All right everyone, the time has finally come and the End Of Year polls are opening up.

Albums Lists are due Saturday, December 19. There aren't any exceptions to that. You've got about three weeks, so there shouldn't be any problems with people not having enough notice. Also, let me know when you submit your list if you are interested in writing blurbs for the top 40 albums.

I don't know the exact timeline for the results thread yet. Since I am working a full time job this year instead of being the college student with all the free time in the world, it is a little bit harder to figure out how long it will take me to put everything together. At this point, I'm imagining that the week of December 21-25 will have the Miscellaneous and Compilation/Reissue poll results and then the week of December 28-January 1 will have the album and singles polls with probably about 20-25 of each posted each day of the week. I will keep everyone updated on this as we get closer to that point. I do have about a week and a half off from Christmas to the start of January so the results will be all posted in this time frame, just maybe not on as tight of a schedule as they have in years past.

Just to go through the guidelines again:

-You can vote for as few as five 2009 albums or as many as fifty 2009 albums in a NUMBERED list.

-2009 Albums include:
1. LPs of all-new material
2. Live albums (not ones being re-issued or of all old material)
3. Label compilations (of recent stuff)
4. Artist remix/b-sides/unreleased compilations of all or mostly 2009 material
5. Albums released between December 2008 and December 8, 2009. Anything after that should be considered a 2010 release.

-To submit your list, either post it in the thread or PM it to me. Any list posted in this thread in countdown form will be considered a final list. If you need to make a change once your list is submitted, you can only swap one album out to replace with another (otherwise I would have to retabulate everything and I just don't have time for that). Also, if you can please format your numbered countdown as ARTIST - RELEASE NAME, that will really help me out when tabbing them.

-2008 vs. 2009 eligibility is broken down as follows--if you can make a case for it being 2009, you can vote for it. So that includes albums released in your country for the first time in 2009, albums that didn't receive wide exposure
until 2009, or albums that were released in Dec. 2008 and didn't have enough time to sink in before voting last year.

-Finally, nothing that was on our Top 100 Albums of 2008 list is eligible. You can not, under any circumstances vote for anything that made the top 100 albums last year. Just so you know, these 100 albums are:

1 Portishead - Third
2 TV On The Radio - Dear Science,
3 M83 - Saturdays = Youth
4 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
5 Sun Kil Moon - April
6 Deerhunter - Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.
7 Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
8 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
9 British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
10 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
11 Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
12 Blitzen Trapper - Furr
13 Weezer - Weezer (2008)
14 Hold Steady, The - Stay Positive
15 Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
16 Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak
17 Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
18 Walkmen – You & Me
19 Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Real Emotional Trash
20 Harvey Milk – Life ... The Best Game In Town
21 Boris - Smile
22 Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
23 Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
24 Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
25 Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
26 Spiritualized - Songs In A&E
27 Fennesz- Black Sea
28 Sigur Ros - Me_ Su_ í Eyrum Vi_ Spilum Endalaust
29 Why? - Alopecia
30 Black Dog - Radio Scarecrow
31 Beck - Modern Guilt
32 David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
33 Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
34 Black Mountain - In The Furture
35 Black Keys - Attack & Release
36 My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
37 Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
38 Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
39 Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
40 No Age - Nouns
41 Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
42 MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
43 Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
44 Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part 1
45 Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
46 Shearwater - Rook
47 Lindstrøm - Where You Go I Go Too
48 Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down In The Light
49 Paul Westerberg – 49:00…Of Your Time/Life
50 Glasvegas - Glasvegas
51 Gaslght Anthem - The '59 Sound
52 R.E.M. - Accelerate
53 She & Him - Volume One
54 Tallest Man On Earth, The - Shallow Graves
55 Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
56 Los Campesinos! - Hold on Youngster
57 Have a Nice Life - Deathconciousness
58 Dr Dog - Fate
59 Parts & Labor - Receivers
60 Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It
61 Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull
62 Q-Tip - The Renaissance
63 Evangelista - Hello Voyager
64 Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
65 Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
66 Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
67 Killers, The - Day & Age
68 Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
69 Shugo Tokumaru - Exit
70 Bug, The - London Zoo
71 Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
72 Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
73 Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
74 Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls
75 Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
76 Luomo - Convival
77 Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You
78 Titus Andronicus – The Airing of Greviance
79 Torche - Meanderthal
80 Matmos - Supreme Balloon
81 Dodos, The - Visiter
82 Gutter Twins - Saturnala
83 Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
84 Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement
85 Lykke Li - Youth Novels
86 Calexico - Carried to Dust
87 Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy
88 Santogold - Santogold
89 Air France - No Way Down -EP
90 Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
91 Beach House - Devotion
92 Melvins - Nude with Boots
93 Bruno Pronsato – Why Can’t We Be Like Us
94 Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
95 Jacaszek - Treny
96 Stereolab - Chemical Chords
97 El Guincho - Alegranza
98 Move D & Benjamin Brunn - Songs From the Beehive
99 Dungen - 4
100 Fall, The - Imperial Wax Solvent


