If I begin this year’s round-up exactly as I started last year’s: by stating that Cat Malojian are responsible for the best local album, please don’t conclude that 2009 is the year that stood still.

Like every other section of society, the music scene has felt the icy of bite of recession: money has been tight, promoters have struggled, venues have reverted to conservative type – but anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that for most of our musicians what few pennies are around have finally started to drop.
With grand gestures in short supply (although, as we’ll see, the odd one has still managed to slip through) – the last 12 months has been a time of day jobs, dirty work and mundane slog. And while there’s little romance in the setting up of mailing lists, the ploughing through of software manuals, endless phone calls to out-of-town promoters and van-hire firms – we’re seeing the emergence of some seriously self-sufficient and independently minded souls.
Take The Cutaways. Their album, Earth and Earthly Things (a sleek, whip-smart and deceptively soulful slice of Belfast indie-life) would, in pre-Economic Ice Age times, have slipped effortlessly into the roster of any number of hip labels. Rather than feeling sorry for themselves, however, the trio have instead got busy developing their own identity – saturating their sleeves and videos with a unique personality that would have probably remained dormant if left in the care of some outsourced help.
Likewise, Nakatomi Towers. Julianne and Dave have spent enough time in the indie back-benches to know the drill by now. Neither expects to be swept to stardom on the whim some benevolent Major. Instead, they’ve set off along the autodidact route – familiarising themselves not only with state-of-the-art production programmes, but also with the byzantine trails of arts funding, and on-line networking.
A similar plot-line plays out with Yes Cadets. No more hanging around on the road-side waiting to be picked up for this crew. Their brew of electro and skinny jeans indie is so of-the-moment, they’ve shot off under their own steam – spreading the word, near and far.
Then there’s Panda Kopanda, another band dealt a fairly crummy hand, who – on the evidence of their brave and experimental debut album, This Hope Will Kill Us – have somehow managed to work it marvelously to their advantage.
With the safety blanket of a lucrative recording deal an ever more unlikely prospect, this lot are all typical of the increasing number of artists knuckling down and learning how to light their own campfires.
All that said, however, while glory is difficult to come by these days, it isn’t impossible.
You only have to look at the late-year programme from the Ulster Hall to understand that.
The old joint re-opened during the summer with ‘Do You Remember The First Time?’ – a night that gathered together so many familiar faces, it wasn’t so much a gig, as a surreal school reunion ( Snow Patrol? Yes. Divine Comedy? Yes. Ash? Yes. Therapy?, Duke Special, Foy Vance? Yes, yes, yes). While great fun, though, it wasn’t until The Answer, ASIWYFA and (especially) General Fiasco played deliriously ambitious headliners there, that the venue felt like it was back in use.
Robyn G Shiels’ The Blood Of The Innocents would be a contender for best release of the year. If, that is, it had actually been released. As it is, it’ll remain a great, enigmatic what-could-have-been. We dare not speculate on the kinds of things Kilrea’s finest enjoys wallowing in, but self-pity certainly isn’t one of them. We expect him to maintain the standard in 2010, and who knows: maybe even enjoy some luck.
Phil Kieran’s Shh was the record he has long promised – a head-bending techno masterpiece, soaked in the past and aggressively eyeballing the future.
Autumn has been a time of steady consolidation for The Lowly Knights, but their story arc in the first half of the year was Napoleonic. After stealing the heart of Gary Lightbody, they found themselves opening proceedings at the various Enormo-Domes playing host to Snow Patrol’s British Tour. Since then, they’ve made the very sensible decision to return to cloisters, and devote serious time to the construction of their first LP. A very wonderful video for ‘You Can Tell A Man’ gives a YouTube taster of what we can expect. Next year, though – prepare for lift-off.
Which brings us neatly back to the first name mentioned in this piece. On discovering that Lightbody’s other big crush of the year was Cat Malojian’s, The Dawn Chorus there was only really one response: what kept you?
Likewise – if you have yet to fall under this wonderful band’s spell: what’s keeping you?
In fact, pah to belt-tightening and frugal thinking – I’m giving you all a gift this year.
Tip-toe off to MySpace and give Cat Malojian a go.
It’s been a cold year. Why not leave it with a rosy glow.