Songs for the picking

Nelson Mail CD reviewer Nick Ward finds plenty of music to remember 2009 by.

As always, while some gnash their teeth over top-20 fodder and predict a bleak future for music, the year's releases contained enough interesting and intelligent stuff to satisfy even the most demanding fan.

The compact disc continues to survive, but Nelson lost one of its two long-serving independent music stores earlier this year with the closure of Checkers Records, leaving Everyman (goodbye to the obsolete "Records" part of the name, and to the famous fish logo) to carry the standard.

One of the happiest developments was the strong form shown by numerous old troupers, from Marianne Faithfull's covers album Easy Come, Easy Go to Bob Dylan's breezy Together Through Life and Iggy Pop's French-themed Preliminaires.

David Byrne and Brian Eno had a long-overdue and happy reunion on Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, and Sonic Youth's The Eternal outshone almost any recent release by any rock band half their age.

Morrissey (Years of Refusal) and Depeche Mode (Sounds of the Universe) also refused to age quietly, and Jeff Beck's Performing This Week: Live at Ronnie Scott's was one of the best live albums of the year.

Among the nearly veterans, Wilco's The Album and Eels' werewolf-themed El Hombre Loco were among the cream of the crop. Robbie Williams detoxed again with Reality Killed the Video Star, and the Manic Street Preachers unearthed one last set of top-rate lyrics by former linchpin Richey Edwards for Journal for Plague Lovers.

Jarvis Cocker's Further Complications provided further proof of his standing as Britpop's best graduate, and the Prodigy were back to their scary best with Invaders Must Die.

The younger generation's finest moments included Empire of the Sun's Australian electronica confection Walking on a Dream, and the xx proving that less can be more with their self-titled debut.

Norah Jones changed direction to stunning effect on The Fall, but new work by Melody Gardot (My One and Only Thrill) and Madeleine Peyroux (the all-original Bare Bones) kept the contemporary jazz light shining brightly.

Them Crooked Vultures lived up to the title "supergroup", while Chickenfoot didn't.

Trainspotters should seek out Grizzly Bear's superb Veckatimest, Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut, and Antony and the Johnsons' The Crying Light.

There was plenty to like on the home front as well, from the retro soul of Opensouls' Standing In the Rain to the dark alt-pop of Miriam Clancy's Magnetic and Good Laika's Followed By a Trail of Sparks. The Bads' So Alive and Mel Parsons' Over My Shoulder were two melodic alt-country gems, and Sola Rosa rediscovered the lively side of his eclectic electronica on Get It Together.

Nelson's finest, Minuit, continued the evolution of their unique mix of menace and whimsy via their third album, Find Me Before I Die A Lonely Death.com, and Fat Freddy's Drop tweaked their formula on their eagerly awaited second album, Dr Boondigga and the Big BW.

There were disappointments, too, from the overhyped (Gin Wigmore's Holy Smoke, Fly My Pretties' A Story and The Great New Zealand Songbook) to the simply unfulfilling (the Mint Chicks' Screens and Evermore's brave Truth of the World: Welcome to the Show).

Something more for the trainspotters: Bachelorette's My Electric Family, Lawrence Arabia's Chant Darling and An Emerald City's Circa Scaria, as well as The Walls of the Well by Rebel Peasant, aka Phoenix Foundation drummer and former Nelsonian Richie Singleton.

But, again, the veterans also shone. Shayne Carter continued Dimmer's run of form with Degrees of Existence; Salmonella Dub toughened up with Freak Controller; Tim Finn returned to form with old friends and the simplicity of The Conversation; and Don McGlashan and the Seven Sisters' Marvellous Year and Barry Saunders' Zodiac were strong sets.

David Kilgour's guitar and Sam Hunt's poetry blended seamlessly on Falling Debris, and 90s Westie queen Jan Hellriegel made the comeback of the year with All Grown Up.

- © Fairfax NZ News