Whew! Quite an eventful year. I'm not going to try and provide an exhaustive summary of world events here, instead I thought it would be a good opportunity to give a brief rundown of my favourite posts of 2009 on this blog, whilst also including those events that were most important to me personally.

Whilst this is still a tiny blog in the larger scheme of things, it's been exciting to gain readers each month and to have more people commenting, and I really appreciate every single person who subscribes or visits regularly, and who has emailed or commented or took part in my daft poll earlier on in the year - every single bit of feedback is appreciated. 

Also an apology to those whose gigs I didn't make it to, or whose emails I haven't yet replied to. I'm still finding it difficult to juggle a busy day job with this blogging lark, and deal with all my own bad habits, procrastination, laziness/bouts of depression/agorophobia and general disorganisation. I'm working on it, promise!

So Happy New Year folks, and I hope it's the best yet.

I Hear a New World

Though the column and podcast went on an extended hiatus this year, I still managed to squeeze in an interview with Will Oldham aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, as well as with Sean Michaels of the ever-popular mp3 blog Said The Gramophone, and a couple of friends who contribute massively to the local music scene, Matthew from Song By Toad and Dave Kerr from The Skinny.

The podcasts also featured a bunch of great tunes from the likes of Grizzly Bear, Jeffrey Lewis, Camera Obscura, the Japanese War Effort, Ish Marquez and many more. You can still hear them all over on the podcasts page.

And don't forget the  I Hear a New World Ten Tracks bundle is also available now for only £1!

 Travel/Personal

I fulfilled a lifetime ambition and went to New York where I played at the infamous Sidewalk Cafe antifolk open mic and also shocked myself and my long-suffering girlfriend by finally getting engaged: New York Travelogue

Technology

I bought an iPhone, and became a tiresome bore about it and my other favourite invention of the year, the new music streaming service Spotify:

The Gaseous Brain Guide to the iPhone (which was also featured on Just Another iPhone Blog's best iPhone laughs of 2009)

Why I'm a Paytard

Why you need Spotify's free music streaming service

Spotify for iPhone is here - bring on the cheese!

Gigs

I went to my first ever Fence Homegame festival, which was absolutely brilliant, and made a video about it: Fence Homegame 6 - Video Diary (some very selective personal highlights)

A few other gigs I enjoyed:

Found, Meursault & Panda Su @ Roxy Art House, Friday 4th December

The Cave Singers & Espers @ The Electric Circus, Edinburgh Nov 14th 2009

Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard @ Cabaret Voltaire, 31 Aug

Retreat! @ Bristo Hall, 16 Aug

Playing with the Past

A Weekend in Fife, featuring The Three Craws

Peaches @ Webster Hall, NYC

My friend Stu also contributed a couple of excellent gig reviews:

The Flaming Lips @ The Glasgow Academy, 15th November 2009

Review of Frightened Rabbit live in Edinburgh, 18th August 2009

Record reviews

As a recovering ex-music journalist just the thought of writing reviews and having to give them a star rating brings me out in a cold sweat, so this year saw a drop in my output when it comes to writing reviews.  But there were a few releases this year which had me relapsing due to their sheer quality: 

 King Creosote - Flick The V's

Daniel Johnston - Is and Always Was

James Yorkston & The Big Eyes Family Players - Folk Songs

The Japanese War Effort - King of Poland

Withered Hand - You're Not Alone

Meursault - Nothing Broke EP

Sleep The Winter - eagleowl

Found Can Move

Edinburgh band Found deserve their own category this year simply for having made the most danceable song of the year with Let Fidelity Break:

Video: Edinburgh band 'Found' provoke outbreak of crazy dancing

Found Play Let Fidelity Break to the Kids in Central Park

as well as wowing us all with their Cybraphon creation: Robot Love in Edinburgh - Cybraphon & ASIMO

Scrobbling Off:

I probably listened to cheesy pop music this year more than obscure indie (again, you can blame Spotify). Here's where I 'came out':

Scrobbling Off: Where's Your Favourite Place to Find Party Mixtapes?

The obligatory Wacko Jacko post-mortem blog post

Scottish Blogs

Finally, this year really did see an explosion in the number of Scottish music blogs and other music sites. It's led to a great sense of community, culminating in the BAMS awards at the end of the year. I see this blog as a companion to all the others out there who also provide tons of great content, and recommend you check them out if you haven't already.

Sexy New Scottish Blogs

I Hear a New World July 2009 - Recommended pod/vod/webcasts

Tis The Season of The Lists - Best Albums of 2009 and The Decade

The Internet & the Age of Information Overload

The same goes for the other blogs I've linked to on this site over the year which aren't necessarily Scottish or about music.

I have to admit it, my internet addiction has shown no signs of abating in 2009. I started up a weekly web trawl of the best articles I found online, which then became the Random Reading List.

My attention was all over the place, including technology, music, eye candy (ahem) and just about everything else under the sun. If you're looking for a whole library's worth of interesting links, you can find them all here.

Phew! Here's looking forward to 2010 :D

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