My varying tastes in music from day to day would make it pointless to put these albums in any best-to-worst order. So I went with the time-tested alphabetical order method, which is completely arbitrary if you think about it, but that’s a thought for another day.

Read on for my favorite albums that came out in 2009 (or thereabouts; I fudged a little). If you’ve been checking out my monthly playlists (you’re forgiven if you haven’t), most of this will not be a surprise.

And if you’re patient and make it all the way to the bottom, there’s a prize for you, in the form of a few select songs from these albums that I particularly enjoyed.

WARNING: This gets a bit lengthy, so get comfy.

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

A lot of people think this album — and the band as a whole — get too much hype. But before the hype I got to hear an advance stream of “My Girls” and saw what we were in for. Granted, I was already a big fan of Feels, but that was an entirely different monster. This is post-modern, anti-club dance pop, which Feels was not. At all. In a way it was proof they could lay off the drugs and write more accessible music, but I would venture to guess a lot of drugs were still involved. They just traded acid for ecstacy. I probably listened to this one more than anything else this year.

Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

The video for the “French Navy” sold me on this Scottish twee pop group’s fourth album. It wasn’t so much the video treatment as the way it sounded and how the band looked while playing it. They sing happy songs in a serious way. And serious songs in a happy way. The music feels old and new all at once. It’s poppy and fun, in a sunny-afternoon-in-the-park sort of way, and reminds me of what I wish Belle and Sebastian could sound like sometimes.

David Bazan – Curse Your Branches

David Bazan has always wrestled with faith and life in his lyrics (see his previous work in Pedro the Lion and Headphones). He’s still doing that, but has shifted away from Christianity toward agnosticism. That, plus a few years of struggle with alcohol make for a folk rock album that is not only insanely catchy but also addresses some pretty heavy issues. The lyrical content is the kicker. Some call Curse Your Branches Bazan’s “breakup album with God,” but it only seems a half-truth, because it’s more freeing than depressing.

Dead Man’s Bones – Dead Man’s Bones

Ryan Gosling has a band. We all laughed. Then he started posting songs and we shut up right quick. It’s like Arcade Fire singing Halloween songs with a children’s choir, in all the right ways. Gosling’s got quite the crooner’s voice, too. You don’t even see it coming. It’s not that I never took him seriously as an actor, because he’s good. I guess I figured he was a one-trick pony. I guessed wrong.

The Dead Weather – Horehound

Jack White on drums with the girl from The Kills singing dirty, bluesy, balls-out rock and roll? Plus two other guys, one each from The Raconteurs (one of the non-Jack White members) and Queens of the Stone Age? Count me in. And special props to my girlfriend, who made sure I gave this album all the attention it deserved during my weekly jaunt through all the new releases.

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

I hated the Dirty Projectors before Bitte Orca. Not with a passion, but I couldn’t digest what they were doing. It was jerky, disharmonic and heady. Then they, just like Animal Collective, decided to prove to the world that they could, indeed, write a pop song. And not just one, but several. Enough to make a quirky, finger-snapping, head-bobbing album that is not like any other pop you will ever hear.

Floating Action – Floating Action

It sounds like a bunch of post-college, east coast indie geeks who smoke weed and listen to a lot of old dub reggae records, then decided to make their own. Kind of like 311, but without all that 90s mainstream alternative business going on. It’s laid back and fun, a little bit goofy, but not so much that it can’t be taken seriously.

Glasvegas – Glasvegas

This one technically came out in late 2008, but didn’t come across my radar til early 2009. Imagine Social Distortion doing their old school rock and roll punk thing, but instead of punk they decided to make shoegaze albums a la My Bloody Valentine. They have a sheen of static guitar sound that never ceases, with ballads and sad love songs sung over it in a thick Scottish brogue. Well produced, well written, perfectly executed.

Jónsi & Alex – Riceboy Sleeps

Anything someone from Sigur Rós touches is probably going to be fine by me. This is their singer Jónsi and his boyfriend Alex (from Parachutes, who I saw open for Sigur Rós a couple years ago) making droning, blissful ambient instrumental music. I’m a sucker for background music, and the fine people of Iceland always seem to strike those long, drawn-out, structure-free chords perfectly.

