2009 - Rich Pickings 40 of The Best..

Playlist by Rich Pickings - 18th December 2009

My usual - some well known, some obscure, all brilliant in their own sweet way. And in descending order...

The Drums - Let's Go Surfing (Single, 2009)

Proving they weren't just cheekbones, the Brooklyn foursome managed to make a record with whistling on it sound cool.

Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight (Single, 2009)

Give me an E. Give me a P. Give me an I. Finally, give me a C...and don't mention Smashing Pumpkins.

Mutemath - Spotlight (Spotlight EP, 2009)

Arty New Orleans chaps who, let's face it, made us think of when Coldplay looked like they may actually turn out ok.

Fuck Buttons - Space Mountain (Tarot Sport, 2009)

Over-rated second album, but this freewheeling slice of rave-shoegazing recalled MBV spewing out Goa trance.

Hudson Mohawke - Spotted (Mary Anne Hobbs Presents.., 2009)

If this is dubstep we'll eat our shorts, but Glaswegian Ross Birchard is managing to sound cutting edge and commercial at the moment. (Nods)

2562 - Lost (Unbalance, 2009)

Now this is dubstep. By a Belgian. But it wouldn't be here if it wasn't as tasty as waffles and more popular than chips.

The Joy Formidable - Cradle (Single, 2009)

Climbing everyone's popularity charts this year, the Welsh trio rocked the Leeds Fest in August, and Ritzy Brian stole our hearts.

Rick Ross Ftr. John Legend - Magnificent (Deeper Than Rap, 2009)

Potty mouthed Floridian, the Barry White of gangster rap, exposed this year as former prison guard. Ryhmes so sexy, you can hear underwear literally setting on fire in the background.

Metronomy - Not Made For Love (d'n'b Mix) (Not Made For Love EP, 2009)

My wild card. Sounds like Goldie doing trance. But good.

The Golden Filter - Favourite Things (Single, 2009)

Ice cream, coffee, choclate, whisky, vodka...why, they're on our list of favourite things too. Now Alison Goldfrapp's gone folk, this filled the vaguley S&M void (!) she left behind (!).

The View - 5Rebeccas (Which Bitch?, 2009)

The year's most politically incorrect album title ushered in a collection of genuine invention and risk taking. But we still loved this, probably because it sounds a bit like Superstar Tradesman.

Miranda Lee Richards - Lifeboat (Light of X, 2009)

Next best thing given that Hope Sandoval's latest record was so hopeless. Spellbinding country and un-Western

Eagles Of Death Metal - I Wanna Be In LA (Single, 2009)

You imagine everyone's getting very pissed off with Josh Homme now. Group after group, and rarely a missed step. This is Like The Sweet, but now.

Delphic - Counterpoint (Single , 2009)

The Mancunian talent conveyor belt keeps rolling. Counterpoint mixes 808 State with Friendly Fires, and is as brilliant as that sounds.

The Pains Of Being Pure Of Heart - Everything With You The Same (The Pains of Being Pure of Heart, 2009)

New Yorkers who sound like they wake up a copy of C-86. Their lead singers are called Kip and Peggy. Turn ups and paisley shirts anyone? Ten second guitar solo of the year.

Gallows - Leeches (Grey Britain, 2009)

Stand out from dissapointingly monotone second record. Eventually redeemed themselves at Leeds Festival.

Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat (Hands, 2009)

Schizophrenic album didn't really know what it wanted to be, but when it was good, it was very, very good.

Nancy Elizabeth - The Act (Wrought Iron, 2009)

Sun, blood, diabolical spirits and fear; as good as anything from Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea.

Loz Bridge & The Box Social - November (Witches EP, 2009)

As we said at the time,music beamed directly out of Hopper's Nighthawks; seen through the bottom of a glass, so here again are the kindred spirits smoke and heartbreak.

The Brownies - Vaseline Kid (Our Knife, Your Back, 2009)

Table turning post feminist punk. From Norwich. Normally as appetising as a cock sandwich we admit, however amongst the haystacks and combines evidently lurks some riot-grrrl grist.

