if you give me nothing i can't help feeling i'm in stalemate with you

Top 10 Albums Of 2009

2. Ben's Brother - Battling Giants (LB)

After the relative success of 2007 debut album Beta Male Fairytales, Jamie Hartman was dropped by his record label during the writing of his second record. Rescued by Island Records, he teamed up with the likes of Joss Stone and Jason Mraz and released Battling Giants on his own Flat Cap Records in May.

I loved Beta Male Fairytales. His strength is in his songwriting and that was a stunning album of heartfelt, melodic tunes. With Battling Giants, however, he goes a step further and brings us a much bigger, more expansive sound. Whilst there are one or two piano ballads here, the whole album is fuller and more punchy with some great guitar work and some really high quality songs.

I had the pleasure of meeting Hartman in Nottingham earlier in the year and he was not only a lovely fella but also really pleased with the album. It's not set the charts on fire, which is a huge shame considering that is wipes the floor with the vast majority of Radio 2 style output that clogs up the airwaves. His duet Stalemate with Joss Stone (and later Anastasia) would have been an unbelievably big hit in the hands of, say, Leona Lewis whilst tracks like Apologise, If I Let The Ladder Down and What If I? are some of my favourites from 2009.

This really is a great record.

Listen to: Stalemate

2. White Lies - To Lose My Life (bedshaped)

Taking a heap load of influence from the eighties, but somehow, bringing that familiar beat up to speed. Mixing together various ingredients from the likes of Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, Furniture, The Cure, Depeche Mode, And Also The Trees, Editors, Doves, The Smiths, Suede, Madrugada....

The entire album is like a step back in time, but a breath of fresh air, all at the same time. Each track just makes the whole concept work even more. There are some wonderful anthemic moments that will make many a fan happy at their gigs. And it's....it's just so simple. There's nothing fantastically complex about the sound of White Lies. They are a simple rock band that have spent the last 5 years listening to 80's compilations and then interpreted their own songs within that sound. It works perfectly.

The lead singer literally throws out the passion in his voice, when he 'lets go', that is. Perfectly exampled on Nothing To Give. It's just a shame there isn't more of that. He's certainly got a great style. Powerful. Charismatic. Faithful. The guy can write brilliant lyrics too. Sometimes he paints a wonderful picture, then covers in it mist with his bizarre analogies and metaphors. It's still borderline poetical genius though:

"Just give me a second, darlin', to clear my head. Just put down those scissors, baby, on this single bed."

"The quilt of darkness darted with our teardrops."

"I looked at the case, he said ' I'll show you her blood'. I screamed down the phone line: Now is this the price of love!"

There is however, one more thing that unfairly over-shadows this album, and that's all the doom and gloom. Yes, his sombre lyrics and sullen voice can feel somewhat....well....gloomy. But the world behind his stories aren't all doom and gloom, as such. There's a lot of love in their. Good love. And passion. And self belief. And positive thinking. You just have to listen for it.

Favourite song.... To Lose My Life. A brilliant, driving song that resembles a Muse cover. The song grows by the second verse, adding some eighties sci-fi style keyboards. And then hits the bridge before a massive chorus. And the keyboard is the one to keep your ears out for. They are pounding, scary, sci-fi, flight of the bumble bee, and a huge wall of sound. A brilliant piece of songwriting.

Listen To: To Lose My Life

2. Flight of the Conchords - I Told You I Was Freaky (Swisslet)

Yeah, so it’s a comedy album. So what?

Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie proved with their last album that their songs were both funny and good, and here they’re doing more of the same with some songs from the second (and final) season of their TV show.

The first album was years in the making, with the songs well-honed from years of live performances – so the second album was always likely to be more difficult to pull off. Where their debut featured accomplished, well-observed parodies of the likes of Pet Shop Boys, David Bowie and Barry White, they were mainly songs that are funny in isolation from the TV programme and in fact predated the show.

Many of the new songs, however, are a lot more situation specific and were clearly written with the show in mind: We’re Both In Love With a Sexy Lady may be a parody of Same Girl by R Kelly and Usher, but how much of the enjoyment of the song is bound up in the specifics of the girl with the epileptic dog from the episode in question? Then again, how many people unfamiliar with the tv show will really be listening to this?

It’s perhaps not as immediate as the last album, but this is another classic: once again I’ve been unable to shift songs like Hurt Feelings, Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor and the sublime Carol Brown from my internal jukebox. It might only be a comedy album, but it’s still comfortably better than most other albums released this year. Please tour.

Listen To: Carol Brown