There were a bunch of other albums in 2009 that I thought were either good, very good or frickin' awesome and here they are in no particular order:

The Orb - Baghdad Batteries
For me this represents a decent return to form for The Orb, I'm really starting to feel the love that I used to have for them again, and I think it is predominantly because the tracks aren't all filled with guest vocalists. I don't know what it is about my favourite 90s dance bands but most of them turned shit when they started dragging in guest vocalists…

A little diversion here, before I get on to mentioning the rest of my li'l 2009 summary, to talk about a few compilation albums that really stuck out for me this year.

Underworld vs The Misterons - Athens
Got into this only in the last couple of weeks (it was released in late November), but this is a very smooooth jazz compilation by Underworld, showing off some of their favourite and obscure records. Underworld have been doing several radio podcasts each year doing similar things and I'm always amazed at some of the stuff they play that I've never heard…

I liked a lot of music this year. And because I just love listing stuff in lists, here is the good stuff:

Dan Deacon - "Bromst"
Before the first listen was even over, I knew this would be one of my favourites of 2009. Bromst is one of the most joyous albums I think I've ever heard, and one I have listened to over and over without getting bored. You wouldn't know it to look at him - he's pretty much an overweight, balding and bespectacled nerd - but Dan Deacon's created one of the most exciting electronic albums in…

One of my favourite tracks of 2009, from one of my favourite albums of 2009.. now one of my favourite film clips of 2009 as well! It is time to watch Dan Deacon's "Paddling Ghost".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1wH3PQHXsA

Three awesome music things happened last weekend.

First up, The Necks announced that a new studio album "Silverwater" is coming in the next few months. That is awesome.

More awesome is the fact that they announced that they're redoing their website which will allow them to sell recordings of past gigs online. As anyone who's seen them live knows, each live performance they do is a unique piece of music that'll never be played live again.. it's part of what makes them so special.. and in the fifteen-odd times I've seen them live, there's been some incredible sets that…

I'm in a food-poisoning dizzy haze this weekend but one album has really helped me get through it, Dan Deacon's Bromst. At this point I think unless something truly spectacular comes out in the later half of this year, it's without doubt my favourite album of 2009.

However I'm none-too-pleased at emusic (whom I bought the album from), who completely fucked up the track labelling of the album so that what I thought was my favourite track on the album was called Snookered and not Of the Mountains.. dammit emusic!

I love Bromst because it has reminded me…

It's been reported that Andy Hughes passed away at the age of 44 a couple of weeks back.

He helped The Orb to mix and produce Orblivionand my personal favourite Orb album, Orbus Terrarum (which would easily be on my list of landmark albums in the all-encompassing "electronic" genre)

Thanks for the music Andy. I'm playing Orblivion tonight in your memory.

So, JJJ is running the Hottest 100 Of All Time. I figured I'd submit my entry for the top 10, and whilst I was at it, come up with my own top 100 (with no two songs by the same artist). Harder than I thought. The songs picked weren't necessarily the best songs the artists have ever done, but they're the ones that I would want to listen to over and over.

The top #20 are ordered/numbered thus because I think they are fucking phenomenal pieces of music, the rest don't really have or need an order (if anything they're…

I wrote this originally in the forums of Underworld's website, because a lot of members were keen to find out what went down last night. And rather than rewrite it all in different words, I'm just gonna copy and paste.

These are thoughts on pure scenius, the 14/06/09 concert at the Sydney opera house featuring over four hours of improvised music by Brian Eno, Karl Hyde (of Underworld), The Necks, Leo Abrahams and Jon Hopkins.

Pretty much it was the best thing I've ever seen/heard in my life.

And now the journal follows:

Well I'm home now so I can…

Never before have I agreed so strongly with something in a Pitchfork Media review. This time, for the recent Jeff Buckley money-grabber, Grace Around The World:

I don't remember exactly when I reached the Buckley threshold. Perhaps during a rom-com trailer that used "Hallelujah" a bit too liberally. Or maybe the mystique just turned into frustration and then slowly fizzled into nothingness. But I bet that for every person turned on to Jeff Buckley by the endless stream of rehashes and barrel-scraping releases, there's probably a one-time die hard fan losing their religion. The person who has embarrassingly belted…