Inside Nokia Music

I was about 15 years old when I first heard Tool, I could only think “what IS this?” This is the band I keep coming back to over and over and over again! My music collection would never be complete without Tool and to this day, it is one of the bands to which I continuously listen. It’s like I fall in love every time I listen to this music. There it all is: swirling interplay of ecstasy and pain, timeless beauty, mystery, tenderness and brutality, enveloped in a dance of endless tension. Finally. Tool.

So we’ve had 12 months of musical hits and misses and are excited to see what the New Year brings. For the sake of closure, though, here’s a few of the team’s personal picks from 2009.

Johnners

Miike Snow – Miike Snow
Just a great sounding album, nicely produced with great rhythm and a catchy blend of styles. Every track is different. Black & Blue is a seriously great tune and one I religiously listened too for a week or so. Highly recommended.

Jay Chakravorty

Moderat – Moderat
This one’s easy. It was only ever going to be between Moderat’s eponymous record and The Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca. No matter what anyone else says, I think 2009 has been a fairly barren year for good albums. Anyway, the debut from Moderat, a group comprising two of Berlin’s finest electronic acts (Modeselektor and Apparat), won out. Apparat’s lush analogue synth arrangements and Modeselektor’s ridiculously well-produced beats are a perfect match, sparking off each other in unexpected and frankly astonishing ways. You know the bit in Heat where de Niro and Pacino face each other in the diner? Well, it’s like that. You’ll notice something new every time you go back to it. Flitting between ethereal beauty and thundering dance music has never sounded so effortless.

Mike Abolins

Animals In The Dark – William Elliot Whitmore
With a voice that sounds like it’s seen one smoky bar too many, William Elliot Whitmore falls into that category of artists that sound older than their years. One listen to the Americana- and country-flecked acoustic folk that is Animals In The Dark and you could be forgiven for picturing a weathered old soul; in fact, Whitmore was born in 1978. Which makes the world-weary attitude and depth in tracks such as Old Devils and Hell Or High Water all the more remarkable.

Jethro

Let The Dominoes Fall – Rancid
It may have taken 6 years to get here and, as a big Rancid fan, it didn’t disappoint. Tim Armstrong’s gritty rasping vocals mixed with ska and psychobilly-influenced punk show that Rancid are still sticking to their traditional ska punk roots. It doesn’t quite hit the level of …And Out Come The Wolves, which is still my favourite Rancid album, but Let The Dominoes fall comes a close second and is an album that has sat at the top of my playlist for most of the year.