don't look back in anger

well it's that time of year, again.... time to take a look back at this year in music.   this is my 2nd annual retrospective; i wonder how many years i can keep this up.  


the year has been full of ups and downs.  we had to say goodbye to oasis, danity kane and the verve.  but we blissfully waved hello to monsters of folk, the dead weather and nick jonas and the administration!  you all put a ring on it.  some of us went to the theaters to get one more glimpse at the life and times of biggie smalls (or maybe that was just me?).  you did more than "just dance" with lady gaga; you donned her hair and outrageous outfits and probably bought her album twice.  we buried michael jackson.  and les paul and that guy from chk chk chk.  aqua released their first single since 2000.  kylie minogue finally brought her tour to the usa.  and we didn't crown a gay american idol...


here's the list of my 15 favorite albums of 2009.  there were so many, it was tough to narrow it down.  and sadly, i had to leave off pitbull's rebelution.  that album had soo many great hits! 


15. yeah yeah yeahs - it's blitz
14. gossip - music for men
13. antony and the johnsons - the crying light
12. the dead weather - horehound
11. jay-z - the blueprint 3
10. monsters of folk - monsters of folk
9.  peter bjorn and john - living thing
8.  bibio - ambivalence avenue
7.  junior boys - begone dull care
6.  lady gaga - the fame monster
5.  yuksek - away from the sea
4.  simian mobile disco - temporary pleasure
3.  phoenix - wolfgang amadeus phoenix
2.  animal collective - merriweather post pavilion     
1.  grizzly bear - veckatimest


now let's talk about the worst albums of 2009.  boy, were there so many disappointments!   so many highly anticipated albums were released, only to leave us with a ton of wasted space in our itunes libraries.      


i expected better from you people:

• adam lambert - for your entertainment (too theatrical and 15 too many screams)
• the sounds - crossing the rubicon (just not fresh enough)
• calvin harris - ready for the weekend
• rihanna - rated r
• muse - the resistance (too much of the same!)
• mariah carey - memoirs of an imperfect angel 
• backstreet boys - this is us
• arctic monkeys - humbug
• imogen heap - ellipse (not raw enough)
• the mars volta - the octahedron 

as we depart from 2009 and embark on a new year and new decade, i can only imagine that 2010 will be full of more surprises and more re-worked beats of the 80s, 90s and 2000s.  since we're recycling a lot of things from the 90s, can someone please write a song with a sample from arrested development's "mr. wendal"?!  


albums, eps and singles to look forward to in 2010: 

• vampire weekend - contra (due january 12th)
• cold war kids - behave yourself (due january 19th)
• beach house - teen dream (due january 26th)  (this is sooooooooooooooooo so good)
• marina & the diamonds - the family jewels (due february 1st)
• hot chip - one life stand (due february 9th)
• ted leo & the pharmacist - the brutalist bricks (due march 9th)
• mgmt - congratulations (due spring)
• lcd soundsystem (due march, 2010)
• she & him - volume two (due march 23rd)
• panda bear
• ellie goulding
• interpol
• midlake
• crystal castles
• hard-fi
• britney spears (due may 2010)
• head automatica - swan damage (due 2010)  (do we still like them?)
• smashing pumpkins - teagarden by kaleidyscope (january 2010)  (without founding drummer jimmy chamberlin)
• christina aguilera
• dr. dre
• my chemical romance
• no doubt
• the strokes
• missy elliott
• and TLC (minus lisa "left-eye" lopes, obvs)

and i'm personally looking foward to the release of TI from fcc forrest city in march.  come to mama.