The First Third

It can sometimes be difficult to tell how good a year will be for music at the time. Often it only really becomes apparent at the end of the year, although hindsight can be an obfuscating force. For me it was only really 2007 and 2008 that I was into music enough to consider this question as the year was progressing (I think the former was the better of the two years, but that's not really the issue here). This trend of being progressively more up-to-date with music has continued this year, especially with the music reviewing, and so I thought I'd try and give a review of 2009 so far, to try and make sense of it musically. I slightly stole this idea from a thread on Drownedinsound, but here are a list of the albums I've heard so far this year, in rough order, with each one rated out of 5.

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion 5/5
Dan Deacon - Bromst 5/5
Mi Ami - Watersports 4.5/5
Dark Was The Night (compilation) 4.5/5
The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love 4.5/5
Micachu - Jewellery 4/5
Beirut - March of The Zapotec/Holland 4/5
Zu - Carboniferous 4/5
Mastodon - Crack The Skye (need to listen to this more) 4/5
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - The Century of Self 3.5/5
The Horrors - Primary Colours 3.5/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! 3.5/5
Thee Oh Sees - Help 3.5/5
worriedaboutsatan - Arrivals 3.5/5
Bob Log III - My Shit Is Perfect 3/5
Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love 3/5
Fever Ray - Fever Ray 3/5
Love Is All - A Hundred Things Kept Me Up At Night 2.5/5
Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project 2.5/5
Magik Markers - Balf Quarry 2/5

Wow, that's quite a lot, eh? And there's at least another 2 on top of that I haven't listened to enough to really form a proper opinion of. And I've probably forgotten about one that I've listened to on spotify or something. Whatever.

Looking at that, I'd say 2009's been pretty sweet so far. The top 5 are about as good as I could expect from new albums, and nicely varied too. Plus, there's plenty more exciting stuff coming out this year, and a whole load of things on my "excited about" list, which now includes Jeffrey Lewis, Big Business, The Field, Dinosaur Jr and drone-fanatics Sunn o))), among others.

I've also been making the effort to go to more gigs this year. Would you like a quick review of all the gigs I've seen this year? Of course you would.

Parts & Labor @ Cargo

Excellent. Very good start to the year.

HTRK @ The Lexington

Went on a whim, as was recommended by lastfm. Was surprisingly good.

Dinosaur Pile-Up @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Disastrous.

Dutch Uncles/It Hugs Back @ RoTa, Notting Hill Arts Club

First band (can't remember the name) weren't great, but these two were both good. Made up for missing an all-dayer at Brick Lane.

Maths Class @ This Is Offset Presents, The Buffalo Bar

Missed the first band, but these guys were good.

The Fall @ Koko

Really good, much better than I was suspecting. Certainly better than the first time I saw them. Mark E Smith was on good form.

Bob Log III @ The 100 Club

The most fun gig I've been to in an age. Very sweaty and enjoyable.

Mi Ami @ The Lexington

Had to go on my own, but really good. Very loud and energetic,

Some bands @ The Buffalo Bar

None were particularly memorable. The company was much better.

Frightened Rabbit instore @ Pure Groove Records

Interesting going to a daytime gig. Nice and intimate.

Sonic Youth @ The Scala

Superlative. Gig of the year so far, easily.

Mi Ami (again) @ The Macbeth

Even better than the first time I saw them. Smaller venue as well. Glad I went to see them a second time.

That's not too shabby, considering I've missed about 4-5 gigs I really wanted to see on top of that. And it's ATP this weekend! Roll on, rest of 2009!