No not a list post as I’ve railed against before; just a review of the year. You can add random numbers to it if you want, especially if you want it to make less sense. Feel free to then argue the results bitterly in the comments, across twitter and thus the national press who now think if it isn’t on Facebook or Twitter it doesn’t exist, and conversely if it is it must be news. And thus bump up my Google ranking and provide this blog with loads of free advertising…;-)

2009 was the year that:

It sounded BIG and LOUD in a Wall of Sound that probably surrounds Phil Spector in jail – not sure if it was in honour of the jailed frizzy haired freak or just that Glavegas was on sale, but it seemed that claps, Ronnettes style beats and distorted wall of sound a la Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine et al was completely in vogue – from The Big Pink to Pains of Being Pure at Heart and many many more. And others made it their business to sound like they had swallowed either that C86 shoegaze comp (School of Seven Bells, M83, to some extent Pains too even Fuck Buttons),  or the entire Factory catalogue with some Sonics via The Fall for dessert (Horrors). It never sounded so 1988.

Joy made a comeback - it’s usually a dirty word, with looking mopey and clinically depressed being the indie/rock star norm -  but that star-struck and wide-eyed joyous sound you’d usually associate with hippies or strung out folkies (more of that in a minute) became the most appropriate response to the darkness in the world…from Noah and the Whale to Girls, The Very Best to Leisure Society to that damn Florence and the Machine and Flaming Lips and many many more…happy (or at least sounding it) was the new black. Even in dance or more experimental quarters, from M83 to Fuck Buttons to *spit* Animal Collective that big building joyous almost spiritual sound was in. Also sounding like it was from a  long lost John Hughes (RIP) movie soundtrack was a good thing (Phoenix, Passion Pit, many others).

Folk was not a four letter word – with the New Joy (ooh call the IPC sub eds I came up with a new genre!) it seemed the country/folk sound kept going by the likes of Bonnie Prince Billy, Richard Hawley et al was everywhere…from The Low Anthem to Noah and the Whale (of about 5 million Laura Marling offshoots like the Waterboys-molesting and yawnsome Mumford and Sons) and rather belatedly King Blues (well I missed their LP at the end of 08 so it’s a 2009 discovery to me!) and Fleet Foxes who were still around, probably foraging in the bins.

Ukeleles were cool – well they’ve always been cool, but Leisure Society and Noah & the Whale using them to Florence brandishing one on stage and the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain’s massive Uke-a-thon at the Proms and millions of Uke videos it did seem like 2009 Year of the Uke to me.

Dubstep went overground – sniffed around a bit, ate a few nuts, went to a rave, then went back underground and changed again. Probably hibernating now, either that or collaborating with The Wombles.

Bloc Party split. No-one really noticed. Ditto Oasis, although sub-eds must fear for their jobs having to look for better quotes in future.

As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti, African music was a big influence – from Buraka Son Sistema to The Very Best via Vampire Weekend, Damon’s faves Amadou and Miriam,  and Vamps inspired bands (The Drums is one I can think of on the top of my head, many more out there) – those beats and chiming guitars and vocals were legion.

Beards were big, I blame Fleet Foxes and Bonnie Prince Billy for this…in a nice way! Yay beards!

Someone called Michael Jackson died. Nope. I’m a blank…

Lily Allen did one great song, opened her mouth and put her foot in it again then stormed off. For a change.

Moz was in a coma, I know, I know, it wasn’t that serious. He did pull a few strops though, getting fans chucked out, generally acting the queeny diva he really is.

Steven Wells died. FUCKSTICKS.

Blur and The Specials played again and it was great – no Jerry Dammers, natch, but I got to shake the hand of Don Letts. I iz a happy man.

Peter Mandelson became the most hated man in Britain. Or should be.

Favourite Album of 2009:

Well I’ve gone through most of the best ofs recently, especially the NME and Rough Trade ones – some good ones, but strangely not this album. Maybe cos it’s a remix of a 19 year old album, maybe cos it’s only available at Rough Trade and mostly the Net on limited release, but Saint Etienne’s Fox Base Beta is most definitely my album of 2009. With Richard X at the remix controls, it was back to 1990 in the black cab time-machine to update a rather patchy but important classic with a 2009 sound – and yes his mix of ‘OnlyLove Can Break Your Heart’ is as good as Weatherall’s, yet he rather wisely leaves Nothing Can Stop Us Now alone – if it aint broke, don’t fix it?

