Wherein a Tart is made Scottish for a day…

The Howling mp3 The Phantom Band Checkmate Savage

… and some fine Scottish bloggers award their top albums of 2009. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Scottish Bloggers and Music Sites Award 2009′, a.k.a., the ‘Scottish BAMS Award 2009‘

The following folks contributed to voting:
17 Seconds, AyeTunes, Dear Scotland, Earz Mag, Elba Sessions, Glasgow Podcart, Hooligans Lament, Jim Gellatly, JocknRoll, Jockrock, Kowalskiy, Last Years Girl, Love Shack Baby, Manic Pop Thrills, My Portiswasp Says, Off the Beaten Tracks, The Popcop, Products of a Gaseous Brain, Song By Toad, The Daily Growl, The Spill, The Steinberg Principle, The Vinyl Villain and Under the Radar.

Each of us submitted our top ten albums of 2009. Some of those names you will recognize as commenters and friends here in the Shack. The whole thing was put on by Lloyd of Peenko.com and he compiled the votes to determine that the winner is……..

1. The Phantom Band – Checkmate Savage — wow! Congrats!!!

2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
3. De Rosa – Prevention
4. King Creosote – Flick the V’s
5. Withered Hand – Good News
6. The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead
7. We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls
8. Beerjacket – Animosity
9. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
9. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
11. My Latest Novel – Deaths and Entrances
11. Malcolm Middleton – Waxing Gibbous
13. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – s/t
14. You Already Know – s/
14. Broken Records – Until the Earth Begins to Part
16. The XX – s/t
17. The Antlers – Hospice
18. Sufjan Stevens – The BQE
18. And So I Watch You From Afar
20. Wilco – The Album

The Phantom Band has this to say: “This makes us feel very honoured because the opinion of people out there giving opinions is what matters most, rather than the financially influenced press. It always amazes me that people would take it upon themselves to go out and champion a band or an album or a band for no material gain, but it gives me faith in human nature. Blogs and reviews have been the only advertising we’ve ever had. Apart from all those people who got online and promoted us, we’d like to thank those little almost-stale doughnuts you get in big tubs from Sainsburys for keeping us fat during the recording. We obviously also have our Producer Paul Savage and the wonderful people at Chemikal Underground to thank for letting us do what we want. These guys are the quiet heroes of Scottish music for sure.”

It really was an honor to be part of this project, and to see that more than a few of my top ten made the list. All those who participated were more than kind to allow me to be involved, being the only one on this side of the pond. My love for Scottish music really owes a debt to Matthew of Song, by Toad and to JC, the Vinyl Villain who both introduced me to some fine artists, and continue to heavily influence my taste. They’ve also been lovely to share to all their friends I have found on their blogs and in their comments sections.

Happy Holidays! I’ll be posting my own list of most-listened to albums of 2009 shortly. xoxo