TOP 9 OF 09: RECORDS

okay! if you are a list nerd like me, yr probably tired of end of the yr lists by now. these things seem to start appearing earlier each year. it was getting questionable enough when these lists started showing up around the beginning of december, but then you started to see them in november, and this yr publishers weekly published their best books of the year list online on november 1st! it makes one wonder, what yr are they talking about? (their list was lousy anyway)

so, lest anyone think that my lists are late to the game, allow me to gently correct yr misconception: this list and those that will follow shortly are intentionally published after the end of the yr with some additional time to reflect on what was actually released in the yr 2009. therefore it is the most authoritative list, and will remain the most definitive reference for historians. accept no lesser lists.

with that disclaimer out of the way, let's move on to some preliminaries:

HONORABLE MENTION:
Various Artists -- RRR-1000 Lock Grooves (RRR)
i didn't feel like i could rank this as i haven't listened to all of it (and presumably never will), but there's no denying the fact that this is a very special thing.

OLD STUFF
these records are collections of stuff that was previously issued a long time ago. i considered listing them since the collections themselves are new, even if the material is old. i decided to stick with the new new stuff, but these are all good and you should get them:

Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa (Honest John's)

Mortika: Recordings From A Greek Underworld (Mississippi Records)

Rocky Mountain Low: The Colorado Musical Underground of the Late 1970s (???)

AND, NOW...


THEE TOP NINE:

9. Ata Ebtekar and The Iranian Orchestra For New Music performing works of Alireza Mashayekhi -- Ornamental (Isounderscore)

8. Poundland -- Eighteen Hundred and Froze-to-death (Corpus Callosum)

7. Gerald Cleaver/William Parker/Craig Taborn -- Farmers by Nature (Aum Fidelity)

6. Inbalso/Marlo Eggplant -- split (Shark Bite Tapes)

5. Antony and the Johnsons -- The Crying Light (Secretly Canadian)

4. Bill Orcutt -- A New Way to Pay Old Debts (Palilalia)

3. Temples -- Bestial (Peasant Magik)

2. Bill Dixon/Aaron Siegel/Ben Hall -- Weight/Counterweight (Brokenresearch)

1. Robert A.A. Lowe -- Fazo IV: La Kvalito De Speguloj (Rainbow Body Records)

special thanks to sarah slater for introducing me to marlo eggplant and poundland.

congratulations to all chosen!