Found some time to process the remaining bookmarks. Here are the rest of the 2009 posts/threads that are worth mentioning. Lots of gems to hunt for!!

+ The Art of Memory Pre 2010 : alio die & aglaia, peter brötzmann/toshinori kondo /massimo pupillo /paal nilssen-love, celer, andrew chalk, elegi, eleh, robert haigh, jon hassell, supersilent and more. great list (The Art of Memory)

+ King Midas Sound’s Best of 2009 Consumed (King Midas Sound)

+ Top 10 of 2009 : Lists by Peanut Butter Wolf, Ma Dukes, Dam-Funk, J.Rocc, Egon & Mayer (Stones Throw)

+ Other Music’s Best of 2009 : Dirty Projectors, Dam-Funk, Cold Cave, The XX, Real Estate, Matthew Halsall.. (Other Music)

+ 14 Tracks Best of 2009: Atom TM, Tapes, Cooly G, Nite Jewel.. (14 Tracks)

+ Free Jazz Top 10: WHO Trio, Wadada Leo Smith & Jack DeJohnette, Tresspass Trio, Paura, Transit.. (Free Jazz Stef)

+ Headphone Commute’s Upgraded Best of 2009 Lists (Headphone Commute)

+ AMN Best of 2009 : Magma, John Hollenbeck, Carl Maguire.. (Avant Music News)

+ Best of Garage Rock by Mitza Matza of RYM: Meth Teeth, Bassholes, Christmas Island, Dan Melchior, Fontana, Eat Skull (RYM)

+ AccuJazz The Best of 2009 : Alain Toussaint, Steve Lehman Octet, Henry Threadgill, Fly..(AccuJazz)

+ Adgy’s Top 10 albums of 2009 : Ludovico Einaudi, The Flaming Lips, Mono, Soap&Skin (One of God’s Own Prototypes)

+ Destination:Out’s Fave Jazz Jamz of 2009 (Destination:Out)

+ The Silent Ballet : Top 50 Artists of the Decade : 2000-2009 (The Silent Ballet)

+ The Himes 100 : Geoffrey Himes selects for Sonic Boomers. Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano, Miranda Lambert, Tinariwen, Vijay Iyer Trio.. (Sonic Boomers)

+ AVANT/CHICAGO Best Albums of 2009 : Here we go magic, Fuck Buttons, The Entrance Band..(Flowfeel)

+ The Best of Bleep: Selections by Four Tet, The Field, Thom Yorke (Bleep)

+ Nialler9’s best albums of 2009 (Nialler9)

+ Rose Quartz Top 20 Songs of 2009 (Rose Quartz)

+ Favorite Records 2009: Current93, Eleni Mandell, Sunn O))), Tyondai Braxton (Screen of Distance)

Cenk Akyol’s style has always been distinct and his lists picky. Once again he’s told us that he wasn’t able to find 10 or so releases to enjoy completely this year, so his best of lists consists mostly of songs. His album picks seem to correct some I’ve done, particularly missing out on Masada and Scanner. He has also justified my selection of In the Country as one of the top albums this year. He’s more than 12000kms away in Australia, and I think I haven’t seen him for 5 years or so, but we haven’t lost that musical connection.

