Well, here she is: the last monthly mix of the year. This one, of course, is comprised of many of my favorite songs from 2009. If you want to listen to my other favorite songs from the year, you can go to 2009 Mix Archive page, where, for a limited time, I’m making all the year’s mixes available. Enjoy.

• Apollo Ghosts – “Dobermans”
• Apollo Ghosts – “Land of the Morning Calm”
• Micachu – “Lips”
• Micachu – “Golden Phone”
• Fergus & Geronimo – “Harder Than It’s Ever Been”
• Woods – “The Dark”
• Girls – “Lust For Life”
• Benjy Ferree – “Fear”
• Dirty Projectors – “Two Doves”
• Richard Swift – “The Atlantic Ocean”
• Richard Swift – “Lady Luck”

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This is an addendum to my post of earlier this week, wherein I mentioned five 2009 albums I enjoyed, including my #1 favorite of the year, Apollo Ghosts‘ Hastings Sunrise. I said there were 3 copies of the vinyl left. That is no longer true: it’s now in fact sold out.

This bit of info gets its own post simply because I think that selling nearly 500 copies of an LP is not too damn shabby for a band that has:

• NO PR
• NO publicity
• NO advertising
• NO (real*) label
• ALMOST NO coverage from the media or blogosphere
• and who have played barely a handful of shows outside of their hometown of Vancouver.

Well done, guys.

MP3: Apollo Ghosts – “Little Yokohama”

(*Catbird hardly counts as “real,” ha!)

These are 5 albums from 2009 that I listened to and enjoyed quite a lot.

Sharon Van Etten – Because I Was In Love
Language of Stone

I am absolutely thrilled to see praise for this album popping up on so many year-end wrap-ups already. I wasn’t expecting to see that, and it’s great that I’m not the only one who recognized that this record is one of the loveliest things you’re likely to hear all year.

MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “For You”
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Consolation Prize”
STREAM: Sharon Van Etten – Because I Was In Love via Listen@MBV
BUY IT: LP | CD | MP3

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Domino

While I was familiar with Dirty Projectors, I’d never really spent a lot of quality listening-time with their earlier records, so it was with pretty fresh ears that I first heard Bitte Orca. So it’s fair to say I didn’t exactly know what to expect when I hit ‘Play,’ but then again, I doubt there was *anyone* out there who could have anticipated this unusual and sublime work. This was a polarizing record from a polarizing band, but you can plant me firmly in the “blown away by Bitte Orca” camp.

VIDEO: Dirty Projectors – “Stillness Is The Move”
BUY IT: LP | CD | MP3 | Cassette

Death – …For The Whole World To See
Drag City

Massive props to Drag City for unearthing this one. These recordings sat in an attic for nearly 35 years and could easily have been lost to the ages, but thanks to DC, the magnificent Bad Brains-meets-Thin Lizzy tunes of Detroit’s Hackney brothers came into the spotlight this year, ahem, for the whole world to see.

MP3: Death – “Politicians In My Eyes”
BUY IT: LP | CD | MP3

Micachu & the Shapes – Jewellery
Beggars/Rough Trade

I seriously could not decide what to make of Micachu the first few times I listened to Jewellery– I’m not sure my brain knew exactly how to process young Mica Levi’s Partched Bone Machine‘d sounds. But my brain soon came around, and I realized what I was hearing were some really brilliant songs, deconstructed, reconstructed, and cut-and-pasted into something that actually sounded *new* to me. It sounded like the future.

MP3: Micachu – “Golden Phone”
MP3: Micachu – “Lips”
BUY IT: LP | CD | MP3

Apollo Ghosts – Hastings Sunrise
Self-Released/Catbird

I started the year gushing about Vancouver’s Apollo Ghosts, and continued to do so unrelentingly throughout the remainder of 2009 (Catbird was even lucky enough to have a hand in helping re-release the record). And the reason I have been such a vocal advocate for this band is quite simple: this album has consistently remained my favorite thing to listen to all throughout the year. Yes, it’s no contest, Hastings Sunrise is absolutely my favorite record of 2009. The band is currently in the studio with JC/DC recording LP #2, and though I am dumbfounded that all the labels out there are sleeping on this band, I fret not. Because regardless, 2010 is going to see album number #2 from Apollo Ghosts, and that makes me very, very happy.

MP3: Apollo Ghosts – “Dobermans”/”Land of the Morning Calm”
STREAM: Apollo Ghosts – Hastings Sunrise via Listen@MBV
BUY IT: LP (only 3 copies left) | CD | MP3

I was just perusing the respected Rough Trade Shops’ 2009 Albums of the Year List, and noticed something awesome: all of the Top 10 have RT-exclusive bonus CDs bundled with them. AND, I noticed something else awesome: in addition to some names you might expect to see in a Rough Trade Top 10 (The XX, Grizzly Bear, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart), there’s one I certainly didn’t expect to see:

(#9) Forest Fire – Survival

…which RT calls “an absolute revelation.”

