I’m going to go about a year-end retrospective list in the worst way possible this year, but it’s the only way I can feasibly do it.  This year’s lists are based on empirical data.  That’s right, Arbitron, Scantron, Nielsen and I are all tallying our lists this year based on number of plays.  Even worse, I’m using my Last.fm profile as scrobbled from my main home PC for the numbers, which means the plays in the car, at work, or on the various streaming computers around tSoS Midwest aren’t included.

The necessity for this is borne of both good and bad.  On one hand, if I could be so modest, I don’t listen to bad music.  It gets zapped immediately.  This means that, over the past year, I’ve listened to dozens - arguably hundreds - of releases that were above-average or better.  That’s good.

On the other hand, as I’ve pored back through the 2009 archives, I’ve been overcome with the reality, as I am every year, that there is just no way I can glean out a list of fifty, much less a hundred releases that sum up the best music of 2009.

So instead, I pulled up my Last.fm Album and Track charts for the last twelve months, threw away the outliers and disregarded releases from previous years as best as I could.  These charts report around 500 entries each, and even after the culling, I was still looking at around 400 entries for each.

I should probably put a note here as to how I listen to music.  Generally, releases get loaded into a playlist that’s on a repeating shuffle mode.  I very rarely listen to a release from beginning to end.  Not including albums I’ve reviewed this year, I probably listened to ten albums straight through this year. Everything gets listened to, but not necessarily in the order it was originally intended.

What this also does, however, is skew the reporting numbers, so I’ve applied the qualitative filter of “Oh yeah, definitely that one” to the larger list and here’s what we’ve got.  Even now, I’m sitting here adding releases that are popping into my head that weren’t originally included.

While the list below generally correlate to the number of plays each received, I am not going to commit to any particular order. I’m refraining from calling this a top 10 list as well. This list serves more as a snapshot of the year in music, the notable albums which, although any and all on here would be just at home on a top-X list, are better served as long-player representatives of what 2009 meant to me.

Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions - Through the Devil Softly (Nettwerk)

Years went by without a new Hope Sandoval release, until finally news showed up early in the year that this was on its way.  Colm O’Ciosoig’s involvement was also a welcome return for the former My Bloody Valentine drummer.  This was a stunning combination of darkness and beauty.

Raekwon - Only Built for Cuban Linx 2 (ICEAL)

Yet another album years in the making, Raekwon’s return was generally well-received, albeit with the required complaints of “After all that time, this is it?” surfacing occasionally.  Rap didn’t hold my attention this year, but this was one of the few releases that did.

3 Chairs - Spectrum (Three Chairs)

Granted, this is a collection of past releases from Rick Wilhite, Marcellus Pittman, Theo Parrish, and Kenny Dixon Jr.  But what a collection.  This release will be held as a go-to example for explaining the house sound of Detroit for years.

Martyn - Great Lengths (3024)

I’m not sure there was any more anticipated release in the first half of 2009 than this one.  While Great Lengths did include a number of previously-released tracks, it was impossible to argue with the consistency, quality, and ingenuity of Martyn’s programming.  This was the year Martyn entered the select company of dubstep’s highest achievers.

Moritz Von Oswald Trio - Vertical Ascent (Honest Jon’s)

2009 finally saw the release of the live project from the Von Oswald trio.  Rounded out by Sun Electric’s Max Loderbauer and  Mr Vladislav Delay/Luomo himself, Sasu Ripatti, there’s no denying the supergroup status here.  Regardless of the pedigree, the trio delivered an amazing work of percussive motorik that I’m not sure I would have really “got” if it weren’t for finally taking the time to explore the krautrock of Neu, Can, and the like last year.  While the dub and electronic influences are undeniable, this was arguably one of the most organic records of the year.  A year on from a stroke in late 2008, it’s great to see Von Oswald still productive - there’s no doubt he’s taken his rightful position as the king of all things electronic in my book.

Black Jazz Consortium - Structure (Soul People Music)

Living here in Kansas City, we do not have exposure to quality deep house music with any general consistency, at least in public spaces.  Most of the “house” that’s played here stems from the city’s love affair with the San Francisco migration of Chicago house that occurred in the late 90’s through the earlier part of this decade.  It was Fred P.’s Structure album this year that finally woke me up to the renaissance the sound had been going through throughout the rest of the world.  Deep, sensual, and organic - nowhere near fast or “hard” enough for the shiny shirt, “2 AM is late” crowd, this was envisioned, designed and made for, and loved by, all who know hips should be involved in dancing, not just feet.

