Here are Lee's Albums of 2009.

1 Wild Beasts – Two Dancers (Domino)

Like all the great, idiosyncratic British bands before them – Roxy Music, Magazine, Pulp and Suede – Leeds’ Wild Beasts inhabit their own, at times perverse, universe. Asexual and haunting lyrics atop beautifully addictive, swirling guitar tunes with the added shock of Hayden Thorpe’s falsetto. The best British band since The Smiths.

2 The Horrors – Primary Colours (XL)

Who’d have thought it? Laughable goth rockers reinvent themselves and make a modern post-punk / psychedelic epic. Much was made of the My Bloody Valentine guitar textures but Faris Badwan and co were very much their own band and on the Joy Division meet Can at Manumission of Sea Within A Sea they recorded the track of the year.

3 Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (Drag City)

Callahan has always promised greatness as Smog, but this is his first real masterpiece (though 1999’s Knock Knock came close). His minimalist, twisted paeans to love and atheism now had added strings as lush and inventive as George Martin’s work on The Beatles’ later albums. Where Cash meets Cohen.

4 Florence and the Machine – Lungs

(Island)

I gave this a middling review on release, refusing to bow down to the hype. But it’s a grower and one cannot deny the visceral might of both Florence Welch’s lyrics and that dominant voice. With surprisingly hefty, tribal tunes battling the more haunted side of her personality, Florence really is the new Kate Bush.

5 St Vincent – Actor (4AD)

Surely Annie Clark – sometime band member for Sufjan Stevens – won’t be criminally undervalued for much longer? Her second album is a wonderfully artful collision of Bowie circa Scary Monsters, Philip Glass orchestration and Laurie Anderson playfulness. A transatlantic cousin to PJ Harvey, she can soothe as well as seriously unsettle.

6 Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Sony)

For a while they’ve been the best band in the country – according to Kasabian. But their third album gave the brag some credence – a technicolour mash-up of every genre going; like the Gorillaz gone rock. Terrace chant anthems like Fire and Fast Fuse were the undeniable festival favourites of the year.

7 F*** Buttons – Tarot Sport (ATP)

Galaxy-strafing music fashioned by two unlikely lads from Bristol – this was where the post-rock of Explosions In The Sky met the techno might of a souped-up Orbital. Monumental instrumentals like Olympians are as celestial as Spiritualized’s Ladies and Gentlemen but fed through samplers at the biggest rave in the sky.

8 The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die (Cooking Vinyl)

Proving that the last two disappointing Prodge albums were mere blips, this – their beefiest yet – gave 1994’s Music For The Jilted Generation a run for its money. Liam Howlett returned to pulverising beats, simplistic but addictive synth lines and the odd Keith Flint vocal to massive and scary effect.

9 Them Crooked Vultures – (Sony)

What could have been a vanity project for a Foo Fighter, Queen of the Stone Age and a Led Zepper turned into a terrific culmination of the last 40 years of heavy rock – from The Doors to Nirvana, Black Sabbath to System of a Down, they were all recalled but never copied over 13 spiralling songs, proving that Homme not Grohl is king.

10 The Cribs – Ignore The Ignorant (Domino)

The most unexpected hook-up of the year – Leeds’ Jarman brothers and ex-Smith Johnny Marr – proved fortuitous. Marr brought a more tuneful side to their indie polemic, on an album which featured his best work since Strangeways Here We Come 22 years ago. Songs like Cheat On Me and City of Bugs have the same coruscating power as Nirvana.

11 Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter (Mute)

Sheffield’s own Scott Walker goes ambient... not quite, but this is a musical U-turn after the opulent torch song of Coles Corner and Lady’s Bridge. Paeans to troubled love like Remorse Code and Soldier On were allowed to blossom and develop over 10 minutes, with every nuance and word hitting the mark beautifully.

12 Noah and the Whale – The First Days of Spring (Mercury)

If Hawley’s take on love is that of an experienced fortysomething then Charlie Fink’s tortured songwriting explores the fallout of first love gone bad. Simplistic yet affecting, the songs on Noah and the Whale’s superb second album had the emotional impact of Sigur Ros covering Lou Reed’s Berlin.

13 Madness – The Liberty of Norton Folgate (Domino)

The Nutty Boys’ ninth album in a 30-year career and their best. The social satire is still there – the jaunty Sugar and Spice actually hides a tale of failed marriage – but there’s now a musical maturity only hinted at previously. The 10-minute title track is simply stunning, taking in music hall to Bollywood strings.

14 Bat For Lashes – Two Suns (EMI)

The poster girl of goth returned with a more commercial album, hinting at windblown Fleetwood Mac soft rock on Daniel but elsewhere spooky and Siouxsie-like on Siren Song. With La Roux, Little Boots, Florence and her own guitarist Charlotte Hatherley (who released an excellent album), Natasha Khan proved 2009 was the year of the female.

15 The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love (4AD)

Where jet stream guitars did their best but failed to hide a mountain full of melodies. It was 1992 again with this duo updating the shoegazing sounds of Ride, Chapterhouse, Cocteau Twins et al. An electronic sheen gave it a modern feel while Dominos proved they could do anthemic pop too.

16 Simian Mobile Disco – Temporary Pleasure (Polydor)

Producer du jour James Ford updates the Chemical Brothers template with guest vocalists including Beth Ditto, Gruff Rhys and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor. As Jamie Lidell sings: “The Man Machine, the Sex Machine and everything in-between.” Irresistible Audacity of Huge is one of the songs of the year.

17 Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream (Virgin)

With Flaming Lips releasing a rubbish album and MGMT going AWOL it was up to this Aussie duo to release the psychedelic pop record of the year (alongside the slightly overrated Animal Collective). Prince, Bowie and Air caroused in a Neverending Story dreamworld to warpish effect.

18 Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men (EMI)

Uncategorisable music which made the Mercury prize short-list – Polar Bear jazz meets the glitchy electronica of Four Tet with Tim Elsenburg’s lived-in vocals sounding like a Home Counties Tom Waits. The album sounds both intimate and colossal – There Will It End is one of the most affecting songs ever.

19 Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (Warp)

Baroque and roll – Brooklyn’s underground favourites went overground with this intriguing mix of Beach Boys harmonies and leftfield Radiohead rock – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Yorke, in fact. Too arty for its own good at times, it hints at a classic to come, though the likes of Two Weeks and Southern Point are astounding.

20 U2 – No Line On The Horizon (Mercury)

I hate U2 and their self-appointed saint of a frontman. This sold poorly (for them) and didn’t hit the spot with many fans. That’s why it’s worth investigating as, hats off, 30 years down the line they are still willing to experiment. Their best work with Eno yet, ignore the crap single and head for phenomenal songs like Cedars of Lebanon instead.

​Have your say. What do you think ?