As a special year-end feature at Rollo & Grady, we have asked over 60 artists to list the music that they’ve most enjoyed listening to in 2009. Contributors include some of the most talented musicians in the business; they have made some excellent selections and we are thrilled with their participation.

*DEAN WAREHAM – LUNA, GALAXIE 500, DEAN & BRITTA

Papercuts – You Can Have What You Want
Davy Graham – Definitive Anthology
The Feelies – Crazy Rhythms
The Feelies – The Good Earth
Cheval Sombre – Cheval Sombre
Luna – 23 Minutes in Brussels

MATTY MCLOUGHLIN – THE SOFT PACK

1. Kurt Vile – Constant Hitmaker
2. Women – S/T
3. So Cow – So Cow
4. Obits – I Blame You
5. Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
The Soft Pack – Walking With Jesus

*GREG SAUNIER – DEERHOOF

V/A – Le Monde Merveilleux de la Musique de Genre
Joshua Redman – Compass
Cryptacize – Mythomania
Marc Minkowski & Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble – Mass in B Minor (J.S. Bach)
Busdriver – Jhelli Beam
Deerhoof – Milk Man

*JARED SWILLEY – BLACK LIPS

1. The Spits – IV
2. The King Khan and BBQ Show – Invisible Girl
3. The Duchess and The Duke – Sunset/Sunrise
4. Reigning Sound – Love and Curses
5. Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong
Black Lips – Cold Hands

*BLACK JOE LEWIS

Numero Local Customs – Downriver Revival
The Relatives – Don’t Let Me Fall
The Strange Boys – ..and Girls Club
Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3
Lee Fields – My World
Black Joe Lewis – Bitch, I Love You

*BETHANY COSENTINO – BEST COAST

1. Real Estate – Real Estate
2. Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong
3. Abe Vigoda – Reviver EP
4. Wavves – Wavves
5. Lil’ Wayne – No Ceilings
Best Coast – When I’m With You

*TOM BLANKENSHIP – MY MORNING JACKET

Molina and Johnson – Molina and Johnson
Mastodon – Crack the Skye
the Bad Plus – For All I Care
Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk
Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition)
My Morning Jacket – One Big Holiday (Live)

*DAVID WINGO – OLA PODRIDA

1. A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Ashes Grammar
2. J. Tillman – Vacilando Territory Blues
3. Polvo – In Prism
4. Woods – Songs Of Shame
5. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Ola Podrida – Cindy

*THE BLACK ANGELS

1. The Beatles (Remastered Mono Reissues)
2. Wooden Shjips – Dos
3. The Raveonettes – In and Out of Control
4. A Place to Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
5. The Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand
6. The Warlocks – The Mirror Explodes
7. The Strange Boys – and Girls Club
The Black Angels – Bloodhounds On My Trail

*MARTIN COURTNEY IV – REAL ESTATE

Woods – Songs of Shame
Julian Lynch – Orange You Glad
The Beets – Spit on the Face of People Who Don’t Want to Be Cool
Kurt Vile – God is Saying This to You
Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Real Estate – Snow Days

*KEITH WOOD aka HUSH ARBORS

Six Organs of Admittance – Luminous Night
Wand – Born Bad
Cass McCombs – Catacombs
Papercuts – You Can Have What You Want
Woods – Songs of Shame
Hush Arbors – The Light

*THE GROWLERS

King Tuff – Was Dead
The Strange Boys – And Girls Club
Fools Gold – S/T
Jail Weddings – Inconvenient Dreams
Grand Elegance – Cold Winter Dreams
The Growlers – Killed My Woman

*JOE WESTERLUND – MEGAFAUN

1. Jim O’Rourke – The Visitor
2. Sharon Van Etten – Because I Was In Love
3. Staff Benda Bilili – Tres Tres Fort
4. Wes Phillips – 15 Songs
5. The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
Megafaun – Lazy Suicide

*JP – SURFER BLOOD

Holiday Shores – Columbus’d the Whim
Grooms – Rejoicer
Health – Get Color
The Smith Westerns – Self-titled
Real Estate – Self-titled
Surfer Blood – Floating Vibes

*KELLEY DARLIN – THOSE DARLINS

1. King Khan & BBQ Show – Invisible Girl
2. Jeff The Brotherhood – Heavy Days
3. Kurt Vile – Childish Prodigy
4. Heavy Trash – Moonlight Serenade
5. The Kindergarten Circus – The Kindergarten Circus
Those Darlins – Redlight Love (HearYa Live Session 1/11/09)