Nothing comes close. Well actually few did. Sub Focus’s eponymous debut was the front runner for most of the year, like Chase & Status last year bringing drum and bass, dubstep and even Axwell-style piano rave and wobble basslines to the pop charts and Radio 1…Could This Be Real is not only a great pop tune, it’s a club classic. Way too short though.

The Very Best dominated the end of the year for me…album was a little disappointing but their Mixtape (which is the album’s bonus CD at Rough Trade before people moan it was 2008 or something!) was a brilliantly eclectic and East/West soundclash affair mixing classical music, Architecture in Helsinki, MIA and Vampire Weekend – all of which went on to colloborate with them funnily enough – and Michael Jackson who went and uncollaborated by dying.

Fever Ray took the warmth and energy of The Knife, what little of it was left after Silent Shout, and put it into the cold-hearted glacier that would make the world in ‘Let The Right One In’ proud…moody minimal dancehall if done by someone who’d never been to Jamaica nor heard any and didn’t really dance…with a haunting vocal and minimal synths. No-one sounds quite like Karin Dreijer Andersson and this album is timeless and also sounds completely alone and genreless and thus like nothing else. And thus sound like complete bollocks if you try and describe it.

Peter Bjorn and John – Living Thing - sadly ignored in most lists but compared to the (admittedly good yet overplayed) fluff of Young Folks the darkness and quirkiness of  “It Don’t Move Me” and that video drew me in – and surprised me. This is the sort of electronic dark sound Air or Royskopp should be making, not shamed by those that wrote the whistley annoying one from a few years back.

Passion Pit are a late entry, it seemed to be rather quiet on the indie-dance crossover front this year so they along with Gossip were some of the few holding the side up – loved their Irish folk bothering Sleepyhead (I thought it was Chris De Burgh!) and best use of children since D.A.N.C.E.

Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport another late arrival but love the electronic shoegaze MBV / post-rock Mogwai feel, it is basically drone rock ala Godspeed You Black Emperor! plus electronics so not everyone’s cup of tea, but real ambient bliss. And the electronic/glitch production is a development over the fairly obvious Street Horrrsing.

Mr B’s album is pure genius, mixing the ukelele with hiphop via ChapHop. It’s 2008 though so doesn’t count. As doesn’t Ladyhawke’s LP. DOH!

And another late contender I forgot to add was Leisure Society’s ‘The Sleeper’ – brilliant album, makes folk joyous and wonderful, even if the subject of the song is sometimes surprisingly dark.

Best Track of 2009

Has to be this – nothing cheered me up and wanted to make me dance like The Very Best’s ‘Warm Heart of Africa’, and more importantly delve into Victor Uwaifo’s back catalogue and do my first remix – like this track. Pure happy African/London/American hybrid mashup genius!

Other tracks: well Charlie Darwin by the Low Anthem was a definite earworm, as was The Drums ‘I Felt Stupid’, the live version of Franz Ferdinand’s ‘What She Came For’ which reclaims the small-gig energy of early Franz which seems a little missing on the album, Hyph Mngo by Joy Orbison displaying where dubstep can go next (ie ditching the rain samples, it doesn’t have to be so dark, etc), The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s ‘Come Saturday’ bringing fun Ash-style power pop back, Fever Ray’s ‘Keep the Streets Empty’, Sub Focus ‘Could it be real’ proving that pianos and bassline doesn’t always equal cheese, Lily Allen ‘The Fear’ proving not everything she does is either shit or just for attention, Royskopp feat Robyn ‘The Girl and the Robot’ - shame about the album though, “It Don’t Move Me” by Peter Bjorn and John – dark and odd MJ-inspired video that probably gave him the heart attack, Prodigy – Omen and Warrior’s Dance showing how this rave bizniz is done…and French Navy by Camera Obscura is pure loveliness. Ladyhawke – I loved ‘Magic’ and ‘Dusk til Dawn’.

And who can forget probably the biggest get up and dance hits of the year – Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers and Black Eye Peas – I Got a Feeling, this year’s ‘Low’, whatever you feel about the cheesiness of the track, you cannot deny the joyful reaction. Classic pop.

