1. Mumford & Sons – “Winter Winds” (Sigh No More)
2. Wye Oak – “That I Do (Mickey Free remix)” (My Neighbor / My Creator EP)
3. The Polyphonic Spree – “Section 2 (It’s the Sun)” (The Beginning Stages of…)
4. N.A.S.A. – Spacious Thoughts (feat. Tom Waits & Kool Keith)” (The Spirit of Apollo)
5. Iron & Wine – “Peace Beneath the City” (The Shepherd’s Dog)
6. This Will Destroy You – “Brutalism & the Worship of the Machine” (Field Studies)
7. The Hold Steady – “Rock Problems” (Heaven Is Whenever)
8. Sarah Jaffe – “Clementine” (Suburban Nature)
9. mewithoutYou – “Timothy Hay” (it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright)
10. Zomby – “Spliff Dub (Rustie remix)” (Mu5h / Spliff Dub single)
11. Burial – “Shutta” (Ghost Hardware EP)
12. Sleigh Bells – “Tell ‘Em” (Treats)
13. Wye Oak – “For Prayer” (The Knot)

And, of course, here’s your free, streaming playlist of all the songs above.

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!

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.

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?

1. Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
2. Death Cab For Cutie – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
3. Bing Crosby – Happy Holiday (Beef Wellington Remix)
4. Fiona Apple – Frosty The Snowman
5. Mindy Smith – Santa Will Find You
6. Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds – Christmas Song (Live)
7. Iron & Wine and Calexico – Sixteen, Maybe Less
8. A Fine Frenzy – Let It Snow
9. Sufjan Stevens – Put The Lights On The Tree
10. Kay Starr – I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (STUHR Remix)
11. Copeland – Do You Hear What I Hear?
12. Joshua Radin – Winter
13. Damien Rice – Happy Christmas (War Is Over)
14. George Winston – Carol Of The Bells
15. Feist – Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming
16. John Mayer – St. Patrick’s Day
17. Kelly Osbourne – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
18. Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song
19. Mindy Smith – What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?
20. Sufjan Stevens – O Come, O Come Emmanuel

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

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)

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

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.

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)