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No two ways about it, 2009 sucked. Hard. It started badly with the demise of a relationship and despite my determination to pull myself up by the proverbial bootstraps, only went downhill from there. The past twelve months have been marked by people moving on, moving away and passing away – not just my loved ones but those of people close to me. If there’s any silver lining to the huge, black cumulonimbus thunderhead that was this year, it’s that it’s over and I can only hope it’s not tempting fate to believe that things can only get better from here.

Ironically, though, it was a pretty good year for music. A lot of records I expected great things from met those expectations, some exceeded them by a wide margin and only a few disappointed. Picking ten to stand up and represent is always tough since what sounds like the best thing ever at any given time is wholly contingent on one’s mood. That said, as I’ve chewed on this list mentally over the past few months, a few records continue to bubble up to the surface as either played ad nauseum or hardly at all, for fear that the feeling of wonder around it might begin to dissipate.

Long-time readers may note an absence of some of the usual suspects who, despite putting out great records that if there existed some sort of absolute scale of measurement, might well be better than ones that made the cut, but never underestimate how much sway the element of surprise and discovery can have on one’s opinion. I can’t say that I’ll still endorse all of these records so strongly in a few years, or maybe even a few months from now but as of this moment, this is what it is. Alphabetized and unranked, as always.

And unlike past years where I spent an inordinate amount of time creating or commissioning artwork to accompany the year-end list, I’ve not gone to any particular trouble this year. Partly because though I’ve had some good/great ideas for visual treatments, I haven’t had the time to organize or execute them and partly because, well, 2009 doesn’t fucking deserve it. Maybe 2010 will get some sweet year-end loving but 2009? Begone.

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Frank YangWhen I caught Friendly Fires at Lee’s Palace back at the end of March, they were here as support for White Lies and their high-energy disco party easily stole the show from the angst-ridden headliners. And while their profile has since grown to the point that they were able to play their fourth local show in just over a year on Wednesday night at the Phoenix, buzz-wise the shoe was on the other foot – the gig was sold out, but that was largely because the show also marked the Toronto debut of the astonishingly-hyped (including in these parts, yes) London outfit, The xx.

The band’s narrative had taken a turn over the past month, gone from focusing on their slinky and skeletal blend of R&B and indie rock to the departure of guitarist Baria Qureshi and their subsequent reconfiguration as a trio, not that any of the off-stage drama had dampened anyone’s enthusiasm for the performance. Very few were playing the “show up late, nuts to the opener” game this evening and when The xx strode onstage, you’d be forgiven if you thought, from the response that they were the main attraction. Coming in, I’d heard that the band were both extremely dull and amazing live – and I can see how both points of view could be reached. To the former, they don’t really do much. Jamie Smith perches behind a DJ booth emblazoned with glowing band logos working the sampler and drum machine while Romy Croft and Oliver Sim stand on either side with guitar and bass, respectively, and do their sleepy, seductive thing. The thing is, what should they be doing? Their music isn’t the sort that requires a lot of visual accompaniment, and if either of them were to act out, it would be completely at odds with their aesthetic. No, gentle swaying and the occasional sideways glance was pretty much what was demanded of them and their performance matches the atmosphere of the music perfectly.

Musically, they struck a perfect balance between reproducing the spaces and textures of XX and stretching out a bit – when you’re working with structures as minimalist as they, moving something around a little makes a big difference. Obviously I’ve no point of comparison, but it was hard to imagine where Qureshi’s contributions would have gone – Croft seemed able to cover all the necessary guitar parts with no problem, and intertwined seamlessly with Sim’s basslines and Smith’s real-time drum machining (is there a word for that?). Playing the triggers live rather than relying on loops or samples kept things from feeling overly mechanical, for as much as technology underpins their sound, the net result is wholly organic. Their set ran just over half an hour – short and efficient, but not unreasonable considering the amount of material they had to draw on – but most importantly, it established that they could weave the same magic live as they do on record. Definitely looking forward to their April 20 return engagement at the Kool Haus in support of Hot Chip.

I’d heard that at other stops on the tour, much of the crowd cleared out after the opener and left no doubt who they were there to see. I was pleased to see that that wasn’t the case here, because really – even if you wanted to see The xx, you paid for the ticket, were already here and unless you were truly committed to the art of the mope, you couldn’t not enjoy Friendly Fires live. As they did in March, they delivered a set that was absurdly tight, pure discofied fun though this time they brought along a little extra in the form of a horn section to go with their manic percussion, synth and guitar maelstrom. In addition to extra players, another benefit of the larger tour was the real estate – frontman Ed Macfarlane took full advantage of the larger Phoenix stage in busting out his uniquely undulating dance moves, all shake and shimmy and equally awesome and ridiculous to behold.