Also, one last thing I just want to remind everyone about. If there is an album that you're really passionate about but not many others know of it, don't wait until we start the countdown to complain about it not being higher. Use this thread to make sure that everyone else is made aware of it before it is too late to vote.

01. Kitchen's Floor - Loneliness Is A Dirty Mattress

(R.I.P. Society)

02. Xasthur - All Reflections Drained
(Hydrahead)

03. Peaking Lights - Imaginary Falcons

(Not Not Fun)

04. Current 93 - Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain
(Durtro Jnana)

05. St Helens - Heavy Profession
(Dot Dash)

06. Emeralds - Emeralds
(Hudson)

07. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
(Southern Lord)

08. Hochman & Hopkins - Live NYE

(Night People)

09. Wasted Truth - Wasted Truth

(Inverted Crux) you can download MP3s of this sold out cassette release at inverted-crux.blogspot.com - grim, mid-tempo downer hardcore

10. I Shalt Become - The Pendle Witch Trials
(No Colours)

Thread is off to a bangin' start.

Pavement, you would dig Kitchen's Floor heaps I reckon. From Brisbane, AUS, the record is 18 mins long and contains about 34 words all up, innocuous, downtrodden phrases repeated and repeated until they become blunt frightening and near-demonic mantras.

Link?

that dungen album last year should have placed way higher. what i'm saying is that that album kicks ass.


edit
for instance, there is no way modern guilt can compete with it. not to nitpick about lists, just drawing attention to an album that was mostly overlooked.

I did a Google blog search and found one right away. I don't want to post it. But its out there for the taking. Enjoy.

So early. But whatever--you're doing the work, you should call the shots.

Edit: British fucking Sea Power was #9 last year? Come on, SOMB. Please do better this year. And by "better," I mean make sure something less mind-numbingly boring makes it to #9.

Fantastic album. Certainly better than most of the other albums in the Top Ten. Hardly boring.

So true. Just awesome, this record is.

Nic is hardcore as fuck. I have heard exactly two of those albums, which are probably the sellout indie faggot ones. Interesting list though, and I'll probably get around to checking the most pussy of the rest out.

likewise. The cassette images are pretty awesome.

Peaking Lights, Xasthur, Emeralds, and Kitchen's Floor records are all def worth at least giving a try.

it is better then the Bon Iver, Cut Copy, Sun Kill Moon, Fleet Foxes and TV On The Radio albums.

so it should have been higher, IMO.

This will probably change as I have about 30 2009 titles still in the mail but eh I guess I'll get it done with early.

