2009 has been a great year for music, unfortunately a lot of releases have somehow passed me by (It’s been a tight year financially!) such as the new Why?, Real Estate and Mountain Goats albums amongst a lot more.

Here’s my picks of 2009 along with a brief summary of each and a song for your enjoyment.

Empire! Empire! (I was a lonely estate) – What it takes to move forward

The bands first full length and my album of the year. An album that was painstakingly written and recorded over the last two years and it really shows in the beauty of each song. An album that brings back memories of classic indie rock such as Mineral and Benton Falls, whilst adding their own spin on the genre.
“An Idea Is A Greater Monument Than A Cathedral” is contender for one of my favourite songs of the year too. The moment both Keith and Matt’s (Look Mexico) vocals come in together will always send shivers down my spine.

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Castevet – Summer Fences

The full length follow up to their “I Know What A Lion Is” demo. An album that seems to pick up where from monument to masses left us before going all prog on us and continue down the right path. The combination of lovely dianogah esque post rock and the balls out growls of Small Brown Bike make this a record that can both blow the face off the listener whilst also calming their fears.

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The Lonely Island – Incredibad

What’s a list without some laughs? I’m not normally a fan of comedy albums, but for some reason The Lonely Island managed to grab my attention enough for constant plays throughout the year. And above all, any album that can have Norah Jones, Justin Timberlake, Jack Black and T-Pain on and still be brilliant deserves a medal.

Jason Lytle – Yours Truly, The Commuter

The former Grandaddy frontman returns with his first effort for the Epitaph Records imprint Anti-Records and what an effort it is. Combining all the things that made Grandaddy so special yet adding in a another layer of lo-fi gorgeousness.

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We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls
“For a debut effort, WWPJ have created a promising foothold in the current Indie scene, proving that they can create music that will appeal to all yet still retain integrity and passion, standing in a music scene diluted by press flavour’s of the week.”

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Dark Night Of The Soul – Dark Night Of The Soul

A collaboration between highly in demand artist/producer Dangermouse and Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous that sadly due to legal issues will probably never see the light of day (in the form of a retail release anyway). A star studded release featuring the vocal talents of artists such as Jason Lytle, James Mercer, Frank Black and David Lynch, yes THE David Lynch.

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Dinosaur Jr – Farm

The indie legends 2nd post reunion album that carries on in much of the same vein as “Beyond”, a noisy, distorted trip through some of their finest material so far. The show in Derby cemented that fact that despite their age they certainly aren’t flagging and still out do most new artists.

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Into It. Over It. – 52 Weeks

Evan Weiss’s (formerly of The Progress and many other bands) latest project involved writing and recording a song for every week of the year whilst somehow and miraculously never sacrificing quality for quantity. The production is also spectacular for a project of this magnitude, I expected 52 tracks recorded on a 4 track in a bedroom, instead we’re treated to 52 songs that jump between solo acoustic songs and full band indie rock and the man isn’t out of steam yet what with new material already recorded and lined up for a 2010 release.

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Teenage Cool Kids – Foreign Lands

Continuing where “Queer Salutations” left off, Teenage Cool Kids have produced another album that sounds as fresh as the last, doing something which sadly you don’t really hear anymore. A bit of built to spill and a bit of meneguar combined to make some of the best indie rock 2009 has seen.

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Dear Landlord – Dream Homes

Definitely punk record of the year for me. Pure anthemic joy. Members of The Copyrights and Off With Their Heads creating pop punk that makes you feel like it’s the 90’s again.

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Perfect Future – Self Titled

It may have took me a while to get into, but once I did I began to adore this album.
Scrappy post punk that makes many nods towards bands such as The Van Pelt, Koyla and even a bit of 90′s college rock . A very promising start to this band’s early career.

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