Best mashups

This is hard for me since I don’t regularly listen to as many mashups as I used to, unless I’m involved in making videos or compilations with them, but Dunproofin was probably the man of the year for quality mashups (again) - bit naughty plugging one of my productions but the reason I made the video for Pjanoo Dance is it’s one of my favourites, if not the favourite of this year. Others that produced stone-cold classics were 10000 Spoons especially his Astley Gone to Heaven, Celebrity Murder Party, Phil Retrospector, djbc’s and DJ Fox’s Fleetwood Mix tracks and Menorah Mashups.

New discoveries were Pogo, CjR, Pomdeter (producing the world’s second Disco Accordion track with Pinky Ring Disco Polka!), okiokinl, DMF for their Bootrospective compilation and Marc Johnce whose Lily Allen 22 vs Lime is still one of my fave Lily mashes.

Favourite video mashes

Well again it’s more people that specific tracks but ThriftshopXL suddenly came back to life this year and was a video mashup machine and I loved his Lily Allen, Cure (even if it did include that annoying Bat For Lashes woman) and Phil n’ Dog bootlegs.

Other video mashers I rated were Pogo, Ricardo Autobahn, rx, Cassetteboy, BorisB, DJ Le Clown, dascottjr with his literal version of Total Eclipse of the Heart, Philretrospector and Reborn Identity who produced a whole DVD of the Mashed in Plastic David Lynch compilation. Good stuff.

I’ll Be There in Twin Peaks from Mashed in Plastic on Vimeo.

And come in at the last moment is Earworm’s United States of Pop 2009. I really didn’t like the last one, but this is a real development, has some really nice touches and is slick, slick, slick, using the cutup techniques that are more Ricardo Autobahn to create a song than yer usual A vs B. Even though I hate some of the terrible source material…but that’s what you get if you challenge yourself to mash the top 25 tracks! Like the Taylor Swift vs Kanye bit

But in retrospect it probably was all about The Bloody, Bloody, Bloody Apprentice. Cassetteboy pwns!

Biggest disappointments

Jarvis’s second LP. How could you? The incomprehensible and 6th-form poetry of Angela didn’t bode well, and the album was crushingly yawnsome and rather desperate rock attempt which left that acoustic/country Richard Hawley produced sound just as it began to get fashionable. Doh!

Bat for Lashes. If I wanted sub Kate Bush/Peter Gabriel Guardian-reader dross, I’d kill myself, not listen to this. What was it and 2009 and awful 80’s MIDI sound Casio-keyboard production? BFL, Little Boots and La Roux, I’m looking at you.

X-Factor like Scientology is still massive and about as good for you.

3 strikes law annoyed everyone; G20 violence and police hitting people randomly, world is still terrified of it’s shadow and the ridiculous Pantsbomber terrorists hiding in it, of course.

Not getting to Glastonbury and Bestival AGAIN this year for the 100th year running, Gah. I would like to go at least ONCE before I die…

It’s all a bit meh, really

The Horrors LP. Best LP of 2009 according to NME. The Most Obviously Derivative But Not Even That Good according to me. It’s not terrible – like the Krautrock meets acidy bleeps of Sea Within a Sea, but really it does sound like they swallowed the whole Factory/Manchester back catalogue, from A Certain Ratio attempting Krautrock to baggy to The Fall copying The Sonics. So far so good if not exactly original influences – but with one-flaw sub-Wedding Present/sub-Ride songwriting abilities. Nice producer, shame about the band.

Yeah Yeah Yeah’s idolatry. Yup ‘Zero’ is good, brilliant bassline, rest of the LP is fairly boring, the acoustic versions actually sound better than the produced tracks…definitely didn’t follow the brilliance of ‘Zero’

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca. One word: Terrible…maybe Noah’s Whale should eat them up.

Air’s LP, and Royskopp’s LP. Just mehness incarnate.

Future of the Left. Sorry At the Drive In was nearly 10 years ago now. Rage was nearly 20. We don’t need a unpoliticised version babbling what you think are, like,  ‘Gang of Four’ but are actually inanities that make Wire seem positively on point…Arming Eritrea? WTF? We do need a politicised and on-point band in said mold, though.

