Tracks & Gigs of 2009

Right, here we go, let's rattle off the 60 best tracks of 2009. Fairly tight spectrum, I freely admit, generally containing only darker mainstream Indie guitar shenanigans, a whole new wave of Psychedelica and Shoegaze, Post-Rock and Alternative Rock. In my defence, I could also do you a top 10 Trance/Techno collection from this year, but would risk being shot down in flames by underground dance afficionados better placed than me to comment on this year's releases. Instead, I have focused on my alleged field of expertise, although I am expecting a ferocious and prolonged slanging anyway. Tracks per band are limited to a maximum of 2, so as to spread the love...

60- Deep Cut- Bullshit Detector
59- The Northwestern- What Did I Do?
58- A Place To Bury Strangers- In My Heart
57- Tides From Nebula- Purr
56- Nova Saints- Lights
55- Engineers- Brighter As We Fall
54- Grammatics- The Vague Archive
53- Spc-eco- For All Time
52- Placebo- Battle For The Sun
51- Swimming- Panthalassa
50- Redjetson- These Structures
49- Doves- Kingdom Of Rust
48- 93 Million Miles From The Sun- The Times We Have Are Now
47- Fleeting Joys- Destroyer
46- Howling Bells- Treasure Hunt
45- Prego- The Longest Calm
44- Nine Black Alps- Full Moon Summer
43- Kyte- Eyes Lose Their Fire
42- The Northwestern- All The Ones
41- Doves- Jetstream
40- Placebo- Breathe Underwater
39- Lowline- Gun In My Side
38- I Hear Sirens- This Is The Last Time I Say Goodbye
37- Animal Kingdom- Tin Man
36- The Longcut- Tell You So
35- White Lies- To Lose My Life
34- Nova Saints- High Roller
33- A Place To Bury Strangers- Deadbeat
32- Engineers- Song For Andy
31- Daniel Land & The Modern Painters- Glitterball
30- God Is An Astronaut- Shining Through
29- The Twilight Sad- I Became A Prostitute
28- Deep Cut- Commodity
27- Mono- Pure As Snow (Trails Of The Winter Storm)
26- The Domino State- Firefly
25- Jeniferever- The Hourglass
24- Punk TV- Snowboy
23- The Joy Formidable- Whirring
22- Dinosaur Jr- Plans
21- Bombay Bicycle Club- Cancel On Me
20- Animal Kingdom- Into The Sea
19- The Big Pink- Velvet
18- The Horrors- Who Can Say?
17- I Concur- Build Around Me
16- Silversun Pickups- The Royal We
15- 93 Million Miles From The Sun- Yesterday Morning
14- The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart- Stay Alive
13- Caspian- The Raven
12- I Like Trains- Sea Of Regrets
11- White Lies- The Price Of Love
10- The Twilight Sad- Seven Years Of Letters
9- Redjetson- For Those Who Died Dancing
8- Punk TV- Happy Birthday
7- Nine Black Alps- Buy Nothing
6- The Airborne Toxic Event- Sometime Around Midnight
5- Daniel Land & The Modern Painters- Off Your Face Again
4- The Boxer Rebellion- Flashing Red Light Means Go
3- I Concur- Lucky Jack
2- Bombay Bicycle Club- What If?
1- Silversun Pickups- Panic Switch

4 compilation CD's covering my "Festive Sixty" are available "through all good record stores", sourced through sending me a request, and your name and address...!

As for gigs, I didn't do a huge amount this year, so I will limit myself to a top 5;

5- Kasabian- MEN Arena, Manchester
4- Placebo/The Horrors/Silversun Pickups- Central, Manchester
3- Swervedriver/I Concur- Garage, London
2- Silversun Pickups/Animal Kingdom- Academy 2, Manchester
1- God Is An Astronaut/Caspian/Tides From Nebula- Ucho, Gdynia

Have an excellent Christmas, and New Year.