1. Alberta Cross- Broken Side of Time

2. The Boxer Rebellion- Union

3. Heat-Ray- Love All Over

4. Lovvers- OCD Go Go Go Girls

5. Fruit Bats- The Ruminant Band

6. Royal Treatment Plant- Hope Is Not Enough

7. Boat Beam- Puzzle Shapes

8. The Mountain Goats- The Life of the World to Come

9. The XX- S/T

10. The Big Pink- A Brief History of Love

11. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- S/T

12. Julian Plenti- …Is Skyscraper

13. Jason Lytle- Yours Truly, The Commander

14. The Joy Formidable- A Ballon Called Morning

15. Gliss- Devotion/Implosion

16. Grand Analog- Metropolis Is Burning

17. The Black Box Revelation- Set Your Head On Fire

18. Ten City Nation- At The Still Point

19. Jaydiohead- S/T

Jaydiohead – 99 Anthems from Max Tannone on Vimeo.

20. It Hugs Back- Inside Your Guitar

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1) The Boxer Rebellion: Union- If you loved The Verve and remember when it was still cool to like U2, you ought to be listening to this band.  This self-released album topped the U.S. and U.K. ITunes charts the week it debuted.  I’d like to think that TBR is our little secret, but I suspect there are a lot of you out there.

2) The Pains of Being Pure At Heart: Self-Titled- As British as The Boxer Rebellion sound, THOBPAH bring a sound that is distinctly super American chunky.  Great melodies that merge with an indie sensibility that is far from self-indulgent.

3) Gliss: Devotion/Implosion- Like watching the most beautiful carousel you’ve ever seen, Gliss switch instruments and vocal duties effortlessly and make you swoon every time.  How much do I love the re-emergence of the distortion pedal in music?  In a year where the great ideas of the 80′s are given new life, Gliss simulatneously seem original yet nostalgic.  I hate to throw the  JAMC reference around this list too much, but they were a brilliant band and Gliss make me realize what they’d have  become with better vocals and less self-indulgence.

4) An Horse: Rearrange Beds- 2-piece from Australia that harkens back to the best of The Spinanes (look it up.  you’ll love it.).  I interviewed them days after they first arrived in America after this album was released.  With an appearance on Letterman and accolades from numerous magazines, we can expect An Horse to be on many year-end lists for many years to come.  Deservedly so.

5) White Lies- To Lose My Life: Equal parts The Teardrop Explodes, Joy Division and Interpol.  Certainly enough to make Brandon Flowers shut up forever (hopefully…).  I had predicted that this would be my album of the year after hearing a few cuts.  If I have any complaint, it’s that the second half of the record is a little uneven.  Still a tremendous effort, though.

6) Zee Avi- Zee Avi-  This one snuck on the list at the last second!  I posted her brilliant cover of “First of the Gang” previously and just got a copy of the album this week.  Since then, I’ve had it on an endless loop.  Prepare to here a voice that will melt you in a second.  To compare someone’s voice to Billie Holiday isn’t something I would do on a whim.  The album alternates from moody, to playful, to beautiful in a way that seems natural.  An amazing debut.  Prepare to read about her for the next six months and the rest of your life.

7) East Hundred- Passenger: Erroneously posted in our revised ‘Best of 2008′, this was actually released in January of 2009.  Why this band isn’t on a major label is one of this years’ great mysteries.  Perfect vocal melodies from Beril Guceri coupled with a band that can write music that isn’t dependent on ‘hooks’, yet sticks in your head.  Quite a combination and a recipe for a great album.

Crocodiles- Summer of Hate: Fresh off their network debut on Carson Daly’s televsion show, this is a band with unbelievable potential.  Their resemblence to Psychocandy/ Mary Chain-style is eerie.  When they release their ‘Darklands’ expect them to be huge.

9) Jason Lytle- Yours Truly The Commuter: Yes, it’s the singer from Grandaddy.  Yes, it’s as good as anything Grandaddy did.  Anything other questions?

10) Gomez- A New Tide: I’ve intentionally posted this video which just shows the album cover, while the opening track plays.  Perhaps the best “pop” song I’ve heard in years.  Close your eyes and let this soak into your eardrums.

Eminem, Eric Clapton, Tori Amos, Kenny Chesney, Iron & Wine…..wait, Iron & Wine?!  Hallejuah, maybe there’s hope after all!

Iron & Wine: Around The Well: A collection of out of print or unreleased tracks and sure to sit in your Ipod while sitting on the beach this summer.

Jason Lytle- Yours Truly, The Commander: Former Grandaddy lead singer and mastermind releases a great (yes, great) collection of songs that stick to the style we’ve come to know and love.  Certainly a possibility to make my top ten of the year.

Superchunk- Leaves In The Gutter: Only an EP, but it’s Superchunk so you need to buy it.  We posted one song from this in “The Library” last week.  Now go buy it.

The Warlocks- The Mirror Explodes: Remember those days of getting stoned and listening to Spiritualized all day?  Me neither, but this white light, white heat from Australia might jar a few brain cells back to life.

Drop Nineteens (whom Amazon.com call “Nineteens”- Delaware: I don’t usually mention reissues, but this one will fly under most people’s radar.  Great U.S. band who were equal parts shoegaze and Pixies.  Also contains the greatest Barry Manilow cover ever.

Oh yeah, Passion Pit released a new album (zzzz).  The cool kids have already put it on their top 10 of 2009 without listening to it.  Guaranteed.

In other news:

I’ve always had a love/hate thing with The Libertines.  They were never the “second coming of The Clash” that they were initially touted to be.  Nonetheless, they (and Babyshambles) had a few great songs, so a reunion is pretty interesting to me.  Someone at NME taped the show from the side of the stage.  Why couldn’t they get a better angle?

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shhh…Radiohead started recording a new album. Please be quiet so they can focus.

NME lists their ‘10 tracks you have to hear this week‘…Note to NME: obvs most of this is the typical crap that you usually like.  The Veronicas- Untouched might be the worst song I’ve heard since Men Without Hats- The Safety Dance.  (your welcome.  don’t twit me when you’re still humming that this evening…).  But ‘William” by LoveLikeFire?!  Isn’t that just East Hundred with more tambourines and less skill?  Ok song, but am I to assume that their mile-long media  and legal “team” (as listed on their myspace page.  See that section on the left…keep scrolling down.  No that’s not all, keep going.  Wow!) would have advised them to focus on putting in a reasonable chorus and not worry about the fancy MySpace layout…  Try listening to the EH album.  That’s they way to do it.

In conclusion, I’m deeply troubled that Karl Rovehas begun following us on Twitter.  Perhaps he wants to see if we’re still printing articles like this.  I assume it has more to do with our love of Rachel Maddow and less to do with his fondness for indie rock….