Yep, another year of calling them albums. Maybe there’s a new word and I don’t spend enough time on Twitter to know what it is.

My list has a decidedly alt folk thread running through it, which is fine, I love that music, but I think it’s time for the next big thing in loud indie rock, a la Wolfmother.

By the way, if you want to buy any of these in good old CD form or MP3 download, I’d be delighted if you’d use my Amazon.com affiliate link. Anyway, here they are:

1. City & Colour – Little Hell
2. Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
3. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
4. Black Keys – El Camino
5. Cut Copy – Zonoscope
6. White Denim – D
7. Decemberists – The King is Dead
8. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo
9. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
10. Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials
11. Wilco – The Whole Love

Things from Earlier That I Played a Lot in 2011

New Pornographers – Together
City and Colour – Bring Me Your Love
Frightened Rabbit – Midnight Organ Fight
Black Keys – Brothers

It’s the end of 2010, so it’s time to publish my Favorite Albums of 2009. Yes, of 2009. I can’t make my picks before the year even ends, as so many others do. Heck, I can’t even seem to decide until many months have passed. I need time for the music to settle into my bones, for that initial infatuation to wear off (where are you now, Titus Andronicus?), for the true cream to rise to the top.

That time has finally come. So, without making you wait another minute, here’s my list of 2009′s best albums. (If you’re going to buy one of these – CD, vinyl, or MP3s – why not use my Amazon affiliate link and show me how much you appreciate me, 4% at a time?)

Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
Califone – All My Friends Are Funeral Singers
Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
Silversun Pickups – Swoon
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Here We Go Magic – Here We Go Magic
Visqueen – Message To Garcia
Wolfmother – Cosmic Egg
Built to Spill – There Is No Enemy
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Dinosaur Jr – Farm

By the way, it feels a little weird to still call them albums. I mean, it was weird enough when they were CDs. For the past couple of years, most of my purchases have been a stream of downloads from iTunes or eMusic. But it’s hard enough picking my favorite albums for the year (even a year later); I’m not going to add the task of coming up with a new name for albums. Maybe you can share your ideas in the comments.

I made this a page now: http://edtankersley.com/100-plus-bands/