Blog: PopMatters

In this increasingly stratified musical climate, only a handful of albums revealed sound artistic strides while meeting critical and commercial success. Here is the very best of 2009, a year where some of the brightest luster shone from the hidden gems. In 2009, it isn't a revelation that major media outlets cover only a small fraction of new releases. Nor is it a hidden fact that record chains and independent retail shops continue to shutter at an alarming rate. Within this loss, however, is an opportunity. The Internet, that ultimate democratizing entity, continues to afford independent artists -- both [...]