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Friday, 01 January 2010 00:00

1. Serge Gainsbourg | Histoire de Melody Nelson (Light in the Attic)

I don't think I'm ever really satisfied with my annual music lists until about July of the following year—partially because that allots six months of playing catch up, and extra time to check the expiration dates on a couple of the albums I love initially and slowly tire of. I fear that might happen with the two pop albums on my Top 10, as neither Sally Shapiro nor Annie's sophomore efforts quite matched the greatness of their first LPs (not to mention the fact that their respective new albums happen to sound a lot alike). Alas, here's my possibly premature list of the Top Albums of 2009 and a handful of runners-up.

 

1. Serge Gainsbourg | Histoire de Melody Nelson (Light in the Attic)

2. Fever Ray | Fever Ray (Mute)

3. PJ Harvey & John Parish | A Woman, A Man Walked By (Island)

4. The xx | xx (Beggars XL)

5. Atlas Sound | Logos (Kranky)

6. No Age | Losing Feeling EP (Subpop)

7. Japandroids | Post-Nothing (Polyvinyl/Unfamiliar)

8. Sally Shapiro | My Guilty Pleasure (Paper Bag)

9. Deerhunter | Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP (Kranky)

10. Annie | Don't Stop (Smalltown Supersound)

 

Runners-Up (alphabetically)

Alcoholic Faith Mission | 421 Wythe Avenue (Konkurrent)

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead | The Century of Self (Richter Scale/Justice)

Animal Collective | Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)

Bat for Lashes | Two Suns (Astralwerks)

Beirut | March of the Zapotec/Holland EP (Ba Da Bing)

Bill Callahan | Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (Drag City)

Dizzee Rascal | Tongue N' Cheek (Dirtee Stank)

Do Make Say Think | The Other Truths (Chicago Independent)

Fuck Buttons | Tarot Sport (ATP)

Girls | Album (True Panther Sounds)

Grizzly Bear | Veckatimest (Warp)

Junior Boys | Begone Dull Care (Domino)

Piano Magic | Ovations (Daria)

St. Vincent | Actor (4AD)

Various Artists | Dark Was the Night (4AD)

 

Joe Bowman