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!

You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you dies each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason.

Ernest Hemingway

I don’t think I have SAD, or if I do, it’s a very mild variety. All I know is that when the fall comes around, my mind goes into overdrive, pushing me into a place where I analyze my place in the world.

Maybe it’s because school always started in the fall, or that autumn ushers away long, sunny days, but fall always brings about an analytical side of me and a sense of urgency for spring to arrive.

The combination of being in Nashville (where fall is much more obvious than here), seeing and saying goodbye to my girlfriend and brother far too quickly, a few dark nights and a few weights I carry on my shoulders, this time of year has arrived.

It feels like sitting in a dark room just after twilight; that period of time when you’re wrapped up in a book in an empty house, the sun is going down and it’s just getting to the point where you need to turn on a light or start a fire to continue reading. It’s comfortable, but slightly off-center. There’s a sense of loneliness, but while still knowing there is company a room away.

For me, fall has a soundtrack. mewithoutYou’s second and third albums, Ryan Adams’s Love is Hell, Neko Case, Joshua James. They’re all sad, full of thought and despair, looking back on better times.

I know this seems dark, but I welcome this every year. It’s a part of who I am, and it’s the one emotional season I am guaranteed to experience year by year, regardless of the circumstances.

Is there anyone else who feels the sadness of fall?

Another all-over-the-place kind of month. Aside from a couple St. Patty’s Day jams, there aren’t really any trends to speak of here. A few new releases (Prodigy, Neko Case, Tim Hecker) and a return to some personal favorites where less-noticed tracks got a little more attention.

1. The Prodigy – “Invaders Must Die” (Invaders Must Die)
2. Circa Survive – “Kicking Your Crosses Down” (On Letting Go)
3. Romance of Young Tigers – “Long Withdrawing Roar” (I Have Supped Full on Horrors)
4. Neko Case – “People Got a Lotta Nerve” (Middle Cyclone)
5. Fleet Foxes – “Blue Ridge Mountains” (Fleet Foxes)
6. Frightened Rabbit – “The Modern Leper” (The Midnight Organ Fight)
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Zero” (It’s Blitz!)
8. Tarlton – “8719806823″ (Van EP)
9. Tim Hecker – “The Inner Shore” (An Imaginary Country)
10. My Chemical Romance – “Desolation Row” (Watchmen: Music From the Motion Picture)
11. Wild Light – “California On My Mind” (Adult Nights)
12. Moby – “My Weakness” (Play)
13. Ponytail – “Late for School” (Ice Cream Spiritual!)
14. Dropkick Murphys – “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” (The Warrior’s Code)
15. He Is Legend – “The Walls Have Teeth” (I Am Hollywood)
16. dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip – “Development” (Angles)
17. Frightened Rabbit – “Backwards Walk” (The Midnight Organ Fight)

I’ll let my die-hard fans take care of an imeem playlist for this.

Oh no! A meme on my blog? It’s all downhill from here. But really, did you expect me to pass up a music-themed post, especially when I’m not feeling my best and have a hard time finding inspiration?

Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world.

I couldn’t even begin to put these in order of preference. They’ve all been number one in my heart at some point or another. So, in true Rob Gordon fashion, I put them in autobiographical order, all the way from high school up to now.

I won’t even begin to try and explain each album or even the general progression of my music habits. If you are curious, that’s kind of what comments are for.

