Favorite albums so far this year...

[Pat K]

the spiderbags record is pretty dece.

Been dying to get that. I'm wearing out the grooves on their "Hey Delinquents" single.

[Omar]

the spiderbags record is pretty dece.

Been dying to get that. I'm wearing out the grooves on their "Hey Delinquents" single.

That is a glorious song.

[fonpr]

the spiderbags record is pretty dece.

dece.  Hug you are a strange one.

[Pat K]

the spiderbags record is pretty dece.

dece.  Hug you are a strange one.

If that record is half as dece as I'm expecting it to be, it's gonna be croosh. 

[Scot]

The at-long-last (bootleg?) release of Dan Melchior's "O Clouds Unfold" (recorded years ago) is pretty stellar. Snatch one up now if you haven't already!

[Cotton]

I've been loving the most recent Thao Nguyen album. Saw them a few weeks ago and it was the best show I'd seen in years.

[hugman]

the spiderbags record is pretty dece.

dece.  Hug you are a strange one.

color me exposed.

[Omar]

Top 30 Albums of 2009

Baroness – The Blue Album [Relapse]  
Boston Spaceships – The Planets Are Blasted [GBV, Inc.]
Boston Spaceships – Zero to 99 [GBV, Inc.]
Converge – Axe to Fall [Epitaph]
DC Snipers – DC Snipers [Daggerman]
Japandroids – Post-Nothing [Polyvinyl]
Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall [Matador]
JEFF the Brotherhood – Heavy Days [Infinity Cat]
Kiss - Sonic Boom [Kiss/Universal]
Kylesa – Static Tensions [Prosthetic]
Mastodon – Crack the Skye [Warner Bros.]
Necco Case – Middle Cyclone [ANTI-]
Part Chimp – Thriller [Rock Action]
Patterson Hood – Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs) [Ruth St. Records]
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [V2]
Pissed Jeans – King of Jeans [Sub Pop]
Polvo – In Prism [Merge]
Regina Spektor – Far [Sire]
Slayer – World Painted Blood [American]
Sonic Youth - The Eternal [Matador]
Spider Bags – Goodbye Cruel World, Hello Crueler World [Birdman]
Tegan and Sara – Sainthood [Sire]
Thao with The Get Down Stay Down – Know Better Learn Faster [Kill Rock Stars]
The Black Hollies – Softly Towards the Light [Ernest Jenning Co.]
The Hex Dispensers – Winchester Mystery House [Douchemaster]
The Intelligence – Fake Surfers [In the Red]
The Smith Westerns – The Smith Westerns [Hozac]
Visqueen – Message to Garcia [Local 638 Records]
Wussy – Wussy [Shake It]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz [Interscope]

Special Recognition for Achievement in Musics: Tom/Dog: A Tribute to Ram

[Chris L]

This is it for me right now, not counting reissues:

Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Fever Ray – Fever Ray
Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
Tim Hecker – An Imaginary Country
the xx – the xx
Desire – II
Reigning Sound – Love and Curses
Leyland Kirby – Sadly, the Future is No Longer What it Was
The Mantles – The Mantles PLUS: Personal & The Pizzas – complete discography

Best 2008 album I discovered in 2009:
Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill

[Wes]

Boston Spaceships – The Planets Are Blasted [GBV, Inc.]
Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall [Matador]
Spider Bags – Goodbye Cruel World, Hello Crueler World [Birdman]
The Black Hollies – Softly Towards the Light [Ernest Jenning Co.]
Wussy – Wussy [Shake It]

These were all either on (Spider Bags, Jay Reatard) or just missed a top ten list I had to put together. Also: Mountain (Heartless Bastards), Information Inspiration vol. 3 (Mulatu Astatke/Heliocentrics), Further Complications (Jarvis Cocker), Tell 'Em What Your Name Is! (Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears) and Change Remains (Starlight Mints), which took me a while to come around on but I ended up enjoying.

In addition to putting out the great "Goodbye Cruel World, Hello Crueler World", I think the Spider Bags cover of "Long Haired Lady" from TOM will end up being the song I listen to most from this year. Inexplicably, 2009 featured two excellent covers of "Long Haired Lady" - the Amnion cover on that "Ram on LA" tribute album was also amazing. Always loved the original on Ram and still pleasantly surprised to get two killer covers of it back-to-back in the same year.

[Omar]

Also: Mountain (Heartless Bastards)

I forgot this was a 2009 release.  Solid recording.

[masterofsparks]

I guess I'm officially an old man since I don't even think I'd be able to put together a top 5 of the year. It's not like I didn't buy new stuff this year, it's just that very little of it stuck with me. I looked at the AV Club's "Best of the Year" list and I hadn't heard of most of it.

[Gilly]

1. Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca
2. Annie- Don't Stop
3. Decemberists- Hazards of Love
4. Regina Spektor- Far
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- It's Blitz
5. Girls- Album
6. Japandroids- Post Nothing
7. Florence and the Machine- Lungs
8. Brother Ali- Truth is Here
9. Black Moth Super Rainbow- Eating Us
10. Grand Duchy- Petits Fours
11. Mission of Burma- Sound the Speed the Light
12. Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs- Under the Covers Vol II
13. Sally Shapiro- My Guilty Pleasure
14. St. Vincent- Actor
15. Boston Spaceships- Planets are Blasted
16. Doug Paisley- ST
17. Wu Tang- Chamber Music
18. Wooden Shjips- Dos
19. Yo La Tengo- Popular Songs
20. Jason Lytle- Yours Truly the Commuter

[Omar]

I guess I'm officially an old man since I don't even think I'd be able to put together a top 5 of the year. It's not like I didn't buy new stuff this year, it's just that very little of it stuck with me. I looked at the AV Club's "Best of the Year" list and I hadn't heard of most of it.

Just listen to your Ratt and Monster Magnet records and call it even.

[Jouster]

Also: Mountain (Heartless Bastards)

I forgot this was a 2009 release.  Solid recording.

Featured on last night's "Friday Night Lights."