Ok, it’s a little late but c’mon – January ain’t bad!
I’m going to break with tradition a bit here and skip the “countdown” ordering and lead off with the best. So, without further adieu…
1. M Ward – Hold Time
2. Brendan Benson – My Old Familiar Friend
3. White Rabbits – It’s Frightening
4. Decemberists – The Hazards of Love (show recap)
5. Blind Pilot – 3 Rounds and a Sound (show recap)
6. The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
8. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
9. David Gray – Draw The Line (see you there)
10. Dawes – North Hills
11. The Von Bondies – Love, Hate, & Then There’s You
12. Justin Townes Earle – Midnight at the Movies (see you there)
13. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
14. Miike Snow – Miike Snow
15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
16. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
17. XX – The XX
18. Owl City – Ocean Eyes
19. Heartless Bastards – The Mountain (show recap)
20. The Antlers – Hospice
21. Kings of Convenience – Declaration of Dependence
22. Knaan – Troubadour (show recap)
23. Wilco – Wilco The Album (old show recap & see you there)
24. Paolo Nutini – Sunny Side Up
25. The Flaming Lips -Embyonic
26. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson – Summer of Fear
27. Elvis Perkins in Dearland – Elvis Perkins in Dearland
28. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
30. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
31. Neko Case – Middle Cyclones
You have too much free time.
just curious if http://www.blakroc.com/ came into consideration. it would be on my shortlist.
@jon – thanks buddy. thanks a lot.
@aussie – whoa, the Black Keys with Raekwon?? — I didn’t know about that: will definitely be taking a look
No Monsters of Folk especially with M. Ward number one? I,of course think you’ve underrated Wilco, found myself spinning Phoenix all summer.
Avett Brothers is a great dig, one of my favorites this fall.
Animal Collective and Neko Case I loved and one dark horse, don’t call it a comeback is Moby’s album I thought represented a return to form.
Really psyched to check out the rest of these, great list and totally fun exercise to think about the past year.
(This was The Year I Didn’t Care About Music. I’m only commenting, Jim, because you asked so nicely.)
I’m with you on Wilco, and I’m pretty sure I agree with Kings of Convenience. Aside from that, though, nothing really held my interest this year: a lot of good music, but nothing that held me down and made me take notice, aside from a few singles here and there.
It kinda reminded me of 2002, actually — which was thankfully followed by the renaissance that was 2003. So I guess what I’m saying is, “Here’s to that all over again.”
@Rocky – This crop is deeper than I thought it was going to be before I started my endeavor, but it’s far from top heavy. I really like the MWard disc but I don’t think anything here really represented “best of a year” material. As a matter of fact, (almost) all of the discs in the top 8 occupied the #1 slot at some point during the drafting of the list.
in other words… @sjb – you may have picked a good year to take off. I know of a bunch of great bands with albums due out this year – hopefully you’re right!
… and stay tuned: I have a “best of the 00s” post in progress – we’ll have to see how many 2003ers make that list.
Congratulations on adding the Avett Brothers to your list. Very original. If I remember right, blog software won’t even let you publish a best of 2009 list without including them. I believe it’s called “The Bon Iver” law and was put on the books in 2008.
Ok…they would have made my list too.
Them Crooked Vultures, Built to Spill, and Dan Auerbach would have been right at the top of my list along with Swoon. I also liked the Dinosaur Jr. and Portugal the Man albums.
Good calls on the Von Bondies, White Rabbits, Decemberists, and Heartless Bastards IMHO.
I thought 2009 was a bit of a slow year. There were a bunch of HUGE artists that came out with albums that I only thought were ok (Pearl Jam, Green Day, Wolfmother, Muse, Weezer, Alice in Chains, The Black Crowes, etc.). 2010 is looking better. Very good efforts from Vampire Weekend and Spoon already.
As I mentioned to you, Jim, I was pretty lame on the music front in 2009….but…
I think you missed out on one with Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast. Great album.
I would suggest M. Ward as being a tad over-rated on your list, but it is still grand.
Neko Case moves up in my mind. The hype is not unwarranted.
Overall, this gives me a cherry list to hit the iTunes store with. Thanks for the enlightenment.
M
@geer – appreciate the dan auerbach suggestion – wonder if he’ll make the cut in the Australia Day countdown http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/09/downloads/hottest100list_artist.pdf
Thanks for commenting y’all! Brings a tear to my eye to see all my friends (and Jon) together in this thread.
@geer – Portugal the Man and Built to Spill were very close… and not only will WordPress not let you write a best-of without Avett Brothers -> it won’t even let you put double digits in front of them!
@michaelb – I really thought Noble Beast was 2008… gonna have to give that one another listen to see if an amendment needs to be made!
My list for 2009. If Beck’s cover of Velvet Underground and Nico were a proper album, it would replace one below. Kind of a lackluster rock year for me. Here’s hoping a new decade brings some new ideas.
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
A.C. Newman – Get Guilty
Super Furry Animals – Dark Days, Light Years
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
Black Crowes – Before The Frost…Until The Freeze
Metric – Fantasies
Dead Weather – Horehound
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young
Oh I forgot Animal Collective. Let’s put it in place of Dead Weather.
What about Ramona Falls? And I don’t want to hear any excuses about how I haven’t sent it to you, yet (which I haven’t, but I don’t want excuses, nonetheless).
It’s the best album of all the ones you listed. I’m sure of it.
To sjb’s point, there does seem to be several of the same album on this list.
And who’s taking my name, by the way? No one names their kid “Jon” anymore.
That first Jon isn’t me.
@ConstructiveJon – he who hesitates… is not the first Jon. and I am still looking forward to receiving that disc — if only there were some way to transfer 1s and 0s via the interwebs.
Wait… When did I say anything about there being “several of the same album” on this list?
Where am I? Hey, who are you people, anyway?!?
@jno – I forgot about AC Newman, he definitely should have been in there for me.
@michaelb – Not sure if it makes the list or not but really liking the Drew Nelson recommendation (not from the thread, but givin’ credit where it’s due)
Also, in the land of the unfortunately missed: Franz Ferdinand and Burning Hearts should be in there somewhere
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Waitaminnit…
Just realized: What about ‘Post-Nothing’? Why isn’t *that* on this list? That should almost make it on the merits of “Young Hearts Spark Fire” and “Wet Hair” alone.
I actually don’t think that I had given it a full listen but will give it a spin!
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