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!

This was a funky month for music. I saw The Antlers and Minus the Bear and Vampire Weekend live, so those were obvious adds. Jay-Z and Oceana put out great videos for “Empire State of Mind” and “The Family Disease,” respectively. And a box set of the entire works of Buddy Holly, flaws and all, came out last week. Not bad, not bad.

1. The Antlers – “Thirteen” (Hospice)
2. Minus the Bear – “Knights” (Planet of Ice)
3. Julian Casablancas – “Out of the Blue” (Phrazes for the Young)
4. The Drive-By Truckers – “The Three Great Alabama Icons” (Southern Rock Opera)
5. Floating Action – “50 Lashes” (Floating Action)
6. Burial – “Fostercare” (5: Five Years of Hyperdub)
7. Oceana – “The Family Disease” (Birth.Eater)
8. Bellwether – “Miss You Twice” (7&6)
9. The Mountain Goats – “Against Pollution” (We Shall All Be Healed)
10. Vampire Weekend – “Horchata”
11. Jay-Z – “Empire State of Mind” (The Blueprint 3)
12. The High Strung – “Standing at the Door of Self Discovery” (Ode to the Inverse of the Dude)
13. The Hold Steady – “Slapped Actress” (Stay Positive)
14. Buddy Holly – “Midnight Shift (false start/alternate)” (Not Fade Away: The Complete Studio Recordings and More)

September was a month of new albums that punched me square in the face (Jay-Z, David Bazan, Fun., The Avett Brothers), seeing Joshua James live and buying all his material that I didn’t already own, and a few things I bought and/or listened to during my trip to Australia.

October has begun, and with it will surely come an onslaught of contemplative and dark albums. David Bazan and Joshua James got a jump start on that, but I think my must-have fall album for 2009 has yet to unearth itself. I am taking suggestions.

1. Jay-Z – “Jockin’” (The Blueprint 3)
2. Lily Allen – “I Could Say” (It’s Not Me, It’s You)
3. Jay-Z – “D.O.A. [Death of Auto-Tune]” (The Blueprint 3)
4. Bruce Springsteen – “Nebraska” (Nebraska)
5. Bruce Springsteen – “Highway Patrolman” (Nebraska)
6. Jay-Z – “Young Forever” (The Blueprint 3)
7. Fun. – “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used to Be)” (Aim and Ignite)
8. Fun. – “The Gambler” (Aim and Ignite)
9. Joshua James – “Wilted Daisies” (Build Me This)
10. Wilco – “Via Chicago” (Summerteeth)
11. Joshua James – “Coal War” (Build Me This)
12. Clues – “You Have My Eyes Now” (Clues)
13. Joshua James – “Lawn Full of Marigolds” (Build Me This)
14. Jonsi & Alex – “Daníell In The Sea” (Riceboy Sleeps)
15. David Bazan – “Hard to Be” (Curse Your Branches)
16. David Bazan – “Bless This Mess” (Curse Your Branches)
17. David Bazan – “In Stitches” (Curse Your Branches)
18. David Bazan – “Bearing Witness” (Curse Your Branches)
19. The Avett Brothers – “I and Love and You” (I and Love and You)

January was an interesting music month. Animal Collective’s new album slapped me in the face, and a lot of freak folk and experimental stuff I hadn’t cared much for before finally hit me (Bowerbirds, Gang Gang Dance, Fredrik).

I also met a few cool girls — Gayle Skidmore, Valeri Lopez and Soyu Sae — who played some very inspiring music at a coffee shop a few weeks ago. Two of their songs got stuck in my head like whoa and thus appear here. Hopefully I’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the future.

1. Eluvium – “New Animals From the Air” (Talk Amongst the Trees)
2. T.I. – “Whatever You Like” (Paper Trail)
3. Bowerbirds – “In Our Talons” (Hymns For a Dark Horse)
4. Hammock – “City in the Dust on My Window” (Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow)
5. Gang Gang Dance – “House Jam” (Saint Dymphna)
6. Fredrik – “Black Fur” (Na Na Ni)
7. 3oh!3 – “Punkbitch” (Want)
8. Jay-Z – “Threat” (The Black Album)
9. Jay-Z – “Moment of Clarity” (The Black Album)
10. Animal Collective – “My Girls” (Merriweather Post Pavilion)
11. Gayle Skidmore – “Crazy” (Cowley Road)
12. Valeri Lopez – “Just PB&J Thank You” (Eugene Lovely)
13. Bon Iver – “Woods” (Blood Bank)
14. Modeselektor – “The White Flash feat. Thom Yorke (Trentemøller remix)” (Happy Birthday! Remixed Pt. 1)
15. Animal Collective – “College” (Sung Tongs)
16. The Dead Texan – “A Chronicle of Early Failures, part 2″ (The Dead Texan)
17. Black Moth Super Rainbow – “Forever Heavy” (Dandelion Gum)
18. Lil’ Wayne – “Lollipop” (Tha Carter III)
19. Lil’ Wayne – “La La” (Tha Carter III)
20. Sigur Rós – “Gódan daginn” (með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust)

Lots of great releases in October (Ray LaMontagne, Ingrid Michaelson, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, etc.) and plenty of reason to be listening to calm music, even when life isn’t always so calm (and maybe especially so in that case). Seeing Sigur Rós was a great way to start things off, and seeing Death Cab for Cutie last week was a great way to end it.