*WILL JOHNSON – CENTRO-MATIC, JOHNSON & MOLINA

Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
Vic Chesnutt – At The Cut
Mulatu Astatke – New York, Addis, London
Patterson Hood – Murdering Oscar
Sparklehorse + Fennesz – In The Fishtank 15
Dave Rawlings Machine – A Friend of a Friend
AA Bondy – When The Devil’s Loose
Dexateens – Singlewide
Christian Gabel – 1900
V/A – Downriver Revival: Local Customs (Numero 026)
Centro-Matic – Patience for the Ride

*STUART BOGIE – ANTIBALAS, TV ON THE RADIO

Little Dragon – Machine Dreams
Elysian Fields – Afterlife
Harlem Shakes – Technicolor Health
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra – Hilo

*ANGUS & JULIA STONE

Iron and Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
Doveman – The Conformist
Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Eels – Hombre Lobo
Angus & Julia Stone – Private Lawns

*BRANTLEY SENN – DEAD CONFEDERATE

1. Vic Chesnutt – At The Cut
2. Mastodon – Crack The Skye
3. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
4. A Place To Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
5. Mew – No More Stories…
6. Alberta Cross – Broken Side Of Time
7. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
8. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Dead Confederate – The Rat

*ROBERTO CARLOS LANGE aka HELADO NEGRO

1. Guy Fantastico – Nesting
2. Cyne – Water for Mars
3. Prefuse 73 – Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
4. Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
5. DM Stith – Heavy Ghost
Helado Negro – Deja

*SOHRAB HABIBION – OBITS

1. Africa Boogaloo – The Latinization Of West Africa
2. African Pearls: Senegal 70 – Musical Effervescence
3. Ghana Special: Modern Highlife Afro-Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968-81
4. Group Bombino – Guitars of Agadez Vol 2
5. Mulatu Astatke & the Heliocentrics – Inspiration Information 3
6. Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens – What Have You Done My Brother
7. Omar Souleyman – Dabke 2020: Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria
8. Open Strings: 1920s Middle Eastern Recordings – New Responses
9. Panama! Volume 3 – Calypso Panameno, Guajira Jazz & Cumbia Tipica
On The Isthmus 1960-75
10. Psych Funk 101: 1968-1975 A Global Psychedelic Funk Curriculum
Obits – Fake Kinkade

*JASON ISBELL

1. The Beatles Remasters
2. Them Crooked Vultures – S/T
3. Justin Townes Earle – Midnight at the Movies
4. The Ting Tings – We Started Nothing
5. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Jason Isbell – Dress Blues

*PARKER GISPERT – THE WHIGS

St. Vincent – Actor
Antony & The Johnsons – The Crying Light
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
Devendra Banhart – What Will Be
Vetiver – Tight Knit
The Whigs – Violet Furs

*WHITE DENIM

Cass Mccombs – Catacombs
Jim O’Rourke – The Visitor
Brazos – Phosphorescent Blues
Mission of Burma – The Sound the Speed the Light
My Mind – Phat Masher
Dysrhythmia – Psychic Maps
Abner Jay – The True Story of Abner Jay
Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish I Were an Eagle
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
White Denim – ShakeShakeShake

*DEER TICK

Dead Confederate – Wrecking Ball
Those Darlins – S/T
Nirvana – Live at Reading
Phosphorescent – To Willie
The Felice Brothers – Yonder is the Clock
Deer Tick – Dead Flowers

*NIKKI DARLIN – THOSE DARLINS

King Khan & BBQ – Invisible Girl
Deer Tick – Born On Flag Day
The Kindergarten Circus – The Kindergarten Circus
Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand
Heavy Trash – Moonlight Serenade
Those Darlins – Wild One

*THE STRANGE BOYS

Mika Miko – We Be Xuxa
Reigning Sound – Love and Curses
Oh Sees – Help!
King Khan and BBQ – Invisible Girl
Liquour Couch – Self Released Cassette
The Strange Boys – Baby Please Dont Go

