MY OFFICIAL TOP RECORDS OF 2009!

I know everybody has compiled and posted their 'Best of 2009' lists already (most of them even before '09 was over!) But I like to give myself a little bit of time, after the change of the new year, to sit down with every record I've come to love over the past 365 days of my musical life, and really take them in. Review them in my heart and mind and earholes, and start compiling the long ass list of titles that really hit me hard over the past year (which before i narrowed it down, was at 128 records!!) This is not necessarily the 'BEST' records of the year, just the records that, I personally, took the most enjoyment out of listening to. The ones that I could not stop listening to for days and days straight after I got them. My favorites of my favorites.

I was going to write a little something about each one, but after the craziness I put myself through just trying to narrow it down to a nicely trimmed list of 20, I decided it shall remain just that; a list.

So without further ado, I now present...

Mykee's Top 20 Records of 2009!

  1. R. Kelly - 'Untitled'

  2. Mariachi El Bronx - 'Mariachi El Bronx'

  3. Propagandhi - 'Supporting Caste'

  4. Revocation - 'Existence is Futile'

  5. Big Business - 'Mind the Drift' 

  6. The Protomen - 'Act II - The Father of Death'

  7. Baroness - 'Blue Record'

  8. Metric - 'Fantasies'

  9. Mastodon - 'Crack the Skye'

10. Cursive - 'Mama, I'm Swollen'

11. Steel Panther - 'Feel the Steel'

12. Biffy Clyro - 'Only Revolutions' 

13. The Dear Hunter - 'Act III - Life and Death'

14. Goatwhore - 'Carving Out the Eyes of God'

15. Antony & the Johnsons - 'The Crying Light' 

16. Dream Theater - 'Black Clouds & Silver Linings'

17. Dave Matthews Band - 'Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King'

18. Hello Nurse - 'Whambulance'

19. Camera Obscura - 'My Maudlin Career'

20. Devin Townsend Project - 'Ki'

Now, that was just the absolute bee's knees, cream of the crop, most favorite favorite tops of the year for me. #1-20. In order. I had to narrow that down from a muuuuuch larger list of favorites... SO, the next list (just in alphabetical order) is some other records from 2009 that were also very much a big part of my musical year, and really got me real good in that nice musical part of the soul. 

We can consider each and every one of these albums #21.

• Anaal Nathrakh - 'In The Constellation of the Black Widow'
• As Tall As Lions - 'You Can't Take it With You'
• Behemoth - 'Evangelion'
• Ben Folds - 'Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!'
• Between The Buried And Me - 'The Great Misdirect'
• BLK JKS - 'After Robots'
• Brand New - 'Daisy'
• Brandi Carlile - 'Give up the Ghost'
• Brendan Benson - 'My Old, Familiar Friend'
• Built To Spill - 'There Is No Enemy'
• Celeste - 'Misanthrope(s)'
• Charles Spearin - 'The Happiness Project'
• Coalesce - 'OX'
• Cobalt - 'Gin'
• Coconut Records - 'Davy'
• Company of Thieves - 'Ordinary Riches' 
• Converge - 'Ax to Fall'
• Crystal Antlers - 'Tentacles'
• The Decemberists - 'The Hazards of Love'
• Dethklok - 'Dethalbum II'
• Devin Townsend Project - 'Addicted'
• Doomriders - 'Darkness Come Alive'
• Easy Star All*Stars - 'Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band
• Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - ST
• Eluveitie - 'Evocation I: The Arcance Dominion'
• Fact - 'Fact'
• Few And Far Between - 'We're All Safe'
• Goblin Cock - 'Come With Me if You Want to Live'
• GWAR - 'Lust in Space'
• Green Day - '21st Century Breakdown'
• Jay Z - 'The Blueprint 3'
• Immortal - 'All Shall Fall'
• ISIS - 'Wavering Radiant' 
• Islands - 'Vapours'
• Jeremy Enigk - 'OK Bear'
• Julian Casablancas - 'Phrazes for the Young'
• Lucero - '1372 Overton Park'
• The Mars Volta - 'Ochtahedron'
• Megadeth - 'Endgame'
• Mew - 'No More Stories are Told Today, I'm Sorry, They Washed Away'
• Morrissey - 'Years of Refusal'
• Muse - 'The Resistance' 
• Neko Case - 'Middle Cyclone' 
• NOFX - 'Coaster'
• Paramore - 'Brand New Eyes'
• Peculiar Gentlemen - 'The Difference'
• Phoenix - 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix'
• Rancid - 'Let the Dominoes Fall'
• RX Bandits - 'Mandala'
• Scale The Summit - 'Carving Desert Canyons'
• Silversun Pickups - 'Swoon'
• Tegan & Sara - 'Sainthood'
• Týr - 'By The Light of the Northern Star'
• Weezer - 'Raditude'
• 3 - 'Revisions'  

Well, that wraps up another year of wonderful, life affirming, soul lifting, spirit soaring, gut wrenching, ass bleeding, mouth watering, heart beating, booty shaking, eye watering, ear loving, MUSIC!  I hope some of you can discover some great new records from this list I've worked retardedly hard on putting together. I really do put my heart into this sorta endeavor, I hope somebody will appreciate it, and take away as much as I would.

We're only 2 weeks into 2010 and there's already a handful of fantastic albums bombarding my ears with awesome sounds =) it never ends! and it never will! LONG LIVE MUSIC! 

ENJOY YOURSELF.

-MM