Yes, I’m well aware that it’s February. This list of albums has been sitting in my drafts since January 8th and I’m just now doing something with it. It seems I took a break from ye olde blogge for much of January in favor of trying out Tumblr. (I can’t decide if I like it or not. It seems to steal my longer-form writing thunder).

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.

Read on for my album picks for 2009!

Here be my monthly autobiography in the form of a list of songs I liked during this 31-day period. It was a month that involved a weekend trip to see my girl in Nashville, remembering how much I love the Gaslight Anthem and the Hold Steady, and finally starting to come to terms with the fact that I actually like No Age, and thus noise rock in general.

Speaking of the No Age thing, I’ve always been frustrated at my lack of love for Pavement. It might be time for me to go back to try them again. Perhaps a recent reading of the book Love is a Mix Tape has something to do with this. More on that later.

1. Eels – “Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living)” (Blinking Lights and Other Revelations)
2. Eels – “Things the Grandchildren Should Know” (Blinking Lights and Other Revelations)
3. Dead Man’s Bones – “Buried in Water” (Dead Man’s Bones)
4. The Raveonettes – “Bang!” (In and Out of Control)
5. No Age – “You’re a Target” (Losing Feeling)
6. No Age – “Eraser” (Nouns)
7. Silversun Pickups – “Growing Old is Getting Old” (Swoon)
8. Will Hoge – “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” (The Wreckage)
9. Bruce Springsteen – “Jersey Girl” (Live/1975–85)
10. The Gaslight Anthem – “The ’59 Sound” (The ’59 Sound)
11. Bruce Springsteen – “Devils & Dust” (Devils & Dust)
12. Frightened Rabbit – “Keep Yourself Warm” (Midnight Organ Fight)
13. The Hold Steady – “Stuck Between Stations” (Boys & Girls in America)
14. The Two Man Gentlemen Band – “Fancy Beer” (Drip Dryin’ with the Two Man Gentlemen Band)
15. Devendra Banhart – “Can’t Help But Smiling” (What Will We Be)
16. Glasvegas – “S.A.D. Light” (Glasvegas)

May of 2009 is a month that will go down in history. A whirlwind period of spiritual revelation, long-distance hopes and dreams, multiple successful “used music” days, inspiring new releases from mewithoutYou, Passion Pit and Iron & Wine and the death of musical icon Jay Bennett.

1. mewithoutYou – “Every Thought a Thought of You” (it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright)
2. Akron/Family – “Sun Will Shine (Warmth of the Sunship version)” (Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free)
3. Glasvegas – “Flowers and Football Tops” (Glasvegas)
4. Silversun Pickups – “Growing Old is Getting Old” (Swoon)
5. Gallows – “London is the Reason” (Grey Britain)
6. Blitzen Trapper – “Furr” (Furr)
7. Starfucker – “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (Jupiter EP)
8. The Smiths – “How Soon Is Now?” (Meat is Murder)
9. Smashing Pumpkins – “Cherub Rock” (Siamese Dream)
10. Roman Candle – “Why Modern Radio is A-OK” (Oh Tall Tree in the Ear)
11. Smashing Pumpkins – “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness)
12. Passion Pit – “Moth’s Wings” (Manners)
13. mewithoutYou – “The Fox, the Crow and the Cookie” (it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright)
14. Iron & Wine – “Love Vigilantes” (Around the Well)
15. Iron & Wine – “Kingdom of the Animals” (Around the Well)
16. The Knife – “Marble House” (Silent Shout)
17. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Skeletons” (It’s Blitz!)
18. Mat Kearney – “New York to California” (City of Black & White)
19. Bruce Springsteen – “Jersey Girl” (Live 1975-1985 box set)
20. Cage – “Grand Ol’ Party Crash” (Hell’s Winter)
21. Wilco – “Misunderstood” (Kicking Television: Live in Chicago)
22. Bruce Springsteen – “Atlantic City” (Live in New York City)

I’d make you an imeem playlist, but it doesn’t appear to like me right now. Sorry.

Jeez, is it May already? April flew by real quick.

Of these twenty songs that made up the audio journey of April 2009, about half were highly Coachella-influenced. The rest are present thanks to my constant exploration the musical landscape. Same old, same old.

1. Glasvegas – “It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry” (Glasvegas)
2. Eels – “Things the Grandchildren Should Know” (Blinking Lights and Other Revelations)
3. Los Campesinos! – “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” (We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed)
4. Silversun Pickups – “Lazy Eye” (Carnavas)
5. Okay – “Natural” (Huggable Dust)
6. Blitzen Trapper – “Furr” (Furr)
7. Grand Duchy – “Come On Over to My House” (Petits Fours)
8. TV on the Radio – “Stork & Owl (Gang Gang Dance remix)” (Read Silence EP)
9. Stone Temple Pilots – “Sour Girl” (No. 4)
10. My Brightest Diamond – “Feeling Good” (Dark Was the Night)
11. The Hold Steady – “Citrus” (Boys and Girls in America)
12. The Veils – “Sit Down by the Fire” (Sun Gangs)
13. Cage the Elephant – “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” (Cage the Elephant)
14. Fucked Up – “Crooked Head” (The Chemistry of Common Life)
15. Antony and the Johnsons – “Kiss My Name” (The Crying Light)
16. Radiohead – “I Am Citizen Insane” (Go to Sleep)
17. The Hold Steady – “Stuck Between Stations” (Boys and Girls in America)
18. Camera Obscura – “French Navy” (My Maudlin Career)
19. Silversun Pickups – “Growing Old is Getting Old” (Swoon)
20. Radiohead – “Let Down” (OK Computer)

And for those interested, I made an imeem playlist so you can check the whole thing out. Enjoy.

Or just listen to it here.