101:09 - The Top 101 tracks of 2009

So, Wow. This has taken me massively longer than I first anticipated, but since it was such a hit with people last year (and still gets big hits), and I enjoyed doing it so much, I really wanted to do it again this year. I have been in two minds about posting little blurbs for each track, but it would take me forever to finish if I set myself that task too, so I settled for making up genres in the file properties. maybe I'll come back to that later. If you want an explanation as to why something is higher than something else, or why some tracks aren't included, or why the hell some are, then just ask. Suffice it to say, I have deliberated over these long enough that this is pretty much a definitive selection of my tracks of the year in a definitive order - nothing arbitrary at all about it at all; oh no.

This isn't a chart of singles - I am not such a singles person really - so these tracks are here for a number of reasons. Some are taken from albums that weren't that great but featured one inspired flash of genius; others are representative of an awesome album as a whole; others are singles/downloads/demos and other assorted one-offs that are the kinds of reasons I like to do this single-song list in the first place; to bump the bands I like. It isn't totally correlated to the order of my top albums of the year either - coming next week! - but there are clues.

The only rules I restricted myself by were; Only one track per band/artist allowed (a really tough call in a lot of cases); and that if one track comprised an entire album then I couldn't include it, so albums/tracks like irr.app.(ext)'s 'Kreiselwelle' and Saito Koji's 'Beautiful' couldn't make it in.

So here they are, in descending order:

Tracks 101– 81: Download
Tracks 80 - 71: Download
Tracks 70 - 61: Download
Tracks 60 - 41: Download
Tracks 40 - 21: Download
Tracks 20 - 01: Download

