i had a really hard time coming up with a top 10 this year.  it seems like every year it gets harder and harder.  i don’t know if that’s because i find more and more good music or because my tastes are becoming more honed/refined as i get older.  or maybe i should say they’re getting more narrow, so i listen to more stuff that sounds a lot alike and therefore is harder to organize into a good top 10.

with that said, here’s my list for 2009. (previous year’s top 10s here)

1. snail – blood

2. baroness- blue record

3. every time i die – new junk aesthetic

4. kowloon walled city – gambling on the richter scale

5. doomriders – darkness comes alive

6. poison the well – the tropic rot

7. them crooked vultures – them crooked vultures

8. mastodon – crack the skye

9. moby – wait for me

10. lo pan – sasquanaut

and then the honorable mentions (in alphabetical order):

cave in – planets of old
converge – axe to fall
danger mouse & sparklehorse – dark night of the soul
devil to pay – heavily ever after
del the funky homosapien – funk man (the stimulus package)
dredg – the pariah, the parrot, the delusion
if these trees could talk – above the earth, below the sky
isis – wavering radiant
jesu – infinity
julian casablancas – phrazes for the young
keelhaul – keelhaul’s triumphant return to obscurity
mellowdrone – angry bear
porcupine tree – the incident
russian circles – geneva
vitalic – flashmob
zombi – spirit animal

so it’s that time of year again where all kind of know-it-alls try to tell you what albums you should’ve listened to over the past 365 days. i’m not going to do that, but i’ll definately share with you my top 10, take it or leave it.

1.
every time i die – the big dirty

2.
poison the well – versions

3.
dillinger escape plan – ire works

4.
will haven – the hierophant

5.
el-p – i’ll sleep when you’re dead

6.
porcupine tree – fear of a black planet

7.
jesu – conqueror

8.
pelican – city of echoes

9.
ken andrews – secrets of the lost satellites

10.
radiohead – in rainbows

honorable mentions:
tomahawk – anonymous
high on fire – death is this communion
wu-tang clan – 8 diagrams
akron/family – love is simple
the ocean – precambrian
silverchair – young modern
battles – mirrored
neurosis – given to the rising

yeah i know, a lot of metal.