End Of Year Round Up – January

The snow recedes, a new year begins

ClashMusic entered 2009 with bright hopes, after the spectacular musical offerings of the previous year.

Emerging blinking into the first dawn of January, the opening month of the year saw a pattern of greatness and sheer insanity that was only to increase as 2009 developed.

Remember Travis? Melancholic indie pop, the Hoxton fin and the dawn of a new Millennium. Well, they’re still going strong and latest album ‘Ode To J Smith’ found the Scots rockers on splendid form. Released in January, ClashMusic caught up with the band to find out what keeps them going.

Prince seemed to open 2009 with some workaholic New Year’s resolutions. ‘Must Make More’ music seemed to be the order of the day, with the diminutive synth-funk star working on three new albums as the bells tolled on December 31st.

One time Ordinary Boys singer turned reality TV star Preston announced his return in Janaury. Where once he had specialised in acerbic, state of the nation style Mod pop instead Preston (he ditched his second name, natch) opted for ironic synth balladry. The album bombed.

Luke Haines spent the bulk of the 90s decrying British pop, and a new decade failed to heal the wounds. Crafting his memoirs the one time Auteurs singer saw no need to pull his punches, wading into Britpop alumni with some glee. Hugely successful, if only his own material has been as entertaining as his scabrous pop bitching…

White Lies were amongst January’s biggest releases. Cold, bleak and unforgiving – yep, the weather was pretty grim as the year opened. Just as well we had these gloomy Londoners to take our minds off the rapidly freezing nation. Debut album ‘To Lose Your Life’ went straight in at number one, propelling White Lies to arena fame.

Swedish indie poppers Peter, Bjorn And John must have thought they were prepared for any eventuality when releasing their new album ‘Living Thing’. Preview copies were kept to a minimum to prevent material leaking online, with critics kept under lock and key to prevent light fingers journos waltzing out with albums in their pocket. Just as well Kanye West went and stuck a track on his blog then ain’t it? The unpredictable hip hop don strikes again – expect more from him as the year progresses.

One of London’s oldest venues, the Astoria came from a time when character meant more than bringing in profits for large chain breweries. Of course, in this case ‘character’ meant being too damn hot and the toilet overflowing but we digress – the Astoria was a GOOD THING. Which is why we were sorry to see it go, demolished by Boris Johnson to make way for more Starbucks and Spud U Likes.

Original guitar player with The Stooges, Ron Asheton was never given his due as a musician. Incapable of playing the ornate chord progressions of the emerging prog movement the Detroit musician instead focussed on brutal force, with his lead playing resembling a herd of charging buffalo. Sadly missed, the guitarist passed away in January.

The Zutons were responsible for crafting several hit singles, including the most played radio track of the decade in ‘Valerie’. Sure, recent releases didn’t set the heather on fire but few expected the Liverpool band to become one of the first casualties as the indie boom collapsed. Currently working on their new album, it definitely won’t be released on Deltasonic.

Having played solo shows almost since the inception of The Libertines, it came as a surprise to many that Pete Doherty hadn’t released an album under his own name before. Then along came ‘Grace / Wastelands’ to prove us all wrong. A worthy return it demonstrated that beneath the tabloid hype still lay a true romantic.

Charity releases have been cursed with bad music in the past. Band Aid may have been all well and good in principle but when its attached to Bono’s mullet suddenly it doesn’t seem like such a good idea. Bringing together a huge array of talent in aid of charity the Stateside compilation ‘Dark Was The Night’ bucked the trend by being absolutely bloody brilliant. David Byrne, TV On The Radio, Iron And Wine and more combine to take part in something that was truly special.

-
Join the Clash mailing list for up to the minute music, fashion and film news.