Best of Lists | Nialler9 Music Blog

Best of Lists archive

My ones to watch for 2010

What follows is four pages of my personal picks for artists I’m looking forward to hearing much more of in 2010. Featured artists include RUBIK, Baby Monster, I Am the Cosmos, Two Door Cinema Club, May 68, Sam Amidon, O Emperor, Manus Goan, Jay Electronica, MNDR, Surfer Blood, Lonelady, a host of Box Social-related artists and more. Enjoy.

1. Sleigh Bells

Practically unheard of before CMJ in October last year, Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss’ punky take on lo-fi dance-rock made an impression with many at that festival. The fact that they are currently working with Diplo gives me hope that they can turn these rough demos into something that’ll translate equally room-shaking yet less abrasive on the ears (i.e – something you can actually play in a club).

MP3: Sleigh Bells – A/B Machines

MP3: Sleigh Bells – Crown on the Ground

MP3: Sleigh Bells – Ring Ring

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Remixes of the year 2009

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Nialler9 Irish albums of 2009 poll results

Photo by Rich Gilligan.
Below you will find the fourth annual countdown of the top 30 Irish albums as voted by readers and commenters of this blog. There are some surprises in there to me. The number one album on the list actually won by a fair few votes. In a year where there was no clear favourite, it’s interesting to see such an album top the list. A few of the albums charted quite highly considering they were only released in the last month or so.

Anyway, I hope you discover something from the list you had dismissed or not heard before (I know I have). A full list of the songs and albums are available in a Google Document at the end of the post (might be worthwhile for the bands featured to see what songs struck a chord with people). The last two years winner has gone on to win the Choice Music Prize. Will it be three in a row? Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for stopping by throughout the year. More..»

Nialler9 Irish songs of 2009 poll results

The results of the poll are ready to be revealed. First up, the Irish songs of the year as voted by readers and commenters of this blog. A staggering 215 different songs were voted for overall from about 150 voters in total and the resulting top 30 sees multiple appearances from some of the following: David Kitt, Villagers, And So I Watch You From Afar, Hunter-Gatherer, Patrick Kelleher and Super Extra Bonus Party. I’ll post the Google Doc showing the number of votes for each song tomorrow along with the album results as well as hopefully contacting the winners of the prizes. Here is how it stacked up from the number one position which was a clear winner by six votes: More..»

Nialler9’s albums of 2009

Yes, it’s still list season. As State kicks off its Top 50 of the year, here are my own top 30 albums of the year in four-page epic form.

30. Channel One – Sound to Light
29. Clark – Totem’s Flare
28. The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage
27. Micachu – Jewellery
26. DM Stith – Heavy Ghosts
25. The Holy Roman Army – How the Light Gets In
24. Florence and the Machine – Lungs
23. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
22. Dan Deacon – Bromst
21. The Horrors – Primary Colours
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AU & Nialler9’s Top Irish albums of the Decade

2qwdc40 Anyone sick of lists yet? Me neither. Today sees AU Magazine release their Irish albums of the decade list in which they asked for the public’s help and the results are out in the new mag now.

Take a look at the top 50 after the jump where a very recent 2009 album takes the top spot. As you’d expect from a Belfast-based mag, the list is fairly Northern-centric but most of the albums deserve to be there. I’d imagine this is the last time you’ll see some Snow Patrol related post on this here blog :)

After the top 50 you can see my own personal top 20 Irish albums of the decade list. More..»

Vote for the top Irish albums & songs of 2009

IRISH09 It’s been another great year for Irish music in my estimation. Releases from ASIWYFA, David Kitt, BATS, Julie Feeney, Prince Kong, Valerie Francis, SEBP, Twinkranes, Patrick Kelleher, The Holy Roman Army, Channel One, Mail Order Messiahs, Hunter-Gatherer, Legion Of Two and Adrian Crowley have all been keeping my stereo warm. What about you though?

