Record of the Year 2009

Record of the Year 2009

Here's what you could have bought

Everybody knows that the only people that know about music are musicians. Therefore we decided to ask some of our favourite bands to tell you the records you should have bought this year. We're nice like that.
 
Talking Pictures
 
Phoenix – 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix'
It’s a fantastic album: layered synthetic magic. I love the tight grooves, the song writing is genius, and the structure is sick. The first time I heard ‘1901’ it blew my mind. ‘Girlfriend’ is my favourite: the soft synth, mono line at the start is beautiful. 2009 truly didn't start for me till I heard this....
 
Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip
 
P.O.S. – 'Never Better'
I had heard little bits of P.O.S. in the past but I caught his live show in Texas in March and it blew me away. I then went on to grab ‘Never Better’ and was blown away by it too. A new era of hip-hop.
 
The High Wire
 
The XX – 'XX'
With everyone else trying so hard around them, they just seem to get on with their own sound and style. They've got better songs and more talent than any other band in Britain at the mo.
 
Official Secrets Act
 
The Veils – 'Sun Gangs'
My records/record of the year....hmmmm I haven't really heard any because I’ve been so busy listening to other older stuff. It's weird. Most of your records of the year are the records you've been listening to, not the records that have come out. But for me it’s this one.
 
I heard it on tour in Europe and it's stayed with me ever since. I'd never really been aware of The Veils –  they'd always been at festivals or on compilations, and I’d never really got round to hearing them. But this Waterboys-meets-Americana pop record just totally hooked me in and now I'm a massive fan.
 
I also heard ‘Fear of Music’ by Talking Heads (very old) for the first time this year, and it twisted my head into brand new mental shapes. Don't know if that's relevant but it's certainly true!

Not Cool

Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life
Fucked Up dragged Hardcore Punk kicking and screaming into the new decade with this release, expanding on their normally epic wall of guitar sounds with more effects, brainiac ideas and obscure lyrical themes. This album rewarded repeated listens, but still retained the anthemic bluster and danger of their original 7'' singles. It's great to see a band with such a sense of history pushing ther envelope musically and succeeding.

Can't wait to hear what they do next.

Napoleon IIIrd
 
Micachu & The Shapes – 'Jewellery'
It has been a great year for music. There are so, so many records that I have loved this year but have picked ‘Jewellery’ as my number one, quite simply because I love the sound and attitude. It's noisy, raw, disjointed and brilliant.

Picture by Kamshots.

Click here to see all London live music.

Jameslspoonfed