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE

Joe Pug – Nation Of Heat
T Bird And The Breaks – Learn About It
Ben Sollee – Learning To Bend
Steel Drivers – Live At The Station Inn
Time Jumpers – At The Station Inn
Felice Brothers – Tonight At The Arizona
Woody Guthrie – My Dusty Road Box
Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit – S/T
Otis Gibbs – One Day Our Whispers
Los Lobos – El Cancionero: Mas y Mas [Box Set]
Justin Townes Earle – Yuma

*JUDD HOWER – NAVAJO BIXBY

Norse Horse – Secret Geographies
African Brothers Dance Band – International
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Atlas Sound – Logos
Real Estate- S/T
Navajo Bixby – Many Ways

*CITAY

1. The Dry Spells – Too Soon for Flowers
2. Vetiver – Tight Knit
3. Mastodon – Crack the Skye
4. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – S/T
5. Papercuts – You Can Have What You Want
Citay – First Fantasy

*YOUNG PRISMS

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Real Estate – Real Estate
The Mayfair Set – Young One
Mantles – Mantles
Small Black – Small Black
Young Prisms – Weekends and Treehouses

*ROB BARBATO – DARKER MY LOVE

Strange Boys – …and Girls Club
A Place to Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
Kurt Vile – Childish Prodigy
Girls – Album
King Tuff – Was Dead
Darker My Love – Two Ways Out

*JOHN DWYER – THEE OH SEES

The Intelligence – Fake Surfers
The UV Race – S/T
Lazarus – The Trickster
Ty Segall – Lemons
Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Goner LP
Thee Oh Sees – Enemy Destruct

*CARTER TANTON – TULSA

Bachelorette – My Electric Family
Califone – All My Friends Are Funeral Singers
Marissa Nadler – Little Hells
Drug Rug – Paint the Fence Invisible
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Tulsa – Mass

*RYAN SOLLEE – THE BUILDERS AND THE BUTCHERS

1. Austin Lucas – Somebody Loves You
2. Joe Pug – In the Meantime
3. Decemberists – Hazards of Love
4. Portugal. The Man -The Satanic Satanist
5. William Elliot Whitmore – Animals in the Dark
The Builders and The Butchers – In The Branches

*ALAN PALOMO – NEON INDIAN

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Girls – Album
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Nite Jewel – Good Evening
Neon Indian – Should Have Taken Acid With You

*HARDY MORRIS – DEAD CONFEDERATE

1. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
2. Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
3. Vic Chesnutt – At The Cut
4. A Place To Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
5. Gift Horse – Gift Horse
6. Twin Tigers – Grey Waves
Dead Confederate – Start Me Laughing

CHRISTOPHER PORPORA aka CHEVAL SOMBRE

Peter Doherty – Grace/Wastelands
Peaches – I Feel Cream
The Pink Mountaintops – Outside Love
The Skygreen Leopards – Gorgeous Johnny
Neil Young – Harvest (Reissue)
Cheval Sombre – The World Is Wrong

*GREG SIMPSON – OBITS

1. Kraftwerk – K4-Bremen Radio 1971
2. The Great Society – Conspicuous Only in Its Absence
3. Ethiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale, 1969-1974
4. The Pretty Things – S.F. Sorrow
5. Cab Calloway – The Hi-De-Ho Man: 1930-1933
Obits – One Cross Apiece

*ALEX KNOST – JAPANESE MOTORS

Crocodiles – Summer of Hate
Dirt Dress – Perdido en la Suciedad
The Soft Pack – The Muslims
Grass Widow – S/T
Growlers – Are You In or Out?
Japanese Motors – Spendin’ Days

*JESSI DARLIN – THOSE DARLINS

1. Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand
2. King Khan and BBQ – Invisible Girl
3. Ty Segall – Lemons
4. The Strange Boys – And Girls club
5. The Kindergarten Circus – S/T
Those Darlins – The Whole Damn Thing (HearYa Live)

*AMBULANCES

Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Jesca Hoop – Hunting My Dress
The Amorphous Androgynous
A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Mind Vol 2 – Pagan Love Vibrations
Monsters Of Folk – Monsters Of Folk
Cate Le Bon – Me Oh My
Ambulances – What I Thought Of

*SHAYDE SARTIN – THE FRESH & ONLYS

Girls – Album
Sonny & The Sunsets – Tomorrow Is Alright
Grass Widow – Grass Widow
Dutchess & The Duke – Sunset/Sunrise
Cass McCombs – Catacombs
The Fresh & Onlys – Fog Machine