1. Jimi Hendrix – Woodstock
2. Project 86 – Drawing Black Lines
3. Incubus – Make Yourself
4. Radiohead – OK Computer
5. Tool – Aenema
6. A Perfect Circle – Thirteenth Step
7. Sigur Rós – Ágætis byrjun
8. Extol – Undeceived
9. Sufjan Stevens – Michigan
10. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
11. The Mars Volta – De-loused in the Comatorium
12. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
13. Radiohead – Amnesiac
14. He Is Legend – I Am Hollywood
15. Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache
16. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Irony is a Dead Scene
17. Explosions in the Sky – The Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place
18. mewithoutYou – Catch for Us the Foxes
19. The Appleseed Cast – Low Level Owl: Volume 1
20. mewithoutYou – Brother, Sister
21. This Will Destroy You – Young Mountain
22. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
23. Sigur Rós – Takk
24. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
25. This Will Destroy You – This Will Destroy You

December was one of those months that seemed to be about three months long. I have no idea why. I drove to and from LA two weekends in a row, trying (and failing) to put a holiday mix CD together, spent Christmas happily alone and tried to control myself from reading too many year-end top 10 album lists.

A lot of this month’s interesting tidbits came from listening to albums on other people’s lists, though, so I can’t really knock them that much. It’s a great way to figure out what I missed over the course of the year. That’s where Benea Reach, Shearwater, Okkervil River and Frightened Rabbit all came from.

Happy new year, everyone!

1. Adam Pasion – “Schoolhouse Virginia” (O Hear the Rattling)
2. Johnny Cash – “It Ain’t Me, Babe” (Greatest Hits, Vol. 1)
3. Akon – “Right Now (Na Na Na)” (Freedom)
4. Akon – “I’m So Paid” (Freedom)
5. Horse Feathers – “Curs in the Weeds” (House With No Home)
6. MGMT – “Electric Feel” (Oracular Spectacular)
7. Caroline – “Winter” (Murmurs)
8. Starflyer 59 – “My Name” (Everybody Makes Mistakes)
9. Justice – “Genesis” (A Cross the Universe)
10. Common – “Universal Mind Control” (Universal Mind Control)
11. Horse Feathers – “Father” (House With No Home)
12. Fleet Foxes – “Oliver James” (Fleet Foxes)
13. Okkervil River – “Calling and Not Calling My Ex” (The Stand Ins)
14. Shearwater – “Home Life” (Rook)
15. Benea Reach – “Awakening” (Alleviat)
16. Neko Case – “Look for Me (I’ll Be Around)” (Blacklisted)
17. Benea Reach – “New Waters” (Alleviat)
18. Stars of the Lid – “Even If You’re Never Awake” (And Their Refinement of the Decline)
19. Kanye West – “Say You Will” (808s & Heartbreak)
20. Kanye West – “Paranoid” (808s & Heartbreak)
21. Frightened Rabbit – “Head Rolls Off” (The Midnight Organ Fight)

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.

You know autumn is on its way when reverb and ambient textures start to float back into the soundscape, especially in the form of Neko Case, Fleet Foxes and This Will Destroy You. This year they’re accentuated with some of those warm, 80s-esque synths that M83 and MGMT bring to the table.

Autumn has finally become a season that I can appreciate. Now that I’m beyond school and life is fairly constant aside from the natural seasons, I’m able to enjoy what each season brings, in both the emotional and natural senses. I look forward to the sense of calm darkness and satisfied sadness that reminds me to take comfort as I sit back and watch a year come to a close.

1. Stars of the Lid – “Apreludes (in C sharp major)” (and Their Refinement of the Decline)
2. Spain – “Our Love is Going to Live Forever” (She Haunts My Dreams)
3. Norma Jean – “Death of the Anti Mother” (The Anti Mother)
4. Ponytail – “Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)” (Ice Cream Spiritual)
5. Santogold – “Creator” (Santogold)
6. The Faint – “The Geeks Were Right” (Fasciinatiion)
7. edIT – “Laundry” (Crying Over Pros For No Reason)
8. The Cool Kids – “A Little Bit Cooler” (The Bake Sale)
9. M83 – “Midnight Souls Still Remain” (Saturdays = Youth)
10. Anathallo – “Dokkoise House (With Face Covered)” (Floating World)
11. MGMT – “Time to Pretend” (Oracular Spectacular)
12. This Will Destroy You – “A Three-Legged Workhorse” (This Will Destroy You)
13. Fleet Foxes – “White Winter Hymnal” (Fleet Foxes)
14. Neko Case – “Maybe Sparrow” (Fox Confessor Brings the Flood)
15. Delta Spirit – “People, Turn Around” (Ode to Sunshine)
16. Lil Wayne – “Got Money” (Tha Carter III)

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.)

