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So this is it. My favorite full-length albums of the year. So many other blogs post their top songs of the year, but I guess I’m a bit more old-school (and probably older) than most of them. I prefer the album format (not business cards format) rather than just ranking singles against one another. I posted Part I of this list yesterday, but there are so many good albums from 2009 that I had to leave off the list completely (unless I was going to make it an even 100). Maybe next year, right? Also, fuck all the haters out there, I’m just sayin’. Enjoy.
25. Roadside Graves – My Son’s Home (Autumn Tone)
The band combines yearning alt-country folk, fiddles, Allman Brothers style Southern rock guitars, and Dylan-esqe vocals into something that is as awesome and all over the map as it sounds. Read more…
MP3
Roadside Graves - Far And Wide
24. Broadway Calls – Good Views, Bad News (Side One Dummy)
This is evidence of a tighter and more focused Broadway Calls where every ounce of filler has been eliminated from these 3 minute pop-punk gems. Read more…
MP3
Broadway Calls - Be All That You Can’t Be
23. Kid, You’ll Move Mountains – Loomings (Self-Released)
Great indie-post-whatever rock from Chicagoland with awesome alternating male/female vocals. It’s dense, melodic, and as catchy as it is intricate. They’re great people too. Read more…
MP3
Kid, You’ll Move Mountains - Volts
22. Chuck Ragan – Gold Country (Side One Dummy)
The former Hot Water Music frontman is a neo-traditional folk troubadour of sorts and on Gold Country his vocals are rough-edged and his music adorned with fiddles, slide guitar, and other fairly traditional instrumentation. Read more…
MP3
Chuck Ragan - The Trench
21. Shook Ones – The Unquotable A.M.H. (Paper + Plastick)
Fast and melodic hardcore-influenced pop-punk a la Kid Dynamite that’s got more than enough hooks and breakdowns to easily satisfy the toughest critics. Read more…
MP3
Shook Ones – They’re Very ‘Yes’
20. Richmond Fontaine – We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River (Arena Rock)
Willy Vlautin’s lyrical vignettes of disappointment cut to the bone while he and the band deliver a musical accompaniment that’s just as desolate and the perfect backdrop.
MP3
Richmond Fontaine - You Can Move Back Here
19. A.C. Newman – Get Guilty (Matador)
I’m not a huge indie pop fan or even a New Pornographers fan but the first 5 songs on here are about as perfect a start to an indie pop album as I’ve ever heard. The rest ain’t too bad either. Read more…
MP3
A.C. Newman - Like A Hitman, Like A Dancer
18. Justin Townes Earle – Midnight At The Movies (Bloodshot)
It is a country album with roots in old-time ragtimey folk sounds, Tin Pan Alley blues, and more modern stuff like Whiskeytown. There is amazing (and oh so twangy) instrumentation, killer melodies, and lyrics to match. Read more…
MP3
Justin Townes Earle - What I Mean To You
17. Cheap Girls – My Roaring 20’s (Paper + Plastick)
Indie rock reminiscent of your mid-90’s favorites where the melodies are familiar and there’s a fuzzy and charming rough-around-the-edges feeling. Read more…
MP3
Cheap Girls - Ft. Lauderdale
16. Strike Anywhere – Iron Front (Bridge Nine)
Razor-sharp fist-pumping songs brimming with gruff melodies and speaker-searing speeds that simply explode into huge sing-a-long choruses. It’s non-stop. Read more…
MP3
Strike Anywhere - I’m Your Opposite Number
15. Converge – Axe To Fall (Epitaph)
Con! Fucking! Verge! After so many innovative and genre-defining albums it’s still amazing that these giants of hardcore and metal have made (IMHO) their best album yet.
