My Top 5 Albums of 2009

There has been some awesome music this year, three of my favourite bands have had album releases and there have been lots of great debut albums, sadly its been overshadowed with band split-ups (The Rakes and DARTZ!) and Celebrity deaths (Michael Jackson) however there were plenty of albums that i enjoyed although it was hard to pick them in order.

First some honorable mentions, Muse's fifth album the The Resistance was surprisingly disappointing as I've been a muse fan for most of the decade this album was really boring, not to say its bad I found it great in parts like the orchestral 3 part Epic 'Exo-Genesis' and 'Unnatural Selection' but they weren't up to par with the albums I've heard this year but I haven't given up hope on them.

Another was a surprise 6th studio album from Idlewild called 'Post Electric Blues' which I was not expecting, I sadly ignored there last album' Make Another Would' so I never really hyped for this however it was a fantastic album, it was one of there best since 'The Remote Part' and its a great effort to get me interested in them again.

Others were mostly great debut albums like Whites Lies 'To Lose a Life' and We Were Promised Jetpacks 'These Four Walls' albums but these five albums were some of my best albums of the year :

5. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer


This is the only band on this list that I had never had of up until this album, after all the critical acclaim it has been getting I gave it a shot and found it quite excellent indeed.

Dragonslayer has a great rhythm going through all the songs, 'Idiot Heart' for example is not only a brilliant mystical tune but has some fantastic lyrics and that's why I like this album so much, every time I listen to these songs it like going on a journey though various places.

I will remember this album also for getting me into unknown indie bands because it would be very rare to get a chance to listen to Sunset Rubdown without the Internet and I'm enjoying finding bands like this.

4. Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone


Dananananaykroyd have been under my radar since a friend came over with there Sissy Hits EP last year and I really enjoyed there crazy tunes but what pissed me off about it was that 'Infinity Milk' was a 30 second preview and I wanted more so when 'Hey Everyone' came out that was the first song I played and loved every bit of it.

From the redone EP verisons of 'The Greater Than Symbol & Hash' and 'Pink Sabbath' to new tunes like 'Watch This' and the single 'Black Wax'. Its an album of full crazy insane fun music and that deserves a spot on the list.

3. Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions


I didn't really find Biffy Clyro's last album 'Puzzle' that good to be honest, it wasn't because I didn't like where they were going since I've been fan of there old stuff, its because I didn't find anything memorable about it, so i was a bit worried when 'Only Revolutions' was coming out however this album to me reignited them because I loved all the songs on this album.

Sure 'The Captain' is one of those radio friendly songs but I sing that chorus every time damn time and I loved the way 'God and Satan' was beautifully done and to the funny yet strange lyrics of 'Born on a horse'.

This album is bigger, better and brilliant and I can't wait to see them live again in the future, Mon the Biff.

2.The Horrors - Primary Colours


What the hell happened to this band, two years ago what they brought out 'Strange House' with there single releases I didn't give a shit about them but when a friend put on 'Sea within a Sea' I was shocked I was like "This is the band that did that 'Gloves' song correct", they changed from an crazy synth guitar band to make a gloomy psychedelic record.

As mentioned 'Sea within a Sea' is one of my favourite tracks of 2009, some people of said that its boring but how can you say that when they have made such an amazing outro that gives me goosebumps every time. To the creepy sounds of 'New Ice Age' to the rather upbeat 'Primary Colours'.

That's what you expect in music sometimes they change for the better or for the worse and to me The Horrors have done very well this year to make one of the most unexpected amazing albums.

1. Marmaduke Duke - Duke Pandemonium


Well I'm cheating a bit here because I have already written a review on why I love this album so much and its my favourite album of of the year.

The reason is I'm still listening to it quite a lot and this album came out in May, I still love the beats to 'Everybody Dance' and the funkiness of 'Je Suis Un Funky Homme', its just one of those albums that I'm going to enjoy for a long time and that's why its favourite album of of the year.

Well its been a great year for music this year and I can't wait for 2010 with albums from Delphic and Owen Pallett to look forward to.

Which Album did you enjoy in 2009?

Music - The Telephones - DANCE FLOOR MONSTERS

While looking for some new songs from Ex-Hope of the states band 'The Northwestern', I managed to strangely come across this Japanese band called 'The Telephones' on youtube, they were performing a recent Itunes live session that I very much enjoyed because they seem to be one of those bands that go all out with there live performances.
So intrigued I checked out there latest album DANCE FLOOR MONSTERS:


So who are they, well there an electronic rock quartet with some catchy dance songs and most of there lyrics on this album are English (or what people call Engrish), which is quite rare considering that they haven't been promoted outside Japan.

The album starts off with with a strong entrance on what the albums about with 'D.A.N.C.E to the telephones' which pretty much sets you up for the rest of the album with the loop lyrics "Dance to the telephones, Dance to the music" reminding me of CSS's 'CSS Suxxx'.

Telephones also get funky with 'Baby,Baby,Baby' full of cowbell bass and with sounds like song title Britney Spears could make up, then you get struck with two heavy hit Discos 'Urban Disco' and 'Monkey Discooooooo' which keep a good pace of craziness although I've always wondered in the chorus of Monkey Discooooooo that weird synth sound is.

'Catastrophe' slows it down with claps and guitar and finishing fast with insane screams and some fantastic drums, then we come to up to my favourite which is 'Hopping Shower' which contains some fantastic soft acoustic guitar and catchy synth while at the end you can hear cheering in the background which is a good closure to the song.

Lastly I would like to talk about 'HABANERO' which is the last song of the album and quite unexpected at the start I thought it was a straight rave tune but its all broken up to combine it with rock, it kind of reminds me of The Rapture on how they mixed to make some good catchy rock-dance music with the album Echoes and this song reminds me of that.

In the end I would consider DANCE FLOOR MONSTERS as a beginners guide to J-rock, its a fun album to get to know the genre and they could be known as a great live band in the future with the likes of Polysics.

Now to get back looking for The Northwestern.

8/10