Best rock albums of 2009

How easy to get swamped by the visual, especially in the age of online plenty! I’ve listened to less than I am comfortable with, but here are the highlights:

• Jason Lytle’s Yours Truly, the Commuter – the return of Grandaddy in more pensive form, chockers with sweeping melody, wonderful keyboards and bass, and societal commentary
• Who Was Changed & Who Was Dead by John Wesley Harding – once hailed as Elvis Costello lite but well beyong that now, Harding (having launched a writing career as well) returns with super catchy, upbeat songs featuring his marvellous wordplay
• Ready for the Flood by Mark Olson & Gary Louris – gorgeous harmonies, crunching melodies, intriguing words . . . during their Australian tour, the Jayhawks founders kidded us that they were a substitute for Simon and Garfunkel, but they’re much better than that
• Peter Hammill’s Thin Air – I’m the Australian audience of one, at least as far as I know, but this is one of the brilliant songster’s most engaging, involving releases in years
• Paul Dempsey’s Everything Is True – the unmistakeable voice, the erudite, observational lyrics, allied to a new batch of songs played entirely by himself, just brilliant
• Monsters of Folk – the self-titled release by a new so-called supergroup containing Conor Oberst and M. Ward, two of my favourite artists, is stunning: varied yet cohesive, beautifully arranged and played, with songs ranging from dusky ballads to anthemic rock
• Grant-Lee Phillips’s Little Moon – I’m not sure he’d like being called a balladeer, and in truth many of his songs are powerfully rocky, but that lilting voice imparts a distinctive ballad-tinged edge to all he writes . . . this is the singer-songwriter at his best
• Jonsi & Alex’s Riceboy Sleeps – atmospheric washes glorify this sublime, introspective ambient release from Jon Thor Birgisson (Sigur Ros) and Alex Somers (Parachutes) is the only electronic release that captured my heart in 2009
• Post-Electric Blues by Idlewild – a welcome return to rockier songs by my favourite Scottish band, full of quality songs turned splendid by Roddy Woombles wonderful voice and poetic lyrics
• Primary Colours by The Horrors – who would have thought I’d fall for a Goth-sounding fallback band but I did, and only because of the two hypnotic, long tracks: ‘Sea Within a Sea’ and ‘I Only Think of You.’