*THE LIVING SISTERS

Tinariwen – Companions
Decemberists – Hazards of Love
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Greyboy All-Stars & The Living Sisters – How Glad I Am

*CARRE CALLAWAY aka QUEEN KWONG

The Horrors – Primary Colors
Fever Ray – Self-Titled
Tom Waits – Glitter and Doom (Live)
Leonard Cohen – Live in London
Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Queen Kwong – Out Out Out

*PETE SHAND – NEW MASTERSOUNDS

1. Thievery Corporation – Radio Retaliation
2. Matisyahu – Light
3.Breakestra – Dusk till Dawn
4.Sly and Robbie – Movin’ On
5.Karl Denson – Brother’s Keeper
The New Mastersounds – Give Me a Minute, Pt. 2

*BENJAMIN VERDOES – MT. ST. HELENS VIETNAM BAND

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Rooftops – A Forest of Polarity
Akron/Family – Set Em Wild Set Em Free
Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
Nurses – Apple’s Acre
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band – Albatross, Albatross, Albatross

*ETHAN HOLTZMAN – DENGUE FEVER

1. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
2. Javelin – Jamz n Jemz
3. Chico Sonido – Chico Sonido
4. Mahsa – Oyun Havasi!
5. The Story of Ethio Jazz by Mulatu Astatque
Dengue Fever – Tiger Phone Card

*WETDOG

Blank Dogs – Under And Under
Telepathe – Dance Mother
Micachu and the Shapes – Jewellery
Guess What – S/T
Crystal Stilts – Alight of Night
Wetdog – Lower Leg

*JASON RUEGER – WE ARE COUNTRY MICE

Kurt Vile – God Is Saying This To You…
Micheal Hurley – Ida Con Snock
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Real Estate – Real Estate
Japandroids – Post-Nothing
We Are Country Mice – Ballad of John

*THEE VICARS

Almighty Defenders – S/T
Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand
The Branded – Shout & Holler
Los Explosivos – S/T
Muck and The Mires – Hypnotic
Thee Vicars – Feel So Good

*HAROULA ROSE

Bon Iver – For Emma Forever Ago
Orenda Fink – Ask The Night
Jessica Lea Mayfield – With Blasphemy So Heartfelt
AA Bondy – When The Devil’s Loose
Sea Wolf – White Blossom, White Bloom
Haroula Rose – Christmas For Cowboys

*MICHAEL TAPSCOTT – ODAWAS

1. Fever Ray – Fever Ray
2. Scott Tuma & Mike Weis – Taradiddle
3. Tiny Vipers – Life on Earth
4. Oneohtrix Point Never – Rifts Trilogy – Betrayed in the Octagon, Russian Mind
5. Dolphins Into the Future – …On Seafaring Isolation
6. Super Minerals – Clusters
7. Zelienople – Hollywood
8. Mount Eerie – Wind Poem
9. darwinsbitch – Ore
10. Mokira – Persona
Odawas – Harmless Lover’s Discourse

*EMILY KOKAL – WARPAINT

1. John Frusciante – The Empyrean
2. Squarepusher – Numbers Lucent EP
3. Fever Ray – Fever Ray
4. Built to Spill – There Is No Enemy
5. Micachu – Jewellery
Warpaint – Krimson

*SONOS

1. Ben McLain: – Discovery – LP
2. Paul Peglar: – The Bird and The Bee – Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future
3. Jessica Freedman: – Imogen Heap – Ellipse
4. Katharine Hoye: – Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
5. Rachel Bearer: – The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
6. Christopher Harrison: – Masada Quintet – Stolas: the Book of Angels, Vol. 12
Sonos – White Winter Hymnal (Fleet Foxes Cover)

*NOLAN HALL – JAPANESE MOTORS

Atlas Sound – Logos
Strange Boys – And Girls Club
Deerhunter – Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young
Crocodiles -Summer Of Hate

*BEN HUTCHINSON – GAOLER’S DAUGHTER

1. Bob Dylan- Christmas in the Heart
2. Morrissey – Years of Refusal
3. The Cribs – Ignore The Ignorant
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
5. The Dead Weather – Horehound
Gaoler’s Daughter – Nine Pieces Of Silk

*ADAM SPITTLER – FOREST FIRE

Top 5 Live Acts:
Shilpa Ray
Dirty Projectors
Screaming Females
Sunn ((O))
Lightning Bolt
Forest Fire – I Make Windows

