Sweet Headache

2009 Favorites

When a year ends, there are always dozens of polls about everyone’s favorites for the last year. I have to admit that I enjoy that kind of polls, especially when it’s about music.

Here are my favorite artists for 2009. Please feel free to share your favorites in the comments!

1. Fever Ray
Fever Ray is the solo project of The Knife’s singer Karin Dreijer Andersson. Her music is hard to descripe, but very, very fascinating. If you ever have the chance to see her on stage, don’t miss that! It’s a truly magical experience.

2. Gossip
I know they have been around for a while, but I was totally unaware of how good they really are until I saw them on stage last year. Very powerful live performance! And Gossip’s last Album “Music for Men” kicks more than just one ass!

3. Parov Stelar
He’s the master of many styles. From smooth downbeat grooves to funky dancefloor bangers – Parov Stelar can do it all, and he does it with style.

4. Simian Mobile Disco
Many artists who are good at creating great dancefloor tunes fail when they try to create a whole album that’s also good to listen to at home. Simian Mobile Disco are one of the few artists who excel in great dancefloor material as well as in catchy pop tunes.

5. The Prodigy
The Prodigy were probably the most influential band for me when I was a teenager. I was happy to see that their latest album “Invaders Must Die” finally took them back to their old greatness.

6. Chase & Status
I had totally mistaken Chase&Status for “yet another Dubstep artist”, but when I heard their remix for Nnekas “Heartbeat” on the radio, they caught my interest. I always like it when an artist can cover more than one style, and they definitely shine in Dubstep, Drum&Bass and even Funky Breaks (see below).

7. Malente
Malente is a genius in delivering dancefloor anthems with a certain twist. Both his remixes and his own productions made it into a few sets of mine in 2009.

8. Sub Focus
2009 was the year that let me re-discover Drum&Bass. I have loved fast, broken beats for a long time, but somehow didn’t keep track of what was happening for a while. Sub Focus‘ superb single “Rock It” was one of the tracks that showed me Drum&Bass is still alive & kicking.

9. The Crystal Method
Artists like The Crystal Method were the top choice for action movie soundtracks in the 90s. I always felt that there was more to this kind of music than just serving as a side dish to a movie, and Crystal Method have proven that they are still creative.

10. Jetlag Digital
Jetlag Digital is not actually an artist, but a Progressive House/Trance label. However, I wanted to mention them here since their sound has influenced me a lot in 2009. They just deliver great electronic dance music all the time and keep me wondering how just two guys (Shane and Hyline) can get so many artists from around the world together.