Killah Priest - Elizabeth (Proverbs Records)

Killah Priest has never been considered first-tier Wu Tang.  Lost in the GZA/RZA/Method/Ghostface/etc shuffle, this was one release I took a chance on and quickly spread the word to as many as I could.  Grittier and far more street than anything Raekwon or Ghostface have been involved in for awhile now, this one will probably go down as my Rap #1 of the year.

Nosaj Thing - Drift (Discques Corde)

For all the talk about wonky, funky, new weird hip-hop, or whatever new sub-sub-subgenre whatever blog was inventing on almost a weekly basis, the vast majority of it just absolutely fizzled with me.  So many acts put out one-off eps or contributions to collections but couldn’t follow up with consistency.  Nosaj Thing was one of the few exceptions.  Not only were his ep and collection contributions outstanding, but throw in remixes for acts as far from Los Angeles weirdo hiphop as Japanese thrashmetallers Boris, and you’ve got one of the more exciting talents coming out of the beat scene of the last few years.

Intrusion - The Seduction of Silence (Intrusion)

While early eps and remixes prepared me for Stephen Hitchell’s Intrusion full-length, I will admit I was fully rolled over by the subtle shifting beauty of this album.  The addition of long-time favorite Paul St. Hilaire here put this over the top as a defining moment in dub techno this year.

Andres - II (Mahogani Music)

No surprise to anyone, this is the year where Detroit music sprung like a rose through a cracked sidewalk, blooming a seemingly once-a-fifteen year crop of mindblowing artists.  Thankfully, it appears there’s no slowing it down this time.  One of the things that, to me, will keep this thing going is the willingness to acknowledge those who’ve been working in the sound for so long and the re-emergence of artists who had been pushed aside and forgotten for years.  Andres might just be among those.  This album, released on Kenny Dixon Jr’s Mahogani Music (as his previous releases were on the KDJ label) is a collection of what I think of when I think Detroit.  Funk, soul, hiphop, deep house, techno, and grit - don’t forget this one among the accolades for Omar-S’s, Patrice Scott, et al.

National Skyline - Bliss and Death (Adventure Broadcasting)

One of the few band-oriented releases on the list, and it’s a great example of why “human-made” music was a rarer and rarer site on my playlist this year.  Few acts today put the amount of creativity, intelligence, and raw emotion into their work that National Skyline put into this album, their first full-length in almost eight years.  An album of cold, yearning aloneness is often the best reminder of the common things around us we value.

Silkie - City Limits Vol 1 (Deep Medi Musik)

The closest approximation I can make for this album is Logical Progression I.  Strange, I guess, but for some reason every time I listened to or thought about Silkie’s outstanding entry into the catalog of dubstep full-lengths, that classic Good Looking compilation just kept coming to mind.  Both share equal parts of uplifting party music and dour, introspective mood pieces built around skeletons of intelligent programming.  I feel as if dubstep has already eclipsed jungle and drum n bass when it comes to the number of outstanding albums released;  this one helps push that argument even further.

Subsonic Park - Echoes from Inside (Elux)

This was a bit of a surprise when I was going through the master list, but it was also the one that cemented the guidelines for inclusion - the entire time I spent with this album was memorable.  It was one of very, very few releases that I actually listened to from beginning to end multiple times.  I went on the hunt for more work from the duo, and wasn’t terribly surprised to find out Gabriel Le Mar was involved in Montauk P “back in the day” as the kids say.  While there is an argument to be made that this is an ep fleshed out with a handful of remixes, it’s important to note every track on here runs a minimum of seven minutes, meaning there is plenty of sonic space to take in.  Besides, I’ll take a Brendon Moeller remix as a bonus for any package you’d like to include it in.

Dorian Concept - When Planets Explode (Kindred Spirits)

Dorian Concept’s TrebleO Beat Tape from 2008 was the first piece of the new weird hiphop to fit in the puzzle for me, so it was with a lot of excitement that I looked forward to his full-length.  The eps and remixes beforehand just helped build that anticipation, and when it finally arrived, it was indeed an almost overwhelming explosion of sounds, rhythms, beats, and weird twists.  Sadly, his work since then just hasn’t held up in my view.  I’m not sure if this will be a highwater mark for the young producer, or instead viewed as the end of a particular period of his work.

Marissa Nadler - Little Hells (Kemado)

Like Hope Sandoval earlier in this list, Marissa Nadler possesses a voice that would be quite at home as the standing definition of the word “ethereal” with entries in a thesaurus under “haunting”.  A phrase which has just occurred to me as appropriate would be “arcanely erotic.”  Images of sin-weary, burdened characters, dirty faces and grasping at desperate circumstances come to mind when I think back to this album.

