The Top 25 Records of 2009

Music, lists, and end of the year roundups - they're everywhere. Everyone with an opinion and access to the Internet -- be it professional or personal -- wants to make their contribution to the best of the best: the ultimate albums of the year.

Naturally, Electronic Beats couldn’t resist creating a list of what we’ve been obsessed with in our headphones all year, what made us dance at night, and what helped us wake up in the morning. Music is the most subjective thing on the world and what critics say should only serve as the barest of guides, but below is a slice of what captivated and emotionally thrilled us this year. We strongly suggest you enjoy the tracks we’ve included with each of our selections.

Andrés - II (Mahogani Music)

Andrés aka DJ Dez (Slum Village) from Detroit is one of very few that still resides in both hip hop and house realms. His latest album on Moodymann's Mahogani Music, II, contains raw hip hop cuts, the typical skits, lush disco edits and up tempo house tunes. Excellent.

Atlas Sound - Logos (4AD)

Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox teamed up with Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox to create one of the most immaculately joyful tracks of the year, “Walkabout”. On the rest of his solo album, Cox explored nuanced soundscapes, intimate song construction, and relaxing eeriness.

Clark - Totems Flare (Warp)

My favourite Clark album and the point where he fuses all the sonic forces he has built over the course of this decade into something far beyond the sum of its parts. Eminently listenable, Totems Flare is one of those albums that changes and morphs into something totally different each time you hear it.

Crocodiles - Summer of Hate (Fat Possum)

A brilliant album in possession of unlimited amounts of filth, melody and nihilism, Summer Of Hate would make The Jesus and Mary Chain more than proud with its uncompromising and raw explosive pop.

Etienne Jaumet - Night Music (Versatile)

Epic space techno with a helping hand from Carl Craig. The last thing you would expect from one half of Zombie-Zombie is a journey into the outer realms of the cosmos, but that's exactly what you get. Huge sound and amazing production.

Dâm-Funk - Toeachizown (Stones Throw)

It took some time to grow on me, but the more I listened to Toeachizown, the more I begin to think what an astonishing record it is. Taking the reference points of the past that most people overlook, and forging his own unique world of boogie, Dâm-Funk has made one of the most futuristic albums of the year.

DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues (Mule Musiq)

It's difficult to name house albums that you can listen to as albums -- not just singles compilations -- from beginning to end. Midtown 120 Blues is just such a jewel. Terre Thaemlitz weaves his views on sexuality, gender politics, and house myths into a lush deep house soundtrack that might be one of the best house albums of all time.

Fever Ray - Fever Ray (V2/Co-op)

Icy mistress from The Knife makes a corker of a solo album. There’s enough darkness and fear in Karin Dreijer Andersson’s songs to make you never want to leave your house again. Sinister, angelic, immersive and polyrhythmic.

Howling Bells - Radio Wars (Liberation)

This Australian four piece make sun drenched and ethereal pop. A voice that could raise the dead, and a guitarist that sweeps you up with his torrential guitar riffs, Radio Wars will eventually get the praise it deserves.

John Daly - Sea And Sky (Wave Music)

This deep ambient techno affair wound up as my summer soundtrack; talented Irishman Daly produced a balmy melodic LP that transported me from my humdrum city life to the sunny shores of the Baltic. More please.

Martyn - Great Lengths (3024)

Dutch dubstep producer Martyn’s Great Lengths has dreamy soundscapes that sound like classical music, excellent deep house tracks, moody electronic collages and - of course - proper dubstep cuts. A rich album.

Matias Aguayo - Ay Ay Ay (Kompakt)

Matias Aguayo is, of course, not the first artist to use recorded sounds and voices as the meat and bones of his productions, but he has made the most fun and musically entertaining album this year with them. It's impossible to listen to this record without dancing, moving and shuffling around while grinning.

Mount Kimbie - Maybes (Hot Flush)

Mount Kimbie sound like no one else and when you want to describe them, you start babbling, "Mogwai, dubstep, shoegaze, lo-fi, gloomy..." Maybes is not an album -- it's a very, very good four-tracker, which when combined with their astonishing follow-up EP Sketch On Glass, makes an exceptional album.

Oh No Ono - Eggs (Leaf)

This Danish sextet attempts to combine every mainstream pop influence of the last century and succeed. These guys are MGMT for thinking people. Eggs will see a wide release in February 2010, but was released in Denmark in April 2009.

Oumou Sangare - Seya (World Circuit)

A brilliant female world artist from Mali, Oumou Sangare makes beautiful music full of hypnotic melodies. Similar to Amadou & Mariam, but more captivating, Seya impresses until spellbound. The Guardian called it a masterpiece, I concur.

Passion Pit - Manners (Frenchkiss)

In the middle of the year, a sincerely strange electro-psych band from Brooklyn starting making waves on the festival circuit and blogs. Seemingly unconcerned with being cool, and therefore coming across as exactly that, Passion Pit are an unpredictably infectious band that encourage joyfulness in music critics, curmudgeons and probably kittens too.

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2 Records)

A crushworthy Philippe Zdar-produced beauty packed full of genuine hits: "1901", "Lisztomania", "Fences", "Lasso" and "Girlfriend". And then there's "Love Like Sunset Part 1 & 2", an extended instrumental masterpiece that glitters in Cinemascope, right in the middle of this perfect pop album.

Rone - Spanish Breakfast (In Finé)

Techno albums like this come along very seldom; instead of making electro house like his countrymen, the elusive Frenchman Rone turned his hand to weaving captivating minimal techno with real melodies.

Solomun - Dance Baby (Diynamic Music)

A house album that draws from the past but has both feet facing firmly forward. The debut album from Solomun elevates house music out of its ghetto of rules and restrictions and offers something so enjoyable it should probably be illegal.

Wave Machines - Wave If You're Really There (Neapolitan Music)

If only all British pop albums could be as witty, catchy and just plain brilliant as this one. I’m absolutely astonished “Punk Spirit” wasn’t an anthem or number one on the UK charts. I can’t wait to hear what they release next.

White Rainbow - New Clouds (Kranky)

White Rainbow made one of the most mesmeric albums of the year. A four-track album that lifts off and never touches down. An excellent option for carpet based astral travelling.

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers (Domino)

Immense and fantastical sophomore album from a British band in possession of one the modern world’s greatest falsettos. Wielding their vocal weapons with the utmost austerity, Wild Beasts made one of the most melancholy yet refreshing releases of the year.

The XX - XX (Young Turks)

Sometimes nothing hits the mark more than sexy, repetitive gloominess. Probably the most played album in our office this year, XX steals pages from a plethora of excellent dark influences without seeming maudlin, and shimmers with captivating call and response vocals and sparse instrumentation. Addictive.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! (Interscope)

What’s always seemed most striking about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is their propensity for creating incredibly powerful pop songs that, despite their easy digestibility; still feel compositionally challenging, full of bass-driven asides and arty melodies. It’s Blitz, with its hot selection of disco backbeats, is no exception.

Yonlu - A Society In Which No Tear Is Shed Is Inconceivably Mediocre (Luaka Bop)

At sixteen, this Brazilian boy killed himself, leaving behind a body of beautiful, sad pop songs that aim straight for the heart. Yonlu’s debut proves big production and money don’t make music any better than a cheap nylon guitars and inspired, haunting loneliness.