*BEAR DRIVER

5. St. Vincent – Actor
4. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of being pure at Heart
3. Bill Callahan – Sometimes I wish we were an eagle
2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
1. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Bear Driver – Thousand Samurais

*RICK FROBERG – OBITS

Ivy Green – Ivy Green
Disappears – Live
Billy Nicholls – Snapshot
FU2 – Depressions
Tijuana Panthers – Creature 7″

*ED ANDERSON – BACKYARD TIRE FIRE

Cracker – Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey
Mother Hips – Pacific Dust
Steve Earle – Townes
Bloodkin – Baby, They Told Us We Would Rise Again
Levon Helm – Electric Dirt
Backyard Tire Fire – Downtime

*DUSTIN PAYSEUR – BEACH FOSSILS

Trick Daddy – Finally Famous: Born a Thug, Still a Thug
Jimmy Buffet – Buffet Hotel
Alvin and the Chipmunks – The Squeakquel: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Kenny Chesney – Greatest Hits II
Liza Minnelli – Liza’s At The Palace…!
Beach Fossils – Time

*ROYAL BANGS

Chris: Micachu – Jewellery
Ryan: Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Sam: The Beatles – Revolver (Remastered)
Henry: Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Brandon: Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
Royal Bangs – My Car is Haunted

*WALKER HOWLE – DEAD CONFEDERATE

1. Alberta Cross – Broken Side Of Time
2. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
3. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
4. Twin Tigers – Grey Waves
5. Vic Chesnutt – At The Cut
Dead Confederate – Is It A Rose (Live on MOKB radio)

*SCOTT GURSKY – OBITS

1. Disappears – Over the Rainbo
2. Eddie Cochran – Story Vol. 1-5
3. The Misunderstood – Lost Acetates 1965-1966
4. The Soft Pack – The Muslims
5. Endless Boogie – Vol. 1-2

*SHARON VAN ETTEN

1. The Antlers – Hospice - They’ve worked really hard. They are genuine, sweet, honest people and every time I put the record on, I am reminded of that.

2. She Keeps Bees – Nests - Jess and Andy are amazing together. They have the best rock show hands down I have ever seen – and her voice SLAYS. Be on the look out for a light coming your way through blues methods.

3. Natureboy – Natureboy – Her arrangements are STUNNING and her songwriting is classic. Gets stuck in my head every time. And Sarah’s voice reminds me of Betty Serveert which was one of my favorite bands in high school – so I get SUPER reminiscent.

4. Glass Ghost – Idol Omen – Another really hard working ny band. I got to play with them a few times and it is so exciting to see them go further and further. I have been looking forward to this one for over a year now. Crazy mix of hip hop, indie, jazz, spoken word. David Byrne reincarnation – no doubt.

5. Rain Machine – Rain Machine - Kyp Malone is the most balls out, risk taking, honest, blunt writers I have ever met and have been lucky enough to know and to play with. I played with him when he was still playing these songs solo. To see them grow (organically) with his friends – to see his ideas brought to a whole new level is so exciting to me. It’s rare to get this kind of honesty in music these days… and to hear and understand his incites has always been inspiring to me.
Sharon Van Etten – Save Yourself

*TOM OLIVIER – ELECTRIC TICKLE MACHINE

1. Thee Oh Sees – Help – I kept hearing songs I liked in the bars we were playing or places I was hanging out and 81.9% of the time the sound gun was spinning Thee Oh Sees. I bought a record when I got home and it’s joyously demented. Nice strange harmonies. Looking forward to checking out their back catalog.

2. Girls – Album – I bought this cd in Charlotte, North carolina at lunchbox records, and by the laws of tour van displacement, it wound up in an ETM promo cd which I gave to either a soulful gentleman in Atlanta or maybe clark’s amazing, cookie-making aunt. “God Damned” is such a nice take Ariel Pink’s west coast lo-fi “weird”-emoting. It’s pop with all the right vetements…

3. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion – I don’t think more deserving gush is needed regarding this album. The only date I set with the record store this year was for this release. Showed up at noon oclock, bought the double disc vinyl and went back to my apartment to listen to it with Ryan (etm synth/organ) before practice. We shut up and listened to the record straight through. Win.

