Diary of a Wine Writer

This article is destined to appear on eRP, but as the of the year is upon us, I’ll post my music report up on my blog…

Wine-Journal’s Music Review of 2009

‘Tis the time to be merry and as tradition dictates, I compile my annual list of albums and singles of the last twelve months. As usual, I start off pessimistic and curmudgeonly, bemoaning how “music ain’t what it used to be” and how that nefarious “Spotify” virus is distilling my beloved form of art into what exactly…?

Little more than a backing track whilst I work on the computer.

But then, as I gallop across the Internet to jog my memory for songs and artists, I chance upon a number that I either forgot or missed…

Hey, it wasn’t so bad after all.

Then I consider the brand spanking new artists that I have fortuitously chanced upon whilst wandering through Spotify, some of which are mentioned below. Everything has to move forward, even if for most the value of music as a commodity has been irreversibly cheapened to a figure close to zero.

The year 2009 has been a great one for music, albeit not in a commercial sense since so few can make money (unless your name is Simon Cowell.) With the charts rendered inexorably redundant and warped by downloads, artists such as Grizzly Bear, The Horrors, Fever Ray, Animal Collective and even the Yeah Yeah Yeahs remain comfortable on the fringes of the charts, content to shoot in at number 212 and effortlessly sell out tours to their devoted fan-base, their loyal live following, which is where you can make a living. There has not been any single genre that has stood out from the rest, nothing that spans the multitude of tribes that make up the ever-expanding arena of popular music (although one person suggested Susan Boyle.) Rap, Indie, grime, hip-hop, alt.rock, 80’s retro, country, folk, house etc…there is an almost disorientating array of sounds to delve into and all these sub-genres are constantly fusing with each other, mutating into new forms.

I ended up picking a round 35 albums this year and top of the list is my band of the decade: New York’s “Yeah Yeah Yeahs”. “It’s Blitz” had everyone raising a sceptical eyebrow when rumours about them ditching their guitars in favour of synths started to circulate, but the opening bars of the pulsating “Zero” served notice that this dextrous, talented trio could turn their hand to any genre and make it their own. Who’d a thought? Elsewhere, we have Grizzly Bear perfect mix of off-kilter indie  (whatever that means these days), Lily Allen’s sophomore pop nugget that along with Beyonce, demonstrates that critical and commercial success can still go hand in hand. The Horrors, along with Jack Penate, turned in second albums that surpassed everyone’s expectations, the latter a particularly impressive volte face. Bat For Lashes a.k.a. Natasha Khan served up a sensuous, pulsating concept album that is both haunting and contemplative, whilst Fever Ray showed that the art of enigma and mystery does not have to alienate an audience, on the contrary, if the music is good then it can draw them closer.

As for singles: not wishing to get to do a Kanye West, but you can see his point, if not his asinine tomfoolery when you watch Beyonce’s stunning Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It.) The video is mesmerizing, even more so when you know that one of the “ladies” is actually a man. The Animal Collective’s spine-tingling “My Girls” samples one of my favourite house tracks of all time (Jamie Principle’s seminal “Your Love”) and turns it into a kind of hedonistic, luved-up rush of bleeping, cascading electronica, entwined with harmonies that would have Brian Wilson blushing with pride. If you mixed that into the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs’ “Zero” then I think the dance-floor would implode. St. Vincent’s disturbing yet compelling “Marrow” redefined my listening experience of the year, although the performance on David Letterman is even more spectacular. Likewise Basement Jaxx’s “Raindrop” and Miike Snow’s “Animal”: both great on vinyl, but their visceral performances on Jools Holland demonstrated that they were even better experienced live. Meanwhile, fans of Josh Homme revelled in his supergroup “Them Crooked Vultures” boasting Led Zep’s John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl. The wired “Mind Eraser (No Chaser)” was the best that Homme has delivered since “Songs For The Deaf”…it’s that good.

You know, compiling my favourite music of the year, it is remarkable and also a little sad that a majority of the most compelling artists and songs come from the USA, a trend that has become more and more noticeable as the decade progressed. Talking of which, when I started Wine-Journal back in 2003, I vowed to compile a “Best of the Decade” list, which I will endeavour to do before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Albums of 2009

1 – Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz

I was ensconced in a deep conversation at last night’s La Conseillante dinner with a big mover in the record industry next to me. Said conversation moved on to band of the noughties. White Stripes? Strokes? Libertines? Once we mentioned this New York trio, well, that was the end of the discussion. “It’s Blitz” is a complete departure from their previous two albums and yet remained intrinsically wired to that YYY sound perfected on their debut…albeit with a few synths in the mix. It should have been a disaster, but it ended up a complete triumph.

2 – Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

Oh…it’s just brilliant. I’m not going to write any more.

3 – Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You

About a year ago I was eulogizing the lead single, The Fear, from Allen’s incipient sophomore outing. The ensuing album was probably the most perfect pop album since the Scissor Sister’s debut: brilliant melodies, wonderful production and Lily sounding as vulnerable and threatening as ever. Something tells me that if she never recorded another album, that would be a nigh perfect music career.

