Everyone's a Critic: The Top 10 Albums of 2009

[SteppingRazor]

<snip>

10. American Saturday Night by Brad Paisley
In a year in which Taylor Swift dominated country-pop, it's Brad Paisley, whose previous efforts have ranged from forgettable to borderline-disgusting (see: "Ticks"), who had the genre's best album. It'll be memorable in years to come mostly for "Welcome to the Future," and given the quality (or lack thereof) of Paisley's previous efforts, it might be his only shot at greatness. But for what it is, it's essentially perfect: a poppy country album with equal parts rollicking party tunes and weepy ballads.

9. There Is No Enemy by Built to Spill
Like 2006's You in Reverse, this album isn't quite as good as the band's late-1990s masterpieces, but when you have a guitarist like Doug Martsch, it doesn't have to be.

8. Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective
Strawberry Jam, Animal Collective's 2007 release, was disappointing in light of the psychedelic glory that was 2005's Feel. But this past January, Animal Collective issued an album whose sonic explorations built upon the ground covered in Feel to reach out to a soaring, swirling, kaleidoscopic cosmos.

7. 21st Century Breakdown by Green Day
Improbably, the punk kids who cashed in on odes to masturbation in the '90s have become the best musical documentarians of the post-post-postmodern, utterly alienated dawn of the 21st century. Five years on from the bleak yet brilliant American Idiot, 21st Century Breakdown finds Green Day continuing its march toward a sort of happy nihilism. When hipster liberals who still believe in Democrats, Starbucks or Steve Jobs finally realize that everyone's in it for the money, they won't be able to say Billie Joe Armstrong didn't warn them.

6. No More Heroes by Solillaquists of Sound
Psst! The hip-hop album of the year comes from a little-known, free-love-loving quartet of two women and two men out of Orlando. Believe it!

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More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-sweeney/everyones-a-critic-the-to_b_406047.html

[mackerel]

1. Left out Louden Wainright's High Wide and Handsome the Charlie Poole Project

[NashVegas]

2. Monsters of Folk Was Not That Good

Three songs and a lot of filler. M. Ward's solo album was tons better.

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand was my fave of the year.

[lazarus]

3. I'm not much up on current music

but the latest album from The Killers was very good.

[Onceuponalife]

4. He left out the best one: Let the Dominoes Fall by Rancid

[shadowknows69]

5. k