For those into Joy Division and New Order, until Friday 23rd Jan, see the 2007 Grant Gee documentary ‘Joy Division‘ online. You know the one were Annik Honnore is interviewed (this is why Deborah Curtis unusually refused to take part) and interviews with all the band members, Peter Saville, Paul Morley and Tony Wilson – even Genesis P. turns up at one point…and loads of stuff I’ve never seen nor heard of Joy Division.

I don’t think I’ve ever really explained the connection with Joy Division and New Order that well; maybe it’s the roots (I was born in Greater Manchester in the 70’s) and the fact I can remember that atmosphere, that place, that feeling – what Tony Wilson talks about and others about the feel of Manchester in the 70’s is very true, people think it’s exaggeration but concrete and rain is the best thing I can say about it. Grim.

Maybe it’s the time of my life in my 20’s when I revisited and found out more about them, already being a fan of New Order, and for the first time appreciating their darkness as saying something about me.

Or maybe I’ll never know. Certainly I find it hard to hear Closer, partly because of the obvious state of Ian’smind but partly because it is a such a dark album that takes me back to a dark time of my life. Weirdly I see Unknown Pleasures as being quite upbeat and poppy LOL – I own a copy of that. Never owned a copy of Closer; even though I have Love Will Tear Us Apart on 7″. It’s not an album I can totally love, it’s too cold, although I really respect it.

Anyway what this gets over better than Control is the otherworldliness of Ian Curtis and Martin Hannett’s production – the weird noises, the clangs, the echoing squeaks and the wails. It is a little bit like Sci-fi on the Manchester Ship Canal, really. And the ending is far less bleak.

Nice to also see the band and others saying how angry they were at Ian’s suicide, it wasn’t something that was said but everyone just thought ‘you prick’ rather than putting him on a pedestal, which unlike Kurt or Richey shows the fans weren’t buying a brand personality but a person, well four people in fact, someone who broke that barrier – that front – and genuinely, distressingly and destructively meant everything he sang.

If you don’t know of my love of Delia Derbyshire and the mostly unsung heroes of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, well then start here.

She produced and engineered the famous Dr Who theme (and if you watch the great Alchemists of Sound documentary, Ron Grainer asked  ‘Did I really write that?’ when he heard it, “Most of it” she replied, as she added a lot to his tune and was almost completely unrecognisable) and worked almost purely with tape, not synthesisers. So I’m amazed to find out via many blogs about the tapes she recorded, being catalogued by Manchester University which several excerpts the BBC has posted to hear – including a track which sounds like modern techno:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7512490.stm (someone tell the developers at the BBC of this new technology, it’s called ‘embedding’, it’s all the rage at this young whippersnapper upstart called YouTube).

Amazing stuff, so I want to call for this music to be released – either on CD or publically free – Delia deserves better than stuck in some library somewhere for the odd music historian to come across and the odd clip in TV shows. Sort it out! None of the posts or articles I’ve read, with glowing remarks from many people such as Phil Hartnoll from Orbital – mention what will happen to these tapes. In fact there’s been a dire lack of re-releases of all of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop tracks apart from a double CD set a BBC Records CD (which you can now buy for 85-100 quid it was so limited!) and some Warp 10″s which are equally rare in the early 00s – and some very limited re-releases on small labels such as Electrosonic or the Tomorrow’s People OST. No wonder people don’t know about her.

Isn’t it about time there was a full retrospective compilation CD of all her work? Say a Double or Triple CD Best of – surely all these radio plays, plays, tshirts, documentaries, songs and several sites about her should indicate there is a market for that? Add these new rare tapes and you could have a beautiful tribute to one of the most talented electronic musicians this country has produced. (And ignored).

Oh and Firefox 3 can suck my balls – doesn’t work with the editor in LJ and now WP 2.6. Crap. HTML links put in manually? How, err, sweet. Bless. So RETRO. *eyeroll* Sort it out Moz-developers!

Spain 2008

Second half of the acoustic show with added electrickery at the start.

