my 2009 best-of list

This is my list, in no order whatsoever, of what I've listened to and loved this year. I think this was a really good year for music. I hope you'll agree.

Wilco - Wilco (the album)
Animal Collective - Meriweather Post Pavillion
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
Brian Eno and David Byrne - Everything That Will Happen Will Happen Today
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
M. Ward - Hold Time
Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
The Swell Season - Strict Joy

ok, there happen to be ten albums here, but i promise that wasn't on purpose.

M. Ward started this great year of music off in February with Hold Time. No one will ever accuse M. Ward of being ground-breaking, but if you couldn't get behind this blast of folkie warmth in the depths of winter, you didn't have a seasonal-depressive bone in your body.
Next, I heard Animal Collective's new record, which is probably the freak-folk movement's Kid A, an absolute masterpiece of electronic manipulation, weird instrumentation, alienated, layered harmony vocals, and worldbeat madness.
In March, Neko Case released Middle Cyclone, which ends with a patience-testing 30-minute long field recording of crickets. But with the amazing pop gems like "People Got a Lotta Nerve" and the haunting vocals of "Prison Girls" that came first, who cares?
Conor Oberst's Outer South felt like a truly collaborative record, he even shared songwriting credit and let some of the other guys in the band sing their own songs. The standout song is actually not even one of Conor's - "Air Mattress" is an unbelievably dance-y 80's synth-pop send up.
Wilco's self-titled new album felt like the start of summer for me: the pick-me-up pop of "Wilco (the song)" was just too irresistible. "Are you feeling Depressed? Wilco will love you baby!"
There were two albums not released in 2009 that made my list this year since I discovered them this year:
David Byrne lives up to his weirdo reputation on songs like "I Feel My Stuff" and "Strange Overtones," while Brian Eno's absolutely addictive arrangements and instrumentation make these bizarre melodies and lyrics seem like just the most natural thing in the world. It takes a while to get it, but boy, is it worth it.
Frightened Rabbit is a real find - a heart-on-sleeve Scottish take on folk-pop. I was singing along with "Old Old Fashioned" the first time I heard it. Can it be possible that my whisky intake increased after buying this record?
For thoughts on Monsters of Folk and The Swell Season, see my previous posts... The find of the year was the French band Phoenix, whose record, released in February, I didn't hear about until the fall. I don't know how they sing with such perfect American accents. I don't know how it's possible to write an amazing song about Franz Liszt. I don't know how these songs haven't always existed.

honorable mentions (for recording a song that held my attention, but not fleshing it out for a full album)
Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Zero"
Heartless Bastards "The Mountain"
Steve Earle "Pancho and Lefty"

dishonorable mention
Bob Dylan Christmas in the Heart - I sincerely hope some day I'm able to appreciate some kind of irony in this album. For now though, it just sounds like drunk uncle Bob trying to ruin Christmas for everyone.