end of year stuff ...

... well I'm not going to contribute to the ubiquitous end of year lists, partly because they are ubiquitous but mostly because I can't be arsed.
And I actually don't really believe that you care what I think.
I can't resist reading them though. Mainly so I can shout "you must be joking - there is NO WAY that is the best album this year!", or "why the fuck haven't they included ...".
It's also a way for me to catch up on stuff I've missed. Although at least half of it I realise that the reason I've missed it is that it's just not very good.

Talking of catching up on stuff, for some reason I missed Marianne Faithfull's Easy Come Easy Go album last year. The stand out track on that is a duet with Nick Cave of a Decemberist's song - you can't go wrong with a combination like that can you?
Here's a recording of her doing it live (sadly with out Cave buts it's a great performance) -



Some good tracks I've missed this year and discovered on end of year lists include Hard Times by Patrick Wolf -

Patrick Wolf - Hard Times

Animal by Miike Snow (there's a nice dubby remix by Mark Ronson too) -

Miike Snow - Animal (Mark Ronson remix)

... and Day Light by Matt & Kim -

Matt & Kim - Daylight.mp3

Along with loads of list compilers Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion is one of the year's high lights - the new EP "Fall Be Kind" sounds pretty good too -

01 What Would I Want Sky - BBC session.mp3

Same goes for Fuck Button's Tarot Sport -


I'm surprised Mumford and Sons aren't in more lists - I love their album -


I'm equally surprised that the Bat For Lashes album features high up in a load of run-downs. It just didn't do it for me - but I'm going to give it another go to see if they're right and I'm wrong.

Another oft' listed album that I was also disappointed in was Bill Callahan's "Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle" - and I love Bill like a brother - but the production on this album, the drum sound in particular, I find really distracting.

Cue more surprise that We Gave It All Away... And Now We Are Taking It Back by Mungolian Jetset didn't appear outside dance oriented lists - it deserves a wider listening -


All that and I haven't mentioned Grizzly Bear or Fever Ray yet ...

... and a tip for 2010 - banjos are the new ukuleles ...