Some records that were released this year

2009 has been pretty okay so far, but I haven't really felt any need to write, since no good records have really come out yet.

But, that's just not true is it?

Ben Kweller's Changing Horses is a lovely piece of work; all check-shirts and bluegrass and cotton-picking hoe-downs. It walks the line, like many of my favourite records, between the absurd and the downright genius. At points, it plucks ever-so-gently on the heart strings while, for the majority of the album, it's fun, self-effacing and accessible. It's an 8/10 album.

I've also fallen rather deeply for Cara Dillon, especially since the release of her fourth record Hill of Thieves back in January. Now, 'proper' folk is something that I don't profess to know too much (read: anything) about so I shan't wax on too lyrical here. I'd just like to recommend that this record is beautiful.

Here is the most fantastic thing to happen this year:

The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

Now, I can't get enough of this album. It's a rock opera, so what? It doesn't really sound like the Decemberists? Well, that's just not true is it? Once again, this collection of tracks is defined by the songwriting of Colin Meloy, who's skill and craftsmanship takes on a new level of greatness here. Entirely sequenced, with recurring themes, characters and a full-on narrative throughout, this is both a literary and a musical work of genius. The Guardian's Alexis Petridis based his entire review on a picture of the band and the suggestion that they don't look like they should be able to pull such an album off, particularly in light of it's often Sabbath-esque sludge-metal riffage. For Mr Petridis, it would seem, the point of the entire record has jumped ship before he ever stood any chance of seeing it. The beauty of this record is in it's brave, genre-straddling bravado, in it's beautiful songwriting and performance and, most of all, in its ability to be so many different records all at once. You can invest as much of yourself in it as you want, exploring the narrative and uncovering the fate of young Margaret the herione or simply switching off and listening to a collection of fantastic songs.

I'm ill.

J

Please, if you do anything today, buy this album. It is the best of the year so far.