobo
The Drums - Summertime!
Doves- Kingdom of Rust
Doom - Born Like This
The Dodos - Time to Die
Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe
Dead Weather- Horehound
Dead Man’s Bones - S/T
Darker My Love - 2
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul
Dan Auerbach - Keep it Hid
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
CondoFucks- Fuckbook
The Clues - Clues
The Cave Singers- Welcome Joy
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Burning Hearts - Aboa Sleeping
Burial and Four Tet - Wolf Cub & Moth
Brendan Benson - My Old, Familiar Friend
The Boxer Rebellion - Union
Bombay Bicycle Club - I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish I Were an Eagle
The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue
Beck - The Velvet Underground & Nico (Record Club Recording)
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Antony and the Johnsons- The Crying Light
Antlers - Hospice
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
Alec Ounsworth - Mo Beaty
Akron/Family- Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free
A.A. Bondy - When the Devil’s Loose


In the same fashion I went about doing this last year I will do a Top Ten Albums countdown beginning 10 days before the end of the year. I am also thinking that I will do a Top Ten Tracks of 2009 that will begin 20 days before that. I better get to work on this quick like.

Did I miss anything particularly noteworthy? Please let me know if I did so I do not forget to check something or another that might be awesome but forgotten out!

A LIST
Air - So Light Is Her Footfall
Arctic Monkeys - My Propeller
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Around The Bend
Atlas Sound feat. Noah Lennox - Walkabout
Bad Lieutenant - Sink Or Swim
The Cribs - We Share The Same Skies
Dead Man’s Bones - Pa Pa Power
The Dead Weather - I Cut Like A Buffalo
Echo & The Bunnymen - do you know who i am
Fenech-Soler - Lies
Gliss - Beauty
Groove Armada - I Won’t Kneel
Groove Armada - Warsaw
The Horrors - Whole New Way
Ian Brown - Marathon Man
Miike Snow - Black And Blue
Muse - Undisclosed Desires
Peaches - I Feel Cream
White Belt Yellow Tag - Remains
Wolfmother - California Queen
The xx - Islands

B LIST
A Place to Bury Strangers - Keep Slipping Away
Alberta Cross - Taking Control
Chapel Club - Surfacing
Colour Music - Yes
Darwin Deez - Constellations
Devendra Banhart - Baby
The Drums - Let’s Go Surfing
Girls - Laura
Girls - Lust For Life
Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension
Mirrors - Into The Heart
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher Than The Stars
Them Crooked Vultures - New Fang
Vampire Weekend - Horchata
The Very Best - Julia

NME RADIO SPOT PLAYS
Baby Monster - Ultra Violence and Beethoven
Band Of Skulls - Friends
Brakes - Why Tell The Truth (When It’s Easier To Lie)
Calvin Harris - Flashback
Camera Obscura - The Sweetest Thing
Crookers feat Miike Snow - In Search Of A Remedy
Datarock - The Pretender
Editors - Bricks And Mortar
Findlay Brown - Nobody Cared (Lynchmob Version)
Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You Can’t See Land
The Golden Filter - THUNDERBIRD
The High wire - Odds & Evens
Jamie T - The Man’s Machine
Muchuu - Somebody Tell Me
North Atlantic Oscillation - Cell Count
Passion Pit - Little Secrets
The Postmarks - Go Jet Setter
Richard Hawley - Open Up Your Door
Silverclub - Answers
The Soft Pack - Answer To Yourself
We Fell to Earth - Deaf
Wilco feat. Fiest - You And I

EVENING SPOT PLAYS
Alice in Chains - Your Decision
Animal Collective - Brother Sport
Atlas Sound feat. Laetita Sadier - Quick Canal
Boy of Girl - Hot Chocolate Boy
The Drums - i felt stupid
Eels - The Look You Give That Guy
Egyptian Hip Hop - rad pitt
Engineers - What Pushed Us Together
Get Back Guinozzi - Carpet Madness
Holly Miranda - Forest Green Oh Forest Green
Internet Forever - Cover the Walls
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
Juliette Lewis - Romeo
Pony Pony Run Run - Hey You
The Rakes - Light From Your Mac
Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - One Night Stand
Soulsavers - Unbalanced pieces
The Rifle Volunteer - End Season
Thom Yorke - Hearing Damage
Tom Hickox - Moonage Daydream
Turbo Fruits - Naked With You
Two Door Cinema Club - I Can Talk
Wild Palms - Over Time
The xx - You Got The Love (remix of Florence And The Machine)