4. The Intelligence – Fake Surfers - A friend recommended me this record and I’ve been listening to it for a few months now. It’s a stark, surfy, barbituratel slide with multidimensional production and post-human revelry. Ahhh. Probably my favorite of the year.

5. Daniel Johnston – Is and Always Was – I really fell in love with Daniel’s music when I was interning for a music publishing company and had the job of finding and archiving his lyrics. I’ve had the chance to see him a few times and it makes me feel incredibly hopeful. Power words. I bought this album in Texas and haven’t gotten too deep in but it’s nice to hear Daniel sing on an album that (I hope) resembles more closely what he hears in his head. i’d be interested to hear how he feels about it.
PS- lookout for Light Asylum, Patrick Cleandenim, Light Asylum and Behavior in 2010.
Electric Tickle Machine (Ft. Mared Lenny) – Women Are The New Men

*MARK HAMILTON – WOODPIGEON

1. Deerhunter – Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.
The record I’ve gone back to more often than any other this year. That said, there’s two distinct sides to the same coin here, with Weird Era Cont. playing off of Microcastle beautifully. (Bonus points for Atlas Sound’s Logos coming in the same year).

2. Ryan Doyle – Motor Works
Ryan Doyle is a New York City folk singer whose songs are the absolute perfect synthesis of tune and lyric. He pores over this stuff like a modern-day Cohen, and it truly shows in the brilliance of his songs.

3. BETH JEANS HOUGHTON – Hot Toast Volume 1
Beth’s going to rule 2010. It’s written in the cards. Sure, Hot Toast Volume 1, is but a 5-song EP, but damn it all if these songs didn’t haunt my head throughout the year. (I was lucky to hear a couple of them in demo form late last year, and even then it was obvious how great she’s going to be).

4. Knots – The Blistering Sun, The Pale Moon, Hahahaha
Calgary-turned-Montreal songsmith Neal Moignard released one of this year’s finest records, a quiet, minimalist cycle that plays out like a sunset leading into perfect moon-lit night.

5. Hidden Cameras – Origin: Orphan
Admittedly, it wasn’t until after I saw the Origin: Orphan live show that the record really broke through for me – but there are indeed some truly gorgeous tunes at play here. Check (especially) ‘Colour of a Man’.
Woodpigeon – Home Is A Romanticized Concept ….

*FORT KNOX FIVE

1. The New Gold Standard 2 (Fort Knox Recordings)
We are really excited about The New Gold Standard 2. It features tunes from all of the artists releasing music on Fort Knox Recordings.

2. Mystics by Ursula 1000 (ESL Music)
Ursula 1000 is one of our closest music collaborators. He released the most amazing album in 2009. The title track Mystics defines Anthem.

3. Join the Dots by The Nextmen
The Nextmen have to be one of our favorite producers duos. These guys can kill any style of music. Big ups to them!

4. Break Da Funk by Badboe
A relative newcomer on the European Funk Breaks scene. Badboe has super phat n chunky beats!

5. Cut Ups, Bruck Ups & Muck Ups Vol 1 by Nice Up & Jstar Present
Our Muck Up Masters from the UK are destroying it with their solid versions! Keep doing what you do!
Fort Knox Five – The Brazilian Hipster

*PATTERSON HOOD – DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS

BEST OF THE DECADE LIST
1. The Glands – The Glands
My favorite album of the decade and also my all time favorite album ever to come out of Athens GA. It came out in 2000 and is still growing on me nearly a decade later.
Unfortunately it came out on Capricorn in the waning days of their attempt at resurgence and virtually no one outside of Athens heard it, but of those who have there is a cult of us who feel exactly like I do about it. They never released a followup and Ross now manages a record store in town. A truly timeless masterpiece that gets better with every listen (and I’ve listened to it weekly for over nine years now).

2. Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator) - Another timeless masterpiece and truly my favorite songwriting of the decade. At least three of these songs would be in my top 5 for the decade and “Elvis Presley Blues” is the all time greatest song ever written about a subject that I long considered closed. (That is meant as very high praise and not as a left handed compliment). I suspect I’ll still be playing this one a lot in ten more years.