Here’s the breakdown of what I listened to last month that made me happy. Songza made linking ridiculously easy.

Also, December is going to be a dead month for new music. Guess what that means? More meaningless end-of-year lists! Hooray! Expect several of these from me, just like last year.

1. Sigur Rós – “Í Gær” (Hvarf/Heim)
2. Ray Charles – “What’d I Say” (20 Golden Classics)
3. Bright Eyes – “If The Brakeman Turns My Way” (Cassadaga)
4. Neko Case – “Hold On, Hold On” (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
5. Alison Krauss & Union Station – “New Favorite” (New Favorite)
6. Jóhann Jóhannsson – “Part 1 – IBM 1401 Processing Unit” (IBM 1401, a User’s Manual)
7. Damien Rice – “Eskimo” (O)
8. Stars – “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” (Set Yourself On Fire)
9. Stars – “Set Yourself On Fire” (Set Yourself On Fire)
10. The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Nong Eye Gong” (Ire Works)
11. Opeth – “Ghost Of Perdition” (Ghost Reveries)
12. Jakob – “Pneumonic” (Solace)
13. Daft Punk – “Around The World / Harder Better Faster Stronger” (Alive 2007)
14. Feist – “My Moon My Man” (The Reminder)
15. Burial – “Archangel” (Untrue)
16. Bright Eyes – “Lua” (I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning)
17. Regina Spektor – “Music Box” (Begin To Hope)
18. Ryan Adams – “Pearls On A String” (Easy Tiger)

October brought a new Radiohead album, reminiscence of past autumns (hence the A Perfect Circle and Further Seems Forever songs), which then led to searching for more autumn-esque music (Neutral Milk Hotel, Neko Case, Amos Lee), a Briertone concert, me trying really hard to learn to love Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (I’d always found it boring), a few other new releases (Rogue Wave, Band Of Horses, Fiery Furnaces) and Rhapsody finally putting Sunn 0))) albums in their catalog/me making a Halloween playlist.

1. Neko Case – “Things That Scare Me” (Blacklisted)
2. Rosetta – “Red in Tooth and Claw” (Wake/Lift)
3. Emmylou Harris – “Red Dirt Girl” (Red Dirt Girl)
4. Neutral Milk Hotel – “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” (In The Aeroplane Over The Sea)
5. Von Südenfed – “Fledermaus Can’t Get It” (Von Südenfed)
6. Amos Lee – “Night Train” (Supply And Demand)
7. Band Of Horses – “Is There A Ghost” (Cease To Begin)
8. The Fiery Furnaces – “Duplexes Of The Dead” (Widow City)
9. Briertone – “Cheers” (Sojourners)
10. Radiohead – “15 Step” (In Rainbows)
11. Radiohead – “Bodysnatchers” (In Rainbows)
12. Rogue Wave – “Lake Michigan” (Asleep At Heaven’s Gate)
13. A Fine Frenzy – “Come On, Come Out” (One Cell In The Sea)
14. Ray LaMontagne – “Jolene” (Trouble)
15. Jakob – “Malachite” (Solace)
16. Radiohead – “House Of Cards” (In Rainbows)
17. Briertone – “Strawfoot” (Sojourners)
18. Further Seems Forever – “Light Up Ahead” (Hide Nothing)
19. A Perfect Circle – “Passive” (eMOTIVe)
20. Further Seems Forever – “Make It A Part” (Hide Nothing)
21. Further Seems Forever – “All Rise” (Hide Nothing)
22. A Perfect Circle – “The Package” (Thirteenth Step)
23. Wilco – “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)
24. Sunn 0))) – “Bathory Erzebet” (Black One)