Best CDs of 2009 (in no particular order)...
1. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
If you liked American Idiot, you'll like this one too. It's basically "American Idiot, part 2" -- a bit more focused sounding, with less up front political messages.
2. Propaghandi - Supporting Caste
Canada represent! :)
3. Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe
DM are still my favorite band of all-time. I'm completely bias, I admit it.
4. Taking Back Sunday - New Again
They just keep getting better and better at the songwriting. I'm still partial to "Tell All Your Friends", but this CD isn't half-bad. :)
5. LadyFinger NE - Dusk
If Mastodon wrote a pop album, it would sound like this.
6. Say Anything - s/t
I wish Say Anything was marketed differently. I fear they're getting typecast as one of the thousands of emo-screamo-indie-whatever bands around right now. But the fact of the matter is, they don't sound ANYthing like those bands, and their songwriting is better than most as well.
7. The Kimberly Trip - Generation Stereotype (best engineering job on any TKT album yet!)
I'm bias, because these are good friends of mine, but I wouldn't put a disc in the "top 10 of the year" list if I didn't think it was deserved.
8. They Might Be Giants - Here Comes Science!
The world is a better place because of They Might Be Giants...and now people know how far the Earth is from the sun too! :)
9. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Remember when Queens of The Stone Age released "Songs for the Deaf", and we all couldn't stop listening to it, but had no idea WHY we couldn't stop listening to it, since it was overall such a weird album?! That's how I feel about this Mastodon disc.
10. Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing
I'm not really into the huge alt-country-indie-hipster scene that's getting popular now, but it seems that i AM into these pseudo-christian-alt-country-hipster bands that are coming up at the same time. Apparently.
+1 for good measure...
11. Brand New - Daisy (This came VERY close to being my "disappointment of the year" CD, but after a few more listens, it grew on me. Nowhere NEAR as brilliant as their previous discs, but still very worth checking out.)
Honorable Mentions...
mewithoutyou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright! (their previous album was about 50 times better)
Rancid - Let The Dominoes Fall
The Mountain Goats - The Life Of the World To Come
All American Rejects - When The World Comes Down
Bob Mould - Life and Times
Jeremy Enigk -- OK Bear
Elvis Costello - Sugarcane
Pearl Jam - Backspacer
Bowling For Soup - Sorry for Partying
Disappointment of the year...
Bruce Springsteen "Working On A Dream” – I think these songs were leftover from the "Radio Nowhere" sessions; it's an incredibly mediocre sounding disc that feels like a bunch of leftover songs. Fortunatetly it includes a "making of" DVD, which i always appreciate (even when included by bands that I don't listen to -- sometimes that will get me to purchase a CD by an otherwise uninteresting band), but after listening to the disc, I haven't been motivated to watch it yet.
Looking forward to in 2010....new stuff from Eels, Deftones, Rival Schools, Kevin Seconds, and FAR!...also rumours of new stuff from Dead Milkmen, and Grandmaster Flash...hopefully those will turn into reality.