And, just for the record, “Swagga Like Us” may be the best hip hop song ever recorded. M.I.A., Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and T.I. all on one track. My mind is blown.

1. Earth – “Omens and Portents 1: The Driver” (The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull)
2. TV on the Radio – “Halfway Home” (Dear Science)
3. T.I. – “Swagga Like Us” (Paper Trail)
4. Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip – “Thou Shalt Always Kill” (Angles)
5. Ray LaMontagne – “Meg White” (Gossip in the Grain)
6. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – “My Love for You is Real” (Follow the Lights)
7. Ray LaMontagne – “You Are the Best Thing” (Gossip in the Grain)
8. Ingrid Michaelson – “Can’t Help Falling In Love” (Be OK)
9. Todd Snider – “Is This Thing Working?” (Peace Queer)
10. Brett Dennen – “Make You Crazy” (Hope for the Hopeless)
11. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – “Magick” (Cardinology)
12. TV on the Radio – “DLZ” (Dear Science)
13. Bloc Party – “Ares” (Intimacy)
14. mewithoutYou – “Son of a Window” (Catch for Us the Foxes)
15. Death Cab for Cutie – “Transatlanticism” (Transatlanticism)
16. Marnie Stern – “Clone Cycle” (This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That)

Yep. Fall is here. Gone are the sunny pop songs of spring and summer. In come the introspective, calm-but-questioning sounds of autumn.

Change is afoot.

1. Jakob – “Pneumonic” (Solace)
2. The Velvet Underground – “Who Loves the Sun” (Loaded)
3. Radiohead – “There There” (Hail to the Thief)
4. M83 – “Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun” (Before the Dawn Heals Us)
5. The New Pornographers – “These Are the Fables” (Twin Cinema)
6. Joshua James – “Today” (The Sun Is Always Brighter)
7. dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip – “Letter from God to Man” (Angles)
8. Neko Case – “Look For Me (I’ll Be Around)” (Blacklisted)
9. Joshua James – “Winter Storm” (The Sun Is Always Brighter)
10. Neko Case – “I Wish I Was the Moon” (Blacklisted)
11. mewithoutYou – “Carousels” (Catch For Us the Foxes)
12. TV On the Radio – “Crying” (Dear Science)
13. Jay-Z – “Renegade” (The Blueprint)
14. Hammock – “We Will Say Goodbye to Everyone” (Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow)
15. Ingrid Michaelson – “The Way I Am” (Girls and Boys)
16. Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile – “The Farmer and the Duck” (Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile)

P.S. If you get a chance to, go see Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile live. I saw them last weekend in Irvine and was thoroughly impressed. It’s a beautiful thing to see modern legends collaborate so well with each other. And if you don’t get a chance, at least pick up a copy of the album.

Part three of four. Of all the music I listened to that was released this year, these are the ones that mattered most.

1. This Will Destroy You – Quiet
2. Jeremy Enigk – Been Here Before
3. mewithoutYou – O, Porcupine
4. This Will Destroy You – The World Is Our ____
5. Mew – An Envoy To The Open Fields
6. mewithoutYou – In A Sweater Poorly Knit
7. Joshua Radin – Sundrenched World
8. mewithoutYou – C-Minor
9. Band Of Horses – The Funeral
10. Sufjan Stevens – Chicago (Acoustic Version)
11. Mew – The Zookeeper’s Boy
12. Thom Yorke – Harrowdown Hill
13. P.O.S. – Half-Cocked Concepts
14. Norma Jean – The End Of All Things Will Be Televised
15. Malajube – Montréal-40ºC
16. Mew – Special
17. The Mars Volta – Viscera Eyes
18. Malajube – Casse-cou
19. P.O.S. – P.O.S. Is Ruining My Life
20. Angels and Airwaves – The Adventure
21. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
22. The Knife – Silent Shout
23. Jay-Z – Show Me What You Got
24. Angels and Airwaves – Valkyrie Missile
25. John Mayer – Bold As Love
26. Underoath – A Moment Suspended In Time
27. Joshua Radin – Star Mile

And, if by some random chance you happen to have Rhapsody, you can listen to this playlist there.

Part one of four in my 2006-list-making extravaganza.

1. This Will Destroy You – Young Mountain
2. Cloud Cult – Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus
3. Mew – And The Glass Handed Kites
4. Joshua Radin – We Were Here
5. mewithoutYou – Catch for Us the Foxes
6. Ryan Adams – Love Is Hell
7. Explosions in the Sky – The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
8. The Three Sounds – Live at the Lighthouse
9. Explosions in the Sky – Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live
10. Jay-Z – The Black Album
11. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time
12. Nickel Creek – Nickel Creek
13. Chasing Victory – I Call This Abandonment
14. Nickel Creek – Why Should the Fire Die?
15. Thom Yorke – The Eraser

Thanks to Last.fm for making this list possible.