To recap, Catbird released this album back in June, 2008 — on CD, on ridiculous “Giant Size CD”, and as a totally free 320kbps MP3 download. At the end of 2008, Survival had the honor of being crowned Le Blogotheque’s Album of the Year. In 2009, the record was picked up by the great French label Talitres (home to the National, Destroyer, & the Walkmen) for European release, and by Broken Sound for a UK one. Then in July ‘09 — almost exactly a year after we first released Survival — the record was graced with a full U.S. re-release, courtesy of Brooklyn’s own Infinite Best (which included a (yes!) limited-edition vinyl version (!). Cut to 5 months later and there’s Survival sitting comfortably in Rough Trade Shops’ 2009 Albums of the Year List.

In my eyes, that’s a hell of a long way to go for a record that started its life as a free download. It’s continued to go on, to keep rolling along and picking up new admirers, DESPITE being (even still) largely ignored right here in the US. And I’m so incredibly proud to have been part of it. Congratulations, Forest Fire!

MP3: Forest Fire – “I Make Windows”
STREAM: Survival at Catbird Records
BUY CD/LP (US): at Infinite Best
BUY CD (EUR): at Talitres
BUY CD (UK): at Broken Sound / at Rough Trade (w/bonus CD)

FWIW, Merriweather Post Pavilion made also Rough Trade’s 2009 List: it came eleventh.

MP3: Wolf People – “October Fires”

Intriguing stuff, from the forthcoming Tidings, a collection of early recordings by London’s Wolf People, Jagjaguwar’s new (and first) UK signing. The tunes seem to be a sort of awesome pastiche of old-school heavy ’70s vibes (think Faust et. al.), and I’m stoked to hear more from Tidings (it’s out 2/23)– although I’d wager that their proper debut LP, slated for release later in 2010, is gonna be the real slayer.

FYI: we’re going to stop taking orders for the new Catbird Records T-shirt at 5PM EST today, so get in there while the gettin’s good!

Yes! Tampa’s beloved cult favorites Home are back! On January 26th, Jagjaguwar (or, more specifically, their Brah imprint) will be releasing the band’s new LP, Seventeen. This is their first new material since 2006’s magnficient Sexteen, so 2010 is looking up for me already. Here’s a track from the new record:

MP3: Home – “Photographed With Ease”

But the news doesn’t end there!

The Home Box Set: I – VIII, which collects ALL of the super-rare original Home cassette releases (their CD discography starts with IX, after all) is out TODAY. Now, I know it’s called a “box set,” and the art shows a picture of a cassette, but this is a digital-only release. Hell, I’m not complaining– I’ve wanted to get my hands on this material for a long time now, I’ll take what I can get. You can check out samples and dig up more on these old cassettes on the Home Boxset Website.

I was introduced to Nevada City, CA’s Golden Shoulders years ago by the now-legendary States Rights Bro Zone comp, and their track on there, “Let My Burden Be,” has remained a favorite of mine. I posted about the band last year, but I’d kinda lost track of them. Which is why is was a nice surprise to find an email in the inbox this morning from Matt W., with another great Golden Shoulders track attached. Apparently they had a new album come out just a few months ago! It’s called Get Reasonable, and if the awesome pseudo-Seventies vibe of “Mountain” is any indication, it’s well worth checking out. Buy it here.

MP3: Golden Shoulders – “Mountain”

MP3: Bottle Up & Go – “Until The Day I Die”

Bottle Up & Go, who you’ll surely recall from here, have a slew of fall NYC shows coming up, and a brand new single, to boot. The track is a teaser from their upcoming full-length (due in 2010), and it’s a good one, so check it out.

This is going to come as disappointing news to some readers, but I feel the need to post it for posterity’s sake… Catbird Records has done a highly-limited pressing of The Apollo Ghosts‘ wonderful Forgotten Triangle EP as a lathe-cut 7-inch. It’s an edition of 25. We sold out in just under an hour earlier this afternoon.

I know there are tons of die-hard Apollo Ghosts fans out there these days, and I’m honestly sorry if you missed out… this is exactly why I always urge people to sign up for the Catbird Records Mailing List. All is not lost, though– if you’re in Vancouver, you can try to nab a copy at Zulu Records next week, and also: the band should have a few copies for sale at their upcoming show with Shonen Knife at Vancouver’s Biltmore Cabaret on the 25th as well.

(BTW, of course, you can still pick up the CD or Digital version of Forgotten Triangle if you’re late to the game on AG.)

MP3: Apollo Ghosts – “Palm of My Hand”
STREAM: Apollo Ghosts – Forgotten Triangle via Listen@MBV