2009; a good year?
 

I think so, yes. I've found a lot of very decent new bands this year, as well as some of my favourite new artists from the past couple years (The Maccabees, The Horrors, Jamie T) making largely successful follow-ups to their debuts. Blur reformed, which as a diehard fan was somewhat bittersweet. The thought of it sounded better than the reality looked. Damon Albarn chubbily diving around, making an idiot out of himself.

On a sombre note; Michael Jackson died, one of the most shocking musical tragedies in history. In hindsight, the man was a genius, regardless of his somewhat eclectic sleeping arrangements.

Your thoughts?

I think so thus far. I've found some pretty good albums made this year, particularly Sing-Along Songs for the Damned and Delirious (Diablo Swing Orchestra), Monoliths & Dimensions (Sunn O))) ), Part the Second (maudlin of the Well), Ki (Devin Townsend), and Daisy (Brand New).

Octahedron (The Mars Volta) and ...And the Ever Expanding Universe (The Most Serene Republic) were both disappointing though.

Same as every year- good and bad. A shocking tragedy regarding John Martyn is much more pertinent to me musically.

When it comes to new stuff this year I find myself trying to separate proper noise / garage rock from all this new limp wristed trendy shite that seems to be everywhere.

Yes No Age , Wavves , Vivian Girls & Times New Viking i'm looking right at you.
Now fuck off, the sooner this scene dies the better.

then you will hate hate hate egyptian hip hop.

Well I had a little listen on their myspace page.

People are still doing the retro 80s thing? :laughing:

Thanks but I already own this...
http://geordierussell.instone.net/Ju...20-%20Dare.jpg

I skimmed through a copy of last weeks NME and they were in the new bands section. Even the NME were slyly slating them aswell as simultaneously promoting them. When the NME isn't behind you as any sort of new band jumping on any sort of soon-to-be-popular bandwagon, you know you are sh*t.

I think it's been a good year.

Attack in Black, Alexisonfire, Clues, Horse The Band, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Grizzly Bear, Health, Islands, Jonsi & Alex, Japandroids, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Metric.

Lightning Bolt, No Age and Sufjan Stevens coming.

I'm a happy person.

I have a feeling the new Sufjan will be far and away the best album of '09.

So far it's been a pretty good year for new music though, Maylene & the Sons of Disaster, Matt & Kim, Morrissey, and Passion Pit came out early this year, and are still getting adequete plays from. While later releases, Brand New, and Imogen Heap, are still growing on me.

There have been letdowns though, Conra Starship, The Mars Volta, and Cursive for instance, all dissapointed me this year.

Hopefully but we'll have to see. String rendition of Enjoy Your Rabbit also.

Shit, I still need to hear that one.

Personally I think 2009 has been one of the strongest years this decade for all genres, here's some of the stuff I've been enjoying this year:

Cobalt - Gin

I don't even know where to begin with this one, it's just pure awesome that is indescribable. It's really one of those metal albums that cannot be categorized, there's hints of black metal, trash metal, and progressive metal. Jackhammer recently listened to it and pretty much had the same feelings that I had for it, cannot be passed over by fans of extreme metal, Ernest Hemmingway, and Hunter S. Thompson.

Devin Townsend - Ki

Took me a few listens with headphones to really appreciate this album. I think Devin's new found sobriety had a tremendous effect on his music, however it's still just as intense as his drug assisted music.

Diablo Swing Orchestra - Sing-Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious

I was scampering around trying to find a leak on this, then out of nowhere it came to me in an e-mail, pretty awesome stuff. It's a lot more accessible than Butcher's Ballroom, far less operatic and more metallic. Some of the guitar riffs really reminded me of Meshuggah which is a good thing.

The Protomen - Act II: Death of the Father

Was really looking forward to this album because their 2005 self-titled was easily the best rock opera based on Mega Man ever. This really steps it up a notch as far as an epic goes. Had a real nice Meatloaf vibe to it.

Random - Mega Ran 9

I found it kind of nice that Random decided to release his follow up to his Mega Man concept album the same year as The Protomen. As far as production this one blows 2007's Mega Ran out of the water. His flow and rhyme skills have been really fine tuned and feels a lot more natural.

Immortal - All Shall Fall

It took them seven years to make this album but man sometimes good things come to those who wait (although technically I've only been waiting three).

Dethklok - Dethalbum II

It's pretty hard to dislike this album unless you have absolutely no sense of humor. Yeah it is a little annoying when people claim to be fans of extreme metal yet all they can name is Dethklok but whatever, they're not even on my radar of importance. What matter's is that this album really steps it up a notch.

