25 Favorite Albums of '09

I'm sorry.

25. Polvo - In Prism
24. Crocodiles - Summer of Hate
23. The Big Pink - The Big Pink
22. YACHT - See Mystery Lights
21. Spectrals - Spectrals
20. Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker
19. Morrissey - Years of Refusal
18. Om - God is Good
17. Marked Men - Ghosts
16. Abe Vigoda - Reviver EP
15. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
14. HEALTH - Get Color
13. The Field - Yesterday and Today
12. Vivian Girls - Everything Goes Wrong
11. Real Estate - Real Estate

10. Mi Ami - Watersports - Experimental rock is a term that phases itself out the more it is used. Since the 80s there is a massive influx of already-been-dones coming out. Some thieving tendencies work, others don't, but those who can reinvent the genre better...or weirder can have thier day. Mi Ami throwback and reinvent.

9. Cass McCombs - Catacombs - Since 2003, Cass McCombs has been in the background of many folk out croppings, most notably Sufjan, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Beirut. Despite this, he is perhaps the most experimental album to album. 2005s PREfection on 4AD records was dripping with new wave, and on Dropping the Writ he sounded strikingly like Morrissey. Catacombs sounds like a return to more classic, extremely minimal folk like he did on A.

8. Cold Cave - Cremations - Reasons I love this album: I. Philadelphia II. Dreamy Dark Wave III. Minimalist Post Punk

7. Washed Out - Life of Leisure - For a while, Yo La Tengo's I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One has been my feel good album, now i have to make a playlist with Life of Liesure in there too. As winter rapidly approaches and I begin dreading the idea of 'layering up,' this surfy no-fi electronic album is something to listen for.

6. The Horrors - Primary Colours - Kevin Shields is a god. Loveless is one of my favorite albums, and many have tried to summit such a sonic peak before. None tastefully. However, the massive guitar lines on this album are only a fraction of the Horrors' sound. Vocally, they bring an air of Twee pop, contrasting dark daunting lyrics with an accent.

5. No Age - Losing Feeling EP - Along with #17, No Age represent a nice punk revival. Since Weirdo Rippers, they've crystallized their sound with Nouns. And the most exciting fact about the EP: they aren't changing their sound. Even Jarmusch is stoked!

4. Bear in Heaven - Beast Rest Fourth Mouth - Neo psychedelia...it's here and what will probably stay as the hip thing for a little bit. Animal Collective did it on Merriweather, but they had to change their sound. Bear in Heaven have their sound defined and this album is an experimental pop bull's eye.

3. Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights - Having marked their territory very, very clearly, Brian and Brian continue to bring out the jams. In the Power of Milkshakes and Salad Gibson stated "were not classic rock" but Dave Auchenbach was partly right. In the realm of noise rock over which LB reigns, they are regular rock and roll, or were. Earthly Delights moves their sound over on the dial into avant-garde black metal.

2. Dan Deacon - Bromst - The party album came first, then Dan went new classical on us. Bromst was awesome and certainly one of the most anticipated albums of the year. Dan didn't compensate for the human element in his song writing, he still wrote blisteringly fast songs, but they are much more thoughtful. He's still throwing the Go Baltimore! party, just thinking about the theme, the appetizers, and the party favors a little bit more.

1. Japandroids - Post-Nothing - Just two people make the sounds you hear. Once you get over that fact, you realize the songs are really damn good still. Track after track of huge lo-fi played with reckless abandon. This album has something for everyone's alt rock taste. Because the songs are stripped down and garage-y, it also seems to have an ability to stand up over time. Drummer David Prowse relies on the beat, not the fill. Brian King's guitar work, using massive amps for parts of his sound, rather than one for himself, creates rhythm and lead all at once: a grunge record as much as it is a starry eyed dreampop/shoegaze. The only minor dismay might be the song lengths, which usually end up being very non-punk in structure, but we love listening to it, and they must love playing it.