For those that have endured a list going on for three weeks, thanks!

10. Handsome Furs - Face Control
Both key members of Wolf Parade released albums by their side projects in 2009...or maybe I should say Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs didn't put out an album by their side project Wolf Parade in 2009. Whichever, in the battle between Wolf Parade singer/songwriters who have wacky voices, there was one clear winner. The Handsome Furs album was solid from start to finish. The Sunset Rubdown album, while it had a few good tunes on it, did not blow me away (suffers from LSS). I'm not sure what to make of this video...on the one hand, it's got way too many trendy douchebags dancing around in what appears to be a Smirnoff Ice commercial. On the other hand, they all die and/or turn into zombies. And then it ends with zombie foreplay. Again, advantage: Handsome Furs.

9. The Strange Boys - And Girls Club
Bob Dylan sings garage rock. I admit at first this guy's voice put me off (sue me, I'm not a big Bob Dylan fan), but the more and more I listened, the more and more I wanted to listen. Quite a few bands put out albums in 2009 attempting to capture that "vintage" garage rock sound--The Strange Boys not only succeeded, but also made it sound unique and new.

8. Hockey - Mind Chaos
I never would have guessed that the Jimmy Fallon show would be an outlet for me to discover new music, but sure enough! I guess when your house band is The Roots then SOMEONE over there has at least one finger on the pulse of good music. I saw these boys play Too Fake on Fallon's show, and liked it enough to snag the album. Thank God that wasn't the only good song on there. Hey I haven't offered one of my patented "X meets Y" descriptions to describe a band in this top 10 list yet! OK, these guys are LCD Soundsystem meets The Strokes...but more like a band half as good as LCD Soundsystem meets a band half as good as The Strokes to make one whole band. Still, pretty good.

7. Telekinesis - Telekinesis!
Telekinesis hails from Seattle, and isn't a band unless they're touring--it's just one dude playing all the instruments and singing, and boy can that one dude write and play a song. Every tune on this album has a warm, familiar quality to it. When I first got the album, more than once I'd be listening to my iPod on shuffle, and a Telekinesis song would come on causing me to say "hey this is good, who IS this?" The album sounds like deep cuts from some of your favorite power-pop bands, which I guess could be construed as an insult saying Telekinesis is generic, but that's not the case--this guy simply knows how to write a catchy, hook-filled power-pop ditty. And for me, again, timing was everything. This album was released in April, and...I'm not saying the album is as great as Beulah's When Your Heartstrings Break (though sometimes the songs do remind me of Beulah), but not since that album have I felt like I held in my hands an album perfect for spring time weather. There's nothing like good power-pop to make your sunny day a little sunnier.

6. Music Go Music - Expressions
ABBA meets Blondie meets Olivia Newton John. If those three videos don't sell you on this band/album then I don't know what else I can do. If you ARE buying what they're selling, I can say there are more videos by them that you can check out (sadly, "Face Time" is a fictional television show). Every song on this album is so damn infectious. The husband and wife from another band you've never heard of make up the front of this band, so I really hope this isn't just some fun side project and that they put out more and more songs that put a spring to my step.

5. The Pine Hill Haints - To Win Or To Lose
The Pine Hill Haints describe their music as "Alabama Ghost Music," and that's not a bad description if you were to limit it to 3 words. It's southern bluegrass rockabilly, but from that dark underbelly of the south. I'm talking "Deliverance" meets "Southern Comfort" underbelly. If Edward Gorey were to put out a rockabilly album, it would sound like The Pine Hill Haints. I should stop right there, because that's a pretty damn good description, but there's more to this band (and album) than just that. There's not just bluegrass & rockabilly here--there's gospel as well, and punk, and blues, and zydeco (and I'm back to "Southern Comfort"). The cool thing is they're not throwing in all these different genres as a gimmick. They make it all work to form a sound that is undeniably theirs. When they play a saw, they're not doing it to show off that they're from the south, they're doing it to make the song kick more ass.

4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are one of those bands, like Nirvana, where I like what they do but I never thought about buying an album...what's the point when I can hear them everywhere I go? When It's Blitz was released, all the Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans wouldn't shut up about how great it was, but more importantly, neither would the people who weren't really into Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I succumbed to internet peer pressure and got the album just to hear what all the hubbub was about...turns out everyone was right. I love pretty much every song here, and even more so the acoustic versions that came as bonus tracks. Trading new wave rock in for new wave disco turned out to be a smart move for a smart band. It's Blitz made me a Yeah Yeah Yeahs fan--I'm excited to hear what they do next, and sorry I wasn't all on board since the beginning.

