My 2009 in music: EPs and mini-albums

It is that time of year again; the season for making lists. This is not however my Christmas wish list but rather the first part of the music that I have heard in 2009 that I particularly liked.
It, like all the other parts to follow, is obviously a personal selection so if you agree with some and disagree with others then it is well worth doing; should you discover anything from it that had either not caught your attention or merely forgotten then all the better and, as usual, all comments, positive or negative, are welcome.
As I did last year I started with one of the categories that I find it easier to get my head around. It is better this year even though 'EPs and mini-albums' has become a whole lot more complicated than it was in 2008. As usual I'm not going to attempt to rank them, not least because that depends on my mood at the time. These have however proved enduring favourites and so here they are, in alphabetical order and by arist:

• Amy LaVere - Died of Love
• Beth Jeans Houghton - Hot Toast Volume 1
• First Aid Kit - Drunken Trees
• Le B - Good Fortune Sounds
• Marina and the Diamonds - The Crown Jewels EP
• Smoke Fairies - Frozen Heart
• Stars of Sunday League - The Boy's Got Prospects

A major departure from the selection I made last year is that as well as owning said items I have actually seen five of the seven acts live in 2009. The exceptions being Amy LaVere and Le B because I didn't get the opportunity to do so. Of these seven acts/artists only one has released a full album to date and that is Amy LaVere, who has released two, and the second of them, 'Anchors and Anvils', was in my list of 2008 albums.

There are also a few EPs that overlap with 2009 artists and albums that I think worthy of note, but probably need no introduction, simply for the remixes:

• Florence and The Machine - A Lot Of Love, A Lot Of Blood
• Little Boots - Arecibo

The nine items above are, at least in my collection, represented equally on CD, 7" vinyl and 12" vinyl --- so not even dead on physical format! The artwork of many of these items has already appeared in my posts in 2009 but not all of it so here is some more...

There is more (including links from this post) to follow soon...