What a year for music 2009 proved to be. The recession didn’t stop the rock, it actually fueled it with more underground wonder than ever before. The psychedelics got stronger, the beats got darker and the hardcore raged harder than ever. The following end of year top 10’s were not easy to put together but this represents what releases were played heavily on the Crossfire Sound System from all of our writers throughout 2009. Enjoy.
Trotty P:
1. HEALTH – Get Color (City Slang)
2. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – The Century of Self (Superball)
3. Pissed Jeans – King Of Jeans (Sub Pop)
4. Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport (ATP Recordings)
5. A Place to Bury Strangers – Exploding Head (Mute)
6. Ramona Falls – Intuit (Souterrain Transmissions)
7. The Thermals – Now We Can See (Kill Rockstars)
8. Sonic Youth – The Eternal (Matador)
9. Comanechi – A Crime of Love (Merok)
10. PJ Harvey & John Parish – A Woman A Man Walked By (Island)
Tips for 2010
Warpaint
Musee Mecanique
Esben and the Witch
Winegums:
1. Thursday – Common Existence (Epitaph)
2. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything To Nothing (Columbia)
3. Polar Bear Club – Chasing Hamburg (Bridge Nine)
4. The Ghost of A Thousand – New Hopes, New Demonstrations (Epitaph)
5. The Audition – Self Titled Album (Victory Records)
6. Brand New – Daisy (Interscope)
7. P.O.S. – Never Better (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
8. Say Anything – Say Anything (RCA Records)
9. Gallows – Grey Britain (Warner Bros.)
10. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2)
Tips for 2010
Bad For Lazarus
We The Kings
So Many Dynamos
Abjekt:
1. P.O.S. – Never Better (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
2. Felt – Felt 3 – A Tribute To Rosie Perez (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
3. Mos Def – The Ecstatic (Downtown)
4. Every Time I Die – New Junk Asthetic (Epitaph)
5. DOOM – Born Like This (Lex Records)
6. Mayer Hawthorne – A Strange Arrangement (Stones Throw)
7. Brother Ali – Us (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
8. Clipse – Till The Casket Drops (Columbia)
9. Doomtree – False Hopes XV (Doomtree Records)
10. Orelsan – Perdu D’Avance (7th Magnitude / 3ème Bureau)
Tips for 2010
Stanley
1. Zombie Nation – Zombielicious (UKW)
2. Memory Tapes – Seek Magic (Sincerely Yours)
3. Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue (Warp)
4. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino)
5. Clint Mansell – Moon (Black Records)
6. Bomb The Music Industry! – Scrambles (Quote Unquote)
7. First Aid Kit – Drunken Trees (Polydor)
8. Beak > – Beak > (Invada)
9. Huw M – Os Mewn Swn (Self-Released)
10. Peter Broderick – Ten Duets (Digitalis)
Top tips for 2010
First Aid Kit
Tim And Sam’s Tim And The Sam Band With Tim And Sam
Kavinsky
Zac:
1. Gallows – Grey Britain (Black Envelope)
2. The Shitty Limits – Beware The Limits (Boss Tuneage)
3. Darker My Love – ST – (Dangerbird)
4. Converge – (Epitaph)
5. The Hickey Underworld – ST (Naive)
6. Dead Confederate – Wrecking Ball – (Kartel)
7. The Ghost of A Thousand – New Hopes, New Demonstrations (Epitaph)
8. Mastodon – Crack The Skye (Reprise)
9. Alberta Cross – Broken Side of Time (Ark Recordings)
10.…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – The Century of Self (Superball)
Tips for 2010
Noisia
North Atlantic Oscillation
Chickenhawk
Foxy Shazam
Pete Craven
1. Wasted Time – Futility (La Familia)
2. Shitty Limits – Beware The Limits (Boss Tuneage / La Vida Es Un Mus)
3. Destino Final – Atrapados (La Vida Es Un Mus)
4. The Horror – Spoils of War (Grot)
5. Stupids – The Kids Don’t Like it (Boss Tuneage)
6. Burning Heads – Spread The Fire (Opposite)
7. T.V. Smith – Live at The NVA (Boss Tuneage)
8. Burnt Cross – Too Many Graves (Tadpole / Opiate)
9. Beginning of The End – If You’re Going thru Hell… (Active Rebellion)
10. Geriatric Unit – Permethrin Blues (Boss Tuneage / La Vida Es Un Mus)
Tips for 2010
Dee Massey:
1. Jack’s Mannequin – The Glass Passenger (Sire/Warner)
2. Brand New – Daisy (Interscope)
3. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2)
4. The Get Up Kids – Something to Write Home About – 10th Anniversary Edition – (Vagrant)
5. The Lemonheads – Varshons (Cooking Vinyl)
6. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More (Universal/Island)
7. Taking Back Sunday – New Again (Warner)
8. Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions (14th Floor Record)
9. Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Sony)
10. The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love (4AD)
Tips for 2010
Tom Lindsey:
1. Shrinebuilder – Shrinebuilder (Neurot Recordings)
2. Mastodon – Crack The Skye (Reprise)
3. Outlaw Order – Dragging Down The Enforcer (Deep Six)
4. William Elliott Whitmore – Animals In The Dark (Anti-)
5. Doomriders – Darkness Come Alive (Deathwish Inc)
6. Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures (Sony Music)
7. Goatwhore – Carving Out The Eyes Of God (Metal Blade)
8. Venomous Concept – Poisoned Apple (Century Media)
9. Skeletonwitch – Breathing The Fire (Prosthetic Records)
10. Mariachi El Bronx – Mariachi El Bronx (Witchita)
Tips for 2010
The Devils Blood
Hang The Bastard
Arson Anthem
James Sherry:
1. Gallows – Grey Britain (Black Envelope)
2. Pissed Jeans – King Of Jeans (Sub Pop)
3. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – The Century Of Self (Superball)
4. Them Crooked Vultures – S/T (Columbia)
5. The Shitty Limits – Beware The Limits (Boss Tuneage)
6. Converge – Axe To Fall (Epitaph)
7. Nirvana – Bleach Reissue/Reading 1992 CD (Sub Pop/Universal)
8. Darker My Love – 2 (Dangerbird)
9. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic (Warners)
10. The Lemonheads – Varshons (Cooking Vinyl)
MOOSE
1. She Keeps Bees – Nests (Names)
2. Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Columbia)
3. Miike Snow – Miike Snow (Columbia)
4. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (Warp)
5. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
6. Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (Drag City)
7. Regina Spektor – Far (Warner)
8. The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead (Fat Cat)
9. Modest Mouse – No-One’s First and You’re Next (Epic)
10. Beirut – March of the Zapotec (Ba Da Bing)
Tip for 2010
Get involved in writing alongside us this year when we relaunch the music zine as we are looking for 3 music writers who can review singles and albums in the Buzzchart and also cover live reviews and interviews. Send us some examples of your reviews and we will get back to you.