Top ten 2009 - The Rest!

I missed the cut-off point! So here are the final four in my top ten of 2009 in a snapshot:

- Beirut, March of the Zapotec

- The Low Anthem, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

- A Mountain of One, Institute of Joy

- Florence and the Machine, Lungs

So there it is - 2009 in a nutshell. Apologies for the anticlimactic finish. I hope it elicited some reaction. Some albums are in there because they defined the sound of the year, some are in there because they stretched the boundaries of imagination, some are in there because they simply continue to excel at creating great music. All of them are in there because the music is evocative and beautiful in its own way. Let's hope 2010 is just as fruitful.

Top ten 2009 - The xx, XX

Every so often, an album comes along that speaks to you in a way only the most intimate of lovers knows how. With every note, every beat, every lyric, you feel you’ve been engulfed by some higher being.

The xx is nothing more than a simple London four piece. They might have been educated in the same hallowed halls that spawned luminaries such as Burial, Hot Chip and Four Tet, but with this intricate debut they’ve discovered among themselves a formula that is as comforting, wholesome and pure as it is fresh, fragile and free. For me, the only problem is that it doesn’t go for long enough.

What to listen out for.
Shelter, Basic Space, Night Time

When to listen to it.
Whenever you get the chance, but maybe at 4am with plenty of candles and a group of close friends setting the world to rights

Will we hear them again?
They’ve entered a difficult place – a lot of people adore them early in their career. You almost wish they had a few failures before they landed this big one.

They've backed up their debut with a remix of You've Got the Love by fellow Londoner Florence and the Machine. While popular, I think it smacks of a band in danger of losing their originality to this city's love of compered club nights and faux dub step. I think they need to stay true to what's pure to them. To be here in a year, The xx need to reproduce the passion that engulfed them in recording this album. They simply need to love the music again as much as they loved these 11 tracks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pib8eYDSFEI

Guilty pleasures

If 2008 signalled the resurgence of folk, surely 2009 will be handed to the flamboyant world of indie girl pop. With the likes of Bat for Lashes releasing her second album, Florence and the Machine dazzling with her first, Little Boots walking all over the charts and La Roux, Lady Gaga and Ladyhawke filling venues generally reserved for the trendiest of indies, the UK's music scene has been well and truly taken over.

Each makes a concerted effort to distance herself from their pop star peers with an elaborate outfit and a crafty beat. But the fact remains that their albums are topping the charts. There's every chance that you're listening to the same music as a 14-year-old girl. Sometimes you just can't help but put some metal on straight after indulging yourself.

I find it helps to embrace it. Find the ones that you relate to and mock those you don't. Bat for Lashes will always have a place in my heart and I've not been able to avoid the freight train that Florence has come riding in on.

Now I'm opening myself up to Ellie Goulding. She seems to have an edginess that could have seen her fronting a rock band a la Karen O in another life. Maybe something will reveal itself at Cargo on 1st December, maybe I'll be forced to explain myself here in six months. But I listen to enough heavy stuff to confortably stomach the embarrassment. Come with me on this...