The Year in Music

I'm starting to work on my Best of 2009 albums list (as I always do around this time), and I've come to a realization. 2009 has been an astonishingly good year for music. While last year was a fairly decent year, it paled in comparison to 2007's brilliance. This year may be on par with 2007, which is incredible.

It's especially fantastic given the fact that a lot of the albums that I was most excited for (Andrew Bird's Noble Beast, Discovery's Discovery LP, The Decemberists' Hazards of Love, to name a few) were disappointing to say the least. Yet as all good years of music are, this has been a year of discoveries. Whether it's YACHT's See Mystery Lights, The xx's Xx, Wild Beasts' Two Dancers, or any number of other albums, I've been blown away by the new talent on the music scene.

Not to say that albums from seasoned veterans have not struck a chord with me, as Portugal. the Man continued their growth with The Satanic Satanists, The Thermals put out their best album yet with Now We Can See, Phoenix put out the best pop album in recent memory with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, and Animal Collective made the indie world crap their collective pants with the release of Merriweather Post Pavilion.

In short, it's going to be a competitive year in my top 20. I think a lot of great albums are not going to make my list. While that is sad for them (I know musicians all vie for my affection, right?), it's great for us as fans of music. With all that said, the month isn't even out yet! We still have time for sneaky awesome releases! I shudder to think about what the rest of the year could have in store with us.

To share a bit of the good music, check out the ridiculousness that is Portland, Oregon's YACHT. Don't miss the intro to track 2 section, in which they hysterically share their address with all of Paris and invite everyone to visit them. Thanks so much to my friends at Grandcrew.com for sharing this with me. Make sure to visit their site for a great selection of concert videos.