Top 10 Albums of 2009 (Part 2)

2009 was a big music year for me. On top of attending a few concerts and our radio show being nominated for an award, I reached a personal milestone this year: 25,000 songs in iTunes. As ridiculous as it may seem, I'm a bit of a collector, and I hope to hit 30,000 soon. But here are my top ten records of the year. One was recommended by a friend of my brother, one was sitting at the top spot for months before being unseated, and one involves an MTV Best Kiss Award Winner.

Jim Adair's Top Ten Albums of 2009

10. Dead Man's Bones – Dead Man's Bones

On top a spectacular live show, and the ambience of the album, the gothic doo wop of Ryan Gosling and Zach Snyder is hard to ignore. At times sounding like the zombified Temptations and a baby Tom Waits, his album was easily the biggest surprise of the year for me. The group's self-titled debut spent a lot of time being hummed and whistled around my apartment. The children's choir adds an amazing extra layer to the music and the songwriting, though often simple, never sounds forced or stale.

Recommended Tracks: Pa Pa Power, Paper Ships, My Body's A Zombie For You, Dead Hearts

9. The Mountain Goats – The Life Of The World To Come

John Darnielle may just be the world's best living songwriter, and he proved it once again with this record. I spent a good chunk of this year listening to Mountain Goats live bootlegs, and falling in love with much of their earlier stuff, but the music John is putting out now is no less realized or beautiful.

Recommended Tracks: Psalms 40:2, Ezekiel 7 And The Permanent Efficacy Of Grace, Romans 10:9, Genesis 3:23

8. The Thermals – Now We Can See

Following up their spectacular 2006 record The Body, The Blood, The Machine couldn't be an easy task for Hutch and Kathy, but they have proved themselves now to the some of the most consistent musicians around. "The world has ended and the Thermals have the soundtrack to your post-apocalyptic kegger," I wrote down in a notebook on first hearing this record, and the words still hold true all these months later.

Recommended Tracks: Now We Can See, I Let It Go, We Were Sick, When We Were Alive, When I Died

7. Discovery – LP

One of only two crossovers from Mike's list and mine, this album is one of the most heard ones on my list. The standard, go-to party soundtrack of the semester, the Ra Ra Riot/Vampire Weekend collaboration definitely worked some magic. Starting with a mid tempo synth-jam, following with more of the same, hitting a guest vocal from Dirty Projectors' Angel Dreadoorian, and one from VW's Ezra Koening, and even tackling a Jackson 5 cover, "LP" keeps variety in mood and theme while not doing so in sound.

Recommended Tracks: Orange Shirt, Swing Tree, Osaka Loop Line, I Want You Back (In Discovery)

6. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

One of the only albums in a while where I can say I really haven't heard anything else like it this year. There really is no other band like the Dirty Projectors, and the success they have achieved this year was well deserved. Even having a song covered by Solange Knowles couldn't ruin their momentum (it would've crushed mine). They also released an EP and played a brand new song of Jimmy Fallon (one of my favorites of the year).

Recommended Tracks: No Intention, Cannibal Resource, Stillness Is The Move, Remade Horizon

5. Passion Pit – Manners

Probably the biggest explosion of the year, Passion Pit's rise from blog sweethearts to mainstream success happened overnight for some people, but to those who had Manners early on, we could see it coming. Hailing from Boston, (not Brooklyn) the band put together a collection of jams both slow and fast, but almost completely infectious. This is a band who's future I will be watching closely, and I doubt this is the last we've heard from them.

Recommended Tracks: Eyes As Candles, The Reeling, To Kingdom Come, Little Secrets

4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

I don't care who you are or what song you topped your end of year lists with, 1901 was undeniable THE JAM of the year. Without question, 1901 and Lisztomania were a 1-2 punch the caliber of which very few albums or artists had this year. Sounding just as good on record as live, the Parisian group's sudden rise to success after years of toiling away in the indiesphere was well earned. Also as a side note: it's "Fold it, fold it, fold it, fold iiiiit"

Recommended Tracks: 1901, Lisztomania, Rome, Love Like a Sunset, Fences

3. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns

The beautiful, Björk like music on Natasha Khan's second release hit me early on in the year, and Daniel sat as song of the year until two weeks ago. Even without understanding the overarching storyline or theme or whatever, the music is just good. And in a year filled with low-fi, no-fi, and all other shitty bullshit genres, Natasha Khan was unafraid of effects, layering, production, and singing out.

Recommended Tracks: Daniel, Moon And Moon, Good Love, Sleep Alone, Two Planets

2. St. Vincent – Actor

Annie Clark, my love, how you were able to top your debut Marry Me is beyond me, but you did it. The songs on Actor are layered, loud, and beautiful. From the sting accompanied The Bed to the raucous Actor Out Of Work, Annie Clark was able to craft an album that is both raw and refined. This album sat in the number one spot from the first listen until September, when it was dethroned.

Recommended Tracks: The Bed, The Party, The Neighbors, Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood, The Strangers

1. The Antlers – Hospice

From the first time I heard this record, I knew it was something special, but it wasn't until after a few months that I even considered it for the top spot. An overall theme of hospital life carries throughout the record (morgues, abortions, cancer wards) that keeps it human. The album is both heartbreaking and beautiful, fragile and powerful, mystical and tangible. Lyrically, this is the best record on this list, vocally it is in the Top 3, and musically it is number one by a mile. This is the only album from this year that has a chance at making the top ten of the decade list coming up next week. Do yourself a favor, no matter how you listen to music, put some headphones on, close your eyes, sit in the dark, and listen to this record from beginning to end, you will not regret it.

Recommended Tracks: Wake, Bear, Sylvia, Two, Kettering, Shiva, Atrophy

Honorable Mention: Bon Iver – Blood Bank, Various Artists – Dark Was The Night, Strand Of Oaks – Leave Ruin, Cursive – Mama, I'm Swollen, Jamie T – Kings And Queens, Leonard Cohen – Live In London, and The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You