Lists presenting the best albums of the first half of the year have
become as inevitable as a heat wave in July. And since we never let an opportunity to create a "Best of" list go to waste (as
you may have guessed, we’re big fans of "High Fidelity"), this is exactly what you’re going to get. So, today, in the first part of our 2009 review, we unveil our 40 favorite albums released in the past six months, excluding various artists or "best of" compilations and re-releases. Next week, in the second part of the review, we're going to present the best songs and gigs of the year.The music of the first half of 2009 hasn’t exactly been spectacular, but there are at least 15 albums that meet our excellence standards. The remaining 25 are noteworthy releases that deserve your attention, and some of them (Magik Markers, Wooden Shjips), after a few more spins, may prove to be equivalent to those in the Top 15. For more details regarding the best albums of 2009 so far, click here. The Top 40 albums, presented in a not so random order, are the following:
Top 40 Albums
Dance mother - TELEPATHE It's blitz! - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
The eternal - SONIC YOUTH
Two suns - BAT FOR LASHES
Fantasies - METRIC
Merriweather post pavilion - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
Fever Ray - FEVER RAY
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
Futuro - THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO
Face control - HANDSOME FURS
Dim light - GUN OUTFIT
Farm - DINOSAUR JR. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand - FRANZ FERDINAND
Years of refusal - MORRISSEY
The hazards of love - THE DECEMBERISTS
Radio wars - HOWLING BELLS
Balf quarry - MAGIK MARKERS
Dos - WOODEN SHJIPS
Outer south - CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND
Middle cyclone - NEKO CASE
Sometimes I wish we were an eagle - BILL CALLAHAN
Primary colours - THE HORRORS
Now we can see - THE THERMALS
Swoon - SILVERSUN PICKUPS
The spirit of Apollo - NASA I feel cream - PEACHES
Petits fours - GRAND DUCHY
A woman a man walked by - PJ HARVEY & JOHN PARISH
Kingdom of rust - DOVES
Further complications - JARVIS COCKER
My maudlin career - CAMERA OBSCURA
Beware - BONNIE PRINCE BILLY
200 million thousand - BLACK LIPS
Art Brut vs. Satan - ART BRUT
Love hate and then there's you - THE VON BONDIES
The century of self - ... AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
Hush - ASOBI SEKSU
The airing of grievances - TITUS ANDRONICUS
Tentacles - CRYSTAL ANTLERS
Dear John - LONEY DEAR
Songs of the week: The second singles from two of the albums of the year - Bat For Lashes and "Pearl's Dream" from the album "Two Suns" and Metric with "Sick Muse" off the album "Fantasies":
Bat For Lashes - Pearl's Dream
Metric - Sick Muse
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