John Daly - Sea and Sky (Wave)

I grabbed this on the strength of the Lonely Heartbeat ep, wherein Daly’s stuttering uptempo house number hit all the right notes for speakerfreaking.  It came as a bit of a surprised then that this album was much more of a somber, ambient-leaning affair, one that fit closer to, say, Lawrence or even some of the more notable dub techno releases from BvDub or the Shoreless label.  Daly has become a grab-on-site name for me this year because of his willingness to balance these diverse traits;  while it’s not always obvious whether his track or remix will be an up-for-it dancefloor stunner or an introspective braindancer, this album demonstrated the level of craftmanship he puts into everything he does.

Yagya - Rigning (Sending Orbs)

As I’ve stated earlier, 2009 was all about dub techno for me.  Even the dubstep that filled so much of my listening time this year was of the deeper, dub-influenced type, while the bro-step hard wobbling stuff fell deeper and deeper into instant nonsense status.  Rigning was a perfect way to start the year, and was honestly no surprise to anyone who had been exposed to either Rhythm of Snow or Will I Dream During the Process?, both of which so wonderfully demonstrated this Icelandic producer’s masterful expressions of grace and sublime elegance.

Architeq - Gold and Green (Tirk)

Out of nowhere, it seems, Architeq followed up his Birds of Prey ep with this full-length, and I’m not sure the timing could have been any better.  While UK Funky/Wonky/whatever was taking off and the likes of Roska, Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke, et al were all over the blogs, it was Architeq who produced the most solid collection of the new hiphop/dance hybrid this year.  His willingness to stray beyond 8-bit sounds and to put more effort into his work than just putting a six-minute loop out and calling it a day helped put Architeq in a different category than those previously mentioned.  I’m not sure this release really received the attention it deserved because of the glut of output that occurred once the “Funky” movement gained steam, but there’s no denying this one will be looked back upon as one that stands outside of a genre that might not survive its own weight.

DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues (Mule Musiq)

When the murmurs about this album started early in the year, I was a bit put off.  DJ Sprinkles?  Seriously?  I’d really thought the debates over the critical value of happy hardcore had been put to rest years ago.  Once the name Terre Thaemlitz was involved it became a different story, and I will admit a song subtitled “72 hours by Rail from Missouri” had my interest.  What came out of this album though was a re-examining of several social issues dance music has long ignored and, in the process, managed to distance itself from its own roots.  Thaemlitz’ lengthy interview with Little White Earbuds a month or so ago is a far better place to start for an approximation of what this album means in one sense, but even without the socio-political issues, there’s little arguing the class, subtlety, and craftmanship inherent throughout this release.

Dam-funk - Toeachizown (Stone’s Throw)

One of the key words I’d use to describe music in 2009 is “smear”.  It was a common word used to describe the synth sounds that built Funky/Wonky/etc, but I’d like to use it here in a different context to describe this album.  Dam-Funk took influences from so many different types of music - Prince-style funk, hiphop, Detroit electro, and deep house, brushed all of those grains together to form a mandala of cheap-drink sleeze and rump-shaking groove on a bed of Stones’ Throw crate-knowledge.  The resulting compilation of serialized Toeachizown releases shows us a producer who is making his own music, just at home in its auteur shadow as it is in clublight gleam.  Soultronic, indeed.

Manuel Tur - 0201 (Freerange Records)

Manuel Tur had an amazing first half of the year under his own name, and the second half was arguably even better for his Ribn project.  While the producer has been active since the early 00’s, 2008 was rather quiet for him.  It seems he was saving it up for this year.  With an eye on the dancefloor, this full-length delivered one of the most satisfying, energetic, yet cerebral entries of the year.  His remix work kept the quality coming, and while this release might end up lost in the shuffle of other notable albums of the year, it should absolutely not be forgotten.

Motionfield - Laponia  (Thinner)

Last year’s Optical Flow album was my favorite of 2008.  I was admittedly surprised to find out there was already another album out, and moved to obtain it as quickly as I could.  I was not disappointed in the least.  Initially, I would have compared this in a sense to the Yagya album in that both come from producers who have an unquestioned track record of stunning releases.  Where they ultimately differ, though, is that here Motionfield steps a little bit more out of his comfort zone than Yagya did in comparison to past releases.  With more emphasis on overt ambience and underpinned beat structure, Laponia moved Motionfield from a downtempo producer to seemingly pursuing a more dub/abstract aesthetic.  As the adage says, don’t break what doesn’t need fixing - but moving beyond one’s boundaries into uncharted territory is also a significant example of growth, especially for an artist.

With all that being said, I’m sure there are dozens more albums that I’d like to add to this, and in all likelihood there’ll be some sort of addendum post in the coming week.  I’ll have the top EPs and tracks post up shortly.