Tuesday 22 December 2009

Blog Post #100 - My Top 20 Albums of 2009


Hey, whaddya know? It's another list. I know the web and print media have been saturated with the things (even my own little blog), but what can I say, I'm a sucker for them. I, like many males, love lists. I took objection to Paul Morley's Observer Music Monthly column for December, in which he bemoaned the existent of Best Of lists. I love reading them, making them, arguing over them, debating them.

This is my obligatory Favourite Albums of 2009 list. It doesn't veer too far from the beaten track to many of the lists I've seen in circulation. It has also changed quite a bit since I first compiled it in November. Some of these albums will grow on me over the next year... it happens every year, and I guess the order could change drastically. Last year, I said my favourite album was The Devil, You and Me by The Notwist. Looking back now, it would be relegated to third place, behind Cut Copy and Frightened Rabbit.

I didn't even listen to some of my favourite albums of last year until this year (Cave Singers, I'm looking at you...). Some of these albums, The xx, Grizzly Bear, AC, I'm starting to get into a lot more than when I first heard them. But this is, I think, the order in which I've enjoyed these records this year. Oh, and those there are Mountain Goats.

Please feel free to rip this list to shreds.


  1. The Mountain Goats – The Life Of The World To Come (review)

  2. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love (read here)

  3. Fever Ray – Fever Ray

  4. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

  5. The xx – xx

  6. Butcher Boy – React Or Die (review)

  7. The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead

  8. The Phantom Band – Checkmate Savage

  9. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

  10. Nurses – Apple's Acre (review)

  11. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

  12. Doves – Kingdom of Rust

  13. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion

  14. Monsters Of Folk – Monsters Of Folk (review)

  15. Zoey Van Goey – The Cage Was Unlocked All Along (review)

  16. Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms

  17. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast

  18. Wildbirds and Peacedrums - The Snake (review)

  19. The Maccabees – Wall of Arms (review)

  20. Daniel Johnston - Is and Always Was (review)

4 comments:

Jasmin Robertson said...

I'm probably not one to comment as I haven't heard of most of them but I definitely think The XX should be above Fever Ray.
Maybe you could send a few burns my way?! (Subtlety gets you nowhere these days)

Finbarr Bermingham said...

I only got the XX album pretty recently and have been diggin the Fever Ray album all year, I think it's great. I think most of these albums are on Spotify... maybe apart from some of the smaller bands (Butcher Boy, Zoey VG, etc). What are your favourites?

DK said...

1. Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
2. The Twilight Sad - Forget the Night Ahead
3. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
4. Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage
5. Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue
6. Dälek - Gutter Tactics
7. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
8. DOOM - Born Like This
9. ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - The Century of Self
10. Metric - Fantasies
11. Vic Chesnutt - At the Cut
12. The Horrors - Primary Colours
13. Mew - No More Stories
14. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
15. Do Make Say Think - Other Truths
16. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
17. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II
18. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
19. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
20. Themselves - CrownsDown

Finbarr Bermingham said...

I thought MPP was a shoe-in for your number one Dave? The MSP revival knows no bounds. I do like that album, some good tunes on it. Only recently heard the new Yo La Tengo album too, which am enjoying, I reckon it'd make the top ten after another few spins.