• Kid Sister – “Get Fresh”
  Easily one of my favorite albums of this year. It’s a fun record, which of course means the retards at Pitchfork hate it.
• Manchester Orchestra – “I’ve Got Friends”
  It’s not a cover of the Garth Brooks song, although if Chris Gaines had won out this might have been a remotely possible b-side in his alternate universe career.
• Radio City – “Coming Down Easy”
  These guys come from my neck of the woods and are pretty new. A really great rock song, great bridge, great voice – it’s all there.
• Medusa – “Mediatrix”
  Perhaps oddly, right along with Kid Sister this was another one of my favorite full lengths. The breakdown makes you want to pull out your nervous system, which the surgeon general still strongly advises against doing.
• Wilco – “You Never Know”
  Georff Twearrisoneedy
• Major Lazer – “Pon De Floor”
  This is a case where an already peculiar and engaging piece of music was made all the better by the second weirdest video I’ve ever seen. First weirdest was, well, also Major Lazer.
• M. Ward – “Epistemology”
  M. Ward makes the best Bible song since “Cum on Feel the Noize”.
• Coalesce – “Wild Ox Moan”
  Simply a brilliant piece of music. I love everything about this song. It’s a complex song, with complex subject matter, based around a simple, traditional field holler. Well played, sirs. Bonus tip: track down the BBC sessions version for extra rawness.

Here begins the 10Listens.com “Best of 2009″ lists.  No reason to do it the right way since we are still new and 30,000 other sites are giving out real lists.  Also, this will introduce our mascot.  He is as of yet unnamed, but is obviously ripped, so don’t fuck with him.  Feel free to suggest names in the comments sections.

10. Bats Hate Jarves– Non-Human Entities

A more experimental album, BHJ shrugs off the sophomore slump with a mix of electronic influences and violent lyrical images.

9. Ketchup Ghost– Cordiality

Sherod Santos’ newest record makes a believer of us all and a fool of the establishment.

8. Gravy Seals– Barbecubed

“Too Much Gravy” might be the single of the year. Infectious beats and intimate MC-ing make this one of our favorite debuts.

7. 2200 Sequences– The Very Best of 2200 Sequences

Who knew that when Mel Hurdley left Many Shocking Things, he would go on to write a masterpiece of epic proportions? One of the only double albums (as a debut!) that keeps the listener interested the entire way through.

6. Tween Wolf– Sports

The follow up to the “Control EP” makes good on the promise for more destruction and madness. “Golf” is easily the best track– a subtle side to the insanity and riffage.

5. Fuck Tuxedo– The More You Know

When these gals sing, the world is listening.

4. Failuretronix– Beat Seeking Missle

Best rap album of the year, its shortness notwithstanding. Best song title of the year has to be “Reagonomix.”

3. French Fires– No, Thank You

Epic production and one of the most amazing voices in Grime/Dubstep.

2. Black Jeeps– The “Disclosure” Mixtape

If you had told me that a mixtape about the movie disclosure would get my head nodding in 2009, I’d have said you were an asshole. Now who’s the asshole?

1. Parked Van and the Rapetones– s/t

This should be on most lists.  It’s the reunion everyone wanted and the most surprising addition to BrendlesFest in over a decade.

Honorable Mention:

Loose Teeth– Under Covers

Gritty and gratuitous, this proves that it doesn’t matter who thinks punk is dead so long as it kicks ass.  The song “2 Much” is a particularly amazing thrasher.