Sick of Year End Lists?

Too bad, here's another one. I tried my best to include a little bit of everything in this top 10 list so as to keep everyone's interest. The list is in no particular order because I can't say for sure what the definitive album of the year was (if you want to leave your own personal favorites in the comments area feel free to do so). I've said it before and I'll say it again, 2009 was a frustrating year in music so this list took a long time to make. I hope you can appreciate the effort I've put into it.

DMAT Matters' Best of 2009
(Artist - Album - Song)

Blockhead - The Music Scene - It's Raining Clouds
When I first heard this album I thought it was amazing and declared it the best of the year. After a few more full listens, my opinion changed a bit. It's not his finest album (Uncle Tony's Coloring Book is still his best) but in this song and a couple others, "Four Walls" and "Farewell Spaceman" in particular, he shows flashes of brilliance not found in his earlier work. When the samples mesh as they do in these songs, you don't even notice that you're listening to a sample based song. Few hip-hop producers are as masterful as Blockhead.

Moderat - S/T - Rusty Nails
This album found it's way onto numerous year end lists on several different websites and for good reason. Moderat is a collaboration between German electronic outfits Modeselektor and Apparat and their debut took seven years to be released after their initial EP in 2002. The album gets off to a quick start with the opening two tracks, "A New Error" and "Rusty Nails", being it's best moments. That said, the album does need to be listened to as a whole, you can only truly appreciate it once you hear the songs flow into one another.

Clark - Totems Flare - Future Daniel
For me, no other song has been played as much as this one in the last few months. Sometimes you just come across a song that resonates so strongly with you that it almost feels as if it was made for you and you only. Everything about the song is perfect, really. The rest of the album isn't half bad either, Clark's implementation of his own vocals on a few of the tracks was a good idea this time round. "Growl's Garden" is a prime example; an already evil sounding song is enhanced by the deep tones of his voice. My only gripe would be that every song is compressed so much so that the album can at times be unlistenable (don't listen to it if you have a headache).

Nosaj Thing - Drift - Coat of Arms
This Californian dude crafted one of the more unique albums I heard all year, instrumental hip-hop or otherwise. The mood and atmosphere it creates makes it a bit of an anomaly in a genre that usually suffers from repetitiveness and unoriginality. Song names are perfectly matched to the music i.e. "Caves" is dark and stifling and "Lords" has an air of majesty about it. Like "Lords", "Coat of Arms" uses choir voices to accent it's mood and stuttering beat. An unusual album but one that I will listen to for years to come.

Delany - Blaze and Ashes - Web Over London
Multiple classic tunes from a virtually unknown band, who would of thought? Indeed it has been the year of the underdog, Delany and Heart of Cygnus (still to come) both being perfect examples. "Blaze and Ashes" is a collaborative album and it features a few different vocalists throughout. The female vocalist sounds like the sisters from "Heart" and her first song on the album, "Love Tears", sounds like it could've been an offering from that very band. That said, it's the male vocalists that steal the show for "Delany". "Web Over London" is a shredding ballad and "Planets Turn" channels Rage Against the Machine and other like bands of the '90s. Instant classic.

The Twilight Sad - Forget the Night Ahead - Interrupted
The sophomore slump can be a tough thing to avoid, especially if your first work is well received. The Twilight Sad's first album was undoubtedly a breath of fresh air in the alternative music scene and their second album, though not as good, manages to avoid the slump. "Forget the Night Ahead" still has that great Scottish tinge to it that so many (myself included) loved about their debut, and it's enough to keep me interested. Perhaps by album number three the novelty will have worn off, but, for now, The Twilight Sad are one of my favorite bands.
*No video available on YouTube


Air - Love 2 - You Can Tell It To Everybody
Two words: Guilty pleasure. I've always liked Air and they can continue to churn out the same music for the next 10 years and I'll still be interested. Indie, French pop, whatever you want to call it, they've got it down to a science.

Ronald Jenkees - Disorganized Fun - Stay Crunchy
Self-taught piano playing nerd who made an album of keyboard solos. The album literally is as the name describes it to be: disorganized fun. It seems every year I find one album that is just a bunch of really good songs thrown together with no real flow or theme or anything to it. His YouTube videos are a little bit strange but his enthusiasm is infectious and it always makes me smile to watch him groove to his songs. I really could've picked any track from the album and been satisfied with it on this list, that's how good it is.

Heart of Cygnus - Tales From Outer Space! - In The Days of Galactic Alliance
American two-piece that released two fantastic albums in 2009. Both are concept albums: "Over Mountain, Under Hill" is based on JRR Tolkien's work and "Tales From Outer Space!" is a short but sweet album chronicling tales of space travel. The latter is my personal favorite of the two and is probably in the top three of this year. Queen mixed with Iron Maiden best describes the groups overall sound and "In the Days of Galactic Alliance" illustrates this perfectly. Get to know and follow Heart of Cygnus because although they're pretty much unknown at the moment, I foresee them being big in the near future.

Futures End - Memoirs of a Broken Man - Remembering Tomorrow
It is only because of a follower of this blog that I know of Futures End, so to keep it interesting around here, I'm going to leave it up to him to provide a short review of the album in the comments section. You know who you are, do it.