Like the openers, their set was brief by conventional rock show standards – 50 minutes including encore – but in that span they put more sweat and kinetic energy they put into their performance than most bands do in twice the time. And anyways, they played the entirety of their Mercury-nominated self-titled debut plus latest single “Kiss Of Life” – pretty much their whole repertoire. I’d challenge anyone complaining about the length of the show to tell me what else they’d have expected to hear, but really, I don’t think I’d have been able to find anyone complaining. Come for The xx, stay for the Friendly Fires, leave completely satisfied.

Panic Manual, Exclaim and eye were both in attendance and have reviews. hour.ca has an interview with Friendly Fires while AUX.TV has a video interview, eye, Metro, Time Out and Rolling Stone print features and MPR a streamable session.

Photos: Friendly Fires, The XX @ The Phoenix – December 2, 2009
MP3: Friendly Fires – “Jump In The Pool”
MP3: Friendly Fires – “Paris” (Aeroplane Remix)
MP3: The xx – “Basic Space”
Video: Friendly Fires – “Kiss Of Life”
Video: Friendly Fires – “Skeleton Boy”
Video: Friendly Fires – “Paris”
Video: Friendly Fires – “Jump In The Pool”
Video: Friendly Fires – “On Board”
Video: The xx – “Basic Space”
Video: The xx – “Crystalised”
MySpace: Friendly Fires
MySpace: The xx

The Village Voice talks to The Big Pink’s Robbie Furze.

AUX.TV has a video interview with Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine, The Irish Independent a profile.

Lots of new videos coming out of the UK – Richard Hawley has one from the second single off of Truelove’s Gutter

Video: Richard Hawley – “Open Up Your Door”

The Twilight Sad have released a new clip from Forget The Night Ahead.

Video: The Twilight Sad – “Seven Days Of Letters”

Have a first look and listen at Lightspeed Champion’s next album Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You, out February 16.

Video: Lightspeed Champion – “Marlene”

Good news – Fanfarlo has released a new video from Reservoir. Bad news – both Canadian dates have disappeared from their tour itinerary. Actually, make that “terrible news”. The only upside is that I can now go see Blue Roses at the Drake that night, but it’s small comfort. Boo. The Houston Chronicle interviews bassist Justin Finch.

Video: Fanfarlo – “Harold T. Wilkins”

Liam Gallagher tells This Is London that he may well continue on with Noel as Oasis. An album’s worth of Liam compositions. That can’t possibly go wrong.

The Age talks to Patrick Wolf.

They Shoot Music has a video session with Camera Obscura. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Jackson Free Press and St. Louis Today have interviews with various band members.

Despite having their Fall US tour scuppered by the IRS, Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch tells Spinner that they intend to return to this continent in the Spring and following the success of the Ocean Rain shows, perhaps play both Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here in their entirety. If you’re a fan of Porcupine, however, you are SOL. Sorry.

Adam Franklin & The Bolts Of Melody have scheduled a North American tour, including a January 31 date at the Drake Underground, that’ll probably cover their 2009 release Spent Bullets and their just-completed new record I Could Sleep For A Thousand Years, out sometime in 2010.

Frank YangComing via The Guardian, here’s an unexpected collaboration to wind out the week – Paul Weller has completed work on a new album entitled Wake Up The Nation and while a release date is still forthcoming, the first single from has been released and it features the fruits of a collaboration with none other than My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields. “7 & 3 Is The Striker’s Name” pairs the Modfather with the godfather of shoegaze (Shields doesn’t have a catchy nickname that appropriately describes his stature) and while the tune is a bit out of Weller’s typical wheelhouse, it’s still pretty recognizable as him – even with Shields layering jet plane noises overtop.

The tune is is available to download for 99p via 7Digital, or you can just watch the trippy albeit Shields-less video. NB – The one on Weller’s own website has better audio and video quality than the YouTube one linked.

Video: Paul Weller with Kevin Shields – “7 & 3 Is The Striker’s Name”

On the subject of My Bloody Valentine, both Amazon.co.uk and CDWow has the long-rumoured, oft-delayed reissues of Loveless and Isn’t Anything available for pre-order with a January 4 on-sale date noted. Could these finally be coming out?

Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen submits to a Q&A with New York Magazine.

