My Favorite Releases of 2009

In previous years, I’ve made it a point to share my favorite music from the last 12 months on this blog. I’ve ranked music in top ten lists, packaged mp3 samples of my favorites, and even produced a podcast with the year’s highlights. From my perspective, 2009 was a jackpot year for new releases. So I’m going for quantity over quality this year.

I’ve divided my favorites into two groups, both alphabetically listed. I chose 62 releases in total. Most are full-length albums and some are EPs and singles. However there are no compilations, mixes or reissues.  The first group is my must-haves; the second group is well worth searching out. And we’ll leave it at that. Happy 2010!

2009 Must-Haves (12):

• Atom™ – Liedgut
• Ben Frost – By the Throat
• Brock Van Wey – White Clouds Drift On And On
• Cold Cave – Love Comes Close
• DJ Sprinkles – Midtown 120 Blues
• Fever Ray – Fever Ray
• Intrusion – The Seduction of Silence
• Leyland Kirby – Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was
• Monolake – Silence
• Moritz Von Oswald Trio – Vertical Ascent
• Oneohtrix Point Never – Rifts
• Sunn O))) – Monoliths and Dimensions

2009 Well Worth Searching Out (50):

• 2562 – Unbalance
• Alley Cat & Vaccine – Sweet Spot & Radiate
• Alva Noto – Xerrox Vol.2
• Anduin – Abandoned In Sleep
• Animal Hospital – Memory
• Arne Weinberg – Alpha & Omega
• Black To Comm – Alphabet 1968
• Broadcast and The Focus Group – Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age
• Bvdub – We Were the Sun
• Caboladies – Crowded Out Memory
• Carl Sagan’s Ghost – Darkness And The Light
• Clubroot – Clubroot
• Concern – Truth And Distance
• Demdike Stare – Symbiosis
• Dinosaur Jr – Farm
• Emeralds – Emeralds
• Emptyset – Emptyset
• Ethernet – 144 Pulsations of Light
• Hildur Guðnadóttir – Without Sinking
• Kreng – L’Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu
• Lawrence – Until Then, Goodbye
• Loscil – Strathcona Variations
• Luke Hess – Light In The Dark
• Martin Finke – Make Daylight
• Martyn – Great Lengths
• Monolake – Silence
• Moon Wiring Club – Striped Paint For The Last Post
• Mordant Music – SyMptoMs
• Mountains – Choral
• Mungolian Jetset – We Gave It All Away…And Now We Are Taking It Back
• Peverelist – Jarvik Mindstate
• Pixel – The Drive
• Quantec – Cauldron Subsidence
• Redshape – The Dance Paradox
• Roj – The Transactional Dharma of Roj
• Scott Tuma And Mike Weis – Taradiddle
• Shackleton – Three EPs
• SnD – Atavism
• Stephan Mathieu + Taylor Deupree – Transcriptions
• STL – Dub Techno Explorations
• Stray Ghost – Each Paradise Is A Lost Paradise
• The Sight Below – Murmur EP
• Thomas Köner – La Barca
• Tu M’ – Monochromes Vol. 1
• Vladislav Delay – Tummaa
• William Basinski – 92982
• Yagya – Rigning
• Zelienople – Give It Up
• Zola Jesus – The Spoils
• Zomby – One Foot Ahead Of The Other