Top 10 Albums of 2009

(short and sweet and to the point—culled from listening to 417 releases from 2009)

The TOP TEN of 2009:
1.) Florence and the Machine: Lungs
2.) Mando Diao: Give Me Fire
3.) The Decemberists: Hazards of Love
4.) Passion Pit: Manners
5.) The Sounds: Crossing the Rubicon
6.) Silversun Pickups: Swoon
7.) White Lies: To Lose My Life
8.) The Audition: Self-Titled Album
9.) La Roux: La Roux
10.) Paper Route: Absence

Honorable Mention (11-25):
11.) The Temper Trap: Conditions
12.) Gossip: Music for Men
13.) Doves: Kingdom of Rust
14.) Brendan Benson: My Old, Familiar Friend
15.) A Fine Frenzy: Bomb in a Birdcage
16.) The Bravery: Stir the Blood
17.) Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears: Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is!
18.) Howling Bells: Radio Wars
19.) Blue October: Approaching Normal
20.) Noisettes: Wild Young Hearts
21.) Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest
22.) Matthew Good: Vancouver
23.) Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It’s Blitz!
24.) Band of Skulls: Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
25.) Heartless Bastards: The Mountain

Rounding out the Top 50 (26-50):
26.) Moby: Wait For Me
27.) The Enemy: Music for the People
28.) Metric: Fantasies
29.) Athlete: Black Swan
30.) Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career
31.) Ben’s Brother: Battling Giants
32.) 30 Seconds to Mars: This is War
33.) Brand New: Daisy
34.) Wild Light: Adult Nights
35.) Editors: In This Light and On This Evening
36.) Bad Lieutenant: Never Cry Another Tear
37.) Maxïmo Park: Quicken the Heart
38.) The Avett Brothers: I and Love and You
39.) Porcupine Tree: The Incident
40.) The Dear Hunter: Act III: Life and Death
41.) The Fray: The Fray
42.) Eskimo Joe: Inshalla
43.) Audrye Sessions: Audrye Sessions
44.) The Veils: Sun Gangs
45.) Cash Cash: Take It to the Floor
46.) Watchout! There’s Ghosts: Ghost Town
47.) Blakroc: Blakroc
48.) … And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead: The Century of Self
49.) Buckley Ward: Something in the Night
50.) Jack Peñate: Everything is New

The Rest (in alphabetical order) (51-75):
1990s: Kicks
AIR: Love 2
Alice in Chains: Black Gives Way to Blue
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
Balmorhea: All is Wild, All is Silent
Bat For Lashes: Two Suns
Bell XI: Blue Lights on the Runway
Better Than Ezra: Paper Empire
Biffy Clyro: Only Revolutions
The Big Pink: A Brief History of Love
Billy Talent: Billy Talent III
The Bird and the Bee: Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future
Breaking Benjamin: Dear Agony
Ian Brown: My Way
Julian Casablancas: Phrazes for the Young
Chevelle: Sci-Fi Crimes
Civil Twilight: Civil Twilight
Graham Coxon: The Spinning Top
Jamie Cullum: The Pursuit
Depeche Mode: Sounds of the Universe
Franz Ferdinand: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
John Frusciante: The Empyrean
David Guetta: One Love
Calvin Harris: Ready for the Weekend
Jay-Z: The Blueprint 3

The Rest (in alphabetical order) (76-100):
Jeniferever: Spring Tides
Norah Jones: The Fall
Alicia Keys: The Element of Freedom
Lady of the Sunshine: Smoking Gun
The Love Language: The Love Language
The Maccabees: Wall of Arms
Manchester Orchestra: Mean Everything to Nothing
The Mars Volta: Octahedron
Matt & Kim: Grand
Maybeshewill: Sing the World Hope in Four-Part Harmony
Mew: No More Stories Are Told Today, I’m Sorry, They Washed Away
Muse: The Resistance
Oceanship: Oceanship
Pelican: What We All Come to Need
Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: Lonely Road
Reverend and the Makers: A French Kiss in the Chaos
Simian Mobile Disco: Temporary Pleasure
Bruce Springsteen: Working on a Dream
Starsailor: All the Plans
Super Furry Animals: Dark Days/Light Years
Tokio Hotel: Humanoid
The Twang: Jewellery Quarter
We Were Promised Jetpacks: These Four Walls
White Rabbits: It’s Frightening

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7 Thoughts to “Top 10 Albums of 2009”

  1. There are some really good bands on your top ten, but I just think the females disappointed. I don’t think there is anything special about La Roux, except for the fact that they are super funky when they perform, I saw them on MTV a while ago. Same for Florence and the Machines. Unfortunately both band front women sound like something else you’ve heard in the past two years such as Fiest. And it’s nothing that they do, it’s just the sound of their voices. But the guys on the other hand have a little bit more to grab on to. I can’t wait to get that Mando Diao cd- what an awesome voice.

    Oh, and, where was Lady Gaga? That album rocked!- still does.

    Thanks for the great article Jared.

  2. I have to disagree on the Florence. My cousin also mentioned that she sounded like Feist, and I agree, but I saw Feist at UB a couple years ago and while I love her music, the show was calm and collected in its brilliance. Florence, at least from the album and what I’ve heard of them live, rock out. I must have went a good month or two straight listening to that disc at least once a day. It totally pumps me up musically.

    As for La Roux, I don’t know what it is, but that disc just grabbed me and never let go. Definitely funky and catchy. I do like Lady Gaga, my ex-girlfriend got me into her, but the ‘real’ album was 2008 and, while I enjoyed Fame Monster, something about it being B-sides and not as good as The Fame didn’t let it make the cut. (But they both are on my ipod).

    Def check out Mando Diao. I have all of their albums but I think this newest one is the best.

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  4. J,

    Good List.

    Some of those Artists I am not familiar with, which means I will be looking them up and letting my ears tune in.

    Where’s the Memomena Album, if you haven’t listened to it, take a peak. It’s good.

    Cheers,
    T

    1. Ha, that list is for 2009, dang it…

      Hope everything is going well.

      1. haha, yeah 2009 …
        2010 list is in progress … already have 100 or so short-listed, so the weeding out has begun …

    2. thanks man,
      yeah, i checked out Menomena a little bit ago when their new disc Mines came out, I couldn’t get into them, but the buzz seems to be getting pretty big of late where they are concerned.

      lot of stuff listened to this year that prob would have made the list if listened sooner, like the xx, Great Northern, and Kent … still can’t believe I missed Kent releasing a disc last year (they have one this year too), but Ród might be my fave by them, prob would have been top ten.

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