UPDATE: Blue Roses was my pick. All 11 are brill though.
We are now in the last month of 2009 and this is my final list of albums that are candidates for my Album of the Year. It’s been a really good year for new music. In addition to the albums listed here there are several musicians who are breaking through but who have not released full albums yet. Plus there are several albums that just didn’t make the list. For example Kasabian, Adriane Lake, Imogen Heap, Placebo, Muse, Elin Ruth Sigvardsson, Elle Stevenson, Nerina Pallot and Tori Amos. It has been a great year for new music.
These are not in release date order. Nor are they in preference order. It’s going to be very, very hard to pick one from this list. Will listen to them all again over the Christmas holidays and pick the winner before the new year. I was going to wimp out and not pick one. But decided that would be crap 🙂
If you want to pick your favourite from the list then post your choice in the comments. If enough people (more than 5) comment I’ll have a draw for an iTunes voucher code to buy an album.
Those Thousand Seas from Claire Tchaikowski [Listen on Spotify or Last FM. Buy on Amazon UK or iTunes. Follow Claire on Facebook] I can’t remember how I found this album. I think it was buy following friend links on MySpace. Irrespective of how I found it, I’m glad I did. It’s a beautiful recording. I like Undone especially.
The Duckworth Lewis Method from The Duckworth Lewis Method [Listen on Spotify. Buy onAmazon UK or iTunes. Follow on Twitter] Who said the concept album is dead? Tell most of the people you know that there is anew album about cricket and they’ll likely run a mile! But this is very good. The songs are brilliant in their own right. Well worth a listen. No need to be a fan of cricket. In fact probably better if you aren’t. Then you can concentrate on the music.
Blue Roses from Blue Roses. [Listen on Spotify. Buy on Amazon UK or iTunes. Follow Laura Groves on Twitter] This was another Twitter find. Can’t remember now how I came across it. But I’m glad I did. I love this album to bits. I have always loved piano/guitar music (witness my Queen and Kate Bush addiction!). Blue Roses has some beautiful piano tracks, and some great acoustic guitar stuff. It may be the case that the song Does Anyone Love Me Now? will be one of my favourite songs ever. I was going to list some other tracks but couldn’t separate them. They’re all good!
Lungs from Florence + The Machine [Listen on Spotify. Buy on Amazon UK or iTunes. Follow Florence on Twitter.] Several people had been cajoling me into listening to Lungs for a while. I kept promising I’d do it. I had a free hour one day last week, or the week before (cant recall now), and I listened to it on Spotify. Wow! it’s good. Florence has a really nice voice. When coupled with the music on the album the result is very good indeed. I especially like the tracks Cosmic Love and Hardest of Hearts.
Fever Ray from Fever Ray [Listen on Spotify. Buy on Amazon UK or iTunes. Follow Fever Ray on Twitter.] Fever Ray is a new solo project by Karin Dreijer Andersson who is a member of The Knife. She has a brilliant voice. I reckon Karin could pass the Kate Bush Test by singing names from the phone book and make it sound wonderful.
The Fame from Lady Gaga [Listen on Spotify. Buy on Amazon UK or iTunes. Follow Lady Gaga on Twitter.] This actually came out originally in 2008, but it was re-released in November as The Fame Monster. It was well into 2009 before I heard Poker Face on the radio though. This was the song that hooked me. The whole album is brilliant. She has been getting a lot of press recently. Even made the cover of the current issue of Rolling Stone. Richly deserved. Lady Gaga is the genuine article. Not a manufactured artist.
Wild Young Hearts from The Noisettes [Listen on Spotify. Buy on Amazon UK or iTunes. Follow The Noisettes on Twitter.] When I first heard a track from this album, Don’t Upset The Rhythm, I thought it was a new Lady Gaga song. The whole album is simply brilliant. Only one track is like Lady Gaga. They have their own sound. And a very good sound it is too. The singer, Shingai Shoniwa, has a very powerful, beautiful voice. The song Atticus is now one of my favourite tracks ever, from anyone.
Two Suns from Bat For Lashes [Listen on Spotify. Buy on Amazon UK or iTunes. Follow Natasha on Twitter. ] This was first recommended to me on Twitter. Good call that was. The songs Sleep Alone and Daniel are superb. The others are good as well. Liked this so much I extended my stay at Apple WWDC to go see them in San Francisco 🙂
Hardships! from Jenny Wilson [Listen on Spotify. Buy on iTunes. Follow Jenny on Twitter.] I wasn’t going to include this when I was thinking about writing this post. I loved Jenny Wilson’s first album Love & Youth. The follow up is less easily accessible. However it is definitely a grower. I’m liking it more and more. So it has to be on the list as it may be my favourite in 7 months 🙂
If you follow my ramblings on Twitter you’ll not be surprised to see that I’m adding Spinnerette by Spinnerette to this list! [Listen on Spotify. Buy on Amazon UK or iTunes. Follow Spinnerette on Twitter]. Another band that I discovered in a posting to Twitter, which is rapidly becoming the place where I discover new music. I’ve been playing this a lot since I got it. This might be one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long while. I’ll hold judgement until the newness novelty has worn off. I’m going to see them live in London on 16th July. Fabulous 🙂
Polly Scattergood from Polly Scattergood. I listened to this because Polly was playing in The Roundhouse at the iTunes Live Festival the same night as Bat For Lashes. It’s a very good album. I love several tracks from this such as Bunny Club, Nitrogen Pink and Untitled 27 [Listen on Spotify. Buy on Amazon UK or iTunes. Follow Polly on Twitter ]