Corb Lund - Losin' Lately Gambler

Just under two years since Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! came out and really helped put Canadian country on the map of importance. Losin' Lately Gambler sounds a lot like Hair in my Eyes which is great because it's a perfect blend of humor, seriousness, reality, and death, all in country form. Corb Lund is one of the few country artists that isn't of the "Gothic" variety, so whenever he has a new release it's always going to strike a chord with me.

ArnoCorps - The Ballsy EP

Sure it's only 6 songs but holy crap are they ever a good five songs. If you're unfamiliar with this band they're essentially a Schwarzenegger tribute band that happens to play punk music. I feel inches being added to my biceps every time I listen to them.

Abigail's Ghost - D_Letion

Only listened to it a few times, but I enjoyed it a lot. If you're unfamiliar with Abigail's Ghost they're one of the better unknown prog rock/metal bands out there.

Austere - To Lay Like Old Ashes

While the vocals really get on my tits I absolutely love the atmosphere this band creates. With the help of some audio editing software I was able to mute the vocals and make it just an instrumental album (I suppose it is kind of cheating and probably not legal). If you're into some dark black metal that really helps create a feeling of bleak emptiness they you need not look further, just don't be surprised when the screaming vocals detract from the experience.

Audible Mainframe - Transients

Their first album after their relocation from Boston to Los Angeles and it really shows. Not quite as enjoyable as their debut album Framework it was more than enough to keep me entertained as well as the people I shared it with.

Scott H. Biram - Something Wrong/ Lost Forever

To be honest I just found out about this artist last week but holy crap what an impact they've had in that small amount of time. His ability to write captivating dark songs and present them in a way that doesn't seem cliched is truly amazing.

The Black Heart Procession Six

Again another group I had just found out about this year but holy sweet mother of zombie Jesus are they good.

Bike For Three - More Hearts Than Brains

Buck 65 with the Anticon label? Hell yes!

Drudkh - Microcosmos

After their impressive 2007 album Estrangement I was quite excited when I found out they had a new album coming out. Not as good as I was hoping for, but oh well, them's the breaks sometimes.

Anyways there's a ton more to write about but it's getting late and my syntax juice is running low so I'm just going to list off some albums

Deer Tick - Born on Flag Day
Lucero - 1372 Overton Park
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Jon Lajoie - You Want Some Of This?
mc chris - Part Six Part One
Cradle Orchestra - Velvet Ballads
Cluth - Strange Cousins From The West
Slough Feg - Ape Rising
Sleep (Of Oldomion) - Hesitation Wounds
Solillaquists of Sound - No More Heroes
Rodrigo y Gabriela - 11:11
Panzerballett - Hart Genossen Von Abba Bis Zap
Pure Reason Revolution - Amor Vincit Omnia
Pinebox Serenade - Let The River Take Them Home
Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave
N.A.S.A. - Spirit of the Apollo
Hacride - Lazerus
Drive-By Truckers - Fine Print
True Live - Found Lost
William Elliott Whitmore - Animals In the Dark
I Monster - A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars


. In short 2009 has really been an incredible year and there's still new Nile, Katatonia, Devin Townsend, Shaolin Death Squad,Hypocrisy, and Gift of Gab coming out.

converge's "axe to fall" leaked... my year has been made music-wise

Wow...I haven't listened to any of those albums and I've only heard of the Drive by truckers. Fascinating...

OT: One of the best years for me. I think we had a thread where we listen our best offs, can't be bothered to track it down now but the highlights were Animal Collective, Grizzly bear, The Maccabees and a new addition, The Raveonettes. Great stuff.

Haven't heard anything decent released this year.

Since I did a cd of my own this year, I am hardly aware of anything from the music industry at large. Among contemporary artists, however, I must say I like Katy Perry.

This.

Some of my highlights for the year so far (alphabetically):

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - The Century of Self
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Boxcutter - Arecibo Message
Cougar - Patriot
Clark - Totems Flare
DMX Krew - Wave Funk Volume 1
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Keaver & Brause - The Middle Way
The Mars Volta - Octahedron
maudlin of the Well - Part the Second
Mew - No More Stories...
Mike Patton - Crank: High Voltage
Polvo - In Prism
Prefuse 73 - Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
Propagandhi - Supporting Caste
The Thermals - Now We Can See
Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship
Zu - Carboniferous

Disappointments:

Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen
Diamond Watch Wrists - Ice Capped at Both Ends
mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright

I'm enjoying '09 more than '08.