1. Circulatory System - Signal Morning
2. Noveller - Red Rainbows
3. Oneida - Rated O
4. James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game
5. Faust - C'est com... com... compliqué
6. Windy & Carl - Instrumentals For The Broken Hearted
7. Emeralds - Emeralds
8. Sun Araw - Heavy Deeds
9. Seasons (pre-din)/Black Eagle Child - Split
10. Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country
11. William Basinski - 92982
12. 93MillionMilesFromTheSun - 93MillionMilesFromTheSun
13. Eternal Tapestry - The Invisible Landscape
14. Pyramids With Nadja - Pyramids With Nadja
15. Animal Hospital - Memory
16. Predator Vision/Sun Araw - Split
17. Up-Tight - The Beginning of the End
18. Robedoor - Exorcist Blues
19. Ilyas Ahmed - Goner
20. Jeff Host - In Memoriam: Joybubbles
21. Dreamcolour - Spiritual Celebration
22. Yellow Crystal Star - Blood of Searing Earth
23. Keith Fullerton Whitman - Taking Away
24. Few Nolder - New Folder
25. Valet - False Face Society
26. Celer - Capri
27. Kawabata Makoto - Farewell Kiss After Rain
28. Steven Gunn/Shawn David Mcmillen - End Of The City
29. The Skull Defekts - The Temple
30. Treetops/Abelar Scout/Evan Miller/Taterbug - Split
31. Windy & Carl/Heavy Winged - Monolith Series - 1: Earth
32. Black To Comm - Charlemagne & Pippin
33. Pavement Ist Rad & The Lots Of People Posting All Starr Band (Feat. Trai'd) - Sing Vampire Weekend's Contra
34. Danny Norbury - Light In August
35. Shogun Kunitoki - Vinonaamakasio
36. Øresund Space Collective - Good Planets Are Hard to Find
37. Alasehir - Torment Of The Metals
38. Cave Psychic Psummer
39. Island's Eyelids - Eyelands I
40. Engineers - Three Fact Fader
41. Charlemagne Palestine & Christopher Heemann - Saiten In Flammen
42. Food - Food
43. Giuseppe Ielasi - Aix
44. Wolves In The Throne Room - Black Cascade
45. Lawrence English - A Colour For Autumn
46. Mark McGuire - Losing Sleep
47. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
48. SPC ECO - 3-D
49. Voilà! - Odessa
50. Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue

lol at how half the thread is discussing 2008's results

Yeah, Nic's list is always a treasure trove. Excited b/c I haven't heard anything on it this year, apart from Sunn O)))))))!!))

why do i feel like those aren't really Nic's favs, just his "elite" obscure cassette list. i bought a bunch of cassettes this year too, maybe i will just make those my top ten as well and then i can be cool.

are we starting that kind of thing already? must remember to google that picture of sheep...

Still won't be as cool as Nic.

Was actually listening to this (on super-elite marbled vinyl Sim ) when I opened the thread. Did not expect to see it riding high on the first two entries.

nic - like The Vurt said, I like/love all the stuff I've heard on your list (Emeralds, Sunn, Peaking Lights,C93) so I look forward to exploring the others

Drilldo Baggins - a pleasure as ever

Nothing too exciting, happy to write blurbs should any of them make it, will give reasons later, hopefully people will check them out...

1. The Dream – Love vs. Money
2. JJ – jjn02
3. John Digweed – Bedrock 11
4. Annie – Don’t Stop
5. Above & Beyond – Anjunadeep 001
6. Lisa Mitchell – Wonder
7. Fun – Aim and Ignite
8. Memory Tapes – Seek Magic
9. James Zabiela – Renaissance: The Master Series Part 12
10. Pet Shop Boys – Yes
11. Tori Amos – Midwinter Graces
12. Tori Amos – Abnormally Attracted To Sin
13. Raekwon – Only Built For Cuban Linx II
14. Electrik Red – How To Be A Lady Vol. 1
15. Cocoma – Things Are Not Alright
16. Jay-Z – The Blueprint III
17. The Clientele – Bonfires On The Heath
18. Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications
19. Morrissey – Years Of Refusal
20. Peter Doherty – Grace/Wastelands

Anyway,

11. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
10. Annie - Don't stop
09. Fiery Furnaces - I'm going away
08. Weezer - Raditude
07. Animal Collective - Merriweather post pavillion
06. Evangelista - Prince of truth
05. Fever Ray
04. The Decemberists - The hazards of love
03. Converge - Axe to fall
02. Electrik Red - How to be a lady - Vol 1
01. Fuck Buttons - Tarot sport

Pretty sure I could identify that as a Rob list without checking.....which I mean as a compliment

Right on. So far no mention of the music, but "obscure for the sake of obscure" and radical artwork have convinced me to check these out!

