Top 10 albums of 2009 - Adrian Mack

by Adrian Mack on December 9th, 2009 at 4:38 PM

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Another year, another huge backlog of music I didn’t even get to. Which isn’t exactly the worst problem you could have, is it?

Manic Street Preachers
Journal for Plague Lovers
The sheer, reborn gusto of the Manics marks an incredible feat for a rock band in its 24th year, and this is the only time in living memory that a reference to Rush (in the title track) didn’t cause me to wipe my arse on a CD.

Manic Street Preachers' "Journal For Plague Lovers".

Charles Spearin
The Happiness Project
Spearin’s radiant cut-up tribute to his neighbourhood has the creative-humanist feel of an old John and Faith Hubley cartoon, not to mention the spooky power to make critics reach for extremely obscure comparisons.

Charles Spearin's "Mrs. Morris".

Richard Hawley
Truelove’s Gutter
Third masterpiece in a row for Mr. Midnight. Even more placid and starlit than usual, Hawley is the hipster’s bridge into the wee small hours after a hard day of grappling with the cutting edge.

Richard Hawley's "Open Up Your Door".

Wilco
Wilco (The Album)
For “You Never Know”, really. I’m always happy to discover that somebody shares my deep appreciation for George Harrison’s guitar sound. And it’s been a while since I liked a Wilco record this much. (Being There, done that, know what I mean?)

Wilco's "You Never Know".

Black Lips
200 Million Thousand
That Black Lips makes it sound so easy at this point tells us that the militantly shabby pee drinkers have probably reached the top of their curve. Vintage-sounding garage punk, but really just music for assholes.

Black Lips' "Trapped in a Basement".

Madness
The Liberty of Norton Folgate
I’m aware that we should be trumpeting all things new, but fuck it, nothing gave me more pure joy this year than one of England’s greatest singles bands of yore re-emerging with a concept album as fragrant as a stroll through Camden Market with Ray Davies, the Beatles, and King Tubby for company.

Madness' "Dust Devil".

M. Ward
Hold Time
Aside from Ward’s casual songwriting brilliance, Hold Time is full of killer flourishes like the Phil Spector–ish kettledrums and Christmas bells that invade “Rave On”, and the dry-as-a-bone Glitterband beat versus overdriven twang in “Never Had Nobody Like You”. One of those records that you love instantly, or I did, anyway.

M. Ward's "Rave On".

Crocodiles
Summer of Hate
This would be a disposable JAMC rip by hopeless poseurs if I weren’t around to say it isn’t, so here I am, and it’s not.

Crocodiles' "Summer of Hate".

Pete Werner
Salvage
Locally made, breathtakingly accomplished country rock living somewhere between the Jayhawks and our own, late Blue Shadows, from a dude I’ve never heard of. Pete Werner, who the hell are you? Marry me!

Pete Werner's "Every Time I See That Girl (She's Crying)".

Sunn O)))
Monoliths and Dimensions
Dunno about you, but I sit here every day waiting anxiously for reality to splinter like an overstressed windowpane; a somewhat uncomfortable feeling, if you must know, neatly captured on an album that dares to put sulphuric women’s choirs, the mortal screaming of tube amps, and the legacies of Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Gyí¶rgy Lygeti, Mayhem, and Charles Fort in a sacred circle somewhere to the left of the face on Mars, in solemn anticipation of the birth of the Avant God. On a scale of one to 10, I give it negative infinity.

Sunn O)))'s "Big Church ".