2009 Best of List from our prince of darkness, urufixx. 20 tunes selected from his top 20 albums, including Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, A Storm of Light, ZU, Khanate, YOB, Jamie Saft, Starving Weirdos, Maybeshewill, Kwoon, Master Musicians of Bukkake and more. His notes are below! (Sorry only in Turkish!)
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Öncelikle, bu yılın benim için en iyi albümü The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble üyelerinin diğer projesi olan The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation olduğunu söylemem gerek. Sonrasında son albümlerini Neurot Records tarafından çıkarılan Sludge & post-metal grubu A Storm Of Light bu yaz oldukça beni oyaladı. Konuk sanatçılar arasında Jarboe’nin de olması beni daha da etkilemiş olsa gerek. Ipecac destekli ZU, SunnO))) nun mükemmel son albümü, Fransız post-rock grubu Kwoon’un yılın son ayı içinde çıkarmış olduğu leziz albüm, Khanate grubunun inanılmaz bir sürpriz yaparak yeniden birleşip albüm yayınlamaları, yine Ipecac‘dan Dälek’in son çalışması, Topaz Rags‘in az bilinen; fakat daha fazla ilgiyi hak eden albümü, Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood’un sadece 500 adet basılan çalışması Grass Openings, Aşırı üretken Aidan Baker’in asıl projesi Nadja‘nın 2009′da çıkardığı albümlerden bir kaçı, Post-rock müziğe değişiklik getiren Maybeshewill, son albümüyle hard rock’tan black-death metale değişik bir yelpaze sunan sürpriz Jamie Saft albümü Black Shabbis, son aylardaki güzel keşiflerimden biri olan Starving Weirdos, Ben frost’un kusursuz albümü, klasik ve gerçek doom metalin efendileri YOB, Neurosis’den Steve Von Till’in özel projelerinden biri olan Harvestman. Hepsi ve buraya sığdıramadığım bir çok grup oldu 2009 yılında..2010 yılından daha da ümitiliyim.. Drone, psychedelic, noise, dark-jazz, ambient vs müziğin daha da yükselişe geçeğini düşünüyorum. 2010 yılı daha fazla yeni grup ve albümle geçer umarım. Bu listedekiler kısaca kendi seçtiğim 2009 yılından bazı özel parçalar. Umarım beğenirsiniz!

For my apologies / frame of mind when making the list – check the mentions post:

Some notes : Hate to sound like a white suburban teenager, but the hazy lo-fi sounds of Matt Mondanile & friends has been the soundtrack to this year. Beware! too much of this will make you think that you live in a two storey prefab with American siding, have a bunch of lazy teenagers in trucker caps as friends and make love to sleazy girls at the beach. Which is quite the contrary to what we get in the urban jungle that is Istanbul. Anyway, kudos to everyone who’s managed to make “new age” a proper genre again. This also includes Mark McGuire and his work in Emeralds.

The most sublime musical moments this year were devised by Rune Grammofon’s In the Country, I’m shocked to see it neglected consistently on best of lists. Well, too bad.

Inspiration Information is hands down the hottest series around as I announced before, and two installments make it to the top cut. Akwaaba’s compilation of Carlos Lamartine was spectacular. Although the songs date back to the 70s, Benjamin did an amazing job to hunt and issue them for the first time outside Angola. Hopefully more will follow next year.

On the jazz front Steve Lehman and Vijay Iyer continue their roles as standardbearers of a newbreed of contemporary jazz. Haven’t checked enough Tzadik releases this year, but I’d have to have some form of dementia to miss an Ahleuchatistas album. Top class!

In Britain, King Midas Sound’s propagating of dubstep with trip-hop was a sigh of relief from the wonky dancefloor madness, although it definitely has way too much Tricky. Another release that I was going mental about was the Broadcast / The Focus Group collaboration. Like all good hauntologists I was interested more in The Focus Group than Broadcast. Frankly, found it a little bit underwhelming, but it’s still heads and shoulders above many.

Not quite sure about Thee oh Sees & Masha on the top 20 list, they might be more suitable for the mentions list. I’ve already realized that I forgot to put Masada Quintet, Peter Broderick vs Machinefabriek, Thomas Köner, Zomby, Yusef Lateef’s At Cranbrook and Elsewhere, Kreng etc. on either list, but it’s too late and life isn’t perfect.

Happy New Year. Hope to see you around for another year of great music and dismal writing.

Rest in Peace everyone who passed away this year. We suffered a lot of losses, but none hurt as much as the untimely deaths of Dani Baquet-Long of Celer and Jack Rose. Never forget!

Making a best of list has been considerably harder for 2009. First things first, together with Can we’ve dug an immense amount of vintage Brasilian music, lots of easy listening, old soul/funk/disco gems and the quality on most of these records put 2009 music to shame. Face it, you can’t keep up with João Donato, Yma Sumac, Piero Umiliani, Prince Buster etc.