Well first of all I live in Australia so that is naturally going to slant my list a certain way. Second of all, not that I need to explain myself but I composed my list in the most honest way I know how - I thought of 2009 and quickly listed the first 10 releases that I most readily associated with MY life this year.

Also, please note, I provided people with help regarding access to the more "obscure" releases. That does not seem elite to me, more so a subdued (not fervent or overwrought) evangelism in the spirit of musical discovery.

Someone so cynical of the diversity in these lists is obviously missing the point of a music forum. I'm happy to help anyone on their way to hearing stuff from my list they are interested in, short of providing a direct link. For the record it can all be characterised as being "Cosmic" and/or "Grim".

But yeah, no matter the content your list I will always be cooler than you. You know why? Because I don't miss the fucking point.

Take the time to listen to Passing Away, Big Church and Silver Tongues, Soft Whispers and see if you still think nic is guilty of obscurantist posturing

What a load of Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért

Yeah! Let's have some more Pitchfork approved earnest indie rock from New England in the top 10!

Cheers Bruegs, didn't keep up too well this year so looking forward to yr list as a bible of what shit I need to catch up on!

Might be true, but still I appreciate Nic giving us all a chance to listen to some potentially good records we might not have heard of. I know there's several on there I need to listen to still. Same goes for NewGrass's list.

...aaaand I won't be listening to any of these albums.

jeez, you fuckers are a sensitive bunch. i was just riding Nic a bit, kinda asked for it by posting pics of elite-as-fuck cassettes and shit. c'mon now, are we not allowed to make fun of each other anymore?

look, i love this new wave of cassette culture as much as most, believe me... but i just think its funny when kids think its so radical and underground. that shit has been going on for decades.

Nic, i will check out the stuff on your list. stay black.

might as well get this out now. i might edit it before the deadline, but as of now this is official:

51. the flaming lips - embryonic
50. blakroc - s/t
49. brother ali - us
48. the fiery furnaces - i'm going away
47. wale - attention: deficit
46. peter bjorn and john - living thing
45. wild beasts - two dancers
44. m. ward - hold time
43. jason lytle - yours truly, the commuter
42. yo la tengo - popular songs
41. the very best - warm heart of africa
40. donkeyboy - caught in a life
39. pos - never better
38. dan auerbach - keep it hid
37. pissed jeans - king of jeans
36. the pains of being pure at heart - s/t
35. arctic monkeys - humbug
34. bill callahan - i wish we were an eagle
33. sebastian schuller - evenfall
32. franz ferdinand - tonight
31. bibio - ambivalence avenue
30. mastodon - crack the skye
29. rihanna - rated r
28. maxwell - blacksummer's night
27. jj - no2
26. royksopp - junior
25. sun o)))) - monoliths and dimensions
24. memory tapes - seek magic
23. baroness - the blue album
22. raekwon - ob4cl2
21. fashawn - boy meets world
20. atlas sound - logos
19. let's wrestle - in the court of the wrestling let's
18. swan lake - enemy mine
17. sunny day in glasgow - ashes grammar
16. weezer - raditude
15. jay-z - the blueprint 3
14. yeah yeah yeahs - it's blitz!
13. jeremy jay - slow dance
12. animal collective - merriweather post pavillion
11. japandroids - post-nothing
10. neko case - middle cyclone
9. julie doiron - i can wonder what you did with your day
8. mos def - the ecstatic
7. reigning sound - love and curses
6. why? - eskimo snow
5. dan deacon - bromst
4. dj quik and kurupt - blaqkout
3. sunset rubdown - dragonslayer
2. phoenix - wolfgang amadeus phoenix
1. the-dream - love vs. money


pretty good year. some unfuckwitable classics (number one and two) and some other strong releases. i'm curious to see what emerges as the consensus favorites.

