Best Albums of 2009

Music is My Girlfriend's Best Albums of 2009
Counted down via radio on 12/21 & 12/28

In addition to the 25 LPs below, you should also check out the EPs released by Suckers & Airwaves this year.

25. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Summer of Fear
24. Papercuts - You Can Have What You Want
23. Jookabox - Dead Zone Boys
22. The Dutchess & the Duke - Sunset / Sunrise
21. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below
20. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
19. The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa
18. Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue
17. St. Vincent - Actor
16. Yacht - See Mystery Lights
15. The Thermals - Now We Can See
14. The Antlers - Hospice
13. Dan Deacon - Bromst
12. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
11. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
10. Music Go Music - Expressions
9. Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
8. Girls - Album
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
6. Handsome Furs - Face Control
5. Generationals - Con Law
4. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
2. Cotton Jones - Paranoid Coccoon
1. The xx - The xx



Check the playlists here and here. Astute listeners/readers may notice a mistake made on my part...

Second One to Know

12/14 Show
With 2009 winding down, I tried to put together a show filled with many of my favorite songs of the year. Unfortunately, two hours was not nearly enough time to fit in all of the good stuff, so don't read the playlist as a definitive list. If you listen to the show regularly, you've heard most of these tunes before, but that doesn't mean you don't need to hear them over and over and over.

There was also some new music played this week:


- Ridiculously late on this one, but if haven't yet heard Charlotte Gainsborough's "IRM" (with help from Beck), follow the link(s) to download it now. It's really good.

- Fast, loose, fun: Harlem's "Friendly Ghost". And their album is named Hippies. What could be better?

- Surf, garage & punk rolled into one. Nothing new, in fact it almost sounds like a Soft Pack song (see below). Dirt Dress: "Sonic Death"

- The Fresh & Onlys, yet another band that can't afford a proper recording studio this year: "Second One to Know"

- Denmark quintet Oh No Ono will release their self-produced album Eggs early next year. Put it on your list. "Helplessly Young"

- Belle & Sebastian influences all over this one, with even more of a 60s pop sound: Gigi's "The Old Graveyard". The second song on this post to sing about graveyards.

- I'm a fan of the Soft Pack, and now we have a studio recording of "C'mon" to go with that Laundromatinee session a while back.

- Broken Social Scene member Jason Collett is preparing to release Rat a Tat Tat this coming March. Check out the R&B influenced "Love is a Dirty Word".

Coming soon... Music Is My Girlfriend's Top Albums of 2009

Careful With That Hat

12/07 Show
Of particular note this week:

- Spoon unveiled (via NPR) the first new single from their upcoming Transference LP (out 1/19/09 in the US). The excellent "Got Nuffin" is on the album, but I guess that didn't count as the first single for some reason. Here's a live version from last summer if you're so inclined. Anyhow, "Written in Reverse" is pretty much the fuzzy, catchy, slightly cryptic power pop we've come to expect from Spoon. Not their finest, but it won't stop me from eagerly awaiting their new album.

- Citay isn't afraid to write 7 minute long songs with a wealth of instrumental solos & a dearth of lyrics: "Careful With That Hat". Bravo to them, we need more of this.

- Said the Gramophone recently posted their Best Songs of 2009. Artists I played off this list today: Micachu & the Shapes, tUnE-YaRdS, Bear in Heaven, Burning Hearts, & Bombadil. Absolutely worth checking out. In this day and age, Best Song lists seem more relevant than Best Album lists, even though we all love making them anyway.

- Both Air Waves & Neon Indian had Daytrotter sessions released this past week, and they're both worth your time.

- Van She cover Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper", and I guess I'm thankful they didn't take Christopher Walken's advice. (This "remix" did, and it makes me want to throw up).

- I have some close ties to the Portland, OR hip-hop outfit Good Biz, so I'm excited to see them coming to Crested Butte this Saturday. Should be a good time.

Check out the full playlist.

Birthday Radio

11/30 Show
In celebration of my girlfriend Heather's birthday, I played a whole lot of music that she enjoys today. Among them: Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire, The Knife, Radiohead, Red Cortez, The National, Jonathan Richman, Cut Copy & many more. Awesomely, that's also a bunch of music that I like.

Check out the full playlist.

Also, this; because "music videos are so much easier to digest than movies":