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 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.

Are there only twenty good Christmas songs? I’m starting to get that idea.

Last year I made a Christmas mix for my friends that included all the tracks below. This year I’m trying to turn it into a tradition, but I’m having trouble finding good Christmas music that I haven’t already used. At least not without tapping further into Sufjan’s and Mindy Smith’s Christmas albums than I already have. That would be a bit lopsided a mix, don’t you think?

Maybe I should have saved a few for this year. Anyone know any good Christmas songs on par with these ones?

Read the rest of this entry »

This is just a test to see how Mixaloo actually works in the wild. Of course, if you pay for this playlist, I could tell people I was making money as a music blogger.

(And check out my awesome Photoshop skills! Cropping an image and adding text! I could totally put “Photoshop skills” on my resume.)

I’m only a few days late. This was a month of making the best Christmas mix CD ever (exclusively in the hands of my closest friends), listening to countless best-of-2007 lists (hence the recurrence of M.I.A. and The Snake The Cross The Crown), a new This Will Destroy You record (not as good as Young Mountain, but still not a waste of money if you make it to the last few songs), discovering only a few years too late how great I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning is and realizing that Sam Beam has probably been listening to dub music.

Coming up: my personal goals for 2008, which explains how this here blog will finally be put to greater use than monthly playlists and the occasional rant.

1. The Knife – “We Share Our Mothers’ Health” (Silent Shout)
2. Daft Punk – “Robot Rock / Oh Yeah” (Alive 2007)
3. Holy Fuck – “Echo Sam” (LP)
4. Thom Yorke – “Harrowdown Hill” (The Eraser)
5. Sufjan Stevens – “O Come O Come Emmanuel” (Songs For Christmas)
6. Vince Guaraldi – “Christmastime Is Here (Vocal)” (A Charlie Brown Christmas)
7. Rihanna – “Umbrella” (Good Girl Gone Bad)
8. A Fine Frenzy – “Fever” (Dan In Real Life Soundtrack)
9. Bright Eyes – “Poison Oak” (I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning)
10. Bright Eyes – “Road To Joy” (I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning)
11. This Will Destroy You – “The Mighty Rio Grande” (This Will Destroy You)
12. Mindy Smith – “Santa Will Find You” (My Holiday)
13. The Snake The Cross The Crown – “Cakewalk” (Cotton Teeth)
14. M.I.A. – “Mango Pickle Down River” (Kala)
15. The Snake The Cross The Crown – “Electronic Dream Plant” (Cotton Teeth)
16. M.I.A. – “Paper Planes” (Kala)
17. Iron & Wine – “Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog)” (The Shepherd’s Dog)
18. This Will Destroy You – “They Move On Tracks Of Never-Ending Light” (This Will Destroy You)

I’ve been lazy with the blogging as of late. It’s more fulfilling to post stuff like that on Buzzgrinder because people actually comment on it. So I’ll just link you to my top 10 list there and give you (who is “you” anyway?) 11 through 20 with no descriptions:

20. Panda Bear – Person Pitch
19. Eluvium – Copia
18. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works
17. Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
16. The Snake The Cross The Crown – Cotton Teeth
15. Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin
14. M.I.A. – Kala
13. Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
12. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
11. Daft Punk – Alive 2007

Oh, hey… it’s October already! Time for last month’s playlist.

September saw me visiting people I love in Ohio, buying lots of music (explaining Of Montreal and John Mayer), watching the VMAs (explaining the Timberlake, Timbaland, Rihanna appearances), listening to Kanye and 50 Cent face off with albums releasing on the same day (Kanye clearly won) and making an alt. country playlist for a friend (which explains Ray LaMontagne, Patsy Cline, Emmylou and the always-intriguing Ryan Adams) and anticipating the release of Iron & Wine’s new album (which is amazing, by the way).

1. Bat For Lashes – “Horse And I” (Fur And Gold)
2. John Mayer – “Gravity” (Continuum)
3. Of Montreal – “Gronlandic Edit” (Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?)
4. A Fine Frenzy – “The Minnow & The Trout” (One Cell In The Sea)
5. Junior Boys – “In The Morning” (So This Is Goodbye)
6. Kanye West – “Stronger” (Graduation)
7. 50 Cent – “Ayo Technology” (Curtis)
8. Justin Timberlake – “Let Me Talk To You Prelude/My Love” (Futuresex/Lovesounds)
9. Rihanna – “Umbrella” (Good Girl Gone Bad)
10. Timbaland – “The Way I Are” (Shock Value)
11. The Deadly Syndrome – “I Hope I Become A Ghost” (The Ortolan)
12. Dire Straits – “Sultans Of Swing” (Dire Straits)
13. Ray LaMontagne – “Jolene” (Trouble)
14. Iron & Wine – “Boy With A Coin” (The Shepherd’s Dog)
15. Patsy Cline – “Crazy” (Showcase)
16. Bob Dylan – “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (Bringing It All Back Home)
17. Ryan Adams – “My Winding Wheel” (Heartbreaker)
18. Emmylou Harris – “The Pearl” (Red Dirt Girl)
19. Ben Folds – “Trusted” (Songs For Silverman)

Thanks to Hype Machine for making the linking thing easier, by the way.

Ryan Adams wins this month. Between my realization that Heartbreaker is an amazing album and the release of his new one, Easy Tiger, he pretty much dominated my listening for the month. I’m actually listening to Love Is Hell while I write this, completely by coincidence. It’s no surprise, then, that he’s broken into the top ten of my all-time most played artists.