MP3
Converge - Reap What You Sow
14. Bombadil – Tarpits And Canyonlands (Ramseur)
Obtuse but melodic Inter-Southern-national indie-folk-pop with a flair for the fantastic. The band has managed to make quirky sound sincere and make playful feel substantial. Read more…
MP3
Bombadil - Honeymoon
13. The Only Sons – Steel Hearts (Self-Released)
There are two rippin’ electric guitars, the cry of a lap steel, and twangy fiddles complement the raspy vocals. It all adds up to a band that fits somewhere in between The Weight and Lucero. Read more…
MP3
The Only Sons - Lay Back Down
12. The Sidekicks – Weight Of Air (Red Scare)
A huge step forward for the band. They’ve ditched most of the rough edges and standard-issue pop punk affectations of their early material and ratcheted up the rootsy folk underpinnings. Read more…
MP3
The Sidekicks - A Healthy Time
11. Matt & Kim – Grand (Fader)
Minimalistic urban indie-pop from this NYC keys-n-drum duo. Their songs are bouncy, hella catchy, and the beats that just make you wanna move. Read more…
MP3
Matt & Kim - Lessons Learned
10. Banner Pilot – Collapser (Fat Wreck)
There is zero filler on this record; just killer hooks and shitty basement pop punk with an emphasis on the punk and not the pop. Read more…
MP3
Banner Pilot - Skeleton Key
09. Baroness – Blue Record (Relapse)
A sludge-metal masterpiece that almost comes across as what metal might sound like if it was played by hardcore punks even though you couldn’t call it anything resembling metalcore. Read more…
MP3
Baroness - A Horse Called Golgotha
08. Nothington – Roads, Bridges And Ruins (BYO)
Raw, melodic, unpretentious punk where every song is a goddamn sing-a-long anthem. It hits like a punch to the gut but has melodic hooks to make you keep standing in round after round. Read more…
MP3
Nothington - The Ocean
07. Wilco – Wilco (The Album) (Nonesuch)
Instead of going for something new, Jeff Tweedy and the boys have finally just made a record within the constraints of what fans already expect from Wilco. It’s comfortable and damn good. Read more…
MP3
Wilco – Wilco The Song
06. Early Day Miners – The Treatment (Secretly Canadian)
This album shows a much more pop-oriented and melodic side of the band than I expected but the repetitive and atmospheric elements of the band’s sound fully intact. Read more…
MP3
Early Day Miners - So Slowly
05. Polar Bear Club – Chasing Hamburg (Bridge Nine)
A wide-ranging expanse of melodic post-hardcore punk filled with dense guitar riffs, deft melodic leads, and energetic start-stop rhythms. It brings to mind the likes of Hot Water Music or Small Brown Bike. Read more…
MP3
Polar Bear Club - Living Saints
04. Tegan & Sara – Sainthood (Sire)
These are more than simple indie pop songs. They’re biting and seething with a post-punk edge. It’s goddamn infectious. Read more…
03. The Evening Rig – Is Doin’ Stuff (Heart Of A Champion)
Twangy rock music from MPLS that makes you wanna get up off your barstool and dance, but only until you realize that you’re drunk and you can’t even stand up. Read more…
MP3
The Evening Rig - The Steve McQueens
02. Lucero – 1372 Overton Park (Universal Republic)
Lucero is probably my favorite band and this is what they sounds like with a horn section backing ‘em up. Read more…
MP3
Lucero - Smoke
01. Dear Landlord – Dream Homes (No Idea)
It’s infectious, anthemic, and unrelenting pop punk where gruff vocals meet catchy melodies with a biting and in-your-face delivery. This isn’t just my favorite album of 2009, it’s the best pop punk album of the decade. Read more…
MP3
Dear Landlord - I Live In Hell
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Nice list, a lot on here I haven’t checked out at all. I haven’t even started my list… hah.
Did you like Strike Anywhere’s Iron Front better than Dead FM?
What a list! Some real gems here. Bravo!
Thanks Fibonacciseeker!
Silverunity – Yes, I like Iron Front better than Dead FM, but probably not as much as Exit English.
Nice list man! Always GREAT to find new music. Nice work on Kid, You’ll Move Mountains.
Great stuff. I haven’t yet caught up with much of Chuck Ragan’s newie and the fact that Strike Anywhere released anything completely passed me by. Huge punkfail but thanks for the nudge, lots of undiscovered stuff here to check out. Cheers!
Great list as always. Love to see Bombadil make it, and I’m happy to see you’re officially on the Tegan and Sara bandwagon now (even if didn’t actually dig Sainthood as much as I hoped).
I’ve managed to completely miss Dear Landlord so I’m super-excited to give them a listen.
Cheers.
Great list! Since I wasn’t reading this blog very frequently this year and hence almost don’t know any of these 50 bands, it’s interesting to get to hear 2009 from another point of view.
Gotta have Soul Control there, man
http://www.beyondrace.com/reviews/music-reviews/2082-top-albums-of-09-top-15