Joshua James – Build Me This

I loved James’s 2008 album The Sun Is Always Brighter a whole lot. Sad, quirky folk songs about heartbreak and politics. Kind of like a mix of Bright Eyes and Ray LaMontagne, but with a cooler voice. Then I saw him play here in SLO last summer, right before Build Me This released, and had to pick it up at the merch table. It took a while, but it’s nearly caught up with his last release.

mewithoutYou – it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright

You’d have to be living in a cave to not realize that I’m a big fan of mewithoutYou. This album was a major stylistic turn for the band, away from the old Fugazi punk/emo sound and shout-spoken poetry, toward the Neutral Milk Hotel folk pop. Aaron Weiss is still stringing together some stellar lyrics, telling more stories and fables than deep, dark insights, but it’s all worth a listen or ten.

Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

Folky alt. country with Patsy Cline vocals drenched in reverb. Yum. I was already a Neko Case fan going into this record. There weren’t many surprises, but that’s quite alright with me.

P.O.S. – Never Better

P.O.S. is one of my favorite underground hip hop emcees. He has a history on the midwest hardcore/metal scene, so he takes a pretty intense, fast-paced approach on his newfound love of hip hop. Thoughtful, abrasive lyrics that don’t beat around the bush, over wicked fast beats, and somehow it all seems to twist and turn toward a positive outlook on life. Kinda sounds like my brain.

Silversun Pickups – Swoon

I’d heard their name thrown around for a while but hadn’t given them a listen until Swoon came out. A lot of people call them a Smashing Pumpkins ripoff, but that seems like a superficial judgment to me after spending some time with this and their last album, Carnavas. There’s something different about it, but I can’t put my finger on it. It’s just good.

The Veils – Sun Gangs

I mostly like this for the opening track, “Sit Down By the Fire,” but in all honesty, it’s a solid album front to back. It’s baroque-ish in an Arcade Fire sort of way, but with darker, more disparate vocals that remind me of 16 Horsepower/Woven Hand at times. It’s… countrified goth? I dunno.

Various Artists – Dark Was the Night

A two-disc charity compilation that has pretty much all the current artists worth listening to: Bon Iver, Dirty Projectors, My Brightest Diamond, Iron & Wine, Spoon… you get what I’m saying. But it’s all original material, and there are a few tracks that will blow your mind. The first that comes to me is “You Are the Blood” by Sufjan Stevens. He gets back to the electronic roots that most of his hipster-folk friends didn’t know he had (check out Enjoy Your Rabbit) and creates an intense, 10-minute blippy opus with all the crescendo of a classical masterpiece.

Honorable Mention (aka albums you should probably check out; some you’ll love, but no guarantees)

• Akron/Family – Set Em Wild, Set Em Free
• The Antlers – Hospice
• Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light
• The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love
• Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating Us
• Fever Ray – Fever Ray
• Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
• Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
• HEALTH – Get Color
• Iron & Wine – Around the Well
• Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall
• Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3
• Passion Pit – Manners
• Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses – Roadhouse Sun
• Wheat – White Ink, Black Ink

And now, as promised, here’s your playlist. Enjoy!

The Shins did a great job on Saturday, and we enjoyed ourselves despite bad seats. I can’t track down a set list anywhere, unfortunately, but they did play all their big favorites (Caring Is Creepy and New Slang got the most cheers, of course) and they played the two I wanted to hear: Sea Legs and Phantom Limb. The show-stopper, though, was during their encore: they pulled off an amazing rendition of Pink Floyd’s Breathe that made the crowd go insane.

If anyone ever doubts that The Shins have the talent to prove their worth beyond their run-of-the-mill indie pop, go see them live.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Whatever that is.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of their weird outfits and strange stage antics at first, but after a couple songs it was amusing and added to the entertainment value. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of psychedelic drugs being passed around back stage with these guys, but that didn’t stop them from playing like their pink, flippy shoulder pads depended on it.

Their unique blend of freaky dance pop was addictive and catchy, and I was a big enough fan by the time I left that I ended up buying a t-shirt. That’s saying something, because all shirts at the Coachella merch booth were $25. Hooray for festival ripoffs.

Once again, there are more pictures than you can shake a stick at over on Flickr.

This was the second time I’d seen Nickel Creek, so I had my expectations and they didn’t disappoint. They played a shorter version of their normal set (the curse of every music festival). The only song I was unfamiliar with was a new one that I’m guessing mandolinist Chris Thile wrote post-divorce. Something about “don’t set me up with one of your friends.” It was funny. But kind of sad at the same time.

I’m glad I got to see them again, considering this is their final tour before they take an indefinite hiatus to work on their solo projects and such.

I didn’t take my camera to Coachella (intentionally) but if you want pictures, Flickr has plenty.

Going chronologically, my first victim shall be the Comedians Of Comedy. The only non-music act all weekend. Whatever.

I was excited to check these guys out because I’ve gotten my share of laughs from a few of their comedians on Comedy Central and I’ve always enjoyed Patton Oswalt’s character on King Of Queens.