Not looking to mess up the topic or anything, but... why in the hell are cassettes cool. They kinda suck. :/

Lots to explore in those Nic and NewGrass lists. For example, from the New Grass list, I've only heard five records, and indeed, have only even heard of sixteen of them.

Both of these gents have discriminating tastes, however, and I'll be researching.

NG- how about you describe each in five words or less to help erase the veil of obscurantism?

Love this, uh, two-three punch. There's also a good chance that STE's list is also better than the real one's will be. Enjoying this shit so far and it's pleasantly stopping me from getting my own house in order.

Curious if you'd mind explaining the Robedoor choice. I was underwhelmed, personally, but have heard great praise from a very small number of ardent supporters. Care to go into any detail? Just wondering. Otherwise, those are some killer records that people should at least give a try. Maybe not for everyone, but they deserve trial runs. Have you heard the new Plankton Wat album, Dawn of the Golden Eternity? One of the dudes from Eternal Tapestry. It's good, and a lot different and more freak-folky than Eternal Tapestry's records. Might be worth a look, assuming it isn't one of your 30 still in the mail.

Bright and early this year.

1. Converge - Axe To Fall
2. Morrissey - Years Of Refusal
3. The XX - XX
4. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
5. Cobalt - Gin
6. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
7. Antony & The Johnsons - The Crying Light
8. Baroness - Blue Record
9. Lady GaGa - The Fame Monster
10. Annie - Don’t Stop
11. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
12. Rihanna - Rated R
13. Shackleton - The Three EPs
14. La Roux - La Roux
15. Depeche Mode - Sounds Of The Universe
16. Pavement Ist Rad & The Lots Of People Posting All Star Band (feat Trai'd) - Sing Vampire Weekend's Contra
17. The-Dream - Love Vs. Money
18. The Horrors - Primary Colours
19. Electrik Red - How To Be A Lady: Vol. 1
20. 2562 - Unbalance
21. Weezer - Raditude
22. Untold - Gonna Work Out Fine
23. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
24. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
25. SND - Atavism
26. Dizzee Rascal - Tongue N Cheek
27. King Midas Sound - Waiting For You
28. Metric - Fantasies
29. Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
30. DJ Quik & Kurupt - BlaQKout
31. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
32. Few Nolder - New Folder
33. The Dead Weather - Horehound
34. Isis - Wavering Radiant
35. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II
36. Bonnie “Prince” Billy - Beware
37. Pictureplane - The Dark Rift
38. Atom™ - Liedgut
39. Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor
40. Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
41. Martyn - Great Lengths
42. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
43. The Field - Yesterday & Today
44. DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues
45. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
46. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
47. Boxcutter - Arecibo Message
48. Black Dice - Repo
49. Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave 
50. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

Would be willing to write blurbs for anything on my list.

good list, heretix. i disagree on many points, but it's still looking like the best so far. and i should really check out that boxcutter album. shackleton was better than decent for sure, but not my cup of tea. and i should listen to axe to fall another few times, since i only listened to it once, during a post-concussive headache-y period. but whatever.

Not gonna say something about some of those placements, but there's plenty of fantastic albums in there. Would've thought the Electrik Red album would've been right up your alley though...

Electrik Red has some great moments but as an album it starts to blur together for me... has some jams though, for sure.

moved to pg 34

Great lists so far everyone. I really like that Heretix list. My list is looking a bit similar in some places as I'm finishing up some last minute rankings.

amen.

also, too many choruses just repeat the title ad nauseum. reduces potentially stunning songs to lazy sounding toss offs. i'd love to love that record, have to settle for loving henpicked songs.

Shit, I forgot about Converge :|

I forgot Evangelista, nowt a quick edit can't fix.

I will try and do this at work later tonight.



Are you talking about that specific release or Robedoor in general?

That record, my good man.

This Emerelds stuff is really hitting the spot for me today, and these guys are practically in my back yard!

Fair enough, I think. I've been listening to ER and The-Dream a bunch this week, trying to quibble over final EOY placements, and I keep flip-flopping on which one I like better. Mostly, though, it's all about the dude's production. I could listen to that all fucking day.