The Albums of the Year - Part Two

Reasonably assured that no albums released in the next six weeks will have sufficient impact on me to be counted in the year's upper echelon, and after much painful deliberation, I've settled on the following as my top ten records of 2009. In reverse order, in time-honoured blog-countdown style, naturally...

10: Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
It is delightfully weird, sounding like the chirruping of some demented bird, and the songs are undeniably glorious. I couldn't stop listening to this for weeks after it was released.

9: The XX - XX
The undoubted hype record of the year, and the backlash inevitably started soon after release. However, there's a reason for the hype. With minimal ingredients and maximum precision, the Cockney teenagers were able to summon levels of black drama on a par with Interpol and The National.

8: The Horrors - Primary Colours
This received similar hype to The XX, and largely because of the surprise element. Nobody expected these immaculately coiffed ex-NME darlings to produce something so searing, and deep. Yes, it's very derivative, but this doesn't stop it being a fantastically well-realised piece of work.

7: Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter
Grandaddy never received the Pavement-sized recognition they deserved in their lifetime, and this record hasn't pushed Lytle to untouchable status like Malkmus, but it should have. It's a gorgeous piece of bruised songcraft. The warmth Lytle is still able to conjure up is awe-inspiring.

6: Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Fur and Gold was rightly lauded and this is leaps and bounds ahead of even that. On this record, Natasha Khan has gone from simple singer-songwriter to someone producing high art. Her voice is better than ever, and the Scott Walker duet is spine-tingling.

5: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
The first great record of 2009, and the point at which some people stopped considering other albums for the top prize of the year. It was massively (and predictably) hyped in indie circles, and (even more predictably) panned by the backlash brigade, but it is brilliant. Panda Bear's increased influence has smoothed off some of AC's more abrasive edges without blunting their creativity.

4: Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Had this been released later in the year it would probably have been even higher. Another artist to have shown incredible progression from an already strong debut. The noise and menace is still there, but the harshness has been buffed out in place of something more mesmeric, but no less beguiling.

3: Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Speaking of massive progress... Little to say on this other than that it is jaw-dropping stuff. Incredible maturity and depth to their sound that you wonder if they can ever top this.

2: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The band with the worst name of the year ironically nearly produce the best album. It distills all the good points about shoegaze and twee 90s indie pop, compressing them into a near perfect half hour or so. A record which becomes more and more addictive with every listen, and what is even more pleasing is the fact that the recent Higher Than the Stars EP contains songs that are arguably even better.

1: Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
It's impossible for me to judge this record objectively, given that the Manics have always meant more to me than any other band. I awaited this album with real excitement, but also an equal measure of trepidation. I mean, what if they hadn't been able to live up to Richey's lyrics? I did them a real disservice though. After 20-odd years of friendship and 14 years of wrestling with his ghost, of course they understood the grandeur of their task, and of course they were able to do it justice, The entire band sound absolutely revitalised, meaning that I'm in two minds about whether now is the right time to end their story, or whether they should work with this newly rediscovered passion to make more awesome records.

So all things considered, 2009 has been a great year for new music. Fingers crossed for 2010...