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Favourite releases so far this year, month by month
The few of you who follow my spotify-blog OnTheSpot, which now is twitter-based (http://www.twitter.com/onthespotify but also readable on onthespot) may have seen my 100 track best of 2009-playlist or this smaller Wimp-version. A lot of my favourites are not on Spotify or Wimp, so here is a plain good old written blog-version of my favourites…
I usually buy things very soon after the release, so I guess the month in month cases will be the release month, but it’s based on the month I bought these, so there might be some incorrect ones, and there might be some older releases that I thought were from 09, so please correct me in the comments.
Let’s start with the most recent ones. The “dearest ones”/the ones I have played the most, are put in bold, but the other ones are also favourites/highly recommended.
So, here we go…
Songs are listed randomly:
JUNE/JULY 2009
God Help The Girl – God help The Girl
Summer Cats – Songs for tuesdays
Wave Machines – Wave if you’re really there
We were promised jetpacks – these four walls
PATS – Nevadaflickan
Empty Set – as neat as a new pin
Liechtenstein – Survival Strategies In A Modern World
Jenny Owen Youngs – Transmitter failure
Darren Hanlon – Pointing Ray Guns at Pagans
jj- jj n° 2
So Cow – So Cow
Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
Dreamdate – Patience
Jenn Grant – Echoes
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating us (recent buy, haven’t listened THAT much, but it is good!)
Reverie Sound Revue – s/t (recent buy, haven’t listened THAT much, but it is good!)
The Rumble Strips – Welcome to the walk alone (recent buy, haven’t listened THAT much, but it is good!)
Slow Club – Yeah So (recent buy, haven’t listened THAT much, but it is good!)
Ohbijou – Beacons (recent buy, haven’t listened THAT much, but it is good!)
Martin Carr – Ye Gods (and little fishes) (recent buy, haven’t listened THAT much, but it is good!)
MAY 2009:
The Papertiger Sound – The last days are taking forever
Sharon van Etten – Because I was in love
Socialist Leisure Party – Tactical pop! for coffee cadets
Telekinesis – Telekinesis!
Various Artists – Not given lightly (Morr Music compilation)
Very Truly Yours – Reminders (ep)
Bill Wells & Maher Shalal Hash Baz
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Alessi’s Ark – Notes from the treehouse
The legends – Over and over
My Latest Novel – Death and Entrances
APRIL + MARCH 2009
The Leisure Society – Sleeper
Vetiver – Tight knit
When I was 12 – Dear Eskimo
Bat for lashes – two suns
Blue roses – blue roses
Peggy Sue – Body Parts & First Aid (ep collection)
Seeland – Tomorrow Today
Laura Gibson – Beasts Of Seasons
The Little Hands of Asphalt – Leap Years
Max Richter – Henry May Long
Wool Strings – Language of the snow
Anna Jarvinen – Man var bland molnen
The harts naive – we don’t feel
Maribel – aesthetics
Balmorhea – all is wild, all is silent
Dear Reader – Replace Why With Funny
Fanfarlo – Reservoir
Jonathan Johansson - En hand i himlen
Ólafur Arnalds – Found Songs (free album, – check last.fm for details)
Camera Obscura - My maudlin career
Cryptacize – mythomania
Elenette – Neurosor
Au revoir simone – still night, still light
The Golden Rule – The golden rule ep
Golden Silvers – True romance
Hiawata! – these boys and this band is all we know
Jon Hopkins – Insides
Metric – Fantasies
Shuta Hasunuma – Pop Ooga
Skansros – Skansros
Super Furry Animals – Dark days/Light Years
Susumu Yokota – A flower white ep
Bronnt Industries Kapital – Hard for justice
Cats On Fire – Our Temperance Movement
Colin Clary – Every Little Thing Counts
Hauschka – Snowflakes & Car Wrecks (EP)
Hildur Guðnadóttir – Without Sinking
Jesper Norda – We have the guts EP (free EP)
Pocketbooks – Flight paths
Sky Larkin – The Golden Spike