Electronic didn’t get your message, btw (75 M, 102 mins)

• The Presets – This Boys In Love (KIM Remix)
• Dolapdere Big Gang – MaX – Enjoy The Silence
• The Presets – Kicking and Screaming
• Celebrity Murder Party – Blue Rinse (Fab Zero mix)
• Kevin Shields – Are You Awake? (Lost In Translation)
• dj magnet – Chicago Bump
• Apoptygma berzerk – Electricity
• Neon Neon – I Lust U
• Freerange Meatraiser – MUPPAGE!
• Rx – It’s the End of the World
• Aggro1 – Spor – The Eyes Have It v. Thrice – Image Of The Invisible
• flunk – blue monday (rune lindbaek loves manchester mix)
• Kaze Wo Atsumete – Happy End (Lost In Translation)
• Malcolm Middleton – Total Belief
• Sebastien Tellier – La Ritournelle
• Dusty Springfield – Silver Threads And Golden Needles
• Radiohead – Nude (Holy Fuck Remix)
• Amplive Vs. Radiohead – Weird Fishes (Amplive Remix)
• Danny & Joyce – The Stars
• Richard Youngs – Low Bay Of Sky
• The Magnetic Fields – Busby Berkeley Dreams
• Richard Hawley – Love Of My Life
• Vasily Dimitriev – Bach Accordion – again!
• Phil RetroSpector – I’ve never been to brokeback mountain

Clapham Junction 2008

You might have heard about the fracas here, I wasn’t going to comment until I’d read the article but I found scans here (and Tim Jonze’s response is interesting if you contrast it from what he apparently told the manager).

I remember Mozgate part 1 back in 1992 (?), and felt that the NME was being hypocritical and over harsh over Morrissey wearing a Union Jack (shock horror!) and writing contentious songs like National Front Disco which didn’t make their position clear (but conversely didn’t say ‘Hi I’m Moz and I’m a racist!’ either). He was basically hounded out of the country, a witch hunt. I’m no fan of the BNP, NF, C18 or any right-wing fascist people (I do follow the mantra that the only good fascist is a dead one), but there was a weird feeling that the people chasing after them weren’t exactly spotless or thinking either, doing a sort of Witchfinder General j’accuse almost Monty Pythonesque mobthink.

The recent rematch is less ambiguous, the comments are partly the kind that would make a Tory MP blanche; he is so wrong about immigration it’s not true, but this sense of unease at the NME’s response continues from before.

Why?

Well there is the physician heal thyself argument, until fairly recently NME either hasn’t had a very conspicuous track record in anti-racism since the 1980’s (or the last time they sparred with Moz, although that was a blip); the Love Music Hate Racism has a certain irony after Simon Reynolds revealed in his recent ‘Bring the Noise’ that IPC (owners of both the defunct Melody Maker and NME) ruled that black faces weren’t allowed on the cover – ‘bad for sales’ apparently according to their focus groups. So being against racism is OK, but not if it hurts sales? WTF? Even on the recently Love Music Hate Racism I noticed the few black stars were stuck at the back – coincidence?

Also doesn’t help is that their niching of music coverage to a very restricted demographic – under 23, guitars, indie-rock – means that apart from the few that were on that cover, it is a white mostly middle class boys club. Oh and one of the last times I read it this year they had a review of a new unsigned band called Fucked Up dolled up as dodgy looking NF skinheads. At no point in the review did they call them out on this, or explain. Nice.

The other thing is the bleating of liberal media about these things reminds me of the hypocrisy regarding drug use such as cocaine – IT’S BAD they bleat while showing lurid shots of Amy, Lindsay, Britney and Pete off their bonce but looking so chic with it. It’s a serious issue, and I’m sure some in the media feel passionate and committed 100% to equal rights, fighting racism and phobia – but I get the sense that they feel that way as long as they don’t have to employ those people. I meant how many people at the NME, for example those pictures of the writers they lovingly tout like they are the new pop stars or something, how many are other than white middle class males?

This is not to say that Moz was right in what he said – he was WRONG. Immigration is crucial to what makes London a world class city, and in particular it’s music scene so vibrant; a melting pot of styles, people, influences. Same can be said of other parts of the UK, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Manchester…even places like Bradford get the shout. So it’s sad he’s still banging on about this like it was 1992 or 93 and one of his favourite bands Gene were about to receive the same slightly-hypocritical treatment for a single cover (?) and wreck their careers too. Glad to hear he is no racist though, Love Music Hate Racism is well worth supporting, and I was glad to see NME take part over the last few years…a long way to go though.

If the NME who cried wolf wasn’t so slightly hypocritical in their shouts, I’d believe them as it is I suspect another (faked? overhyped?) drama and hollow claims to empty, trendy beliefs.