I haven’t listened to Grizzly Bear, Mumford & Sons, Mos Def, Natural Snow Buildings and lots of other stuff seen on mainstream lists.

Try as I might I couldn’t get into Animal Collective, Ben Frost, Converge, Fuck Buttons, Clark, Zu, Moritz von Oswald Trio, Leyland Kirby (although I appreciate bits of each).

I listened to lots of cassettes, CDRs of lo-fi music, drone, experimental stuff, but frankly most were either half baked, too short to be labeled proper releases, had a few good ones but sucked as albums, or too experimental to end up on a end of year list.

I’ve missed a lot stuff on say, mapsadaisical or milk factory’s list like Black to Comm, Hildur Gudnadottir, Symbiosis Orchestra, Elm etc. I’ve given some a chance, and they’re actually quite good, but it would have been lame to put them on without giving them proper airtime.

So, taking all of these into consideration, here are our mentions in random order. The followup to this post will be the top 20. Bibio and John Zorn has two albums written beside them as none of them have been decisive IMHO.

I’ve yet to find any defining best of list for the decade. Haven’t looked far and wide yet, but here are some that doesn’t look so terrible. Perhaps Simon Reynolds put it best :

See, I have this hunch. I reckon that if you were to draw up a top 2,000 albums of every pop decade and compare them, the noughties would win: it would beat the 1990s decisively, the 1980s handsomely, and it would thrash the 1970s and 1960s. But I also reckon that if you were to compare the top 200 albums, it’d be the other way around: the 60s would narrowly beat the 70s, the 70s would slightly less narrowly beat the 80s, the 80s would decisively beat the 90s, and the 90s would leave the noughties trailing in the dust.

Ok, seriously I’m finishing both of my lists tomorrow and publishing!

+ Rateyourmusic’s Top Albums of the 2000s list (RYM)

+ eMusic’s best albums of the decade : The Strokes, The Mountain Goats, M.I.A, Burial.. (eMusic)

+ The 100 Most Essential Albums of the Decade (MetalReview)

+ The Best Music Videos of the Decade (videos.antville)

+ Decibel’s greatest 100 (decibel)

+ The Best Music Documentaries of the Decade (The Playlist)

+ The Best Hip-Hop Albums of the 00’s : Topped by Madvillain and has People Under the Stairs. No idea about the others (Pauleywood)

+ Important List Made by Experts : The 10 greatest albums of the decade (Vice)

+ 2000s in Music (Wikipedia)

+ 100 best films of the Noughties (Guardian)

+ For more lists head to head to djmartian’s delicious account.

Steer clear :

+ NME’s best 100

+ Independent’s rebuttal

+ Billboard’s Top 100 List: They’ve completely lost touch with reality (Billboard)

I’ve processed some of the best of lists in my bookmarks folder. Here are some of the more interesting and/or diverse ones. I’m trying to wrap up my own list, but damn these lists always give you lots to catch up.

+ Simon Reynolds’ Notes on the Noughties

+ The Essential : All Charts by Boomkat

+ The Milk Factory 2009 : Vladislav Delay, Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek, Moritz von Oswald Trio, King Midas Sound, Broadcast & The Focus Group, (The Milk Factory)

+ FACT 40 best: Albums of 2009 : Subway, Major Lazer, Paul White, Hudson Mohawke, Zomby, Omar-S (FACT)

+ Pitchfork Guest List Best of 2009 : lists by Avay Tare, Dean from No Age, Anand from Yeasayer, J. Mascis etc. (Pitchfork) also : The Worst Album Covers of 2009

+ Pop Matters : Best Music of 2009 for seperate genres.

