Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Best Albums of 2009

I know I'm a bit late with this, but I wanted to wait until I felt at least marginally confident I had heard the "big records" from 2009.  Without further ado:

(5 stars) Albums You Really Have to Own

1.  The Antlers -- Hospice
2.  Phoenix -- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3.  Dirty Projectors -- Bitte Orca
4.  tUnE-YaRdS -- BiRd-BrAiNs
5. Various Artists -- Dark Was the Night (A Red Hot Compilation)
6.  Dan Deacon -- Bromst

(4 stars) Albums You Really Ought to Listen To

7.  The Mountain Goats -- The Life of the World to Come
8.  Karen O and the Kids -- Where the Wild Things Are (OST)
9.  Bowerbirds -- Upper Air
10. Woods -- Songs of Shame
11. Grizzly Bear -- Veckatimest
12. Mount Eerie -- Wind's Poem
13. Bill Callahan -- Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
14. Cass McCombs -- Catacombs
15. Andrew Bird -- Noble Beast
16. Girls -- Album
17. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart -- S/T
18. Japandroids -- Post-Nothing
19. St. Vincent -- Actor
20. Sun 0))) -- Monoliths and Dimensions
21. The Big Pink -- A Brief History of Love
22. White Denim -- Fits

(3 stars) Fine Albums, If You Like the Artist/Genre

23. Sufjan Stevens -- The BQE
24.  The XX -- S/T
25. Atlas Sound -- Logos
26. Fuck Buttons -- Tarot Sport
27. Vetiver -- Tight Knit
28. Beirut -- March of the Zapotec
29. Cymbals Eat Guitars -- Why There Are Mountains
30. Sunset Rubdown -- Dragonslayer

(2 stars) Albums That Downright Disappointed

31. The Flaming Lips -- Embryonic
32. Neko Case -- Middle Cyclone
33. The Decemberists -- The Hazards of Love
34. A Place to Bury Strangers -- Exploding Head
35. Dan Auerbach -- Keep It Hid
36. The Dodos -- Time To Die
37. Deer Tick -- Born on Flag Day
38. David Bazan -- Curse Your Branches
39. Wilco -- Wilco
40. A.C. Newman -- Get Guilty
41. The Black Heart Procession -- Six

Special Awards

Most Impressive Debut:  tUnE-YaRdS -- BiRd-BrAiNs

Album That Most Opened My Eyes to Another Genre:  Dan Deacon -- Bromst

Album That Could Have Most Benefitted From 6 More Months of Development:  Beirut -- March of the Zapotec

Worst Follow-Up To A Good Record:  The Black Heart Procession -- Six

Worst Follow-Up To A Mediocre Record:  Wilco -- Wilco







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