Oswalt was the emcee so he was out first to warm up the crowd. I’m not quite sure where he went wrong, but nobody was laughing. Maybe it was because his first words on stage were asking everyone to sit down, and then pointing out and making fun of individuals who couldn’t find room to sit. Then he sang some random “hobo songs” that made no sense, and gave a disgusting description of what it must look like for a 60-year-old woman giving birth. Then he introduced Jasper Redd, who got even less laughs, if that were even possible. I decided to leave before things turned violent.

Neon Bible had a bit of an advantage because of a preexisting love of their last album, Funeral, combined with plenty of publicity. From playing two of their new songs (Intervention and Keep The Car Running) on Saturday Night Live right before the release to Idolator‘s persistent hype, the Arcade Fire crew was hard to ignore.

That said, I can’t help but plug Neon Bible for myself, because saying it lives up to the hype hardly does the album justice. From start to finish, Win Butler and company get innovative with instruments and sound effects, channeling equal parts David Bowie, Talking Heads, Neutral Milk Hotel and Springsteen, but still making it their own by throwing in more fresh and unique sound than you could shake a stick at (does that even make sense?).

As Pitchfork noted, the lyrics aren’t anything hot, but I’m not much of a lyrics guy in the first place, so that’s fine with me. The ‘Fork put it well: “Butler’s words, however, have always carried less meaning than the way he sings them and the sound in which his band envelops them.”

I highly recommend this album to, well… anyone. Those with less broad tastes may find it a bit hard to digest at first, but those records are often the ones that stick with us the longest. I know I won’t be getting tired of it any time soon.

Underoath live: absolutely great. Taking Back Sunday live: not so much. Considering TBS went on at 9:15 pm and it is currently 9:55 pm as I write this and it takes at least twenty minutes to walk to my car and drive home from Cal Poly and I’ve been home for 15 minutes, you can conclude what happened here.

And I very rarely leave a show early.

Stay tuned for some deep thoughts in the near future. Spare time is… sparing lately. I have not abandoned you, blogosphere.

The openers were The Deadly Syndrome and Passage. The Deadly Syndrome was creative, pulling in a wide variety of styles that reminded me of everything from Wolf Parade to The Decemberists to The Violent Femmes and a thousand other references I couldn’t possibly put names on. They’re apparently a pretty new band on the circuit, but I think they’ll do well. They really engaged the crowd and had a lot of positive energy. They did their best when the vocalist wasn’t playing guitar or bass, because his stage presence worked wonders.

Passage, on the other hand… Well, let’s just say that he didn’t follow a cardinal rule of opening acts: don’t perform like you’re better than your audience, or in any way make your crowd feel as though you are patronizing them. You don’t gain fans that way. Aside from that, he was a white hip hop/rap act playing for people who like 80′s synth pop, so he was going to have to work hard to make fans. During an awkward pantomime to random commercial audio clips, there were several shouts of “We don’t get it!” and “You’re not funny!” but he just kept on going. Enough about him though…

The Faint were great. As someone who doesn’t like to dance in any way, shape or form, this was probably the most fun I’ve had listening to dance-ish type music. They played a great mix of songs from Blank-Wave Arcade, Danse Macabre and Wet From Birth, as well as two or three new songs that I’m assuming will appear on their upcoming release. The new stuff was good; not anything unexpected, but a little darker at times, especially during one Depeche-esque number. They also had the entire show synced to video that went along with each song, making the experience complete in every way.

In no particular order (and excluding the new songs) here’s what I remember them playing:

• Dropkick The Punks
• Paranoiattack
• Worked Up So Sexual
• Desperate Guys
• How Could I Forget?
• In Concert
• Let The Poison Spill From Your Throat
• I Disappear
• Call Call
• Glass Danse
• Agenda Suicide
• Birth

Unfortunately, no photography was allowed at this show, so I have no Flickr goodness to share.

Explosions was, as expected, absolutely amazing. The songs they played, in no particular order (because I can’t remember) are:

• First Breath After Coma
• Your Hand In Mine
• A Poor Man’s Memory
• Yasmin The Light
• The Moon Is Down
• The Only Moment We Were Alone
• Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean
• With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept

There were also at least two songs that I didn’t recognize, which either means they’re new or from their Friday Night Lights Soundtrack.

If you are interested, there are a few pictures on my Flickr.

In other Explosions news, they recently announced their new album, All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone, will be released on February 20, 2007, after which they will begin touring again. The album art has also been released.

Update: Stream the new track: Welcome, Ghosts