+ Forest Gospel Best of 2009 : Grooms, OOIOO, Sunset Rubdown, Axolotl, Leyland Kirby (Forest Gospel)

+ Headphone Commute best 20 EPs of 2009 (Headphone Commute)

+ Winged Migration best 22 : Topped by Deastro, inc. Subway, 5 Years of Hyperdub, The Field, DOOM (Winged Migration)

+ Rose Quartz best songs of 2009 (Rose Quartz)

+ Matt Merewitz’s Top 10 Jazz Records : John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Peter Bernstein Trio, Open Strings: 1920s Middle Eastern Recordings (The Jazz Clinic)

+ Take Five’s Top 10 Jazz Records Of 2009 (NPR)

+ The Best Jazz CDs of 2009 : incl. Vijay Iyer, Ben Allison, Matthew Shipp, Joe Lovano, Egberto Gismonti (Jazz.com)

+ Frieze Mag Highs and Lows of 2009 (Frieze)

+ Wild Mercury Sound’s 2009 Top 100 : Madness, Flower-Corsano Duo, Tim Hecker, Pocahaunted, Sir Richard Bishop, Om, Ducktails, Them Crooked Vultures, Tinariwen, James Blackshaw, Real Estate, Sun Araw, Bill Callahan, Grizzly Bear. (Uncut)

+ Adam Saville’s Favourite List : No Age EP, Fever Ray, Matias Aguayo, Washed Out (Dummymag)

+ Amie Street Best of 2009 : Neon Indian, Japandroids, Girls, Mos Def, Dirty Projectors, Ben Allison, Yo La Tengo, (you can also buy most of them for 5-10 bux) (Amie Street)

+ Bored of generic end of year lists – Let’s get some specific awards going! (Drowned in Sound)

+ Twitter live search #bestof09

Steer clear :

+ Q Magazine Best of 2009

+ Last.fm : A true testimony to why direct democracy will never work. No disrespect to Last.fm itself, data visualization is magnificient.

We’ve always been late late in dealing with the passing year; but this time we’re way into a new year. God only knows what next year will bring but knowing that lots of readers are still hunting good albums from 2008 here’s one final post about 2008 with a cream of the crop selection and we go straight to 2009! Promise!

Rest of the mentions for 2008 :

Ursula Bogner – Recordings 1969 – 1988 : Jan Jelinek’s new record label Faitiche’s impressive debut release was the pioneering work of electronic music of the late Ursula Bogner, the yet undiscovered amateur musician.
Paavoharju – Laulu Laakson Kukista : Finnish free-psych folk collective Paavoharju hit it big time this year.
Women – Self Titled : previously on undomondo
The Dodos – Visiter : The Dodos went extinct on most of the end of the year lists, contrary to their hipness at the start of the year. Good progressive indie/folk.
White Denim – Workout Holiday : Along with Foals & Friendly Fires this indie/dance band was one of the more mainstream acts we enjoyed.
Quiet Village – Silent Movie : Among arguments of pastiche & nostalgia, Quiet Village made one of the most pleasing psychedelia of this year trailing right behind The Advisory Circle.
Karl Hector & The Malcouns – Sahara Swing : A late discovery on our part, this afrobeat/hiphop/funk mashup on Stones Throw surely deserves more words in the coming days.
Jack Rose – Dr. Ragtime & Pals / Self Titled : Jack Rose’s traditional revivalist guitar work triggered an obsessive period of Fahey & Basho for us. Great work and a must for your collection.
Balmorhea – Rivers Arms : previously on undomondo
Grails – Doomsdayer’s Holiday : previously on undomondo
Gojira – The Way of All Flesh : French progcore/death metallers Gojira replaced last years High on Fire album on our toplist, one of the more mature and enjoyable metal albums this year.
Goldmund – The Malady of Elegance : I’ve never quite been a fan of Goldmund’s solo piano work, but this time the timbre and the ambience is perfected on some songs.
Jacaszek – Treny : agree with Cenk Akyol, this is one of the best electronic music released this year.
Madlib the Beat Konducta – Vol. 5: Dil Cosby Suite : Madlib released four albums this year and this J Dilla tribute was the best one in our humble opinion.
Marnie Stern – This is it and I am it.. : Alright this was definitely a grower, when I did the initial non-review I was disappointed, but after a few listens I was hooked, so I take my words back, this is indeed a noteworthy followup to her debut.
TV on the Radio – Dear Science : Amidst all the hype and my reactionary stance, TV on the Radio’s album has some songs like Red Dress that would singlehandedly beat all songs I’ve listened to this year for the best song of the year.
Sawako – Bitter Sweet : previously on undomondo
Syd Matters – Ghost Days : previously on undomondo
Les Fragments de la Nuit : previously on undomondo
Fennesz – Black Sea : Not much to say it’s another great Christian Fennesz album, you like it or you don’t
Flying Lotus – Los Angeles : Although Flying Lotus’ Los Angeles was underwhelming, his style was spearheading our daily music intake so he’s included here.
Pierre Bastien – Visions of Doing : previously on undomondo