3. Bob Dylan – Love and Theft (or Modern Times or Together Through Life) – Honestly I could interchange these, as any one of them could sit here nicely. I’ll give the edge to L&T since it came out first and therefore has spent the most time in my player. Released on 9/11/01, (the same day my band released Southern Rock Opera) L&T is truly an album of a different time and yet strangely timely as an unintended soundtrack to a suddenly changed America. One of those spooky coincidences that Dylan has spent a career bumping into, the album somehow managed to be timely while also somehow seeming like it could have been just as timely in 1956, at the apex of an American century that was suddenly violently closed. Taken as a three album set, the three Dylan albums (not counting a stellar outtakes Bootleg Series release and a laughable Xmas album) make for a late-life artistic peak that goes far beyond any such in the Rock and Roll Era. Old Man Dylan is my favorite era of his amazing career and he’s totally my pick for Artist of the Decade.

4. Outkast – Stankonia – Before Jay Z “retired” and Kanye West became a parody of himself, hip hop was actually hitting a peak at the dawning of this century and no one was making cooler records than Atlanta’s Outkast. Stankonia is truly their masterpiece. “Ms. Jackson” is in my top 3 favorite songs of the decade and this album transcends it’s (or any) genre. It still holds up (timeless again) nearly a decade later when most of its contemporaries now sound dated and sometimes silly.

5. White Stripes – White Blood Cells – They made being Rock Stars almost seem cool again. Big fun, goofy, funny, and smart. Rocking as hell, any nay-sayers must admit how well this album is holding up. Then they followed it up with three more stellar releases, plus an array of side projects and extra points for bringing Loretta back in such incredible style.

6. Iron And Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
7. Radiohead – in Rainbows
8. Centro-matic – Love You Just The Same – My favorite band’s best album, although only by inches as I could just about interchange any one of their 6-7 albums this decade and come out nearly as well.
9. PJ Harvey – Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. Another 2000 release that I still have on rotation.
10. Wilco – Kicking Television (Live in Chicago) < My favorite Live Rock and Roll album since Live At Fillmore East (Allman Brothers).
11. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose < The Comeback of the Century (so far).
12. Radiohead - Kid A
13. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
14. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
15. James McMurtry - Childish Things
16. Iron and Wine - (TIE) The Creek Drank The Cradle / Our Endless Numbered Days
17. Gillian Welch - Hell Among The Yearlings
18. Outkast - The Love Below / Speakerboxxx
19. Bloodkin - Baby They Told Us We Would Rise Again
My Favorite Album of 2009 / "Rhododendron" is my favorite song of the year.
20. Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
21. M. Ward - Post War
22. Tom Waits - Alice
23. Centro-matic - Distance and Clime
24. Patty Griffin - Living With Ghosts
25. Vic Chesnutt - North Star Deserter

I didn't list Bettye LaVette's - Scene Of The Crime, as I felt it would be lame to since I played on it and co-produced it, however I honestly can say that it would definitely be pretty high on that list otherwise.

BEST ALBUMS OF 2009

Favorite Album – Bloodkin – Baby They Told Us We Would Rise Again
On the surface, no frills, meat and potatoes rock (and damn proud of it) but a closer listen reveals the finest songwriting all year as this 24 year old band sings the horrifying tale of their trip back from the abyss and sees it through to a joyous life-affirming conclusion. Its like that Leaving Las Vegas movie with a happy ending, unbelievable if weren’t true. Such well treaded territory would suck if not for the magnificence of its execution. “Rhododendron” is the finest songwriting I’ve seen all year and “The Viper” and “Heavy With Child” are just as good. Meanwhile “Easter Eggs” is the best song of man love I’ve ever heard (including Bobby Jean and Angie).

2. Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
3. Iron And Wine – Around The Well
4. PJ Harvey and John Parish – A Woman A Man Walked By
5. Girls – Album
6. M. Ward – Hold Time
7. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
8. The Dexateens – Singlewide
9. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
10. The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

I just recently caught up with 9 and 10 and they could well move up in coming months.
I’m sure there’s several albums lurking out there that I will love just as much that I haven’t found yet. I’m always looking and listening so I’m sure the list will change up until next years.

Best Reissue(s) – The Jesus Lizard Reissues
Favorite Song – “Rhododendron” (Bloodkin)
Favorite Tracks – “Black Hearted Love” (PJ Harvey and John Parish) / “Belated Promise Ring” (Iron and Wine)
Favorite Live Performance – Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings / Iron and Wine at No Depression Festival in Seattle this summer.
Patterson Hood – Heavy and Hanging

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Tags: Artists Pick the Best Albums of 2009

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