The Top 50 Albums ‘09: Top 10.
2009 was – for me – the Year of The GaGa. This is a woman who only twelve months earlier was parading around, swearing by the disco-stick that pop music would never be low brow. And now she’s become this… phenomenon. Whether you like her or not, it was hard to avoid the topic of GaGa in the pop world. Bloggers were divided, some were on the fence about her where even I sat for a while; but once The Fame Monster’s leading single “Bad Romance” surfaced, everything changed. And much like with “Bad Romance”, the music on The Fame Monster served as A-grade pop from beginning to end; the breezy-summerpop of her “La Isla Bonita” meets “Coco Jamboo” homage “Alejandro” comes complete with a simple (but effective) chorus-hook, “Dance In The Dark” brings Jon Bennet Ramsay and Princess Diana together in an industrial-goth take on europop, even her Bowie/Queen-driven ballad “Speechless” proved that ballads didn’t necessarily need to be boring. And then, to top it all off, the second disc comes complete with one of the greatest albums of 2008 (which didn’t see a release in most countries till 2009, FYI); her debut The Fame. Bad Romance, Paparazzi, Lovegame, Just Dance, Poker Face; all on the one album? GaGa redefined the way artists should be utilising the opportunities an album repackage presents; she gave us a fresh new album of quality songs and used her debuts inclusion on the record as the bonus, rather than the tested-and-proven method of that very disc being made the central key-point. Surely this makes The Fame Monster more than worthy of being heralded Album of the Year. [Read my original review.]
The day I wrote the somewhat cringe-worthy review of this album on the blog was a day I’d rather forget. The piece, although in glowing praise of this wondrous record, had a bitter-underlay that could only be justified by saying I was in way-too-a fragile state to even try writing about any record, particularly one whose suitcase of emotions, to me, felt so fresh and familiar. That said, I won’t delete the offending review or edit it. Like Florence herself on this remarkable debut, it’s all-out or nothing. “Drumming Song” felt as if it were mine nearly every time I heard it, “Hurricane Drunk” soundtracked almost to-the-word the way I felt partying over the weekends… It’s one of the more personal and private celebrations of music I’ve had. Some may understand why Lungs affected me so much in 2009, others may not, but there’s no denying this was also an era-defining moment in music in pop culture. [Read my original review.]
I’m hoping that the darling Antigone will forgive me, for I have sinned. As I got together my list of links for previously reviewed albums in this end-of-09 list, I realised that the review I’d penned on this magnificent debut had never actually been published. Because I’m a dickhead. So until I publish that piece in the New Year, let me detail to you briefly just why Antigone’s Land was one of the finer, more deluxe and exquisite places to visit in 2009. “Promiscuity” is still so sonically magical that it serves as one of the most original (and cruelly overlooked) singles of the Naughties, the scattered dub-beats of the L-Word-loving “Palomino” is the actual definition of bringing sexy/back, the stripped-trip-hop beauty of “Life Without You” is entrancing, and my morning-after cure of the soulful “Life Without You”… It’s all just so fabulous. Antigone Land is such an interesting and captivating palate of sounds that I’m surprised things haven’t exploded for Tigs; the talent is undeniable and the music speaks for itself.
Repackaged in 2009 (which is when these guys came fully into my attention), Friendly Fires’ debut was, essentially, the greatest Rapture album that never was. Where The Rapture sometimes fail in their pop-execution, Friendly Fires’ lead vocalist Ed Macfarlane has such a pop-assurance in his voice that it’s hard to fob them off as just some other indie-dance band. The best bits? The Paul Epworth produced “Jump In The Pool”, “Paris”, “White Diamonds”, “Skeleton Boy”, and the years most interestingly crafted remix, the Aeroplane mix of “Paris”, which used the originals backing vocals (sung by Au Revoir Simone) as the lead vocals. A pleasant surprise, and one I’m fairly sure the cocky blokes from The Rapture would never have stood for were it actually their song.
Natalie Imbruglia released the best album of her career in 2009 and, apparently, only about three people knew of its existence. From collaborating with her Silverchair ex-hubby Daniel Johns (on the jilty break-up pop of “Want”), to collaborating with Coldplay genius Chris Martin, Imbruglia’s music truly came to life (pardon me) on this, her fourth studio effort, after going from strength-to-strength with each album prior. Her reward? A number #67 debut on the Australian ARIA Albums chart. Whatever peoples aversion to Imbruglia may be, one thorough listen through the record should change even the harshest of critics minds. Martin-co-penned “Lukas” is Natalie playing with the grand gestures of Kate Bush, the heartbreaking “Fun” lives in the same camp as Leona Lewis’ “Happy”, in that its title is of no suggestion as to your general mood after listening to the song. But everything on here is beautiful, and I’m hopeful that, when she launches this in the UK next year, things turn out a little better for her than they did back home.
One of my best friends Michelle got me onto the Yeah Yeah Yeahs a few years ago; their debut Fever To Tell spawned one of the single greatest love songs ever written (the crushing “Maps”), and the loveability factor of Karen O as a frontwoman was always going to be too hard to resist for the general population at some point. Although big before, It’s Blitz! took the Yeah Yeah Yeahs from alternative radio stations like Triple J and RRR to a more mainstream audience… whilst still maintaining the relationships with those alternative stations. It was the first time that, from beginning to end, it felt like you were listening to a Yeah Yeah Yeahs pop record. And that is why It’s Blitz! is their best effort yet; it’s the strongest collection of songs in their back catalogue. Aside from the killer singles “Zero” and “Heads Will Roll”, it’s all about the tender ballad “Runaway”, which gives the aforementioned “Maps” a run for its tender, fragile money.
I hold this record in a very similar league to Florence’s debut. Swede Erik Hassle was heralded as the next Robbie Williams in 2009, but this first impression of an album demonstrated he was more than just the next anything. His unique sincerity and tender-loving-themes generally made this a Kleenex-happy 45 minutes, but boy, what a thrilling 45 minutes it is. “All That I Wanted Was You” still tugs a little tighter on the heartstrings than the other tracks, but everything on Hassle is worth the namesake. [Read my original review.]
Boasting the likes of Robyn, The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson, Anneli Drecker and Lykke Li on vocals, Nordic ravers Royksopp delivered the kind of neatly polished and well executed pop album – from start to finish – that the likes of Basement Jaxx could only dream about. Robyn served up the records best moment in “The Girl and the Robot”, but it was the vocal-free “Royksopp Forever” that gave us the long players most interesting; think AIR’s Virgin Suicides Soundtrack meets the disco.
Can you imagine if “The Reeling” had’ve been a Kylie Minogue single? Holy Mother of God, that would have been something. That being said, Passion Pit themselves certainly do a corker of a job on the song. Although I’ll agree that last years EP release, Chunk of Change, is the better release of the two, Manners still managed to back-up all of the hype generated behind that very EP and the enormity of “Sleepyhead.” Will they pump out another record in 2010?
Infinitely better than their three-and-a-half-star debut, Alphabeat came through like a bat out of hell with their bubbly follow up, The Spell. From the records title track, to the adorability of “DJ”, The Spell is about as pure-a-pop album as you’re going to get. The Michael Davidson/S.A.W-licking “The Beat Is” remains a solid favourite, but the euphoric nature of everything from “Heatwave” to the explosive “Heart Failure” showcase that perhaps the best is still yet to come from these clever little Danes.
READ NUMBERS 11 – 50: HERE.