And the Top 10 once again so that we everything is in a single post.

Bar Kokhba Sextet – Lucifer : It is pretty amazing that Lucifer is no.6 on Rate Your Music’s 2008 Charts, provided that there’s never a concensus on albums and the place is riddled with Power Metal listeners & Classic Rock fans and indie fanboys. How in the hell a Chamber Sextet playing cinematic klezmer music composed by John Zorn and not on anybody’s toplist can make it into the aggregated chart shows you that unconsciously everyone knew this was the best album of the year. Previously on undomondo
The Advisory Circle – Other Channels : A close second, which only made it onto the Top 10 on Wire has the Ghost Box aesthetic written allover. If you’re into BBC Radiophonics, vocal snippets, early electronics, tape loops, British psychedelia this is your ticket to heaven, if not sod off. Previously on undomondo.
John Zorn – Dreamers : Another album of incredible compositions from Zorn, surf guitar by Ribot, vibes played by Kenny Wollesen and more cinematic ambience from percussionist Cyro Baptista.
Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls : Brooklyn’s answer to California’s Lo-fi scene. Previously on undomondo
No Age – Nouns : California’s answer to Brooklyn’s Lo-fi scene.
Dungen – 4 : Swedish psychedelic rock & jam band didn’t get the critical acclaim, but we discovered them recently so we’re still impressed with this one. Previously on undomondo
Larkin Grimm – Parplar : Previously on undomondo
Black Mountain – In the Future : Canadian stoner rock outfit Black Mountain took us back to the days of Black Sabbath.
Colour Haze – All : Believe me it took us more than a few listens to understand that Colour Haze are from Munich. Stoner Rock from Munich may sound like an oxymoron, but you have to listen to believe.
Bohren und der Club of Gore – Dolores : It seems the doomjazz masters went even more slower with Dolores. Infectious.
Nomo – Ghost Rock : Previously on undomondo

Best of 2008 lists from other authors

Beat Pharmacy – Wikkid Times (Wave Music)

This is a man, whose lyrics and journey will send you out to the streets to start your own revolution. And his music: dub and house crossbred in its most beautiful and upward chemistry. While humanity is racing towards a third world war, it is a lonely feeling to know that this is what they should be listening to instead. Powerful, addictive and educational; Brendon Moeller created a body of work that you should inherit to your children.

Booka Shade – Cinematic Shades (The Slow Songs) (Get Physical Music)

“The Slow Songs” is a bit of a pretentious title, I admit. Not being able to forget their majestic live turn @ Radar Live 2007, Booka Shade once again reminded me why their soundscapes are also important for the development of downtempo you can actually listen to. Light up the candles.

Mikkel Metal – Peaks And Troughs (Echocord)

Mikkel Metal have been a reliable travel agency. Their ambient and northern echoes have haunted us lonely souls for a while now. This album, their sophomore effort has definitive therapeutic effects on headaches and comedowns.

