despite nothing blowing my mind this year, i'd say 2009 has been chock full of great, solid albums that i will still be reaching for many years to come. i had a hard time really ranking these + a lotta shit i heard later in the year and never had a chance to rank, but this'll do:

1. califone - all my friends are funeral singers
2. wilco - wilco (the album)
3. alela diane - to be still
4. j. tillman - year in the kingdom / vaccilando territory blues (2 seperate releases, but i'm counting 'em as one so i can squeeze one more in the top 20)
5. the phantom band - checkmate savage
6. llhasa - s/t
7. vetiver - tight knit
8. assemble head in sunburst sound - when sweet sleep returned
9. wye oak - the knot
10. steve kilbey & martin kennedy - unseen music, unheard words
11. dan auerbach - keep it hid
12. yo la tengo - popular songs
13. NOMO - invisible cities
14. lucero - 1372 overton park
15. the raveonettes - in and out of control
16. soulsavers - broken
17. camera obscura - my maudlin career
18. richard hawley - truelove's gutter
19. a.a. bondy - when the devil's loose
20. super furry animals - dark days/light years

honorable mention (the next 20 - which many could easily substitute in for 15-20 above)

21. the twilight sad - forget the night ahead
22. yeah yeah yeahs - it's blitz
23. the xx - xx
24. phoenix - wolfgang amadaeus phoenix
25. the flaming lips - embryonic
26. bonnie 'prince' billy - beware
27. dinosaur jr. - farm
28. the cave singers - welcome joy
29. the clientele - bonfires on the heath
30. radio moscow - brain cycles
31. espers - III
32. devendra banhart - what will we be
33. doves - kingdom of rust
34. built to spill - there is no enemy
35. rain machine - s/t
36. son volt - american central dust
37. tony allen - secret agent
38. kings of convenience- declaration of dependence
39. pink mountaintops - outside love
40. neko case - middle cyclone

don't you (forget about me)

41. james yorkston & the big eyes family players - folk songs
42. andrew bird - noble beast
43. jarvis cocker - further complications
44. joe henry - blood form stars
45. the pains of being pure at heart - s/t
46. the swell season - strict joy
47. sonic youth - the eternal
48. felice brothers - yonder is the clock
49. magnolia electric co. - josephine
50. god help the girl - s/t
51. the whitest boy alive - rules
52. monsters of folk - s/t
53. fruit bats - the ruminent band
54. riceboy sleeps - s/t
55. m. ward - hold time
56. marissa nadler - little hells
57. junior boys - begone dull care
58. trashcan sinatras - in the music
59. the clean - mister pop
60. a mountain of one - institue of joy

still worth a mention

61. malcolm middleton - waxing gibbous
62. terry callier - hidden conversations
63. the dodos - time to die
64. hush arbors - yankee reality
65. wake the president - you can't change that boy
66. weird owl - ever the silver cord be loosed
67. peter doherty - grace/wastelands
68. the skygreen leopards - gorgeous johnny
69. lee fields - my world
70. tinariwen - imidiwan: companions
71. sleepy sun - embrace
72. sally shapiro - my guilty pleasure
73. elvis costello - secret, profane and sugarcane
74. lotus plaza - the floodlight collective
75. manic street preachers - journal for plague lovers
76. the decemberists - the hazards of love
77. gui boratto - take my breath away
78. aidan moffat and the best-ofs - how to get to heaven from scotland
79. fanfarlo - reservoir
80. mumford & sons - sigh no more

guys, this is where you are supposed to tell me how awesome my taske is....

I LIKE IT!

(actually I don't care for Wilco, but I think by saying that out loud, all my "music snob" credentials get revoked). I forgot about Vetiver, that is a solid album.

thanks d - i knew i could count on you!

Vetiver would get a solid ranking were we doing the Shmoople. Lotsa love.

The stuff I've heard on your list is good, estone. The rest I assume to be garbage.

Good list... often your tastes are pretty close to mine and there are 5-6 here that I forgot about... and I didn't know there was a new Kings of Convenience this year.

And why aren't we doing a Shmoople? Was there even a thread that discussed why it wasn't happening?

i got nothin.