Spinner reports that Graham Coxon hopes Blur aren’t done for good, just for now.

Both eye and NOW welcome The xx to town for their first-ever Toronto gig at the Phoenix next Wednesday with Friendly Fires. Their second-ever Toronto gig is already scheduled for April 20 at the Kool Haus in support of Hot Chip. The Seattle Times also has an interview.

Also making their first visit to Toronto is The Big Pink, who are at the under renovation Lee’s Palace on Sunday night. NOW has an interview with the English duo.

Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine tells BBC that she’s preparing to start recording the follow-up to Lungs in January of the new year. In the meantime, the super-deluxe version of her debut is coming out next week and she’s released a second video for “You’ve Got The Love” which also functions as an advert for Stella Artois. But is a cool video first.

Video: Florence & The Machine – “You’ve Got The Love”

The Sydney Morning Herald chats with Patrick Wolf.

For a limited time, The Futureheads are giving away a free download of a song from album number four. No dawdling. Emirates Business has an interview with the band.

BBC talks to White Lies about their plans for recording album number two.

RockFeedback has an acoustic video interview and session with Sky Larkin.

Tom Campesinos of Los Campesinos talks Romance Is Boring, out February 1, with Drowned In Sound.

Highland News talks to Frightened Rabbit about recent lineup changes and their forthcoming record The Winter Of Mixed Drinks, out on March 1. A Daytrotter session with the band has just gone up; only old songs, though – no sneak peaks at new.

MySpaceI don’t remember if I read somewhere that Charlotte Hatherley has synesthesia (the condition wherein your visual cognition is tied to your aural and, amongst other symptoms, you see colours or shapes when you hear sounds – experienced by the likes of Lightspeed Champion and Ida Maria, amongst others), but even if she doesn’t you could be forgiven if you assumed she did. Her first two solo records, Grey Will Fade and The Deep Blue, obviously referenced colours in their titles and her while her third record New Worlds has no chromatic reference in its name, the music within is fairly obsessed with all the shades of the rainbow.

Almost every song references a colour, either as literal, metaphor or adjective, and that theme acts as a common thread between the ten songs which run a stylistic gamut from spiky rockers (“Colours”) to dreamy ballads (the front half of “Alexander”l) with forays into circus music (the unexpected “Firebird”). Whereas her debut was a pretty straight-ahead, hooktacular bit of power pop, The Deep Blue dialed down much of the instant gratification quotient in favour of songs that favoured a more leisurely and eccentric New Wave-friendly approach. While it was unfailingly melodic, full of tasty guitarwork and with its share of high points, its eclecticism came at the expense of some cohesion. New Worlds hangs together much better, making it a much smoother and enjoyable ride as it twists and turns from hook to hook and successfully balances Grey’s pop/rock-friendliness with Blue’s more experimental inclinations. To do either well is difficult enough; to do them both as naturally and effortlessly as Hatherley has proven herself able with record number three is a feat.

New Worlds was supposed to be the first Charlotte Hatherley album to get North American distribution but that’s shaken out to be just digital (eMusic and iTunes in the US, iTune-only in Canada), so those of use still enamored with physical media had to go the import route anyways. Still, rumours persist of some North American (read: US) tour dates in the new year – a Charlotte show is on the list of things I would get on a plane for. Okay, it’s not an especially exclusive list, but still.

MP3: Charlotte Hatherley – “Colours”
MP3: Charlotte Hatherley – “White”
Video: Charlotte Hatherley – “Alexander”
Video: Charlotte Hatherley – “White”
MySpace: Charlotte Hatherley

Spin declares Fanfarlo to be a “hot new band”, and if that’s not enough to convince you to come out and see them at the El Mocambo on December 15, then I don’t know what is.

I asked (rhetorically) what reason Billy Bragg had to be touring Canada this month – well besides serenading the masses, he’s also found the time to address Parliament on the subject of copyright and perform for picketers outside the Canadian Museum of Civilization. He also chatted with The Vancouver Sun.

Same Some has an extensive interview with Patrick Wolf.

Pitchfork talks to the director of the video for Jarvis Cocker’s “Further Complications” about the making of the clip.

Video: Jarvis Cocker – “Further Complications”

The Line Of Best Fit has details on Massive Attack’s next album, entitled Heligoland and due out on February 8.

Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce talks to The Quietus about how working on the 10th anniversary reissue of Ladies & Gentleman We Are Floating In Space influenced the writing of the next Spiritualized record, currently in progress. The reissue is out December 9 in a variety of formats, including this ridiculously cool blister pack edition.