Quiet Village – Silent Movie (K7)

Matt Edwards, aka Radio Slave, who is the current techno don, the in demand producer/DJ of the roughest, sleaziest, deepest club beats and king of re-edits, the owner of the “Rekid” label and a fellow member of Sea Devils (whew!) has met a connaisseur mate namely Joel Martin with whom he has formed Quiet Village. Previous review on undomondo

Eddy Grant – Road To Reparation (Very Best Of) (Mercury)

Long due greatest hits compilation of a man who “has deserved his place in the sun“. “Electric Avenue”, “Till I Can’t Take No More”, “I Don’t Wanna Dance” sound still as refreshing as they did 27 years ago. The ambassador of Barbados was and always is welcomed in our neighborhood.

Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno – Death Of The Revolution (Tru Thoughts)

An unexpected orchestral turn to dub by Quantic proving there is no genre this man cannot touch and turn into gold.

Christian Prommer – Drum Lesson Vol. 1 (Sonar Kollektiv)

This may be 2007, but it was very 2008 for my purpose. I did not stop listening to it and I do not think I will be able to shelf it for a long time. Performing most of the underground club classics with a really crowded jazz band, Christian Prommer produced a rare and genius cover album.

Best albums :

In recent years it is getting more difficult than ever to follow new releases as countless laptop artists use the net as a way to blur listener’s heads with their bedroom productions. For some, this is good as it brings creativity but I think there is a lack of sincerity in most of the productions compared to the 90s. After many years into this genre already bringing a big tolerance, it is difficult to keep on giving a chance to every noise produced today as we are more busy in life with less time for this heap of efforts from all over the world coming out everyday. So in 2008, I get to pick only three good albums and I think is an OK number. Because I’m always keeping the pleasure of owning music that I am sure I will be back in future. Consuming the music for short term pleasures has never been my way of listening and buying music.

* Jacaszek – Treny

It’s been a while since most digital processing artists’ works become more and more atonal, which I found dull and with a lack of creativity. But Jacaszek came out with an album including eleven pieces which are a journey into musical richness. Plus a good use of vocal, which is spiritual enough to bring the ethereal feeling of his music in a higher state, is also another factor in this richness. I got the same pleasure few year ago from Scanner’s 2005 release “Messe, Macht Des Klangs / Klang Der Macht’, from beginning to the end. Lament and Taniec are the highlights of the album.

* The Caretaker – Persistent Repetition Of Phrases

Ever since I heard the track Flowerhead by a collaboration of Tetsu Inoue & Uwe Schmidt as DATacide, I’ve been more on more in the interest of blending ballroom music with ambient. After a decade I discovered The Caretaker’s music whose recipe is the same. Creepy yet elegant! His 2008 album starts with few looped pieces but than turns into loungy pieces, with a lot of depth and eerie atmosphere over that 1930’s ballroom samples. False Memory Syndrome is just what I am talking about in Flowerhead example. Those two pieces of music is something I wish I could have produced. Hope to hear and discover more artists into this idea.

* Jóhann Jóhannsson – Fordlandia

Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Fordlandia is not as good as those two release but I can say it’s his best work to my taste. “The Rocketbuilder” and “Melodia iii” really nice works with nice melodies. The rest is a bit loud for my taste as I tend to own calmer pieces of classical music.

Best tracks :

* Felicia Atkinson with Sylvain Chauveau – Aberdeen: Sad, etheral and sublime

* Namlook & Move D – In The Mirror: These two can do no wrong. The opening track from their “Sexoid” album is a long piece starting with a clever use of 303 and turns into Namlook’s moving layer in the last minutes. Pleasure!

* Kuniyuki Takahashi – Flying Music (Rhythm And Trumpet mix); Deep, dark and hot tunes. Quality sound is also a plus in Kuniyuki’s recordings.

* Bootleg Bitches – Dream Bitches; European sounding deep house. Positive vibes.

* Yuri Lewitt – Bombers Acid; Slow mo acid over a deep layer. Reminds me Luke Vibert’s beat programming.

* Delta 9 – Avi Satani; Good return from dave Rodgers. Includes everything for a fine gabber production. A little bit of imagination.Also as a fan of the movie Omen, loved his vocal parts as well. (Beware!)