Oh, and a new “feature” for you: Often times the tracks I put in my monthly playlist are available for stream and/or download by the artist in some capacity, in which case I’ll provide a link.

1. Clipse – “Mr. Me Too” (Hell Hath No Fury)
2. Ryan Adams – “Halloweenhead” (Easy Tiger)
3. T.I. – “What You Know” (King)
4. Amy Winehouse – “Rehab” (Back To Black)
5. Mew – “Chinaberry Tree” (And The Glass Handed Kites)
6. Ryan Adams – “Two” (Easy Tiger)
7. Interpol – “Pioneer To The Falls” (Our Love To Admire)
8. Ryan Adams – “To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high)” (Heartbreaker)
9. The American Dollar – “DEA” (The Technicolour Sleep)
10. Justice – “Genesis” (†)
11. Los Campesinos! – “You! Me! Dancing!” (Sticking Fingers Into Sockets)
12. Maps – “To The Sky” (We Can Create)
13. Mono – “halcyon (beautiful days)” (Walking cloud and deep red sky, Flag fluttered and the sun shined)
14. Iron & Wine – “Boy With A Coin” (The Shepherd’s Dog)

1. Bjork – “It’s Oh So Quiet” (Post)
2. Bjork – “Hyper-Ballad” (Post)
3. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “Storm” (Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven)
4. Akon – “I Wanna Love You” (Konvicted)
5. Calexico and Iron & Wine – “He Lays In The Reins” (In The Reins)
6. Plan B – “Sick 2 Def” (Time For Plan B)
7. Van Morrison – “Gloria” (At The Movies)
8. !!! – “Heart Of Hearts” (Myth Takes)
9. Brand New – “Jesus Christ” (The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me)
10. Brett Dennen – “When I Go” (Brett Dennen)
11. Brett Dennen – “Ain’t No Reason” (So Much More)
12. Brett Dennen – “Darlin’ Do Not Fear” (So Much More)
13. Autechre – “Vletrmx21″ (Warp 10 Vol. 3: Remixes)
14. Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore – “Way Back Into Love (Demo Version)” (Music & Lyrics Soundtrack)
15. The Sounds – “Tony The Beat” (Dying To Say This To You)
16. Explosions In The Sky – “What Do You Go Home To?” (All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone)
17. Eluvium – “Taken” (Talk Amongst The Trees)
18. The Mountain Goats – “No Children” (Tallahassee)
19. Eluvium – “As I Drift Off” (When I Live By The Garden And The Sea)
20. Explosions In The Sky – “The Birth And Death Of The Day” (All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone)
21. Johann Johannsson – “Part I” (IBM 1401 A User’s Manual)
22. Mika – “Grace Kelly” (Grace Kelly Single)
23. Rhymefest – “Fever (Dirty)” (Blue Collar)
24. Eluvium – “Prelude For Time Feelers” (Copia)

A while back my best friend started keeping a monthly playlist. Any particular song that she felt was a favorite or most-played item was added to this list. The idea is that, at some undefined point in the future, she’ll appreciate being able to go back and see what she was listening to at a particular era of time.

I took the idea and changed the rules to fit me a little better. I create a monthly playlist but it not only contains favorites of the time, but any song that caught my attention (in a good way) during the month, whether or not I really listened to it a huge amount.

So now I’m going to post these on my blog at the end of each month. For this introductory post I’ll post January’s because it’s the first playlist and I need to catch up. February is soon to follow. Oh, a little disclaimer: the songs aren’t sorted in any order other than whatever order they went on the list.

Monthly Playlist – January 2007

1. Band Of Horses – “The Funeral” (Everything All The Time)
2. The Black Keys – “Thickfreakness” (Thickfreakness)
3. Brand New – “Sowing Season (Yeah)” (The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me)
4. Calexico and Iron & Wine – “He Lays In The Reins” (In The Reins)
5. Calexico and Iron & Wine – “Sixteen, Maybe Less” (In The Reins)
6. DragonForce – “Through The Fire And Flames” (Inhuman Rampage)
7. Eluvium – “The Well-Meaning Professor” (An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death)
8. Fujiya & Miyagi – “Ankle Injuries” (Transparent Things)
9. Fujiya & Miyagi – “Collarbone” (Transparent Things)
10. Gomez – “See The World” (How We Operate)
11. Jeremy Enigk – “Been Here Before” (World Waits)
12. John Mayer – “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room” (Continuum)
13. John Mayer – “Bold As Love” (Continuum)
14. Birdman & Lil Wayne – “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy (Street)” (Like Father Like Son)
15. Neko Case – “Star Witness” (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
16. Ratatat – “Wildcat” (Classics)
17. Ray LaMontagne – “Be Here Now” (Till The Sun Turns Black)
18. Regina Spektor – “Fidelity” (Begin To Hope)
19. Ryan Adams – “The Shadowlands” (Love Is Hell)
20. The Crystal Method – “High Roller” (Vegas)
21. The Decemberists – “The Perfect Crime #2″ (The Crane Wife)
22. The Shins – “Phantom Limb” (Wincing The Night Away)
23. Damien Rice – “9 Crimes” (9)
24. Caspian – “Quovis” (You Are The Conductor)
25. Caspian – “Further Up” (You Are The Conductor)
26. Portishead – “Glory Box” (Roseland NYC Live)
27. mewithoutYou – “Carousels” (Catch For Us The Foxes)
28. Explosions In The Sky – “The Only Moment We Were Alone” (The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place)