101. Chord - e9 (Flora, Neurot)
100. Velvet Davenport - Robins Lace Vermeer (Happy Ending, SHDWPLY)
99. Mountain Man - Animal Tracks (Self-Released)
98. Brown Jenkins - Hopeless, Godlike (Death Obsession, Moribund)
97. Eagle Twin - Storytelling Of Ravens (The Unkindness Of Crows, Southern Lord)
96. Gold Panda - Win-san Western (Before, Self-Released)
95. Quad Throw Salchow - Speed (Speed, Tummy Touch)
94. Vivian Girls - Out For The Sun (Everything Goes Wrong, In the Red)
93. Weapon - Cacophony! Black Sun Dragon's Tongue! (Drakonian Paradigm, The Ajna Offensive)
92. Book Of Shadows - Garden Of Secrets (The Secret Garden, Folkwaste)
91. Raffertie - Sugar (Wobble Horror 12", Planet Mu)
90. Martyn - Elden St. (Great Lengths, 3024)
89. La Roux - In For The Kill (Skream Lets Get Ravey Remix)
88. Joker and Ginz - Purple City (12", Kapsize)
87. Horse Gives Birth To Fly - Rubbish Drunk On The Sand ('Untitled', Self-Released)
86. Cold Cave - The Trees Grew Emotions and Died (Love Comes Close, Heartworm Press)
85. Florence And The Machine - Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) (Lungs, Island)
84. Curly Hair- Blow the House Down (Single, Toy Soldier)
83. Six Organs of Admittance - Ursa Minor (Luminous Night, Drag City)
82. Black Meteoric Star - Death Tunnel (12", DFA)
81. Urfaust - Unter Töchtern Der Wüste (Urfaust & Joyless Split 7", Ván)
80. Magic Castles - The Mole People (Songs Of The Forest, Moon Glyph)
79. Cooly G - Narst (Love Dub 12'', Hyperdub)
78. Ous Mal - Meidan Piha (Viime Talvi, Under the Spire)
77. De Silence et d'Ombre - From The Dark Unknown Space
76. Darkcell - II (Iceworld, Demo-13 Grave Society)
75. Bone Ritual - Attend To The Signs (Demo)
74. High Wolf - Puesto Varadero Wildlife Party (Animal Totem, Not Not Fun)
73. Black Eagle Child - The Last Day Of Spring (Seeds that Sprout In Summer, Stunned)
72. Cloaks - Dream Tape Number One (Serene, Students of Decay)
71. Converge - Worms Will Feed (Axe To Fall, Epitaph)
70. Demdike Stare - Haxan (Symbiosis, Modern Love)
69. Untold - Dante (Original Mix) (12'', Hotflush)
68. Gnod - Thunderbolt Loop (Wuste Zeremonie, Reverb Worship)
67. Eternal Tapestry - Cathedral of Radiance (The Invisible Landscape, Not Not Fun)
66. Ganglians - 100 Years (Monster Head Room, Woodsist)
65. Slagmaur - Klokker Tramp (Von Rov Shelter, Osmose Productions)
64. Twisted Wires - One Night At The Raw Deal (12'', Italians Do It Better)
63. Sunn O))) and Pan Sonic - Che (Che EP, Blast First Petite)
62. Behold The Monolith! - Guardians of the Abyss - Primal Extenuation - Rise of the Brohemoth (Behold! The Monolith, Arctic Forest Collective)
61. The Fresh & Onlys - The Delusion Of Man (Grey Eyed Girls, Castleface)
60. Knyfe Hyts - Screaming Lov (7'', Dick Move)
59. Bong - Exhalation (Bong-Quttinirpaaq Split 12'', Blackest Rainbow)
58. Rainbow Arabia - Omar K (Ghost on Tape Remix) (Kabukimono, Manimal)
57. GREYMACHINE - We Are All Fucking Liars (Disconnected, Hydra Head)
56. Turbowolf - Seven Severed Heads (7'', Spinefarm)
55. Baikonour - Ye Ama Piooo (Your Ear Knows Future, Melodic)
54. Aluk Todolo - Troisiéme Contact (Finsternis, Utech)
53. Belbury Poly - From An Ancient Star (From An Ancient Star, Ghost Box)
52. Dark Castle - Growing Slow (Spirited Migration, At A Loss)
51. FNU Ronnies - Golem Smoke (12'', Skrot Up)
50. Deerhunter - Circulation (Rainwater Cassette Exchange, 4AD)
49. Durrty Goodz - Grime Killers (Prod. By Maniac) (Ultrasound, Awkward Music)
48. Sian Alice Group - First Song - Angelina (Troubled, Shaken Etc., The Social Registry)
47. Monsters Build Mean Robots - Psalm 57 (Psalm 57, Nice Weather For Airstrikes)
46. Music Go Music - Light Of Love (Expressions, Secretly Canadian)
45. Ilyas Ahmed - Enter a Shadow (Goner, Root Strata)
44. French Teen Idol - Last Train To Santiago (El Siete Es La Luz, Nishi - Lost Children)
43. Wooden Veil - Wooden People (Wooden Veil, Dekorder)
42. Shackleton - Mountains Of Ashes (3EPs, Perlon)
41. Awesome Wells - I Think I Just Heard The Hens Applauding In The Hen-House (The Highs And Lows Of De Witt A Stanton, Red Deer Park)
40. Ducktails - Beach Point Pleasant (Ducktails, Not Not Fun)
39. Bone Awl - You're Late (Night's Middle, Nuclear War Now! - Klaxon)
38. Teitanblood - Seven Chalices of Vomit and Blood (Seven Chalices, Noevdia - Ajna - Dauthus)
37. Magic Wands - Kiss Me Dead (Magic Love & Dreams, Bright Antenna)
36. Silkie - Purple Love (12'', Medhi Music)
35. Joker - Psychedelic Runway (12'', Kapsize)
34. Silver Bullets - Flight From Babylon (Free Radical, Stunned)
33. Lotus Plaza - What Grows (The Floodlight Collective, Kranky)
32. Fever Ray - Triangle Walks (Fever Ray, Mute)
31. Neon Indian - Should Have Taken Acid With You (Psychic Chasms, Lefse VCR)
30. Oneida - 10.30 at the Oasis (Rated O, Jagjaguwar)
29. Mayyors - Deads (Deads, Mt St Mntn)
28. Nullifier - If Days Corrode (Demo)
27. Kong - Blood Of A Dove (Snake Magnet, Brew)
26. Bill Orcutt - Too Late To Fly (A New Way To Pay Old Debts, Palilalia)
25. Carrion Wraith - Vers Une Nouvelle ère (Carrion Wraith, Ars Magna Recordings)
24. Crystal Fighters - Xtatic Truth (Original) (Xtatic Truth EP, Kitsune)
23. Ekca Liena - Orb Night (Orb Night, Phantom Channel)
22. Ben Frost - Hibaskuja (By The Throat, Bedroom Community)
21. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home (Up From Below, Vagrant)
20. The Oh Shees - Meat Step Lively (Help, In The Red)
19. Pissed Jeans - Dream Smotherer (King Of Jeans, Sub Pop)
18. The Antlers - Wake (Hospice, French Kiss)
17. Worriedaboutsatan - Pissing About (Arrivals, Gizeh)
16. Wild Beasts - We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues (Two Dancers, Domino)
15. Black Sun - Crawling Like A Leech (Twilight of the Gods, At War With False Noise)
14. Diamatregon - Calvaire (Crossroad, tUMULt)
13. Washed Out - You Will Be Sad (High Times, Mirror Universe Tapes)
12. Oneohtrix Point Never - Zones Without People (Rifts, No Fun Productions)
11. Broadcast & The Focus Group - Ritual/Looking In (Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age, Ghost Box)
10. Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I) (California Girls, Fag Tapes)
09. Peaking Lights - All the Good Songs Have Been Written (Imaginary Falcons, Night People - Not Not Fun)
08. Engineers - Sometimes I Realise (Three Fact Fader, Kscope)
07. A Place To Bury Strangers - Everything Always Goes Wrong (Exploding Head, Mute)
06. Atlas Sound & Panda Bear - Walkabout (Single, Self-Released)
05. Cobalt - Two-Thumbed Fist (Gin, Profound Lore)
04. Joy Orbison - Wet Look (Hyph Mngo, Hotflush)
03. Pyramids With Nadja - An Angel Was Heard To Cry Over The City Of Rome (Pyramids With Nadja, Hydra Head)
02. Mount Kimbie - Maybes (12'', Hotflush)
01. Sunset Rubdown – Nightingale/December Song (Dragonslayer, Jagjaguwar)