2009 in Music.

I loved music this year. Here are some highlights.

My top ten of the year all made it into my decade list. I'll remind you:

10. Skeltonwitch - Breathing the Fire
9. Natural Snow Buildings - Shadow Kingdom
8. We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls
7. Altar of Plagues - White Tomb
6. Bike for Three! - More Heart than Brains (Why am I still the only person who's heard this?)
5. Skagos - Ast
4. Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem
3. Future of the Left - Travels with Myself and Another
2. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
1. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer


The top 10 doesn't do the year justice.

Best Albums Everybody Ignored:

Ape Uprising by The Lord Weird Slough Feg
- Slough Feg dropped a whopper of an album this year. They incorporated more metal elements than ever before this time, with touches of doom and speed metal sprinkled throughout. It's as entertaining and fun as their best ones.

Gin by Cobalt
-This could be a new American black metal classic. It's full of progressive touches and creates an atmosphere of western industrialization over a wasteland. The whole album has a Western sort of feel to it. Nothing I've heard before in any black metal

The Misunderstood:

The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists (Pitchfork hated)
-Easily the least acclaimed Decemberists album, but it might be my favorite. I love the heavy rock influences they've added to the sound, and, as always, the storytelling is as immersive and fun as ever.

CrownsDown by Themselves
-An absolutely fantastic release from the Doesone led duo that was mostly passed off as just another subpar Anticon release. Doesone is insane with the speed of his delivery on this release, and the beats are fantastic.

30-11:

30. Blut aus Nord, Memoria Vestuta II: Dialogue with the Stars - epic black metal from France

29. Amesoeurs, Amesoeurs - A interesting sound created by mixing a little bit of black metal with 80s style post-punk.

28. Wardruna, Gap var Ginnunga - Stunning Neofolk with great uses of traditional instruments and haunting throat singing chants.

27. Loma Prieta, Dark Mountain - Their best release (of many) yet. Greatly satisfying screamo.

26. Mono, Hymn to the Immortal Wind (Pitchfork hated) - Beautiful, sweeping post-rock with epic string arrangements.

25. Dinosaur Jr., Farm - Their best since reforming this decade. Lively and crushing guitars.

24. Andrew Jackson Jihad, Can't Maintain - Danceable, emotional folk punk from a young group. Great violins and horns on select songs.

23. Celeste, Misanthrope(s) - blackened screamo with the former vocalist of Mihai Edrisch.

22. Raekwon, Only Built for Cuban Linx Pt. II - A new coke rap classic. Great guest spots from the whole WuTang clan.

21. Do Make Say Think, Other Turns - Another epic release from the jazzy post-rock masters.

20. Cursive, Mama, I'm Swollen (Pitchfork hated) - Continues the faith vs id themes of their last missstep Happy Hollow with turn around great success. The songs are personal and deeply emotional again.

19. Solstafir, Kold - Huge epic sludge metal songs. Not typically my favorite genre, but these guys fill every song to the brim with emotion.

18. Manchester Orchestra, Mean Everything to Nothing (Pitchfork hated) - A huge step up for these young pop-punkers. Sweeping, intellectual rock songs with a pop sensibility.

17. Wolves in the Throneroom, Black Cascade (Pitchfork hated) - They stripped down their sound to basic, raw black metal. It's uglier, but just as powerful as earlier releases.

16. Lucero, 1372 Park - The new major record label debut sacrifices none of the raw emotion of the Lucero sound, but adds great horn arrangements to the country tunes.

15. Drudkh, Microcosmos - A cosmic feeling black metal album from the Ukrainian masters. It's so huge in scope.

14. Natural Snow Buildings, Daughter of Darkness - A six-hour free-for-all into the wilderness of beautiful droning tones.

13. Converge, Axe to Fall - I used to hate this band. I was dumb.

12. Trophy Scars, Bad Luck - A concept album flawed by some OTN lyrics, but keeps with the Trophy Scars way of constantly shifting their sound.

11. Brand New, Daisy - The latest emotional rock masterpiece from the former pop-punk outfit. They're obviously unstoppable.