The Pool’s sexy superstar DJs that’ve had you in a spin during 2009 deliver their verdict on 2009.
Stevie Law Promoter and disc jockey at Le Bateau, La Go, Korova, Magnet and various other Liverpool hangouts.
Stevie says: ‘Far from my usual quandary of having too many good albums to choose from, this year’s selection has been a case of finding five albums that have genuinely excited me enough to stamp my approval on. 2009 has been – in my humblest of opinions – a very poor year for music.
Special note needs to go to Grizzly Bear, Phoenix, Animal Collective and Dirty Projectors who all narrowly missed the list.
Anyways, here goes – counting down just like they used to on Top of the Pops.’
5. Micachu: Jewellery
Stevie says: ‘A fantastic debut from the somewhat unhinged yet undoubtedly brilliant east Londoner. Her off-kilter, lofi approach to pop proved itself too difficult for most ears but chance yourself a listen and dare not to be utterly enthralled.’
4. The Horrors: Primary Colours
Stevie says: ‘Anybody that knows me will rip me for this choice. I was very vocal about my hatred of The Horrors when they first appeared on the radar – their music was an awful, fashion-led parody that had me throwing down the headphones and picking up the shotgun (complete with menacing look in eye). However, when I first heard the ‘leaked’ track Sea Within A Sea, I was hooked. Thankfully, the rest of the album was just as good..’
3. Future of the Left: Travels With Myself And Another
Stevie says: ‘Falkous is a hero of mine, in my mind one of the most acerbic writers this country has ever produced. He’s like Charlie Brooker with riffs. And this is his best record since Mclusky Do Dallas. Essential..’
2. Wild Beasts: Two Dancers
Stevie says: ‘This album is phenomenal. Boundary-stretching, genre-bending, melodious, interesting, arty, poppy, heavy, pretty, succinct, funny, sad, happy – it literally has it all.
Barely a day goes by without me screaming aloud its numerous falsetto hooks (entirely unexpectedly to both myself and anybody in my immediate vicinity) while going about my daily errands. It has been a very long time since I’ve heard a better triplet than The Fun Powder Plot, Hooting & Howling and All The King’s Men to open an album too..’
1. Various Artists: Dark Was The Night
Stevie says: ‘Yes, I know that its a massive cop-out putting a compilation album at number one in my albums of the year but this was quite simply the best collection of songs put together by anyone, anywhere over the last 365 days of human existen…. no, actually, EVER.
Two CDs featuring a Who’s Who of my favorite artists – The National, Sufjan Stevens, David Byrne, Yeasayer, Arcade Fire and Andrew Bird (to name but a few) quite simply blew my mind.
And, in the first half of 2009 alone, it raised ã423,212 for AIDS charity Red Hot. Let it therefore be said that if you do not believe this to be a worthy ‘Album of 2009’ winner then you are officially a bad person.
Merry Christmas and may 2010 bring better end of year polls than 2009..’
Joe McKechnie: Musician, producer and spinner of tunes.
1. Bill Callahan: Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
2. Sparrow & The Workshop: Into The Wild
3. Tap Tap: On My Way
4. Pablo: Turntable Technology
5. Abner Jay: True Story Of Abner Jay
Andy Shinobi: DJ and promoter of Cool Ninja and Wu Chess black belt.
Albums:
1, Raekwon: Only Built For Cuban Linx II
2. Durrty Goodz: Ultrasound
3. Q Tip: Kamaal The Abstraact
4. The Prodigy: Invaders Must Die
5. ‘I’m struggling…‘
Tips for 2010:
1. Durrty Goodz: Born Blessed
2. Nas and Damian Marley: Distant Relatives
3. Blakroc: Blakroc