Adam Franklin discusses the feelings around Swervedriver’s first hometown show in over a decade with The Oxford Mail. Oxford being their hometown. If that wasn’t clear.

The Independent profiles Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine.

There’s a trio of Noah & The Whale remixes for “Love Of An Orchestra” available to grab for free – enjoy reinterpretations by Max Tundra, Night Waves and Gold Panda.

Both Drowned In Sound and The Skinny declare that 2010 will be the year of the (Frightened) Rabbit. Their new album The Winter Of Mixed Drinks is out March 1 and Stereogum has radio rips of a couple new songs to download.

JAM talks to Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos.

Camera Obscura’s forthcoming Christmas single is now available to stream over at 4AD. The Jim Reeves cover is out on 7″ and digitally on December 8 and they play the Phoenix this Thursday night – congratulations to Scott and Andrea, who won passes to the show.

Pat GrahamYeah, I know that I probably keep closer track of British bands than some (but certainly not as much as others), but I still get confused as to who’s who sometimes. Particularly when it comes to outfits comprised of skinny, shaggy-looking lads wielding guitars and perhaps scowls, and whose names are some combination of the definite article and a random noun, sometimes pluralized. The Rifles? They’re the ones who’re trying to channel The Jam (and doing a pretty good job of it). The Rakes? They’re the ones who just one-upped their habit of cancelling North American tours by breaking up completely (on the eve of a North American tour, of course). The Cribs? Right, they’re the ones made up of three brothers – two of them twins – and Johnny Marr.

That fact alone renders the band worthy of a closer look, though it’s not enough – I still think Modest Mouse are terrible, Marr or no Marr. Though it’s their fourth album, the just-released Ignore The Ignorant is the first I’ve heard and it’s sort of what I’d expected, even without any prior knowledge – scrappy post-Libertines guitar rock – but with a goodly amount of melody to go with the attitude and, of course, some searing guitar work courtesy of the non-Jarman in the band. Nothing revelatory or game-changing, but certainly successful at scratching the ol’ Brit-rock itch.

The Cribs wrap up an exhaustive three-date American tour tonight in New York, but have already began making plans to return in the New Year with the one announced date so far being right here in Toronto at the Phoenix on January 15, accompanied by Adam Green and The Dead Trees. And presumably accompanied by Mr. Marr, considering how keen they all are to present him as a full-fledged member of the band, and not just the cool uncle figure helping out in the studio. Which if fine with me – can’t say I’m not anxious about the opportunity to see and photograph Marr in such close quarters.

MTV UK has got a live video session with The Cribs available to stream.

MP3: The Cribs – “We Were Aborted”
Video: The Cribs – “Cheat On Me”
MySpace: The Cribs

Another British “The” band – and also a current “it” band – is officially down a member. In an interview with The Stool Pigeon, The xx confirm that guitarist Baria Quereshi has left the band and that they will continue on as a trio – bad news for Marr if he was looking for another band of young’ns to hang out with. The xx are at The Phoenix on December 2.

The previously-mentioned Rifles play an acoustic session in a Berlin park for They Shoot Music.

The Quietus has an audio session and interview with Patrick Wolf.

Pitchfork reports that Tindersticks will follow up 2008’s The Hungry Saw with Falling Down A Mountain, set for a January 25 release everywhere except North America; here it comes out February 16.

MP3: Tindersticks – “Black Smoke”

Taken By Trees cover of Animal Collective’s “My Girls”, taken from her new album East Of Eden, is now available to grab as an MP3.

MP3: Taken By Trees – “My Boys”
Video: Taken By Trees – “My Boys”

The Line Of Best Fit interviews Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear.

The Village Voice talks to Bishop Allen’s Justin Rice about the making of their new video for “True Or False”.

Video: Bishop Allen – “True Or False”

Yahoo’s The New Now is streaming a video session with White Rabbits.

Wilco will be streaming their show in Amsterdam this coming Monday live via their Roadcase starting at 3PM Eastern time.

Great Lake Swimmers’ Mountain Stage session is currently available to stream at NPR, and there’s also an interview at Birmingham Mail. They have a date at Trinity-St Paul’s on February 6.

Zeus will play a free show at The Horseshoe on Tuesday night, alongside Still Life Still and The Most Serene Republic for a special Arts & Crafts-centric Nu Music Nite 16th anniversary party. They also just announced their debut full-length Say Us will be out on February 23.