A.C. Newman - Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer (Get Guilty, 2009)

New Pornographers frontman goes solo, rousing chops ensue.

Sing Fang Bous - Advent in Ives Garden (Single, 2009)

And then there was some Icelandic folk-techno. No, I'm not making this shit up. It's brilliant.

Florence & The Machine - Cosmic Love (Lungs, 2009)

Ms. Welch is in danger of suffering from over-exposure, which would ruin the impact of a special debut album that deftly mixed rock, folk and soul.

Athlete - Light The Way (Black Swan, 2009)

The signs weren't great. But having parted company with their major label following the subtly confused Beyond The Neighbourhood, Black Swan confirmed the Deptford boys in fine fettle.

Dub Pistols Ftr. Lindy Layton - I'm In Love (Single, 2009)

Almost completely ignored pop gem. Except of course, by us.

White Lies - To Lose My Life (To Lose My Life, 2009)

Close your eyes and hear Ultravox true, but better that than Buggles.

Asher Roth - Lark on my go-kart (Asleep In The Bread Isle, 2009)

Apparently Em wasn't pleased. A white boy doing rap? Wasn't that his job? Well Marsh, it was...

The Hours - These Days (See The Light, 2009)

Sounding remarkably good for a man singing through new choppers, Antony Genn wanted us all to know that we'd better love each other. It'll never catch on.

Royksopp - You Don't Have A Clue (Junior, 2009)

Even if Junior was effectively the same record as The Understanding, it's still a bloody good one. Post operatic swoons from Anneli Drecker, tinkling Clayderman-esque synths and string section? Job done.

Kasabian - Fire (West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, 2009)

THE Glastonbury moment of 2009, as the Leicester quartet's rendition of this turned Worthy Farm into a hippy mosh pit. And then the world was theirs..

Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream (Walking On A Dream , 2009)

The opening sounds like Cyndi Lauper. The first verse sounds like every other mid-80's American record we ever loved. Perhaps as a musical nation Australia is finally getting it.

Lily Allen - The Fear (It's Not Me, It's You, 2009)

If "I want lots of clothes and fuckloads of diamonds" wasn't the line of the year, then we're Simon Cowell. And we're fucking not.

La Roux - Colourless Colour (La Roux, 2009)

Alright, In For The Kill is probably the better track, but this was proof that you could dive right in to Elly Jackson's debut record and find gold at almost any point.

Future Of The Left - Arming Eritrea (Travels With Myself And Another, 2009)

The year's best track one, side one...acidmetalpunkpsychopsychoheadinthesinkfuck.

Fleet Foxes - Your Protector (Live at Leeds Academy 27/06/09, 2009)

Perfect days are impossible. To aspire to them is folly. But never have I seen two thousand people so in thrall to a singer as they were to Robin Pecknold, or had such an experience complete...a perfect day.

The Prodigy - Warrior Dance (Invaders Must Die, 2009)

No, we didn't predict that Invader Must Die would be their best album - probably ever. Or that they could still turn the main stage at Leeds into such a scene of carnage. But we love being wrong as much as being right. Which we are in roughly equal measure.

Lamb Of God - Contractor (Wrath, 2009)

The ultimate grindcore/thrash crossover record of 2009, aggression and spite split roughly 50/50, with guitars sounding like rounds of ammunition.

Animal Collective - My Girls (Merriweather Post Pavilion , 2009)

In which the Baltimore art-house project found that the creative tastebuds of the world had finally come round to their way of thinking. Blissful electronic chicanery with an afro-beat vocal undertow.

Nutrition On Tape - Queen Bee Can't Stop Me (Queen Bee EP, 2009)

Further proof that our friends Down Under are no longer suffocated by their ambitions; Matt Howley fuses Plaid, The Avalanches, Minotaur Shock and everything else in between, creating (What was) the summer track. My three year old's favourite number.

Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work (Single, 2009)

Bangor three piece in danger of being better known for not having a drummer than producing this brilliant piece of Vampire Weekend meets every great indie pop record you ever heard - ever. No, no NO - come back now and dance. Alot.