2009’s best & overlooked albums so far
It’s July 1st, the mid-point of the year, a good time to reflect on what we’ve been offered musically so far in 2009. There’s been some stonkers like Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective and Fever Ray but you know about them already. I’ve listed my ten obvious favourite records of the year so far and then fifteen overlooked ones (with MP3s) you should definitely check out. Obviously “overlooked” is not exact science but generally, these are records you would like to see get more attention in the remaining six months of the year.
I left out a couple of newer albums like White Denim’s Fits and Paul White’s The Strange Dreams of because they are relatively new and I haven’t listened to them enough to place them here as much as I like them. There are a few others like Black Milk, Ribbons, Solid Gold which were actually last year officially but check them out anyway because they are amazing. Here we go..
10 Obvious Favourites
- Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
- DM Stith – Heavy Ghost
- Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
- Fever Ray – Fever Ray
- DOOM – Born Like This
- And So I Watch You From Afar – And So I Watch You From Afar
- Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
- The Horrors – Primary Colours
- David Kitt – The Nightsaver
- Dan Deacon – Bromst
15 Overlooked Favourites (with added MP3s)
- Nosaj Thing – Drift – Coat of Arms
- The Phantom Band – Checkmate Savage – The Howling
- Clues – Clues – Remember Severed Head
- Super Extra Bonus Party – Night Horses – Night Horses
- Yppah – Yppah
- The Holy Roman Army – How The Light Gets In – Elegy
- Clark – Growl’s Garden
- Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard – Em Are I – Roll Bus Roll
- Patrick Kelleher – You Look Cold – He Has to Sleep Sometime
- Sleepy Sun – Embrace
- Woods – Songs of Shame
- Hanne Hukkelberg – Blood From A Stone
- Faunts – Feel. Love. Thinking. Of – Out on a Limb
- NLF3 – Ride on A Brand New Time – Echotropic
- Venice is Sinking – AZAR – Charm City
Feel free to tell me what you think has been somewhat overlooked in the comments.
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Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.