In today's Music is my radar I will present the top 10 albums I enjoyed the most in the year that comes to an end in a few days.The top release for 2009, according to our column, is Humbug by Arctic Monkeys, produced by Josh Homme and James Ford. The band continue its route to accession after several hours of listening to the discography by Black Sabbath, Cream as well as Jimmy Hendrix. A detailed review of the album can be found here.
The 25-year old Londoner Jack Penate with Everything is new is reminiscent of songwriters from the 80s and mixes the white soul from that decade with latin tropicalia afrobeats rhymes. The album includes 9 of the most joyful songs I have heard in the last years.
In 2009 three extremely auspicious new bands released their forst albums:
The Pains of being pure at heart from Brooklyn with their sound approaching that of the legendary brand Sarah Records. The homonym first album by the band of Kip Berman and his Asian friend Peggy Wang coumd have been released by the Bristol band, while they are also clearly influenced by Teenage Fan Club and Jesus and Mary Chain.
The Mummers and Tale to tell are one of this year's pleasant surprises. Definitely, those of us who have not been content by Bjork's recent releases will be comforted by the band of Raissa Khan-Panni, who sings, writes the lyrics inspired by children's stories and plays the piano. The band is completed with the orchestral composer Mark Brighton and for its recording 20 musicians participate.Among the debuts that stood out in 2009 we can find the one by Girls, who despite their name do not include any girls. They come from San Francisco and they have spent several hours listening to the Pet Sounds by Beach Boys, While in many songs they are also reminiscent of Jesus and Mary Chain. Them again…
The Canadians Metric released the perfect electro pop album, accompanied by speedy guitars and the exceptional voice of Emily Haines, in 2009, entitled Fantasies.
Morrissey continued the series of his excellent releases in this decade with this year's Years of Refusal, a detailed review for which can be found here.
Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is the third album by Alex Kapranos and his company from Glascow. In the album the band flirts with electronic sounds without letting down those of us who adored them with their previous two releases. The second solo alnum by Jarvis Cocker entitled Further complications, details here, pleased the old Pulp fans, as well as those who enjoy more rock sounds, since the producer of this album is Steve Albini.
The Last Drive returned in 2009 with Heavy Liquid, fifteen years after Subliminal, exciting all of us, since their album is one of their best releases. A detailed review can be found here.
The Top 10 albums for 2009 are listed below. For numbers 11-40 see here.
1. ARCTIC MONKEYS – Humbug
2. JACK PENATE – Everything is new
3. FRANZ FERDINAND – Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
4. MUMMERS – Tale to tell
5. THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART – The pains of being pure at heart
6. MORRISSEY – Years of refusal
7. GIRLS – Album
8. JARVIS COCKER – Further comlpications
9. LAST DRIVE – Heavy liquid
10. METRIC – Fantasies
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