3. The Antlers - Hospice
Ohhhh, Hospice, my heart... Here is that album, whereupon the first few listens, you think "Hey this is a cool song" or, "Oh, that's pretty." Then you begin to realize those cool and pretty songs are about someone suffering from cancer!

You had a new dream, it was more like a nightmare.
You were just a little kid, and they cut your hair,
then they stuck you in machines, you came so close to dying.
They should have listened, they thought that you were lying.
Daddy was an asshole, he fucked you up, built the gears in your head,
now he greases them up. And no one paid attention when you just stopped eating. "Eighty-seven pounds!" and this all bears repeating.

OR parents of a newborn falling out of love!

We're terrified of one another.
And terrified of what that means.
But we'll make only quick decisions.
And you'll just keep me in the waiting room.
And all the while I'll know we're fucked.
And not getting unfucked soon.
When we get home we're bigger strangers than we've ever been before.
You sit in front of snowy television, suitcase on the floor.

A quick google/wiki will let you know that the man behind The Antlers voluntarily spent 2 years in social isolation while writing this album. Thankfully, the album doesn't come across as some pussy whining about how much life sucks. The songs are strong on their own, and when your throw in the whole "concept album" deal, Hospice is easily the album that's stuck with me the most for the longest this year. It's rare in this day of shuffle and ADD to have an album that warrants a listen from beginning to end--to want to listen from start to finish more than once is an accomplishment, and that's what I would call Hospice: an accomplishment. Check it out if you love grief, regret, and sorrow!

2. Art Brut - Art Brut vs. Satan
Again, I'll let the lyrics do the talking here:

On your visa, it says "entertainer"
You'd better step it up or they're gonna detain ya.
It's all smoke and mirrors, don't go and see 'em.
I wanted rock 'n roll, I got a science museum.
So we stayed up, and we argued all night.
If we can't change the world
Let's at least get the charts right.
The record buying public shouldn't be voting.
The record buying public shouldn't be voting!!!
How can you sleep at night
when nobody likes the music we like?
How am I supposed to sleep at night
when no one likes the music we write?
The record buying public, we hate them!
This is Art Brut vs. Satan!
Don't worry, we can take 'em!

Throw in a song about the joy of discovering The Replacements and TWO songs about being hungover, and it's clear to see that the world is a much better place with bands like Art Brut in it.

1. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
I should confess up front that this album was independently released in 2008, and then got a much wider release in 2009, so there. Had I heard it in 2008 it probably would have been my #1 album then as well. Every week my buddy and I meet for dinner and drinks at the local pub (Ye Olde Brogue for ye olde locals), and probably once every two months or so as the spirits are flowing and we're discussing music, one of us will bring up Neutral Milk Hotel and how we miss said band. More than once on this album, The Rural Alberta Advantage reminded me of Neutral Milk Hotel. I in no way feel The RAA are a mere NMH clone, but the comparisons are more than welcome to my ears.

While NMH's songs are full of wacky myths and symbolism, The RAA's songs are more heartfelt, nostalgic, and personal...they hit closer to home, or in their case, maybe the home you just left. And while Neutral Milk Hotel's songs are full of horns and glockenspiels and whatever other wacky instruments they could cram in there, The RAA achieve the same sound/effect/mood with just an acoustic guitar, drums, and xylophone (and being a drummer/ex-drummer I should mention that this album has some of the best--ok, some of my favorite--drumming I've heard all year).

I should also mention that seeing them live was by far my favorite show of the year. Not only did they sound great for being so bare-bones instrumental-wise, but they completely captivated the crowd. Sunday night crowds are hard to come by and/or win over, but The RAA had everyone eating out of the palm of their hand by the 2nd song. Throw in solo acoustic covers of "S.O.S." and "Eye of the Tiger," and I knew I was watching one of my new favorite bands for a long, long time. When they walked into the middle of the crowd for their "Goodnight" encore song, you could hear a pin drop (well, you could also hear that one drunk guy thinking he was soooooo funny). But it just goes to show, even if you're that one annoying drunk guy at a show that no one likes, chances are this will also be one of your favorite albums of 2009.