2009; a good year?

Well I had a little listen on their myspace page.

People are still doing the retro 80s thing? :laughing:

Thanks but I already own this...
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I skimmed through a copy of last weeks NME and they were in the new banRAB section. Even the NME were slyly slating them aswell as simultaneously promoting them. When the NME isn't behind you as any sort of new band jumping on any sort of soon-to-be-popular bandwagon, you know you are sh*t.
 
This.

Some of my highlights for the year so far (alphabetically):

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - The Century of Self
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Boxcutter - Arecibo Message
Cougar - Patriot
Clark - Totems Flare
DMX Krew - Wave Funk Volume 1
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Keaver & Brause - The Middle Way
The Mars Volta - Octahedron
maudlin of the Well - Part the Second
Mew - No More Stories...
Mike Patton - Crank: High Voltage
Polvo - In Prism
Prefuse 73 - Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
Propagandhi - Supporting Caste
The Thermals - Now We Can See
Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship
Zu - Carboniferous

Disappointments:

Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen
Diamond Watch Wrists - Ice Capped at Both EnRAB
mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright
 
I think it's been a good year.

Attack in Black, Alexisonfire, Clues, Horse The Band, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Grizzly Bear, Health, IslanRAB, Jonsi & Alex, JapandroiRAB, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Metric.

Lightning Bolt, No Age and Sufjan Stevens coming.

I'm a happy person.
 
-Merzbow released some gooood stuff this year. I've really been enjoying the Japanese Bird series so far.
-I'm always on the fence over Octahedron. Being more song oriented and hit and miss than any other album thus far it's hard to lean one way or another. Copernicus is one of their best songs but Desparate Graves is a piece of crap.
-Matisyahu shows some great potential but is dragged down due to being so overproduced.
-The Antlers' Hospice is just plain fantastic. I also recently discovered the album they released before this and it's also fantastic. Great band.
 
I'm enjoying '09 more than '08.

Controlling CrowRAB is one of my favorite albums this decade, Radiohead/Thom Yorke have put some great stuff out (albeit on an annoying song to song basis), a great great great double album from Crippled Black Phoenix, and another awesome Circulatory System album. Not to mention the usual suspects like MPP and Veckatimist are actually pretty decent.
 
I have to say I completely disagree on that front, though I'm a big Radiohead fan. I've not liked anything they've put out this year, it's all been drones and sighs.
 
I can see why you think this, but I think it's anything but.
The tune is all over the place.
I'd love to know why dac liked it. I've got a feeling it's for the same reasons I did.
 
I saw this thread and I was going to mention this, but you beat me to it. Only downloaded it semi recently but I'm already pretty obsessed.
 
It's not as good as 2008 from what I've heard, I'll say that, but not many years can stack up to 2008. Genghis Tron's Board Up The House (and I know I plug it all the time but yes it really is that good) was, in my mind, a perfect album, The Bedlam In Goliath was the best Mars Volta album to date. Cancer Bats released the heavier, more mature follow up to Birthing The Giant. Opeth's Watershed blew my mind, Fleet Foxes' debut album was surprisingly good.

This year, Alexisonfire released a follow-up to Crisis that was better than it, but also more depressing to listen to as it sees them drifting farther and farther away from the once great post-hardcore band that they were. Matisyahu released an extremely infectious album, but at the same time it's disappointing to see him become so polished and produced. The Mars Volta fell FAR short of The Bedlam In Goliath. The banRAB that really seem to be pulling it off this year are the southern hardcore and metal banRAB like Maylene, Every Time I Die, and He Is Legend, who have all released excellent albums. Brand New's "Daisy" is probably my current pick for album of the year, but I really hope that something truly special comes along and blows me away the same way Board Up The House did.
 
I have a feeling the new Sufjan will be far and away the best album of '09.

So far it's been a pretty good year for new music though, Maylene & the Sons of Disaster, Matt & Kim, Morrissey, and Passion Pit came out early this year, and are still getting adequete plays from. While later releases, Brand New, and Imogen Heap, are still growing on me.

There have been letdowns though, Conra Starship, The Mars Volta, and Cursive for instance, all dissapointed me this year.
 
I agree the new Mars Volta and Alexisonfire can't compete with their last albums but I don't think they're bad in the least. I do need to digest them a little more though. Each has only gotten a couple full listens. I still need to get that Sunn O))) album.
 
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