It’s been a fantastic year for new and exciting music. So here are my favourite albums of 2009 (in no particular order):

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

Bushman’s Revenge- You Lost Me At Hello

St Vincent – Actor

Cathode – Sparkle Plenty

James Blackshaw – The Glass Bead Game

Gable – I’m OK

Bike For Three – More Heart Than Brains

Apse – Climb Up

The Most Serene Republic – And the Ever Expanding Universe

Rec.Tangle – Heavy Maple

Years – Years

Why? – Eskimo Snow

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains

I’ve recently done this artwork for a Japanese only release for the band The Carletons, called “Out of Your Control”. You might want to check out the band – they are really very good. Hopefully I’ll do more for them in the near future (and maybe even get to see them play).

In the meantime, do please continue to contact me for FREE artwork commissions for gig posters, album/single artwork.

Yes, on 11th-13th December we were in Minehead for Ten Years of ATP – a festival celebrating the last ten years of of the festival!

Well the lineup was pretty damn fine and we saw some brilliant sets including:

- Deerhoof, who played an excellent and fun set. Great technical skill, too.

- J Mascis and the Fog were very enjoyable, much more so than Dinosaur Jr.

- Shellac who we saw twice, played some blinding numbers, especially on day two. Also I got some great photos of them – thanks guys!

- Afrirampo, who we knew nothing about, were very entertaining with their crazy performance and some very enjoyable thrashing of metal.

- Papa M played some very relaxing soundscapes. Tortoise were actually very good. Mudhoney were disappointing, as were Mars Volta.

- Sunn O))) were hilarious, actually not at all bad until the “singing” started.

- Discovered an amazing band in The Drones, who were excellent on stage and also sound excellent on vinyl.

- Also the Apse set was brilliant and think it must be one of the best albums of the year.

- Battles, who I was very excited about seeing again were very good but I think they were a bit lost in the pavillion – would like to have seen them upstairs.

- The highlight of the weekend was Modest Mouse – brilliant to see them again and they played a brilliant set with older numbers. We wondered if we’ll ever see Modest Mouse in such an intimate setting again.

So, roll on 2010 and everything ATP has to throw at us! I’m even going to try and get a photographer’s pass so I can improve my photography further. You can see my best photos of Ten Years of ATP here.

In no particular order, here are some of my favourite albums of the last decade. Albums which have inspired me, thrilled me and I’ve always come back to again and again:

Why? – Elephant Eyelash (2005)

Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)

Son Lux – At War with Walls and Mazes (2008)

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca (2009)

St. Vincent – Marry Me (2007)

Menomena – Friend and Foe (2007)

Modest Mouse – The Moon & Antartica (2000)

Battles – Mirrored (2007)

Volcano! – Beautiful Seizure (2005)

Calexico – Hot Rail (2000)

Amon Tobin – Out from Out Where (2002)

Deerhoof – The Runners Four (2005)

I took delivery of the new Origin Live Upgrade platter mat a couple of days ago, at a bargain introductory price of £29.

I had read the press release email about this mat but I was a bit unsure whether it would offer any benefits with my turntable as it has an acrylic platter but Mark Baker (the man behind Origin Live) told me, “the mat is at its best on acrylic” so I couldn’t resist the opportunity.

Fitting the mat on top of the platter requires an adjustment of the tonearm’s VTA as it is about 1mm thick. The mat isn’t soft and squidgy like I expected – instead it looks a bit like dark granite with an amalgam of materials.

I wasn’t expecting a huge improvement but was fairly astonished by the difference the mat makes. My previous upgrades such as the Vertex AQ really allowed the music to define a sense of space and depth around each instrument, which is what I was half expecting to be further improved upon with this mat.

Instead, the Origin Live Upgrade platter mat doesn’t seem to increase space, but unclutters the music right down to the smallest detail. You can suddenly hear many, many more details and tonal textures which had not been apparent before, the nuances of instruments become far more apparent.

Listening to the fantastic Buena Vista Social Club DMM pressing it was so easy to clearly hear the instruments and, for the first time, I could clearly hear three male voices on one particular track.

The other obvious improvement is that the low end is further extended, with the same clarity heard higher up the frequency range. It’s a delight to hear all the textures and tones of the instruments so clearly.

I’m extremely impressed with this Origin Live Upgrade platter mat, it’s a huge upgrade for the asking price!

(Apologies for the poor photo, I am between cameras.)