Katharsis Favourite Releases from 2009

Now, with some distance from last year, I present my 'short' list of favourite releases from 2009:

I have actually been sitting on this list since the new year and had intended to add short descriptions/reviews of each of these (reviews for some were published in BeatRoute last year) but I just haven't had the time and sadly probably won't for a long time. Some googling will lead you to much better reviews of these than I could ever write and these records are deserving of the highest calibre of writing to describe them.

For now my cryptic genre codes will have to suffice as a description (a lot of these terms have become so ambiguous they are now meaningless to most; sorry):

a = ambient instrumental (acoustic and/or electronic), e = electronic (uptempo), g = glitch (electronic), n = neo-classical, p = post-rock, i = indie-rock/pop, f = folk

A Broken Consort - Box of Birch (a,n)
A Broken Consort - Crow Autumn Part Two (a,n)
Alva Noto - Xerrox Vol II (a,n)
Ametsub - The Nothings Of The North (a,g,e)
Animal Hospital - Memory (a,n,p,f)
Balmorhea - All Is Wild, All Is Silent Remixes (Vinyl) (a,n)
Barzin - Notes to An Absent Lover (i)
Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows (a)
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (i)
Clouwbeck - Wolfrahm (a,n)
Dakota Suite - The Night Just Keeps Coming In (a)
David Bazan - Curse Your Branches (i)
DM Stith - Heavy Ghost (i,a)
Early Day Miners - The Treatment (i)
Evan Miller - Transfigurations on Lap-Steel Guitar (a,f)
Felix - You Are the One I Pick (i)
Fjordne - The Setting Sun (a,g)
Forest Tate Fraser - The Fall EP (i,f)
Fuqugi - Gransofa + Nightingale (a,p)
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (i)
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Through The Devil Softly (i,f)
Ilyas Ahmed - Goner (a,i,f)
James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game (a,n,f)
Jasper TX - Singing Stones (a,e)
Jasper TX & Anduin - The Bending Of Light (a)
Jonathan Kane - Jet Ear Party (i,p)
Jon-Rae Fletcher - Oh Maria (i,f)
Klumpes Ahmad - In Bed We Trust (a,g)
Knots - The Blistering Sun, the Pale Moon, Hahahaha (i)
Kreng - L'Autopsie Phe´nome´nale De Dieu (a,g,n)
Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy (i)
Laura Gibson - Beasts Of Seasons (f)
Lisa Germano - Magic Neighbor (i,f)
Lusine - A Certain Distance (e)
Mark Eitzel - Klamath (i)
Mark Templeton & Aaron Munson - Acre Loss (a,p)
Mirah - (A)Spera (i)
Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem (i)
Mountains - Choral (a)
Nancy Elizabeth - Wrought Iron (i,f)
Nels Cline - Coward (a)
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - White Lunar (a,n,f)
Pale Air Singers - Pale Air Singers (i)
Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek - Blank Grey Canvas Sky (a)
Pillowdiver - Sleeping Pills (a,p)
Pixel - The Drive (a,g)
Rachel Grimes - Book of Leaves (a,n)
Rameses III - I Could Not Love you More Vinyl (a)
Riceboy Sleeps - Riceboy Sleeps (a)
Seaworthy - 1897 (a,f)
Shannon Stephens - The Breadwinner (a,i,f)
Shannon Wright - Honeybee Girls (i,f)
Sholi - Sholi (i)
Steven R Smith - Cities (a,f)
Tara Jane O'Neil - A Ways Away (a,i,f)
The Antlers - Hospice (i)
The Green Kingdom - Twig and Twine (a)
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country (a)
Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre (i,f)
Tiny Vipers - Life on Earth (a,i,f)
Tomasz Bednarczyk - Let's Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow (a)
Tsukimono - Heart Attack Money (a,g)
Various - Dark Was The Night (i)
Vetiver - Tight Knit (a,i,f)
Vic Chesnutt - At the Cut (i,f)
Viva Voce - Rose City (i)
Volcano Choir - Unmap (a,i,p)
Wye Oak - The Knot (i)
Years - Years (a,g,f)
Zelienople - Give it Up (a,i,p)