日志

Ok, it’s been a bit of a slow year musically for me, only 3 of my 15 most played albums where actually released this year, so I can’t really state my favourite albums of the year. But 2009 has been a really important year for me, graduating from uni, and really starting to have a feel of who I am, and the albums I have listened to this really reflects on what I have felt, seen, heard, and done, so here my 15 most listened:

1. John Frusciante - The Empyrean


There was no doubt that this album would top my album charts of most listened in 2009. Again, John as crafted an album which is so different from his previous 9 records, yet it’s so distinctively his work. I was trying to compare this album with others, and I think the closest I can arrive at is pink Floyd’s dark side of the moon. Not sound wise, but the way the album is constructed, the way it flows, and narratively. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this album is the way his influences really present themselves, which I fucking love. Any album that has touches of other artists ingrained into the subconscious of a way an artist creates his work really hits the rights notes for me. From Frank zappa in One more of me (which I can’t get enough of), to funkadelic/parliament in dark/light. There might be some bias, as I’m such a massive frusciante fan, but there are not many modern day artists that continue to constantly work in such a fashion, and constantly produce work at such a high standard.

2. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns


Two suns really fits into the mould of music I listen to, anything that is spacious, colourful, and puts you in a different place. I must admit, I arrived at listening to two suns on the back of all the hype from the music press and a certain Mr Thom Yorke after her, there, first album fur and gold (which I have since brought and rather like too). Two suns has the brilliance that each song sounds different at different times, songs will surprise you in certain moods and reveal hidden depths in various plays, and like any good record, you will end up changing which is your favourite track

3. Bon Iver - for emma forever ago


So it’s been a year since release, and the good news is the album has stood the test of time. Ok a bit too optimistic, but still playing it loads a year later normally means good things. And the best part? Blood bank was equally impressive, and bracket of dark was the night compilation was great too. Actually the best part is seeing the band on TV live at Glastonbury (ok so seeing him live would have been better!), the band he has rocked, I was really impressed, and it added a whole different depth and sound to his already beautiful music. And then there’s that Jools Holland performance where he delivers one of the shows best ever performances, which fully captures the mystique, imagery, emotion and the recording process of sitting a cabin in forest country mourning the loss of a relationship, in 3 odd minutes of pure bliss.

4. John Frusciante - Curtains


my favourite album ever. Period. Nuff said.

5. Eddie Vedder - Into The wild


6. Radiohead - In Rainbows


7. John Frusciante- The will to death


This is perhaps John’s most underrated album. Its one that IS very understated, which catches, creeps on you at the most unexpected times. It’s a rather fragile album, yet really assured, delivered in full confidence. Perhaps its Frusciante most straightforward album, not overly produced, but rich in his personal experiences, and written directly from the heart without being overly abstract in its lyrics and musically. For some bizarre reason, this album really makes me think of the colour green, so much so It rather frightens me. (The album does talk a lot about rebirth, growing etc.??)

8. Pearl Jam - Yield


So, 2009 was the year I fell In love with pearl jam, pretty much ignored them in the past , well not ignored, but listened to them properly. So I had a lot of random pearl jam albums spinning, so I haven’t had chance to fully get to know there albums (apart from ten, obviously, everyone heard ten countless times right?), and gain an overriding impression of each one, its subtleties, its moments . So yield, has won the war of being most played, so what of it? Well it’s fast paced, vibrant, it’s what I so far perceive as a typical PJ record. Perhaps the album as the best combination of what pearl jam is. Its has punchy moments, its stadium rock moments, its solitude moments. It is pearl jam. Sciatica and flight perhaps?

9. Deftones - Saturday Night Wrists


This is the album that deftones always promised to deliver! I mentioned in the bats for lashes part about fitting into the mould of being a spacious, colourful album, this fits into that category, yet it comes from another universe of music, style, and thought. Oh and all the best for Chi

10. Sigur Ros - agaetis byrjun


11. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Assassination Of Jesse James

What a film! What a soundtrack! Mr Nick Cave what an astonishing piece of music! This album as you may as guessed is seriously good. One that I often just stick on for piece of mind.

12. Explosions in the Sky - All of a sudden i miss everyone


13. Elliot Smith - Either/or


14. Morrissey - Years of Refusal


15. Midlake - Trials of Van Occupanther