2009: A Good Year for music

My Best of 2009…so far



We are coming on the end of the 2000s. It seems like just yesterday we were fretting over the world being overcome by the Y2K computer glitch, who knew what we really had to fear was that the computers would keep working and someone would invent Facebook. In honor of the closing of this fine decade (have we decided yet what to call it, the aughts?, that just doesn’t sound right) Pitchfork has begun counting down its top 200 albums of the 2000s. They will be counting down all week, today was 200-151. Personally, I’m already outraged due to the fact that Okkervil River’s Black Sheep Boy was listed at 174…it easily should have been 165. I’m kidding, of course, it easily should have been in the top 20.
I really like lists. I find it odd how often I will click on a link to a story that has something to do with ranking something or other. Today it was ‘The Top 5 Overpaid CEOs’- I don’t care that the CEO of Abercrombie is overpaid, nor should I trust they guy making the list to determine whether or not the Abercrombie CEO even warrants being on the list- but I clicked on it, because it was a list. I don’t know why I do that. Same reason that I like award shows I guess, I even like award shows for stuff I don’t even like. I like to know who won a Tony, but I don’t really care much for musicals. Maybe lists bring some order and sanity to my otherwise chaotic life.
To commemorate my affection for lists, here is an early preview of my best albums of 2009, so far. There are a couple of releases coming up that could certainly make a run, but for now, I suggest that you check out these albums:
Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (probably my album of the year)
The Antlers- Hospice
We Were Promised Jetpacks- These Four Walls
The Rural Alberta Advantage- Hometowns
Various Artists- Dark Was the Night (odd to have a compilation on the list, but this was outstanding)
Passion Pit- Manners
Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavillion
The Decemberists- The Hazards of Love
Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
-Brian