Best albums first half of 2009

This is my top 10 list of albums released in 2009 (listed alphabetically).

Animal Collective ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’, Domino. Finally they made me understand why there is so much hype around them.
Animal Hospital ‘Memory’, Barge Recordings. Varied and layered soundscape par excellence.
Dan Deacon ‘Bromst’, Carpark Records. Unstoppable dance punk electronica.
Decorate Decorate ‘Instructions’, A:larm Music. Yes, they skipped the dots. Read my review here.
Julie Doiron ‘I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day’, Jagjaguwar. A female singersongwriter shows her personality.
Mountains ‘Choral’, Thrill Jockey. Warm, rich, detailed drone.
The Horrors ‘Primary Colours’, XL recordings. Absolutely stunning mix of Joy Division and Neu!
Tim Hecker ‘An Imaginary Country’, Kranky. Dense drone and overwhelmingly captivating.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs ‘Zero’, Interscope. Sexy and rocking with attitude and popular melodies.
Zu ‘Carboniferous’, Ipecac. Read .chrz review here.

I also want to promote a list of the five best albums I bought this year, but was released last year or earlier.

b.fleischmann, ‘Angst is not a weltanschauung!’. Morr Music. Read my short review here.
DM Stith ‘Heavy Ghost’. Asthmatic kitty records. Probably the record I’ve listened to the most. For fans of Radioheads new material.
Kazuki Tomokawa ‘ Blue water, red water’, P.S.F Records. Read my comment on Tomokawa here.
Mugison ‘Lonely Mountain’, Accidental records. Islandic singersong writer. Really nice, calm and lonely.
Paavoharju ‘Yhä Hämärää’, Fonal records. Folk-electronica from Finland. Mysterious and wise.

Review: Mount Eerie (w. Julie Doiron and Fred Squire) – Lost Wisdom

I remember listening to Mount Eerie in 2004, as there was great hype as he visited Copenhagen for some month. I didn’t see him performing LIVE at Play/rec, but I was told it was an inspirational experience. All I heard was a meek recording from the Microphones, which made me disregard this artist and his work.

This lasted until November 2008 as I heard “Voice in headphones”. That song along with “Lost Wisdom” both from the album of “Lost wisdom” are great songs that surprised me. And the rest of the album has convinced me to judge Mount Eerie differently

The music is Lo-Fi but not rattled. The record is made in a few days with Julie Doiron (vocals, Erics Trip) and Fred Squire (guitar). It gives a raw, unpolished album that is on level with the lyrics. The harmonies, duets and accompaniment between Phil Elverum and Julie Doiron are beautiful and give the love story more presence.
The lyrics are intimate, but never to personal and knowingly. Writing about (broken) love can be a cliché, but Phil Elverum knows his poetry and is writing right into my heart. Using simple textual tricks like ‘undo, I do’ and ‘well, come on welcome in’ shows his attention on his voice and vocals. He tells the story without singing it directly: “Every time I get my face dry you sing” understood as he’s moved to tears.

And let me end this recommendation with more of simple, strong lyrics:
“With your hand down the throat you held on to my heart and pumped blood through”.