4 – The Horrors – Primary Colours

The finest band to come out of my hometown, Southend-on-Sea, since Dr. Feelgood. An avalanche of feedback wired to some inspired melodies and the occasional epic production and The Horrors suddenly find themselves one of the most talked about bands at the end of the decade…and deservedly so.

5 – Bat For Lashes – Two Suns

Probably the album I most regret not electing as my monthly recommendation. Natasha Khan’s natural otherworldliness is used to full effect on this hypnotic album, with scarcely a duff moment from start to finish.

6 – St. Vincent – Actor

Annie Erin Clarke delivers a sonically liberating album that keeps you on your toes. A bit weird, but in a similar way to late-90s Beck, which is a very good thing.

7 – Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

I can still remember walking from one tasting to another with the mesmeric “My Girl” on my iPod transporting me to a different world. The album is a challenging listen with occasionally what seems like a thousand samples triggered at the same time, yet it also manages to be commercial and uplifting.

8 – Fever Ray – Fever Ray

The Knife’s Karin Dreijer releases an arresting minimalist piece of electronica the merely adds the enigma. Apparently at a recent concert in London, she was barely visible on stage, choosing to remain in the shadows. But it still garnered rave reviews.

9 – Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter

A meditative, introspective, somewhat solemn album from Sheffield’s greatest troubadour. His voice remains as mellifluous as a Chateau Climens 1929 and that 1950s guitar sound has never sounded so pure.

10 – Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

I’ve been stalking this band for a while now. Succinct breezy indie-pop cut from the same cloth as Belle & Sebastian: confident, melodic and slightly moody.

11 – Mos Def – The Ecstatic

Perhaps the best rap album of the year, Mod Def puts his acting career on brief hiatus and reminds us all what a talented rapper he is. Some of the samples had me Googling all night trying to discover the originals and once you hear them, you realize how deftly they are woven into a new form.

12 – Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers

Here is a brilliant band that did sell out for chart glory. I can’t deny them that: Bradfield et al have composed more than their fair share of anthems. Journal For Plague Lovers was a serious return to form, a project that ought to have been a morbid farce since it was simply an exercise in putting songs to Richie Manic’s lyrics. However, they wrote their best songs for 15 years and somehow, against the odds, the pulled it off with both dignity and style.

13 – Prefab Sprout – Let’s Change The World With Music

As heartfelt as music can get… There is something terribly melancholic about Paddy McAloon’s voice, even more so when you understand the curveballs life has thrown at him. Yet there is something equally euphoric and uplifting, as evoked by the title itself.

14 – The Grammatics – The Grammatics

Spiky, old-fashioned, nobody quite understands me indie pop that unlike most bands within its genre, has no pretentions of cracking the pop charts. It probably sold bugger all, but they feature a cellist and that is what counts these days.

15 – The Maccabees – Wall of Arms

On one of my numerous trips through the North Terminal at Gatwick Airport, I made my usual foray into an increasingly Wii/Playstation obsessed HMW, heard a fantastic track, asked who the hell it was, she said “The Maccabees”, bought the CD and spent the rest of the week driving from chateau to chateau with it blasting out of my hire car.

16 – The Drums – Summertime!

17 – Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport

18 – Wild Beasts – Two Dancers

19 – Beyonce – I’m Sasha Fierce

20 – Neko Case – Middle Cycone

21 – The Flaming Lips – Embryonic

22 – Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures

23 – Passion Pit – Manners

24 – Forest Fire – Survival

25 – The XX – The XX

26 – Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More

27 – Silversun Pickups – Swoon

28 – Atlas Sound – Logos

29 – Japandroids – Post-nothing

30 – Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

31 – Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

32 – The Pains Of Being A Pure Heart – The Pains of Being A Pure Heart

33 – Jack Penate – Everything Is New

34 – Girls – Album

35 – Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk

Singles of 2009

1 – Beyonce – Singles Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

2 – Animal Collective – My Girls

3 – St Vincent – Marrow

4 – Them Crooked Vultures – Mind Eraser (No Chaser)

5 – Lily Allen – The Fear

6 – Bat for Lashes – Daniel

7 – Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

8 – Lady Gaga – Paparazzi

9 – Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero

10 – The Horrors – Sea Within A Sea

11 – Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move

12 – Neko Case – People Got A Lot Of Nerve

13 – Basement Jaxx – Raindrops

14 – Paulo Nutini – Candy

15 – The Maccabees – No Kind Words

16 – Frightened Rabbit – Swim Until You Can’t See The Land

17 – Fuck Buttons – Surf Solar

18 – Miike Snow – Animal

19 – Prefab Sprout – Music Is My Princess

20 – Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others

21 – Fever Ray – If I Had A Heart

22 – Wild Beasts – Hooting and Howling

23 – Jamie T – Sticks ‘n Stones

24 – The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing

25 – Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind

26 – Dizzee Rascal – Bonkers

27 – The Antlers – Two

28 – A Tribute To Harry Patch – Radiohead

29 – All For The Best – Thom Yorke

30 – Friendly Fires – Jump In The Pool

31 – Mos Def – Casa Bey

32 – Calvin Harris – Ready For The Weekend

33 – Richard Hawley – For Your Lover (Take Some Time)

34 – Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications

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