My Favorite Albums of 2009

I certainly don't listen to enough new music each year to really warrant making these lists, and I lean very heavily on artists I'm already familiar with, but I love making the lists anyway. As usual, I felt that the current year's releases were not as strong as the previous year, and that newer albums by older bands didn't live up to my expectations. But that always happens, and after some time, I'm sure my opinion of some of these records will climb and others will fall. Here are my favorite albums from 2009.

1. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Haven't gotten sick of "1901" despite the car commercials.

2. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
I may almost like Farm better than 2007's Beyond.

3. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Probably my least favorite Mastodon record, but it's still an awesome powerhouse of a record and better than most metal I'm hearing these days.

4. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
YLT is consistently churning out great albums.

5. Adam Franklin - Spent Bullets
Less exciting than his previous solo album, but still full of cool.

6. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - (self-titled)
A recent acquisition, I can't help but like these songs, even if The Jesus And Mary Chain wrote them 20 years ago.

7. St. Vincent - Actor
Missed out on her previous album, so this one came as a complete surprise.

8. Mew - No More Stories Are Told Today...
I hoped for more from this one, but it's still a great combo of prog and pop.

9. Doves - Kingdom of Rust
Not much to say about the Doves.

10. Baroness - Blue Record
I can't listen to Baroness without wishing they were Mastodon, but in the end, this album is pretty good and more interesting than other 2009 releases that didn't make my top 10.

Runner up:
Passion Pit - Manners