Editors Best 09′: For me, this has been a year of musical inspiration and enjoyment; in my experience the level of quality and diversity has never been better. But in my broad sweep of the music media, the gap between fact and fiction is growing, when ‘cool’ and ‘happening’ have descended like the thickest and darkest fog, trapping many editors, writers, producers and publications into travelling in ever-decreasing circles. And in a music year like 2009, that’s nothing short of criminal.

Best Of Year, Best Of Decade

I’ve trawled through the online and print media searching for Best-of lists, and I’m deeply disappointed with what I see. Print publications rather than adapting their lists to the release reality of 2009 have adhered to a fixed and traditional number of nominations, thereby missing out on so many great records. We do exactly the opposite in that our Best-of lists are entirely dependent on the number of great records released and heard by us. It could be five, it could be ten, it could be a hundred. In 2009 we have listed in excess of 80 excellent recordings. And there could be more because 2009 is not over yet, indeed we have just listed a couple more albums released in the past two weeks. But is it all futile exercise? We don’t think so because for us it’s not a hype or numbers game, it’s simply bestowing credit where credit is due. We survive on these great records; they provide us with our coverage programme for the year in terms of interviews and live reviews, while providing a solid backbone of our twice-weekly radio shows. Great music makes for great writing, airplay and photography - that’s where we’re at, for now and forever. And remember, our annual accolade is likely to be the only one given to the many artists so unjustly ignored by the media in general. Best Of Decade is another thing entirely and while I considered attempting such an exercise, on looking at NME’s list I decided it was a futile travail, for reasons you may understand… But, one of my associates will attempt a personal one which no doubt I will also disagree with, that’s musical life for you!

Susan Boyle and Nickelback Share Something…

According to the vast majority of the media, they are not ‘cool’ or ‘happening.’ But La Roux and Lily Allen are. I could site many more examples but that too is futile. Now we’ve never been in the ‘numbers game’ and never will be, but in addition to being excellent records, both Susan Boyle and Nickelback outsold the ‘cool’ and ‘happening’ many times over - worldwide. And how many writers/editors possess both these records and play them to death without acknowledging it? I think we both know the answer to that one.

Let’s now flip the coin to great records that haven’t sold in their millions but are good enough to be included in our top 20 albums of the year, and who also appear to be not ‘cool’ or ‘happening.’ Here you go: My Latest Novel, The Airborne Toxic Event, Rachael Yamagata, John Blum, The Tragically Hip, The Low Anthem, Vienna Teng, The Swell Season, Wallis Bird, Eileen Rose & The Holy Wreck, The Enemy, pndc&housework, Serpico, The Answer, Phantom Limb, Seasick Steve, Portico Quartet and Moby (the balance of the top 20 made up by Green Day and Nickelback). Hell, I won’t even bother to mention the other Shakenstir top albums of the year… It begs the questions: how and why are albums picked for these lists? From our perspective the answer is simple - we’re totally independent and love great music - we’re music fans, not artist or label sycophants.