Favorite Albums of 2009

I haven’t been asked by too many folks to contribute my picks for the best of this past year, which is just as well. A good chunk of my choices are likely to be unpopular to those same folks who will spend the better part of a week re-fawning over Merriweather Post Pavilion and the like.

I’m also uninterested in ranking these albums in any manner. They were simply all the ones that caught my attention and kept my interest throughout 2009. So here they are in alphabetical order. Take from it what you will, feel free to ask me questions about them, and argue away in the comments.

Annie – Don’t Stop (Smalltown Supersound)
Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue (Warp)
Blackout Beach – Skin Of Evil (Soft Abuse)
The Clientele – Bonfires On The Heath (Merge)
Future Of The Left – Travels With Myself And Another (4AD)
Freddie Gibbs – midwestgangstaboxcadillacframemusik (mp3 mixtape)
jj – No 2 (Sincerely Yours)
Junk Culture – West Coast (Illegal Art)
Koushik – Beep Tape (Stones Throw)
Micachu & The Shapes – Jewellery (Rough Trade)
Mountains – Choral (Thrill Jockey)
Mt. Eerie – Wind’s Poem (P.W. Elverum & Co.)
Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms (Lefse)
The Othertet (Engine Studios)
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (Slumberland)
Pens – Hey Friend! What You Doing? (De Stijl)
Pet Shop Boys – Yes (Astralwerks)
Prefab Sprout – Let’s Change The World With Music (Kitchenware U.K.)
Princeton – Cocoon Of Love (Kanine)
Radian – Chimeric (Thrill Jockey)
Ethan Rose – Oaks (Holocene)
The Slew – 100% (Ninja Tune)
Sonic Youth – The Eternal (Matador)
The Strange Boys – And Girls Club (In The Red)
Sunn 0))) – Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)
Al B. Sure! – Honey, I’m Home (Hidden Beach)
Thee American Revolution – Buddha Electrostorm (Garden Gate/Elephant 6)
The Very Best – Warm Heart Of Africa (Green Owl)