For the 4th year in a row, the Nialler9 Irish album poll is back. As with last year I’m also asking for your favourite songs. Get some inspiration. There will be prizes this year, chosen at random for people who enter their choices which include a) Two packs of Irish albums released this year thanks to Lakota, b) a signed Marina and the Diamonds Mowgli’s Road 7″ and c) An Osaka records swag pack.

Here’s how the poll works:

You can pick up to 10 Irish albums and songs released in 2009.
At least three Irish albums and songs are required in your vote to count to stop people from asking their mates to vote for them.
Poll closes on Wednesday 16th of December at noon.
3 ways to vote

Leave your votes in the comments in public for all to see.
Use the Google form here.
Send an email to vote@nialler9.com with your choices.

So what’s it gonna be?

2006: Album: Si Schroeder – Coping Mechanisms
2007: Album: Super Extra Bonus Party – Super Extra Bonus Party LP
2008: Album: Jape – Ritual / Songs
2009: ????

Nialler9’s top albums of the decade

Below is a list of my favourite records of the last ten years. Ranking these albums was led by a) what the album means to me and b) how often I’d listen to it. Each and every one of these albums blew me away repeatedly at some time between the ages of 18 and 27. Each one has something special going for it, something magical that brings me back to it. For that I can only thank the creators of each. Without further ado, here are my favourite 50 albums from the decade. And remember, you can’t be wrong if they are your favourites.
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2009’s best & overlooked albums so far

clues It’s July 1st, the mid-point of the year, a good time to reflect on what we’ve been offered musically so far in 2009. There’s been some stonkers like Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective and Fever Ray but you know about them already. I’ve listed my ten obvious favourite records of the year so far and then fifteen overlooked ones (with MP3s) you should definitely check out. Obviously “overlooked” is not exact science but generally, these are records you would like to see get more attention in the remaining six months of the year.

I left out a couple of newer albums like White Denim’s Fits and Paul White’s The Strange Dreams of because they are relatively new and I haven’t listened to them enough to place them here as much as I like them. There are a few others like Black Milk, Ribbons, Solid Gold which were actually last year officially but check them out anyway because they are amazing. Here we go..

Nialler9 Weekly Chart (22nd – 28th June)

franzblood Remember those archaic days when you picked up a magazine or a free newspaper and saw a playlist of what people were into that week and you would then immediately check it out if you thought it was interesting. The Aussie street press magazines reminded me of the power of those subjective charts. I’ve always got loads of great stuff from them so I’m going to re-introduce them here. No great fanfare or descriptions just ten of the best song around right now you should know or you might already know.

Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls (Trentemoller Remix) – Blood (Domino)
Dirty Projectors – Cannibal Resource – Bitte Orca – (Domino)
Mos Def – Auditorium feat. Slick Rick – The Ecstatic (Downtown)
Grizzly Bear – Southern Point – Veckatimest (Warp)
Various Production – Trycycle – EP (Self-released)

See the full chart >>

My 50 best Irish music acts right now

I took my cue from the list published in The Irish Times today. While that does suffer slightly from “middle-of-the-road-itis” or “lowest common denominator-list” theory (Both made up on the spot obviously), there’s nothing overtly wrong with the list as picked by Jim Carroll, Tony Clayton-Lea, Sinead Gleeson and Lauren Murphy. It’s a good representation of Irish music right now even though everybody will probably agree that there’s something missing from the list and that it favours indie or rock acts over other genres. Someone on Jim’s blog scoffed at the ability to be able to come up with 50 great Irish acts in operation right now but I’d also like to test that theory. Most lists will always favour the already-established, more well-known names who perhaps are riding on the coat-tails of former glories. That’s why all lists are pants. They are fun to make however.

As blogs are seeing as an alternative to mainstream media, I thought it’d be fun to post my own. My list was selected as an accurate representation of the 50 acts I’m most interested in hearing more of right now. These are the 50 acts who are making Irish music good enough to stick around this country in the times of recession and who are not eye-rollingly shit. The fact that it was such a piss-easy exercise and I left off loads proves that Irish music is healthier than its been for years and years. Get purchasing.

So here are the top 50 acts in Ireland, in alphabetical order I’m keenly watching right now.

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