Controlling Crowds is one of my favorite albums this decade, Radiohead/Thom Yorke have put some great stuff out (albeit on an annoying song to song basis), a great great great double album from Crippled Black Phoenix, and another awesome Circulatory System album. Not to mention the usual suspects like MPP and Veckatimist are actually pretty decent.

I have to say I completely disagree on that front, though I'm a big Radiohead fan. I've not liked anything they've put out this year, it's all been drones and sighs.

'These are my Twisted Words' is better than anything on In Rainbows, and I fucking loved In Rainbows.

Are you serious? It sounds like a backdraft of a b-side, at best.

:laughing:

Wait, you're serious? O.O

I found These Are My Twisted Words, FeelingPulledApartByHorses, TheHollowEarth and, to a lesser extent, (In Memory Of) Harry Patch, to be completely effortless, and not in a good way. They're mostly just mediocre musical loops with Thom Yorke yawning in the background, and I think they're only relevance as compositions is to prove that Radiohead fans will eat anything they sh*t out.

I'm not a Radiohead fan by any stretch, but I've heard 'These Are My Twisted Words' and thought it was brilliant.
Someone's not listening to this tune closely enough.

Believe me, I listened to it multiple times to convince myself that I actually enjoyed what I was hearing.

I don't understand...are you saying you liked it, or you tried hard enough to like it to the point where you ended up kidding yourself?

ba ba da ba da ba da and repeat...

I'm saying that I tried very very hard to enjoy the song, but I still find it to be a very dull piece of work.

Strange. I heard an unusual piece of music that had multiple layers. Granted, it's never going to be a hit...but when was that ever a good thing.

I can see why you think this, but I think it's anything but.
The tune is all over the place.
I'd love to know why dac liked it. I've got a feeling it's for the same reasons I did.

Aside from the personal and celebrity tragedies suffered this year I think it's been reletively good. That Sun O)))) album that was released this year was brilliant.

On the same sort of topic, I have been extremely disappointed by Radiohead's output this year. When I heard that they would be releasing singles continuously I too thought it was an annoying concept, but it would be good to hear new stuff from them more frequently.

However, from what I've heard, their new material sounds more like regression that progression. It's not what I was expecting after In Rainbows.

This year has been a little disappointing for me. I've enjoyed The Mars Volta's Octahedron but was a little disappointed with Porcupine Tree's The Incident, Muse's The Resistance, and Humbug by the Arctic Monkeys. They're still good albums but I think I had set my expectations a little high for these bands.

My favourite release of 2009 so far is from a local favourite of mine, Karnivool, and their new album Sound Awake.

Ah that's another one I enjoyed from this year. I've just started to get into these guys and so far this and their debut have been my favorite.

Spot on. It has a borderline shoegaze feel to it. I love it to death. I'd love for the band to continue in that direction.

-Merzbow released some gooood stuff this year. I've really been enjoying the Japanese Bird series so far.
-I'm always on the fence over Octahedron. Being more song oriented and hit and miss than any other album thus far it's hard to lean one way or another. Copernicus is one of their best songs but Desparate Graves is a piece of crap.
-Matisyahu shows some great potential but is dragged down due to being so overproduced.
-The Antlers' Hospice is just plain fantastic. I also recently discovered the album they released before this and it's also fantastic. Great band.

I saw this thread and I was going to mention this, but you beat me to it. Only downloaded it semi recently but I'm already pretty obsessed.

It's not as good as 2008 from what I've heard, I'll say that, but not many years can stack up to 2008. Genghis Tron's Board Up The House (and I know I plug it all the time but yes it really is that good) was, in my mind, a perfect album, The Bedlam In Goliath was the best Mars Volta album to date. Cancer Bats released the heavier, more mature follow up to Birthing The Giant. Opeth's Watershed blew my mind, Fleet Foxes' debut album was surprisingly good.

This year, Alexisonfire released a follow-up to Crisis that was better than it, but also more depressing to listen to as it sees them drifting farther and farther away from the once great post-hardcore band that they were. Matisyahu released an extremely infectious album, but at the same time it's disappointing to see him become so polished and produced. The Mars Volta fell FAR short of The Bedlam In Goliath. The bands that really seem to be pulling it off this year are the southern hardcore and metal bands like Maylene, Every Time I Die, and He Is Legend, who have all released excellent albums. Brand New's "Daisy" is probably my current pick for album of the year, but I really hope that something truly special comes along and blows me away the same way Board Up The House did.

I agree the new Mars Volta and Alexisonfire can't compete with their last albums but I don't think they're bad in the least. I do need to digest them a little more though. Each has only gotten a couple full listens. I still need to get that Sunn O))) album.

No, you're right, they're both decent albums. Just not what I'd like to hear from either band.