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!

May? What happened to April? I guess I’ve been busy or something.

April was a month of playing artists on repeat: Bon Iver; Jimmy Eat World; Foals; Does It Offend You, Yeah?; Portishead; Grizzly Bear. There was also some Coachella reminiscing and a healthy scoop of bitterness towards Western evangelical culture (check out the Chris Thile song), but those are rants for another time.

1. Grizzly Bear – “Alligator (Choir Version)” (Friend EP)
2. Does It Offend You, Yeah? – “Let’s Make Out” (You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into)
3. Jimmy Eat World – “Firefight” (Chase This Light)
4. Grizzly Bear – “Little Brother (Electric)” (Friend EP)
5. Foals – “Two Steps, Twice” (Antidotes)
6. Does It Offend You, Yeah? – “We Are Rockstars” (You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into)
7. Jimmy Eat World – “Kill” (Futures)
8. Bon Iver – “Skinny Love” (For Emma, Forever Ago)
9. Bon Iver – “re: Stacks” (For Emma, Forever Ago)
10. Chris Thile – “The Believer” (Deceiver)
11. mewithoutYou – “The Sun and the Moon” (Brother, Sister)
12. Bon Iver – “The Wolves (Act I and II)” (For Emma, Forever Ago)
13. Vampire Weekend – “Mansard Roof” (Vampire Weekend)
14. Portishead – “Machine Gun” (Third)
15. International Superheroes of Hardcore – “Dirty Mouth” (Tip Of The Iceberg/Takin’ It Ova!)
16. Man Man – “The Ballad of Butter Beans” (Rabbit Habits)
17. Les Savy Fav – “The Sweat Descends” (Inches)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to working 24/7 and getting the life sucked out of me by tactless people that I still try hard to love.

I’ve been neglecting you. I swear I have stuff to say. I’m just trying to organize my thoughts right now. Maybe I’ll make an attempt at expressing it soon. For now, here’s my monthly playlist for May.

1. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “All You Do Is Talk” (Baby 81)
2. Of Montreal – “Labyrinthian Pomp” (Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?)
3. Interpol – “NYC” (Turn On The Bright Lights)
4. mewithoutYou – “Paper Hanger” (Catch For Us The Foxes)
5. Anathallo – “Hanasakajijii (Four: A Great Wind, More Ash)” (Floating World)
6. The White Stripes – “Icky Thump” (Icky Thump)
7. Kings Of Leon – “On Call” (Because Of The Times)
8. !!! – “All My Heroes Are Weirdos” (Myth Takes)
9. Grizzly Bear – “Knife” (Yellow House)
10. He Is Legend – “(((louds” (Suck Out The Poison)
11. Devendra Banhart – “Now That I Know” (Cripple Crow)
12. Zozobra – “The Blessing” (Harmonic Tremors)
13. Ray LaMontagne – “Be Here Now” (Till The Sun Turns Black)
14. Grizzly Bear – “Lullabye” (Yellow House)
15. Mono – “a thousand paper cranes” (Walking cloud and deep red sky, Flag fluttered and the sun shined)
16. Neko Case – “Star Witness” (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
17. Eightball – “Drama In My Life (feat. Psycho Drama)” (Lost – Chopped and Screwed)
18. Ryan Adams – “The Shadowlands” (Love Is Hell)
19. Neko Case – “That Teenage Feeling” (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
20. Ryan Adams – “Hotel Chelsea Nights” (Love Is Hell)

I just got way too excited for Coachella this weekend when they posted the set time schedule.

Somehow they managed to keep conflicts to a minimum, as far as my own preferences go, anyway. There are a couple bands I might have to skip out early on to catch something else, but the only major conflict for me is Saturday evening. Kings Of Leon, The Decemberists, !!! and Andrew Bird all playing at the same time. I don’t even know where to start with that one. I’ve seen Andrew Bird, so I may have to sacrifice there, but even then, he puts on an amazing show.

Here’s how I plan to break it down:

Friday

• Nickel Creek
• Of Montreal
• Circa Survive
• Rufus Wainwright
• The Jesus And Mary Chain
• Peeping Tom
• Interpol
• Sonic Youth
• Bjork

Saturday

• Regina Spektor
• The New Pornographers
• Kings Of Leon vs. The Decemberists vs. !!! vs. Andrew Bird
• The Arcade Fire
• Girl Talk
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• The Black Keys

Sunday

• Mika
• Anathallo
• Grizzly Bear
• Explosions In The Sky
• The Roots
• Willie Nelson
• Amos Lee
• Ratatat
• Damien Rice
• Rage Against The Machine

Meanwhile, I’m packing up my sunscreen and shorts (two things I don’t use that often; yeah, I’m a nerd) and expecting to have a very fun weekend. I’ll be lucky if I don’t come back deaf, malnourished, underslept and looking like Pigpen.