South Ambulance – EP#4
Tenniscoats – Temporacha (mini album)
The very most – spring ep
The voluntary butler scheme – multiplayer ep
FEBRUARY 2009
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – tpobpah
Emmy The Great – first love
Various – Dark was the night
Wake the president – you can’t change that boy (ep)
2 out of 3 rule – Really elementary
Musette – datum
The BMX Bandits – BMX Love ep
Cola Jet Set – Guitarras y Tambores
The Electones – If you’ll be null, I’ll be void
Empire of the sun – walking on a dream
Teeny Grownups – Epic rock
The Glasses – Story problems
Here we go magic – here we go magic
Knight school – the poor and the needy need to party
Lily Allen – It’s not me, it’s you
Morrissey – Years of refusal
Susumu yokota – mother
JANUARY 2009
Butcher Boy – React or die
Burning Hearts – Aboa Sleeping
Clue to Kalo – Lily Perdita
Darren Hayman and the secondary modern – Pram town
Dent May and his magnificent ukulele – the good feeling music of…
Kazumasa Hashimoto – Tokyo sonata soundtrack
Animal Collective – Merriweather post pavillion
The City and the horses – I don’t want to dream
I was a king – I was a king
Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
Bellman – Mainly Mute
The Bird and the Bee – Rayguns are not just the future
The Bumblebees – The Bumblebees EP
The felt Tips – Bought and sold (ep)
Fight like apes – FLA and the mystery of the golden medallion
Samtidigt Som – Flykt, kärlek och broderskap
So, – what are your favourites so far?
This post was tagged with: 2009
Posted in Lists | 9 Comments »
July 14th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Ooh, I love big lists.
Of your lists, I have/like:
JUNE/JULY 2009
Ohbijou – Beacons
MAY 2009:
My Latest Novel – Death and Entrances
APRIL 2009 (what a music month!)
The Leisure Society – Sleeper
Laura Gibson – Beasts Of Seasons
Dear Reader – Replace Why With Funny
Fanfarlo – Reservoir
Jesper Norda – We have the guts EP (free EP)
FEBRUARY 2009
The Electones – If you’ll be null, I’ll be void
Here we go magic – here we go magic
JANUARY 2009
Darren Hayman and the secondary modern – Pram town
…
Nothing bought in March?
I first heard Jesper Norder and The Electones because of your blog/compilations, so ta for them!
I’ll have to go through and investigate some of the bands that I haven’t heard of though.
Here are some of my recommendations anyhow:
Albums on Spotify:
Clem Snide- Hungry Bird
Soap&Skin- Lovetune For Vacuum
Orphans & Vandals- I Am Alive And You Are Dead
Loney Dear- Dear John
Sin Fang Bous- Clangour
Existensminimum- OK Boys
Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
The Duckworth Lewis Method- The Duckworth Lewis Method
The Antlers- Hospice
Gustaf Spetz- Goodnight Mr Spetz
Broken Records- Until The Earth Begins To Part
Bishop Allen- Grrr…
Point Juncture, WA- Heart To Elk
Albums not on Spotify:
DM Stith- Heavy Ghost
Bruce Peninsula- A Mountain Is A Mouth
The Dø- A Mouthful
Shugo Tokumaru- Rum Hee (ep)
Dan Mangan- Roboteering ep
The Second Hand Marching Band- A Dance To Half Death (ep)
Teitur- The Singer
Venice Is Sinking- Azar
I hope I’ve sent some good music back your way for a change! (although I think a couple of them are ones you have mentioned previously/possibly like, but not listed)
July 14th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Thanks for your long and interesting comment! You like long lists, I love long comments
I bought a lot of stuff in March, but I seem to have put all the March-albums in the April-section. There was a reason that April was so over-sized! On your list, there are several I haven’t heard of, so I need to check some of these out.
Soap&Skin is a new discovery for me, and I haven’t listened enough on the album to put it on any list, but I see that people like it very much. Loney Dear: I have bought it, but rarely listened to it. Should I try once more?
