Listening to “He Was Worse Than The Needle He Gave You,” It’s hard to believe The Delta Mirror was a hip-hop group once: the gossamer shoegaze atmospheres and haunted indie vocals of frontman Craig Gordon seem far away from any boom bap. But then the beat kicks in, and you realize that Delta Mirror know how to make a supple electronic groove. More importantly, they know how to write a crucial, affecting song amid all the synth swells and cathedral reverb.

What a long, strange trip it’s been to this moment in music. The headlines are all too familiar – major labels are dying, download this, download that, blahblahblah… All the hubbub over technology and filthy lucre has obscured what is becoming increasingly clear: 2009 may be the best year for music in a decade – a veritable golden age, if you will, captured in a twelve-month period.