VA - Rough Trade Shops: Counter Culture 09 [2CD Set] (2010)

Tthe very best of 2009, a selection of staff favourites, best sellers and forward-thinking music that have passed over the counters of rough trades east and west - the counter culture 09 double cd is a sonic snap-shot of the year. always a surprising blend, we have a mess of young upstarts as always, and this year they bunch-up next to established contemporaries and a couple of old friends alike. fever ray and kurt vile, mos def and broadcast, kid congo and tom russell - you want - we got 'em. a unique collection that could only have occurred in 2009. we kick off with some swampy song-craft from forest fire and django django, followed by a couple of ace psyche-outs from glasser and broadcast and the focus group. its beautiful pop next from fists, emmy the great and the pastels / tenniscoats, the lovely sad sad feet from cate le bon and some playground harmonics and school-yard hip hop from magic kids and the phenomenal handclap band respectively. jumbling towers bring their uniquely eerie and lopsided rolling bumper to the party, before the very bests afro-indie rhythms take over. american folk legends tom russell (joined by calexico) and loudon wainright iii show us how its done slower and lower, then proceedings are brought sharply into contemporary focus by the leisure society, mariachi el bronx and edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros joyfully shamanistic folk-rock anthem. disc 2 continues with the uniquely beautiful solo acoustic guitar of rick tomlinson and the energising d-i-y skronk of micachu and the shapes, before turning left into the rough-hewn expanse of us indie with the weather-beaten sensitivity of kurt vile, while nodzzz exhibit a lo-fi fondness for the knacks party-punking 'my sharona'. finally the soft pack and pissed jeans channel nirvana magnificently with melodic and brash, heavy punk energy. it seems like only yesterday that fever rays stunning freezer-burned electro album arrived, soon to be joined by the horrors stunning form-finding monster 'primary colours' and the xx's equally magnificent, minimal and moody debut, and if you havent been shaking it yet, perhaps the bass-quaking, tweeter-troubling dub-step of zomby, tiga's wicked tech-disco biscuit and terry lynn's ja digi-funk will get you up for a cuddle and a rub. 43 tracks jammed onto 2 discs - we love to share.