I think Sin Fang Bous is from last year? It’s a brilliant album, though, – still a favourite of mine. Gustaf Spetz is good, but I lost the interest quite soon for some reason. The Antlers is one I have but need to listen more to. Bishop Allen and Point Juncture should probably have been on the list. I don’t own them, but have listened quite much to them on Spotify, so I forgot to put them on the list.
DM Stith is also a lovely album, but I find it too “heavy”/dark/weird to listen much to. Most of the other albums you mention need to be checked out!
BTW, The Shugo Tokumaru ep you mention, “Rum He”, – I saw The Yellow Stereo posted about it some time ago, but I haven’t been able to find it in any online shops. Any clues to where I can get it?
Thanks for the comment and the recommendations!
Knut
July 14th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Excellent list! I haven’t listened to all of it, but my faves are all on it. I’d only add :
Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard – ‘Em Are I
Ray Rumours – Le Pont Suspendu
Original Folks – Common Use
and Woods – Songs of Shame
July 14th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Soap&Skin is probably my number 2 record of the year (behind Dear Reader), although maybe their positions may change. The voice took a while to properly get, but after seeing her live it just seemed to click more.
Loney Dear I am a big fan of. All of the albums, and such a great live act. The new album almost seemed like a bit of an anti-climax to begin with, but it’s grown on me a lot. I made a Loney Dear compilation recently, and was surprised to see that out of all of the songs from his 5(?) albums, 7 of the tracks were from Dear John. So yes, I’d say listen some more!
Sin Fang Bous is this year, but I think had a limited pre-release on Itunes or some download only version at the very end of last year. It’s been a surprise hit with me.
Gustaf Spetz is one that I have also just listened to on Spotify- it’s one I keep hoping will come up on Emusic for me to download, but maybe I’ll listen some more to see if it’s worth a buy.
The Antlers is also quite good. At first it underwhelmed me, but there seems to be quite a few cool songs on it (especially ‘Two’).
I can see why you might not listen to DM Stith too much, but he’s definitely an artist to catch live if you can. I saw him in May with his backing band, and all the singing and strings were lovely. Will be seeing him again next week. Plus, Fire Of Birds is surely one of my favourite songs this year.
and I’m afraid I can’t help with the Shugo Tokumaru ep! I had been eagerly wanting it, but not liking the super expensive Japan price/import costs (it has a dvd with it also, which adds to the price I imagine). But he came over to London last month and so I got the double bonus of seeing him with his band and their strange toy instruments, and buying the ep at the gig (for £10, so still a little bit pricey, but much cheaper than online). As well as some other strange merchandise of Shugo’s that I couldn’t resist: a guitar pick, Japanese hand-towel, and mini ocarina.
Hope you give the Ohbijou album some more listens also- am really enjoying that too. Think I shall listen to it again now.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
So much great music about at the moment.
Anyway, lists. Hope you like short ones too Knut, as here’s mine for 2009 so far!
The Sweptaways Show, God Help The Girl, My Maudlin Career, The Law of The Playground.
Note to self: listen to more new albums!
July 14th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Jeffrey Lewis is one I should have had on the list, but it’s one of those I have listen on through spotify, so then I forgot about it. Must buy that one! “Roll bus roll” is excellent. Just checked out Ray Rumours, which I hadn’t heard. LOVE IT! Checking out the other bands now. Thanks!!
July 14th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Short lists are perfect! I considered The Law of The Playground for the list, but it hasn’t been an “important” album for me, so I left it out. God Help… will probably compete with Leisure Society and a souple of others of album of the year. Just got a promo of the next Múm-album, and after two listens, that may also score high. the Sweptaways show was an album I had waited for, but I got terribly disappointed. It’s probably good, but just not for me… Thanks for your short list!
July 14th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Ooooh! I haven’t been a concert-man for some time now, but Shugo is definitely an artist I would LOVE to see live. Sin Fang Bous will be on the list in a moment…
July 15th, 2009 at 12:21 am
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